Episode 153 - parkrun Japan

Welcome

00:00:20Scott Trickett: How fitting for episode 153. It's the 153rd time we're recording the parkrun adventurers podcast. My name is Scotty Trickett. I'm joined by my co-host, Mel Erbacher. Hi, Mel.

00:00:35Melissa Erbacher: Hey, Scotty. How are you doing this week?

00:00:37Scott Trickett: I'm super. Just super. Fresh off a parkrun with the showman down at Parkville. I want the behind-the-scenes feedback.

00:00:47Melissa Erbacher: Oh, of how that went?

00:00:50Scott Trickett: Yes, because he was all pleasantries and niceties on the morning, how lovely morning it was. But he might have got home and said, oh, my God.

00:00:58Melissa Erbacher: Well, no.

00:00:59Scott Trickett: This is the true story.

00:01:02Melissa Erbacher: He's not so two-faced as all that. No, he had a really good morning, I was advised, especially since he got to run with you and I believe he did a faster time than he's done in recent months, probably aided by the fact that he wasn't pushing 20 kilos of pram and toddler. It does help. It does, but also I think the fact that he had somebody to run with and chat with the whole time. So, yeah, that was the report from the behind-the-scenes side over in the Urbacher household.

00:01:42Scott Trickett: Yeah, well, that was my memory of the morning too. We had a lovely run down at Parkville. Parkville's dead flat, so it was a good opportunity to stretch the legs out. I was testing the hammy. Remember that old story of I had a sore hammy? Yeah, I do remember. Yeah, well, I'll put that to rest.

00:01:59Melissa Erbacher: Oh, so it's all good again now?

00:02:01Scott Trickett: It's feeling pretty good. I've got remarkable recovery properties.

00:02:04Melissa Erbacher: You know, it was probably the beaches that healed you. There's nothing like the sea air and the salt water to cure your ails.

00:02:15Scott Trickett: It could be. I recommend it because the hammy is still a little bit tight, in fact, very tight. I followed up parkrun with a 15K trail run on Sunday morning.

00:02:24Russ: Oh.

00:02:25Scott Trickett: I was dragging my leg from about 10K, but that's okay. I was under a bit of pressure because I was paced by a nine-year-old. We went for a trail run around Sugarloaf Reservoir, where I think I've taken- Yes, we've been there. We were in the Sherman before. Yeah. Beautiful spot close to my home. And it was with the Westerfoldians, and we all went out in a group. And we got a youngster, Matthew, little Matty, took off out the front. And I thought, someone's got to stay with this kid. He's only nine. And we took off and got through 15K chatting the whole way. Spent over an hour chatting to a nine-year-old running around the trails of Miltman. It was a great morning, but tested the hamstring.

00:03:07Melissa Erbacher: 15K for a nine-year-old. That's incredible. Yeah.

00:03:10Scott Trickett: pretty incredible isn't it puts it in perspective this what kids are capable of you know I remember when we launched junior parkrun questions were asked is 2k too far should kids be running 5k parkrun I think some kids you know whether it's should or shouldn't I think it doesn't suit all kids but then there are some kids that can and they can run 15k and and keep up a conversation and never show any signs of exhaustion it was pretty it was pretty remarkable stuff

00:03:37Melissa Erbacher: It's those fresh young legs who obviously don't have as many kilometres in them as some of us older legs have. That's my story.

00:03:47Scott Trickett: Speaking of old legs, well, how did the pins hold up over the weekend?

00:03:52Melissa Erbacher: Well, I didn't have to push them over five kilometres or even 15 kilometres, Scotty. I was volunteering, on Saturday as the showman was down gallivanting about the Victorian countryside with persons such as yourself. I had Wes and my impending second child keeping me company, that was interesting we were volunteering we had a new Run Director on the roster last weekend at Kawana so I was shadowing him to make sure he felt comfortable doing everything he needed to be doing and um Wes allowed me to do that quite substantially from the jungle gym or the swing in the park so it was a very hands-off approach there was no micromanaging involved in making sure that our new Run Director felt confident in doing what he was doing. He did a great job. Made my job very easy for the morning as well.

00:04:58Lyndell Murray: But it was good fun. It was nice to be home.

00:05:01Melissa Erbacher: You know, whenever you have a big, fun weekend away like we did at Palm, you always wonder if the following weekend's going to be a bit flat, a bit of a letdown. But it was nice to be home.

00:05:14Scott Trickett: It always is nice to be home. Great to hear. Now, we've got a chockers episode. 153 is full of fun from Japan. We're going to catch up with a couple of parkrunners who were at the launch. But we've also got a ton of roving reports. And I'm going to link this. So I'm surprising you here. I'm deviating completely from our run sheet. When I was at Parkville on Saturday, I recognised a parkrunner in an apricot in the wild out here in Australia, the old apricot tops. But I saw it and I knew I recognised her. Do you remember Miff Winnie from Dalby parkrun?

00:05:52Melissa Erbacher: Yes, I do.

00:05:53Scott Trickett: Our Event Director there, she's been on the podcast before. Well, she was at parkrun, at Parkville on Saturday. And the link is, Lyndell was at Dalby parkrun on Saturday, and she filed a roving report.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:06:06Scott Trickett: So we're going to lead, we're going to split up our roving reports. We're going to lead with the ladies. So let's hear from Lyndell first up, and then Melissa Ellis went down to one of the new events at Lorne Beach. And then we might come back and hear about Japan. How does that sound? Sounds like a plan, Scotty.

Roving report Lyndell Murray — Dalby

00:06:23Lyndell Murray: Good morning, Scotty and Mel and all the parkrun adventurers. It's Lyndell. And I have ventured today up to Dalby, a couple of hundred Ks west of Brisbane. I'm here, I'm sure you've gathered, for my D, my second last letter in the alphabet, um I tell you what it's the weekend before game of thrones hits our screens for the last series ever and I tell you what winter has come to Dalby it's a it's a cool sort of 15 degrees and the the locals have already told me that um it hasn't been this cold before so perfect timing um I'm just going to have a chat to the couple of locals go for a run and um I'll check in with you after the run All righty. We've been for our run. I've caught back up with Darren and Murray. Now, as soon as I rocked up to Dalby, these guys are like, G'day, how are you going? I think they're the friendliest blokes in town. So what's happened for you today, Darren?

00:07:23Darren: Today was my 50th run, and also as part of my Gold Coast Marathon training program, I had to do a PB. So I had to give it a red-hot go, and I beat it by a minute 50.

00:07:34Lyndell Murray: A minute 50? Yeah.

00:07:36Darren: Yep, sure did. So my previous PB was 22.43. And yeah, so a minute 50, that's pretty exciting. See, I got two thumbs up.

00:07:46Lyndell Murray: Pretty awesome. High five. High fives all around. Now, I understand that was very technical advice from your coach, was literally to give it a red hot go.

00:07:58Darren: Yes, it was, yeah, his exact words, yes.

00:08:01Lyndell Murray: Well, that worked. I mean, no point saying, you know, do a heart rate of this or a pace of this. Just give it a red-hot go.

00:08:07Darren: Yeah, that's right, yeah. So, yeah, so it takes the pressure off because, you know, if you want to achieve a PV, it's a bit nerve-wracking. And, yeah, so a red-hot go. I gave it a go. I'm still nervous.

00:08:22Lyndell Murray: Don't be nervous. You've done what you set out to do. That's right. Now, Murray, what's your story for today?

00:08:28Murray: Today was my 95th parkrun. So five more and I'll be the first person to run 100 Dalby parkruns. And also my personal 100 as well. And today I've done a 26 and a half. So I'm getting down to the 25 odd minutes. 25.08 is my best time, type thing so I'm out here to support Darren on his 50th as well and uh yeah and get a bit of inspiration from him doing his a marathon training as well so yeah so during the week I've been trying to push like a seven or eight or up to a 10k during the week just to sort of push the legs out to see if my 5k time will get a bit better so so far so good yeah well that sounds great now 100 runs at Dalby how many runs have there been here uh this was today 112 so yeah so I've done 95 of them yeah but the funny thing is this is a great parkrun story the first parkrun I went to I actually went to the park in Dalby yeah and it's not in the park it's actually at the head this is the edward street Weir which is nowhere near the park so it should be called your creek run

00:09:35Russ: Yeah, the Dalby Creek run. Creek run, right.

