Episode 191 - Dynamic Duo

Welcome

00:00:23Melissa Erbacher: It's episode 191 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. Everybody's excited, and by everybody I mean me because... I have got a special new guest co-host this week. You'll recognise the voice, although it might sound a little bit different because it's coming to you. And by it, that sounds really terrible, doesn't it? He is coming to you from Victoria, which is a little bit warmer than the climbs that he has been reporting in from of late, those climbs being the Canadian variety. It is the one and only G-Train.

Interview Gerard Corkeron — Guest co-host; parkrun event ambassador in Victoria and the show's "G-Train" special…

00:01:01Melissa Erbacher: G-Train, welcome to the podcast.

00:01:04Gerard Corkeron: Thanks, Mel. Great to be on here and looking forward to having a chat with you tonight.

00:01:09Melissa Erbacher: Awesome. As I said, I'm very excited to have you here. I would like to start, however, with asking you about the origins of G-Train because it's not a nickname that we gave you. Scotty used to be very fond of giving the Roving Reporters nicknames because he's familiar or friendly with anyone. He doesn't like to call them their actual name. But G-Train is one that you called yourself when you first started reporting in for us. Where does it come from?

00:01:41Gerard Corkeron: Well, it's the handle that I use on my race bibs whenever I do an event and there's the opportunity to personalise the bib. And the nickname first came from my old school mate, Professor Tim Stenier, who's a researcher at the University of Melbourne, and he's also into running and he lives locally to me as well, so we catch up every now and then. And he just, with his comments on Strava, regarding my runs he came up with the name G-Train I thought well that sounds okay so I thought I might stick with it.

00:02:13Melissa Erbacher: And how many times in your running career have you had somebody shout at you all aboard the G-Train?

00:02:20Gerard Corkeron: It hasn't happened yet, but, you know, at running events. It hasn't happened yet? No, no. I did get a few sheds for saying, you know, sort of go G train, hurry up G train, that sort of thing in events, but no, nobody said all aboard yet.

00:02:33Melissa Erbacher: Oh, my gosh. There's like so many missed opportunities that must have happened. I'm really actually very disappointed. Anyway, I do love personalized bibs though because they're great for having people shout out your name and encourage you in a more personal way. I know I always, when I'm cheering, I always use them as much as possible.

00:02:52Gerard Corkeron: Yes, and when I'm doing an event, I'll always just take whatever name people yell out. So, you know, if somebody else ahead of me is called Tony and somebody says, go Tony, I'll think, okay, they've got my name wrong, but I'll keep going anyway.

00:03:08Melissa Erbacher: Well, as long as you don't correct them because they're doing the best they can.

00:03:12Gerard Corkeron: That's right.

00:03:13Melissa Erbacher: Now, okay, let's do a little bit of a session of getting to know the G train because we have been very fortunate to have a lot of roving reports from you, our special correspondent, most recently relating to the Canadian series. Can you give us a bit of a background? Well, let's go back to Canada. What made you decide that it would be cool to report into the parkrun adventurers from Canada?

00:03:42Gerard Corkeron: Well, the first time that I sent you guys roving reports from Canada was a bit over two years ago now. And parkrun in Canada was still very young at that stage. There were probably less than 10 events across the country, I think, from memory. And around the greater Toronto area, there were only two either side. We're in Toronto because my wife is from Canada. So we're over there visiting her dad and the rest of the family. And by that stage, I was right into parkruns. So I thought, well, I'm here. I don't think we'd had any roving reports from Canada at that stage. So I thought, why not give it a go, do something new and have a bit of fun with it.

00:04:26Melissa Erbacher: Okay. And I'm just going to interrupt you there. What is your dog called?

00:04:31Gerard Corkeron: That would have been Milo.

00:04:32Melissa Erbacher: So there's plural?

00:04:34Gerard Corkeron: You've got dogs plural? Yeah, there's plural. Yeah, Milo and Archie. I suspect there's probably another dog on the TV or something.

00:04:40Melissa Erbacher: Excellent. We're big fans of having puppies around and about the place when we're recording on the podcast. So nice to meet you, Milo. But back to Canada. Yes. So this was season two, effectively, your most recent series. It was season two of the Canadian series. And you've done an excellent job getting around and about. I guess it's been a nice little excuse for you to try the different ones as well.

00:05:06Gerard Corkeron: Yeah, it has been. It was interesting the first time that I was over there in that both of the events were about an hour either side of Toronto from where we were staying in a little sort of attached city called Brampton. But this time we had some closer events to us. We were staying in Mississauga, which is again on the outskirts of Toronto. So I was able to get to some events which were only about 20 minutes away, which is fantastic. And I think the furthest I did have to travel was about an hour to two events. I only had to do that twice rather than having to do it each week when I was there last time.

00:05:41Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, every time you sent a new report in, I would go to the Canadian map and I would have a look where you were and where you'd gone to. And you've got quite the little cluster in the area now. The Canadians probably have a club for that or that kind of region or something.

00:05:58Gerard Corkeron: Yeah, yeah, and there's only one of them that I haven't done, which I was sort of kicking myself for afterwards. While I was over there, I was coming close to an unofficial milestone with volunteering, so I thought the fun way to do that might be if I could volunteer as an RD on New Year's Day at one of the events, and they very kindly allowed me to do that, um but uh as a result there was one event on the other side of Toronto that I didn't get to so uh yeah you know mixed feelings about that but um yeah it's all good in the end there's always next time that's right I'll save it up for then okay so you you talked about you when you first went to Canada that you were right into parkrun then where did your parkrun story start Well, it's interesting. I guess if I just go back to my running story to start off with, I did a fair bit of running when I was younger, in my early adult years, when I was in the Army. But I left the Army because of some chronic injuries that I had incurred. Not doing anything exciting, but just a wear and tear sort of thing. And as a result of that, I stopped running around about that time. And so for about the next... 20 odd years I was not necessarily out of shape as such but had turned into a bit of a couch potato and in the end when somebody close to me was going on a bit of a fitness journey I thought well I'll join in to give them a bit of support and then quickly came to the realisation that I needed to get back into shape for my own well-being anyway. And to just backtrack, I did my first parkrun when I was driving out of our estate one morning here at Berwick Springs and saw a whole heap of people running around and thought, well, something's going on there. So I Googled it, found out what it was and thought that's interesting. But I was still in the mindset that I shouldn't have been running, you know, I should be doing things like swimming and so forth to, you know, be easier on my injuries. And so I went down and did one and thought, okay, that was okay. But, you know, I'm not going to worry about it for the moment. And I was actually late too and missed the briefing. So they were all well gone before I got down there. But it was then almost two years later when I was back into getting fit and doing a little bit of running again that I went down for my second one. And one of the reasons for doing that, though, was I wanted to get a bit more involved in the community. We'd had a... Unfortunately, there had been a shooting in the area. This is going back to 2015. Somebody who is... I guess, lived a bit of a violent life, had somebody try to get some payback on him. And as a result, he was shot. He survived, which is good. You know, we don't want to see anybody killed.

00:08:55Melissa Erbacher: No, my goodness. Scary situation.

