Episode 179 - Eliud Kiprobbo

Welcome

00:00:23Melissa Erbacher: Episode 179 of the parkrun adventurers podcast is coming at you. And I am inspired this week. Humans have no limits, basically. So the podcast has no limits. Nothing has any limits anymore. And to share in this joy and excitement with me, I have a co-host whose voice I'm sure you'll all recognise. It is the delightful Gary Murphy.

00:00:48Gary Murphy: Hello, Mel. Thanks for that lovely introduction. It's great to be here again. I'm inspired too.

00:00:53Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, it was a big weekend, wasn't it, Gary?

00:00:56Gary Murphy: It was a big weekend. So all the big news is all over the media, but also Melbourne Marathon was on this weekend and a lot of inspiring stories going on there of regular people doing their thing, doing their first marathons and doing PBs and all over the different distances. So inspired by all those people.

00:01:15Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, is it? So is it technically the beginning or like close to the beginning of the marathon season and all the running festival seasons? Because I always felt like that was through winter, the Aussie winter, but maybe it's not. Maybe for the world, it's through the Aussie summer.

00:01:31Gary Murphy: That's a good question. I don't know if there's an official season. There's so many great runs here in Melbourne all throughout the year, so... And it's always something to pick from. If you look at the running calendar, I think nearly every weekend there's a great run to go to. When you're not doing parkrun, of course. Of course.

00:01:45Melissa Erbacher: Well, that's every weekend, isn't it? So, well, let's start there then. Where did you parkrun on Saturday, Gary?

00:01:52Gary Murphy: This week I was at Lalor parkrun in Melbourne. It's probably 30, 40 minutes from the CBD. And probably the most significant landmark, if people were to recognise it, would be if you're on the Craigieburn Bypass, heading towards Sydney or back in towards Melbourne, there's a big rusty bridge and the Lalor parkrun uses that bridge for part of their course. But unfortunately this week the event team turned up to do parkrun and the bridge was closed off. They were doing roadworks or pathworks on the other side of the bridge. And so the team did a great job of... rerouting the course and extending the turnaround point to make up the 5km. And the event went ahead as if nothing had ever happened.

00:02:39Melissa Erbacher: Are they cutting out a bit of the rust?

00:02:41Gary Murphy: Yeah, cutting out a bit of the rust. So it was actually clever that the council had blocked it off on the close side so that the people didn't go across the bridge, which is probably about 100 metres. And then realised that they had to come back because the path was closed. So it was good in one way, but bad for the parkrun. But it all worked out for the best in the end.

00:03:02Melissa Erbacher: Nice, nice. Yeah, we've interviewed Melissa from Lalor a long time ago when it was just kicking off. Did you have a good morning?

00:03:13Gary Murphy: I had a great morning. Mel was there on set day, parkrun day, and 55 of our other mates and eight awesome volunteers. It was a really good morning for it. It was really not too hot and nice overcast sort of morning, no wind. A few people in town, I met a lady from Newy parkrun, Lorraine. She was in town. They were travelling around. And there was another couple of people from Huskisson parkrun that were in town for the marathon festival. So that was really good to meet them. And it's always good on running festival weekends. The volunteer list is always filled up pretty quickly. So a lot of people doing the run the day after. But I had a double dose of parkrun this week, Mel. I got to do... parkrun, regular parkrun. And then I was off to a new parkrun starting up for a trial run called Aurora.

00:04:01Melissa Erbacher: Bonus parkrun time.

00:04:03Gary Murphy: Bonus parkrun. So that was really good. So it was quite a few from Lalor headed over and helped the team that are setting up out there that have done a really great job in getting to where they've got to so far. And we didn't have any issues or dramas and Really looking forward to that one kicking off, getting another parkrun started up in the area. So, yeah, double dose. Very lucky.

00:04:23Melissa Erbacher: It hasn't launched yet, but what can you tell us about the course?

00:04:26Gary Murphy: Well, I can tell you that it's flat. It's friendly.

00:04:32Melissa Erbacher: All right, wait. Before you continue, I want the rest of the adjectives you use to also begin with F. It's fun.

00:04:42Gary Murphy: Yeah. Fantastic. And it's a four-lapper.

00:04:48Melissa Erbacher: Oh, see, there you go. You've managed to do it. I'm impressed. We should do this every week. It's like, all right, describe your course in adjectives only beginning with J. Go.

00:05:02Gary Murphy: That sounds like fun. It'll be a bit of a challenge, but it's a fun challenge.

00:05:05Melissa Erbacher: Yeah. I think we'll have to work that in. Oh, that's very cool. A new event team to come and join in the family. Yeah.

00:05:14Gary Murphy: Yes, and they've got a bit of experience. They're from Lalor parkrun, so they've got a bit of experience behind them, but being a new event team, they've got a lot of support from regular parkrunners and Yeah, it's really exciting and quite looking forward to it.

00:05:29Melissa Erbacher: Cool. Well, we had only one parkrun to attend, I'm afraid, on the weekend, and actually it was pouring rain here, so I ended up leaving Adam and the boys snuggled up warm in their beds as I chuffed off to Kawana to run direct on Saturday morning. This just goes to show how... torrential and monsoony the weather was the previous week granted the previous week was also school holidays but our event number 363 we had 205 parkrunners and then on Saturday just gone we had 73 So yeah, we're not usually so perturbed by the weather. It didn't actually rain at the event. So it was perfect. It was PB weather. There were heaps of PBs happening. We did have one brand new Never Done parkrun before in her life person show up and I was super excited to see her and welcome her. But yeah, the locals in general, very soft this weekend, all staying in bed and not wanting to get their toes wet. And as it turns out, nobody got wet who actually came to parkrun. So good morning.

00:06:45Gary Murphy: Do you have a predominant wind, Mel? Does it come off the ocean or off the land or varies from week to week?

00:06:51Melissa Erbacher: It varies. It can be a headwind in one or other directions or not, from time to time a side wind because, yes, we were unparalleled to the ocean. But it was pretty still and it was like no wind. It was just a gentle breeze on Saturday morning. So there was, yeah, the weather conditions were actually really favourable for a good hit out if you wanted to go for one.

00:07:15Gary Murphy: Yeah. And it's on my bucket list, but I haven't been lucky enough to do Kawana yet. Is your course enclosed or is it open to other people using it, like bikes travelling through or other people using the path?

00:07:27Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, no, it's just public paths along the sort of waterfront, as it were. So, yeah, we have heaps of other people using it. I guess the bonus of having weather like that on the weekend too was that we didn't have to worry too much about collisions with pedestrians or bicycles and things which is a concern on many weeks in general speaking especially because we have so many beach accesses you can often see the surfers walking across with their surfboards and and that's a bit of a a barrier to that they extend the width of themselves by six foot just as they're walking because surfers never walk with their surfboards vertical, do they? It's always a horizontal under the arm scenario.

00:08:11Gary Murphy: That's a funny thing. I was in Queensland earlier this year and I noticed some people standing just near the beach looking out to the ocean and they look like meerkats. You know where meerkats stand there? Yes. And they're just staring at something and you can't figure out what they're staring at.

00:08:23Irene: Yeah.

00:08:23Gary Murphy: And being that I'm not close to the ocean, I'm not used to seeing surfers that often. And I asked someone and they were looking for the wave sets coming in. But at the start, when I didn't know what was happening, I couldn't quite work out why they were just staring out to the sea.

00:08:37Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, you've got to wonder, are they whale watching? Like, what are we looking at? Whenever you see like a crowd of people all standing and looking at something, you just sort of go and stand next to them and you look in the same direction. It's like, What are we looking at? I don't know. And yeah, but that's a common sight at Kawana. We have the surfers all danding up. It's pretty funny that they'll come down to the beach even without bringing any of their stuff just to look before they go home and get their stuff to see whether or not it's worth it. And we've actually got locations as well on the coast that just have video cameras set up. So if they want to, they can log on at home and go to the live feed of what the waves are doing.

00:09:15Irene: Oh, wow.

00:09:15Melissa Erbacher: So it's a bit lazy. Well, I guess that depends on which way you want to look at it. It could be just really time efficient. It is a funny thing.

00:09:25Lyndell Murray: And at least they're all good sorts, you know. They're outdoorsy people. They're very easygoing. We don't tend to have clashes with the surfers, which is cool.

00:09:33Melissa Erbacher: So that's parkrun all sorted for the weekend, Gary. But it was a massive weekend for the world in terms of marathons going on. And as you mentioned briefly, there was the marathon festival, the Melbourne Marathon Festival on the weekend too. But, of course, there was the INEOS 1:59 Challenge kicking off in Vienna, as Eliud Kipchoge became the first human to break the sub-two-hour barrier for the marathon distance. And there was also a new women's world record for the marathon after an incredible run by Kenya's Brigid Kosgei, who broke Paula Radcliffe's 16-year-old world record in Chicago when she ran a 2:14:04. These paces are just blistering and incredible and amazing, make my feet hurt just thinking about it, to be honest. But lastly, and certainly not least, our very own Channel 5 News crew member, Mark Scarborough, also ran his first marathon in an incredible time of 5.20.08 at Melbourne. Congratulations, Mark. That's awesome. Reason to be inspired.

