Episode 183 - parkrun: The Musical

Welcome

00:00:25Melissa Erbacher: It is episode 183 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. Not since event number 50 at Kawana parkrun on the 5th of October 2013 has the number 183 been so important in my life. I came in at 183rd position at event number 50, Kawana. And yeah, today, it's the 183rd episode. I am joined by the wonderful, enigmatic PK.

00:01:00Paul Kitching: How are you, Mel?

00:01:01Melissa Erbacher: I'm great. How are you doing this week?

00:01:03Paul Kitching: I'm good, yeah, and I'm really good. It's a beautiful night. I realise people may not be listening to this at night on the Tuesday night that it is that we are recording, but I'm great. It's a beautiful, warm night here in Adelaide, just been for a walk. And I don't know if you can hear the dull thud, probably can't, but there is a small band playing in Adelaide tonight. Not many people know of them. They're called U2, I think. I don't know, some small band that are having a little concert at a small Adelaide Oval tonight here in Adelaide.

00:01:35[music]

00:01:35Melissa Erbacher: So you've got some doof-doof going on in the background.

00:01:37Paul Kitching: Something's going on. Bono's getting a bit excited. Well, but it was meant to be Kiss as well. So tonight Kiss was meant to be playing in Adelaide at one concert, at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre. But as many people know, Kiss had to cancel all of their Australian tour because Paul Stanley's not well, which is not great. Anyway, but a beautiful player in Adelaide and great. And thanks once again for inviting me to be part of this excellent podcast. I love it. As I continue to say, it's wonderful that we're still getting out there and doing this. Or you, me, I only have to do it every eight or nine weeks. But you're doing it. And thank you, Mel. It's wonderful. I know a lot of listeners out there. Thank you for keeping the dream alive.

00:02:17Melissa Erbacher: Oh, you're welcome, PK. Thanks for showing up.

00:02:19Paul Kitching: Yeah, I'm here.

00:02:20Melissa Erbacher: And speaking of showing up, where did you rock up to parkrun on the weekend?

00:02:25Paul Kitching: A bit of adventuring. Went to West Beach, which was awesome. It's a beautiful parkrun. It's down, as it suggests, on the coast at West Beach. A bit of adventuring. My fifth time there. My 146th parkrun, so getting closer to my 150, which I'm hoping will coincide with a special day happening in December. But yeah. Talk about that later. But, yeah, West Beach is a great course. It's along the Torrens River where it starts near the beach and then it then it heads along, hugs the beach, and then it hangs right and it heads up the Linear Park Trail, so along the Torrens River. It's actually one of three parkruns here in South Australia that are on the Linear Park Trail. That actual trail runs all the way from Athelstone up in the foothills all the way down to West Beach. It's about 46km in total, but the other parkruns that are that use the linear trail are Torrens, which is, of course, the first parkrun in South Australia, and Lochiel Park. So, yeah, it was great. It was really good to get out there and enjoy it. Tourists, you know, chat to a few people. Actually, I thought I'd do a bit of roving reporting and I chatted to a few crew. G'day yes it's PK here not doing a roving report because you're going to hear enough from me anyway but I am on an adventure as I've just been talking about so down here at West Beach and when they said is there anybody from other parkruns of course us Mount Barkerians put up our hand but so did this young man Ian where are you from?

00:03:54Ian: I'm from Kettering, England. If you think of a map of England and put a pin in the middle of it, we're pretty much in the middle of England.

00:04:00Paul Kitching: Wow. Very cool. And then what brings you to West Beach parkrun?

00:04:05Ian: Well, I've come to visit my son, Alex, who's run today with me. I did my very first parkrun about a year today here in West Beach. Oh, wow. And then I've been doing them in my home in Kettering.

00:04:16Paul Kitching: So you did your first parkrun in Australia, and then you've gone back there to do the UK.

00:04:20Alex: The very first one was in Australia.

00:04:21Paul Kitching: Wow. G'day, Alex. How are you going?

00:04:24Alex: Yeah, good. Thank you.

00:04:25Paul Kitching: Yeah, great. So where was your first parkrun?

00:04:28Alex: Ah, so down in Cornwall at, where was it? The Porthleven parkrun, actually.

00:04:33Paul Kitching: Nice, nice. Yeah, we were just talking about how good the parkruns are in Cornwall. I've done Lanhydrock, I think it is, which is a beautiful parkrun. And so your parkrun journey, did you start it and then you got involved or how did it roll?

00:04:48Alex: I used to run quite a lot in the past. I've done, you know, marathons and lots of GP races and things. So I used to do parkrun just a little warm-up, really. Ha, ha, ha, ha.

00:04:55[laughter]

00:04:56Ian: in between 20 mile runs actually that's wow that's very impressive and um and so you're um have you done many more that back in the UK then this is this will be my 12th now today so each time I've improved my time awesome and in fact I've taken about 13 minutes off my time from the very first one here great the only time I didn't improve my form so when at my home home run they changed the route of the course and put it in reverse and of course it's more uphill

00:05:22Paul Kitching: Confuses you a bit. A bit more of a challenge. Well, good on you. And why do you do parkrun?

00:05:26Ian: Just to get fitter because I was completely unfit. And now I'm much better. I can run for 5K without too much of a problem, whereas before I could only run about 100 yards.

00:05:34Paul Kitching: Well done. Well done. And why do you do parkrun, Alex?

00:05:37Alex: It supplements my training. So I play soccer. Nice. In a master's league, actually. That's showing my age, isn't it? I'm over 35.

00:05:44Paul Kitching: It's all right, mate. Yeah, exactly. You can be a master of anything, really. Yeah, well, I'm sorry that just got cut off, but it was really good chatting with those guys. Awesome to see them enjoying parkrun Down Under, one of them here and the other one on his travels. And I then had a brief chat with the RD of the day as well. Let's hear from the RD. Okay, then. I'm now here with Greg, who was the Run Director today. I can't help myself. I need to chat to a few more people. Well done, Greg. How did you think today went?

00:06:17Greg: Yeah, good, good. Good crowd out today.

00:06:19Paul Kitching: Yeah, what numbers are you usually getting here?

00:06:21Greg: So we get anywhere from 200 to 300 runners. It really depends on the weather. The weather's a big, big factor, I think, down here because we're on the beachfront. Of course. It can be a bit windy and a bit wet from time to time.

00:06:33Paul Kitching: Beautiful today, really. Yeah, today was not too bad.

00:06:37Greg: Fairly still, so not a lot of wind around today, which makes a good PB weather.

00:06:41Paul Kitching: Yeah. Well, I hope there will be a few people. It's good to see. It's certainly... And well done on corralling the crowd at the beginning. I know... I know you guys have had a few challenges with people, you know, stinking to the left and yabbering when you're doing the speech. That was me, by the way, telling everyone to be quiet.

00:06:57Greg: Oh, lovely. Thank you. Thank you. That's very helpful. Oh, mate.

00:07:00Paul Kitching: I just, you know, some people, as we've said, you know, and this is, you know, just a shout-out to everyone out there because, you know, yes, you've heard the welcome speech before, but it's respect, really, isn't it? Correct. Yeah, it is.