00:08:59Gerard Corkeron: Yeah, yeah. But I thought, well, you know, how am I going to respond to that? Am I going to be all fearful and stay at home and not go out of doors? Or am I going to, you know, I guess try and show people that, no, look, this is a good area to live in. There are worthwhile things to do around here. And I thought, well, I'll give this parkrun a bit more of a go. So I did one with a friend of mine, Joe Dinaui, who's... now an RD himself. And he dragged me along and paced me, which was fantastic. It was a great support. And as a result of that, I thought, okay, well, look, I'll just do a bit more work on my fitness and then I'll come back to this in the new year, which I did. I was one of those people who had made that new year commitment to get going. So I think it was the 6th of January.

00:09:46Melissa Erbacher: You're one of those.

00:09:47Gerard Corkeron: I was one of those and I stuck with it. So, yeah, I wasn't there for the New Year's Day event, but I think it was the 6th of January 2016, which is my third event, but that's my real parkrun at birth, I would say. And I've only missed being there a couple of times since then.

00:10:07Melissa Erbacher: Wow.

00:10:07Gerard Corkeron: Four years later.

00:10:08Melissa Erbacher: Not many. I mean, so you were a bit of a slow starter, two years between your first two and then a couple of months between your second and your third. Yeah. It's a very interesting motivation when you talk about there was crime effectively somewhere nearby within your community and you actually made a conscious choice about how you were going to let that impact you and decided not let it impact you adversely, not let it turn you into a hermit or change, I guess, the way you wanted to live. Or do you think maybe it did change the way you wanted to live to a certain extent?

00:10:54Gerard Corkeron: Look, I think it brought home to me the fact that this sort of event can happen anywhere. And, you know, we all like to think that we live in nice neighbourhoods and that nothing much ever happens. Well, at least I hope a lot of us feel that way. But, yeah, you know, I think we still need to be mindful that people there are people out there who don't have the best of intentions and want to live a life of violence and that getting out and about is one way of showing them that there are good people in the world, people who want to support each other and people who enjoy living. And hopefully that will set a bit of example for some people who might be thinking of heading down that path. I'm probably being a bit overly idealistic here, but it's just my way of, I guess, getting out and about and getting to know the people who live in my neighbourhood. And the other thing is, too, that it's been a fantastic boon for me, helping me get back into a decent level of fitness, and it's certainly exposed me to more running than I ever did in my younger days as well.

00:12:03Melissa Erbacher: Well, that's always a bonus, isn't it?

00:12:05Gerard Corkeron: Yes. And look, one of the other things that I came up with, which then I think I heard Paul Sinton-Hewitt say as well perhaps, was that, you know, parkrun is about community and I came for the run and stayed for the people.

00:12:22Melissa Erbacher: Yes, well, I'm glad that three times was a charm for you, G-Train. We're lucky to have you.

00:12:28Gerard Corkeron: Thanks, Mel. It's been fantastic. And, you know, I'm lucky for the opportunities that parkrunners provided me with getting out and about and meeting more people and extending my social network as well. Introducing me to various running clubs around the area. Introducing me to that beast called the Marathon. and having a lot of fun along the way.

00:12:49Melissa Erbacher: She is a beast too, isn't she?

00:12:51Gerard Corkeron: She is.

00:12:52Melissa Erbacher: Now, speaking of opportunities that parkrun has provided, you are an event ambassador in Victoria and support a whole bunch of very lucky events down that way. Where did you parkrun last weekend?

00:13:07Gerard Corkeron: I volunteered at Berwick Waters, which was their 12th event. We launched there in late last year, and it's one of the events that I support as an event ambassador. I thought that as I've never been a Marshal before, I'll strap on my six-shooter and pin a badge on and head on down there and cheer people on, and that was a lot of fun. It's one of the roles that I'm trying to promote more around the area because I guess we want to let people know that there are lots of ways that you can take part in parkrun. You don't necessarily just have to walk or run. You can come along and do some of these roles, which I guess help cheer people along or just, you know, do some of the little tasks around an event, which... not necessarily crucial but they do help out and um in a small way and also gives you know people an opportunity to just participate and have a bit of fun awesome I love that so were you in fancy dress then did you did you take the badge and a cowboy hat no no no I didn't I should have but um yeah maybe another time I'll expect that from you in the future and I want to see a photo when it happens please you're on and where did you get to Mel

00:14:21Melissa Erbacher: Well, I was at Brightwater parkrun, which is the closest event to Kawana. So it's three kilometres from Kawana as the crow flies. Haven't been there actually for a while. I haven't run there since the course was adjusted officially. I did it and I think they've had this course probably now for two years. Time flies in the parkrun world. But It was my fastest run of the year, not too difficult considering I had that whole three weeks where I didn't actually get to parkrun on a Saturday. So I'd been having a dry spell since New Year's Day double. But I'm still taking it. I've parkrun three times this year and this was my fastest. So that was really awesome having a morning at Brightwater Lakes weekend.

00:15:12Unidentified speaker: Oh, that's lovely.

00:15:13[15 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Mark Scarborough — Riverbank

00:15:28Mark Scarborough: Hello parkrun adventurers, this is Mark reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew and today for my first roving report for 2020 I'm coming from Riverbank parkrun in the New South Wales country town of Yass which is just outside my home town of Canberra and I'm here for event number Riverbank has suffered a bit with poor air quality due to the bushfires in New South Wales. So they've missed a couple over the last couple of weeks and actually come out here to knock off my NENDY as well, which is good. So... Riverbank parkrun in Yass has an average runtime of 37 minutes and 56. It's a two lap out and back course and along the river here. And we're looking forward to running this course and we'll have a chat to a few of the other parkrunners that are here today. All right, so I'm here with another couple of Canberrans who have ventured out to Riverbank at Yass here and I'm here with Susan. You're normally from Gungahlin?

00:16:29Susan - Gungahlin parkrunner: Yeah, I am. That's my home parkrun.

00:16:32Mark Scarborough: And is this your first time at Riverbank?

00:16:34Susan - Gungahlin parkrunner: No, I came out actually for Yass's inaugural parkrun, so this is just my second time today.

00:16:39Mark Scarborough: And what did you think for launch day?

00:16:41Susan - Gungahlin parkrunner: Oh, it was great. It was a really exciting day, actually. The hill at the beginning there kind of got us going to start off with, and the thought that we had to do it a second time was a bit daunting. But we made it and got round, and yeah, it was a great day.

00:16:56Mark Scarborough: You're going to smash it today, aren't you?

00:16:58Judith - Ginninderra parkrunner: Oh, I'll give it a good go, that's for sure.

00:17:00Mark Scarborough: And Judith, where's your normal parkrun?

00:17:02Judith - Ginninderra parkrunner: My home parkrun is Ginninderra.

00:17:05Mark Scarborough: And is this your first time here as well? A second time?

00:17:07Judith - Ginninderra parkrunner: No, actually this is my third time because I came back as a volunteerist to be Tail Walker one week.

00:17:15Mark Scarborough: And do you get out and adventure much?

00:17:17Judith - Ginninderra parkrunner: I try to, not as much as I'd like to. I'd like to do more, but life interferes. But yeah, whenever I can, I do.