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Interview Dave 'Robbo' Robertson — Athletics and marathon commentator / the show's 'athletics guru'; handler for…

00:10:58Gary Murphy: Okay, so now welcoming to the podcast our special guest, Dave Robbo Robertson. Robbo, welcome to the parkrun adventurers, mate. How are you?

00:11:06Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, great. Thanks, Gary. Great to be back on having a chat, all things parkrun, and g'day to Mel and all the listeners out there.

00:11:13Gary Murphy: What have you been up to since we last spoke to you?

00:11:14Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, been plenty going on, mate. I had been travelling a fair bit last time I spoke. I think we had Lyndell on the show and I was overseas, getting a little frustrated that I wasn't getting my barcode scanned whilst in other countries, but I've come to grips with that and I'm back home now. and getting my barcode scanned on a weekly basis once again. So all is well with the world, with me, back home in Newcastle. Although I did do a little bit of sneaky tourism down the road in Melbourne on the weekend, down there for the Melbourne Marathon, and made my debut at Parkville parkrun. So that was... A lot of fun and good to tick off a new event down there in Victoria.

00:11:53Melissa Erbacher: You actually talked to Mark, one of our roving reporters at Parkville on the weekend. So we'll hear about that a little bit later too, Robbo. But I want to ask, you mentioned that you haven't been scanning in your barcode while you've been off on jaunts overseas. And that's because you've been handling, for lack of a better expression, Lauren Parker around the globe. Can you give us a little bit of an update on how that all went?

00:12:18Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, very successfully. That's right. Lauren is a triathlete. She's now doing paratriathlon after an accident she sustained a couple of years ago in which she sustained very serious injuries and ended up with a spinal cord injury. So she races triathlons a little bit differently now, and I get to help her with the transitions. And she ended up having a successful world tour and being crowned the world champion in her event in the world champs in Lausanne in Switzerland. So that was super exciting. And yeah, great to play a very small part in that, but mostly to be able to cheer her on and see her succeed so in a small space of time in those two years since she's been doing this new version of the sport she's gone from rookie to the best in the world and a great time to achieve that with the Paralympics coming up in Tokyo. next year. So her confidence is sky high. And yeah, hopefully if I don't get the sack, might get a gig over there in Tokyo at the Paralympics next year.

00:13:20Gary Murphy: That's fantastic, Robbo. That'd be a great opportunity. And I've been following Lauren and she's amazing what she's achieved in that amount of time. And just so brave and so great what she's doing in her sport, still pursuing it. Speaking of other people that are inspirational, Eliud Kipchoge broke the official world record on the weekend, but went under two hours for the marathon in the INEOS 1:59 challenge. And we saw a photo of you with Eliud at the 2016 Olympics. How did that come about?

00:13:49Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, well, I was lucky enough to be over there primarily that trip. I wanted to be over there with a friend, my mate Silas Mossi. We have a friend here in Newcastle, Scott Westcott, who at the age of 40 finally qualified for his first Olympic Games in the marathon and we were desperate to get over and cheer him on. So we were there the day of the men's marathon in Rio. Yeah, cheering the athletes on throughout the day and then found ourselves back at the finish area afterwards as the medals were being presented. And actually, they weren't medals. They were presented later on at the closing ceremony, but they got, I think, the winning bouquet of flowers, I guess. They did do a medal presentation ceremony without the medals. But as Eliud Kipchoge was sort of walking by where we were standing, yeah, he came past us and he saw us there. And I had our big inflatable kangaroo, which we named Jumpy. And I actually presented him with... the fully blown up inflatable kangaroo on the spot. And my quote to him was his countryman, David Rudisha, who's the 800 metre world record holder and Olympic champion. I said, Rudisha's got one of these and now you do as well. I'd given Rudisha one in Melbourne at an athletics event a year or so before. So I thought it was fitting that he'd won the gold medal at the marathon at the Olympic Games and he deserved a jumpy as well. And he was happy to accept jumpy. And I like to think somewhere in the paddock of Eldoret in Kenya. Jumpy's still, you know, hanging out there in Kenya. So I haven't had it confirmed, but, yeah, that's how that all worked out. And the photo, I do trot that out whenever Kipchoge's in action and it was fitting with such a big –

00:15:34Melissa Erbacher: feat on the weekend to bring it out once again it's a great photo we might have to pinch it for our Facebook post this week Robbo with your permission feel free yeah so yeah it was a big weekend but we'll start with Vienna because that was chronologically the first big marathon thing to happen did you watch the INEOS 1:59 challenge live yeah I did I was I was glued to it um

00:15:58Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Interestingly, for those that were in Melbourne, yeah, it was the eve of the marathon down there and I kind of wish the organisers had the foresight to maybe screen it up on the big screen inside the MCG. There was runners all around town asking, where are you watching it? Where are you watching it? Once the time had been confirmed. I was actually in an Italian restaurant just off Flinders Street eating with some friends there. A friend of mine, Susie, was doing the marathon the next day So I was sort of anti-socially at one end of the table watching the build up to the start and then getting it underway. And then the table next to us had a group of about eight people and they had someone on the table doing the exact same thing. So we were all transfixed watching it unfold in the early stages. And then I went back to our Airbnb apartment and finished watching it off there and trying to explain it to my young daughters what exactly what was going on and the significance of it as well was interesting. Grace, my oldest daughter, seven-year-old, she was sort of a bit more taken to it than Emma was. the four-year-old. But, yeah, unreal to watch it happen. I sort of had a pretty good feeling it was on. They'd gone to so much effort to assemble the pacing crew. I'd heard the whole thing had cost upwards of $50 million just to put the attempt on. So you'd think they wouldn't go to that effort unless there was a high chance of him doing it. He's obviously a very special athlete, but to actually see it happen, kilometre by kilometre, each of those splits unfold and then getting closer and closer to the end and then to see it happen was quite remarkable. And so, yeah, still today, you know, a few days later, I still can't quite believe that, yeah, that's what we saw. It never really looked in doubt, to be honest. So, yeah, amazing to be alive in this year to have seen that happen, albeit, obviously, not an official world record. It wasn't a race. And it was, yeah, certainly optimal conditions for him to be able to do that with the pacers and everything. But, you know, he's still got to run it. And he's probably the one guy on the planet as it stands that was able to do it. And we saw it come off. So, yeah, an amazing thing to witness.

00:18:09Gary Murphy: Yeah, it was so good to watch. I reckon it would have dragged a lot of people in that aren't really into running or marathon running just to watch it, to see the spectacle of it and how it all worked. We were interested in the pacers, Robbo. We saw the Australians in there, Jack Rayner, and you might be able to help me with the other fellas.

00:18:24Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, actually four ended up being in there, which was awesome. And so, yes, Stewart McSweyn in there, Jack Rayner in the lead pacing group and the final pacing group. He got plenty of airtime. Brett Robinson was one of the captains and then Patrick Tiernan was the fourth Aussie featured in there as well. So awesome opportunity from them. And it's been interesting following them on social media just to see their reaction to it and their updates of being involved. That's something they'll never forget, to have been there the day and helped out is an amazing, amazing thing for those fellas. And, yeah, great that we Aussies can watch them and claim our little part in the whole thing as well. So, yeah, it was pretty epic.

00:19:08Gary Murphy: Do you know much, Robbo, about the pacing, the rules, or like in marathon races, they can have pacers. We weren't quite sure how that all worked. We noticed the V formation and the following the line on the ground. Do you know much about that?

00:19:21Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, certainly. In terms of the formation and things, I'm not aware of anything that stipulates, you know, how the pacers can or can't arrange themselves to do their duties. And you're right, the big city marathons like in, Berlin, not all of them will have them, but yeah, Berlin and then the other big ones will have, you know, often teams of large number of pacers from the start and they'll go as far as they can. The one thing that was different with this one that you're not able to have in a, let's call it a legal race, is pacers that drop out and then can come back in again. And so to have these sort of squads of pacing groups that would run 5Ks and then be replaced by another pacing group, that's the thing that makes it not standardised. So the formation itself, I don't believe, is anything that's out of the ordinary or anything that's a problem. But, yeah, just the fact that you can't have the people coming in and out like they were on the day. And so those, I think the pacers, each one of them probably only had, I think, maybe two cracks at it. So about five, five and a half Ks each time. So, you know, from 1500 metre runners up to 10K and 5000 and marathoners, you know, they were probably on their limits a little bit, but probably comfortable enough to be running 5Ks at a time.

00:20:42Melissa Erbacher: While we're on the pacing, I mean, I want to talk about Brigid Kosgei's efforts on Sunday separately, but she had two male pacers and I don't know whether or not they were official pacers for the marathon or if they were like a bring your own kind of scenario. Do you know, can people take your own pacers? Because I imagine that somebody who's going at that kind of speed, they don't tend to put them on in the official sense from the marathon themselves.

