Episode 181 - Linda van Duynhoven

Welcome

00:00:26Melissa Erbacher: It's time for episode 181 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. There are extra giggles already happening today, mostly because of my co-host, the ever-affable Mel Ellis. Mel, welcome back to the pod.

00:00:32[laughter]

00:00:43Melissa Ellis: Thanks, Mel. Thanks for having me back. I'm excited. It's been a big week in parkrun world for me.

00:00:50Melissa Erbacher: Excellent, excellent. I want to hear all about it. So let's kick off with you first. Where did you parkrun on Saturday?

00:00:57Melissa Ellis: I was at the launch of the Campaspe parkrun and it was very wet, very wet. I made the mistake of deciding to take my dogs with me this week.

00:01:12Melissa Erbacher: Never a mistake to take dogs. Yeah.

00:01:15Melissa Ellis: Well, no, not always the best idea in wet weather when you've got very little compact dogs like I do, little chihuahuas. And usually lately, Paul has been walking, which meant I've had the luxury of running and he's been with Zoe. But this week... He came down the stairs in the morning in his running gear, which I went, oh, this isn't looking good for me. The running gear differs from the walking gear how? Because when he walks, he comes to park wearing his jeans.

00:01:50Melissa Erbacher: Oh, okay. Fair enough. So he was wearing active wear then.

00:01:53Melissa Ellis: He was wearing active wear. And I was like, oh, I'm not running this week. And it was his birthday, so I wasn't really – I can't really argue this point. It's his birthday. I've got to let him run. So anyway, so yeah, we decided we're taking the dogs and it wasn't raining in Meltown when we left, but by the time we got to our destination and the weather wasn't looking great, so it started to bucket down and I was, yeah, the pleasure of

00:02:29Melissa Erbacher: accompanying the Tail Walker with my nine-year-old and my two dogs and our umbrella can I ask do you have those leash umbrella things for your dogs like I know a lot of people who have little dogs have those it's like an umbrella that opens at the bottom of the leash so it's over the dog but it's not over the whole leash I wish I knew about those They're hilarious. I've never actually seen them in the wild, but I would love to see people using them. Can you send me the link because I – Yeah, Googling it now.

00:03:07Melissa Ellis: No, no. I was literally running with an umbrella and a leash and with my nine-year-old with her leash and her dog and getting very wet. So – There wasn't a lot of photos being taken because I couldn't manage the photo and the selfie and the leash and the umbrella and everything.

00:03:25Melissa Erbacher: What's wrong with you?

00:03:26Melissa Ellis: We got very wet. And it's an out-and-back course. I'll divulge that much. It's an out-and-back course. So Paul came past me on his return journey. And as he came past, he said, come back for the dog. Because they weren't doing so well. So after he finished, he came back, saturated back out and retrieved one of the dogs which he tucked under his arm and he disappeared again in the distance that was at about 3k and then at about 4k the other dog decided she'd had enough she was wet enough so I had to pick her up and carry her the last kilometre oh there's nothing like the smell of wet dog that was me thinking like wet dog at brunch um because I had to carry anyway that was our wet smelly parkrun.

00:04:18Melissa Erbacher: How was yours? Mine was good. We went on a little bit of an adventure last weekend. We needed to drive about two and a half hours away, which I know isn't too far, but I feel like two and a half hours in one direction is enough to justify staying overnight because you have to drive two and a half hours back the same day otherwise. And five hours in the car is a lot with a two-year-old and a five-month-old. So, we took the opportunity and to head out west to Ros Gregor parkrun which is in Nanango and we actually stayed the weekend in Kingaroy at a farm stay which was recommended by some good parkrunning friends, tailors. Hey guys, Wes loves animals, specifically ducks and we have so many books that are about farm animals and things like that and so many songs and stories so we thought it might be a good time to take him out and let him feed the animals at this farm stay a couple of times a day and get a little parkrun adventure in while we were going. And it was really good. It's a great course, Ros Gregor parkrun. It's... challenging, but not too challenging. So it has some undulations. It's an out and back, which means it's really sociable, as you would have experienced, I guess, at Campaspe. Lots of friendly other parkrunners there and all that sort of thing. It was event number four. So it's had a few weeks to get settled in and I needed a four for my Wilson Index. So I am officially no longer on three, which I've been on Ever since I discovered there was a Wilson Index, which has been a long time now, but that takes me up to number nine and I just have to get a 10 and then I think I'll jump up to 20 or something like that. Goodness only knows when I'll get a 10 in, but that's okay. It's got a couple of little dips that you go down and then you go up and it's predominantly, I feel like from about one and a half kilometres, it's uphill on the way out, which is great because that means on the way back it's gently sloping downhill, which was really nice. And I was going to try and sneak in a little bit of run walking and not tell Adam about it. Unfortunately, he had brought Wes back out on the course to play on some equipment. So he saw me. He saw me before I saw him. I was trying to do my best to have a quicker parkrun than the last one I ran. And I actually – Did my fastest time for the year. I came in at 51.14, position number 88, crazy 88. It was my parkrun birthday. Oh, congratulations. Yay. Thank you. Happy parkrun birthday also to my parkrun birthday twin, Nicola Forward of With Me Now fame. I completely forgot until after the fact that it was our parkrun birthday. Otherwise, I would have had cake. So I'm going to have to make up for it and get some cake this weekend wherever I be. And that's definitely firmly on the Avenger. No. On the agenda. Let's put it on the agenda, shall we? And it was also my 15th different event for the year, which checks that off as my New Year's resolution goal. So that's one down. Oh, oh, and I do have to mention, I bumped into Nicole Sanday, who is a parkrun adventurer, big time parkrun adventurer. She introduced herself before the event started and I really wanted to catch up with her after for a proper chat and she was gone before I got back. So, Nicole, stick around next time. I want to have a chat to you and it was lovely to meet you just briefly before the event started. So, thanks for coming and saying hi. So, that was my weekend. Well done on your achieving your goals, Mel. That's really good. Yeah, knocking them off one by one. And hey, look, it was only the start of November. How's that for not living it down to the wire, which is what I usually do. 29th of December, I get my last thing in. So that was one of my goals. And yes, I'm happy to have achieved that.

