Episode 149 - Nadine Crawford

Welcome

00:00:21Scott Trickett: Okay, the evolution of the parkrun adventurers has begun. You can already hear a little bit of it. But Mel, I've put you on notice the last couple of weeks. We're giving you a break. We're bringing in a co-host. So you've tried to one-up me this week and you've brought in your own co-host.

00:00:39Melissa Erbacher: Well, yeah, you know, I really enjoyed our interview last week with Nick Pearson, having him in the room, and I thought it might be nice to train up an apprentice for you just in case whoever it is that you've got lined up to be the co-host doesn't work out.

00:00:54Scott Trickett: Okay. So we're going to go with the male-male dynamic.

00:00:58Melissa Erbacher: Yes. But just to mix it up a lot, I thought we might make one of the males in the sub-two category.

00:01:11Scott Trickett: Okay. Well, they say walk at one, talk at two. Wes is nearly at two, so he's qualified in my books to be my co-host. But I don't know. He seems a bit distant already. I can hear him in the background.

00:01:23Melissa Erbacher: Yeah.

00:01:23Scott Trickett: But that doesn't work.

00:01:24Melissa Erbacher: Well, his attention span requires a little bit of work. You're going to have to be the hilarious one, Scotty. That's how it's going to work. Okay.

00:01:34Scott Trickett: No problem there.

00:01:37Melissa Erbacher: Are you going to hop up here, Wes, back on the chair next to me? Yeah, we'll talk to Scotty.

00:01:44Scott Trickett: So this is the Wes episode. So I got some feedback. Word on the street, Mel. Last week's episode was a long one.

00:01:52Melissa Erbacher: Was it? I haven't listened yet. How long was it? Well...

00:01:57Scott Trickett: We had a good old chat to Nick Pearson and we had a few roving reports thrown in there with our intro and outro banter that people love, but the episode did extend a bit. So this week's challenge is to make up for all that lost time that people lost last week listening to 148. This one's going to be a nice, tight episode. Okay.

00:02:19Melissa Erbacher: Well, we'll see what we can do about that. No promises from me.

00:02:24Scott Trickett: So I want to know, where did Wes parkrun on the weekend?

00:02:26Melissa Erbacher: Last weekend, Wes was at Kawana parkrun, where he participated with his dad, who was up to his usual shenanigans with the tokens again.

00:02:39Scott Trickett: Who was stealing them this week? Was it Wes or was it Adam?

00:02:43Melissa Erbacher: Who was stealing them? Well, this is the thing, see. I was on timekeeping, so I did also attend the same event that the boys were at.

00:02:54Scott Trickett: Hang on, hang on, hang on. Should we let Wes tell the rest of the story?

00:02:58Melissa Erbacher: Oh, well, you can try. Hold on. Wesley, you want to tell Scotty the story? Do you want to tell Scotty the story? Yeah, that's how he says yes. What was that? Oh, a star. Yeah, they were.

00:03:21Scott Trickett: And I'm not sure how this all relates to tokens, though, Wesley, and parkrun.

00:03:25Melissa Erbacher: What did Daddy do with the token at parkrun on the weekend?

00:03:28[laughter]

00:03:28Unidentified speaker: Hee-hee.

00:03:32Scott Trickett: Okay, Mel, you take it away.

00:03:34Melissa Erbacher: I can't work with you. So I was Timekeeper, and as you do at the end, you know, you go and you – Get your results, you know, the app sent off so that the results can be processed later. And then – oh, I'm getting cuddles now. See, this is the bonus of podcasting with toddlers. You get cuddles just intermittently throughout. Okay. And, you know, checked in with the guys at the scanning table to see how they're all going. And they were missing two tokens. I said, okay, what numbers are the tokens? One of them was 21. Way too fast for Adam. So, okay, shake that one off. The other one was 135. And I thought, no, no, that's probably too slow for him. So, can't be him this week. Didn't ask, didn't tell them to go check with him or anything. And then I get home. No, we're not drawing anything right now. I get home and there is a token, 135, sitting on my kitchen bench. And I'm like, are you serious? Tell me you didn't do this two weeks in a row. And when he came inside from mowing the yard, I said, can you please explain this to me? And it wasn't his because I actually looked up the results to see if it was his. And it wasn't. He came positioned something else. But he had brought home somebody else's token because they weren't registered and some poor soul thought he looked like a trustworthy individual. I'll give it back to that guy. He's wearing a 100 shirt. He'll know what to do with it. No, no. He just popped it in his pocket and brought it home. It's like, dude, every week I have to explain your behaviour to a different Event Director or a Run Director. It's embarrassing now.

00:05:26Scott Trickett: He's playing games with you now.

00:05:28Melissa Erbacher: Yeah.

00:05:29Scott Trickett: But it's all good. So he didn't steal it.

00:05:31Melissa Erbacher: No, not – well.

00:05:32Scott Trickett: Let's shut down the investigation.

00:05:35Melissa Erbacher: Go? Oh, we're doing the jumping thing now from one chair to the other. Usually he counts before the jump happens. Oh, okay. We might be doing a tug of war with the headset now. Yeah, it's pretty funny, isn't it, Wes? How did you go on the weekend, Scotty? Where were you?

00:05:53Scott Trickett: At parkrun, it was a funny old one this weekend. We had made plans to visit, remember that old chestnut, Toolern Creek?

00:06:02Melissa Erbacher: That place that you were supposed to figure out how to pronounce on the weekend? Yeah, I remember.

00:06:08Scott Trickett: Four years in. Yeah, four years in. We were headed there. But as in life, stuff happens. Things get in the way. Had to make a really last-minute change of plans. Yeah. And I had to stay close to home. So I thought, let's work on the P-index. Why not? And I was in two minds literally driving to parkrun. And I'm, I'm not. This is good banter, Wes, but it's breaking the rhythm of the story. Anyway, I cut to the chase. All I did on the weekend, Mel, is I messaged my mate. He says, where are you parkrunning? He said, I'm at Darabin. I headed to Darebin, had a quick run, catch up with my mates there and went home. So it was a real, you know, it was a parkrun for Scott kind of morning. Just where do I want to go? The girls weren't with me. And so I worked on the P-Index, got an event at Darebin, where I've done that a few times now.

00:07:10Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. Yeah. Well, it's nice to have a little bit of a spontaneous thing going on with parkrun every now and again as well. Last-minute decisions can often lead to the funnest parkruns.