00:21:13Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, look, I... I don't know the inner workings in great detail, Mel, but I believe arrangements are made between the athlete and let's say their coach or their agent or manager, and they will communicate with the event organisers and basically request what pacing they want. And if they're able to provide those pacers to the event, then that's probably all well and good. So, yeah, having the male pacers take her most of the way there, I think they It took her through to about sort of 42 Ks or so, completely legal in a mixed race as Chicago is. Other races have separate men's and women's elite starts. So New York will do that. And, yeah, interestingly, Paula Radcliffe set the previous world record was at the London Marathon, which was 2.15.25. So, yeah, and they have a separate start, I think, at that one as well. So she's able to be assisted in that way and, you know, It's not like cycling where there's a large or significant amount of aerodynamics and wind benefit being tucked in behind someone. That certainly helps in running. The pacers help, but you've still got to be able to get your legs around the course in that time as well. So, yeah, incredible, incredible effort.

00:22:33Gary Murphy: Brigid broke her PB by about four minutes. So it's a great weekend for the Kenyans. So you'll have to find another jumpy kangaroo to take over to Tokyo, Robbo, just in case you can pass another one on to the collection.

00:22:47Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, well, interesting. I went past the shop. Jumpy was born in the Australiana souvenir shop just outside Fed Square in Melbourne. So I know where he's sourced from. I'll get a couple of new ones ready to go in case they come good at Tokyo, yep.

00:23:06Melissa Erbacher: Now, there's been conversation. Everybody has an opinion about these things, whether or not you've run a marathon. But Brigid's performance, that is the new world record. She did it in an official race in a marathon. People comparing, and I don't even think it's necessarily apples with apples, but people are comparing her performance to Kipchoge's on Saturday. And saying that it's better, you know, it was the performance of the weekend. And what are your thoughts on that? I mean, two different genders, two different environments. Do you think people should be comparing and deciding which was superior? Or should we all just be going, oh, my God, the human race is incredible in terms of what we can do and what our bodies are capable of? Yeah.

00:23:51Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, and that, what you've mentioned there was summed up really nicely in a tweet by Barack Obama, I believe as well, just saying, you know, amazing what humanity has achieved over the weekend with both those races. I guess to answer your question, Mel, firstly, how good is it that we're all talking about running? If people want to compare races and performances, that's one thing. But just the fact that, yeah, running is on the tip of everyone's tongues, especially within the running community as we are here. But as Gary mentioned earlier, people that aren't as interested in running are now hearing about these amazing efforts and maybe getting a little interested in learning a bit more about the races and the athletes and how it's all happened. Firstly, that's a fantastic thing. I think it is a little bit murky trying to compare and seed which is a better performance. I think they're both amazing, jaw-droppingly good runs and I probably would avoid having to make that decision about which is the better one. I'm glad we had about 24 hours to catch our breath after that, the 1:59 of Kipchoge. And then as Australians were waking up on Monday morning, we got to learn about Brigid Kosgei's amazing world record over there in Chicago. And that's been sort of brewing a little bit for her that she's run very, very well in previous races. And so she went in all guns blazing coming out in the first five Ks was run in some ridiculous pace. And, you know, she was good enough to back that up and bring it home. So yeah, incredible performance there. And Kipchoge, as we know, we saw how close he came in his previous sub two attempt. And then we know he's the world record holder in his own right as well. So I think we should just probably, yeah, call it square and say, look, both just amazing human beings, amazing Kenyan distance athletes and Let's enjoy both of them equally for the joy that they bring and for the marvel that we all have in response to what they were able to achieve.

00:25:50Gary Murphy: The next thing we need to get for Eliud and Brigid is a barcode, I reckon, for parkrun. Well... I don't think they're signed up, are they?

00:25:58Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned it, Gary, because I was thinking that across the weekend myself and watching the INEOS 1:59 coverage, it was good to hear the odd mention of parkrun throughout. The 41 pacers, I was trying to think how many of them are barcode compliant as well. I'm not sure many of the Aussie boys are. I know Brett Robinson definitely is and has been a previous fastest Australian, Australian record holder, back in his day, back when he was kicking around Canberra and Ballarat. But yeah, we need to probably sort of press on and recruit a few of these top runners and it'd be great to get Kipchoge involved in a parkrun at some point. Interestingly, to make that link between his run in particular and the parkrun distance, 14 minutes and 10 seconds was the average parkrun that he ran for his record attempt. So, Yeah, that was pretty special. And I think Ian Rutzen put it up on Twitter to give some parkrun perspective of the 1:59 attempt. He said only five of the 51 million plus 5K parkruns completed have been faster than Kipchoge's target pace. So on a good day, we're all a long way behind what he was doing over the of his 42K event. So hopefully we can get them signed up. That's the logical next step, I think, from here, Gary.

00:27:21Gary Murphy: They're amazing numbers. We were talking about them before. It's just incredible to think that many runs and really a great achievement. You were down at Melbourne on the weekend. How did you end up at Melbourne Marathon? What event did you run in?

00:27:34Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, I was down there lucky enough to run in the half marathon for my second year. Blown away once again with how fantastic the event is and that finish inside the MCG, I don't think I'll ever get tired of that. That's the second time I've been fortunate enough to enjoy that and, yeah, happy enough to come away with a PB, breaking my seven-year drought it's been since half marathon PB. So that was nice and I did my little... A tribute to Eliud crossing the line, punching the chest and throwing the arms out, pretending I was going under two hours. So that was a bit of fun. But, yeah, great vibe out on course. Lots of parkrunners. Lots of people, within the running community that I know. And yeah, I was lucky enough to go back out after my race and help a friend, Susie, at the back end of the marathon. So I ended up running another about eight or nine Ks at the back of the marathon to enjoy that too. So yeah, a great day down there. And I think there was just a buzz in the air in the morning, having watched the one, the sub two hour challenge, come off and people were sort of, you know, just raring to go and have a bit of a run and all fired up with that. And I found myself at the start line just to do a little bit of name dropping, if you'll indulge me, but I was in a conversation with two great legends of Australian marathon running, Steve Moneghetti and Rob de Castella and to be in a conversation with the two of them and hear their thoughts on what had taken place the night before in vienna was uh very interesting as well and both of them were hugely excited about the prospect that a fellow from kenya had gone under two hours for a marathon so yeah a huge buzz in Melbourne and um it's great to be part of

00:29:13Melissa Erbacher: Well, congratulations on your PB, Robbo. It doesn't sound like you need them, but do you think you might be in the market for a pair of pretty pink Nike's?

00:29:23Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Would you believe I went out that afternoon and went and bought a pair? Not the top, top expensive pair though that all the Pacers were wearing. Mine were about half the price, but they're the exact same colour. And I now have a pair of pink shoes to match both my daughters. So they're they're pretty happy with that. And I've got a pair of Kenyan socks to go with it. So I'll be rocking those and channeling my inner Eliud for a little while yet, I think. Awesome.

00:29:49Melissa Erbacher: And before we let you go, I do want to ask you about the shoes and whether or not you think the performing enhancing abilities of them should or shouldn't be allowed in informal official races.

00:30:03Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: How long have you got? That's a whole other podcast, Mel. I think it's a tricky one. The comparison being made in a lot of conversations is with swimming and the years ago when the technology got to a point where certain swimsuits were banned as they were deemed to be improving performance performance And so that was put to a halt. I think certainly that it needs to be looked at. The ruling from the IAAF, the ruling body for athletics and running globally, I can't think of the exact wording, but it needs to follow the universality of athletics and running. So it needs technology that needs to be available for everyone globally. and within the spirit of the game effectively. And I'm sure we're probably getting to a point where we're either hitting the line or just nudging over the line of what's probably universally acceptable or equitable or fair. Oh, wow. I mean, the media and sponsors would have loved what happened on the weekend with both the men and the women. Yeah. Brigid Kosgei and Eliud Kipchoge. It creates headlines, it creates bars, it creates sales ultimately if you're a shoe company and you've got anything to do with running as well. So, yeah, they've got a vested interest in all this stuff as well, and they won't be the ones pulling themselves back until they're told to. So I think there's a bit to play out with it all. Certainly, you'll hear many more podcasts discussing it in a more sophisticated manner than what I have just there, but it's certainly an interesting topic. What about parkrun as well? Do we have to start putting asterisks next to parkrun runs that are enhanced by the crazy shoes that are assisted mark them as assisted runs exactly yeah we'll have to wait and see look I think you've still got to be able to run you've still got to be able to get your heart and lungs and your your legs to do it the shoes will definitely help and technology I don't think's the enemy technology needs to be embraced with all things and across sport running tracks road surfaces you know most aspects of sport of sports have improved as technology's improved over the years and This could be argued that that's just one more addition to that technology. But if it becomes unfair and if it becomes no longer a reflection of someone's physiology, you know, what your body can do and you're relying more on the technology, then maybe it is going a little bit too far. But sorry, I can't give you a straight answer straight up tonight, but it's certainly an intriguing one.

