Episode 59:59 - #palm19

Episode details · 257 speaker turns · 16 distinct voices

00:00:21Speaker 1: It's episode 5959 of the parkrun Adventurers podcast, coming to you from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland and research in Victoria. What's going to be coming to you from the beaches? Funny story. Hey, Scotty.

00:00:38Speaker 2: No, not really. Well, it depends which way you look at it. You know, you can either laugh or cry, and we're choosing to laugh about it.

00:00:48Speaker 1: Yes, because crying doesn't seem like much fun on a Monday morning or a Tuesday even.

00:00:55Speaker 2: And so the very fact that this is episode 5959 gives it away a little bit.

00:01:00Speaker 1: Just a tad.

00:01:03Speaker 2: So this was the parkrun Adventurers Listener Meetup episode. We all took off on an adventure to the beaches of parkrun. We had an awesome weekend. We had a great live recording up at the Cooks Hills. Is that what it was called? Cooks something?

00:01:21Speaker 1: Cooks Hills Surf Club. Yeah.

00:01:23Speaker 2: Yep. Yep. So it was really well organized by Sonja Pohlman and the event team at the beaches. We had a big crew in attendance listening to what was just a hilarious hour of fun, Filled mayhem.

00:01:40Speaker 1: And shenanigans. Massive.

00:01:42Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:01:42Speaker 1: Massive fun had by all the huge crowd. It was giant.

00:01:49Speaker 2: And the thing is, you'll have to take our word for it.

00:01:51Speaker 1: What happens at Palm 19 stays on Palm 19. Mostly.

00:01:57Speaker 2: Yep. So we did kind of threaten this. Well, I put a couple of subtle threats in. throughout the last couple of weeks, but we have a recording of what happened from Sunday morning.

00:02:11Speaker 1: For the archives.

00:02:12Speaker 2: Yeah, there is an audio file. It's got noise on it. There are some waveforms. Yeah, most of it we can't use.

00:02:22Speaker 1: Well, we could use it, but it would frustrate the shit out of you guys trying to hear the bits and pieces that come in and out.

00:02:31Speaker 2: So I'll quickly explain what happened. Last year, we had a great setup. We went and hired it. We got a professional to do it. We had Adam along, and he was monitoring the audio and making sure everything was recording. This year, we were so confident in our abilities that we decided to cut a few corners and ditch Adam as the monitoring of the recording.

00:02:53Speaker 1: Leave the roadies at home. Don't pay for any help.

00:02:59Speaker 2: It was a great idea at the time.

00:03:00Speaker 1: Yeah.

00:03:01Speaker 2: Great idea at the time. Didn't work on the day. I was very nervous. I tested it the night before. Everything worked well. I sort of probably didn't test it enough on the morning. I just saw that I was recording something but didn't actually listen to what I was recording. Unfortunately, what I was recording was a bit off mic. We've got a little bit. We're going to be using some of it. But what I thought we'd do, Mel, is let's try and relive the morning because we've captured some audio. I had a chat to Robbo after parkrun and a couple of the beaches parkrunners or one beaches parkrunner. Melissa Ellis was there from the Channel 5 News crew. She got a roving report with a couple of other parkrun adventurers. We have Greta doing a roving report from Narra Court that launched on the weekend. And we've also – the audio that we interviewed with Michael, the event director from the beaches, is usable. So should we kick things off with that?

00:04:01Speaker 1: Let's do that. Let's start sharing some of the highlights from the weekend.

00:04:05Speaker 2: But we're here at the beaches. Tops off for those in person, but for the podcast, they can't see it. So, Michael, you've been on the podcast before. You've told your story. We've interviewed you when we had the eating news. So we're going to review it all again. This is John Parker. Welcome to the podcast.

00:04:25Speaker 3: Thank you. Thank you. I was a nervous wreck on, I think it was episode 53. So, yeah. Mumbled and splattered my way through it. I can do it now.

00:04:34Speaker 2: No, you're fine. Like I said, we're all amongst friends. I say that everywhere to all our guests. It's like if it gets messy, you don't say something wrong. We'll edit it out. How many times have I edited something out now?

00:04:47Speaker 4: Well, how many times have you not edited things out?

00:04:53Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:04:53Speaker 4: It's a lot of work editing stuff. So just don't make any mistakes, Michael. No pressure.

00:05:03Speaker 2: So it was set up, I wasn't here when it was set up, so it was set up by our founding event director Emily Highway, or Emily Boslin there, and Dave Appleby.

00:05:26Speaker 3: I love running on the sands and it's close to home so I come along every week and there was not many regulars at all and then soccer season started so I put my hand up to volunteer and I said I can do it any week you want they said well how about every week so I volunteered for about 10 weeks straight and then I got earmarked for a run director and because I was There was not that many regulars here. Our event team was run directly from other parkruns in the region. I started lugging the gear around from week to week, and Emily becomes sick and then pregnant, so she just handed the reins over to me. We had numbers as low as six, so everyone got a top six finish that day. And up to New Year's Day this year, which was the new double, and we had 644. So we're in the top 10 for most people at event, and we're probably in the top 10 for the least at event as well.

00:06:29Speaker 4: That's crazy. Absolutely crazy. But also, when did Bridget come on board as your co-EP?