00:08:31Melissa Ellis: How many goals did you have?

00:08:32Melissa Erbacher: I feel like I set three, but I can't remember what the third one was. Maybe I'll have to go back and listen to my own podcast because I'm sure I mentioned it in January.

00:08:42Melissa Ellis: I set three this year.

00:08:43Melissa Erbacher: What were yours? It's a good time to check in on resolutions because there's still time to finish them off for the rest of the year.

00:08:50Melissa Ellis: So my first one I set of the three was to do 250 parkruns, which I've done. And The second one was to reach my Cowell, which I've done.

00:09:05Melissa Erbacher: You did. That was like last week, wasn't it? Congratulations.

00:09:09Melissa Ellis: Thank you. That was exciting. So that was a big goal for the year. But my third one, which I'm not technically going to reach by the end of the year, was to start a junior parkrun event.

00:09:21Melissa Erbacher: But – Well, no, no, no. You have – the starting has happened, has it not?

00:09:26Melissa Ellis: The starting has happened. Yes, it's very exciting. So that's, yeah, a big thing that's happened to me in the last week. I've been given the go-ahead, parkrun Australia has announced that there will be six new events – junior parkrun events starting in the next 12 months and and my proposal is one of them so so the Western suburbs of Victoria are going to be getting a junior parkrun fingers crossed uh hopefully in the next few months

00:09:56Melissa Erbacher: That's amazing. I'm very excited about the growth of Junior parkrun in Australia. And I know that you've spent a lot of time at Westerfolds Juniors, which is the only Junior parkrun in Victoria at present. And I'm sure you're going to be amazing. So congratulations. That's awesome news to hear that you've been greenlit.

00:10:15Melissa Ellis: I think it's going to be great for the kids. So yeah, and Zoe and I won't have to travel so far on Sundays anymore, which will be good when that finally gets off the ground. Yeah. But we will miss Westerfolds because we have become very entrenched in Westerfolds Juniors and part of the community there. So it'll be a bit bittersweet, of course.

00:10:38Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, but Westerfolds Juniors isn't going anywhere and it's just creating opportunities for the junior adventurers to get out and about. That's right.

00:10:47Melissa Ellis: And they can come and visit their little sister parkrun. That's how I see it. We're like, When we're not in competition in any way, we're just going to be like the little sister branching off. Exactly.

00:10:59Melissa Erbacher: But that's not the only good parkrun news you've had recently. I understand that there's been a little bit of behind the scenes volunteering, you know, moving on into a new position for you lately.

00:11:13Melissa Ellis: Yes, that was also a bit exciting. I applied to be an outreach ambassador for parkrun Australia and I was accepted.

00:11:22Melissa Erbacher: So it's double congratulations. Thank you. You're hitting it out of the ballpark and now this is the trifecta, you know, co-hosting the parkrun. Adventurers podcast. I mean, does it get any better than this? I don't know. Can you, okay, so the Outreach Ambassadors is a new thing for Australia. Can you give us a bit of a breakdown about what kind of stuff that you'll be doing?

00:11:45Melissa Ellis: Well, the Outreach Ambassadors, it's a brand new role, as you've said, and we're going to be supporting the Health and Wellbeing Lead, Glen Turner, to engage older Australians in parkrun events in their local area, to support the parkrun Australia's Generations Project. And the Generations Project aims to increase the numbers of the walkers, the runners, the volunteers and spectators at Australian parkrun. So we basically, we just want to reach out in the community and find people that will really benefit from being a part of the community. And as we know, the benefits that being a part of parkrun community can bring. But we know that that often older Australians are a bit cut off. They can be cut off and feel... Isolated. Yeah, that's the word. Thank you. Isolated from the community. And coming along to parkrun is somewhere where they can find a place to engage and be connected. So it's a real positive thing. And I've been studying myself a little bit more I've been doing some work with dementia and I've been learning the benefits and researching the benefits of even just volunteering and the positive impact that can have on cognitive reserve and all those kinds of things. So it's all coming together for me in my life with the research I'm doing and my connection with parkrun and reaching out to older people and bringing it all together so it's like just perfect I love it it just makes sense doesn't it we just know how much it has improved our lives and if we can just share that with people and help other people get the benefits that we're getting in parkrun the world will be a better place

00:13:37[18 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

Interview Linda van Duynhoven — Birdsland Reserve parkrunner; walked the 1,000 km Bibbulmun Track end-to-end

00:13:54Melissa Ellis: Our guest this week on the podcast has walked 1,000 kilometres from Kalamunda in the Perth Hills to Albany on the south coast. Welcome to the parkrun adventurers, Linda van Duynhoven.