00:07:11Greg: And, you know, it's not a big, onerous thing, you know, to wait that sort of five minutes as we go through the pre-run brief. Yeah. it's part of parkrun. I think everybody needs to just understand that, look, stop and listen. There may be something important come up that wasn't, wasn't, you know, it wasn't there before. That's it.

00:07:27Paul Kitching: And you've got plenty of time to chat on the run or afterwards. So anyway, no, I think everyone really appreciates all the awesome work that, um, the volunteers do. And, um, so I just wanted to really say thank you to you and say, thanks for a great parkrun. We've had fun. Um, it's a beautiful course. I've done a few times now over the years. So, um, and it hasn't changed, which is great. There's no surprises, but, uh, It's great and it's great that we get to share it with other people because it is a popular path. But, yeah, it's great to see people here, good community.

00:07:57Greg: Yeah, well done. Thank you for coming out.

00:07:59Paul Kitching: Good on you, Greg. Thanks. Cheers, mate. All right, that's enough of me. Back to me and Mel. Cheers. Yeah, so that was really good chatting with Greg. And, yeah, as you probably heard, I was the one that actually decided to encourage people to be quiet because it's annoying, isn't it, as we all know?

00:08:16Melissa Erbacher: Oh, it's just disrespectful. Yes. Really?

00:08:19Paul Kitching: It is.

00:08:20Melissa Erbacher: And you miss important stuff.

00:08:22Paul Kitching: Yeah, look, and I totally, look, I know the first-timers briefing is working, I believe, and I know that the whole idea of that is to tell people who may not have been to parkrun, but there's still going to be important stuff that you may have missed out on. I just, yeah, I'm not a fan of it and I'm not sure how people manage to get through it. I suppose they just keep on talking or they hope that someone like me turns up and tells everyone to shut up.

00:08:47Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, well, you know, in the UK, they actually have gone down the path, and I'm not sure if this is blanket across all events or if it's only some of them, but you know how at golf, they've got those people that stand around the edge with the little signs that say, quiet, please, and they hold them up when somebody's about to putt or something like that. Very good. My only experience of this, I never watch any golf. I've learned everything I know from Happy Gilmore, so… But I'm pretty sure the signs are the same in real golf. They wouldn't have just made that up for the movie. And yeah, so there's some events that have these little quiet, please, sort of paddles that they hold up. I don't know how effective they are, but at the very least, I reckon if they... didn't get people's attention and have the desired effect you could go and smack the offenders over the head with them oh well it was not that we condone violence of course not but um I'm hoping that maybe next next week I won't be back at West Beach but uh

00:09:46Paul Kitching: So maybe someone, it will stop me and maybe one person just maybe worried that I might be there telling them off again. But anyway, but it was, it was a great parkrun. Loved it. West Beach is awesome. I highly recommend anyone in Adelaide getting along there. And of course, during summer, you can always fall in the beach afterwards. That was fun. How about you? Where did, where did you parkrun?

00:10:05Melissa Erbacher: I was run directing at home. There was a couple of special milestones happening on Saturday, which I really wanted to be there for. We had two volunteers. One of them was joining the 25 Volunteer Club and her name is Katie and She's the youngest person ever at Kawana to join it. She's in her teens. So that was very exciting for her to earn her purple shirt. And the other one was a gentleman named Dave. Everybody I know named Dave is just awesome. I don't know if you've had that experience.

00:10:40Unidentified speaker: Yes.

00:10:41Melissa Erbacher: You know, we've got Dave Robbo, who's a regular on the pod. We've got Dave Moss, who is one of our Channel 5 news crew. He's awesome. Every Dave I meet, I've never met a bad Dave. Anyway, I digress. Yeah, so this particular Dave was doing his 100th ever volunteer, all at Kawana parkrun as well. Right. We wanted to make a bit of a deal out of it. Well, I say we, I mean me. Wanted to make a bit of a big deal out of that. I spent a big portion of Friday afternoon with Wes making him a chocolate cake. I'd found out the week earlier from his wife that he loves chocolate cake. I thought, right, that's it. I'm going to make sure there's a cake, I'm going to have 100 on it or something like that. I have been known to make a cake or two in my time for parkrun in particular, and they've all gone down pretty well. This time I went with a Martha Stewart recipe because Martha never lets me down. Oh my goodness, PK. The results that came out of my oven could be used as either lethal weapons or frisbees. They were flat and dense and hard and I don't know what I did wrong. Maybe it was my little sous chef, Wes, and him helping to mix and put the ingredients in. I don't know what's happened. But I was extremely embarrassed. And I had actually done a Facebook post on Friday night promising cake. And I thought, I can't take this. I can't take it to parkrun. I can't inflict this on the unsuspecting parkrun public on the Sunshine Coast. So, I literally had to put it in my pre-event brief that it's the thought that counts. I did promise there would be cake. I did make a cake. I haven't brought it for this very particular reason and I'm sorry I thought you'd just smother it in icing and and a hundred you know hundreds and thousands for a hundred and and take it but no not even icing would have redeemed this stuff people could have broken teeth and then there would have been you know liability claims against parkrun for damaged bills or yeah it just would have been bad it would have been really bad fortunately, Katie's mum, Kerry, made a fabulous cake, just saying thank you to both of them as well. So, at least there was some cake.

00:13:06Paul Kitching: That's all right. And weren't you, wasn't there someone else celebrating something pretty important as well? Maybe you?

00:13:12Melissa Erbacher: Well, nobody actually knows about my little thing. Yeah, I celebrate it in my own head and in my own heart. And Leave it at that. Let's leave it at that anyway. Yeah, nobody else, certainly at the event, knew what was going on. We'll just say I did tick off one of my New Year's resolutions. So I'm very happy to have done that. I think that's two out of three. And once again, I still can't remember what the third one is. I will go back to listen to earlier episodes of our pod from this year just so I can figure out what that other one is before the year is out because otherwise chances are I'm going to not achieve it if I don't know what it is. Or maybe I've already achieved it. Who knows?

00:13:54Paul Kitching: Exactly. Who knows? Who knows?

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Tony O'Connell — Goldfields Reservoir parkrun

00:14:06Tony O'Connell: Howdy parkrunners, Toc reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew. Today Jack and I have travelled up to Maryborough to participate in the Goldfields Reservoir parkrun. Maryborough, for those playing at home, is located in the central Goldfields of Victoria. It's about 160 kilometres from Melbourne. It's a reasonably dry type climate up here. Maryborough is a city with about 8,000 people, so a pretty reasonable size regional town. The parkrun is three laps of a reservoir around a bush track I've been out this morning and run the course and it is absolutely stunning I'm really looking forward to this one there's a great crowd gathering here looks like really good numbers talking to a few people at the start line there's a lot of locals here which is really great for an event that's only up to week four we'll have a run and we'll check in later cheers guys Howdy parkrunners, we've finished our three laps of the lovely Goldfields Reservoir. I'm with Belinda, who is the founding ED and today's RD. Belinda, event four today, how are the numbers looking today?

00:15:16Belinda: Yeah, good. We've got over 50 this week, so that's a good number for us here. I actually reckon we'll probably get close to 65, 70, so that's, yeah, good.

00:15:24Tony O'Connell: You've actually got a really great contingent of walkers coming in at the moment too. You've engaged a lot of people from the community out there already.