00:09:38Murray: And they would have found it, yeah, because the first couple I missed because I was in the park waiting for everyone to run past me and there was nobody there because they were all at the creek, yeah.

00:09:48Lyndell Murray: So, so, hold on, hold on, let me get this straight. Not once, not twice, three, how many times did you do that?

00:09:54Murray: Probably three times I'm waiting for everybody, yeah, to come around at the park, at parkrun on Saturday mornings, yeah. And I go, I don't think this is a thing. I thought it was April Fool, because it was about April as well. Yeah, right. Yeah, two years ago. And I go, oh, yeah. And then I said to Darren, where were you? And he goes, no, we're down at a creek. So anyway, so I finally turned up, down the creek one Saturday morning and yeah that was 95 runs ago yeah all right so you haven't missed that many no I haven't missed that many so I should probably volunteer a little bit more but I will once I crack the hundred crack your hundred and then get into volunteering maybe do some tail walks and you get a run and a volunteer that's good and set up as well I believe oh set up yeah you set up and then run afterwards so I think

00:10:38Lyndell Murray: Well, there's no excuses, Murray. Get into it.

00:10:40Murray: Yeah, that's right. Yeah, no excuse. That's what Darren's trying to say. So, yeah, no excuse. That's right. Yeah.

00:10:47Lyndell Murray: All right. Now, Darren, you're getting ready for the Gold Coast Marathon. Is that right? Is it your first marathon?

00:10:53Darren: No, this is my second one, so I got a time to beat now so my first marathon was four hours 24 so because I know how the course goes and all that I've I now know a bit more what techniques to use and just yeah try and apply them on roadster yeah psych out everybody just you know yeah just look at everyone sideways a bit and psych them out yeah I should do that yeah yeah The good thing about running, I reckon, though, is we all encourage each other. No matter where we are with running, whether you're a fast runner, medium runner, more walk or anything, we all encourage each other. So, yeah, I always like to encourage people.

00:11:35Lyndell Murray: Especially here at parkrun. Now, your mate that I was talking to earlier, he ended up volunteering today out on High Five Corner.

00:11:41Murray: Yeah, young Macca. Yeah, he was out there. He loves a good high five and that sort of stuff. He does some boxing training, so you've got to be careful because he will rip your shoulder off if you get a decent high five out of him.

00:11:53Lyndell Murray: Well, I'm glad he gave me a high five and didn't practice his boxing on me.

00:11:57Murray: Yeah, that's right.

00:11:59Russ: Yeah, exactly.

00:12:00Murray: Yeah, he probably will lift you up and throw you in the creek. So I think, yeah, he's a solid young lad. So yeah, but no, Macca's good value. So yeah, he comes along to parkrun.

00:12:09Lyndell Murray: And happy to step up to volunteer at the last moment.

00:12:12Murray: Oh yeah, absolutely as well. So that's, that's a great way to, yeah, to show some solidarity and support for parkrun and that sort of stuff. It's been a community event as well. So yeah, top thing. So yeah, hats off and kudos to young Macca as well. So yeah.

00:12:27Lyndell Murray: Shout out to Macca. Alrighty, guys. Well, thank you so much for talking to me. And thanks for making me feel really welcome here at Dalby.

00:12:34Murray: No problem. It was great to have you here. No worries. Thanks for coming. No worries.

00:12:37Lyndell Murray: Now, something that I've never seen at parkrun before is a basket full of tin cans, that people are carrying around and clipped to their waist belts um and I've got the person who's originating all of that what's your name and what are you doing at parkrun hi it's Nicole Bovin and cash and I'm an artist I'm doing an artist in residency in Dalby for the parkrun

00:13:03Nicole Bovin: so what I'm doing is it's a project that we we're fully funded for and which we can then encourage people to be outside getting up active and so forth but the result of that isn't just the fitness and the social side that we all know about but they actually get a piece of artwork at the end of the day they all become artists it's a three-pronged project Not only do we do that, and I'm doing that up until June, we've also got a photojournalist working with the people who are registering, generally seniors we're targeting specifically, and people with disabilities, but we're also involved with community. And then we pair them up with the school children. They get interviewed from the school children, and then that and the artworks collectively go to an exhibition at 107 Gallery later in the year. As well as Delightful and Delicious, we're also going to have a stall there. Yeah.

00:13:53Lyndell Murray: All right. So the idea is, is that if you wouldn't normally be active, maybe art or creativity is a way to get people active.

00:14:01Nicole Bovin: Indeed. That's the way. It's the only way that I'd get up and be active. That's for sure. Though I do have a three wheeler bike and I do walk a lot. But I become the maker of my own art so other people can do the same. And it's amazing that they all are similar because they're using the same process, which is just a weighted pen over paper and a Billy can. But the resulting images are amazing, as you saw. They are.

00:14:26Lyndell Murray: There's, you know, they're kind of the same, but they're different. Yeah. You know, not just in the colours, but some of them are really dense and some of them are really sparse and some, you know, they're just really very unique.

00:14:36Nicole Bovin: You can see the repetition in the movement of people. So their swagger, their gait, their walk, et cetera, is highlighted visually. And, I mean, you couldn't sit there and draw all of that. You actually have to go through that process of movement. So that's really important. Yeah.

00:14:50Lyndell Murray: Yeah, wow. And so the other part is linking seniors in the community with young people through that interview process. So that's the next step.

00:15:00Nicole Bovin: Yes, that whole intergenerational connection and respect and involvement and talking to people with stories. So I'm working with... Ningana and Karingal and Wominda as well as well as Blue Care so bringing seniors who you know not normally get out and about but then they have something then in common that they can talk about which is amazing and even one of the ladies in um Ningana had actually suggested why don't you do a four pent pen inside instead of swapping them out all the time and I went oh She's already innovated the whole thing. And so it became the four-pronged pen. And so we're doing four colours all at one time. It's amazing. So they're all residential care homes that you're talking about? Three of them are. Well, two of them are. Two of them are aged care in one dementia ward. And Wominda is for disability, so it's a respite. And Blue Care's respite. Yeah, yeah, yeah. As well as I've got registered people just from the community, I've got over 30 heading to 40 people from the community that are involved as well.

00:16:01Lyndell Murray: Wow. I've never seen anything like it. It's so exciting. Really exciting. And I guess for me, being someone who's a real advocate of parkrun and the sense of community that parkrun brings, it seems like a perfect combination.

00:16:16Nicole Bovin: Well, thanks. Yeah. Well, it is. It is like the best sandwich ever to bring all those things together. I am also working on an app called... to work those things together so we won't have to look like silly idiots running with their cans even though I like that whole you know the the can itself but it is difficult to run with because of it is a can but once I get my app running you can just have it in your pocket like we would any of map my walk or something like that yeah the cans are a talking point I mean that's why you know I came to speak with you because you were carrying your cans I know I do stand out in a crowd what can I say and you can hear me coming as well because it does make a nice tinkle yeah a bit like a cowbell um and also then the resulting drawing is um you know something that's tangible of that experience you've just had and you can take it home as a memento of finishing your parkrun walk whichever you want and And, you know, so you can have them like little trophies up on your board as those sorts of senses of achievement. And so it does, you know, it creates that impetus to get up and do it again. Yeah. I should have taken one. Oh, it would have been awesome.