00:17:24Mark Scarborough: And you're sporting the 2020 Rundown Honours Singlet. Where are you up to in your quest around Australia?

00:17:30Judith - Ginninderra parkrunner: I've just gone past Emory or something like that. Anyway, heading towards Perth.

00:17:36Mark Scarborough: Oh, very good. You're certainly smashing me. I only just started in the last couple of weeks. I'm not yet at Goulburn. It's good fun.

00:17:43Judith - Ginninderra parkrunner: It keeps you going, that's for sure.

00:17:45Mark Scarborough: Yeah, look, and that was the reason I signed up for it. I've heard a lot of people use it as motivation. Now it's like, yeah, using that as a bit of motivation to get a little bit further. So hopefully I'll get to Goulburn in the next week.

00:17:56Judith - Ginninderra parkrunner: I'll look you up then.

00:17:57Mark Scarborough: All right, well, enjoy your run out there. Will we see you at coffee?

00:18:01Judith - Ginninderra parkrunner: No, unfortunately, we're on our way to Melbourne to visit relatives, so we won't be able to make coffee, but maybe next time.

00:18:06Mark Scarborough: All right, no worries. Well, I'm sure I'll see you around Canberra anyway.

00:18:08Judith - Ginninderra parkrunner: Yeah, for sure. Thank you.

00:18:10Mark Scarborough: I'm here with Kendall, who's Run Director this morning. Good morning, Kendall.

00:18:13Kendall - Run Director, Riverbank parkrun (Yass): Good morning.

00:18:14Mark Scarborough: Thank you for having us at Riverbank today. It's a beautiful course you have here.

00:18:18Kendall - Run Director, Riverbank parkrun (Yass): Yes, we get a lot of that. It's just beautiful. We're very lucky that we have brought parkrun here to Yass.

00:18:25Mark Scarborough: So I think event was number 12 from memory, around there. How's it been for the first couple of months starting up?

00:18:33Kendall - Run Director, Riverbank parkrun (Yass): Really good. Our launch, we had over 300 people and actually ran out of tokens. So we had to record everyone down. But since then, we've had probably average about 60 to 70 people a week. And we've been having a lot of people come from near and far, especially Canberra. And we've only had to cancel one just due to the smoke this year with the fires. But no, it's been really good. It's great to have something like this in our little community.

00:19:01Mark Scarborough: It is, and that's some really good numbers you've got there. So it provides a nice healthy base and some good volunteers can come out of those kind of numbers as well. So well done for attracting their kind of numbers to the course. How can you describe the course? I think in my intro I may have said it was like an out and back, but it's kind of like a loopy out and back.

00:19:18Kendall - Run Director, Riverbank parkrun (Yass): It is kind of a loopy out and back. We did struggle at first to try and find something that was going to extend to the 5Ks but we always wanted the river to be our main focus. We did have to make it two laps just to try and meet that 5Ks and it is a bit loopy up the top near where the high school is and that but we've managed to squeeze it in so we're not near roads or anything like that.

00:19:45Mark Scarborough: There's two river crossings which are nice and safe but that's kind of cool having some low level river crossings.

00:19:52Kendall - Run Director, Riverbank parkrun (Yass): It is. I'm not sure what we'll do if there's a flood but at this stage that's not going to happen but we have had it in the past where the whole river has flooded and the water line has come up to right up the bank but we'll just cross that bridge when we come to it.

00:20:08Mark Scarborough: Well that just means it's an early coffee and breakfast time really.

00:20:11Kendall - Run Director, Riverbank parkrun (Yass): Yes, and Beautiful Trader & Co is our sponsor for Yass parkrun and Tony is actually, who owns that, is actually one of our Run Directors as well and volunteers with us and has helped us get it off the ground.

00:20:25Mark Scarborough: Excellent, and I believe there was another community initiative that kind of helped fund the parkrun here as well because obviously funding is a big part of getting a parkrun off the ground. What can you tell us about that?

00:20:35Kendall - Run Director, Riverbank parkrun (Yass): So many years ago we used to have a run called Run Your Yass Off. It hadn't been up and running for a couple of years and the Yass, I'm not sure of their actual name, but the Yass Park, I think they're the Yass... runners um had some funding left over and um beautiful Andrew who Andrew Douglas who is our pharmacist here in town decided to give us the um funding we needed to get this off the ground and he actually came first today so I'm very proud of him

00:21:09Mark Scarborough: Well, it's really good of Andrew to do that and local businesses also supporting him being the pharmacist here and also Trader & Co. So it's good to see local businesses supporting parkrun here.

00:21:19Kendall - Run Director, Riverbank parkrun (Yass): Yes, it is. And all the businesses have been great. They've allowed us to put up flyers in their windows and they've really gotten on board.

00:21:29Mark Scarborough: Well, thank you very much for your time and I'll see you at coffee.

00:21:32Kendall - Run Director, Riverbank parkrun (Yass): No worries. See you there.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report David Moss — Zillmere

00:21:34David Moss: We're at Zillmere and with me now is Tim. Tim, you're involved in the committee here I guess. What's your position?

00:21:41Tim - Run Director, Zillmere parkrun: I'm one of the Run Directors here. There's five Run Directors here who have come on board in the last three or four months here at Zillmere. I've been running parkrun probably four or five years now and recently about 12, 14 months ago I moved into the area and I like the size and the feel of Zillmere so I made this my home.

00:21:58David Moss: So whereabouts were you before?

00:21:59Tim - Run Director, Zillmere parkrun: I've done various ones, I've done Mitchelton, Bunyaville, Albany Creek, and I've done a lot of touristing as well. So, yeah.

00:22:08David Moss: Okay, nice rain job from there.

00:22:10Tim - Run Director, Zillmere parkrun: Yeah, yeah, it is. But the variety, the fact that this is off-road, and there's space and you don't have to worry about bikes or cars or crossing roads or anything like that. No, all we have to do is watch out for floods. That's right, you have to bring the flippers now and then.

00:22:23David Moss: So we're on the, this is the second anniversary for Zillmere. That's correct. Roughly how many people do you think...

00:22:30Tim - Run Director, Zillmere parkrun: Well, that was some conjecture. We roughly estimate somewhere between 120, maybe 140 in that range. Our average is between 40 to 60 a week. So it's big. I'd say at least half of the people we get here are visitors. Yes. Trying to get their alphabet.

00:22:45David Moss: Shock or a surprise. I know, I know.

00:22:46Tim - Run Director, Zillmere parkrun: But it is good because you get a variety of experiences. People talk about where they've been, what they've done, what they've seen, and it's a really good vibe to the place. But it's small enough so you know everybody, but big enough you keep getting new people.

00:22:58David Moss: It's quite a good little sports centre for the start, what do you call it? Start, finish, coffee. Briefing area. Bugger the coffee. The cold lime water at the moment. And the Zooper Doopers. And the Zooper Doopers. For the listeners, probably like everyone else in Queensland, they'll realise, It's rather warm today and humid.

00:23:17Tim - Run Director, Zillmere parkrun: The last two or three weeks the humidity has just been through the roof. And we start at 7 a.m. New South Wales and some areas down south start at 8 a.m. You can imagine what it'd be like at that time of day starting this race.