00:07:23Scott Trickett: Now, I'm going to give Wes – He's cuddling the dinosaur right now, Scotty. Okay, well, tell him to focus on the dinosaur. We've got a cracking interview coming up with Nadine. So come and join us in about 15 to 20 minutes.

00:07:37Melissa Erbacher: I think that sounds like a good plan.

Interview Nadine Crawford — Co-Event Director, Rosebud parkrun (Victoria)

00:07:46Melissa Erbacher: We are very lucky to be joined by a parkrun adventurer who is Australian. She hails from what Scotty would call the Greatest State, where she is actually also an Event Director, a Co-Event Director at Rosebud parkrun. Her name is Nadine Crawford and she's just been on a really big adventure which we can't wait to hear all about. Nadine, welcome to the parkrun adventurers Podcast. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here with you. We are excited to have you, my one of my and I'm not sure if I've mentioned this in the past but one of my regrets thus far is that I haven't jumped across the water to New Zealand and done any parkruns over there yet but you have just done so recently and you weren't satisfied with just one on a Saturday you kind of took in a few more than that can you tell us a bit about your adventure?

00:08:42Nadine Crawford: Yeah, so we're a bit greedy when it comes to parkruns. So we went for two weeks and we did the good old camper van around the South Island, which we were very excited about, and we knew we'd fit in two parkruns. So we thought very carefully about which ones we would do because they have to be just the right ones, and we chose Queenstown and Dunedin and in the process we got a new country flag and two letters for our alphabet so that was very exciting. But as we travelled around we decided to, we just thought let's see if we can do a couple of freedom parkruns while we're here. And before we realised it, we thought we could actually do all the parkruns on the South Island. So we made that our goal and we had so much fun doing it.

00:09:30Scott Trickett: Now, you're a bit of a fan of the Freedom Run, aren't you, Nadine? You went on another adventure up to Queensland and did the same thing. How do you compare a Freedom Run? I know you don't get the experience of the community and the crowds, but did you get lost? Did you get to take in – do you think you got all the courses right?

00:09:50Nadine Crawford: Yes, we did get lost. No, we did not get all the courses right. So what we do is we – well, the reason we do the Freedom Runs is because – it's just impossible. It's like an ache inside us, isn't it? All of us, because there's too many parkruns for the amount of Saturdays we've got in our lives. So we have to find another way to see as many courses as possible. So Freedom Running is great for that because you can get an idea of the course and the area and you can have some online conversations with some of the people in those communities through the tourist pages, but you don't actually have to be there on a Saturday. So it gives you a bit of a taste. So when you're having conversations with people, they might say, oh, you know, I've been to this parkrun or I've been to that one. And you can go, oh, I've done a Freedom Run there. And it sounds kind of cool, but also you can picture it because you've been to that area. So what we do is we pick where we are and where we're going to do the parkrun. We check out the course pages and have a look at, you know, where is it and where's the park and how pretty is it. We have a look at the Facebook pages and sometimes they're quite easy to work out. It might be just an out and back or a double lap. or something like that. And sometimes you look at the picture and you think, I'm never going to work this out. So you try and follow the instructions and you have no hope. So it's a bit hit and miss with some of them. And a few times we just kind of went, we did 5Ks in the general vicinity. We've seen the park. It's close enough. So it's a bit of fun.

00:11:26Melissa Erbacher: Do you ever get in touch with the event teams, especially if they've got a particularly wiggly course or to ask if you want to have some company?

00:11:34Nadine Crawford: Yeah, so when we did the trip to Queensland, we did actually have a bit of, we were on the tourist page quite a bit and some people followed along on our little adventure and might remember chatting to us or seeing what we were doing. And we did have a few conversations with Robbie from South Toowoomba. He saw that we had been to Toowoomba, which we got that course a little bit wrong. And he's like, he messaged me and he said, oh, you know, there's also one in south Toowoomba, but unfortunately we didn't have time to do that one as well. And we chatted to Jodie and a couple of his team from Victory Heights Trail, which if anyone has a chance to get up there, that is just the best parkrun. Absolutely loved that course. And, yeah, so sometimes we do get in touch with people and we had some really interesting conversations with people on our trip. When we went to New Zealand, they've got a very small and close-knit parkrun tourism community on their Facebook page. There's only 161 people in the group, and Ian, my husband, and I are number 160 and 161. So it's only a really small group. And the way I got onto that group was that a lady from New Zealand happened to come to Rosebud a few weeks before we went on our trip and just asked me to take her photo. And we started chatting and I'm like, oh, you're from New Zealand. I need to talk to you. So we started talking all things parkrun. And she added me to the Facebook tourism page. And those people were amazing. So I didn't actually meet any of them, but they were so happy to share all their knowledge. They sent me their relive videos for a couple of the courses that we just would never have found our way around. They gave us tourist advice and coming up towards a Saturday, a couple of them would get on and say, have a great parkrun at Queenstown or Dunedin and they were just absolutely lovely and I think they really quite enjoyed us taking an interest in all the parkruns in New Zealand as well. And, of course, now they've set us a challenge to come back and do all the parkruns on the North Island, which would take a little bit longer but sounds like fun. Yeah.

00:13:48Scott Trickett: Okay, let's take us through the list, Nadine, and maybe can you pick out a couple of highlights?