00:17:21Lyndell Murray: I know. All right. Well, thank you for telling me about this project. It just sounds wonderful. And thanks for the, you know, fantastic outcome that it's going to be for Dalby, I'm sure, great I'm really happy that parkrun would help us launch the program as well so it's really launched in the community today so I appreciate it wonderful thank you thanks I've caught up with melinda today's Run Director how are you today how did it go yeah really well we had lots of people visiting some from Brisbane London theodore so it's great to see everybody here on the holidays yes and so do you get many people coming out to Dalby to get their d

00:17:59Melinda: Yes, because I think we're the only D around. So we often get people who might get up at 3 o'clock in the morning, come for a drive to Dalby to do their D parkrun.

00:18:08Lyndell Murray: I don't know who would have done that. I did that this morning. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, there's not many Ds around.

00:18:16Melinda: No, no, I don't think so.

00:18:18Lyndell Murray: Had I realised that you have a three-lap course, I might have flown somewhere to do a D instead. Oh, really? I shouldn't say that. It is a lovely course. It's very picturesque here.

00:18:29Melinda: Yeah, city's beautiful. Now we've got some water in the creek and it's green. So, yeah, it's great.

00:18:35Lyndell Murray: Now, you are heading up to, or just past your two-year anniversary, is that correct? Yes, or is it, no, I think it's only one year. Or one year?

00:18:45Melinda: Yes, yes, just past our one-year anniversary. Okay. Yes.

00:18:48Lyndell Murray: And so how's that gone? How's parkrun going in Dalby?

00:18:52Melinda: Really strong. We have, for the last seven or eight weeks, we've had over 100 people, so it's been great. So yeah, still going strong. Otherwise we average around 70 or 80 people every week. So plenty of volunteers. So yeah, it's doing really well in Dalby.

00:19:06Lyndell Murray: Great. And lots of big different age demographic. You've got lots of juniors, but lots of older people seem to come along as well. Yeah, definitely.

00:19:13Melinda: Yes, it does. It ranges from, yeah, I don't know, four or five year olds up to our 60, 70 year olds. So yeah, it's great. Lots of different age groups, wonderful now how did you first get involved in parkrun what's your parkrun story um I just came along I enjoyed running so yeah came along and then volunteered and then they needed some more um wanted some more people to do the directing to share it around so yeah so I just volunteered and that's good you are yeah it keeps going and you've got some little junior volunteers with you as well yeah what's your name Abby

00:19:50Lyndell Murray: Molly. And what did you guys do today?

00:19:52Abby and Molly: I did handing out the finished tokens. I did Timekeeper. Excellent. Well, you did a good job. Thank you. Yes.

00:20:03Lyndell Murray: And what do you like most about volunteering?

00:20:06Abby and Molly: That we get to see all the people finish and try their best.

00:20:10Lyndell Murray: um but it's fun and we get to yeah see other people finish and do you run as well yes yes sometimes with our dad and our brothers excellent well thank you for volunteering what a fantastic contribution all of you your whole family is making to parkrun and to the community here in Dalby thanks for having me and yes I've got my d yay thank you for coming thank you thank you for coming Alrighty, Scotty and Mel, that's a wrap from me from Dalby. I've got a long drive back home again. But it's all worth it. I've got my D. I've met some fabulous people here today. What a lovely place this is out here at Dalby. Lovely country Queensland. It's a really nice course. I'm not a fan of laps. But, you know, a lovely course along the river here in the middle of Dalby. This is Lyndell and I am over and out for the Channel 5 News crew on the parkrun adventurers.

Roving report Melissa Ellis — Lorne Beach

00:21:07Melissa Ellis: Good morning parkrun adventurers, it's Melissa here coming to you from event two of Lorne Beach parkrun. Lorne is a seaside town on the Great Ocean Road about 140 kilometres southwest of Melbourne so it's taken us a couple of hours to drive down here this morning. Lorne is a popular surfing area and pier fishing spot for whiting, trevally and barracuda. Bet you never thought you'd get a fishing report from me. Lorne is also at the mouth of the Erskine River, which travels down from the nearby Great Otway National Park. It's only got a small population, about 1,000 to 2,000, but it swells over the New Year period when up to 20,000 people visit. for local activities. A lot goes on in Lorne including the Pier to Pub swim. The Pier to Pub swim is very well known for Victorians. It's a 1.2 kilometre ocean swim and it's the largest organised ocean swim in the world. It looks like a quiet morning here. It's quite overcast and there's a thick sort of smoke hanging around due to some local burning off. I can see flags and a few people milling around in parkrun attire, so we'll see who we can talk to after the run. Okay, we've just finished running Lorne Beach parkrun and had a bit of competition out on the track today. Had a father and son running behind me, heckling me as I went. Not really, but... And I'm interviewing them. So what's your name? Kai. And how old are you? [age removed]. And Dad?

00:22:44Craig: Hi, my name's Craig.

00:22:45Melissa Ellis: Hi, Craig. And what parkrun are you from? Because you recognise the MCR top I was wearing.

00:22:49Craig: Yes, I'm from Point Cook.

00:22:50Melissa Ellis: Got a few friends out that way. So what brings you down to Lorne today?

00:22:54Craig: We thought we'd... We'd come down for a little holiday, a weekend break, so we've gone to Wye River, and as soon as we decided to come down here, I looked at the closest one, which of course is Lorne, which opened up here last week, so this is their second run.

00:23:08Melissa Ellis: That's a bit convenient. Yeah. What did you think of the course?

00:23:12Craig: I thought it was a lovely course. It's unfortunately a bit of smoke in the hills today from a burn-off they're doing, but the course itself is lovely. It's up through the trees and out onto the pier, which is a beautiful scenic run.

00:23:23Kai: That's nice, isn't it, out on that pier? And around the ocean.

00:23:26Craig: Yes.

00:23:26Kai: Have you done a few tourist runs? No. Yeah. And you've got your 10 shirt, I notice. Yeah, near my 50. Are you? Yeah, because I got my 10 t-shirt, like, how many years ago?

00:23:42Craig: About two years ago you got your 10.

00:23:44Kai: Yeah, but it didn't come until last year, was it? I think last year it just came.

00:23:51Melissa Ellis: Oh, sometimes we have to wait a bit for them. But the 50 one should be a bit quicker. Yeah. And what about Dad? He's up to 100, I see.

00:23:56Craig: I'm up in the 180, 190.

00:23:58Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and so you've done a few different, have you done more than Kai?

00:24:02Craig: Yeah, I've done quite a few. I've done a few international runs, Singapore. I've also done Bushy Park as well, which was lovely. Yeah, I did that on my 50th run, so.

00:24:10Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's a bit special.

00:24:11Craig: Yeah.

00:24:12Melissa Ellis: Wouldn't mind to get there one day. All right, well, thanks for talking to me. I might see you at Point Cook one day.

00:24:16Craig: Indeed, thank you.

00:24:17Melissa Ellis: Okay. Okay, now I'm here with the Run Director, or are you Event Director, Kristen? Officially is Event Director, yes. At Lorne Beach parkrun, so this is Victoria's 73rd event. Wow. Yes. How did the launch go last week?

00:24:32Kristen: The launch was fantastic. We had people from far and wide, lots of groups, lots of people dressed up, a really fun atmosphere. We had a lot of support from the Lorne Surf Lifesaving Club with the ATV coming out, which is a little surf life-saving buggy, beach buggy. And we use the horn as a starting horn, which is a lot of fun. And we had probably had about 100 participants come for the launch, which was lovely. That's a nice size for another one. It is a nice size, yeah. And can you describe the course for us? The course is pretty straightforward, but also probably one of the most beautiful, we've been told, in the world. So it follows the foreshore along a sort of a, what would you call it, a dirt trail that turns, the turnaround point is at the end of the pier. And there's two laps sort of between the surf club and the pier.

00:25:31Melissa Ellis: It's really nice running out on the pier. Yes. I really enjoyed that. So the good news for runners in this area is that Lorne is the starting point, point for the great ocean road running festival marathon which is next month yes now are you going to have to cancel or are we all in luck because so the marathons run on the Sunday yes uh and so we'll be fine we've actually promoted it as an extra event that they can come and enjoy as a bit of a warm-up leading up to their big event that's good the day after I've done it previous years but I haven't come down until after parkrun so that'll bring more to the community because people now can come down on Friday night that's right still do their parkrun yes that's true have a weekend rather than just coming down afterwards that's right yeah that's very good so Tell me your story. What made you start parkrun in Lorne?