00:23:27David Moss: Yeah, I'd pass on that just over the border. Bad news. That's right. Yesterday the frogs were out in force. Last week I was by Tumside. Yes. And you were deafened by the frogs going there.

00:23:39Tim - Run Director, Zillmere parkrun: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was here last week when it was washed out and you're on the far side, you're underwater. At least a good 10, 15 centimetres underwater in patches and the causeway was just flooded. But I guess that's the joy of a community event. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't.

00:23:54David Moss: It's actually a beautiful run. You can see people virtually, I think, the whole way around.

00:23:58Tim - Run Director, Zillmere parkrun: Yeah, that's right. And so it's not so bad if you're a newbie who's not overly familiar with the course. You just need to... almost like a sheep, just follow the person in front of you, providing you're not leading, and you get to find your way around.

00:24:09David Moss: No, it was beautiful. Thank you very much for the day. And, of course, the theme today is Hawaiian.

00:24:14Tim - Run Director, Zillmere parkrun: Hawaiian, yes. It was suggested by the other Run Directors that we make it a Hawaiian theme, so I think it's gone down a treat. And I'm avoiding all the lei jokes. That's right. They've been done. Thank you.

00:24:26David Moss: Okay, and I love your flock of ibis.

00:24:28Tim - Run Director, Zillmere parkrun: Yes, they are tending to the fields.

00:24:31David Moss: Okay, thank you very much, Tim. None a problem. And we've got a few more visitors to Zillmere. With me is Tracy, Wendy and Rhonda. Okay, and you're from New Farm parkrun.

00:24:47Unidentified speaker: Yep.

00:24:47David Moss: What got you here today?

00:24:49Unidentified speaker: We were chasing our Zed, really. Like most visitors to Zillmere, I'd guess.

00:24:55David Moss: Have you done much of your alphabet?

00:24:57Unidentified speaker: Fair bit. I think Wendy's done the most out of all of us.

00:25:00Wendy - New Farm parkrunner: What have you done? I've only got Forest Lake and Ipswich will be my two more local ones and then I'll have to travel for the other three. So I've got 21 today. Very good.

00:25:13David Moss: Out of the potential 25 at the moment. And do you normally travel around together to different places?

00:25:19Unidentified speaker: Yeah, a fair bit. We tend to do a bit of travelling so... Yeah, when we're not at New Farm.

00:25:25David Moss: No, it's a great way of getting around.

00:25:27Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:25:28David Moss: So this is obviously the... I have to work out the microphone. This is the first time you've been here. How did you find the course?

00:25:35Unidentified speaker: It was a tough one. We were trying to do a negative split today for our training, so... Good luck. That heat just got us.

00:25:42David Moss: No, it's sort of a swimming through the sweat in the second half, I think, today going through. You didn't get lost at all?

00:25:48Wendy - New Farm parkrunner: No, it was pretty good, really. Yeah. I think it's a little cruel that they make you run past the finish line and do a whole another 800 metres.

00:25:56David Moss: Yeah, a lot of runs do that. I don't know if there's an S&M quotient or something.

00:26:02Wendy - New Farm parkrunner: It's a little cruel, but yeah, it was tough because of the surface as well. We're being at New Farm, we're on the... we've got our nice wide concrete path so this is totally foreign to us.

00:26:14David Moss: It wasn't actually soggy though today. No. We were sort of thinking it could end up that way.

00:26:19Unidentified speaker: There were a couple of patches where there was a little bit of water but yeah.

00:26:24David Moss: Where do you plan going to in the next week or two?

00:26:32Wendy - New Farm parkrunner: We're going to go down the coast next weekend and then we'll probably I've got to run at South Bank with Barbara in a couple of weeks time and I guide for a visually impaired friend so I'll be over at South Bank in a couple of weeks and then we'll go back and visit our home parkrun now. We're about due to volunteer there.

00:26:50David Moss: Does this mean you haven't been at New Farm all that much recently?

00:26:53Unidentified speaker: Just in the last few weeks we've been doing a fair bit of touring and getting some of our alphabet letters. We've been to Yarrabilba and Underwood, got our Y's and our U's, so just Building those letters up.

00:27:05David Moss: It's an excellent way of getting around, actually. Yeah, it is. I fully recommend it.

00:27:09Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:27:10David Moss: And hopefully the heat and the humidity will start dissipating a bit.

00:27:14Unidentified speaker: Exactly, yeah. And then we'll have to get our negative splits on and track again. Oh, good luck.

00:27:18David Moss: It's nice in theory, isn't it, the negative split?

00:27:20Unidentified speaker: I achieved mine. Oh, well done you. Yeah.

00:27:24David Moss: Today? Yes.

00:27:26Unidentified speaker: Only just, but I got it. She's a tough cookie. Yeah, that's right.

00:27:31David Moss: Okay, I'll take my hat off to you. Thank you very much. Enjoy the travelling.

00:27:36Unidentified speaker: Thank you. Thanks, David.

Roving report Tony O'Connell — Kerang

00:27:38Tony O'Connell: Howdy parkrunners, TOC reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew. Today Jack and I have made a bit of a pilgrimage up to Kerang and we've brought our mate Mel along. She's managed to get some day leave out of the Army Reserve and so we've brought Mel up with us to Kerang. Kerang for me is a bit of a pilgrimage. As a child I spent nearly every school holiday and every long weekend coming up to Kerang. My grandparents lived up here and so it's been a bit of a return to some good times. Sitting out here at the moment before parkrun on the edge of the Loddon River, just reflecting back on some of those times. And this is a really great place. I'm really looking forward to this one. We'll talk to some people. Catch you later. Howdy parkrunners, we're at the finish line of Kerang now. We're looking straight up at Gunbarrel Straight here, and ironically, we're reading a sign that says shooting in progress when red flags displayed. We run right beside a pistol club, which tends to make people probably run a bit quicker up the straight. I'm with a group of locals. Can you introduce yourself, guys?

00:28:42Unidentified speaker: Rachel. Linda. Tanya.

00:28:45Tony O'Connell: And is this your first parkrun you've been to or have you been to other parkruns previously? What's your background with parkrun?

00:28:52Unidentified speaker: This is my second. We came to the launch at Kerang last week, so just new to it.

00:28:59Tony O'Connell: New to parkrun and enjoying getting your emails so far?

00:29:02Unidentified speaker: Yeah, love it. Yes, we rang each other last week when we got our email.

00:29:08Tony O'Connell: So it's your second one as well, is it? Yes. And how about you, Roger? The same. Same. So we're all fairly new into parkrun, aren't you? And new into the world of adventuring where you start to go and do other parkruns and then your results will list all the different parkruns you've done and you'll compare your times. So when you go away on holidays, you'll get used to looking for a parkrun and trying to find it. And what do you think of the course out here?

00:29:34Unidentified speaker: It's very good. It's very scenic and even. And fairly flat. Yeah, fairly flat.

00:29:39Tony O'Connell: It is a pretty good flat course. It's nice along the river. I went for a run before parkrun this morning. You've got a number of little bush tracks in and out around the river too. It's really beautiful along there.