00:14:08Linda van Duynhoven: Hi, Melissa and Melissa. Thank you so much for having me on your podcast. That's no worries, Linda.

00:14:15Melissa Ellis: So tell us, how did you get the idea... To take up this challenge to walk so far, you did the Bibbulmun Track, is that correct?

00:14:25Linda van Duynhoven: Yes, I did walk. It's called an end-to-end of the Bibbulmun Track. So I wanted to have an adventure. I had some long service leave to use. So I took three months off and I came across the Bibbulmun Track and the more that I looked into it, the more I thought, yep, I think I can do this. So I went with it and completed my end-to-end of the Bibbulmun track and thoroughly enjoyed it.

00:14:54Melissa Erbacher: And how do you come across a long track like that? Did you literally just Google really long walks?

00:15:02Linda van Duynhoven: Look, I've been following on YouTube other people that do really long walks, like the PCT and the Appalachian Trail and so forth. I had gotten into hiking and I took myself off on my first solo hike, which was the Great Ocean Walk. And while I was on that walk, I came across another hiker who actually told me to look up the Bibbulmun Track, that he was going to do it. And when I got home, I looked it up and that's how I came across it. And I thought, yep, this is for me. So I went with it.

00:15:36Melissa Ellis: And how many kilometres a day do you have to walk? The walk took me 51 days.

00:15:42Linda van Duynhoven: So I think the average is out about 20 kilometres a day. The walk has huts spaced approximately about 20 kilometres apart anyway. So basically you're walking hut to hut each day as you progress down the track towards Albany and each day hut has a water tank with rainwater in it and a drop dunny. So, you know, your basic needs are covered there.

00:16:09Melissa Erbacher: Talk us through what a typical day would look like on the trek.

00:16:14Linda van Duynhoven: So I took a tent. Many people don't take a tent because you can sleep in the huts. They're not really a hut. It's a three-sided shelter with sleeping platform and and most people just blow up their mattress and lay in their sleeping bag in the shelter. I do have a phobia of rodents, so I would set up my tent usually in the hut, people didn't mind, and I would sleep in my tent in the hut. So get up in the morning, pack up, have breakfast, Start walking. The track is sign posted by a Waugal sign, which is the Aboriginal serpent. So you follow those along the route. I also had an app on my phone called Guthook in case I got lost. and maps and a compass and that sort of thing. But navigation was pretty easy, just following the Waugals, stopping about every five kilometres for snack and a drink, making it to the next hut. When you get to the next hut, generally there's people that you know, you tag teaming people all the time or there could be someone coming the other way because people walk south to north as well. I went north to south. So you set up, make a cup of tea, have a chit chat, look through the log book. Everyone signs the log book at each hut so you get to know who's ahead of you, read the comments, have dinner. And then you're in bed by darkfall, which was usually 6.30, so early to bed and early up again.

00:17:51Melissa Erbacher: How far apart are the Waugals?

00:17:54Linda van Duynhoven: Roughly about a kilometre.

00:17:56Melissa Erbacher: Okay, so it's not line of sight then? No. Did you add much extra mileage on, just not quite finding Waugals?

00:18:03Linda van Duynhoven: Yeah, we went past a few and had to backtrack. But if you haven't seen one for a little while, you won't find out. So it wasn't too much of a problem.

00:18:09Melissa Ellis: And I believe that you posted food supplies ahead to –

00:18:14Linda van Duynhoven: to meet you um along the way is there's some sort of um track angels is that right Linda yeah my track angel was Elsie the Bibbulmun Track Foundation um had allocated her to me and she communicated with me um prior to coming um giving me advice and so forth she was wonderful like the first 10 days or so you don't pass through a town there's about eight towns that you pass through so I The first section, you're not really able to carry that much food. So she did meet me halfway at Sullivan Rock. and she bought out my extra food. And I was having some backpack problems, so she bought me a new backpack as well. And she also bought out fresh fruit platter, which was lovely. So I did post the rest of my supplies to the towns, to the visitor centres, and just picked them up as I passed through. Or some people choose just to resupply, just to buy at the towns. I chose to post because I just thought I knew what I liked and then I would have it available.

00:19:21Melissa Erbacher: Can I ask what kind of food you eat to sustain yourself on that kind of track?

00:19:26Linda van Duynhoven: Yes, I bought commercial pre-prepared freeze-dried meals. People commonly use a brand called Backcountry, but I prefer a Tasmanian brand called Camper's Pantry. And you just basically add hot water. And then you've got, you know, a whole meal like beef stroganoff or spaghetti bolognese or fettuccine carbonara. And they were nice. A couple of weeks into it, my hunger really escalated. Apparently that's common. I was just even more hungry. So I supplemented the freeze-dried meal with DEB. Instant potato and cup of soup as well and found that that was enough. Breakfast was just porridge. Mind you, about three quarters through, I got sick of porridge and I switched to two-minute noodles and a protein bar. And lunches was basically just snacks. As I said, every 5K was a rest stop and just had a few snacks and a drink.

00:20:23Melissa Ellis: And, Linda, when you got to the end of the track, so what happens there, you can somehow, you can register that you've completed the track, is that right?

00:20:33Linda van Duynhoven: Yes, we got to the southern terminus and there's a sign there so you stop there for the photo, then go up to the information centre where they bring out this Bibbulmun track box And inside is a bell and end-to-enders get to ring the bell to celebrate their finish and then sign off the last log book. Then when you get home, as I did today, you can register online your end-to-end trek and you'll be sent out a certificate, a badge to sew onto your backpack and And they ask you some questions, which will be published in the next Bibbulmun Track Foundation newsletter, which I think comes out quarterly with all the information about the people who have completed an end-to-end trek.