00:13:53Nadine Crawford: Yes, I can. So the list. So we started, we did a bit of a figure eight of the South Island. We went from Christchurch, we went to the north. So the first one we did was Blenheim. So this is up in kind of the Marlborough wine region. And what's good about these Freedom parkruns and parkrun in general is that it takes you to areas of places that you would never otherwise go. So Blenheim was one of those. It's a really nice little town, but we would never have gone to this part of Blenheim, and it was along the river, and it was absolutely beautiful. It was kind of like it was a river and beautiful green grass along the sides and trees. It sounds really like just running alongside a river, but, you know, being New Zealand, really nice green grass and just beautiful scenery, and everyone we were passing was really friendly as well. pretty much an out and back but at one stage you do cross over the river and run a little bit on the other side and then you run back across another bridge and back to the start line so we really enjoyed that one that one was it was actually quite hot we didn't actually get to there until about midday so we were quite hot with that one so that was the first one then we went to um um oh where do we go next we went to um Back through Christchurch and we thought we'll pick off, there's actually three parkruns in Christchurch. There's Hagley, which is the one in the city centre, and there's two in the suburbs, Pegasus and Foster. So we picked off the two suburban ones because we were kind of bypassing Christchurch, and we knew we'd be staying in Christchurch on the last night, and it was quite near our hotel, so we thought we could do Hagley on the last day. So we picked off Pegasus, which was – it's in quite a new housing estate. I'm not sure if this housing estate – has been built since the earthquakes. But it's quite a new housing estate with a lovely lake, a really big suspension bridge, which was a lot of fun. And that one was two laps. So that was a really nice one. And then we went to Foster, which is south of Christchurch. And it's basically a big sporting ground park, really well maintained by the council. It's got wildflowers growing in one section. It's got lots of sporting grounds. It's got beautiful big trees. And normally for me, one in a sporting ground, I would kind of be like, hmm. But this one, it was really, you could really see how well the council maintained that park. So that was a really nice one. That was one we never would have found our way around without one of the relive videos. So from Pegasus, we went to Dunedin. And in Dunedin we did one on a Saturday, which was fantastic. Dunedin's parkruns in the botanical gardens and it's really beautiful, very hilly. So you do two small laps down the bottom of the gardens on flat concrete paths and then you go up into the bushland and it's like a trail and you've got views out over the city and it's basically two big loops. And in these two big loops, you're running along a trail and you go up a bit of a hill and then all of a sudden you make a left turn and you're up this big hill with stairs and everyone slows to a walk then. There's no choice. It's just not for these little legs. They don't run up there halfway through a parkrun. So two laps there and then back down to the start line. And that was really beautiful. It was a good one because we thought you could actually challenge yourself on that one. It's not too hard, but it's not just on the flat either. So it's one that you could actually really challenge yourself and eventually figure, you know, maybe I could run this eventually. So from, and the community there was really nice. The people were very friendly, lots of volunteers and lots of friendly people. So we really enjoyed that one. Then we went down, started heading south and there's a parkrun not that far from Dunedin, maybe about an hour, in a little town called Balclutha. So Balclutha is one of these towns that you'd probably just drive through and think, oh, you know, that was Balclutha. We found the park and it was a really pretty little park with a duck pond and we started heading out following the instructions and we ended up within, you know, 200 metres, we ended up on the levee of a river and we're like, This is a bit cool. So we headed out onto this riverbank for about a kilometre and then you turn around and come back and then you go a kilometre or kilometre and a half in the other direction. And when you head back the other direction, there's this huge bridge which you drive across as you come into Balclutha. And you get to run along the side of the bridge and then down under the bridge and then along the other side of the bridge and then back to the start line. So that was really cool. The river there was absolutely beautiful. And having that big bridge, it was like it was really cool. And we both said, gee, we would never have seen this side of this town. We would have just driven past. and not really taking in how lovely it is. So that was nice. Then we went to Invercargill, which is right down the south of the island, and we went there because there's a car museum that Ian wanted to go to. And we'd been through the Catlins, so that's kind of on that part of the island. But Invercargill's not really, it's not a tourist town. So, again, there wasn't really that much that you would go to Invercargill to see except maybe this transport museum that a lot of people go to. But they have, again, they have this massive park in the middle of the centre of town that is just magnificent. It has got everything. It's got gazebos and rose gardens and beautiful big trees and purpose-built paths and running tracks for people. It was absolutely stunning, beautiful place for a parkrun. So we really enjoyed that one. Then we headed around towards the Queenstown Wanaka area. And we did the Wanaka parkrun as a Freedom Run. And that, again, was out and back along the edge of the lake. And it was beautiful. It was a trail. It was just the tiniest little bit up and down. It passes a famous tree in Wanaka called the Wanaka Tree. I don't know why it's famous. It just sticks out of the water. I'm sure many of your listeners would know about it. So I sound pretty... Pretty ignorant by saying that, but anyway, that tells you where it is anyway. It's just along that part of the lake and really, really, really beautiful. The mountains in the background, that part of New Zealand is just stunning. So there's mountains in the background and you're running along this beautiful lake. So that was just lovely. Then we went to Queenstown. Queenstown, oh, my God. We actually met up with our mate and a lot of your listeners would know Tim Baldwin, happened to be in Queenstown at the same time. So we ended up meeting up with Tim there and we all ran the parkrun together and we all agree we were on a parkrun high all day. It was absolutely the most stunning parkrun I've ever done and it was just amazing. It started again by the lake, and you run out along this track and you end up, you go up this hill which is a bitumen hill and you think, oh, my God, do I have to do that twice because it's quite short and sharp. And then you end up running through a botanical garden with roses and lovely green grass. And the next thing you take a turn and you're in this beautiful forest with huge, tall pine trees, pine needles all over the ground. And you can see the lakes through the pine trees and you can see runners running along there. It's absolutely the most stunning thing I've ever seen. And then you make a turn around and you're running along the lake and the lake on one side and the trees on the other and it was just beautiful and those just really iconic New Zealand mountains in the background. And I can imagine in winter they'd be completely covered in snow and they'd be absolutely even more beautiful. And then you do that section twice and then you finish. And it was quite funny at Queenstown because, you know, when they say, Any visitors? Well, Queenstown gets so many visitors that the first thing they said is, is there anyone from New Zealand here? So that was quite funny. So they had lots of people from the UK and Australia and South Africa and everywhere. And they did have quite a few locals there as well. So that was good. And then on the last day we went back to Christchurch and we finished off with Hagley parkrun, which is right in the middle of Christchurch. And, again, this is just a big park. It's got some sporting grounds but it's a big park of many, many uses in the middle of Christchurch and we really enjoyed that one too. So it was just good to do them all. I mean they're all so different and we saw parts of New Zealand that we would never otherwise have seen.

00:23:14Melissa Erbacher: Far out, Nadine. I think you just... I know, I've just talked for a long time, haven't I? You've just like completely mapped an itinerary for my next trip overseas, I think. I'll get my husband to tune in so that he can sign off on it.

00:23:31Nadine Crawford: I'm quite good at that. In my next life, I'm going to be a travel agent. Focusing on parkrun, of course.

00:23:37Melissa Erbacher: Well, what I'm getting from all this, though, is that there is not an ugly parkrun in the south of New Zealand.

00:23:45Nadine Crawford: Well, I certainly didn't find one. So if they're going to make an ugly one, it's yet to come. Okay.

00:23:51Melissa Erbacher: And Queenstown... It was the standout one for you?