00:15:31Belinda: Yeah, we've got a lot of, so we've got a few that will do a sub 20, a couple of young runners, which is good. And then we've got our few, a lot of walkers as well. So it's a good diverse mix, young, old and slow and fast. So yeah, nice steady stream coming through.

00:15:45Tony O'Connell: So where we're sitting at the finish line, I'm looking out at the reservoir. The course goes around the reservoir. You can nearly see the whole lot of it, but it winds in amongst the trees. Just give us a little bit more rundown on the course.

00:15:57Belinda: Yeah, well it's actually just been newly done up so it's quite wide, it's quite suitable for prams, you know, you can fit quite easily three or four wide in most areas. We've got one little narrow bridge which, you know, can slow a few of the runners down but it keeps them on their toes. But yeah, it's a very, very nice stable course and we've had a lot of good feedback on it which is great.

00:16:17Tony O'Connell: The surface is fantastic to run on, it's really well compacted but it's not hard, it's really great.

00:16:22Belinda: Yeah, they've put a lot of effort into getting it into a great shape ready for everyday use for a lot of locals use the area out here, but for parkrun as well, which is great.

00:16:31Tony O'Connell: And what was your background in parkrun? Where did you start your parkrun journey?

00:16:35Belinda: I actually did my first parkrun in Cohuna. My sister convinced me it was a great idea to come along and see what it was all about. I'm not a runner myself, I'm only a walker but I decided it was great to be able to get involved in the community and I've completed a leadership program this year in Maryborough and as part of that I decided parkrun would be a great thing to bring to Maryborough.

00:16:55Tony O'Connell: It is, yeah, it is a great thing. And I've got to pull you up there. You're not only a walker. Walkers are the most important people out there.

00:17:01Belinda: Yeah, definitely not a runner, definitely a walker.

00:17:04Tony O'Connell: No, look, it's a lovely course, Belinda. You've done really well. It's a great thing. Great to see people sitting around talking and the number of people that have already said they're headed over for coffee. So I think we'll go join them.

00:17:15Belinda: Sounds great. Thanks, Tony.

Roving report Lyndell Murray — Cormorant Bay parkrun

00:17:19Lyndell Murray: Ahoy, all ye park-loving adventurers. It's Chief Deck Scrubber here, Lyndell Scarface Runnerlegs, reporting in, and I've cut my jib and set sail before Jack Sparrow's this morn to sail me seventh sea at Cormorant Bay. Now I have to find my trail legs today as not just my land-loving legs. As Cormorant Bay is off-road, the trail winds through the bush beside Lake Wivenhoe. So to get there you follow the setting sun and one hour west of Brisbane to Cormorant Bay. Now, with no treasure map to guide me around the course, I'm going to tune my ears into the Captain Parklubber to do the briefing so I know where to go and I don't get lost. I will check in with me hardies after the run. Alrighty, Parklubbers. I'm here with Captain Parklubber. Charmaine, how are you today? I'm fantastic, me hardies. Excellent. And Cormorant Bay, how long have we been land lubbing here? We have been here for just over a year, maybe a year and three or four months. Yep. And how many park lubbers do you get on any given park lubbing day?

00:18:43Charmaine: Oh, probably about 30. 30 keen runners. Yep. Do you get many pirates in these parts? You know what? We've actually had pretty consistent pirates over the last year and a bit. There's always someone coming out as a pirate. Well, that's because you're Brisbane's 7th Sea. Yeah, well, about 5 o'clock the waves come in, so I guess it's pretty much a sea.

00:19:03Lyndell Murray: Yep. Captain Charmaine, how did you get into parkrunning yourself?

00:19:10Charmaine: Well, me mate Jodie, she runs the local Rocket Fitness gym down the road and it was her little venture that she took on and I sort of was new to the town and I wanted to come out and help and be a part of the community and... kind of see it take off as well. So I jumped on board with Jodie and yeah, come out here and regularly volunteer and run direct with her. And we've got a few Run Directors on board now. So there's a bit of a pool of us and we all take it in turns and it's great. Lots of mateys being the first mate. Lots of mateys.

00:19:43Lyndell Murray: So a fairly small parkrun here. That must mean that you all know each other and have a nice little community.

00:19:50Charmaine: You know what? We do know each other, but every time I do the athlete briefing, there is always someone new. There's not one week I've done where there hasn't been a new person come along and run. So it's fantastic. Someone comes and tries it every week.

00:20:02Unidentified speaker: Yep.

00:20:02Charmaine: yeah and many tourists always always campers because we've got Wivenhoe camping and Somerset camping so there's always some weekend campers coming in and giving it a crack so yeah they don't know what they're in for though I don't think they know it's a trail a lot of the time so they come back uh pretty weary of the hills yes especially if they're pirates they're used to the sea not the trails oh They definitely have their sea legs when they're finished.

00:20:27Lyndell Murray: When they're finished. Yeah, so describing the course for me, Captain Charmaine, what can you tell me?

00:20:33Charmaine: Oh, it's pretty hilly. Yeah, it's pretty loose, pretty wild. Yeah, I think you might get shipwrecked out there, me hearties.

00:20:44Lyndell Murray: Well, hopefully we don't get shipwrecked. Hopefully we find our way. Hopefully there's a treasure map to guide us back home.

00:20:51Charmaine: Yeah, there's a bit of chalk out there on the course. There's a couple of flags. There's a couple of witch's hats. You'll be right. Just follow on.

00:20:59Lyndell Murray: I'll follow the jolly runches then.

00:21:02Charmaine: Just follow Kelly over here. She knows the course. Kelly's a regular pirate. Arr!

00:21:08Unidentified speaker: It's a pirate day. Seven seas in an hour.

00:21:13Lyndell Murray: Alrighty. Well, thank you so much for talking to me, Captain. We'll get out there on the course and hopefully find our trail legs and be able to get back here. Have a fantastic time. Alrighty then. I've found a couple of likely young lads. What's your name? I'm Rory. And I'm Jack. And you're park loving today? Yes.

00:21:38Unidentified speaker: yes I love parkrunning what do you like about park clubbing um well I like it a lot because it's much more better than staying inside than most kids do you actually run outside and even though it gets very tiring and you might get like really like let down since you have a long way it's actually really fun and you get to look at everything you get to run in the morning and yeah you don't have sleep in

00:22:01Lyndell Murray: No sleeping in. No rest for the wickeds. And do you come to parkrun here at Cormorant Bay very often?

00:22:09Unidentified speaker: This is probably one of my, like, over the fifth time I've done it. But I enjoy it a lot. This is, like, my third time in Cormorant Bay. Cormorant Bay is probably the hardest one out of the ones I usually go to. I've been to Gatton and I think I've been somewhere else, but I forgot the name. Yeah.

00:22:26Lyndell Murray: Aye, Cormorant Bay is a tough one for sure. It'll sort the sheep out from the goats. Don't you worry about that, laddies. Now, how about you? What's your parkrun adventure story?

00:22:37Melissa Erbacher: It's good.

00:22:38Lyndell Murray: What do you like about it?

00:22:40Melissa Erbacher: I like the exercise and just spending time with people.

00:22:47Lyndell Murray: Alrighty. Thank you for talking to me today on the Park Lubbing Adventurers podcast.