00:32:35Gary Murphy: Well, thanks, Robbo, for coming on to the parkrun adventurers this week. It's been really great to have you on and have your insights. All the best for your future parkrunning and hopefully your trips to Tokyo in the new year for the Olympics.

00:32:48Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, thanks a lot, Gary. Thanks a lot, Mel. And happy parkrunning.

00:32:50[music]

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Tony O'Connell — Wyndham Vale

00:33:07Tony O'Connell: Howdy parkrunners, TOC reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew. Today we've ventured down to the lovely Wyndham Vale and I'm with Loretto who is the Run Director today. G'day Loretto.

00:33:17Loretto: Hi everyone, how are you going?

00:33:19Tony O'Connell: Loretto, it's a great course here. I love running out alongside the river. Trees are starting to grow around the park and that's, I think you're going to get a bit more shade as you go around. Give us a bit of a description of your course.

00:33:31Loretto: Well, it's an out-and-back course, and as you said, there's a bit of scenery on the way, lots of green trees, and we've got a lake and down by the Werribee River as well, so it's a really nice course, and you don't get lost, so it's a good one to come along to.

00:33:47Tony O'Connell: and lots of bird life out in the lake today you can from where we're sitting at the finish line uh people still coming in left right and centre but you can see heaps of birds out there yeah it's lovely and even now we get a few dogs that take a dip in that lake as well so that's always funny to see And you look like you've got a heap of tourists here today. What's going on today at Wyndham Vale?

00:34:07Loretto: Yeah, well, today's pretty special. We've got two ladies who are celebrating their 250th parkrun, which is really exciting for us here at Wyndham Vale because it's the first time we've had someone reach that milestone. And they've been great. They've brought along some cakes and lots of goodies. So we're going to have a little party here at Wyndham Vale parkrun today.

00:34:28Tony O'Connell: As the adventurers know, I will travel for cake and the cake has been laid on. It's looking excellent. So you've got a cracking day here today. Are the numbers sort of about where you normally get them?

00:34:40Loretto: Look, I think we're probably a little bit busier than normal because we had eight milestones altogether today. So we had a 25 volunteer as well as our 250s and some 10 junior parkrunners. So numbers are really good. But I like to think it's because of the great community spirit down here. We are one big happy park-running family, so I think it's the community spirit that gets people down here and then they want to keep coming back.

00:35:09Tony O'Connell: And how long has Wyndham Vale been going?

00:35:11Loretto: Oh, God, now you're testing me. I reckon it's probably three, four years. Gosh, I hope I've got that right now.

00:35:20[laughter]

00:35:20Tony O'Connell: LAUGHTER No pressure at all, you just have a random guess.

00:35:24Loretto: I've been a Run Director here for about two years so I didn't start from the start but it's quite well established here as you can tell with our numbers.

00:35:33Tony O'Connell: And was this the first course that you'd done or did you come in from somewhere else?

00:35:36Loretto: No, this was my first course. It's my home parkrun and I've done a few different ones but I always keep coming back here because it's my favourite and you're always welcome with a big smile and a big hug so it's fantastic down here.

00:35:55Tony O'Connell: It does have a great feel out on course. Lots of high fives and lots of friendly faces out there. That's something I really love about the couple of times I've been over to Wyndham Vale. It is a really friendly course.

00:36:04Loretto: Yeah, we definitely encourage that type of behaviour and cartwheels and some funny antics and all sorts of stuff. So we encourage that down here. So it's really good when you're out on the course and you see everyone smiling and high-fiving each other.

00:36:20Tony O'Connell: Fantastic. And there goes the PB ball again. That's rung a few times today.

00:36:23Loretto: I tell you what, it's been very popular today. So we can't complain about it. So we've had, it's a fairly good course to get a PB. We've got a couple of little hills. Some people think they're big, but when you go and do some parkrun touristing, you realise they're not too bad. So it's not a bad course if you want to try and get a PB to come and visit us out here.

00:36:45Tony O'Connell: All right, well, I'm going to go grab a bit of cake before it all disappears. And thanks very much for the chat.

00:36:50Loretto: Not a problem. And we have a coffee van. That's important as well.

00:36:54Tony O'Connell: Coffee van near the finish line too, which is great.

00:36:57Loretto: Great. Thank you for that. See you.

00:37:01Tony O'Connell: parkrunners, I'm here with Cheryl at the finish of the Wyndham Vale. Cheryl, you've got a green cape on. What's all happening today?

00:37:08Cheryl: Well, I'm a super-duper 250 parkrunner. Woo-hoo!

00:37:13Tony O'Connell: A proper milestone. It's totally a thing.

00:37:15Cheryl: I know. It's so exciting. And what was so incredible today, besides the fact that Wyndham Vale is a really good community-spirited parkrun, and I was presented with the Super Duper Cape, is that the people that cheered me along and gave me well wishes along the way, it made me feel really, really special.

00:37:35Tony O'Connell: And it's a big milestone too. As you know, it's at least five years of parkrunning, which is a great effort.

00:37:42Cheryl: It is indeed.

00:37:43Tony O'Connell: Sure, I'm sort of detecting a slight accent. I'm figuring it's not from south of Wyndham Vale anyway. Where are you actually from?

00:37:50Cheryl: Well, I come from South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa. And in fact, my very first parkrun was at Albert Park, Melbourne when I was here on holiday. And I saw this 5k event and was like, oh, well, what the heck? And we loved it from the first one. Went back to South Africa and there wasn't one in Cape Town, but A few months later one came up five k's down the road from us and got into that but I was distracted by longer distances and didn't really fully focus until I met an incredible parkrun tourist in South Africa and discovered that tourism is a thing and I have to say that landing here now two years ago parkrun has been such a huge part of us being accepted and loved in Australia and our parkrun family is awesome.

00:38:42Tony O'Connell: Yeah, parkrun is an awesome thing, isn't it? It is. You've run 250 now, how many different events?

00:38:47Cheryl: Because I know you travel a hell of a lot. 152 different events, 86 I think in Australia now.

00:38:57Tony O'Connell: Yep, yep. And how many different countries?

00:39:00Cheryl: Five. Five countries? Yeah. So I have a son that's in the UK. So when I get a chance, then it's nice to visit him. And US, Singapore when we arrive on the way here. And then South Africa and Australia.

00:39:18Tony O'Connell: Cool. All right, well, I hope you have a great day and you've got a heap of cake over there. We do. Well, I'm hoping there's still a heap of cake over there because there's a lot of people standing around the cake.

00:39:29Cheryl: There is. Irene did such an incredible job, so thank you. She's also here somewhere still. She's taking it easy because she's doing 10 tomorrow at the Melbourne Mara.

00:39:39Tony O'Connell: Cool.

00:39:40Cheryl: Anyway, nice to have you here. All the way from sunny Inverloch, Tony.

00:39:44Tony O'Connell: Cheers, thanks, parkrunners, we're here with a little friendly magpie who's coming for cake as well, which doesn't surprise me because everyone likes cake. But the main reason that we're here is we have a couple of people doing their 250. Irene, you've run your 250 today. Congratulations. Thanks, Toc. And why did you pick Wyndham Vale to run your 250?

00:40:06Irene: Cheryl made me do it, but we were doing it together. It was a joint one and it's very friendly team here. So we thought, yep, why not do it here? And apparently we're the first two to do it here. So that was pretty exciting.

00:40:19Tony O'Connell: Yeah, it got a bit of interest at the briefing. There was a lot of people interested in the 250. I think for newer events, sometimes seeing people actually achieving it is a bit of a thing. And in this case, it's a real thing, a 250.

00:40:33Irene: I think it helps motivate people and have a goal. And yeah, because I think it's event 190 odd here. So yeah. Yeah, it's a fairly new event.

00:40:43Tony O'Connell: Fairly newish, yeah. Obviously no homegrown 250s yet because they're not up to that. And what did you think of the course?

00:40:50Irene: We've done it before as a freedom run and also officially once before. And yeah, it's a nice out and back course. There's a little bit of undulation, but not much. But we mainly walk today because we're going to do Melbourne Marathon tomorrow. So take it easy.

00:41:06Tony O'Connell: Cool. Rest day, just a lazy 5k, you warm up for things. Why not?

00:41:11Irene: Why not?

00:41:12Tony O'Connell: No, it's a really great thing. You must be a bit of a tourist as well because I keep running into you and Parth at so many different events around Victoria especially. You're getting close to the Cowell, I believe.

00:41:25Irene: yes we um I'm up to 98 and you're up to 97 are you yeah and so we've already got planned next week um Claisebrook Cove in East Perth and then that's a cracking course yeah watch out for the little hill oh well we'll probably be walking that as well and then in the first week in November we're doing Perth uh Darwin sorry Darwin as our 100th Cowell Club and also it will be my Peel Club as well.