00:06:35Speaker 3: So Bridget's been here for a couple of years now. Time has flown. It hasn't seemed like that long. Bridget does an amazing job. She does all the work in the background and And I'm here regularly, so it seems like I get the glory for it. Richard does all the hard work, I can tell you. And we've got a great team, team of run directors too. And we're taking more on at the moment because we've had some, one of our RDs has just moved to the UK and a few others have moved on. So a few new ones we're training up as well too.

00:07:06Speaker 2: Can you describe the course for us? Because this year we've noticed a big spike in our listenership from the UK. There was another podcast that was launched, and I think they helped our numbers. So can you describe, like, the beaches parkrun? Like, what is it? Describe the Australian beach.

00:07:21Speaker 3: So our course can be really easy, but it can be extremely tough. We often put out a claim to Nambour parkrun that we're the toughest in Australia, and... When we get big swell and a high tide, running the soft sand and wasting water, that's our extreme top. But six hours later when it's low tide and if there's no waves, it can be just like as fast as running on a footpath. My course PB here is only 25 seconds slower than running on a flat pipe run elsewhere.

00:08:00Speaker 4: I'm here to endorse the toughest parkrun in Australia. I have done the Nambour parkrun course B and I've just done a normal one as well. My finish time at Nambour last time was about an hour 20 and I believe I took the course record today with an hour 27 along with Tracy who was power walking. So something like that.

00:08:28Speaker 2: Well, thank you, Michael, and the crew, your team, who are here. So we'll set the scene for that interview, Mel. Michael was going for a swim. We were all getting ready to record. Michael wanted to have a quick swim with his mates, called out, said, come upstairs, hence the reference to being tops off. Michael was all ready for a swim.

00:08:49Speaker 1: Wearing a beach towel. In his shorts.

00:08:51Speaker 2: Wearing a beach towel while I interviewed him.

00:08:54Speaker 1: Still had his naked runner's headband on though. Now, something else that we did on the weekend, Scotty, was you asked me how my parkrun was and I asked you how yours was. I think people still want to know. I think even though, you know, we might be repeating ourselves for some people, the ones that were there, I think we should still cover this.

00:09:15Speaker 2: Okay. So, Mel, how was your parkrun weekend?

00:09:18Speaker 1: My parkrun weekend was awesome. I did the Beaches parkrun on Saturday. I set a personal record for myself and I'm claiming it even though technically the tail walker was behind me so she gets the record. But it was a course record for the Beaches as well of the longest finish time ever recorded at their event in 217 events. That is not a small achievement. That is, I think, fairly substantial. And I would like to thank the people that made that possible, which were the volunteers who stuck around waiting for me to finish, all 33 weeks pregnant of me. It was what they classify as a three out of five in difficulty. in terms of being high tide with the soft sand and things like that definitely got my feet wet um can report i got my undies wet also a couple of waves unexpected came in a little bit higher than um than i thought they come from the side and if you're not paying attention if you're like just watching where you're going you can get taken out and i did see some people get taken out and uh one person in particular actually lost his glasses um when he got taken out by a wave. But yeah, it was number 217 for my Wilson Index, which I've been chasing like adamantly for a very long time. So that was very important. And seventh different event for the year takes me up to 77 on the most events list. But the best part of all, apart from having awesome company and really enjoying the morning, I was, yes, I was slow. I'm sort of struggling with some pregnancy issues muscular type issues at the moment. Fortunately, the soft sand was great for the impact and the pain in my calves detracted from those other pregnancy type pains. It was great. Loved it. Totally confirm that adding that extra seven minutes onto my previous longest time for me puts the beaches as the hardest parkrun in Australia when it's on a high tide.

00:11:32Speaker 2: Well, there was a lot of debate around how difficult it was on the weekend. I also found it extremely difficult. I am, as we know, carrying a little bit of an injury and it just got progressively sorer and sorer throughout the run. But my little review of the beaches is that it's – and we were privileged on the day that we knew so many people there who were coming to visit for the podcast. But there's so many opportunities for the high five because it is out and back, out and back. And everyone's struggling with the soft sand and dodging the waves coming in. But, like, I don't think anybody's really racing. So even the boys and girls up front, they had a big smile on their face and were happy to receive and give a high five as well. So I really enjoyed that aspect of it.

00:12:21Speaker 1: Yeah, got heaps of high fives on, obviously.

00:12:23Speaker 2: Yeah, as well as the waves coming in. So I think on my second lap out, a big one came in. And I was on the verge of toppling over as well, Mel. It was only that, you know, embarrassment and adrenaline kicked in that stopped me from not going arse over tip.

00:12:43Speaker 1: You've got to love embarrassment for keeping you vertical. Yeah.

00:12:46Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. But I was in the white shorts. I was in the parkrun Adventurers Christmas singlet. Quite a combination. Probably won't match those two outfits again. So that was a – you had to be there to see that.

00:12:59Speaker 1: There were so many, so many ugly Christmas singlets in the wild. I think that's probably the most I've ever seen at a single event. And from all different states as well. Like the owners were from all different states and territories. I will comment that white shorts at the beach where waves and things come in, that is an interesting choice. I'm just going to leave that comment there.

00:13:25Speaker 2: Yep. Also, I got a lot of criticism on social media for my outfit the week before at parkrun. I pulled out a nice green and grey combination of short shorts, and some people found them amusing or appalling, I'm not sure. So I thought I'd go a bit longer and a bit brighter this week with the white.