00:29:48Unidentified speaker: It's a common walking track kind of all around here, but, yeah, it's nice to actually do a proper, you know, timed walk.

00:29:55Tony O'Connell: Yeah, I did think when I got a couple of k's out in the bush and someone else popped out on a run too, I thought it must be the local haunt for the running. Yeah.

00:30:01Unidentified speaker: It definitely is.

00:30:02Tony O'Connell: And it'd be beautiful on a hot day, too, because you're in under the trees, too, lots of shade.

00:30:07Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:30:08Tony O'Connell: Well, guys, enjoy your parkrun journey and, yeah, good luck with future parkruns.

00:30:13Unidentified speaker: Thank you.

00:30:16Tony O'Connell: Howdy parkrunners, TOC reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew. Today we're ventured up to the extremely sunny town of Kerang. I've got to say, this is probably sunnier than Inverloch. I know that's hard to admit, but it is. And I'm with Jodie. Jodie's one of the co-EDs at Kerang. Jodie, how did you come to get involved with parkrun?

00:30:36Jodie - Co-Event Director, Kerang parkrun: I'm actually a councillor in Kerang and it's good to get our community together and meet different people, keep them active and social and we started last year trying to get a group together that were interested and that's how we've sort of got to here.

00:30:54Tony O'Connell: And amazingly, you're telling me that you haven't actually run a parkrun, but you're here volunteering. That's an outstanding effort. Well done. So week two for Kerang. Normally the second week, the numbers drop quite a bit, but you've actually got really strong numbers here. This is impressive.

00:31:10Jodie - Co-Event Director, Kerang parkrun: Yeah, I'm really surprised. We had 170 for our launch last week, and I'm guessing 120, 130 today. I could be wrong, but they're still coming in. So let's wait and see.

00:31:20Tony O'Connell: That's something I noticed out there, Jodie, which you always get walkers at every parkrun, but the number of walkers at Kerang is really high by a percentage. I think that's great that you've managed to engage the community this early.

00:31:32Jodie - Co-Event Director, Kerang parkrun: We did promote via Facebook and all our media forms through council and across our newspapers that it's not just for people that run. It's a social activity to get people out and active. Yeah, so we encourage the walkers as well to get out there as well.

00:31:49Tony O'Connell: I've never seen a group so strong at the back of the field walking. I guess it was probably a third of the field out having a walk, which is just really impressive to see. So, oh, you're barcode scanning today, so I'll let you get back into it. And thanks for your time.

00:32:01Melissa Ellis: Thank you.

Roving report Melissa Ellis — Kerang Regional

00:32:03Melissa Ellis: Well, one week can be a long time in parkrun. And today, I have the pleasure of being at Kerang Regional, with my lovely hosts, TOC and Jacqui. I didn't even know I put the call out in the pod last week for a lift, but within days of missing parkrun last week, I had an offer for a seat in a car. And so here I am. Very appreciative. Thanks, TOC and Jacqui. So I'm going to speak to the co-ED, Annette, and get you a little course description. Okay, hello, Annette, and... Congratulations on Kerang Regional parkrun. Would you like to describe your course for us?

00:32:45Annette - Co-Event Director, Kerang Regional parkrun: Oh, thank you, Mel. Our course is, as always, the five kilometre, but it's just an out and back. But I call it a wiggly horseshoe shape because it's sort of, yeah, a horseshoe shape that wiggles around all over the place, around the little wetland in the area. It's a flat gravel track. It starts out on the track along the river and then it goes onto the levee, which the levee is what saved us in the 2011 floods. Oh, really? Yes. And this is the Loddon River, is that right? This is the Loddon River here, where we are here. And they, man-made area in the middle there, made that and moved the levee over to the other side so that we could sort of go around.

00:33:35Melissa Ellis: Now, you've got some great support from council, I believe, that actually did something special for you to be able to use this track.

00:33:43Annette - Co-Event Director, Kerang Regional parkrun: Yes, it was actually the council that approached me because I'd been looking around for a track and I'd sort of put in a bit of an idea to them. And they said, well, I think we can do a little bit better than that because this track isn't a listed road. It's just a track that's evolved through the years. And the shire said, well, we can just close it off, because it's not a road so they've moved the gates they've enabled it to be parkrun specified of no traffic we just have to check to make sure there's no fishermen down alongside the river and but no they've been absolutely magnificent the shire have, they they helped us in so many ways getting getting the um the funding we got a big um grant off them five thousand dollars off the shire which has helped with the defib and everything like that and yeah that's good and you've got quite a unique sign there at the start line there's a bit of a story to that well This pistol club that used to... Well, it still operates as just a pistol club, but it used to do more long-range small-ball rifle. So if the rifle club were shooting, they had to put out signs so that people knew that they were shooting. But now with the baffles and the pistol... It's... It's perfectly safe, but they've just left the sign there.

00:35:22Melissa Ellis: I'll just read it out. I'm not sure if Tony did when he did his report, but it says, warning, shooting in progress when red flags displayed, and it's right at the start of the line, which is a bit unique.

00:35:33Annette - Co-Event Director, Kerang Regional parkrun: And safe to walk past, it says.

00:35:35Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah, in small writing at the bottom. In small writing. Yeah, so it's good to see. So what's been your involvement with parkrun yourself?

00:35:45Annette - Co-Event Director, Kerang Regional parkrun: I have been here right from the start because I'd heard of parkrun. I hadn't really done a parkrun, but I'd heard about it and people, not in town, but other people, friends, relatives, and over in Cohuna, they had theirs. And I thought, well, about time we had one asked around here. And yeah, a lot of people said they really like to have one. And I said, well, OK, I'll see what I can do to get it going. So I've been here right from the start.

00:36:16Melissa Ellis: Well done. Certainly a good thing for the community. And I hope that they embrace Kerang Regional. That's it from me, who knows where I'll be or if I'll parkrun next week but for now this is one happy little parkrunner see you all again soon bye

Roving report Alastair Buchanan and Kieran Webb — Wagi Bridge

00:36:34Alastair Buchanan: Hey what up it's the K-Man and Action Man Alastair here for our guerrilla tourism. Finding out how the different parkruns roll in different places.

00:36:45Kieran Webb: We are currently now at the Wagi Bridge parkrun in Gungahlin. It's a nice undulating walk as we can say.

00:36:55Alastair Buchanan: Yeah and it's got a creek which is and a bridge.

00:36:58Kieran Webb: Yeah that goes over the creek funnily enough.

00:37:02Alastair Buchanan: And the bridge has the waggy bridge troll. Oh, you should have told me that before I went over. Well, you got over quick. You didn't do too much clippity clappity. And so he didn't hear and he didn't come out and eat your bones for breakfast.

00:37:19Kieran Webb: Well, that was the thing I found interesting that we stopped on both sides of the bridge.

00:37:25Alastair Buchanan: There was a lot of sort of a briefing. Briefings. We had a briefing of how the run, like the first time is briefing before the bridge. Then we had the acknowledgement of country and then the countdown and then the start of the run on the other side of the bridge.

00:37:47Kieran Webb: Yeah, they really maximised the bridge usage there.

00:37:52Alastair Buchanan: It's all G. Oh, you know what I did see on the bridge though?