00:21:22Melissa Erbacher: You mentioned you were tag-teaming with quite a few other people. Did you ever get lonely?

00:21:28Linda van Duynhoven: Not at all. I started off... the trek with a friend but for her own reasons she had to leave quite soon into it and I ended up teaming up with another hiker named Tony and we ended up completing the whole thing together. We stuck together and we finished together. And so we were a support to each other and it was fantastic. We were a good team, but there are many people that do do it by themselves and they're quite happy to do it solo. Usually you've got company at the shelters or the huts as well. So no, you don't really get lonely. It's quite social really.

00:22:06Melissa Ellis: And Linda, I know one of the things that you wanted to do is take your time on the trek and really enjoy the wildlife and and take photos along the way. So have you got any special highlights from that that are memorable?

00:22:21Linda van Duynhoven: Yeah, I chose to do it in spring because that's when the spring flowers are out and they were amazing. I was just blown away and took so many photos of the spring flowers. It was beautiful. The wildlife was good. I saw a total of 10 snakes. Three wild pigs. I got bailed up by a racehorse goanna, which was a bit terrifying. I wasn't sure how to get out of that situation. Two echidnas, I saw two baby emus being walked along by their daddy so I couldn't get too close to them. Apparently the fathers can attack if you get too close and of course lots of kangaroos, lots of birds including birds of prey. Yeah the wildlife was good. I loved the sunsets and the sunrises. They were amazing. The trees, we started off with marri, then we moved into the karri, then the tingle trees, which are amazing. They've got massive bases and often you can sort of stand inside them. I enjoyed the Pingerup Plains as we got closer towards the coast. And then the highlight for me was actually reaching the coast, the further coast. Down south, I've been anticipating that for a long time, and that was a fantastic day when I eventually hit the coast in Mandalay Beach. That was, yeah, my best day, I think.

00:23:52Melissa Erbacher: How did you go weather-wise? I mean, spring and the coastline, I imagine, can throw up some decent winds, and even the elevation of the course, I don't expect it's flat. How did you deal with the elements there?

00:24:05Linda van Duynhoven: The weather wasn't too bad. The first two weeks was actually unseasonably hot. However, the night was freezing. My sleeping bag wasn't quite up to it. So I'd recommend to other people to get a minus sleeping bag. I only got wet once or twice. Didn't bother to use the raincoat because you just get too hot in it anyway. It was easier just to get wet and then dry off. So quite lucky with the weather, really. It was windy down on the coast, but, you know, I don't mind walking along a windy beach. It's quite pleasant.

00:24:43Melissa Ellis: So, Linda, you're also known for your running streaks. Firstly, tell us when you first started streaking and did you continue streaking during the trek?

00:24:53Linda van Duynhoven: Right, well, I started off just as a bit of fun with a running group that I'd been in on the 1st of October 2017. 2017 with about 16 people started a running streak just for a bit of fun and a laugh and within a couple of weeks most people had dropped out but for some reason I just kept going and couldn't quit and with a bit of research I found out about the Streak Runners Association which is based in America and they have an international Streak Runners Association section and And after you've been streak running, which involves one mile continuous per day minimum, you can register with them. So after my first year, I registered. So I'm on their list. And I'm now up to day 766, which is just a bit over two years. Um, obviously I didn't want my streak to end while I was on the Bibbulmun track. So the first thing I do when I got into a hut was suss out where I'd be able to run in the morning, best to get it over and done with first thing. So sometimes, you know, it was almost unrunnable. I'd just have to find a hundred metres and just go up and down, up and down until I got to, I've rounded it up to two kilometres just to eat for ease. Um, and yeah, I managed to keep it going. So my streak survived the Bibbulmun Track.

00:26:18Melissa Erbacher: That is, I don't want to use the word crazy, but you must have a lot of energy and I'm impressed that you, you managed to get it out of the way early in the morning. How did the legs cope with the rest of your day's track if you already run in the morning?

00:26:33Linda van Duynhoven: Yeah, look, my legs were really good. It's surprising. What struggle I had was the weight of the backpack, really, on my shoulders and back. My shoulders were quite painful a lot of the time. If I was to do something like that again, I would work really hard to try to get my pack weight down because walking 20 kilometres a day doesn't sound very much, but when you're carrying 17 kilos on your back... And it's very hilly as well and hot. It just puts it on a whole new level. So yeah, some days it was quite uncomfortable.

00:27:10Melissa Erbacher: I've got a nine kilo baby and I don't want to hold on to him for more than 10 minutes. So kudos. It sounds like you had an incredible time, but I don't expect it was all easy days. You know, 51 days can't all just be magic. Did you have any challenges out there?

00:27:28Linda van Duynhoven: I did have some tough days. The track... was actually tougher than I ever anticipated. It was very hilly and I actually got very homesick for my family as well. So I had to work through that, which I did, and I wanted to keep on going, because I wanted to show my kids that when times get tough, you don't quit, you committed and you keep going. So I hope that I've been a fabulous role model for my children.

00:27:58Melissa Erbacher: Indeed, I'm sure they're all very proud of you. I hope so.

00:28:03Melissa Ellis: I saw, Linda, that you posted a selfie from Albany parkrun on the parkrun adventurers Facebook page. So was it a goal for you to get to that parkrun by this Saturday and finish the trek in time to get to parkrun?