00:22:53Unidentified speaker: Thank you too. This was awesome.

00:22:55Lyndell Murray: Alrighty, Park Lubbers. That is a wrap from Cormorant Bay. This is Lyndell, Chief Deck Scrubber, signing out. Officially a pirate now on the Park Lubber Adventurers.

Roving report Melissa Ellis — Euroa parkrun

00:23:09Melissa Ellis: Good morning parkrun adventurers, it's Melissa here and I'm coming to you from the lovely little central Victorian town of Euroa. Now Euroa wasn't our original destination this morning for parkrun. We actually headed out to event two of the Benalla parkrun. However, there was issues with access to the course. So we had one of those mornings where you find out at the last minute that parkrun's cancelled and you quickly pull out your tourist tool to find where the next closest parkrun event is and we made a slightly hurried car trip to the little town of Euroa so here we are but it's it's look It's not a bad parkrun to be diverted to, I've got to say. We were here for the launch, and it was a rather cold, misty morning that day. And today the sun's out. You know, it's a beautiful, clear morning. It's one of the pretty parkruns. So, you know, got to find the silver lining. The event team was really fabulous, very welcoming, and it was a small group. And look, it all worked out in the end. And guess what? Benalla's still going to be there for us another day so we shall see who we can talk to. Okay, I'm here with Ellie at Euroa parkrun. Welcome to the podcast, Ellie. Would you like to tell us a little bit about how Euroa parkrun came to be?

00:24:42Ellie: Sure. Yes, so we first had a conversation early in January on our Euroa Community Notice Board where I knew that there was interest from about a year previously to start up a parkrun. So I went and visited Kumara parkrun and my good friend Ebony Knox introduced me to the world of parkrun. Then I came back to Euroa and decided that we definitely needed one for our community. So we put together a setup team which consisted of about 10 of us, and then myself and Renee Drysdale, we decided we would both be co-EDs, and worked together with our setup team to start spreading the word, put in the applications through to parkrun Australia, got our event ambassador Bruce Purdy to jump on board with us. He helped us find our track and that was a bit of a mission in itself, finding the 5Ks in our lovely park.

00:25:48Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so explain the course because it is a little bit tricky where it's got a couple of little loops around the bridge. So give us a bit of a course description.

00:25:56Ellie: Yeah, so our course is a bit of an all-rounded track. We've got concrete pathways. We've got a grassy area. We've got bitumen. We've got sort of sandy gravel bits. We've got little tiny hills and bends and twists and turns. So basically we've got some nice lovely wooden signs for our start finishes. and some of our turnaround points. We've got marshals obviously on the track as well. But yeah, we're starting off where we're running along a footpath, coming down and underneath a bridge and around a Hume and Hovell big rock monument. and then across the pedestrian bridge where the cars go across the road. Then down onto a grassy area which is a huge loop around Charles Kemp Park. A bit of a dog leg there as well. And then we come back under the bridge along a hedge and then onto a bitumen path all the way out to what's called a butter factory turnaround point. And then you turn around and follow your nose back the same way. So it is a bit tricky and we definitely advise our visitors and first-time parkrunners to have a careful listen to the brief and talk to the locals, follow the person in front of you, all those rules. So, and what's this river here? Yeah, so we're on the Seven Creeks, which this basically is up from the Strathbogie Ranges right down to... I guess through Shepparton and then over to into the Murray it's very pretty I wasn't sad to be diverted this morning to Euroa parkrun we were here at the launch and it was very cold frosty morning that day yes how is the community developed since the launch how many events are you up to so this is today we mark our 80th event which is really exciting we on our launch day I think we had about 100 and say about 150 I think attend and that was just massive for us really great to see lots of people from other parkruns coming and supporting um since then we we've obviously starting in may so we saw the beginning of winter so we had lots of numbers drop off we had some very cold mornings here lots of frosts um but it's um it's you know ran every week we haven't had any hiccups or mishaps or anything like that um we probably would generally average between Oh, I'd probably say 30 and 60 people. Just depends. Obviously, when footy season and things like that sort of wrap up for the year, our numbers will spike a little bit, which is really great to see.

00:28:27Melissa Ellis: That can be a big thing for the smaller towns, can't it? The footy season and the families tend to... Definitely.

00:28:32Ellie: And we're noticing now that obviously we're sort of coming up into our, you know, New Year next year, just seeing the seasonal parkrunners increase. that come out when it is a bit warmer or the ones that only do it in winter and things like that. So that's really cool to see as well, people returning.

00:28:49Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and what's your parkrun history? When did you first start parkrunning?

00:28:54Ellie: So I started, my first parkrun was actually just as a volunteer at Coomera, which would have been not last New Year's, but the New Year's before, the week of that. And then I went over to Shepparton, walked Sheppartons, just to see what that was all about as a participant. And then, yeah, just slowly... focused on getting our track sorted so lots of freedom freedom runs and walks before that and then pretty much we were launched by the 18th of May so that was pretty quick going really from January to May like to have everything sorted and Off we went.

00:29:39Melissa Ellis: So have you had the chance, obviously you've probably stuck close to home being your baby and still relatively new, but have you had a chance to adventure interstate?

00:29:49Ellie: I have, I have definitely. So yes, so obviously Shepparton, I've... gone down to Eastern Gardens in Geelong. I've done one in Narrabri in New South Wales. I also went overseas and have done Bushy parkrun, which was fabulous. Also did one in Scotland and Ireland as well. So it was really good to see how it is done over there, especially Bushy. Bushy was just fabulous. I think the day I was there, they had 1,300 people running. It was like a running event. It was huge.

00:30:29Melissa Ellis: It's usually in the top three or four in attendance in the world every week. Yeah, it was great. One day I'll get there. Yes, yes, definitely. It should be on everyone's bucket list. Well, it was great to talk to you. Thanks very much. Thank you. And good luck for the future of Euroa parkrun. Thank you so much.

Roving report Grette Wilkinson — Lower Hutt parkrun

00:30:49Grette Wilkinson: Good morning parkrun adventurers, it's Greta here and I've got a real adventure for me today. I'm doing my first international parkrun. It's very exciting. I'm here in New Zealand and this morning I'm going to be doing Lower Hutt parkrun in Wellington. So I'm staying in Wellington and I'm doing a Lower Hutt parkrun. Lower Hutt was the first parkrun in New Zealand. So it's a bit of an adventure to get there. I'm going to be catching a train. And then when I hop off the train, I'm going to either try and find a bus or walk to parkrun. So it's very exciting. Wish me luck. Hopefully I get there.

00:31:34Unidentified speaker: Next station, Woburn.

00:31:42Grette Wilkinson: Okay, so I'm off the train. Part one complete. So I think I'm going to decide to walk now because I'm super early. So Google Maps, my faith is in you. Okay, so I think I've arrived. If Google Maps has done the right thing by me. So I'm by the side of a river. I'm very early, so there's no one here yet. By the side of a river, there's a little sort of township to one side. And now I'll just wait. Hopefully the event team will be here soon.

00:32:16Margaret: All right, so I've now done my run and I'm here with Margaret.