00:26:23Kristen: Well, I actually pretty much mainly live in Melbourne, but have had a house here in Lorne for the last 10 years or so. And my background is in the health and fitness sector, actually. And one of my biggest missions in life is to promote... physically active, healthy lives to the population. So I've always pretty much worked in that field and probably six months ago was sitting with a friend who's a resident here at Lorne and we were saying we'd really like to bring something to the community that promotes physical activity, is inclusive, fun and free. And we thought well how about we look at parkrun and bring parkrun to Lorne as something that we can give back to the community and really promote what we what we believe in our values and yeah that's basically um how it all came about so had you'd parkrun before uh I had done some parkruns in Melbourne particularly um Albert park okay in the past yeah beautiful yeah so I was definitely aware of it and I was aware that um Torquay actually started one about 18 months to two years ago so yeah which is a great location for a parkrun as well.

00:27:39Melissa Ellis: Did you find you had lots of enthusiasm in the community for the event to come?

00:27:43Kristen: Yeah, heaps, actually. Only positivity, yeah. Well, we decided to keep it local and to get as much of the community involved as possible. So we reached out and got support from the Lorne Community Hospital... the Lorne Surf Lifesaving Club, Lorne Op Shop, Lorne Hotel and the Great Ocean Road Real Estate to really spread it across the community and give some ownership across the different groups within the community and reached out and told everyone it was on and really everyone was excited about it and really positive. and happy that it was coming. That's great.

00:28:22Melissa Ellis: And you just said to me before that you haven't nominated one cafe to be the brunch spot because you want to share that around all the places in the local town.

00:28:32Kristen: So that's really lovely too. It's about bringing people to Lorne and also having people enjoy the community. But everyone should benefit from an event such as this. So rather than saying, yes, go to X cafe, We thought, well, you know, let's keep the choice open. There's lots of different choices along Mount Joy Parade and I think that everyone should benefit from, you know, all the visitors that parkrun brings.

00:29:00Melissa Ellis: Yeah, that's great. And you've got the start line is right at the Surf Lifesaving Club, so it's easy to locate for those driving in. There's plenty of car parking and there's toilets. Yeah. What more could you want? Exactly. Thank you very much for talking to me this morning. Pleasure.

Interview Chiaki Okada — Administrator, parkrun Asia Pacific, delivered the translated pre-event briefing at…

00:29:24Scott Trickett: parkrun Japan is all the rage. Everybody's been talking about it since they launched a couple of weeks ago. So we're going to jump on the bandwagon as well. And we're going to our parkrunner who is on the ground, who is involved on the day, delivering the pre-event brief. Welcome to the parkrun adventurers, Chiaki Okada.

00:29:44Chiaki Okada: Thank you for having me.

00:29:45Scott Trickett: Chiaki, you were there at event one. I've seen photos of you up standing next to PSH. What was your role exactly in all those photos?

00:29:57Chiaki Okada: I was translating all the normal parkrun briefing, but a little bit of introduction, what the parkrun is, and details of our parkrun rules, like children... under Eleven's um slings and um prams welcome and that sort of stuff and I was translating that but um I also said in Japanese what the parkrun is all about more like we're inclusive there's not running race we're just trying to get everyone involved and make community happy that sort of thing. I think that speech touched a lot of people. I got the really good feedback after the launch, so that made me really happy.

00:30:52Scott Trickett: Chiaki, let's explain to our listeners how you got yourself in this position. What is your role? You're now an official employee of parkrun. How did you come to be in the parkrun world and at the launch of Futakotamagawa? Yeah, I thought I'd try, but yeah.

00:31:12Chiaki Okada: So I'm an administrator in parkrun Australia, or now we call it Asia Pacific because we look after Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Japan. And I saw a position vacancy ad on parkrun Australia newsletter and I My husband found it first and then like, oh, how about this? It might be interesting for you. Because I was already keen on parkrunning every Saturday. So I just opened up the ad and it said fluent Japanese required. And then I thought, that's me. Yeah. And then I applied and a week later I got interviewed with Tim and Renee and I got my position accepted on that day at the interview. So that was really exciting. And a week later, I started working nonstop since then.

00:32:23Melissa Erbacher: So since you started, it's been a bit of a whirlwind trip and a lot of work has gone into the behind-the-scenes stuff with launching parkrun in Japan, which you've been heavily involved in, Chiaki. Yes. What was it like to actually be in the country on the day of the inaugural and to see all those hours of hard work come to fruition and to see how the local Japanese took to the event?

00:32:54Chiaki Okada: Yeah, I was extremely happy. And if I can make anyone smile and happy on that day, I was just over the moon, but I I didn't feel like that was the end of my hard work over the last couple of months. I feel like this is a start. So I don't feel like, oh, this is the results of my hard work since I started. I feel like this is more the beginning and just so excited to start this journey again.

00:33:31Scott Trickett: in Japan, Chiaki, we've talked about when they write the book of parkrun and they write the story about parkrun Japan they're going to look back and and you were at the very creation like we've talked about you're translating the website so the first thing that the people in Japan will ever see are your words and the newsletter and the social media content that we've been putting out is largely a lot of your work. This is like a massive step from you were a parkrunner at Logan a couple of months ago and now you're helping launch a whole new country of parkrunners. Can you explain that feeling to us?

00:34:07Chiaki Okada: At the beginning, I was very nervous and I was more like, focusing on word-to-word translation. But after a week or so, I just started really, really enjoying even like smiling, typing, or just talking to audience sort of feeling, translating the words. It's like I was talking to someone about parkrun, even those writings weren't my words, but, like, I was like, I can tell someone how good parkrun is in my language. So I was really happy. It was extremely busy, long hours, but I was so happy. I always felt, yeah, even sitting on the computer for hours, just never be sort of lonely or anything. It was just I was so happy and always smiling, typing those words.

00:35:02Scott Trickett: Okay, so speaking of your own language, I want to hear some of your Japanese. So I want you to communicate to our Japanese listeners. So tell our Japanese listeners how excited you are to be launching parkrun in Japan, in Japanese.

00:35:16Chiaki Okada: In Japanese, okay. 日本にパークランを始めることに関われたことに 本当に嬉しく思っています。 日本の皆さんがもっと笑顔で毎日楽しく暮らせるように、 Okay, and now Mel, a quick translation of that. Oh, you want me to translate for Chiaki? Yeah. Okay. We can play a game.

00:35:39[16 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:35:55Melissa Erbacher: And Chiaki can tell everybody how accurate I was. I'm pretty sure, Chiaki, that you just said, oh, my goodness, parkrun is the best ever. Everybody in Japan is going to love it. We hope you have a great morning. Yeah. That's about right. Obviously, I took some corner cutting there and I just summed it up because I didn't speak for quite as long as Chiaki did, but yeah. Chiaki, what are you looking forward to most? I mean, you mentioned it was the beginning of, you know, of the work that's going to be involved in continuing to launch more events in Japan. And it's all going to be supported here by, you know, parkrun Asia Pacific, effectively, you know, parkrun Australia, which is where we're located. It's, you were over in Japan for a bit longer than just the inaugural. There was lots of meetings, lots of,

00:37:03Chiaki Okada: recce's looking at new potential courses and other prospects and things like that can you give us a bit of an insight into the sort of things that you did after the launch um we met um quite a few people in various locations and to explain what the parkrun is they had like vague ideas but um we had to explain what parkrun is, what's involved to start up the parkrun and procedure. We visited two major cities and some of them came from nearby city about a couple of hours away. So now we have a few prospects who is interested in start up parkrun this year, hopefully.

00:38:00Scott Trickett: I'm going to put you on the spot a bit. Can we put any timeframe on that? Do you have any idea how many events we're going to be launching over the next couple of months, for example, and when the next one will be?