00:28:21Linda van Duynhoven: Absolutely. As with most good parkrunners, when you go somewhere, you check out what parkruns might be there. So I had planned to do a parkrun at the start of the trek and one at the finish. So prior to the trek, I did Claisebrook Cove, then started the trek the next day on the Sunday and planned to finish so that I could do a parkrun in Albany, which was called Mount Clarence. So I anticipated that I would finish on the Friday and do the parkrun the next day, but actually finished on the Wednesday. So I got a few rest days in beforehand, which was nice, time to just chill out in Albany and relax.

00:29:06Melissa Erbacher: Tell me you remembered your barcode. I sure did. Good job well done and is it something you would do again are you looking at doing some other treks in the future?

00:29:16Linda van Duynhoven: Yes I'm already itching for another adventure and I'm in a bushwalking club the Maroondah Bushwalkers and when I got back a few days ago I checked out the newsletter and upcoming events, and they've got a trekking in Nepal in 2021. So I thought, well, I've done long distance, so now let's have a go at a bit of altitude. So I've put in an expression of interest in doing that. It's a 25-day trek in Nepal. So... Yeah, that could be my next goal, I think.

00:29:51Melissa Erbacher: Sounds incredible. Also, yeah, altitude, high. Sounds very high. Well, thank you, Linda.

00:29:58Melissa Ellis: It's been wonderful to learn about the trek and I'm so glad that you got parkruns at the start, at the end of your adventure as well. And thank you very much for sharing it with us and good luck for your future treks.

00:30:13Linda van Duynhoven: Oh, it's a pleasure, Mel and Mel. Thank you so much for having me on the show. It's been great. Thank you.

00:30:18[18 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Tony O'Connell — Campaspe parkrun

00:30:36Tony O'Connell: Howdy parkrunners, TOC reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew. Today we're ventured up to the lovely little town of Woodend for the launch of the Campaspe parkrun. To be fair to say that it's a little bit damp up here today, but there's a really great crowd gathered for the launch. We're in the shadow of Mount Macedon in the Macedon Ranges, or we would be in the shadow if there was any sun out. But we'll go out and have a run on the course. The course looks stunning. It's an out and back along the river, the Five Mile Creek, I think it's called. The course looks like it's got everything. We've got toilets, we've got shelter, we've got water. And of course, it's very close to the shops for coffee. Let's get out and have a run and we'll check in later. Cheers, guys. Howdy parkrunners, we're in the shelter. We've just finished the lovely Campaspe parkrun. It'd be fair to say that the conditions were a little bit damp out there, a few puddles to jump, and I've got someone that's going to be calling Campaspe home. David, how did you find the course today?

00:31:36David: Wet, I guess, but also really beautiful. Running through parkland around the outskirts of the town.

00:31:44Tony O'Connell: And we've got a couple of bridges too, so Scotty Trickett would love that.

00:31:47David: Couple of bridges, one that was a bouncy bridge, that made it a little bit tricky to get your cadence right.

00:31:52Tony O'Connell: I don't know how you found that bridge, but there was a lot of people on it when I went over it, and it was going in every direction.

00:31:57David: Yeah, absolutely.

00:31:58Tony O'Connell: It was like being on a boat. It was bouncing in all directions. So this is going to be your home parkrun. Where else have you been to parkrun?

00:32:06David: Oh, I've done over 100. So Maribyrnong used to be my home, but last year we moved out to the Macedon Ranges. We've been hanging out for a parkrun and it's finally arrived.

00:32:16Tony O'Connell: It's finally got here, isn't it? Great to see. And it is a beautiful course for it along the side of the creek. I guess Maribyrnong being a fairly fast and furious course with the little turn around the lake at the end.

00:32:27David: Absolutely, yeah. They've got a few good fast runs there. So we'll have to try and see if we can emulate that out here.

00:32:34Tony O'Connell: Go for a parkrun PB on this. Got a couple of little rises on this, but nothing too bad. Nothing too bad. All very runnable. Absolutely. Yeah. No, and I think the rest of the day looks like this is setting, so it could stay damp all day.

00:32:49David: I think so. I think we'll be off to the cafe across the road and get a hot chocolate.

00:32:54Tony O'Connell: I've heard good things about the Milko, so we're all keen to get over there.

00:32:57David: Yeah, so are I. Let's go and see.

00:32:59Tony O'Connell: Cheers, David. Thanks for your time. Thanks, mate. Howdy parkrunners, we're up at Milko, the local cafe. I don't think they've probably had 100 people squeeze in on a Saturday morning before like this. They're probably wondering what's going on. I'm here with a couple of today's wonderful volunteers. I've got Matt, who's the co-ED. Matt, how did you come to want to set up a parkrun at Woodend?

00:33:25Matt: Yeah, look, I think parkrun's a great concept. I like the 5k run. I also like the community feel and also bringing everyone together and trying to improve the health and well-being of the local community and getting everyone together. It's really good.

00:33:41Tony O'Connell: So have you done parkruns elsewhere before you started this one?

00:33:44Matt: Yeah, I've done a few. I haven't done a lot of parkruns, but no, I like the concept. They've always been a bit too far away, so hence another reason why we wanted to get one local and provide an opportunity for other people like myself.

00:33:58Tony O'Connell: And I had a walk and a talk with your Mayor today, and she was really stoked at the idea of having one in the backyard as well.