00:37:55Kieran Webb: No.

00:37:56Alastair Buchanan: From the bridge, I looked across and I saw hoppity hoppity kangaroos.

00:38:03Kieran Webb: Oh, the hoppity hoppity kind.

00:38:05Alastair Buchanan: The only and the best.

00:38:07Kieran Webb: I love those. All right, well, let's go find some people and chat with people.

00:38:13Alastair Buchanan: How many times have you come to this rock? It's our first. It's our first Wagi Bridge. For us. You three? Yeah. Okay. So it's your first inaugural Wagi Bridge. Yes. Have you done just Canberra or have you gone around the world?

00:38:28Unidentified speaker: We've done yes.

00:38:29Alastair Buchanan: Yes.

00:38:30Unidentified speaker: Okay.

00:38:32Unidentified speaker: Well I've done all of Canberra. Well now, when I finish this one.

00:38:38Unidentified speaker: If I ever finish this one.

00:38:40Unidentified speaker: And I've done a few around the region. And we're planning a couple in New Zealand in March. Queenstown and Wanaka. Is Wanaka a city? Nah it's a tiny village.

00:38:53Unidentified speaker: So we're a regular group and our home is... Oh what's your group called? Oh, what are we called? parkrun Junkies.

00:39:05Alastair Buchanan: parkrun Junkies, awesome. Are you on Facebook?

00:39:09Unidentified speaker: No, but we have our own chat group. Cool, cool. Yeah, our home ground is Gungahlin. Cool, cool.

00:39:15Unidentified speaker: But we've got people from Tuggeranong, part of that, and I live in Weston Creek, and these guys live around.

00:39:21Alastair Buchanan: So is Coombs your regular or is Gungahlin still your regular?

00:39:23Unidentified speaker: No, Gungahlin's still home. Okay. Yeah, because my friends come here.

00:39:26Alastair Buchanan: Okay, cool. All right. They're cool people. They're cool people.

00:39:30Unidentified speaker: I've done Perth before. Oh, Perth.

00:39:33Alastair Buchanan: Okay, have you joined the, is it the Peel Club, which is someone who's done one in every state?

00:39:39Unidentified speaker: No. But I've only just found out that badge thing that you can add to your parkrun profile, parkrun challenges. So I've been looking at the alphabet. Oh, yeah. W will help today.

00:39:51Alastair Buchanan: Yeah. Oh, there's a lot of W's in Sydney.

00:39:55Unidentified speaker: Well, I haven't done any in Sydney.

00:39:56Alastair Buchanan: Okay. I'm not, I'm not chilling you. Is the New Zealand the next ones on your list for the new parkruns?

00:40:04Unidentified speaker: Well, no, we wanted to do Jindabyne and have a bit of a weekend of it, but because of the fires, we put that off and we still haven't done Queanbeyan.

00:40:13Alastair Buchanan: Oh, do you already have a queue though?

00:40:17Unidentified speaker: No.

00:40:17Alastair Buchanan: Okay. What's this double, a double win, a double win. Cool. All right. Well, Let us continue on our walk. Thank you very much, guys.

00:40:26Unidentified speaker: Yeah, you're welcome. Good luck. Hope you get more interesting stories.

00:40:30Alastair Buchanan: Oh, you guys are very interesting to start with. I'm not sure. We're going to have to aim high and beat you guys.

00:40:36Unidentified speaker: Thank you. No worries. You too.

00:40:39Kieran Webb: All right. So we're here at the Wagi Bridge sign, which we are informed by that it's a bridge, really. This is the best way to put it. And it goes over water, water line of the Ngunnawal people. Wow, you got lots of information.

00:40:57Alastair Buchanan: You must actually have read the sign instead of just leaning on it. Wagi Bridge was directed to connect Amaroo and Moncrieff without interrupting the natural water flow that situates on the Ngunnawal Aboriginal water path line. The natural water path line was followed and used for many thousands of years by the Ngunnawal people. They followed the water path that follows through the middle of Moncrieff from Amaroo to Ngunnawal and down to Nicholls, which there now is a golf course using all our water.

00:41:23Kieran Webb: And there's a nice bit of artwork here depicting the river. Nice.

00:41:27Alastair Buchanan: I see an orange vest. Yes. What's your orange vest on for today?

00:41:31Unidentified speaker: So I volunteered as Marshal today. So that's an activity where we walk around, put the signs in so people know which way to go and then just stand at a point and ensure that people... following the right track, keeping left and just making others aware of the traffic that will be on the course.

00:41:54Alastair Buchanan: So make sure that they don't run into this creek behind you.

00:41:57Unidentified speaker: Yeah well I was a bit worried because it's my first time whether I'd put the signs up correctly or and whether I'd have people heading towards Gungahlin Town Centre as opposed to back to the start line but I'm assuming it's gone well. I've seen people come around again so you guys included so yeah I must have done it right because people are coming back we were talking earlier before the mic was on about Canberra region parkruns yeah how many Canberra region parkruns have you done four I tell a lie, I've done five. So I started at Ginninderra when it, like early days, then Gungahlin when Gungahlin started. I've done Mount Ainslie. I was there for the first one of that and done it a few more times since. Was here for the first one of this. And then on New Year's Day, not this one, but the one just, the one previous, out at Tuggeranong, for the double because there was one in Gungahlin and then yeah so have you done this one before yeah oh I have okay yeah so is this counted as your second like yeah it will be it will be my second oh what's your first uh it was um Mount Ainslie or the bottom bit unfortunately not the whole going up the mountain bit yeah Mount Ainslie is a good one yeah Actually, I looked at my elevation. This one's got more elevation in it. It does have a lot of undulation.

00:43:21Kieran Webb: More undulation.

00:43:21Alastair Buchanan: More undulation. That's the words, right? So that surprised me. That's the street.

00:43:26Kieran Webb: Street terms, undulation. All right.

00:43:28Alastair Buchanan: All right, enjoy. We're going to undulate for the rest of the course. Have a good day.

00:43:31Kieran Webb: You too. Thanks. The street term is actually more complicated than the regular term. It goes up and down a lot.

00:43:38Alastair Buchanan: Hi, it's Action Man here. And I'm... Maureen. Maureen, our lovely Run Director of Wagi Bridge.

00:43:45Maureen - Run Director, Wagi Bridge parkrun: Wagyu Bridge.

00:43:46Alastair Buchanan: Wagyu Bridge? Wagyu Bridge. Why is it an I? So it's Wagyu Bridge, even though it's Wagyu. Even though it's spelled Wagyu, it's Wagyu.

00:43:54Maureen - Run Director, Wagi Bridge parkrun: Yes, yes.

00:43:55Alastair Buchanan: All right. Kind of like Escago. Okay, kind of the same.

00:44:00Maureen - Run Director, Wagi Bridge parkrun: Same, same, but different.

00:44:01Alastair Buchanan: Same, same, but different. All right. So did we have a good show on today, do you think?

00:44:05Maureen - Run Director, Wagi Bridge parkrun: We did, absolutely. We've gotten over 100 runners and walkers. Today, really? 100? Wow. Yeah. Yeah.

00:44:11Alastair Buchanan: It's kind of the whole thing like it was too many gunners so they made a second one and this place is thriving. It's great.