00:32:19Grette Wilkinson: How are you going, Margaret? I'm good. And you're doing timekeeping for us today. Thank you so much. Yes, love timekeeping. And you were saying before that you do a kind of a random pick of how many runners you're going to have. We have a guess. So all the volunteers guess and we see who gets the closest.

00:32:34Margaret: Okay, and your guess today? 227. Right, and what are we up to now?

00:32:38Grette Wilkinson: 221. 221. Right, so we've only got six more runners. We've only got six more runners, yes.

00:32:43Margaret: That's it, and after that we're stopping. We're closing it. We're closed for the day. Good on you, Ruth.

00:32:48Grette Wilkinson: Well done. Good job. And so how long have you been involved in parkrun?

00:32:53Margaret: I've been involved for a few years because I've got a special needs son who comes. I've never run parkrun. Haven't you? But I've volunteered about 150 odd times. Oh, you're a legend. So I come along and I volunteer with him, runs okay yes and is he is he a speedy one he's one of the speedy ones he's always because I think I think I saw him at the front yes he runs for special Olympics and and it's so inclusive parkrun like you can have special needs and come along and everyone includes you it's great yes so we we're very happy to have found parkrun because he loves to run yeah wonderful and how long has he been doing parkrun um We started in 2014, I think it was. Yeah, okay, a long time ago.

00:33:31Grette Wilkinson: Yeah, yeah, quite a while ago. And always at Lower Hutt? No, we've done several in a couple of other countries. Oh yes, which countries?

00:33:40Margaret: We did Singapore, we've done three or four in Australia, and Singapore, that's all, and quite a few around New Zealand.

00:33:48Grette Wilkinson: Right, so you've done a little bit of touristing.

00:33:49Margaret: Yeah, a little bit of touristing, yes. Yeah, wonderful, wonderful.

00:33:53Grette Wilkinson: And you've met lots of people through parkrun as well?

00:33:55Margaret: Lots of people, yes. It's wonderful, you know, because I've done the timekeeping so many times. You get to talk to people, don't you?

00:34:01Grette Wilkinson: Get to talk to people, yeah.

00:34:03Margaret: Well done, good job. I know when they've done a PB. Well done, that's it.

00:34:09Grette Wilkinson: Well done. Oh, I think you just... She did it, yep. I got you, yep.

00:34:13Margaret: 226?

00:34:16Grette Wilkinson: Excellent. It's working.

00:34:17Margaret: It's working. We can only let, this is the last lady coming through. This is 227. Cutting off at that. Margaret says no more. No more. No, there's a few more out there. There is, there is.

00:34:27Grette Wilkinson: Good one. Thank you so much for having me at parkrun today. I've had a great time here. Our pleasure. Sorry about the wind. Yes, could you just stop that? That's a constant here.

00:34:36Margaret: Could you stop that for me? You're sorry about that. No, you get used to that here at Lower Hutt.

00:34:41Grette Wilkinson: Well, it pushed me on the way out, but it wasn't so friendly on the way back. Coming back, no, that's that. No, it was a lovely day. Thank you so much for having me.

00:34:48Margaret: Okay.

00:34:50Grette Wilkinson: All right, I'm now here with Sandy. How are you going, Sandy? Good, thank you. So we were congratulating each other that we both started and we both finished.

00:34:57Sandy: Indeed, yep, that's what it's all about, starting and finishing, yep. So we did really well, didn't we? Yes, indeed, yes, yep, very good. So this is your home parkrun, Lower Hutt? Yes, Lower Hutt is my home parkrun. So, yep, been coming for about three years now, so I really enjoy it and love the amount of people we've met. You meet some great people at parkrun, don't you? Awesome people, awesome people. Then they start to support you with all of your running. It's just really, really, really great. So, yeah, great for its camaraderie trip. So, yeah. Yeah, it's more than just a run. Oh, indeed. Indeed. Yep, coffee afterwards and catch up with, you know, people.

00:35:32Grette Wilkinson: So, yeah, it's more than a run. Friends. Yep. And I think, you know, parkrun, I like saying that you've got friends all around the world when you're part of parkrun.

00:35:41Sandy: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, and that's so much the case. When you go and do a parkrun somewhere else, you're always made to feel incredibly welcome and... You just feel like you're part of it no matter where you go. So it's really, yeah, it's a great, great, great thing.

00:35:53Grette Wilkinson: It's a good initiative, isn't it? And you've done some other parkruns in New Zealand?

00:35:57Sandy: Yes. Which ones have you done? I've done Porirua, Kapiti, Palmerston North, Napier, New Plymouth. Haven't done any down south yet, but yeah.

00:36:08Grette Wilkinson: That must be on the itinerary.

00:36:10Sandy: Yeah, and one in Australia. Oh, which one?

00:36:13Grette Wilkinson: Cairns, Cairns, Cairns, Cairns.

00:36:19Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:36:20Sandy: And I think you were saying before it was quite warm. Oh, indeed, yes. I was worried that we wouldn't actually manage to run it because of the heat because we're not quite used to that here in cold Wellington.

00:36:28Grette Wilkinson: So, yeah. Well, it's very, very windy today. Is this windy for Wellington? Because I know Wellington is windy, but is this windy for Wellington?

00:36:36Sandy: Yeah. Yeah, no, it was probably a little bit windier today than what, you know, most days are. But with Lower Hutt, I think that's something that puts a lot of people off coming sometimes is the fact that we get quite a bit of wind. But, yeah. But a good training, though. It's good training. Oh, resistance training? Yeah, absolutely.

00:36:54Grette Wilkinson: Yeah. And how many parkruns have you done now? You've been doing for three years.

00:36:58Sandy: Yeah, I've done 25 volunteers. Yes, you've got your purple shirt. I've got my purple shirt and I've done 112, so yeah. Got your 100 shirt? Got my 100 shirt, yeah.

00:37:11Grette Wilkinson: Just aiming for that 250 now. I know, it seems like such a long way away, doesn't it, when you're at 100?

00:37:16Sandy: I know, they should have 150, 200.

00:37:17Grette Wilkinson: Keep you going. Yeah, for real.

00:37:21Sandy: And what got you started in parkrun? It was actually a friend of mine and he was sort of a motivational speaker, that's what he sort of does, and he was just talking about come along and see. And I was hooked from the word go. And then just started to set myself little goals, you know, each time. I mean, initially... I had to walk the whole thing, and of course my first goal was to be able to run it. And when I did that, that was amazing. And then you just set yourself little goals along the way. Still got some goals I want to achieve next year.

00:37:53Unidentified speaker: What are your goals for next year?

00:37:55Sandy: Well, I've managed to do a 30.065. And I want to get under 30 minutes. That's where I'm aiming for. Yeah, that's achievable. It's in your sights. I hope so. Yeah, I hope so. It feels tough at the time when you're trying to get there. But, yeah, I hope so. But, yeah, you know, and the thing with running too, I think, I mean, most parkrunners find you have your goods and your bads. And at the moment I'm going through a bit of a bad lull with running. So, you know. Oh, you just.

00:38:21Melissa Erbacher: It's got to keep going, doesn't it? Oh, absolutely. And wait for that good to come. Yeah.

00:38:24Sandy: And then it'll all pack up again. So, you know. So, yeah. So, yeah. Forever hooked with parkrun. Be here forever. It's a good one, isn't it? Yeah. Who left to push me in the wheelchair when I can't run it anymore?