00:34:04Matt: Yeah, no, the Macedon Ranges Shire Council have been really supportive. Like, they've jumped on board straight away from the time we said that we wanted to put one together. So they provided the funding. And also Western Water was also jumped on board too, and they provided the funding for the defibrillator. So that helped us to get it off the ground, which is great.

00:34:21Tony O'Connell: And they turned up with a drinks trolley today, a water cart.

00:34:24Matt: Yeah, Western Water, yeah, with their drinks cart. And, yeah, it's good. Thanks to Western Water and thanks to Macedon Ranges Shire Council.

00:34:31Tony O'Connell: And nature put the water cart on today as well. Had a little bit of drizzle.

00:34:36Matt: Yeah, just a little, a slight little bit of rain today. The temperature was good though, so that was good, but it didn't deter the people, you know, when we got nearly, what, 280 people turn up today. Absolutely just mind-blowing how many we got, even with the weather, so it'd be interesting to think if it was sunny how many we would have got, but nah, yeah, bring it on.

00:34:54Tony O'Connell: Yeah, no, it was a really great course too, and I've got a couple of the other volunteers from today with me. I'll let you introduce yourself.

00:35:01Dave Edwards: Yes, I'm Dave Edwards. First parkrun I've been involved with sort of helping and my wife got me involved in parkrun earlier in the year. She's been travelling to Lancefield parkrun for a little while now and she's really excited about having something in Woodend because she doesn't have to dodge the kangaroos on a 20 minute drive there at 8 o'clock in the morning. So yeah, great to have something local.

00:35:22Tony O'Connell: And our super reporter, Gaz, tells me that you're responsible for a lot of the signage out on course.

00:35:26Dave Edwards: Yeah, well, it's always, for the courses I have done, it's always nice to know where you're going and be a bit reassured, you know, if there's an intersection coming up. So, sort of, you know, saw a way to help out and it's been a good result. They must have moved.

00:35:40Tony O'Connell: No worries, yeah.

00:35:41Nancy: I'm Nancy, I've done a few parkruns, I'm on about 80 of them and I've been doing them over five years. I like to tourist, so I like to jump to different parkruns, but my main ones are Brimbank and Sunbury.

00:35:56Tony O'Connell: Okay, yeah, Brimbank's nice, a couple of little hills as well.

00:35:59Nancy: Yeah, favourite course.

00:36:01Tony O'Connell: And what did you do today? I was Barcode Scanner. When I came over the bridge and looked at the line, I thought, oh, I might just jump here and there, give you a hand, because you had a big queue of people standing out there waiting. I had about four people helping me scan, which was great in the end. Isn't that one of the great things about parkrun, that you were there and people just grab out their phones now with the new app and start scanning. Some people started sorting and at one stage here, I was starting to look at the tokens and I think Matt might have come over and we're starting to get close to 300 and we started to talk about needing to recycle some tokens and yeah it was great I had a plan of keeping him sorted while I was scanning and then by about 10 I was like oh well it's just going in a pile now no it worked really well it's it's one of the great things people just jump in and help out So have you run the course on any of the trials?

00:36:55Nancy: Yeah, I did a few of the trials. It's actually very nice. I'm looking forward to tail walking next week, which I'll get my first course. Are you on the board? Yep.

00:37:06Tony O'Connell: And how many different courses have you done around the state?

00:37:10Nancy: Oh, I reckon maybe 40, 50.

00:37:12Tony O'Connell: Okay, you've got a random tourist at a fair bit.

00:37:15Nancy: Yeah, I love it. Yeah, it's great. Well done.

00:37:18Tony O'Connell: All right, guys, I think we might wrap it up. A bit of food's turned up and I reckon my coffee might be over on the table. So I'm looking forward to a coffee. Thanks for your time.

00:37:26Matt: Thanks for your support. Thanks. Cheers.

Roving report David Moss — Coldham's Common parkrun

00:37:29David Moss: Hello, we've just finished the Coldham parkrun. Coldham's Common. Coldham's Common parkrun in sunny Cambridge, actually. And I'm with Mark. Mark, you were the Run Director today?

00:37:40Mark: Yeah, I'm one of the Run Directors here in Malta, one of the Event Directors. You've got two people as Event Directors. We have two Co-Event Directors, yes.

00:37:50David Moss: Okay and how long has this, well it's the 52nd week isn't it?

00:37:54Mark: It is the 52nd week today so yeah our proper anniversary was in September.

00:38:00David Moss: Okay and what made you decide on Coldham's Common as a parkrun site?

00:38:08Mark: There was a lady called Tracy who's now stepped down to set up the Coldham's Common junior parkrun on Sundays, who wanted to set one up in Cambridge in addition to the one which is about five miles away from here, just to be able to reach out to the community more and get more people involved in parkrun.

00:38:26David Moss: Very good. And how long have you been run directing then?

00:38:28Mark: About a year. I was part of the core team set up. Okay.

00:38:34David Moss: And how many people do you normally get?

00:38:36Mark: It varies. Today was small because it's half term and there's a 10k race tomorrow so it's only about 250 today but it's up to 340 sometimes.

00:38:45David Moss: Actually it seems like a pretty big number today actually going around there. And for the junior run how many kids do you get there?

00:38:53Mark: Well they've only just had their fourth event last week and they've not been fortunate with the weather so far so they're running 50 or 60.