00:41:58Tony O'Connell: The Peel as well. Awesome. Well done.

00:42:00Irene: Yeah, thank you. So real tourist, real adventurous. I think I've achieved all my parkrun goals this year. Bingo Club, 250, Cowell Club, Pirate Club, BGs.

00:42:09Tony O'Connell: You've had a big year on the challenges. You've had badges galore.

00:42:12Irene: Yeah, a few badges this year.

00:42:15Tony O'Connell: Well, congratulations on the 250 again and let's go have some cake.

Roving report Mark Scarborough — Parkville parkrun

00:42:19Irene: Okay, thanks, Toc.

00:42:20Mark Scarborough: Good morning parkrun adventurers. This is Mark reporting in for Channel 5 News Crew from Parkville parkrun in Melbourne. Parkville parkrun is just about three kilometres outside the CBD of Melbourne, but really easy to get to via public transport. We're here for the Melbourne Marathon Festival on tomorrow, and I've brought the family out to Parkville to get the P for the parkrun Challenges Challenge. Anyway, we'll have a chat to a few parkrun adventurers, and do the run and report back in. Well we're here with another couple of parkrun adventurers and you want to introduce yourself and tell us where you're from?

00:42:59Shirley Dahl: Shirley Dahl from Inverloch.

00:43:02Mark Scarborough: Welcome and what brought you to Parkville parkrun today?

00:43:05Shirley Dahl: Melbourne Marathon tomorrow so last year we did Albert Park so something different this year, Parkville.

00:43:12Mark Scarborough: Excellent. And we've got a voice here that some people may remember. You've been listening to parkrun Podcasts in Australia for a while. Good morning.

00:43:19Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Morning, yeah. Dave Robertson here. Great to be on the show, having a chat.

00:43:24Mark Scarborough: So kind of like on the other end of a different kind of microphone for a different podcast.

00:43:28Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, no pressure here. You can just talk rubbish and get away with it.

00:43:31Mark Scarborough: And what's brought you to Parkville today?

00:43:33Dave 'Robbo' Robertson: Yeah, I've come down from my home of Newcastle and Newy parkrun. And yeah, similar to Sher, we're just comparing notes as we stepped off the tram here for the Melbourne Marathon tomorrow. And when you've done Albert Park a number of times, we had to find the next closest new event. And this was my one of those. So Parkville, I've heard it's good. It was here or Studley. And Parkville got the nod today. So looking forward to giving it a rip later on.

00:43:58Mark Scarborough: Yeah, I expect there'll be some pretty big numbers at Albert Park today, so I think it's kind of wise to check out a few of the other ones. And what's brought you to Parkville today?

00:44:05guest: Oh, look, I'm just looking out. I'm the deputy looking after the sheriff. My wife's doing part of the marathon tomorrow, 10K, so I come down and give out the oranges and stuff. Support crew.

00:44:17Mark Scarborough: You are an important part of the crew, being a support crew on the sidelines. Well done. Very important part of the crew, yes. All right, well, best of luck to you guys for tomorrow, and I might see you out on the course.

00:44:27Unidentified speaker: Thanks very much. Thank you.

00:44:28Mark Scarborough: All right, we're here with a couple more adventurers, and where are you guys travelling from?

00:44:33Tony O'Connell: Dunmore.

00:44:35Mark Scarborough: And what's brought you to Parkville parkrun today?

00:44:38guest: We're here for the Melbourne Marathon Festival over the weekend.

00:44:42Mark Scarborough: Excellent. What distance are you going to hit up?

00:44:45guest: I've got the half marathon on my list.

00:44:48Mark Scarborough: And have you been to Parkville parkrun before?

00:44:52guest: No, this is our first visit out here and it will be our 28th different parkrun location.

00:44:58Mark Scarborough: And what made you choose Parkville? Closest to city.

00:45:05guest: And also that it describes itself as being around and through a park which we thought would be rather nice in the springtime.

00:45:12Mark Scarborough: Yeah, it's a good course and best of luck for tomorrow.

00:45:17guest: Thank you.

00:45:17Mark Scarborough: I'm here with Sandy now. Good morning, Sandy. Good morning. You've told me to avoid talking to two other larrikins here at Parkville.

00:45:25Sandy: Yeah, watch out for the Baldwin Brothers. There's four of them in total and they appear at parkruns all over the place.

00:45:30Mark Scarborough: Baldwin Brothers, like those Hollywood stars. They're the Baldwin Brothers as well, aren't they?

00:45:33Sandy: Definitely Hollywood stars, EC.

00:45:36Mark Scarborough: They're all geared up and ready for a big run here, wearing Collingwood colours at Carlton, which is strange, and no other footy colours there, parkrun shirt. And what brought you to Parkville today, Sandy?

00:45:47Sandy: We were over here for the Melbourne Marathon.

00:45:49Mark Scarborough: And what distance are you going to hit up?

00:45:51Sandy: The marathon. With no training, hey, who needs to train?

00:45:56Mark Scarborough: What do you mean? You're doing parkrun today. That's enough training, isn't it?

00:45:59Sandy: Exactly, exactly. That's our usual training.

00:46:02Mark Scarborough: Yeah, that's the... So, you know, maybe you and I will be running together tomorrow.

00:46:05Sandy: Excellent. Yep, somewhere down the back.

00:46:08Mark Scarborough: And why did you choose Parkville?

00:46:10Sandy: Probably because it seems to be the closest Uber road from our hotel.

00:46:14Mark Scarborough: That's a good decision, isn't it? All right. Well, thank you for the chat and best of luck for tomorrow. Hopefully I'll see you out there.

00:46:19Sandy: Cheers.

Roving report Greta — Clare Valley parkrun

00:46:19Sandy: Thank you.

00:46:20Greta: Good morning, parkrun adventurers. It's Greta here and I'm at Clare Valley parkrun this morning and it's a beautiful day. So the Clare Valley is about two hours drive north of Adelaide and the Clare Valley area is known for its wine production and and the course here actually utilises part of an old rail trail, so part of the old railway lines that are no longer in use has been converted to a trail for cyclists and walkers, and parkrun uses part of that course.

00:46:56guest: So we're going to do the run today and then find some people to chat to.

00:47:01Greta: Hello, parkrunners. So I'm now at Post parkrun Coffee and I'm here with Julie. How are you going, Julie? I'm going really well, thank you.

00:47:07Julie: It's a beautiful day here at Clare, isn't it? It is a beautiful day and we love our parkrun here in Clare.

00:47:13Greta: And look at how many people are here for coffee. Yeah.

00:47:18Julie: It's amazing how it's grown. We're only about three years old, you know, so, yeah, quite young. And you were tail walking today? I was, yes. And I like that because I get a tick as well. It goes on my total, which I'm quite proud of, quite frankly.

00:47:32Greta: You get a parkrun and you get a volunteer quiz.

00:47:35Julie: And you get a coffee.

00:47:36Greta: And you get a coffee. What's not to love? I know. What more could you want?

00:47:40Sandy: Absolutely. Absolutely.

00:47:42Julie: And, yes, so I've probably totted up my 110 today, so I'm quite pleased. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. And have they all been at Clare? Oh, no. I've done a few around the place, mostly Victoria and recently Tasmania. Oh, lovely. Which one in Tasmania? I did Geeveston, which is quite a new one, right down the south. Cold. Arctic cold it was a couple of weeks ago, but it was very nice. Yes, lovely. Lovely.

00:48:09Greta: And what about in South Australia? Have you done any others in South Australia? I haven't, and I should.

00:48:13Julie: Yes, I'm a bit of a homebody. When I'm home, I'm home. If I'm away, I'm away. But one day I will do some more.

00:48:20Greta: One day you will?

00:48:20Julie: Yes. And what was it that started you parkrunning? Well, a friend of mine who lives here suggested that I should come along. It was just after parkrun was started here. And I thought, oh, OK. Well, I said, well, I don't run. And he said, no, you can walk, you can walk. I said, OK, well, I came along. And the first couple, I thought, oh, I don't know. And then I really got into it. Now I really feel bad if I miss one. I just love it so much. It's great.

00:48:46Greta: So you'd be there every Sunday morning? Pretty well every...

00:48:49Julie: Yes, when I can. I'm there pretty well every time. And what I like to tell everybody... who's prepared to listen, is every week I win my age grade. Now, isn't that an amazing thing? And the reason is, because I have to be honest, I am the only one. But do you know what?

00:49:08Greta: If you didn't come... Well, there wouldn't be anyone then. Exactly right.

00:49:12Julie: So it doesn't really matter what I do. I'll always win it at this stage anyway.

00:49:17Greta: Well, look, thank you so much for talking to me and having coffee with me. It was lovely to have you guys here with us today too.

00:49:23Julie: And you guys have been... I walked with Cain, your son.