00:23:54Nadine Crawford: Oh, absolutely. You ask Tim, get Tim on the line. I was literally on a high. We went out for breakfast and I was just like, oh, oh, my goodness, that was just so amazing. So it was really, it was just stunning, absolutely stunning. Yeah. And, you know, there's been this conversation going on regarding, you know, pretty versus community. That, you know, a lovely location versus do I go to the parkrun for the community or do I go, you know, how do I choose a parkrun? Yes. Oh, my goodness. Queenstown, if you were choosing one for the scenery, that's the one you'd choose.

00:24:33Scott Trickett: Well, I think you've covered most of New Zealand's parkrun or half of New Zealand's parkruns. Let's continue the theme with pretty. Let's talk about Rosebud parkrun.

00:24:42Nadine Crawford: Oh, look, that's got to be the second most beautiful parkrun in the world, doesn't it?

00:24:48Scott Trickett: Pretty good community there on New Year's Day.

00:24:50Nadine Crawford: Yeah, thank you. Yeah, we're very proud of our Rosebud community. Yeah, I think being a double out and back course, it's one of the features of a course like that. You have to make it like that from the start because running past that finish line three times can be quite mentally hard. Well, when we set it up, I thought, oh, my gosh, this is the best place to have, you know, we thought this is the best place to start and finish this course because But you do have to run past the finish line three times. And I thought that would be a real problem. Some people hate it. They hate the double out and back. And some people just love it. So I love the community. I love that I'm always, someone's always like, hi Nadine, hi Nadine, high fives. You know, how you going? Good job. You know, there's lots of that that goes on. And it distracts me from how much it hurts some days. So yeah, we love it.

00:25:50Scott Trickett: Tell us a little bit more about the course apart from being out and back, out and back. It runs along the bay. It runs along the bay.

00:25:57Nadine Crawford: We've got some boardwalk, which is nice, along the sort of bush shrubbery and then the beach on one side. We have some terrible, terrible wind there during winter, which makes it really challenging, but you just feel even more hardcore when you do it on those days. But our main area is a really big open area where everyone can hang out. You can see the beach. You can see Arthur's Seat. If you're there early enough, you can see the sun poking up behind Arthur's Seat, which is really lovely. It's right near the pier, so you can go out for a walk on the pier. We have a playground. We have plenty of toilets and parking for all the people who need those things. And we have the best cafe in the world across the road as well. So literally, it's the best. Sorry, Scotty, it's not Westerfolds. It's Rosebud.

00:26:54Melissa Erbacher: It sounds like I've been going to the wrong Victorian parkruns. You have, Mel. You must come and visit. We'll definitely pop it on my list. Now, you did mention you have been to a few up in Queensland. I did. And obviously now that you've just done a big trip to New Zealand, where to next for somebody who's got an appetite like you do for parkrun adventures?

00:27:17Nadine Crawford: Oh, my goodness. Well, anyone who knows us knows there's always an adventure in the pipeline and I will be back up to see my kids. Both my children live in Queensland, so I'll be back up to see them in May for a few days. So I'm planning to get at least one more. Well, I'm only there for one Saturday, so I'm planning to get one more letter for my alphabet and maybe take in a couple of Freedom Runs on that trip, but our one of our my stepson my husband's son has just moved to the UK so there's a bit of a list forming for parkruns that we want to do over there so yes watch this space well I'm glad we managed to nail you down and get you on the podcast this week because you sound like you're going to be busy off freedom running wherever you go Nadine so thanks for coming on my pleasure any chance to talk about parkrun thank you

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:28:15Scott Trickett: Now one of our roving reporters has been on the ball It's a funny and impressive role in the submissions. You know who we're talking about. Mark has been dazzling us with some stats and some great roving reporting. It's about time we had the discussion about whether he's worthy to enter into the Channel 5 News crew.

00:28:37Melissa Erbacher: Well, the thing is... As with all new entries. Yeah.

00:28:40Scott Trickett: As with all new entries, we're setting challenges. And the challenge for Mark, if he wants to become an official member, is what, Mel?

00:28:49Melissa Erbacher: Well... Being that Mark likes to pop in some stats at the beginning of his roving reports and give us some of that background information, I think he needs to do something a little bit stats related, Scotty. Yes, I agree. And, you know, we're all about the adventuring and we're currently, both of us, even if you don't admit it, are sort of chasing Wilson index numbers at the moment. So the challenge, we made things pretty difficult for Melissa Ellis when she wanted to come on board and join the crew. And she had to up the ante with her game. So I think we definitely need to do that again. And so what do you reckon, Scotty, about he could go to an event? I'm getting cuddles again. That neither of us have on our Wilson Index yet. And just to add a little bit more interest and flavour, he's got to come up with some out there random stats about that particular event that we would never think of.

00:29:53Scott Trickett: Yep. So I want him to do a deep dive. I don't want him to just look at the website and just pull some stats from the website. It's good, but to get into the Channel 5 News crew, you've got to be great. You've got to elevate yourself. So deep dive on the stats. Go to an event that neither of us have on the Wilson Index and you're in, Mark.

00:30:13Melissa Erbacher: Now, we're not going to tell you which Wilson Index numbers we're chasing, so you're going to have to figure that out as well.

00:30:20Scott Trickett: Well, all good statsmen are investigative statsmen as well. Anyway, that's your challenge, Mark. Let's take it away. We're all about the Bs this week. Mark was at Bateman's Bay and Melissa Ellis was at Bannockburn Bush.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Mark Scarborough — Batemans Bay

00:30:35Mark Scarborough: Hello parkrun adventurers, this is Mark and this weekend I've come to Batemans Bay for a bit of parkrun adventuring which is a bit of returning home for me as I spent a few years as a child just down the road from Batemans Bay parkrun. So Batemans Bay parkrun, today completed its 149th event. They have on average a number of 58 runners per week with their highest being 230 with an average run time of 30 minutes and 48 seconds. Today is my 12th different parkrun event in a row and starting to feel a little bit homesick so we'll be returning back to Gungahlin for a little while and probably get a few volunteers in as well to make up my 25. We might have a chat to a few of the parkrunners around. So I'm here with Emma and Lisa and little, what's your name?

00:31:32Unidentified speaker: Theo.

00:31:32Mark Scarborough: Theo, how are you going? This is his first parkrun, so this is a bit exciting, isn't it? Oh, very good.

00:31:39Lisa - Batemans Bay parkrunner: I'm a bit shy today.

00:31:42Mark Scarborough: So Lisa, this is your home parkrun here at Batemans Bay. How long have you been coming here for?

00:31:45Lisa - Batemans Bay parkrunner: I've started parkrun with Emma in November 2016.