00:13:47Speaker 1: You did try on a very interesting ensemble that had short shorts that had chilies all over it before we left the house.

00:13:55Speaker 2: I still haven't unleashed my chili shorts.

00:13:58Speaker 1: You know what? I think everyone's going to be following you for the fashion, running fashion on the field with Scotty Trickett because you're a trendsetter, Scotty. I think we should all be watching you very closely in the future.

00:14:12Speaker 2: You watch, Mel, you watch white shorts. Like if you see them.

00:14:16Speaker 1: Outside of the tennis.

00:14:18Speaker 2: Well, they are my tennis shorts.

00:14:24Speaker 1: Yes.

00:14:26Speaker 2: What I also liked about the beaches is like the fact that it's set on a beach. I know that's obvious. But so afterwards you go up and grab a coffee and then you have your coffee and we had the surf club put on a sausage sizzle for us. Interesting offering at the sausage sizzle mill, and I know this doesn't appeal to you, and I'm the only parkrun podcast presenter who can talk about it because out of the six presenters who present a parkrun podcast, I'm the only one who is not a vegetarian. Interesting fact.

00:14:57Speaker 1: However, you did start out your podcasting journey as a vegetarian. I did. You've just changed your affiliations.

00:15:06Speaker 2: And I've changed. And I've changed. And I enjoyed a sausage sandwich at the barbecue from the surf club on Saturday, which is, it was different.

00:15:15Speaker 1: It's part of an Aussie experience, I think.

00:15:17Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I'd still prefer the sausage and bread combination, but the sausage sandwich.

00:15:23Speaker 1: Well, is it not the same thing, just presented differently? Two pieces of bread instead of one?

00:15:28Speaker 2: Yeah, it was two pieces of bread and the sausages cut up in thirds and you eat it like a hamburger, but I'm a traditionalist, Mel. I just wanted to have a sausage and bread. You like your pigs in blankets. Yep, yep. But getting back to it, so you have your coffee by the beach, the blue skies.

00:15:47Speaker 1: There was a pot of dolphins before we started. Yeah.

00:15:50Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. So there's many more attractions to the beaches parkrun than just running on the soft sand and in the water. You know, we did get our feet wet, but we enjoyed the sights and sounds of an Australian beach on a Sunday, Saturday morning, Saturday morning.

00:16:07Speaker 1: It was awesome.

00:16:08Speaker 2: Now, I caught up with Post Run with Robbo. Should we have a listen to that chat? Because Robbo honoured us. He had a busy weekend. He was running the marathon on the Sunday. He had his wife's birthday. So he couldn't stick around for the recording. But I took the opportunity to catch up with our old mate Robbo. He's been on the podcast a lot. He's part of the history of our show.

00:16:30Speaker 1: And the history of the region of runners where we were visiting over the weekend.

00:16:36Speaker 2: And we talk about that. So let's listen. Because you couldn't join us live in person, quick review of the beaches. You were saying earlier, toughest beaches parkrun you've ever done. And I did remarkably well to keep running the whole way.

00:16:48Speaker 5: Up until this weekend, Scotty, I've avoided a high-tide beaches parkrun. But now I've done it now with you, and together we've endured what is easily the hardest parkrun you'll ever find on the planet.

00:17:01Speaker 2: I'm bringing it back to me here. Forget parkrun. As a physio, to run 5K on soft sand with a torn hamstring, is that something you advise?

00:17:09Speaker 5: No, no, generally not, but I did get a thorough history from you on lap one and I must admit I didn't urge you to stop running, so no, I was interested to, I was actually marvelling at the fact that you could move so freely, Scotty, and I think ultimately, maybe in a weird way, it did you a favour. It worked the calves a bit and left the hamstrings to relax and repair.

00:17:29Speaker 2: You're right, the calves are burning.

00:17:30Speaker 5: Just got to load things. I can't feel the hamstrings, so that's good.

00:17:34Speaker 2: Now, a quick history of the region of Runners. I wanted to talk to you about this on the pod.

00:17:39Speaker 5: Self-proclaimed. Yeah, self-proclaimed. And outwardly proclaimed as well.

00:17:44Speaker 2: Yeah, but you're a great promoter. So you're a great promoter. So you start things. And then back around. Do you claim to the success of the regional runners in a parkrun?

00:17:54Speaker 5: Not at all. It wouldn't happen without you, right? This is your opportunity. That's kind of you to say. But I will declare now on parkrun Adventures that I was keen to start a parkrun within mere metres of my home for purely selfish reasons. I was sold, as we all are, on the concept of it and wanted one nearby and knew it would be great for our community and had a feeling Newcastle would take to it maybe quicker and stronger than even other big cities. And that proved to be right. But no, I don't take credit for it at all. Yeah, I had a little bit of an idea. It would have come anyway. Someone else would have selfishly brought it to Newcastle. But it is nice to see so many people enjoying it. And so many outsiders, tourists like yourself, mate, that are here today, 30, 40-odd tourists coming just for parkrun. If parkrun didn't exist, you wouldn't be here. It brings nothing but good.