00:39:01David Moss: Okay, I should say for the listeners, today is actually a stunning day. I can't believe how lucky we are. It's a beautiful sunny day, yes.

00:39:08Mark: And if it's forecast that way tomorrow, the kids will be happy. They will be very happy, yes.

00:39:12David Moss: And how would you describe the course here?

00:39:14Mark: It's two laps on grassy fields. The first field is a... football and rugby field and the other one is kind of rough grass field but it's a great course very flat bit muddy today but otherwise it's a really fast course I'll confirm that actually it does seem like a very very fast course today I found it a bit slippery heading into the corners that's because you weren't wearing any shoes on your feet Mark how long have you been running for? Ooh, how long have I been running? I think my parkrun, first run was in 2011 or something like that. Yes, it can have been, I was just thinking. Way back. Yeah, way back. I've been running for ages, but I only started volunteering a year ago here, but yeah, I've been running for a long time.

00:40:00David Moss: And how many volunteers do you actually have on the course? have about it varies but about 20 roughly yeah we'll also say that uh I don't actually know what the score is but we're actually we were running today during the rugby so for those back home I'm hoping I'll be smiling later on today but all should be revealed

00:40:21Mark: Well, I'm hoping I'll be smiling later as well. Good. Now, look, thank you. It was a happy mob today. No problem.

00:40:27David Moss: All the best for the future.

00:40:28Mark: Thank you very much. Cheers.

00:40:29David Moss: Okay, and bye from me. I'll be back in Australia next time. Have to do one of these things, Mel. Okay, see you.

00:40:36Melissa Ellis: Thank you, TOC, from Campaspe in Woodend, giving us a roving report in the wet, very wet there. 280 people turned out to enjoy the wet conditions. Adventuring is live and well in central Victoria, Mel.

00:40:54Melissa Erbacher: Isn't that insane? You guys have just been chomping at the bit, for you know a new event to come along and you've got a few lined up for the rest of the year so hopefully that will satiate your appetite yes and then there was Dave coming to us from coldham's common in the UK yes this one was from two weeks ago um Dave is back in the country now he's in Australia and uh literally delivered this one to me in person which was nice having recorded it on the other side of the planet. But he mentioned toward the end there the rugby results. They were running during the rugby, and I think there might have been a dip in attendance records that weekend because I believe England might have been playing in the rugby. It was kind of a big deal, but I don't follow that. So do you know who won?

00:41:43Melissa Ellis: No, I've got no clue. But I was curious with the comment that Dave found it slippery because he doesn't wear shoes. Now, Mel, I know – that he runs or has ran at Kawana can you shed some light why does Dave not wear shoes

00:42:00Melissa Erbacher: Well, I'm pretty sure because we weren't born with shoes. So, you know, we were born with these perfectly good feet. And why ruin that with putting something over the clod hoppers? He has worn shoes from time to time. And it's funny because, you know, he's known as Smiley Dave or Barefoot Dave wherever he goes. And it's partially, I believe, the reason why he doesn't stay in the UK into the winters because it's too cold to run barefoot. However, yeah, whenever you see him in a photo with shoes on like he's been running, there's invariably the comment that somebody makes that's like, oh, I didn't recognise you with shoes on.

00:42:46Melissa Ellis: Is this a challenge, Mel, that we need to do? Like do we all need to experience this barefoot running thing at parkrun?

00:42:54Melissa Erbacher: Look, who am I to make that kind of challenge? I would encourage everyone to give it a go. Speaking of challenges, we've been promising Cam over in WA for a few weeks now that we would have a challenge out to him. And I'm very pleased that you're co-hosting with me this week because you can throw the challenge out to him.

00:43:18Melissa Ellis: I can. Now, listen, Cam, we have – discussed this amongst the Channel 5 News crew. So this is something that it hasn't just come from Mel. It's been a group decision. Which I took no part of, I might add, except to make people vote on it. Correct. Yes. So we've come to the conclusion that you need to interview somebody at parkrun that you don't already know, but needs to be a pod listener. So you've got to find a podcast listener and you will get an added bonus if the listener can name one of the existing news crew. So get out there and find all those podcast listeners in your community.

00:44:04Melissa Erbacher: To clarify, it would be good if they listened to this podcast. Just, you know. I thought that spoke for itself. It's kind of implied by the fact that we would, you know, give bonus points if they can name one of the existing news crew, yes. However, I just.

00:44:25Melissa Ellis: Mel, you didn't specify that in the. In the run sheet? Yeah, that.

00:44:29Unidentified speaker: Okay.

00:44:30Melissa Erbacher: Well, yeah, I just thought it might be good that we state it explicitly for Cam because I've been burned before, okay? I've thought I've made really, really clever challenges and then I've been taken literally and it didn't work out so well.

00:44:46Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and Cam, if you come back and do this in one week, I'm not going to be impressed.

00:44:52Melissa Erbacher: I will. I will. And for the record, I would like it noted that certain members of the Channel 5 News crew had some really challenging challenges. They all pretty much brainstormed ideas about what the challenge could be and this was the winning one. But some of them were really hard. So there are some people out there that are either gunning for you or just want to make some entertaining listening for the future.

00:45:17Melissa Ellis: Well, good luck, Cam, and I hope it takes weeks and weeks and weeks like it did.