00:38:10Chiaki Okada: Hoping to launch two events, at least two events in a couple months and maybe three. We don't have event ambassadors yet, on the ground just yet so we we support each new prospect from the office with the limited staff so um yeah as as we grow more and then people understand more about parkrun and then they support each other so that will grow quicker I think

00:38:47Scott Trickett: And we urge any of our listeners who know anybody in Japan to get in touch with parkrun because how cool would it be to say that you launched the second event? Mel, I know I'd love to go back and be like event number three or four in parkrun Australia as opposed to event number 49, I think I was. So if you know anybody, what do they do, Chiaki? They send an email to parkrun? Yes.

00:39:10Chiaki Okada: Or parkrun homepage, there's a button to start up your own parkrun page. So fill in that form, reply with the information and go from there.

00:39:23Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. It all sounds too easy. And if anyone has any friends as well, you know, they don't necessarily have to be the person themselves to start it. But obviously, parkrun Japan's got its own Facebook page, doesn't it? So they can always tag people over there and send them in the right direction. Chiaki, thank you so much. I've been privileged to sort of witness the amount of work that you have been contributing to parkrun in Japan, as well as the rest of the team. to get things going over there. And the local guys on the ground as well have done an incredible job. By all accounts, obviously we weren't there, but it just sounds like such an amazing time, like to be witnessing the beginnings of parkrun in a new country, especially in Japan where running is always so popular anyway. So I would like to thank you on behalf of everyone for all the work that you've been doing. And again, Is there anything else that you would like to say to our hordes, I'm sure there's hordes, of Japanese listeners? Can I say it in Japanese? Please do. It sounds lovely. Can't understand a single word, but it sounds awesome.

00:40:49Chiaki Okada: So... If anyone wants to start a parkrun in Japan, please contact us. We will work together to make the community of your city happy. Thank you.

00:40:59[23 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

Interview Janet Finn — Sunshine Coast parkrunner who ran her 100th parkrun at the inaugural Futakotamagawa…

00:41:22Melissa Erbacher: We are just about to speak to a parkrunner who had the privilege of attending the inaugural parkrun event at Futakotamagawa in Japan a couple of weeks ago. Her name is Janet Finn. Janet, welcome to the parkrun adventurers podcast.

00:41:40Janet Finn: Thank you. Mel?

00:41:42Melissa Erbacher: We are very excited to have you. You've got a bit of an interesting story about how you found yourself in Japan at the right place in the right time. Do you want to take us through that?

00:41:55Janet Finn: Okay. Well, I went to visit my son in Japan. So seven months ago, I applied for my long service leave, and went to visit my son, Max, who is now working in Kobe, and he's an interpreter and a public relations officer for the city of Kobe, working out of the city hall. He works with the most lovely Japanese people. And I went to visit him, and then I was up to the lead-up, or coming up to the lead-up of going to visit him, I had got on the website, the Japan website, because we'd heard a little rumour that Japan may be launching their parkrun. And I thought, oh, my goodness, that would be so awesome if that happened when I was over there. And I was coming up pretty close to my 100th parkrun and I was saying to people, wouldn't it be fantastic if I could do my 100th parkrun in Japan? And so we were looking and we kept looking on the website, but no dates had been released. And the day that I was about to leave Australia, I thought, I don't think it's going to happen. So I left all my parkrun gear in Brisbane and got on the plane. And then when I got to Japan about three days later, we found out that the parkrun was indeed going to go ahead in Tokyo and we were very, very excited. And it was great. It's very fitting that I did get to go and do that parkrun in Tokyo because Max, my son, was the whole reason why I started doing parkrun and he just needed a lift to parkrun and so I went along with him and I said, but don't ever expect me to run because I'm not a runner. I'll only ever walk and here I am now. I'm up to my 102nd run and I started running at my 30th parkrun, because many people were encouraging and inspiring me and it just changed my life and I just absolutely love it. So Max organised everything. He speaks Japanese fluently, so he was the best person. I mean, I think everybody that goes to a foreign country could benefit from having someone like Max be their interpreter the whole way. It was just fantastic.

00:44:07Scott Trickett: How was the actual morning as a parkrunner, as someone who's just done their 100th parkrun? How does it relate to an Aussie parkrun?

00:44:16Janet Finn: So that – what happened – that was actually my 100th parkrun when we were in Japan, and – The parkrun lead up, well, I just might tell you this one a little bit. The parkrun lead up, I had planned to do my 100th run in Australia and then go over to Japan because it was getting so close and I thought, oh, that's not going to happen. And then I slept, well, my phone went dead one night so I didn't get up for parkruns. So I had no choice but to have only done 99 parkruns in Australia and so my 100th run was left up to the universe. It did it all for me. And so when we got to, when you go to Tokyo, we stayed in Shibuya and then we had to get to the parkrun. So many people had the same thing. We had to take a couple of trains to get there. And when we got there at the station, we were all walking along and you could see all these people that were dressed in their suits. They're running gear and I go, oh, are you going to parkrun? They go, yep, you're going to parkrun, yep. So we all walked off together. Max had it in his phone, in his Google Maps and off we went and we followed it along the path and saw beautiful cherry blossoms all the way along. Perfect timing for a parkrun. And when we got there, it was so busy and so lovely and everybody was very happy and very excited and The sun was out and shining. The temperature was about 17 degrees on that particular morning. So it was really beautiful. And I was very excited. I was really happy about the fact that there were all these wonderful people that I was about to perhaps meet. And then it was also wonderful that I could be there with Max, who started me on my journey with parkrun. And so when we got there, there were about 30 volunteers who were in all their, you know, our volunteer shirts that we wear. And they were ready to help mark out where we needed to go. But they were also doing lots of other jobs. And they were setting up, they had a tent set up and they had places where we could put our bags and all sorts of things like that. And then Paul Sinton Hewitt spoke, of course. All the speeches that were in Japanese were translated into English and all the speeches that were in English were translated into Japanese. So all of us could understand what was going on. And I thought that was wonderful, the way that they worked that out for us. On the day, the one thing that was different is we didn't line up in how fast we might run. They just got us all to line up and then we took off and there was a path to run on, but we were told as we, and it may have been the interpretation, but we were told to run on the grass. So we ran on the grass and then the paths were, Some of them were under bridges and under the bridge I thought, oh, this looks like water might come in here. So it almost looked like it was a riverbed that we ran through and then we ran through parks and as we ran through the parks we could see people playing baseball, we could see people picnicking under the cherry blossoms and it was the most picturesque parkrun I think I've ever been on. It was beautiful, really beautiful.

00:47:38Melissa Erbacher: Janet, you've done quite a few parkrun events around your locality in Australia. Yes. How does Futakotamagawa compare in terms of as an inaugural, you know, this is a brand new community of people together. Like what was the vibe like amongst the community on the morning?

00:47:57Janet Finn: Well, I think everybody was very, very excited. Everybody was really happy. And it was kind of similar to like when we have a new parkrun set up in Australia, but it was very different because when we were at that parkrun, There were people who were from Japan and there were people who were from other countries. And there were some parkrunners who were tourists who'd go to all the launches of all the different countries. And I met a couple of those people. And it was just fascinating just talking to people and hearing people's stories was amazing. And the vibe there that particular day was amazing, euphoric like we all just felt like we were blessed to be at this amazing event and to share in Japan's journey because in Japan there are many people who are lonely and this will be absolutely wonderful for them as we know Japan has I think I believe the most marathon runners of any country in the world so they have lots of runs that they go on different and there's lots of runs that you can go around when you're search in Google you can find runs that you can paths that people have ran continuously and you can go and run in one of those paths but this particular thing I think the good thing that will be amazing and fabulous for Japan is it will be that connection and so the big focus I think and was about that having the coffee afterwards and having a chat afterwards because that's the thing that I think is important in any country but One of the things that's quite important in Japan where they have a rising suicide rate. So I think this is going to be really wonderful for people in Japan with that connection and going every week and doing parkrun and becoming a parkrun family. That's one of my most favourite things. When I moved to the Sunshine Coast seven years ago, I didn't know very many people and parkrun has been wonderful for me in that regard. I have my little parkrun family, which I love.