00:18:46Speaker 2: goodness to the world and uh yeah all credit to uh everyone involved what i liked is we were at the bowls club last night and the regular folk there they knew that the parkrun crew were in town like they knew what parkrun was yeah you do that in most other towns yeah they wouldn't have any idea but they say oh you guys are parkrun That was kind of nice.

00:19:06Speaker 5: I'm glad you got to taste the Carrington Bolo. You get a few colourful types in there. But, yeah, they're proud of it. They're proud of it. It used to be probably a bit of a pain for them because they couldn't get a park on a Saturday morning. But now they really do embrace it. And, yeah, locals are very proud. And that wider region of runners concept, which we cheekily tagged from the beginning, has really developed into something people are proud of and will gladly tell the world about.

00:19:31Speaker 2: Well, thanks for running with me. keeping me on track. Great to see you again. And we've got to get you back on the podcast maybe when the next big thing's happening. Good luck tomorrow as well, running a marathon.

00:19:40Speaker 5: Thanks, mate. Two lap of today, three lap of tomorrow. And, yeah, happy running. Happy parkrunning. Thanks, Scotty.

00:19:47Speaker 6: What you need to run on here is in the middle of winter when it's only three degrees and the sand is like ice and it's high tide and pouring rain. That is the ultimate parkrun.

00:20:00Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay, that's a good local tip. You're local?

00:20:04Speaker 6: Yeah.

00:20:04Speaker 2: This is my home parkrun. This is your home parkrun. So Robbo was... I'm still recording. So Robbo was telling me the beach parkrunners here are considered the most loyal out of the whole region of runners. So you're passionate about your home event.

00:20:17Speaker 6: Very passionate about my home event. But see, I have a celebrity mother.

00:20:24Speaker 2: Who is?

00:20:25Speaker 6: Colleen O'Shea. She's the oldest parkrunner. Oh!

00:20:29Speaker 2: Is Colleen here with us?

00:20:30Speaker 6: No. Colleen runs in Fingal Bay.

00:20:32Speaker 2: Okay. Okay. He did.

00:20:36Speaker 6: She will be 90 in October.

00:20:39Speaker 2: Yep.

00:20:39Speaker 6: And she's still doing parkrun. Okay. And there's only one other lady that we know of in the same age bracket... Yep.

00:20:45Speaker 2: ...who runs at Boweral, and that's Norma. Norma. I've met Norma. Yeah. Great character. Yes.

00:20:50Speaker 6: We went down to celebrate her 100th. Oh, did you? Yeah. Mother and family all went down. Great. Great. So at the moment... I have a cousin who runs in New Zealand at Western Park Springs. She got into it when she came and visited us. So now she's a loyal parkrunner. She was there for the first run at Western Springs in Auckland, and she's one of their locals.

00:21:17Speaker 2: There you go, that's awesome.

00:21:18Speaker 7: Another passionate parkrunner in the family.

00:21:21Speaker 8: Yeah, exactly.

00:21:22Speaker 2: Thanks for the local tip about the cold sand in winter. I'll make sure I avoid it.

00:21:26Speaker 9: I'm glad I'm here in autumn.

00:21:28Speaker 2: And it doesn't stop there, Mel. So Melissa Ellis, who came up, she's batting 100% in attendance at the listener meetups. And she did a roving report post-parkrun on the beach. You can hear the waves in the background. She catches up with two great parkrun adventurers. So let's throw it to Melissa.

00:21:47Speaker 10: morning parkrun adventurers it's melissa here and i'm coming to you from the beaches we're at the palm 19 um the parkrun adventurers listener meetup and i've got with me mike scott hi mike hi there and caro boss hello now have you come today especially for the listener meetup i have indeed And where is your home park? Woi Woi. And how long did it take to come down?

00:22:13Speaker 11: Oh, it's probably about an hour and a half-ish drive.

00:22:15Speaker 10: Oh, it's practically.

00:22:17Speaker 11: Yeah, yeah. On my doorstep. On my doorstep, man. Had you done the beaches before? I hadn't. It's been on my list. And when I heard it was coming up, I'm like, perfect excuse. Yes, and I met you last year at Shell Harbour. Yes, yes. So what have you been up to? Oh, what have I been up to? Let's see. I went to my sister's wedding, so I did a couple of parkruns in South Africa. Oh, nice. Including the Thousand Hills. That was an interesting parkrun. That was, yeah, trail, windy course, absolutely beautiful. Nice. Yeah, and I'm going back end of this year to pick up my Amshalanga there. Yeah. Oh. Other than that, just, yeah, I've started run directing at Woi Woi and just been, yeah, doing as much adventuring as I can along New South Wales. It's a big step, isn't it? Yeah. Like, we've got a fairly big team, so it's only a couple of times a year I'm doing it, so it's not too stressful. How did you find the beach today? Oh, it was awesome. Like, it's obviously tough on the sand, but the views just make up for it, don't they? Yeah.

00:23:16Speaker 10: And Mike, you're a local here.

00:23:18Speaker 9: I am. Only 20 minutes drive.

00:23:21Speaker 10: And what's your home park rather?

00:23:23Speaker 9: Lakeview, which I'm trying to get up to the top of my total run list. Currently, from history, it was Lake Mac, but I'm trying to get my Lakeview to have more runs there.

00:23:36Speaker 10: Are you chasing P-indexes?