00:49:25Greta: Yes, because Cain walked with you, my son. He walked with you for the Tail Walkers. So chewed your ear off. Yeah, absolutely. But it was a very enjoyable conversation. Yeah. Lovely. And you guys have been so welcoming. We've absolutely loved our morning here.

00:49:38Julie: We look forward to seeing you again. So thank you for having us. It's a pleasure.

00:49:42Greta: All right, now I'm here with Cathy and Sharon, who are the co-EDs of Clare Valley parkrun. How are you going, lady? Good, thanks. Wonderful, thank you. Thank you so much for having us at your parkrun today. It was a beautiful day.

00:49:55Cathy: It was absolutely gorgeous run conditions this morning.

00:49:59Greta: And we feel so welcome. It's been absolutely lovely. So tell me a little bit about Clare Valley parkrun. Maybe start with describing the course for us. Well, we run along the beautiful Riesling Trail.

00:50:11Cathy: We start opposite... the Clare Valley Visitor Centre, and we run towards Seven Hill. It's a little bit of a graded run, a little bit of an uphill, but the downhill on the way back is certainly, I think, welcomed by many. I had to keep telling myself that.

00:50:31Greta: This hill's got to stop when I turn around and then I get to come down.

00:50:35Cathy: Absolutely. Yeah, so it's beautiful through the vines, get to see.

00:50:42Sharon: We go over a bridge, which is always nice, the Quarry Road Bridge. There's one for you, Scotty. Yeah, for Scotty, definitely. He would have liked that. And lots of bushland and you often see kangaroos, sometimes other sorts of reptiles. Yeah, no, it's fantastic. We love that.

00:51:02Greta: It's lovely and shady, isn't it? Beautiful. And it uses an old railway line, is that right?

00:51:07Sharon: Yep, an old railway line. I think the trail's been there for quite a few years now, though. Not sure how long. I'm sure we could have found out from our Riesling Trail committee member, who is one of our regular parkrunners. He's all for our parkrun here.

00:51:24Greta: And the Riesling Trail people are very, very supportive of parkrun, aren't they?

00:51:27Sharon: Yeah, definitely supportive. We've got all of our executive committee as parkrunners, and they helped set it up and stuff.

00:51:35Greta: Yeah, that's wonderful. And so how long has Clare Valley been running for? We're at three years.

00:51:40Cathy: Three and a half years. Yeah, three and a half years. So it's been a blink of an eye really. It feels like we've been here a whole lot longer, but it's absolutely fantastic and we've got such a great supportive team, core group of people who volunteer who come out week after week um we're a big family here yeah and we just as you can hear maybe in the background um just the numbers at coffee afterwards the chit chat the the just the camaraderie that we have is fantastic I think Sharon and I are pretty proud of the fact that we're a big family yeah and lots of kids that's one of the things that struck me you've got lots of kids and um

00:52:18Greta: We're at the bakery. What's the name of the bakery here?

00:52:21Sharon: This is Claire Rye's Bakery. I don't know, it's about a K away from where we do parkrun, just heading in towards Clare from our course.

00:52:31Greta: And it's a lovely setting. There's a lawn out the front and the kids are playing on the lawn and having a really good time.

00:52:38Sharon: Yeah, a couple of weeks ago they were all playing Red Rover all over and didn't want to go home, so it was fantastic.

00:52:45Cathy: The kids at our parkrun are fantastic. They're so encouraging and part of everything. They volunteer so regularly. A couple of our kids have reached 25. They're involved just as much as the adults, maybe because of their parents sometimes, but that's okay. That's okay, yeah.

00:53:03Greta: Yeah, that's fine.

00:53:04Cathy: And how long have you guys been Co-Event Directors at Clare Valley? Just over two years now. So, yeah, and everything's been going pretty smoothly, I think. Do you agree, Sharon?

00:53:16Greta: Oh, that's a loaded question.

00:53:18Sharon: Yeah, no, Cathy and I, we get along really well. We actually only met at parkrun. If it wasn't for parkrun, we wouldn't have... met each other and I think we've got a pretty good friendship and a good team work with our parkrun.

00:53:32Greta: From what you guys were telling me earlier, you work really well together, you complement each other, you've got good complementary skills.

00:53:40Sharon: Yeah, we're both working mothers, so we both understand the juggle of having to do that with parkrun and just support each other. And when one's away, the other one picks up the slack. And, yeah, that's really good.

00:53:51Greta: Yeah, that's fabulous. And, look, you were telling me earlier that you've got a wonderful trip planned soon. Tell us a little bit about that.

00:53:58Cathy: And I think you get to do some parkruns too. I do. Yeah, so heading overseas because our eldest has been doing a gap year in Denmark. So we're going overseas on a bit of a world tour, wind tour um so yeah get to do five overseas parkruns so Bushy Park which is probably the most exciting one I'm trying not to be too green uh then hopefully we'll do one in oslo and munich and then we'll head to the states and do one in orlando and Washington so pretty excited about that that is wonderful get to do my hundred in Washington so that'll be pretty spectacular I hope and I think you were saying um earlier that you're going to be away for three months Yeah, just short of three months. So, yeah, so Sharon's going to have to pick up a bit of slack. But I'll pay her back next year. Swings and roundabouts. That's it, exactly, exactly. I've been instructed I have to spam our Facebook page with overseas part runs, so I'll do that.

00:54:57Greta: Yeah, that's fabulous. Is there anything that you guys would like to add? Anything that you'd like to let everyone in the parkrun adventurers podcast world know about Clare Valley?

00:55:07Cathy: Our alternative course next week. Next week we've got our alternative course.

00:55:12Greta: And there's the show, because the show's on, isn't it? And you're right near the showgrounds?

00:55:16Cathy: Yeah, so we've needed to shift so that parkrunners don't have to pay $12 to park. So we've shifted it just down the road, just opposite the Clarise Bakery. And, yeah, hope that we'll get a few people coming out to do the alternative course. Yeah, something different for everyone. Exactly. And, yeah, it's all the facilities parking opposite. So it's all the same as usual, just slightly different start position. But we'll put it all up on Facebook so people know where to go.

00:55:44Greta: Yeah, yeah, that's great. Well, thank you so much for being so welcoming for me and the family coming to Clare Valley parkrun and for having a chat with us this morning and for putting on the beautiful weather.

00:55:55Cathy: No worries.

00:55:57Greta: Come again any time.

00:55:58Cathy: Yep, come again. Come again, everyone.

Roving report Jess — Clare Valley parkrun

00:56:02Jess: Hi, my name's Jess and I'm here at Clare Valley parkrun and I'm talking to Ken. How are you going, Cain? Good. How are you, Jess? I'm quite good. So you walked parkrun today, didn't you?

00:56:12Cain: Yes, it was very nice. I had a nice long chat to our... I can't remember who, but they're very nice.

00:56:19Jess: The Tail Walkers?

00:56:20Cain: Yes. Yes. So how long have you been doing parkrun for? I'm not exactly sure, but I've done 170-something parkruns, so a fair while. And you've been doing it with your family, is that right?

00:56:34Jess: Yes. So you enjoy the, is it the community or is it doing the running or is it just all of it that you enjoy? Pretty much all of it, yeah. Yeah, so do you walk or run the parkrun or do you volunteer as well?

00:56:47Cain: I sometimes volunteer, mostly walk and run. So, yeah, it's quite nice on the Clare Valley run because you can see a heap of stuff and, yeah.

00:56:57Jess: Yeah, it's a rather beautiful run. So what kind of time is your fastest time? So what's your personal best?

00:57:03Cain: 24.41, I think. I'm pretty sure, yeah.

00:57:08Jess: So I take it you're a tourist here at Clare Valley, aren't you? Yes. Where's your home parkrun? Mount Barker. So you mainly run at Mount Barker or do you tourist around a lot? I tourist, but mostly Mount Barker. So you meet a lot of people at parkrun? Yes. So I also noticed that you're wearing a trail running SA jumper, so you do longer runs as well?

00:57:30Cain: Yes. And they're also quite nice as well.

00:57:33Jess: So did parkrun get you into doing those?

00:57:35Cain: I'm pretty sure, yeah. You're pretty sure.

00:57:38Jess: Yeah, so thank you for chatting today and have a great day.

Roving report Cameron Drake — Bibra Lake parkrun

00:57:43Cameron Drake: Morning everyone, Cameron here at Bibra Lake parkrun and I'm joined with Dylan who's Run Director today and Chris whom I'm told is instrumental in setting this parkrun up. How's it going today fellas?

00:57:53Dylan: Very well indeed, perfect running weather.

00:57:55Cameron Drake: Oh absolutely, it's a lovely course around here, very nice 5k around a 6k lake. So how did we get started here at Bibra Lake?

00:58:05Chris: I wanted to run a bit closer to home. I was running over at Canning River parkrun. Okay. And then didn't really want to do the paperwork, but wanted to start a course up. So I started the course up and I think Rachel Finlayson did the paperwork and... That's how it took off.