00:38:35Grette Wilkinson: Well, thank you so much for having me at Lower Hutt parkrun and being so welcoming. It's been lovely to be here. It's our privilege to have you here.

00:38:41Sandy: It's really nice. Thank you.

00:38:42Grette Wilkinson: Thanks, Sandy.

00:38:43Sandy: Nice to meet you.

00:38:44Grette Wilkinson: You too. See ya. All right. So, I'm now here at Post parkrun Coffee and I'm here with Mark. How are you going, Mark?

00:38:51Mark: Hi, doing all right?

00:38:53Grette Wilkinson: And you're the Event Director of Lower Hutt parkrun?

00:38:55Mark: Yep, been doing it for about six years.

00:38:57Grette Wilkinson: Yep, that's a long time.

00:38:59Mark: Yeah, and I was Run Director for a couple of years before that.

00:39:02Grette Wilkinson: The founding Event Director?

00:39:04Mark: It's a guy called Richard McChesney who set up in 2012.

00:39:08Grette Wilkinson: So I think you were telling me before that he went back to the UK and you stepped up?

00:39:13Mark: Yep, we've had a couple of Event Directors at the start there. He went and came back and then went again.

00:39:19Grette Wilkinson: Couldn't stay away?

00:39:20Mark: No. He's a Kiwi who lives in the UK now.

00:39:23Grette Wilkinson: OK, yeah. Well, he can't be Event Director all the way from the UK.

00:39:27Mark: No, no.

00:39:28Grette Wilkinson: Tell the listeners about the Lower Hutt course.

00:39:32Mark: So it's a nice flat course, but as everyone would have discovered today, it's probably the hardest flat course that you would ever do because of the prevailing wind. On the way back, you kind of get a nice headwind in the northerly.

00:39:45Grette Wilkinson: Yes, well, it was helping me on the way out, but then on the way back, it wasn't helping me so much.

00:39:50Mark: No, it's... It's not a good day for a PB today.

00:39:55Grette Wilkinson: But it's a nice paved course and it goes along the river.

00:39:58Mark: What river does it go along? It's the Hutt River. Along the riverbank there and then just a couple of grassy sections at the end and at the halfway.

00:40:07Grette Wilkinson: And you go under a bridge and past a school?

00:40:10Mark: Under a bridge, past a couple of schools, under a rail bridge.

00:40:14Grette Wilkinson: And today was your 400th event?

00:40:17Mark: Yep, 400th today, yep.

00:40:19Grette Wilkinson: Congratulations. And you get fairly good numbers here at Lower Hutt?

00:40:25Mark: Yeah, we're normally between above 200.

00:40:28Grette Wilkinson: Yeah, they're good numbers aren't they?

00:40:31Mark: Yeah, it's probably what fits on the course.

00:40:36Grette Wilkinson: And you had a young lad out the front today who was going fairly fast. How fast did he end up going, do you know?

00:40:43Mark: 16:41.

00:40:46Grette Wilkinson: 16.31. Is that a course record?

00:40:49Mark: No, no, a course record's 15.25, which was done on the first event.

00:40:54Grette Wilkinson: Oh, really?

00:40:55Mark: And one more since then.

00:40:56Grette Wilkinson: Yeah, wow, wow. So the lad that ran today, was he a regular?

00:41:01Mark: No, I didn't recognise him.

00:41:03Grette Wilkinson: Okay, so a blow-in who wiped the field.

00:41:06Mark: He's probably done it a couple of times, I imagine, but he looked like a fairly light lad. He did fairly well in the wind. He probably got blown around a bit.

00:41:13Grette Wilkinson: Yeah, he did. Well, thank you so much for having me at Lower Hutt parkrun. I've had a great day, and it's a great atmosphere here at Post parkrun Coffee.

00:41:22Mark: Thank you. Nice to have you.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:41:25Paul Kitching: Oh, how good was that? Great to hear from Toc, as always. Another cracking report from the Goldfields Reservoir, which looks great. I checked out the photos on Facebook from the weekend. It looks like a beautiful parkrun. And I love the fact reservoirs are being used for parkruns. Actually, here in South Australia, the government is starting to open up all of the reservoirs one by one for recreational use. And where I work at Fuller, we actually did the marketing and are still doing the marketing for it and have shot some great footage of people using the reservoirs and actually some of the local running groups we used for that as well. So, yeah, I don't know. It's made me think perhaps there's an opportunity for a reservoir parkrun here in South Australia. It'd actually be interesting to know how many there are in Australia or around the world that, you know, that are around a reservoir. I don't know. Do you know of any others?

00:42:16Melissa Erbacher: Well, Hobart, they run around a reservoir and,

00:42:20Paul Kitching: Mount Gambier is around the blue lake. Is that a reservoir? I don't know.

00:42:24Melissa Erbacher: I don't know, but you know what? This has got me thinking, PK, and I know I shouldn't, but I can't help myself sometimes coming up with new unofficial clubs. You could, if you did all the reservoir parkruns, you could be a reservoir dog. The club could be reservoir dogs.

00:42:42Unidentified speaker: Wow.

00:42:43Paul Kitching: And they'd be there. Oh, man, we can go off on many a tangent there, but that's actually not bad. I like it. That would be cool. Yeah.

00:42:50Melissa Erbacher: That would be a club I'd like to get involved in. Yeah, and, of course, Goldfields Reservoir is in Maryborough, Victoria, not to be confused with Maryborough in Queensland, which is the birthplace of Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers. It sounded windy, but it was lovely to hear talking to Belinda down that way.

00:43:10Paul Kitching: Awesome. How good was Lyndell keeping that accent the whole way? There's no way I could have done that.

00:43:19Melissa Erbacher: Have you got a pirate accent, PK?

00:43:22Paul Kitching: I can never do accents. See, I think I'd go from being Irish to being Indian.

00:43:31Melissa Erbacher: My pirate accent is Irish. It's 100% Irish. It's like I'm pretty sure that pirates are not Irish necessarily. However, when I do a pirate accent, I sound Irish, possibly a little bit drunk Irish. Yeah.

00:43:45Paul Kitching: It was very impressive, you know, getting her final seventh C for a Pirate Club. And, again, it looked great on Facebook with her outfit and she posed for a few photos with her swords and it was good. And I thought it was really good to hear from the RD that they, no matter, I think they've done, 666 maybe parkruns now and they've always had new people, always have visitors, probably for the C Club, no doubt. One thing when I was doing, when I thought I'd go and have a look and have a look and read a little bit more about Cormorant Bay where Lyndell was the Chief Deck Scrubber, it's worth noting that the female record holder at Cormorant Bay at 2202 is, and that being, let's note it being a C for the Pirate Club, is one Catherine Swords.

00:44:36Melissa Erbacher: Oh, I love it when that happens.

00:44:39Paul Kitching: So her surname is Swords at a Pirate Club parkrun. So I think that's pretty cool.

00:44:44Melissa Erbacher: That's brilliant. And, hey, congrats to Channel 5 News crew's Gary Murphy, who serendipitously also joined the Pirate Club walking the plank on the weekend at Castlemaine parkrun. I love the Pirate Club. I think I've said this before. It is my favourite of all the unofficial clubs because it's fun and it's not too difficult to get into. It's just everything that an unofficial club should be.