00:50:01Scott Trickett: You mentioned that you did your 100th run on the morning. I'm curious, did they celebrate milestones on the day? Did they put a call out and say, anyone, come up and have your photo taken?

00:50:11Janet Finn: Well, I did have my photo taken with Paul Sinton-Hewitt and also Tim Oberg. And Tim came up to me at the beginning because I had written a little thing on the, I think it might have been the parkrun tourist site about going there with my son and how it would be my 100th. And then as I came through... They didn't actually celebrate at the beginning, which I didn't expect because this is about Japan. It's not about someone having a 100th run. And so when I came through, I was actually quite surprised. Tim was waiting at the end and he high-fived me and congratulated me on my 100th run. That's actually on the parkrun Japan. There's a video and there's a little snippet of that on the video, which I thought was quite cute. But the next day when we went to the – there was a – Another trial for another parkrun, which was about an hour and a half away from there by train. So we stayed in a different place that next night so we could get to there by train. We still had to get two trains to get there. And that particular day, Kim made a mention of the fact that it was my 100th run and they all congratulated me. And I thought that was kind of sweet.

00:51:21Melissa Erbacher: Now, Janet, it's been a bit of a long way to get to 100. Obviously, you've done some volunteers and things like that along the way. But how else has parkrun changed your life personally?

00:51:34Janet Finn: Well, when I first started doing parkrun, I was walking. I wasn't doing anything else. And then after about Three parkruns. I had mentioned to one, we go to coffee at Cafe Alimento. I might give them a little plug. They're wonderful. We've been doing that for the whole time I've been there, which is 2016 probably, I think. I can't remember if it was August or October, somewhere around September, October that I started doing my parkrun. I tried to look it up, but it only goes back a little way. And so when I started my parkrun, one morning I said to the guys, oh, I had this incredible pain in my chest. And so they said to me when I was at work and it was the end of the day and I thought, oh, well, if I die now, no one will find me until Monday. And they went, what? And then they mentioned the fact that I should go and have a running ECG because I might have an issue with my heart. So I went, oh, okay, you sure?

00:52:35Melissa Ellis: And they go, yeah.

00:52:37Janet Finn: And so when I went and had the test, they found that I had three blockages in my heart. And so I had to go and I was meant to have some stents put in. And when I went for my operation, which you're awake when they do that operation. he said to me it's too dangerous where my blockages were to put the stents in because it could cause a heart attack. So then we looked at a different path that I could go down and one was changing my diet, which I did. And so I became a vegetarian then. And then the other thing was about keeping up the exercise. And I was only walking up until that point. And so that's when I kind of started to do a little bit of jogging instead of just walking. And I then started doing it a bit more often. And some of those extra times were with some friends from parkrun. So I would run a second time through the week with some of my mates from the group from parkrun. And that's how they kind of started to get me to not just walk but to jog a bit as well. And yeah. If I hadn't have been going to parkrun, I would never have found out that I had a problem with my heart and I never would have started to think about changing my lifestyle. So changing my lifestyle like that was, I think, what saved my life. Well, my father died when he was 69 and my cousin died when he was 62 from heart issues and I'm now 61. So I found that I feel that those people who are older, it's good for them to start running. I started running when I was 59 and I thought I would never run. So parkrun did that for me and parkrun, I believe, also helped me to make many friends on the Sunshine Coast when I moved here. which has been fabulous. And I believe that that's exactly what Paul Sinton wanted. When he started parkrun, he wanted us to feel connected and to feel like we belong somewhere. And he certainly has achieved that all over the world.

00:54:46Scott Trickett: Well, Janet, that's a great story and I'm so happy that parkrun has had that effect for you and I'm happy that you got to experience the very first parkrun in Japan. I know Mel and I are very jealous that you were there. So thanks for coming on the parkrun adventurers and sharing your story with us this week.

00:55:03Janet Finn: Well, thank you for having me on the parkrun adventurers. I've enjoyed chatting to you, Scotty and Mel. Thank you very much.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Tony O'Connell — Gungahlin

00:55:19Tony O'Connell: Howdy parkrunners, it's TOC reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew. Today we've gone up to the wonderful Gungahlin parkrun where the world's greatest running club have taken over. We've filled all the volunteer roles. There was more shirts out on track than you get in a fashion parade. It's been a glorious day out on site. I'm here with Russ and Andrew, the Co-Event Directors of Gungahlin. I guess, guys, first of all, give us a bit of a heads up on what the Gungahlin course is like.

00:55:49Andrew: Well, I'd have to say it's mostly flat. It's one loop around Yerrabi Pond. A couple of little bits out the sides just to make up the 5k, but generally I'd say it's a flat course, very scenic course and generally a fast course.

00:56:05Tony O'Connell: Thanks Andrew. And Russ, today I think we had 300 and I don't know how many finishes?

00:56:11Russ: Did we have 300? I thought we were about 263 or something like that. Oh, it might have been 263. But yeah, that's probably a small one for what we are lately. We normally hit around about the 300 mark.

00:56:24Tony O'Connell: I think it was a bit of a slower run today. Everyone tapering for the marathon in Canberra tomorrow.

00:56:28Russ: Yeah, I think the first runner came in probably around about 18, 19 minutes where our record was set by Marty Dent back during the early days, around about the 14.26 or something like that.

00:56:41Tony O'Connell: Yeah, I had a look at your last week's history and I thought, I think you had three runners under 17 last week and I thought, oh, this is going to be a quick one out here today.

00:56:48Russ: Yeah, the fast course definitely contributes towards it.

00:56:53Tony O'Connell: You seem to have a really high portion of prams out on the course today. I noticed in the start final there's a heap of prams out there. Is that something fairly normal for up here?

00:57:03Russ: Yeah, yeah, we actually do have a lot of prams, a lot of interaction from the prams, the pushes and that they're giving us feedback on how we do it again it's I think because of the course being bike paths all the way around being reasonably flat is certainly and being a loop course rather than out and back just makes it much easier for them to do that it's also just the demographic of the area it's a young family area so it's to be expected

00:57:35Tony O'Connell: And for a Zoolander running the course it was a little bit difficult out there because we don't turn left unless we're an ambi-turner and we basically turn left the whole way. I had a couple of times there I had to do the 270 degree right hand turn and I got some strange looks. We know, yeah.

00:57:53Andrew: It is a problem with the course, we acknowledge that. We apologise to all Zoolanders out there. It's difficult.

00:57:59Russ: It's just, yeah, much, much more of the, like, practice the ambi-turns before you come to Gungahlin and you'll be right.

00:58:07Tony O'Connell: No worries, guys. Look, it was a fantastic day out there. It was great to see so many of the shirts and so many people acknowledging themselves out there and acknowledging the club out there. And yeah, well done. It's a beautiful course.

00:58:19Russ: Yeah, yeah, it is. We're very proud of it. And today, being probably the perfect running day for it too, it was magnificent out there. And we just get such a great crowd that actually turns up. They're always happy, always involve themselves with everyone. So yeah, it's a great place.

00:58:35Tony O'Connell: Cool. Thanks, Russ, and thanks, Andrew. Cheers, guys. Thanks, TOC.