00:23:38Speaker 9: He indexes, I'm not close to it, I'm actually more chasing Wilson numbers, 45 and 49 are the next two.

00:23:49Speaker 10: Wow, so you've got a high Wilson index.

00:23:51Speaker 9: I do.

00:23:52Speaker 10: Congratulations.

00:23:53Speaker 9: Thank you, darling.

00:23:54Speaker 10: And so how many times have you ran at the beaches?

00:23:58Speaker 9: I think it must be getting close to double figures, I think.

00:24:02Speaker 10: Okay.

00:24:02Speaker 9: I've done it. This is not bad. This is a tough day. I have done it when it's been a fuller tide than this and we've had to do a shortened course in three laps.

00:24:12Speaker 10: I was surprised. That was hard. I've never run completely on the beach before for a run and, yeah, that was the longest 5Ks ever. Beautiful.

00:24:23Speaker 9: I was pleased breaking 40 minutes.

00:24:24Speaker 10: Ah, okay. Okay.

00:24:27Speaker 9: Just.

00:24:27Speaker 10: And you're a bit of an adventurer as well?

00:24:29Speaker 9: Yeah, 100 plus runs around the place. Nice. New South Wales, one of five statesmen in New South Wales. I don't know how many people are territory, but I've done all of them in the ACT as well.

00:24:42Speaker 10: So how many New South Wales statesmen are here? There were... Today?

00:24:47Speaker 9: Today there were two. Okay, yourself and Chris. I was the only... So there were two running and one volunteering. The timekeeper, Aaron Hardy, was here and Chris Fraser and I were here running the course and the two girls from Lawson weren't here. They were at... I caught up with them at Run West last week.

00:25:12Speaker 10: We've certainly got a beautiful day. It was foggy this morning and it's all lifting now.

00:25:16Speaker 9: It was a stunning day. The sun's out.

00:25:18Speaker 10: It's gorgeous. We've had a barbecue. The surf club's put on a sausage sizzle, which is good. Awesome. All right. Well, thanks for talking to me. Thank you.

00:25:27Speaker 9: Thank you, Dawn.

00:25:37Speaker 1: Well, we had a lot of other fun shenanigans going on and the Quizmaster Simon Mackley returned with some fabulous questions for our defending champion, Brendan Peel, and we had three other volunteers from the audience being Michael Scott, Caro Voss and Michael Schultz. So that was very cool. We brought back the buzzers from last year. So we had tambourine, triangle, one of those clown horns that goes honka, honka. And a little bell that buzzes. And that was fun. Once again, audio got a little bit frazzled between the overexcited participants answering before we could get the microphones to them. As it turns out, microphones weren't really working very well anyway. So it's a moot point. The outcome, though, is Scotty...

00:26:31Speaker 2: Brendan Peel retains his title, remains the carryover champion. We need a challenger. I thought Shultzy would have given him a real run for his money.

00:26:41Speaker 1: Oh, look, and there was a bit of a – I don't know how much of it was response times to pressing buzzers versus actually knowing the answers. I do remember watching the very first question and all four participants were just like standing there just dumbfounded thinking, and you could see the wheels turning while they were all poised to press their buzzer. I actually encouraged somebody to buzz in and then think about it a little bit more before they answered. But, yeah, I don't know. We do need somebody to step up and say, you know what, I can take Brendan Peel down.

00:27:19Speaker 2: Look, we'll try and take you back. The first question was, name three parkruns with river in their name.

00:27:28Speaker 1: And I kind of think that's the sort of one that you can fudge pretty quickly because, you know, you only need to have one and say it out loud and then the other ones probably come to you.

00:27:38Speaker 2: It's the pressure. It's the pressure of the moment. The audience, the quiz master, Simon, all waiting on your answer. You don't want to be the first one to stuff it up. But it was a good quiz. So thanks again to Simon.

00:27:55Speaker 1: For organising and hosting that.

00:27:57Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. And so what we also did is we introduced the Channel 5 news crew. So there was a large contingent in the audience and we thought it was a great opportunity to get to meet them and ask a few questions because one thing we've done is that – In the past with the Pearl Australian, we've asked for your feedback and we genuinely use that to shape the podcast, which I've said before. And we recently asked for some iTunes reviews. And when the most recent iTunes reviews came in, I will just quote a couple for you. Love listening to roving reports from parkruns around the country was one. Channel 5 News crew Blitzit was another. And enjoy the roving reports. Want to visit Victory Heights after the interview with the ED. And I can relate to that comment because so do I. I'm putting Victory Heights on the list now that there's a vacancy after the Beaches has departed. And so they bring so much value to our podcast. We'd like to expand the Channel 5 news crew. So we awarded them press passes, official press passes. So it's all legit.

00:29:12Speaker 1: They're all legit news crew members. And they also have their own microphones now.

00:29:18Speaker 2: Yes.

00:29:18Speaker 1: To be heading out and about on the – on the roving report fields. But also we wanted to thank them, didn't we, Scotty, for their different voices and the interest and diversity that they contribute to the podcast. And five out of eight being there in person, that's a record as well.

00:29:39Speaker 2: And we also, yeah, we use the opportunity to get to know them a bit more, but we also use the opportunity to introduce your replacement. We all know Lyndell Murray.