00:45:11Paul Kitching: Absolutely. The challenge for South Australians is we've only got five Cs. You have to head interstate if you want to be a pirate if you're based in Adelaide, which is another good thing as well. It supports adventuring, so I love that as well. Well done, Gary.

00:45:27Melissa Erbacher: And then, of course, we had Melissa Ellis at Euroa making a little bit of a last-minute dash to get to parkrun after some unanticipated changes to her weekend.

00:45:39Paul Kitching: Yeah, it sounds like a great diversion from the original plan. When I heard Melissa was going to Euroa… It actually reminded me of a time that I actually went to Euroa as friends of ours owned the Euroa Butter Factory and had a party there. So it was excellent to hear that the turnaround point in the interview there is that or the turnaround gum tree, as it's referred to on the course description, is actually The Entrance to the old butter factory, which is now a beautiful function centre. So fantastic. Yeah, awesome part of the world, Euroa. And it sounded beautiful. And good on you, Melissa. Sounds like a lot of fun.

00:46:13Melissa Erbacher: It does. And then, of course, we had Greta overseas getting her first international parkrun in. How exciting is that? Do you remember which was your first international parkrun, PK?

00:46:24Paul Kitching: my first international parkrun was the wonderful Bushy Park I had to make it bushy hey it was um far out it was a few years ago now four years ago 2015 oh how do you follow that up though oh well I managed to um to do it on international parkrun day and it was the 12th birthday of bushy and they had uh 1212 people I reckon they may have fudged the results there but anyway oh But long-time listeners of the podcast will remember I managed to meet the man himself.

00:46:56Melissa Erbacher: Mr PSH.

00:46:58Paul Kitching: Interview him, and that was my first International parkrun. Anyway, we're here to talk about Greta's, which was great. It was really good. And I can't wait to actually catch up with her next week, find out more about windy Wellington it certainly did sound uh I don't know if it sounded windy but it certainly I've seen I looked at a few of the photos and the course looks great it goes along the Hutt River um which sounds a bit challenging I think there's a bit of a headwind on the way back as they were talking about um but and it looked like they've got an event 400 so what's that nearly nearly eight years um of Lower Hutt so a lot there are lots of people in their 250 t-shirts so sounds like they get a healthy healthy crowd along there

00:47:37Melissa Erbacher: They do. They do. And I've got New Zealand in my sights for, I haven't done a parkrun over there yet, but we just had word that my brother and sister-in-law are going to be moving over in a few short weeks. And that means cheap accommodation. So I've already begun Googling events that are quite close. Looking for cheap flights as well. It's hopefully going to be on the agenda for 2020.

00:48:02Paul Kitching: Awesome. Hey, look, and whilst we're on roving reports, it's worth mentioning Cameron because I know the challenge has been issued. We haven't heard from him. Have you got any update on how Cam's going?

00:48:14Melissa Erbacher: Well, he is a no-show again this week, unfortunately, in terms of roving reports. I hear word on the grapevine is he made it to parkrun, had a very short stay, actually managed to grab himself a PB for his efforts. He was so short in terms of being at parkrun. No submission for the challenge this week. So either it's been super tricky, really, really hard, and he hasn't quite – managed to do it. I look forward to when he does finally submit it because I'm assuming he's going to give us the history of any other previous attempts that may have failed. However, yep, no, it's all crickets from Cameron this week.

00:49:00Paul Kitching: Well, I'm sure there are a few roving reporters out there who did the hard yards and we know that they did that, so they're probably smirking away going, yes, they know that feeling. Sorry.

00:49:12Melissa Erbacher: Poor Cam. I'm sure we'll make it eventually. We really want you to – well, when I say we, I'm speaking on behalf of myself, Cameron. I want you to succeed in this. I want a West Australian roving reporter on the crew because – I think you can bring a lot to the podcast. So I can't wait to hear from you.

00:49:29Paul Kitching: Absolutely. I totally agree. I can't wait to hear from you too, Cam. Bring it on, mate. Let's do it. So, Mel, one thing I was looking at on social media during the week on parkrun, and I noticed something about a baton relay. Now, I know there's going to be a few groans out there because other people have heard about the baton relay, but I know the other parkrun podcasts talk about it. But for me, the first I heard about it was when Scott Watkins was talking about it having it at Albert Park and then he I think He handed it over to – the reason I heard about it is to Lorinda Wishart, who's one of our parkrunners at Mount Barker. So I'm assuming it's now going to travel around South Australia. Can you bring us up to speed on, for those who have no idea what I'm talking about, the Baton Relay?

00:50:15Melissa Erbacher: Yes. Yes, it was Albert Melbourne's eighth anniversary on the weekend. Happy anniversary, guys. And they were privileged enough to receive one of the Leeds – Building Society's Gold Batons or Batons, however you would like to pronounce it. Now, this is for the uninitiated, for the listeners who don't also listen to With Me Now, for example. You won't know that 15 of these bad boys were released into the wild from Woodhouse Moor parkrun in Leeds way back in September and to be travelled around the country and followed their progress, tracked by a little GPS chip in each of the batons or battens. Gosh, this is going to – I'm going to say it both ways, tomato, tomato the whole time. They're keeping track of their progress as they go along. They – the idea is that the GPS – pings at parkrun time. So, you know, whoever takes them home and then they pass them on to somebody else at another event. And then they travel to another event and the idea is for them to go as far as possible, I think. Although originally, I believe the intention was to be within the UK. And of course, some of them have already escaped as evidenced by the fact that there was one at Albert, Melbourne. We've had one at least in WA, which I know has then also chuffed off to Singapore after that. So I don't know what... they're doing about the fact that the signal like they're supposed to be tracking it at parkrun time on Saturday mornings but obviously if they're overseas that's not really going to work I mean they'll get a rough idea of where they were but they will be GPS tracking at people's homes in other countries. And they'll go, okay, well, that's not actually a parkrun event. So I'm not sure how they're going to figure out where they were. But yes, it's an around the world, big community relay effectively now. It's actually just about to wrap up next week is going to be the last week. So it'll be interesting to see how they bring it all together and then what happens to the batons or the battens after it's all done. So that's what's happening. You've got one on your way to you, PK. That's a bit exciting. Do you think you'll get your hands on the gold member next week?

00:52:47Paul Kitching: I'm hoping. I'm one of the volunteers this week coming this Saturday. So, yeah, I'll be certainly looking out for it. And, yeah, exciting times.

00:52:57Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, something a little bit different to be participating in. It's nice. It's one of the ways that the whole, you know, worldwide parkrun community is can come together and share our germs effectively.

International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day

00:53:09Paul Kitching: I love it. Speaking of something a little bit different, I'm hoping that people will be wearing something a little bit different on Saturday, December 21, because it's International Ugly Singlet Day. What's the official term for that day, Mel?

00:53:27Melissa Erbacher: International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day. Yes. That is the official term. We've got a Facebook event set up by parkrun adventurers. So if you have purchased an Ugly Christmas Singlet or you have one from last year or even if you just want to make one your own, that's absolutely fine. The important thing is that everybody uglies up on the 21st of December for the inaugural official Ugly Christmas Singlet Day. I'm excited. You're coming, PK. I know you're probably excited also.