Roving report Paul Kitching — Reynella East

00:58:39Paul Kitching: Good morning, Scott, Mel, and all other parkrun adventurer people. I'm making no sense. Yes, it's PK, Paul Kitching, checking in for the Channel 5 News crew from South Australia. And today I am actually out adventuring, which is a bit of fun. I don't often get to do this, but we have headed south, down to Reynella East parkrun, which is south of the city of Adelaide. And Reynella East, yeah, I think it's parkrun number 70 for them today. So I thought we'd come and check it out. I know that Greta spoke with Rach and others from the... from Reynella East when they launched back in December 2017, I think it was. Yeah, which was a while back now for all those fevered listeners. But we're here now, and it's beautiful. It's very similar to Mount Barker. There's wetlands. It looks pretty flat so far. And there's even a sign. I'm very impressed. We don't have one of these at Mount Barker, but it says parkrun. It's got all the four key things, free, weekly, timed, 5Ks, 8am every Saturday. Your chance to meet new people, get fit and have fun every week, walk, jog or run. Everyone is welcome. Register online at parkrun, etc. Bring a printed copy of your barcode. parkrun is organised by volunteers from within the community. If you would like to help, contact us via Facebook or email. Fantastic. How good is this? G'day, Trace. Yeah, there's my sister-in-law. She's rocked up. There's a few crew from Mount Barker here. And it's supported by the City of Onkaparinga Healthy Active Lifestyles. Onkaparinga. Halo. How good is that? I remember Rach or Greta talking about that on the pod some time ago now. Anyway, we are here. We've rocked up, brought a few crew with us, a few adventurers. Hope we don't get rained on, and we're going to go and have a chat with some of the crew. Let's do Reynella East parkrun. Okay, guys, we've just finished that awesome course, and it is beautiful. Similar to Mount Barker, as I said... For those who've done Mount Barker, it's very flat. There's a little hill through wetlands or dry lands as they are today. There's a bit of water I see, but beautiful. And whilst I was out running, there's lots of loops and lots of bridges, Scotty. You'd love it. Lots of bridges. You go over a few times. But I kept on seeing these crazy outfits out there. And I found one of the, sorry, I believe the instigator of the outfits. G'day, Louise. How are you going?

01:01:01Louise: Hi. Good, thanks.

01:01:02Paul Kitching: It is Louise, isn't it? I think I listen. I'm a bit, you know. I didn't do a PB. I did a PB for Reynella, clearly, because I've not been here before. But I'm still a bit shattered. But I've been chatting with Louise and Rick because Louise was running near me in... How do you describe your outfit?

01:01:16Louise: A full-on Western sheriff's outfit, including the badge.

01:01:20Paul Kitching: It's very important. It's important to have a sheriff on the parkrun course, I feel. But this is not your only outfit, I believe.

01:01:26Louise: No, I have quite a few. There's an X-ray one still running around at the moment.

01:01:31Paul Kitching: Fantastic. And do you have a favourite place where you buy this from, or...?

01:01:34Louise: Yeah, I've got a particular brand that I buy from.

01:01:36Paul Kitching: Nice, nice. They look great and they look pretty comfy to run in. It is a running outfit.

01:01:40Louise: Yes, it is proper running wear.

01:01:41Paul Kitching: Yeah, that's brilliant. So you guys, and g'day Rick, how are you going? Good, thanks. How are you doing? Yeah, good mate. You guys are regulars here at Reynella, I believe. This is your home parkrun. How long have you been doing parkrun?

01:01:52Louise: Oh, six, twelve months maybe.

01:01:54Rick: Twelve months, yeah, a little over twelve months.

01:01:56Paul Kitching: Nice one. And what do you like about parkrun?

01:02:00Louise: Oh, it's just a great atmosphere. It's great for base training. You know, if you want to test yourself, if you've got injuries, you can walk, you can run. There's no pressure.

01:02:09Paul Kitching: Beautiful. And you can bring dogs. You've got a beautiful dog here.

01:02:11Louise: Yep.

01:02:11Rick: I always bring a dog with me.

01:02:12Louise: I just bring a selection. I've got a few dogs.

01:02:14Paul Kitching: Oh, nice. Wow, so you're represented on the course not only by dogs but also outfits. Yes. I did see the X-ray out there. And, Rick, how long have you been parkrunning? Similar?

01:02:23Rick: Much the same, yeah. I think my daughter introduced us to parkrunning.

01:02:27Paul Kitching: Brilliant. She's your patient zero, is she? She's the one that... That introduced you? Introduced us to parkrun, yeah. And where else have you guys parkrun'd?

01:02:35Rick: Down at the seaside. Yeah, down at Aldinga. We did the double New Year's Eve one.

01:02:39Paul Kitching: Beautiful.

01:02:41Rick: And Christmas Day down at Seacliff. That was good fun.

01:02:43Paul Kitching: Fantastic. Well, thanks, guys. It's a beautiful parkrun. It's really been very welcomed here, and we love it. Thank you so much for everything you do for parkrun.

01:02:49Louise: Thank you.

01:02:50Paul Kitching: Well done. Good on you guys. Thank you. I love the course. Rach just asked me how I like the course, and I loved it. I was just saying before, nice and flat. I pushed myself. I was trying to get around under 30, and I did 28, which is nice. What's your PB for this course?

01:03:05Rachel Semler: 26.8, I think. Nice.

01:03:07Paul Kitching: And that is your PB for parkrun?

01:03:09Rachel Semler: No, my PB for parkrun is 24.40, I think, something.

01:03:15Paul Kitching: And is that another flat course? No.

01:03:18Rachel Semler: It's at Christie's.

01:03:20Paul Kitching: Ah, nice. Anyway, I'm speaking with Rach, who is, I don't even know your full name, I'm so sorry.

01:03:24Rachel Semler: Rachel Semler.

01:03:25Paul Kitching: Sorry, Rachel. We've just been chatting on Messenger and Rach, PK, g'day, hang on. Rach, you may recognise her voice. If you were listening to episode, I can't remember what number it was, but it was way back in December 2017 when Greta, my fellow reporter, was here for the launch of Reynella. So does that seem like just another lifetime ago?

01:03:46Rachel Semler: Yeah, well, do you know what? It doesn't seem like that long ago, actually, before we started here. And then it seems like forever that we've been going now.

01:03:55Paul Kitching: Is number 70 today? Yeah. Yeah, so that's great. So you had your first birthday, I suppose, a few months ago then?

01:04:01Rachel Semler: Yeah, December 16th. How was that? Yeah, it was great. So I had a P theme. Awesome. So everyone got some really good dress-ups.

01:04:09Paul Kitching: I bet. I bet Louise, who we were just chatting to, I bet she had some crazy outfit. She certainly rocks the outfits.

01:04:14Rachel Semler: Yeah, she does. I can't remember what she was. I was a giant pineapple. Awesome.

01:04:19Paul Kitching: Always. When you have to be something, you have to be a pineapple. I think that's Mel's favourite fruit. Isn't that right? Sorry, favourite chocolate. Anyway, well done.

01:04:27Rachel Semler: What are numbers like for you guys at the moment? We fluctuate a fair bit here, so anywhere between 90 and 140. It's about 150 today, you reckon, maybe? Yeah, I think so, probably.

01:04:41Paul Kitching: Looks like it from numbers, which is great, beautiful morning um not too warm we thought it might rain but it's um quite stunning out there the the wetlands are fantastic this has the course always been the same there's always been the same course yeah we haven't changed yeah yeah sorry I was the um uh and so and obviously I think I noticed the sign and I remember Greta talking about um You've obviously had great support from the council. It was part of the Halo initiative, I believe.

01:05:05Rachel Semler: Yeah, exactly. So Onkaparinga Council have been fantastic for everything for us. So, yeah. And they've helped us launch a few parkruns in the area. Excuse me.

01:05:15Paul Kitching: Sorry, mate. Is your name PK? Yeah. Yeah, it is. Sorry, mate. I'm just having a bit of a chat here with Rach. Rachel, the RD here. So sorry, Rach. I'll come back to you and chat with you in a minute. Yeah, mate. What's up? G'day. My name's KP. I'm a bit of a fan of yours and the podcast. I saw that you were here. I'm actually a bit of a stalker. At most places that you're at... Oh, really? That's a bit weird, but okay, mate. What's up? Well, I'm a big fan of the podcast, and I've been listening, and I hear that Scotty's done his hamstring. Yeah, and that's not good. Not good at all. I hope it doesn't affect his ability to be hilarious, which he is on the podcast. But I also know that he's a bit of a fan of Bonnie Tyler, and I've got a bit of a tribute song that I thought I might sing for all the podcast listeners, uh okay that's a bit random and weird but um no okay go for it all right well here it is um torn around every now and then I get a twinge in my leg and I think it's my hammy torn around every now and then I think I shouldn't keep running but I just keep doing it I'm torn around every now and then.