00:29:51Speaker 1: Let me just clarify. I know you've just introduced Lyndell, but let's go back. Use the word replacement. I would like to use the word sub or – Sub, okay.

00:30:02Speaker 4: I know it's a sensitive topic.

00:30:04Speaker 1: She's subbing while I'm off.

00:30:06Speaker 2: Yep.

00:30:08Speaker 1: She'll be taking care of the microphone while I am taking care of a small Urbacca.

00:30:13Speaker 2: So we tested our banter out. I think it went okay. Yep. I think Lyndell and I are going to be okay.

00:30:18Speaker 1: You had some good energy between the two of you. It was great to see. I'm sure she'll do a fabulous job.

00:30:24Speaker 8: Yep.

00:30:24Speaker 2: So Lyndell will be joining me in a couple of weeks' time.

00:30:27Speaker 1: Hopefully not getting too comfortable, Lyndell. Okay. I do have intentions to come back, whether or not Scotty has intentions to let me.

00:30:37Speaker 2: Yeah. You can come back, Mel. You can come back.

00:30:39Speaker 1: Oh, thanks. It's very kind of you not to upset the pregnant lady. Meanwhile, we were sad that we didn't have three of the Channel 5 News crew there. That was PK, Greta and Mark. However, Greta made up for it by attending a launch at Narracourt Lakes parkrun. No, no, no. Narracourt Lake. There's only one. It's not pluralised. Shall we listen to her roving report from there, Scotty?

00:31:10Speaker 2: Let's take it away, Greta.

00:31:13Speaker 12: Hey, Scott and Mel and parkrun adventurers, it's Greta here. And yes, I know it's been a long time since I've submitted a roving report. So this week I went to visit Narra Court, but I wanted to do a bit of a prelude to my report just to kind of do a shout out to a few things that are really exciting that are happening this weekend. So, so sorry I can't be with you at Palm 19. I'm so jelly. You're going to have such a great time. So I hope that's going really, really well. And also happy anniversary to parkrun in Australia. This time last year, I actually had the pleasure of celebrating the seventh anniversary at Main Beach. And so shout out to you guys at Main Beach for this year and happy anniversary to you and happy anniversary to australian parkrun and the other really exciting thing of course is the launch of parkrun japan so really really exciting weekend for parkrun in general and also exciting in south australia because we get to launch a new event so but i'm here at the launch of the narrowcourt lake parkrun So Narra Court Lake parkrun is in Narra Court, which is in sort of the southeast of South Australia. It's about 340km sort of southeast of Adelaide and sort of slightly north, maybe 100km north of Mount Gambier. And it's in what's called sort of the limestone coast area of South Australia. So I'm going to go and do the run and see if I can find some people to talk to afterwards. All right, so I'm now here at Post parkrun Coffee and I'm here with Marg, who is the Event Director for Narra Court Lake parkrun. Congratulations on a really successful launch, Marg. Thank you very much. It's been a great day. It's been fantastic. Absolutely beautiful day. And must I say, you've got a really, really beautiful course. It's absolutely gorgeous. So tell me about how we came to arrive at today. What's been the journey for you in terms of parkrun, getting this one up and running?

00:33:19Speaker 13: So from Narra Court's point of view, it's taken a little while. It's 2016, it was started, the adventure, and went to council and a group of people, they got together and got a half-organised course, was all organised. But then it just went quiet, so it was a matter of I just decided to pick it up. It was... probably because of my sister who made me do parkruns. But eventually, I love it too. And just found there was a need for Narra Court to have a parkrun. So from November on, I've been... developing a little bit more fine tuning of the course. So you were on a mission from November? Yes, correct. I did actually want to get it done by February but here we are in April. That's close, that's close. I think we'll give you that one.

00:34:17Speaker 14: Yeah.

00:34:18Speaker 13: No, it's been good, though. So did you have some fine-tuning of the course? Of the course, yeah. So just with Phil Ackland, the ambassador for South East, we just had to fine-tune the course a bit, do a little bit more distance to it. But, yeah, and it's made it interesting, I think. It is a beautiful course.

00:34:41Speaker 12: So for the listeners... I might get you to describe the course for us, because it is absolutely gorgeous.

00:34:47Speaker 13: It's through bushland. Absolutely. So we start at the swimming lake, which is sort of a known place in Narra Court, and run along the creek. up a hill, which is a little bit challenging because it's a slow hill, but that's okay. And it's all gravel track, but through out that there's trees, so you have a lot of bird life, wallabies. And occasionally you do get a couple of reptiles, but not at this time of the year. And then you go down back towards the swimming lake and do a turnaround and do the clockwise turnaround. So it all... flows on from there. But it's a very pretty place, the nature park. Oh, it's absolutely gorgeous.

00:35:38Speaker 12: You're so lucky to have a place like that. And it's probably the kind of parkrun you'd sort of call a semi-trail, isn't it?

00:35:44Speaker 13: Correct, yeah. So it has the rough spots to it, a little bit of sand and a little bit of fogginess, but that's okay. I think everyone enjoyed it by the sound things today, so that was an encouraging sign for it.

00:35:57Speaker 12: Absolutely, absolutely.