Ugly Christmas Singlet Day

00:45:24Melissa Erbacher: Okay. So, now, normally we would do a reminder about Ugly Christmas Singlet ordering, but we don't need to do that for this week because the orders have closed and I already have guilt about the people that have missed out and, you know, they're just going to have regret and I'm going to be sad and… feel bad for them when they contact me and say, can I please get a shirt? And I'll have to tell them it's too late. Yes, ordering has closed for the Ugly Christmas Singlets of 2019. However, we would like to remind everybody that Ugly Christmas Singlet Day is on its way, the inaugural international Ugly Christmas Singlet Day. It's going to be the 21st of December. And you know what? It's less than eight weeks away.

00:46:08Melissa Ellis: Yay. I love Christmas.

00:46:10Melissa Erbacher: It's going to be Christmas next month. It's happening. It's on its way. It's going to barrel down like a juggernaut and hit us all unprepared. Unless we prepare for it, ironically. Have you started your Christmas shopping? Does buying Ugly Christmas Singlets for other people count?

00:46:30Unidentified speaker: Yes.

00:46:31Melissa Erbacher: Then yes, I have. And while we're at it, I would like to give a shout out to the person in Manly, Queensland, who was spotted wearing their 2018 Ugly Christmas Singlet to the salon during the week. I've got spies out there. And so whoever you are, I'm assuming you're an avid listener if you own one of the Ugly Christmas Singlets from last year. Love the fact that you wear it to the hairdresser just randomly during the middle of the week, styling it all the time.

Sign-off

00:47:00Melissa Erbacher: Oh, we need to also talk about the Christmas compendium at the New Year's Day Double Finder Tool. Now, Mel, have you decided where you're going to parkrun on Christmas Day yet or New Year's Day Double?

00:47:11Unidentified speaker: Oh.

00:47:12Melissa Ellis: Christmas Day, so exciting. So my home parkrun, Toolern Creek, is doing their very first Christmas Day parkrun. So you're going to be at home. And it's literally like, yes. You'll be at home for Christmas. I'm never at home. I'm never at home. They don't even know who I am because I'm never there because I'm always adventuring. So I'm going to be that weird person, you know, running in a Christmas tree costume that they don't know who that is. But yes.

00:47:35Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. Awesome. What about you? I do not know where I'm going to be, actually. This is the Christmas that I usually volunteer. So I volunteer Christmas and Christmas about one year I run, the next year I volunteer. And this is a volunteer Christmas. It will really be informed by where we choose to Christmas with Adam's family this year. And I think it's down in Brisbane. So I might have to figure out which event down in Brisbane I can volunteer at.

00:48:03Melissa Ellis: Yeah. And what about your New Year's Day Double? New Year's Day Double.

00:48:07Melissa Erbacher: Well, so have you seen the New Year's Day Double Finder tool? It's back out again this year.

00:48:12Melissa Ellis: I know of it. I haven't looked at it yet, but I remember it from last year.

00:48:16Melissa Erbacher: It's sort of working on the basis of the events that I've already declared, and it's an awesome tool. I would recommend everybody go and check it out. I should probably – hold on a second. Let me – the URL. I shouldn't just talk about these things and not actually –

00:48:31Melissa Ellis: be able to give people the information googling googling googling well while you look at that I can tell you much to my disdain my husband's discovered that he has not been given permission to have time off for the New Year so I very sadly can't travel we had big plans going to South Australia with our friends and doing four new parkruns in eight days and and yeah we can't so in a bit of I'm sulking a bit about that, but anyway.

00:49:02Melissa Erbacher: But it's okay. We can go local and still do events. Is it uncool to leave Paul at home?

00:49:08Melissa Ellis: Well, I kind of – A little bit? I kind of went, oh, we can't go. Look, you let him run on his birthday. Isn't that enough? He did.

00:49:18Unidentified speaker: How much –

00:49:19Melissa Ellis: He didn't offer that I could go without him. So I sort of went, I guess that means I can't. Okay.

00:49:29Melissa Erbacher: Okay. So the URL people need to head to to check out the New Year's Day Double Finder is www.tailrun.uk backslash or forward slash. I never know which slashes is forward and which one's back. NYD forward slash or backslash. 2020 forward slash or backslash. That might be crucial. Well, just try one way and if it doesn't work, try it the other way. I'm sure it'll be fine. We'll possibly also share this on the Facebook page if I remember later in the week. Of course, that is working off the basis that events have declared whether or not they're going to participate on New Year's Day yet. And I think there's only about a dozen doubles showing up at the moment. And that's purely and simply because events are still, I guess, waiting for their permissions from local councils and landholders, etc., before they make their decision or they might be waiting to figure out if they've got enough volunteers to run additional events on those days so at the moment we haven't chosen yet but we will be in South Australia because we've already booked time away ourselves as well and we're not going to get four new events in over that period but we will definitely be getting three in Over the New Year's Day double weekend and then the following weekend in January, which will be good fun. But yeah, the double tool is out there. So please use it if you're wanting to cut down on all the brain hurting work of trying to figure out logistics between getting to different events, etc., Exciting times. Mel Ellis, thank you once again for joining me as co-host of this fine podcast. It was a ball. I always have a giggle. No, thank you.

00:51:22Melissa Ellis: It's a pleasure as always and I love doing it.

00:51:25Melissa Erbacher: And congrats again on all your awesome parkrun achievements lately, all your challenges, all your volunteering tasks you're taking on. You're a little bit incredible or a little bit more than a little bit and love your work.

00:51:38Melissa Ellis: Thanks, Mel.

00:51:39Melissa Erbacher: I'll see you soon.

00:52:36Unidentified speaker: Thank you.