00:58:21Cameron Drake: Oh, fantastic. So what was the event number this week? 252. 252. So would you have had an anniversary recently or is it coming up?

00:58:29Dylan: Oh, we had a 250th anniversary, which we actually forgot about. And it was basically that morning people noticed, oh, it's 250. So there was a mention of it, but no cake, no nothing. Oh, no, there was cake. Thanks to Jennifer. Oh, excellent.

00:58:44Cameron Drake: So that'd be five years now, isn't it? About four and a half, something like that. Excellent. So how many people do you think came this morning? 200 or so, would you say?

00:58:59Dylan: Yeah.

00:59:01Cameron Drake: Excellent. That's fantastic. So how did you get started in parkrun?

00:59:06Dylan: I used to parkrun in Britain, then emigrated nine years ago when there weren't parkruns in Australia. Then we did see that there was a parkrun nearby, first of all in Rockingham, but that meant you had to wake up just that little bit too early on a Saturday morning. So when I noticed this one had started, this is ideal. It's close, it's a perfect course, we love it. Excellent. Well, I love it too. I'm going to come back. Yes. Without a boat anchor or a dog here slowing me down.

00:59:33Cameron Drake: He flaked out. And so did you get started with parkrun here or elsewhere?

00:59:39Chris: I started running as part of a midlife crisis, as you do, and then I started running Canning River, but I was running very small kilometres before that, I guess, three or four. I got dragged into parkrun by a mate, Neil Richardson, seven years ago, and we took off from there.

00:59:59Cameron Drake: Fantastic. I've heard there's a few running events that take place around Bibra Lake as well. Do many runners do those and then come to parkrun as well? It all sort of mixes together.

01:00:12Dylan: Yes. There's the Running Works events and there's a Twilight run. Those tend to be sort of 6k or 12k one circuit or two circuits of the lake. And I haven't done them myself, though I keep meaning to, but they do seem to be very popular.

01:00:28Cameron Drake: Well, gentlemen, thank you very much for a lovely day. This is a beautiful parkrun. I can thoroughly recommend it. And there's an amazing-looking playground over there. I think I've been there before, but it looks great to encourage...

01:00:38Dylan: They put that in, what, a year or two ago? Two years ago. Yes, and there was actually disruption for the parkrun when it was being built, but it's all worked out really well. Do check out the huge tortoise or turtle statue. Okay, is that in there? Yes, because Bibra Lake is a breeding ground for turtles, and so they have a huge turtle in there as well. Oh, okay, I'll be sure to try and check that out. I'm not sure I'm allowed to take your dog in there.

01:01:05Cameron Drake: I don't know. I'll chuck him in the backpack, he'll be all right. Yeah. Fellas, thank you very much, and I hope to see you around soon. Okay, thank you, and I'll look out for the podcast. Excellent. Great. G'day, so what's your name, where are you from and how did you get started in parkrun? Yeah, so I'm Matt, my local run is Bibra Lake parkrun. Started pretty much when it launched many, many years ago. I've done over 200 runs. Today I'm volunteering as the token hander-outerer. Hander-outerer, that's a fun task. Oh, here we go. And... So what's the silliest thing you've seen out in parkrun? Silliest thing?

01:01:43Greta: Besides the things he does.

01:01:44Cameron Drake: Oh yeah, I'm probably most known for getting a bit of hang time every now and then at parkrun. Love a good jump shot every now and then. Oh yes, I was tempted but, you know, he doesn't jump very high. Puffy does make a little trickier.

01:01:58Greta: Matt won our award last year in our running club for the best jump.

01:02:02Cameron Drake: He won the award for the best jump? Yeah, yeah. So how high are you getting? A metre? A metre and a half?

01:02:07guest: Let him show you. He can do it standing still.

01:02:10Cameron Drake: Well, here we go. We're doing a jump. A live jump. Standing jump. And, wow, he got pretty high there. He got pretty high. That was fantastic. And in audio medium, you can't see how high that was, but take our word for it. It doesn't translate on radio at all, but, you know, it felt pretty high. That's fantastic. Well, thanks, Matt. And lovely speaking to you. Likewise. I hope to see you again. G'day everyone, I'm out here back at Tamworth Wetlands parkrun and I'm with a pretty special group of individuals, but today I'm just talking to three. If you could just state your names and what the heck you're doing out here.

01:02:44Unidentified speaker: I'm Phil Gould. I'm Michael Hooker and I'm Sean Koza and we're all three of us have taken on 24 parkruns in 24 hours and trying to attempt them all sub 24 minutes for a charity run that we're doing. What's the charity involved? The charities are On My Feet. They're a national based charity foundation that work for the homeless and at risk at homelessness and Just work to integrate them back into everyday society and try and give them job prospects and I guess learning life skills again and it's basically based around a running course that they go through and they train people from... from that sort of background to get up to even up to marathon distance. So being a charity, we try and put on things like this to raise money for them.

01:03:35Cameron Drake: Okay, and it certainly raises great awareness. I saw they brought some bags of shoes and some extra running gear, but it's good to see equipment that's no longer used being given a second life to other people who may need them more.

01:03:48Unidentified speaker: Yeah, that's exactly right. We started collecting last year. We collect just disused but still in good condition running shoes and clothes and we pass that on to that charity or to affiliated charities that can use the shoes and put them to good use. Oh, that's brilliant. So what time did you start today?

01:04:10Cameron Drake: We did the shipwreck parkrun for the official parkrun for the day. So that was at 8 o'clock. And yeah, just been travelling around the metro area since then. So we're going to be finishing around when? 8 o'clock tomorrow? Yeah, 8 o'clock tomorrow morning at Claisebrook Cove. Okay, so you've put a post on the parkrun WA unofficial page on Facebook about the location. So you're running fairly on time. I'm not keeping you up. We're banging on time, I think, at the moment. Yeah, pretty spot on. So doing all right with the pace? Cracking on the sub 24? Yeah, every one of them so far. So far, so good. I managed to keep up for about just under 2k. It's a smidgen beyond me at the moment, but I might get there next year. Well, thanks very much, fellas. And it looks like you're doing great things for people who really need some help. And hopefully see you around soon. Thanks. Thank you very much. Cheers.

Roving report Lyndell Murray — Southbank

01:04:57Lyndell Murray: G'day parkrun adventurers, it's Lyndell and I'm checking in this morning for the Channel 5 News crew from South Bank in Brisbane. Now I'm in the middle of a long run so I haven't stopped to do a full roving report and my original plan was that I'd have time to maybe capture a few people in the lineup to get myself scanned in. But there's inclement weather today here in Brisbane and by inclement I mean it's less than 20 degrees and there's a bit of rain around. So in that kind of weather, Brisbane and... Look, I'm going to speak for all Queenslanders. We stay home in bed normally. So there was no line to get scanned. So no interviews today. Just a g'day from South Bank. If you've never been here, South Bank is really the quintessential Brisbane city parkrun, starting in the heart of South Bank, which is really the tourist and cultural capital of Brisbane, really. South Bank's our, you know... Blue Ribbon Parklands and right beside it is the Cultural Centre with the Performing Arts and Art Gallery and our Museum and Science Museum so it's all here at South Bank and certainly one to look out for if you're ever heading to Brisbane. And for the locals it's a really lovely course winding through the Botanic Gardens so it's shady in summer And just beautiful in winter. So there you go. That's it from me. A roving report light this week from Lyndell on the parkrun adventurers.

01:06:28Melissa Erbacher: Another swag of awesome roving reports from around and about the place. Starting off with Toc who was at Wyndham Vale parkrun for some milestones.

01:06:38Gary Murphy: And Mark was at Parkville parkrun. He caught up with a bunch of adventurers, including Robbo, all in town for the Melbourne Marathon Running Festival.

01:06:46Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, it was like a hive of activity, wasn't it? He kept asking people, why Parkville? And they're like, it was the closest one. But I'm sure they all had a great parkrun anyway. And then we had Greta, who was at Clare Valley parkrun. And she actually started off, but we finished with Jess, who was talking to Cain.

01:07:06Gary Murphy: How good were they? They were great, the kids. They did such a good job. I was very impressed. The new generation of roving reporters coming through, which is fantastic to hear.

01:07:15Melissa Erbacher: Yep, they did a great job and absolute natural, Jess. We'll have you on the news crew before you know it.

01:07:22Gary Murphy: And Cameron was at Bibra Lake parkrun. Sean, Phil and Michael from On My Feet Charity.

01:07:28Melissa Erbacher: That was interesting, wasn't it? They had 24 parkruns in 24 hours and trying to run each of them sub-24. I can't do one sub-24.

01:07:36Gary Murphy: That's a huge effort. I can't believe that they'd be able to, and even timing them, getting in between each parkrun would be a challenge as well.