00:35:58Speaker 13: And you mentioned earlier that you've done a few parkruns. So what's your parkrun journey? Well, I started probably four years ago and just did occasionally. But whenever I travel, I tend to do a parkrun. So in Queensland, I've done a couple. You know, around the South Australia, I've done a few. So it's just been a... really nice thing to do because you always meet really lovely people along the way and you always try and track yourself with the next runner and um you always have a chat so it's a fantastic thing to get up and running yeah so and now you've brought that to nariko i know i know and it's been really interesting in that um i just thought with it's for the community but to looking at today and how many people have come in from afar it's just been lovely to see that so it's it's actually more than just the community event it's more of a national event which is fantastic yes you're part of the parkrun family now there's no getting away from it now it's forever But it's a lovely thing to be involved in. So, yeah, no, it's been good.

00:37:10Speaker 12: Well done. Congratulations on a very successful launch. I know it's a lot of work getting a parkrun up and running. So thank you for all of the effort that you've put into that because I know it's all voluntary. So thank you for bringing it to your community. Congratulations on an extremely successful launch. I think it was wonderful. Great coffee. Lovely, lovely place to come for post-parkrun coffee. And all the best for the continued success of Narra Court Lakes parkrun.

00:37:37Speaker 13: Yes, thank you very much. It should be good.

00:37:40Speaker 12: Okay, I'm now here with Stephanie. Hi, Stephanie. How are you going? Hi, Greta. Good, thanks. Did you enjoy your parkrun this morning? It was great.

00:37:47Speaker 7: Yeah, it was really good to support their first parkrun here this morning. It was awesome.

00:37:51Speaker 12: Now, you're not a local, are you? Where are you from?

00:37:53Speaker 7: Bagara in Queensland. You are a long way from home. We're travelling Australia at the moment, so we try to make Saturdays our pit stop for parkruns wherever we are. So last night we were actually out of town. We drove in this morning, 28km to come back into the parkrun.

00:38:10Speaker 12: Nice, that's commitment. And so where's next?

00:38:14Speaker 7: Next is somewhere down in the York Peninsula and then Port Augusta.

00:38:19Speaker 12: So it could either be Goolwa or Strathalbyn. They're both on the York Peninsula. Or York Peninsula. Yes. Okay, so they're on the Fleurieu Peninsula. So York Peninsula could be Port Broughton or Edithburg. Yeah. It doesn't really matter.

00:38:36Speaker 7: I sit in the car and go where I'm meant to go. So you're planning your trips around parkruns? We do. We try to plan that we're somewhere where there's a parkrun every Saturday. Either we have to jump over somewhere or go back. It just makes us exercise like we used to do daily when we weren't travelling. But our last one will be Port Augusta in a few weeks and then we head up the centre and we won't get to do any until September. Oh my goodness, how will you cope? I don't know, I think we might have to try and get something happening where we're going to work up in Lawn Hill, Adele's Grove. We might have to try and get some running group together. Maybe a pop-up parkrun. That'd be good, wouldn't it? It would be good if they had those. You could always pop your own up. Yeah, that's right. We can make it, call it an alias parkrun.

00:39:25Speaker 12: And so how long have you been parkrunning?

00:39:29Speaker 7: Probably about two and a half years, I suppose. Yeah? Yeah. Yeah, we started in Bundaberg and then our hometown got Wambagara, but we've done them all over the place now. Yeah, yeah, so you've been travelling for a while. Twelve months we've been on the road.

00:39:42Speaker 12: Lovely, lovely. And most Saturdays do you manage to find a parkrun?

00:39:46Speaker 7: Yeah, we go through stages where there's nothing near us, which is a little disappointing, but... We just try our best to do them when we can. And this was a beautiful one today. I don't know about you, but I really enjoyed this one. It was really lovely. It's nice because you do get to run around different places and see different scenery, different part of the town. Meet different people. Exactly, exactly. And last week we ran in Portland. It was freezing cold. Yeah. But the people were amazing. They were so welcoming. Just like here, it's amazing. It's great.

00:40:21Speaker 12: Yeah, you know you've got friends all around Australia. Yeah, people doing the same thing. So walking, running, whatever they want to do. Well, thank you so much for coming to the launch of the Narrakort Lake parkrun. And have a lovely holiday.

00:40:34Speaker 15: We will. How awesome. Thanks, Greta.

00:40:36Speaker 12: Okay, so I'm now here with...

00:40:38Speaker 15: Molly.

00:40:39Speaker 12: And you are on timing today, Molly.

00:40:41Speaker 15: I am timing today, yes.

00:40:42Speaker 12: And I'm here with... Marion. And Marion, you're doing tokens.

00:40:45Speaker 15: I am.

00:40:46Speaker 12: And... Fiona. And you're marshalling and taking photos? Yeah, I'm the photographer today. Excellent. Thank you so much for volunteering, girls.

00:40:54Speaker 11: No worries.

00:40:55Speaker 12: So you're all local to Narra Court? Yes. All locals. Yep.

00:40:59Speaker 15: Yep. We work with Margie, so we thought we'd help her out because she's organised all of this and it's wonderful. So, yeah, it's nice to see a good turnout today. Everyone's come from far, which is good.

00:41:11Speaker 14: It's been a great turnout.

00:41:12Speaker 12: It's been wonderful. And have you been involved with parkrun for a while?

00:41:16Speaker 14: I've just been helping Margie out. Yep. Yeah. Just sort of supporting her.