01:06:18[music]

01:06:44Craig: I think I'm probably too over this running palaver.

01:06:48Paul Kitching: Hang on, mate. Hang on. That's getting a bit personal. Look, no, no, no, no, no. It gets better. I'll cut to the chase. All right. Cut to the chase then. And this bit's pretty funny. You know how, like, need, when I say need, I don't mean need as in N-double-E-D. I mean need as in K-N-E-A-D, like when you need the bread. Anyway, just go with me here. And I need you now tonight. And I need my hammy forever. We'll be making it all right. And I just keep needing my hammy forever.

01:07:24Craig: Get it?

01:07:25Paul Kitching: Oh, mate, that is very random. Thank you so much, though. I'm sure Scotty really appreciates it. Look, I need to go and talk to some other people here now.

01:07:35Craig: No, that's all right, mate. Just one more thing. Do I get paid for being a guest on this podcast?

01:07:42Paul Kitching: Because I know you probably get paid a lot to be a reporter. Yeah, look, mate, don't get paid, but I tell you what, I can arrange free entry to the park or the parkrun for the rest of your life. How does that sound? Oh, mate, that's awesome. Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks so much. Please send my love to everyone on the podcast. That's great. Yeah, all right, mate. Well, look, I'm sorry. I'm just walking away from that random person. I'll just see if I can try and find some other people. Many apologies that I had to cut short that chat with Rachel. I'll see who else I can chat to. Okay, I think I'm recording. Yeah, I'm recording. Okay, I'm now chatting with Craig. Craig, you're one of the RD team here? Yes, yeah, I've done quite a few volunteers here, about 25 in the last year, I think. Well done, mate. Well done. Your T-shirt should be on its way soon, I hope. Yes, I've got the tea. I've got the tea. Well done, mate. Yep, well done. So we're just going to have a quick chat before it starts starting to rain. We didn't think it was going to rain, but it is. And the rest of my chat with Craig, yeah, died. 59-59 situation, I suppose, in honour of... the most recent pod. Don't know what happened to it. It started raining. I think we're in a hurry to get to the Gooby Goose, which is where everyone from Reynella East parkrun goes afterwards. Craig was lovely. We had a quick chat about stuff, and then I had to excuse myself and go. So I had to keep that in there, though, just to give him his 25 seconds of fame. Anyway, that's enough from me. I've spoken to lots of different people today. It's been great. Many apologies again about that random KP bloke, um he keeps following me around I'm sure I'll probably bump into him again some point um but I did like his song um I hope it helps Scotty with your recovery um mate uh you and also Mel um thank you so much uh for the awesome news that the next palm event palm20 is going to be in South Australia that is just brilliant I'm sure there are a lot of parkruns already starting to um put forward their case. Anyway, great news. So sorry we couldn't be there, me and Greta, for many reasons, but can't wait to welcome you all here to beautiful South Australia next year. Anyway, that's enough. I've been yabbering along far too long. All the best, crew. I look forward to catching up with you at another venture soon. Cheers.

01:10:02Scott Trickett: Thanks to TOC, who is visiting Gungahlin, doing a bit of a Zoolander takeover. And PK is back, running into all sorts of characters at Reynella East. Not sure about the KP fella either. PK? I'm not sure about the song either. The hamstring is on the mend, but I appreciate the effort that went into that.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

01:10:29Scott Trickett: Let's get on to launches and anniversaries, Mel. I hope you read the parkrun Australia newsletter and saw the news this week.

01:10:40Melissa Erbacher: I did, Scotty. It's huge. It's very exciting news. I am super proud to be, you know, just a tiny, tiny, tiny little cog in the wheel behind the news.

01:10:54Scott Trickett: And that news is that we're launching our first prison parkrun up at Dhurringile in the greater state. And that is our only launch this week.

01:11:04Melissa Erbacher: It is indeed. But we do have a couple of anniversaries happening around the country. In fact, we've got two in Queensland and two in WA. So I'll kick off with the Queensland ones. We've got Augustine Heights and Mackay. Oh, and there's also a little one snuck in from Victoria, but I'll leave that one to you.

01:11:23Scott Trickett: So the WA events, we had Cottesloe and Wanneroo and then Lightlaw celebrating anniversaries.

01:11:31Melissa Erbacher: Happy anniversary to those events. Now, Scotty, are we going to head to the nonsense or would you like to talk a little bit more about this launch that's happening this weekend?

01:11:43Scott Trickett: Look, it's a big episode, so let's leave the nonsense until next week. I have a new idea. I'm still a bit unsure about it, so let me sleep on it another week. But, yeah, I'm heading up to Dhurringile, and I think I'm going to be on the tools. I'm there to support the launch and support – the Corrections Victoria officers and the prisoners. And to be honest with you, Mel, I'm not 100% sure what to expect on the day. I am looking forward to it. It's going to be something completely different. And I'll just be taking it all in and hoping I can do my part and make this a positive initiative that we're launching.

01:12:23Melissa Erbacher: I cannot wait to hear all about it next week and to see how it goes. I understand that the trial event went really, really well and was well received by everybody who participated, whether that be in the actual completion of the course or volunteering at the trial. So, yeah, I'm almost anticipating this more than a lot of other things that happen in parkrun world. Yeah. and watching and waiting to hear what goes on in this space.

01:12:56Scott Trickett: Yeah. Well, you won't have to wait too long because our old mate Glenn Turner, who we had on earlier, our work colleague now, he's going to come on the pod next week and we're going to go over it in a bit more detail and I'll have my recap from the weekend. So... Make sure you tune in next week, Mel. This is a great promo for episode 1455. What are we, 154?

01:13:20Melissa Erbacher: It'll be 154 next week. And just for those who might be a little bit confused when Scotty says we had Glenn on earlier, he means earlier in the season. He does not mean earlier during episode 153. And no, you haven't missed anything if you've got this far and wondering where Glenn was.

01:13:40Scott Trickett: Tune in for him next week. But if you want to, go back to episode – well, let's just go season four, episode one because I can't remember what episode number it was.

Sign-off

01:13:49Melissa Erbacher: Okay. Well, thanks for joining me this week, Scotty.

01:13:53Scott Trickett: Pleasure as always, Mel. Where are you off to this weekend?

01:13:57Melissa Erbacher: This week I'm going to be volunteering at home again. There's going to be a lot of volunteering in my immediate future because – You might not have noticed at Palm last weekend and it might not be communicated very well, but I'm actually really rather pregnant at the moment. And the person who is currently residing inside me is getting larger by the minute, I'm sure, and making me extremely uncomfortable and movement over any kind of distance is... Not very easy. So I'm not saying I won't do another one or two parkruns walking before this person arrives earthside. However, I don't know. I think it might be quite nice to retire on the beaches until after they're here and then, you know, I can start the adventures again.

01:14:59Scott Trickett: Perfectly justifiable. I hope you're going to join us next week for our chat with GT, Mr. Turner.

01:15:05Melissa Erbacher: Well, it's certainly my plan. If another person has another plan for me between now and then, that's not in my control. Yeah, we are getting that close, aren't we? We are actually that close. There was a little bit of a scare this week, but yeah, we'll wait to see how that develops before. I'm not going on maternity leave until I'm forced to.

01:15:28Scott Trickett: Yes, I know, I know. But Lyndell, if you're listening, you're on standby. Could be next week, could be in a couple of weeks, but just be prepared. But until then, Mel, thank you again. I might speak to you next week. Who knows? Who knows?

01:15:44Melissa Erbacher: But I'm sure we'll chat soon either way.

01:15:54Unidentified speaker: Thank you.