01:07:45Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, the logistics of it is just – but all for a good cause, so that's good to hear. And that one was actually Cameron's third official roving report too, so I think it might be time for the Channel 5 News crew to throw down a challenge for him to earn his ID badge and mic, Gary. I had this conversation with I think it was Melissa that I would no longer be the issuer of the challenges because obviously history shows when I had Mark on board that – I'm no good at it anymore. So, yeah, I definitely think it's your guys' job to come up with the next challenge.

01:08:22Gary Murphy: I'm sure that Mel will accept that challenge and have some very creative ideas for Cam to get into the team.

01:08:29Melissa Erbacher: Oh, not just Mel. It's going to have to be the whole bunch of you, I think.

01:08:32Gary Murphy: I think we'll come up with something good for Cam. But he's off to a flying start already. He's had some really good reports sent in. So thanks for that, Cam. Really good.

01:08:40Melissa Erbacher: It's lovely to hear from the West.

01:08:42Gary Murphy: It is. It's always great to hear from the West. And over on the East, it was great to hear from Lyndell at South Bank parkrun doing a roving report light version. No interviews, but it's always great to hear from Lyndell.

01:08:54Melissa Erbacher: It is.

parkrun adventure challengelistener challenge

01:08:56Melissa Erbacher: Time for a little bit of nonsense. In the spirit of the INEOS 1:59 challenge, I was going to set myself a challenge this week, which I didn't have time to do, but I am going to do it after we finish recording, not directly afterwards because it's nighttime, but sometime in the next few days. I had an idea that based on some things that some other people have been doing, inspired by the challenge themselves, they went out and they just ran, for an hour, 59 and 40, and just to see how far they could go. And some people were clocking up some decent kilometres. I'm still not in running fitness at the moment, so I'm not going to try it running. But I reckon I'm going to do a bit of a variation with 2 minutes and 50 seconds or possibly 3 minutes, 18 seconds. I'm not sure yet whether or not I'll go Kipchoge or if I will go Kosgei. I might do one of each and see how I can do. But I was going to ride my bike and see how far, see if I could even do one kilometre in two minutes, 50 seconds or three minutes, 18 seconds, because that's the average pace that these guys did their marathon distances in. But then I thought, well, you know what? It's logistically a bit tricky for me to get out on my bike at the moment with two small people in tow. I don't have like a little trailer. I can just chuck them in on the back of the bike. Maybe I need to do something a bit more home-based. And so I started thinking about what kind of different challenges I could do, what I could see that I could fit into those little timeframes. And I reckon I might have a crack at hot glue gunning pom-poms to felt and see how many of those I can do in that time frame what do you reckon I reckon you'll get Eliud on that as long as you don't burn your fingers I reckon you've got him pipped at the post for that challenge gluing those pom-poms It'll be a pom-pom PB.

01:10:52Gary Murphy: I reckon I've done a calculation. I reckon I could maybe kept up with him for about 800 metres and that would be about all.

01:10:59Melissa Erbacher: That's impressive. 800 metres. That's almost a kilometre. That's a long time.

01:11:04Gary Murphy: He's still got another, what's that, 42 kilometres? That's just 41 point something.

01:11:11Melissa Erbacher: 41.6 if my maths is not incorrect, which it probably is. But that's okay, yeah. People get the idea. He's still got a lot more kilometres to go where he leaves you in his Nike dust.

01:11:22Gary Murphy: I'm sure the adventurers will come up with some great ideas and share them to the page and maybe take some photos. Maybe it could be a streak to New Year's Day challenge shared there, what everybody's doing.

01:11:33Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, it's been too long between challenges. I think, and not just for the streakers, I think anyone to see how fast or how much or what they can do in that timeframe. I want to hear what it is. It doesn't matter if it's bizarre, crazy. In fact, the more insane, the better, I reckon.

01:11:49Gary Murphy: I like the sound of that. That is good. Maybe I could sing 99 Luftballons in that amount of time. I don't know.

01:11:55Melissa Erbacher: Well, I think the song goes for a little bit longer than those minutes. However, there is probably a whole bunch of instrumental stuff in there that you could just cut out. I'd like to hear that, Gary. I would be willing to receive that as an audio submission from you next week.

01:12:10Gary Murphy: Oh, I'll look out. What have I done? I've dug myself in here.

01:12:14Melissa Erbacher: This is how Scotty always got into trouble, you know. And, look, speaking of this, we haven't gone over it. The last time you were on this podcast was when Scotty was still on hiatus. He was missing. We were looking for him. And it was the last episode before he came back and announced that he was not going to co-host anymore. And – I kind of half blame you for that, Gary, because you did such a good job. He realised you didn't derail the car or train or whatever the metaphor was that you used about not crashing your dad's car. That's what it was. You did such a good job. He's like, you know what? This podcast could go on without me. So I'm going to kind of half blame you. I take half the credit as well because obviously I did too good a job with the edit that week. And he realised that he was... Not necessary, or he thought he was not necessary anyway.

01:13:08Gary Murphy: Well, thank you for the compliment, Mel, but it's always a great honour to be on and share the podcast with you, to be a co-host with you, and I've really enjoyed my time.

01:13:21Melissa Erbacher: Well, you definitely didn't crash the car this week either.

01:13:24Gary Murphy: Well, that's good. That's good. But speaking of 99 Luftballons, it's actually Scotty's birthday this week. And I think it's on a Friday, which means next year he'll have a birthday on parkrun Day.

01:13:36Melissa Erbacher: Ooh, those are always special. But happy birthday for your birthday this week, Scotty. I hope somebody out there is going to send you 99 virtual red balloons at the very least, if not the real thing. Hey, Gary, you know what rhymes with balloon?

01:13:55Gary Murphy: Go, Mel.

01:13:56Melissa Erbacher: Typhoon.

01:13:57Gary Murphy: Does it?

01:13:59Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

01:14:01Melissa Erbacher: Was that not the most awkward segue ever? There was a typhoon in Japan over the weekend or I'm not sure if it's still there and still threatening off the coast. Are typhoons just the Japanese word for cyclone or is it a different size with different category ratings? Do you know?

01:14:19Gary Murphy: That's an excellent question. I really would like to know the answer to that now. I don't know.

01:14:24Melissa Erbacher: And it's the same. In America, they call them hurricanes. Pretty sure a hurricane is a cyclone. It's the same thing. It's just the different terminology for a different country.

01:14:32Gary Murphy: We just call them twisters here, don't we?

01:14:34Melissa Erbacher: Well, aren't twist... No, twisters are land-based, aren't they?

01:14:37Gary Murphy: Ooh, okay.

01:14:39Melissa Erbacher: And that's why... So we have... Well, we have willy-willies here. Yeah. And they call willy-willies twisters.

01:14:45Gary Murphy: Ooh, and then there's dust devils as well. There might be a Victorian Queensland...

01:14:50Melissa Erbacher: I think Dust Devils is a Victorian thing. Okay. Surely. They sound like fun. But yes, there was a typhoon in Japan which caused all the parkrun events bar one in the country to be cancelled last weekend for safety reasons. So we just want to give a big shout out to our Japanese parkrun family. Hope you're all staying safe and that the clean up and mess as a result of your typhoon has not been too terrible and that you can all get back to parkrunning safely. Again, as normal, very soon.

Ugly Christmas Singlet

01:15:21Gary Murphy: So, Mel, what is the word on the street about the Christmas singlets for this year?

01:15:26Melissa Erbacher: I need to find a new adjective for excited, Gary, because I feel like I'm just – it is the most overused word that I have all the time on this podcast. But that's what I am. It's – oh. The design, we're in the middle of the design. I don't know, you might have seen a Facebook post from the adventurers this week, which showed a little screen grab of some of the first stitches of the 2018 Ugly Christmas Singlet. And the first stitches have also been cast for 2019. Not just the first stitches, but a couple of good solid days of my mother looking after me, my small people so that I could do some computer time um it's oh they're very close and they might they might even be released before next week's podcast they might be out before episode 180 which is pretty cool that's exciting any uh any pre-releases or tips or hints that you can give us about it might be live oh what did I well last week I said it it's traditional ugly Let me think, what else can I give away without giving too much away of the design? Last year, people said there needed to be more pineapples. So the people have spoken and we have come to the party. I will say that.

01:16:46Gary Murphy: That's exciting.

01:16:47Melissa Erbacher: I don't want to give away anymore. It's going to be a big unveiling. Yes, very excited.

01:16:51Gary Murphy: No, that's perfect. We're intrigued and as excited as you are now. So that's great. Thanks for sharing that.

Sign-off

01:16:57Gary Murphy: Thanks.

01:16:57Melissa Erbacher: That is my pleasure. Now, speaking of which, I do need to go and get finished with my designing, so we might have to wrap this one up. Thank you, Gary, for coming back to join me. It's been a fun episode once again. You're such a pro at this now. It's always a pleasure to have you on.

01:17:13Gary Murphy: Well, the pleasure is all mine, Mel. Thank you so much for having me on as co-host again this week. And all the best to all the parkrun adventurers out there. Happy parkrunning and happy adventuring.