00:44:17Maureen - Run Director, Wagi Bridge parkrun: Absolutely.

00:44:19Alastair Buchanan: It's been a great run today though. A lot of nice people to talk to but also you have a lot of wildlife around.

00:44:27Maureen - Run Director, Wagi Bridge parkrun: We do. There's been some kangaroo sightings this morning. Unfortunately, I'm not sure whether the numbers here are reflective of what's normally here, just given the conditions with the smoke and the fires and stuff and the drought. It's looking very brown out there at the moment. So we do have lots of wildlife, but yeah.

00:44:44Alastair Buchanan: Cool. What made this a special Australia Day-ness of this parkrun versus just a regular Saturday?

00:44:52Maureen - Run Director, Wagi Bridge parkrun: Just everyone in our Wagi Bridge parkrun community getting dressed up with their flags or their colours or their tattoos.

00:44:59Alastair Buchanan: Dress up is always good.

00:45:00Maureen - Run Director, Wagi Bridge parkrun: Yeah, dress up is always good. Everyone loves to dress up. So, yeah. Cool.

00:45:05Kieran Webb: Well, let's go. Rock and roll.

00:45:06Alastair Buchanan: Rock on.

00:45:08Kieran Webb: Well, that was me, the K-Man. Action Man. At the Wagyu Bridge.

00:45:14Alastair Buchanan: Wagyu Bridge, I know. You don't realise that by looking at it. The spelling is W-A-G-I, but it's Wagyu.

00:45:21Kieran Webb: Probably that sign told us. Who knows?

00:45:24Alastair Buchanan: Yeah, we didn't read that sign too well.

00:45:26Gerard Corkeron: Alright, peace out. Peace. Well, we had some fantastic roving reports there. First up, we had Mark, who was at Riverbank, which is not too far from Gungahlin. Interesting to hear that they've had a bit of flooding there. And I noticed that the RD there on the day has a very practical way of dealing with it. They'll just cross that bridge when they get to it.

00:45:49Melissa Erbacher: You've got to love the parkrun puns or any kind of puns, really.

00:45:52Gerard Corkeron: That's right.

00:45:53Melissa Erbacher: I'm a punny kind of girl. Yes, and Dave was at Zillmere having cake and getting his Hawaiian on, which was a bit cool. I do love myself a Hawaiian theme. I'm pretty sure I've said it before, but I don't. Definitely. And I'll let you in on a little secret. He actually borrowed some Hawaiian shirts that happened to be in my costume cupboard. Want those back sometime soon, Dave.

00:46:20Gerard Corkeron: Yeah, you might have a bit of a fight on your hands there.

00:46:23Melissa Erbacher: They are magnificent shirts.

00:46:25Gerard Corkeron: Then we had TOC and Melissa both reporting in from Kerang. It was interesting to hear TOC having some childhood flashbacks there from his time visiting his grandparents. And fortunately, there were no other flashbacks of another sort with the pistol range being nearby.

00:46:42Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, it was nice having the two of them both reporting. Like, it doesn't happen very often, usually, if the roving reporters find themselves both at the same event. So, for example, Lyndell was also at Zillmere, but she didn't send a report in because she knew Dave was covering it. But it does make for a little bit of a nice different thing that both TOC and Melissa were there at the same time. Glad that Melissa got some leave to get to Kerang parkrun and that she had a bit of an adventure with TOC and Jacqui, pistol ranges rifle ranges all those sorts of things this isn't the first event that actually is near or around one so um just goes to show I think that we're our parkrunners live life on the edge

00:47:32Gerard Corkeron: They do. And as we heard last week, Melissa has been doing some work for the Army Reserve in supporting the efforts to fight the bushfires in Victoria. So, you know, we're very thankful for the efforts of her and all the defence personnel helping out and also all the non-defence personnel helping out around the country at the moment. Yeah. It's interesting. I mean, TOC spoke about his childhood at visiting Kerang and it reminded me too of my childhood at Puckapunyal and some of my earlier years when I was in the army myself. So it brings back some fond memories.

00:48:06Melissa Erbacher: So your childhood memories. Puckapunyal is a pretty famous space actually, isn't it? Because there's a song. It's mentioned in a song.

00:48:14Gerard Corkeron: Yes, it is. You're thinking of I was only 19. Yeah.

00:48:17Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, that is a big song. It's a military base, so families live there as well as people who are serving, currently serving. So that would have been, you say it's back to your childhood, you would have had a parent in the Defence Force who was stationed there at that time?

00:48:36Gerard Corkeron: Yes, yeah, my father was there with the Army in the 70s, in the early 70s we were there. He, I guess he was posted there initially to help train National Servicemen who'd been caught up. I think by the time we get there, they might not have been sending any to Vietnam. And we were there for about three and a half years, I think it was, my early years of primary school. And, yeah, so look, it was a fun time as a kid. You know, we sort of had the run of the place and we'd be riding around and getting up to all sorts of mischief. And, you know, I was there later years when I was in the Army myself and it was interesting to sort of look back at some of their experiences areas that I'd been to as a kid and think, you know, as a kid thinking, gee, that's a huge hill or, you know, it's a big area there and then going back later as an adult and realising how small it all was.

00:49:36Melissa Erbacher: Yeah, the perspectives change. It's a small world, isn't it? Not just a parkrun world but to have these places and spaces where we have events and I know a lot of people think especially adventurers they get to new events when they launch in places that they don't currently live but they have history there you know their parents or they've got family there or they holiday there as a child or you know some part of their past you know happened in those areas and to go and visit the parkruns when they're there is it is a trip down memory lane and I think it's really lovely that that can be part of the parkrun adventure experience

00:50:18Gerard Corkeron: Yeah, you're certainly right there. There have been a couple of events that I've been fortunate enough to get to where I have had a bit of a childhood connection and it's great going back and revisiting them as an adult and seeing how things have changed and how some things haven't changed.

00:50:34Melissa Erbacher: We had some new voices again this week with K-Man and Action Man. That would be Kieran Webb and Alastair Buchanan, who were at Wagi Bridge parkrun. Um, it was a very refreshing perspective that they gave us as well. I, I like the, the dual, the two people doing a roving report and bouncing off each other as they go. It's, it's a little bit different than, you know, the traditional interviewing, um, that happens, but I thought it worked well.

00:51:06Gerard Corkeron: Yeah. Yeah. I think, uh, K-Man and Action Man make a great team, and we look forward to hearing some more content from that dynamic duo.