00:31:49Mark Scarborough: And how many have you clocked up so far?

00:31:52Lisa - Batemans Bay parkrunner: I think I'm heading towards my 50. I think I'm about 48.

00:31:54Mark Scarborough: Oh, excellent.

00:31:56Lisa - Batemans Bay parkrunner: So I'm hoping Emma will come back from Melbourne and do 50 with me. Easter.

00:32:01Mark Scarborough: And you flew in from Melbourne last night, Emma?

00:32:03Emma - Melbourne parkrunner: Yeah, so I flew in last night into Sydney, came in to Broulee about 11.30 and got up this morning for a parkrun with Mum and Theo, so good times.

00:32:13Mark Scarborough: And where do you normally run in Melbourne?

00:32:15Emma - Melbourne parkrunner: I ride at Chelsea Bicentennial, so it's sort of on the outskirts of Melbourne towards Mornington Peninsula.

00:32:22Mark Scarborough: And how many parkruns have you racked up?

00:32:24Emma - Melbourne parkrunner: I think this is my 55th. Very good. Yeah, very exciting.

00:32:28Mark Scarborough: And do either of you get out and do some parkrun adventuring?

00:32:32Lisa - Batemans Bay parkrunner: I'd like to. In July, my husband and I are heading up to Weipa, and my goal is to run parkrun at Weipa.

00:32:39Mark Scarborough: Excellent. This is my 12th different parkrun event in a row. I've been getting out and I was just saying that I'm feeling a little bit homesick and it's time to go back. I'm from Canberra and we'll be sticking to our Gungahlin course for a while. So what about yourself? Do you get out anywhere in Melbourne?

00:32:58Emma - Melbourne parkrunner: I've done the Albert Park, Chelsea Bicentennial, Marriott Waters and Geelong. And then I do Batemans Bay.

00:33:09Mark Scarborough: I've done Albert Park I think three times now. And we did Studley not long ago. So maybe go and check out Studley. And number one here.

00:33:22Lisa - Batemans Bay parkrunner: Man of few words. That's all right. Where did you do your last week's parkrun?

00:33:28Mark Scarborough: Where was last week? Queanbeyan in Canberra. I do hope to get out and do Jindabyne soon, altitude training yeah I want to get there before it gets too cold yeah um and then probably barrel but then they're all starting to get far away where you've got to actually travel the night before so yeah but we're down here camping and the the family didn't come come out it's a little bit drizzly here at Batemans Bay today normally it's a nice blue skies here but yeah they stayed back at the tent they wouldn't come out what a shame yeah it's actually good running conditions because it's nice and cool Well, it is. I got a one-minute PB for this course today, so it is good conditions. Congratulations.

00:34:10Lisa - Batemans Bay parkrunner: So when we go to Gungahlin, we ask for who?

00:34:12Mark Scarborough: Mark.

00:34:13Lisa - Batemans Bay parkrunner: Mark, okay. We'll look for Mark.

00:34:14Mark Scarborough: Gungahlin's a beautiful course. It's a five-kilometre loop around Yerrabi Pond, and it's really flat. So it's kind of similar to Albert Park in the sense it's around a big body of water, and it's flat out. So, yeah, when you come to Canberra, come check out Gungahlin.

00:34:28Lisa - Batemans Bay parkrunner: We definitely will. All right.

00:34:30Mark Scarborough: Thanks for talking to us on parkrun adventurers.

00:34:32Lisa - Batemans Bay parkrunner: Thanks, Mark.

00:34:35Mark Scarborough: I'm now with Kim, who's the Event Director for Batemans Bay parkrun. Good morning, Kim. How are you?

00:34:40Kim - Event Director, Batemans Bay parkrun: Good. Good. Thanks, Mark.

00:34:41Mark Scarborough: And how was your parkrun this morning?

00:34:44Kim - Event Director, Batemans Bay parkrun: Slow as usual, but very enjoyable. That's the reason I do it, for the happy smiles and the people. So I had a great time, even though I'm a little bit slow.

00:34:51Mark Scarborough: And you were just saying that you're enjoying the little bit of drizzle this morning.

00:34:53Kim - Event Director, Batemans Bay parkrun: Yes, I like the rain because it keeps you cool, I think. I suffer terribly in the heat, so a little bit of rain falling on you isn't a problem at all.

00:35:02Mark Scarborough: And were you the founding Event Director for Batemans Bay?

00:35:05Kim - Event Director, Batemans Bay parkrun: No, I wasn't the founding director. That was a gentleman called Gavin Mackay, a lovely Scottish fellow who's since returned to Scotland and managed to wrangle me into the job before he left.

00:35:14Mark Scarborough: So how long have you been the big cheese here?

00:35:16Kim - Event Director, Batemans Bay parkrun: I am coming up to two years in May. Our third anniversary will be my second anniversary. Yeah, wow. Okay, very good.

00:35:23Mark Scarborough: And you were just telling me that you ran Gungahlin parkrun, my home parkrun, before Batemans Bay?

00:35:28Kim - Event Director, Batemans Bay parkrun: I did. I can't remember. It was my first ever parkrun at Gungahlin. I actually really like Gungahlin because it's quite flat and there's shade. Something we don't have here in Batemans Bay. While we've got beautiful waterfront, you're in the sun all the way on a hot day. Whereas Gungahlin, there's a bit of shade here and there, which I really enjoy.

00:35:44Mark Scarborough: And how are you finding the numbers here? Like you typically get around 50 on average. How are the numbers growing this year?

00:35:49Kim - Event Director, Batemans Bay parkrun: The numbers have definitely grown. So probably same time last year, we were around about 30 to 40 regulars. We had a boom. Our biggest record-breaking number over Christmas was 236. And for us, that's absolutely huge. And we broke our record by about 60 runners that day. So there's been a bit of a push to get a lot of businesses involved in our local parkrun. So sometimes they fill the volunteer roster. Yeah. And because of that, a lot of them are dribbling in to become parkrunners as well. So that's really helped our numbers grow a bit. So we're definitely at the sustainable stage. We don't want to get too big because we've got that footpath into town that can only take so many runners. So we're kind of hoping we don't grow as big as some of the big parkruns around. But happy with our numbers, especially on a rainy day where we've still got a good crowd turning up.

00:36:35Mark Scarborough: Yeah, look, I was actually quite surprised at how many people did turn up for a bit of a drizzly day. So that's good dedication. And in the running brief, there's a bit of a joke there about more tourists than actual locals, being the Canberra Day long weekend weekend.