00:54:02Paul Kitching: I'm pumped. Yeah, I'm pumped. I can't wait to get it. And I think it's going to coincide, yeah, with my 150. Not that that's an official milestone, but bring it on, I say. So, can we talk about when the singlets are being sent out?

00:54:14Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, we did a post on the Facebook page this week with all the specifics around the dates for anticipated receipt internationally as well as locally. So, All the singlets are in production at the moment, which means they're doing the dye sublimation and then they're cutting them out and then they're sewing them up and they're making them look as ugly. as they possibly can. Shipping is not going to occur until the 4th of December.

00:54:40Paul Kitching: So, yeah, the koala with the pineapple, they actually had one sitting there and it was being hand-stitched like live art. Is that why it takes a little bit longer, each of them?

00:54:52Melissa Erbacher: Not quite, but when you do receive them, you will appreciate the actual...

00:54:57Paul Kitching: detail when you look it there were lots and lots of hours that went into those singlets and I hope you appreciate them in all their ugly glory when you receive them I can't wait to see all the uh the posts from that day I look forward to uh I'm sure we'll share it on our Facebook page but um that's going to be uh an album a glorious album in itself

00:55:19Melissa Erbacher: It will, and it is truly international. We've got people who are going to be ugly Christmas singleted up in the UK, in Germany, in New Zealand, in Australia. So they're all out there. It's going to be great.

00:55:33Paul Kitching: Brilliant. Hey, we should probably talk about the parkrun adventurers Listener Meetup for those who may not have saved the date yet.

00:55:42Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, well, I think it's time. It's definitely time for a reminder because it is only 16 weeks to go. That's four months away. It is coinciding with Womadelaide, which means accommodation may or may not be tricky to come by. So definitely one of those ones if people are planning on travelling to plan ahead, and perhaps get hold of accommodation now, even if you haven't booked flights or travel to get there. And so just as a reminder, it's the weekend of parkrun Day. It's going to be on the Saturday the 7th. But we will have shenanigans on the evening of Friday the 6th and then on Saturday, of course, and Sunday the 8th. And, you know, it's a long weekend. The Monday is actually a public holiday in South Australia, I understand. So if people want to stick around for that extra day.

00:56:32Paul Kitching: Absolutely.

00:56:34Melissa Erbacher: You'll still be there.

00:56:35Paul Kitching: There is so much happening in Adelaide at that time. So, yes, when WOMADelaide is on and some great artists coming to Adelaide for that, they've already released the first line-up and more to come. But it's also the Adelaide Fringe and the Adelaide Festival. Lots of things happening. And the Fringe actually happens around the state as well, so it's not just in Adelaide. So who knows? You could be going to do a parkrun, in one of the regional centres and there could be some fringe celebrations happening there so if you are planning um on coming to Adelaide or South Australia don't be shy go and check out the fringe website of Adelaide festival website they've um a lot of um really cool things that have already been announced in our wonderful city and uh yeah we look forward to having as many people here as possible to celebrate all that is awesome about our state but also parkrun can't wait

00:57:21Melissa Erbacher: Always great to add in some extra shenanigans to an adventure.

00:57:25Paul Kitching: I love it.

parkrun the Musical

00:57:25Paul Kitching: I love it. Speaking of shenanigans, I know you and Scotty like to have a bit of nonsense and talk about random stuff. Well, I'm in a bit of a world of musicals at the moment. My youngest child is in the school musical this week. It's production week, and even though tomorrow night has been cancelled because of hot weather, so annoying, but anyway.

00:57:49Melissa Erbacher: Is it ever too hot for jazz hands?

00:57:51Paul Kitching: Well, you would think it would not be, but I think they're a little bit worried about kids passing out and one does not want to do that when they're in full musical outfit. Fair enough. And there's also this other big event happening in January Anyway, it brought me back to my idea, probably not an original idea, but there should be parkrun the Musical or even a Running Musical. Don't you think? I don't even – is there a Running Musical that I completely have not thought of? I don't know. Do you know of one?

00:58:23Melissa Erbacher: Running. Oh, I've been to quite a few musicals, but I don't think I've ever seen one about running.

00:58:29Paul Kitching: No. I know. Look, and it does seem random, but then, look, you know, I've been to Shane Warne the Musical, which was absolutely brilliant, by the way, written by Eddie Perfect.

00:58:38Melissa Erbacher: Really?

00:58:39Paul Kitching: Definitely Spotify or Google that. It was very random. There's one about 9-11 which is pretty deep but full on about a true story relating to 9-11 called Come From Away. And talking about Eddie Perfect, he's now just done Beetlejuice the musical. Now I know that's based on a on a film, but still, you know, these random things that people think up, you know, they think, ah, that could never be a musical, but they work. So anyway, I don't know, maybe I should ring Eddie and see if he wants to collaborate with me some songs. I've got a few ideas for songs, though.

00:59:13Melissa Erbacher: I reckon it would be a runaway hit. Good.

00:59:18[music]

00:59:18Paul Kitching: Yeah, totally. Like there could be a don't forget your barcode or I was thinking along the lines of don't you forget your barcode. Don't, don't, don't. As you walk on by, you just walk past the scanning table. Just keep on walking.

00:59:33Melissa Erbacher: That's what you need to do. You need to adapt it from an existing artist, just like they did with ABBA making the Mamma Mia musical. You know, that's, yeah. That's how you know you've got a hit in the bag.

00:59:48Paul Kitching: I know. Anyway, I'm sure there are lots of other random songs that people are probably thinking right now, and I'm sure it's going to be top of your mind, no doubt, thinking about random songs that would suit parkrun the musical. I reckon we need some ideas on the Facebook page. I'll go there and start it. Maybe we can do a poll. I don't know. I know it's dangerous asking people to give us your feedback, but you know what? I'll go in there and post a few random ideas. I'm sure my singing has just spurred a lot of you along.

01:00:21Melissa Erbacher: All right, well, I'm pretty sure I have said it on the record that I've sworn off ever asking for contributions again, but since you are asking for them, PK, I think we can let this slide and we'll, yeah, we'll pop a poll up on the Facebook page.

01:00:35Paul Kitching: Yeah, parkrun the Musical, should it happen and what are your ideas for songs?

Sign-off

01:00:40Melissa Erbacher: Oh, I'm excited. Thank you for coming back to join me on the pod again.

01:00:46Paul Kitching: People are still listening even though I decided to randomly sing, but I did put it in at the very end, so there you go. No, it's awesome and I love it. I really enjoy being part of this wonderful community. Thanks for letting me be a small part of it. And one last shout-out to Mark Scarborough for doing your first RD spot on the weekend. Well done, mate.

01:01:07Melissa Erbacher: Yes, and it sounds like James' son got his wife to a PB. Congrats, Nicole, on your PB as well.

01:01:13Paul Kitching: Yay. Good to see our roving reporters getting out there and getting amongst it because we're all just like everyone who's listening there. We're just parkrunners. We just happen to yabber a little bit, a bit more.

01:01:25Melissa Erbacher: Somebody's given these people a mic, heaven forbid. Stop it.

01:01:29Paul Kitching: Stop it.

01:02:31Unidentified speaker: Thank you.