The Vert Clubnew unofficial club

00:51:15Melissa Erbacher: Now, last week, D-Train, Lyndell and I, spoke about a club that Lyndell had been thinking on for quite some time, and it's called the Vert Club. We have had some interactions with Peter Pohlman, who is the keeper of the spreadsheets, and other people talking about how you might be able to track said club. I will be honest, I did not do my homework. I've had a bit of a huge week and didn't get an opportunity to figure out the elevations on all my events and then count them up to see where my status is at in the vert club. But it's one of the points that was risen and from what little I have done of my homework, I concur with it is that the elevations on individual courses will vary depending on the devices that actually map them, I guess. And so, for example, Kawana, I've got different devices, different GPS devices that have given reasonably different results. I'll have one that sort of tracks it at about between 40 and 44 metres elevation and another one that just says 10. So that's a bit of a big difference, especially if that's an event that you've done the most and you're it either counts for 10 or it counts for 40 toward your vert clubs. So, you know, one train of thought is, well, maybe you could take the average of three different people's GPSs or something like that, but I don't think it's very accurate. And I remember reading somewhere earlier in the week, and it's my fault for not writing it down, but somebody said that there's a program out there where you can input where you have run into their system and they give you like gps data from actual surveyors it's like land data that people have gone out and you know mapped proper maps with those survey tripod thingies using all the good technological terms here I am I don't know the name of it so if anybody knows the name of it please message me let me know so that I can let everyone know what it is next week But I think that could be one way to get the data for the courses that people have done that might be a little bit more accurate. Interesting conversations have started anyway, and there's lots of people out there talking about which events are over elevation of 100 metres and all that sort of stuff. So... That's what I love about unofficial clubs. It's getting people talking and thinking and considering doing new challenges. And I'm not going to make you any promises, but maybe by next week I will have tried to figure out where I stand in the club.

00:54:10Gerard Corkeron: Yes, well, hopefully one of our loyal listeners will phone in with that information about which site that you can do that sort of thing in. I mean, it certainly is an interesting way of looking at things and gets people thinking about things in different ways and sparks some interest in events which might not usually get a bit of attendance. Certainly I know that Wilson Botanic near us is one of the And he'll use it around. But it's interesting, though, because the other thing about GPS is that even within the same device, you can get different readings depending on what day it is and, you know, where the satellites are positioned in the sky.

00:54:44Melissa Erbacher: Those tricky satellites.

00:54:46Gerard Corkeron: That's right, yeah. It would probably work better if they were stuck on poles rather than floating around in space.

00:54:52Kieran Webb: Yeah.

00:54:53Gerard Corkeron: Yes. There's also, you know, you can also have occasions where if you're doing a two-laper is that sometimes the data might be different on one lap compared to the other.

00:55:02Melissa Erbacher: And, you know, it might vary again depending on running style.

00:55:06Gerard Corkeron: True, true. If you go from running to crawling.

00:55:10Melissa Erbacher: Some people flail their arms around a lot. That's right.

00:55:14Gerard Corkeron: That could be one way you can get some extra vert at the top of a hill.

00:55:17Melissa Erbacher: Exactly. Just do a couple of star jumps while you're up there.

00:55:20Gerard Corkeron: Yep.

00:55:21Melissa Erbacher: Now, something else that was an excellent point which was raised is Peter Pohlman did the let me Google that for you situation with the name of the Sherpa who was the first one to head up the to Mount Everest, and that was Tenzing Norgay.

00:55:40Gerard Corkeron: That's correct.

00:55:41Melissa Erbacher: So potentially we should be calling the Sherpa level Tenzing Norgay instead of Sherpa. It's Lyndell's club. I'll leave that up to her to decide. But then you also made an excellent point to me earlier this week, Gerard, when you mentioned that there would have been a lot more Indigenous people Climbing Mount Kosciuszko, far, far before anyone of the colonial fleet.

00:56:09Gerard Corkeron: Yeah. Yeah, I guess before any Europeans came along and walked up it.

00:56:14Melissa Erbacher: Yes.

00:56:15Gerard Corkeron: It was interesting. My late mother-in-law was Polish, and when I first met her, she was. I said, oh, yes, look, Australia is very interesting because you've even got a Mount Kosciuszko there. Kosciuszko? Where's Mount Kosciuszko? And then I realised what she was saying.

00:56:31Melissa Erbacher: That's the Polish pronunciation for it. That's excellent.

00:56:33Gerard Corkeron: Yes, Mount Kosciuszko.

00:56:35Melissa Erbacher: I like it. I'm going to try and remember how to say that and use that in future just to confuse people.

PALM listener meetup countdown

00:56:42Melissa Erbacher: Meanwhile, I want to remind everybody as well that the palm20 parkrun adventurers Listener Meetup Countdown is on. So it's not long to go. We're very excited and looking forward to it. And a lot of the agenda is already getting put together by the team that are organising it for us. And I will reveal and we'll share the Facebook page where there's more details, et cetera. But There's going to be a lot of freedom runs across the weekend. So in addition to running Mount Barker parkrun on Saturday morning, There are freedom runs already planned on Friday afternoon slash evening at West Beach. And then on Saturday afternoon, Lochiel. And then on Sunday morning, Cleland, talking about elevation. So it's going to be a big weekend, lots of opportunities for people to do freedom runs in a group. Of course, you know, people, the good thing about Palm is people just pick and choose which bits they want to attend and, how much running, et cetera, they want to do or walking and those sorts of things. Everybody always chooses to do the fancy dress and come to dinner on Saturday night. That's a highlight for me personally. It's going to be a fun weekend. So looking forward to that and just wanted to give everybody a reminder that it's happening. And there's a Facebook page for it. Gerard, do you know what the Facebook page is?

00:58:10Gerard Corkeron: No, but I can imagine it will have something to do with palm20.

00:58:15Melissa Erbacher: It's actually spelled out. So the Facebook page if anyone wants to find it and keep an eye on the events and just say that even you're interested. So potentially if not this year, maybe next year, is the parkrun adventurers Podcast Listener Meetup. So that's what you've got to type in.

00:58:35Gerard Corkeron: It sounds like it's going to be an action-packed weekend, and it's just another example of the fantastic connections that have grown out of parkrun. You know, it's not, you know, for some people, it's just rocking up on a Saturday morning, doing a bit of a run or a walk or some volunteering and heading home. But for others, they've made connections with people across the country and across the world. And they're now getting together and meeting up in person. And another example is the Longest Day event, which will no doubt be happening again later this year.

00:59:09Melissa Erbacher: I am exceptionally proud that the podcast has become, even in its unofficial capacity, this extension of how people can connect through the parkrun world. I mean, clubs, that's one way that people do and they spend time outside of parkrun day together. But the fact that we've built a community around the podcast of like-minded individuals, our adventurers out there who are who just love to do things a little bit different and love to explore the parkrun world. Very, very proud of the fact that we've got all these friends and you are all friends and it's always lovely to meet the friends that I haven't met yet at the listener meetups as well. So can't wait to get together with you all and have a chat and just basically gorge ourselves on parkrun for the whole weekend. It's going to be great.

Sign-off

01:00:04Gerard Corkeron: Should be awesome. Well, it's been quite an honour to be with you tonight. I've had a lot of fun and I'm not sure when the next opportunity will be, but it's, you know, something that, you know, it's been interesting sitting on the other side of the speakers for a change, I guess, and seeing how it all works in the background and getting to spend some quality time with yourself.

01:00:30Melissa Erbacher: It's been great having you on the co-hosting couch, G-Train, and you're welcome back any time.

01:00:35Gerard Corkeron: Thank you. I'll put you through to my agent after this call.

01:00:41Melissa Erbacher: We'll talk pricing.

01:00:43Gerard Corkeron: That's right.

01:01:34Unidentified speaker: Thank you.