00:36:48Kim - Event Director, Batemans Bay parkrun: We do get a lot of Canberrans every weekend because obviously it's a good Canberra holiday spot. But the good thing is not only do we get Canberra visitors, but some of them are also starting to fill our volunteer roster. They've run with us so many times. I think we've got two today. I think one's from Newcastle and one's from Canberra on our volunteer roster today. So that's really helpful as well.

00:37:07Mark Scarborough: All right. So for our listeners, can you describe your course?

00:37:10Kim - Event Director, Batemans Bay parkrun: Our course is a two-loop course, flat, dead flat, and follows the water all the way. A lot of people like the two-loop course, some don't, but it's the only place we've got in Batemans Bay really that we could have a parkrun, so that's the way it is. Especially nice is running out to the end of our marina break wall, and for the last few months there's been a lovely feature at the end, a big pelican and crab sculpture has been placed there in the last couple of months, and the octopus in town so we're getting apparently more sculptures are going to be going in over the next couple of months so it's going to be quite a scenic, even more scenic than it is now.

00:37:47Mark Scarborough: Yeah, very good. Well, thank you for having me here. As I was saying before, this is actually a bit returning to home. I spent the first couple of my years as a child growing up here, and just across the road there was the old preschool that I used to go to. So, yeah, Batemans Bay is a bit like returning home for me, so it was good. But I'm looking forward to returning back to my home parkrun next week after doing 12 different parkruns in a row. So it's time to just get back to Gungahlin for a while and do some loops there. So thanks for your time.

00:38:15Kim - Event Director, Batemans Bay parkrun: No worries. Thank you.

00:38:18Mark Scarborough: So before I run away from Batemans Bay, I was actually pointed to Louise, who you're a bit of a parkrun adventurer as well, I believe.

00:38:24Louise - Batemans Bay parkrunner: Yes, I am. I have two home parkruns. One, which is Batemans Bay here in Australia. And I also run at Lytham Hall in the UK. And my big challenge at the moment is to complete the alphabet, which I'm doing over both countries. And it's great fun.

00:38:41Mark Scarborough: How many letters have you got to go on the alphabet challenge?

00:38:43Louise - Batemans Bay parkrunner: got five to go and I've targeted some parkruns.

00:38:48Mark Scarborough: So when do you anticipate completing it then, noting you're going to be doing it between the two countries?

00:38:53Louise - Batemans Bay parkrunner: I'm hoping to complete it by the end of the year and I'm also hoping to get a parkrun in Hong Kong, not Hong Kong, Japan at the Rugby World Cup because they're just starting parkrun this year.

00:39:05Mark Scarborough: Wow, so you are truly an international adventurer.

00:39:09Louise - Batemans Bay parkrunner: I am indeed. The only other, I've done parkruns in the UK, Australia, one in Italy, and I've got Japan targeted.

00:39:17Mark Scarborough: That's excellent. And any other of the parkrun challenges that you've completed or chasing still?

00:39:23Louise - Batemans Bay parkrunner: Well, I'm looking at parkrun bingo, but that's very hard to do. And there's the pirate challenge, which I think I'll be able to complete as well.

00:39:33Mark Scarborough: Yeah, I've done the Staying Alive Challenge and I'm trying to get my kids across the line. They've just got the 1B left to go for that one and I think the Pirates one would be another good one that I think the kids would enjoy getting behind.

00:39:43Louise - Batemans Bay parkrunner: Yeah, now the challenge is a really good fun. Obviously you've got your challenge of the number of parkruns you do, your PBs, but then these challenges are just a bit of fun and encourages you to just look at different parkruns and when you're travelling to plan your travelling a bit differently.

00:40:01Mark Scarborough: And what's your theory on the bingos thing? Should it be allowed to be manipulated by watching the stopwatch and your time as you're crossing the line or should it just be left to chance?

00:40:11Louise - Batemans Bay parkrunner: I think left to chance is much more fun.

00:40:14Mark Scarborough: It is frustrating but fun.

00:40:16Louise - Batemans Bay parkrunner: Indeed, indeed.

00:40:17Mark Scarborough: So this is your last hurrah here in Batemans Bay for a while where you go back to the UK. How long will you be spending in the UK?

00:40:23Louise - Batemans Bay parkrunner: Well, I'll be in the UK for four months, back here, then back to the UK. I'm a bit of a nomad, really. Then the Rugby World Cup and then back here for the rest of the year.

00:40:34Mark Scarborough: Very good. Well, safe travels and hopefully you cross paths again. I can find out about how you've gone with all those challenges.

00:40:40Louise - Batemans Bay parkrunner: Thank you. Good to meet you.

00:40:41Mark Scarborough: You too.

Roving report Melissa Ellis — Bannockburn Bush

00:40:44Melissa Ellis: Good morning, parkrun adventurers. It's Melissa here coming to you from Bannockburn Bush parkrun in Victoria. Bannockburn is a small rural township about 80 odd k's southwest of Melbourne and it's near Geelong. Now I've got with me Event Director Julie. Good morning, Julie. How are you? I'm very good, thank you. Congratulations on your parkrun. Thank you. It's very pretty. It is a very pretty parkrun. It's a trail, correct?

00:41:09Julie - Event Director, Bannockburn Bush parkrun: Yeah, yeah. It's not a gravel road. It's just an earth road. Yeah, so I guess you'd call it trail. Yep. So it's an out and back with a short finger to make up the 5K. Is this plantation? Part of it. I don't think it will be continued as plantation. They're logging parts of it. Yep. And then that'll, I think once it's grown back, it will just be left. Yeah, it's very pretty.

00:41:29Louise - Batemans Bay parkrunner: I think it was planted a long, long, long time ago by the primary school.

00:41:33Julie - Event Director, Bannockburn Bush parkrun: Ah. I think. Yeah, I'm not too sure about that. But it is beautiful.

00:41:38Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Okay, and how did Bannockburn parkrun come to be?

00:41:42Julie - Event Director, Bannockburn Bush parkrun: Came to be by our now mayor, who at the time wasn't, just put a post on Facebook and said, does anyone want to meet up for a run? And I'd always wanted to run, and I couldn't. So I said to a girlfriend, let's go down and meet him. I think seven of us turned up. And so for about 12 months, we just ran. We tried to do 5Ks every Saturday. And then he popped the question and said, let's try and be parkrun. Well, we thought, what's parkrun? We'd never done parkrun. We'd never heard of parkrun. And so we're probably the first event team, maybe, who had never done parkrun. Yeah, wow. And it's a very passionate group of people, and so we have no problems with volunteers because we started with that passionate core group. Because you've got a small population here. The town's about 5,000, 6,000 people, but our district is quite... Teesdale, Inverleigh and Lethbridge mainly. So they're within sort of 12km of Bannockburn. So we cover a wide area. It used to be more farming but now people have moved out from Geelong. So last year we averaged about 80 runners. That's pretty good. Our numbers were down this year. I'm not sure why but it's a fun group of people that turn up here. It's good.

00:43:03Melissa Ellis: Excellent. It's my second visit here. I was here for event two, and I'm happy today to get number 72 for my Wilson Index. Did you enjoy your run? I walked today with my daughter. So, yeah, you haven't got the toilet facilities here, but they're not too far away, are they?

00:43:19Julie - Event Director, Bannockburn Bush parkrun: Well, the men don't have a problem.

00:43:22Melissa Ellis: There's plenty of trees.

00:43:23Julie - Event Director, Bannockburn Bush parkrun: No, the toilets. See, there's nothing. We don't have a shelter. We don't have toilets. We don't have water. But I think that makes us a little bit unique. Yeah. If you want to come, you're aware of those things. Yep. So you come. And those that need toilets, I guess, just don't visit. Has everybody come back for the brunch cafe? Oh, absolutely, um they now put a table aside for us there's a beautiful Bannockburn station an old railway station that we go to with a beautiful oak tree so in the warmer months they put a table out there for us and put reserved on it um yeah we can have 20 odd people no that's good yeah so it's real social yeah it is it is yeah it is good okay all right well thank you very much for talking to me today it's nice to meet you you too I'll see you around you will okay so we've

00:44:10Melissa Ellis: We're at brunch now, and we've travelled a short distance to lovely Bannockburn Station, and we're sitting under a lovely shady oak tree, and I've got with me Parth and Irene Bommakanti. Hi, guys. Hey.

00:44:23Parth Bommakanti: Hey, Mel.

00:44:24Melissa Ellis: Hi, how are you? I'm good. So firstly, Parth, congratulations today. So you've now gained regionaire statesmanship in Victoria here at Bannockburn. So was there any particular reason you chose Bannockburn or did the cards just fall that way?

00:44:42Parth Bommakanti: I think the cards just fell that way. I think because Irene did Bannockburn Bush earlier on and I missed out. So I thought I'd come and do it here. And it's a nice kind of bush place and... It looked really good on the video that Mark Smith did.

00:44:58Melissa Ellis: It's very pretty.

00:44:59Parth Bommakanti: It is.

00:45:00Melissa Ellis: Now, you and Irene are Westerfoldians.

00:45:03Parth Bommakanti: Yes, we are.

00:45:04Melissa Ellis: And you're the number three and four Westerfoldians to achieve the statesmanship in Victoria.

00:45:09Parth Bommakanti: Yes, I just thought of that. Yes, good point.

00:45:12Irene Bommakanti: Derek and Linda Allen.

00:45:13Melissa Ellis: Yes. There's now, I think there's six of us that originated from Berwick Springs and four Westerfoldians, so you're the 20th as well? Yes. Statesman, current statesman.

00:45:25Parth Bommakanti: People have achieved that previously.

00:45:27Melissa Ellis: So Irene, what's next of your challenges now that you've both achieved this goal?

00:45:33Irene Bommakanti: We've actually got a few challenges coming up. We're actually going to New Zealand for our 25th wedding anniversary. And we'll be doing three parkruns there. So our first one is Queenstown for our Alphabeteer Club, unofficial. And then two weeks later, we're going to do Cornwall Park in Auckland, which will be our Pirate Club. So that's our current one. But later in the year, we want to do Peel Club.

00:46:02Parth Bommakanti: And then after that, we want to do 100 different parkruns. Yeah. What's that called again?

00:46:08Irene Bommakanti: Cowell Club. The Cowell Club.

00:46:09Parth Bommakanti: So we want to do that as well.

00:46:11Melissa Ellis: And I've got one final question I wanted to ask you. How do you think parkrun has changed you?

00:46:18Parth Bommakanti: Well, I think the fact that parkrun is a regular event with a community of like-minded people There's a sense of belonging, which, you know, as a couple, just being by ourselves doing our thing, you don't get the same sense of belonging. Even though there are family and other friends around, being part of a community of like-minded people who, no matter where you go in Australia, no matter where you go in the world, you know there's parkrunners around. There's such a sense of, I guess, comfort and such a sense of security.

00:46:50Irene Bommakanti: It is.

00:46:51Parth Bommakanti: So that's what it is, I think. That's how it's helped me. What about you, Irene?

00:46:56Irene Bommakanti: Yeah, it's made me more social, that's for sure. I mean, I used to be quite withdrawn. So it's nice to meet people that you've seen at different parkruns and, I don't know, to brunch with new people and a lot of parkrun stats going on there. And a lot of parkrun stories. And parkrun stories.

00:47:19Parth Bommakanti: So it's a real sharing community that we feel part of.

00:47:23Irene Bommakanti: It is.

00:47:23Parth Bommakanti: And one of the other things that I love about parkrun, how it changes you, is... You get to see other people and you get inspired by what other people are doing. And it's not often that you come across a community where there's a whole bunch of inspiring people in the community. And I just think there's so much there to give you more pleasure in life, more kind of oomph to do the things that, like my daily job. This is what parkrun does. It kind of gives you that oomph to go through the week, do your thing, and always have something to look forward to.

00:47:55Melissa Ellis: I agree. Thank you.

00:47:56Parth Bommakanti: Very motivating.

00:47:57Melissa Ellis: Thank you. Well, you guys enjoy your holiday. Thank you. And we'll see you again soon at parkrun.

00:48:03Irene Bommakanti: Thank you. Thanks, Mel.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:48:04Melissa Erbacher: We still do not have any launches to announce for the coming weekend, Scotty, but there are a few anniversaries happening here, there and everywhere. Shall we head to those?

00:48:14Scott Trickett: We should. A lot of Cs, a lot of pirates. If you want to party and get your C, head to Campbelltown in New South Wales, Cardwell in Queensland or Coombs in the ACT. That's pretty awesome, isn't it?

00:48:27Melissa Erbacher: It's a pirate type of weekend. But if you are already in the Pirate Club and you don't need to add any more Cs, you could also head to Forest Lake in Queensland, Maylands Peninsula in WA or Rockhampton, which is in Queensland.

00:48:44Scott Trickett: And the final one is Yamba in New South Wales.

Flashbacks

00:48:47Scott Trickett: And speaking of the final one, Mel, are you ready for the final flashback segment? 26th of January was the final weekend that we had off from the podcast that we also got along to a parkrun. It was my wedding anniversary. So I celebrated by going to one of my Well, nearly buggered it up for myself there, Mel, by declaring that Phillip Island parkrun is one of my favourites. Been there a few times. Absolutely love going there. Didn't disappoint again on the 26th. They have a farmer's market. I think the last few times I've been to Phillip Island, like it's not a weekly regular thing, but I think they put it on for me because I think every time I've done it, there's been some sort of market. Which I really appreciate. So thanks to the team at Phillip Island for organising that.

00:49:45Melissa Erbacher: Do you not just think perhaps it's the last weekend that you visit Phillip Island every time? One might come to that conclusion.

00:49:52Scott Trickett: But I'm going with the – it's put on just for me.

00:49:58Melissa Erbacher: That seems fair enough. I have now got a Cocker Spaniel in my lap.

00:50:04Unidentified speaker: Okay.

00:50:04Melissa Erbacher: And as well as a toddler. I hope you're really starting to appreciate what it's like to have a professional co-host, Scotty.

00:50:16Scott Trickett: No, I like it. I like it. This was my idea. I encouraged Wes to come on the podcast.

00:50:21Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, so if you've got any complaints, people, write in to Scotty.

00:50:25Scott Trickett: Take it away. Where were you on the 26th? I'm guessing you were at Kawana.

00:50:30Melissa Erbacher: Why are you guessing that?

00:50:32Scott Trickett: Because I looked you up.

00:50:34Melissa Erbacher: Okay. So it's not so much a guess as an educated – well, it's not an assumption. You already know. Okay. Yes, I was at Kawana. It was the last week of the beach course for 2018-19 summer. So always a special one. But it was extra special because we had – special guest come to visit he he drove all the way from Newcastle came up on the Friday and stayed the night just to do Kawana parkrun and headed off the next day not too much longer after the event I think come here I think he went I I think he went for a swim before he headed off. And I am, of course, talking about Michael Sharp, who is the co-ED at the Beaches parkrun, which we are very, very soon heading off to, Scotty. Like, I can almost count the days. I probably could count the days if I got a calendar out, actually.

00:51:38Scott Trickett: Have we got somewhere to stay? Just jumping off topic.

00:51:41Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, we booked an – well, and by we booked accommodation, I booked accommodation.

00:51:46Scott Trickett: You did it good. Just checking. Because I don't want to be sleeping on the beach. I want to parkrun on the beach. Not too keen sleeping.

00:51:53Melissa Erbacher: No. Well, we will be sleeping in a normal housing type situation. So don't worry about that. More fun to be had across the weekend if you're not freezing and having sand in all your crevices.

00:52:07Scott Trickett: But Michael visited Kawana.

00:52:09Melissa Erbacher: He did. And guess what he did while he was there? And a bit random, he brought a specimen jar along with him. And it's the first time I've ever seen anybody with a specimen jar at parkrun.

00:52:23Scott Trickett: This could take a turn.

00:52:27Melissa Erbacher: Brilliant idea, though. It was full of sand from the Beaches. Oh, thank God. And so what we did was we sprinkled some of the sand from The Beaches at Kawana and then he scooped up a bunch of the Kawana sand to take back to The Beaches to sprinkle down there. So now our events are sand siblings. How cool is that?

00:52:48Scott Trickett: Yeah, that's a good idea. Good. So when we go to the Beaches, you'll feel at home almost.

00:52:54Melissa Erbacher: Absolutely. I'm sure I will be standing on the exact grains of sand that came from my home event. At some point during the morning.

00:53:04Scott Trickett: Should I send up a specimen of dirt, a specimen jar of dirt from Westerfolds?

00:53:11Melissa Erbacher: I don't know. Maybe if it was once underneath the ocean. Is there any evidence to support that kind of claim?

00:53:25Scott Trickett: Maybe a long, long time ago. Okay. Or maybe in the next few years.

00:53:30Melissa Erbacher: Or maybe in the next few years. Maybe in the not-too-distant future.

Sign-off

00:53:34Scott Trickett: Yeah. Oh, I hear tears. So let's wrap up. Flashbacks. Shall we end the podcast this week? Wesley, is he there?

00:53:35[other]

00:53:48Melissa Erbacher: Wesley's here, but it looks like the showman is making a guest appearance on the podcast also. Yeah. And he's, yeah, we're podcasting. And Wesley is co-hosting with me this week.

00:54:05Scott Trickett: Good. I think we can categorically say it's been an epic fail.

00:54:11Melissa Erbacher: An epic fail. Well, Wesley is starting to throw vehicles around the house now. It is descending into chaos.

00:54:22Scott Trickett: Because, like, I mean, maybe he's too young. Maybe I'm willing to accept that now.

00:54:31Melissa Erbacher: But in three months' time, when he has a little sibling, you know, he should have matured a lot, I think. He could make a great co-host, Scotty. Are you telling Scotty to go, Wes?

00:54:44Scott Trickett: On that note, yeah, I think he is. On that note, thank you, Wesley, for joining us. for episode 149. Thank you, Mel.

00:54:53Melissa Erbacher: Hold on a second. Let me get Wes to give you a kiss goodbye. Wes, give Scotty a kiss goodbye. You've got to make the noise. No, he's doing silent kisses. He expects you to make the lip-smacking noise, Scotty.

00:55:07Scott Trickett: Well, I forgot to add sound effects to the podcast last week, and I'll forget to add them this week, so that's a new tradition.

00:55:16Melissa Erbacher: So we didn't have any harps last week for our flashbacks. Did we have you going?

00:55:22Scott Trickett: Remember my old gag that I like to trot out when I go to say something and I'm not supposed to say it. So a train comes through or a plane flies over. Well, I did that in the Nick Pearson interview, but then I forgot to add the plane or the train because people are hanging on to find out when parkrun Japan is going to launch.

00:55:44Melissa Erbacher: That would have been really good.

00:55:47Scott Trickett: Yeah. Keep listening to the podcast next week and you might find out. There's a tease. Always leaving with a tease. Thanks, Mel. Thanks, Wes.