00:41:21Speaker 12: Oh, we've got someone finishing. You guys better do your jobs. Here we go. Woo-hoo.

00:41:25Speaker 14: Just supporting Margie to get it all finished.

00:41:28Speaker 16: yeah and it's a beautiful it's absolutely gorgeous day today and it was beautiful out there on the track when you were taking photos yeah it is a beautiful setting so i've done a few parkruns before have you so narrowcourt is my old hometown so i've been up in queensland for quite a few years doing parkruns up there yeah which ones have you done up there i've done the runs around the gold coast yeah and up in Cairns on holidays.

00:41:51Speaker 12: Yeah. Have you ever done Main Beach?

00:41:54Speaker 16: It's their birthday today. Yes, I've done Main Beach quite a few times. So this course, I guess, is almost comparable to Main Beach in that it's all off-road. Yes, it is. So it's a great course for runners to come out and it's a beautiful setting. And when I heard that they were trying to get parkrun off the ground, I wanted to help out and see if I could help them as well because I think it's a really good thing for the community.

00:42:19Speaker 12: Well, it's fantastic. I mean, I think during the welcome speech this morning, half of the people, more than half, put up their hand to say they were visitors.

00:42:27Speaker 16: Oh, more than half. Yeah, I think so. And I think it's very good because... Next week. Come and join us next week. Because ball sports and team sports are probably a very big thing in this area and not everyone can do those. So it's very good for the community to have something like parkrun where people don't have to run, they can walk.

00:42:53Speaker 12: It's very accessible, isn't it?

00:42:55Speaker 16: It is, and it's a great way to meet lots of people with like-minded interests.

00:43:00Speaker 12: Well, thank you so much for stepping up and helping out, helping Margie get the parkrun up and running. I'm going to have a chat to her later, so thank you for chatting to me. No worries. Thank you.

00:43:20Speaker 1: I don't know about you, have you ever been to Narracourt, Scotty?

00:43:23Speaker 2: I have. Yep. I haven't been to Narracourt Lake, but I have definitely been to Narracourt.

00:43:28Speaker 1: It's a beautiful part of the world, the limestone. The limestone, no, it's not Limestone Coast. The Limestone Coast, as Greta mentioned, yeah, is a lovely part of South Australia in general. I'm a big fan of South Australia. Yeah.

00:43:43Speaker 2: I like South Australia too. You know, Adelaide gets a bit of a bum rap around this town, but I really like it. Does it? Yeah, it does. There's a bit of rivalry between Victorians and South Australians. I think a lot of it's linked to football, but a lot of Melbournians sort of trash on Adelaide, but I always defend it. I love it. I love it when I go there. I like the layout. I like the size of it. I love the lack of traffic and the accessibility of good coffee and parklands. So it ticks a lot of boxes. It does.

00:44:12Speaker 1: Getting more and more parkruns all the time.

00:44:15Speaker 2: Yeah. And so you know what? Probably the most asked question over the weekend was, where's Palm 20?

00:44:23Speaker 1: Going to be.

00:44:25Speaker 2: So I think we could, we've disappointed many by not having the audio from the listener meetup recording, but I think we can please a lot by announcing where the next listener meetup is going to be. So if you want to hear what happens, you've got to be there.

00:44:40Speaker 1: Absolutely. And look, we're not saying we won't try to record better next year so that everybody who doesn't attend can't hear it as well. However, you know, stuff happens. This weekend was evidence and proof of that. So if you want to make sure you don't miss a single word spoken, then you really need to be there in person. And where does everybody need to be, Scotty?

00:45:06Speaker 2: Well, we've narrowed it down to a state. So one thing that stood out to us was that we did miss our South Australian Channel 5 News crew people. And so we want to head over to South Australia. We've both said that we're both big fans of it. We haven't... Got a parkrun location just yet. So we're open to bribes and nominations.

00:45:33Speaker 1: Yes.

00:45:34Speaker 2: Over the next 12 months.

00:45:35Speaker 1: We are willing to be wooed. So if you've got a parkrun event that you want to see have a boost in your numbers one weekend of national and, you know, potentially international parkrun adventurers, then send in an application. Tell us why we should visit your parkrun.

00:45:57Speaker 2: And I think one thing that worked really well this weekend was that we enjoyed a few Freedom Runs slash walks. So we had the Friday night Freedom Run again that was brilliantly led by Dottie, who gave us a brief history of Newey parkrun that went for about 15 minutes.

00:46:15Speaker 1: It was a lovely history, though. It was very emotive. I was wearing sunglasses, which I was grateful for, because I actually teared up a couple of times, Scotty.

00:46:24Speaker 2: Did you? Yeah. It's great to hear people speak passionately about their event and the people at their event. And that's exactly what Dottie did. And then Michael Scott and Peter, um, the event director out at Lakeview, a few of us went out there and enjoyed that very tough course. Oh, I'm glad I was just freedom walking it. Um, But I think next Listener Meetup, we might sort of try and do a few more of those.

00:46:49Speaker 1: Absolutely. Instead of a particular organised running event on the Sunday, I think we're going to throw in a Freedom Run and brunch because it's a great way for everybody to finish off the weekend together. The running events are good fun too, but with all different distances, you miss people and you potentially have to start too early and not everybody can make it to breakfast. So, yeah. I think it would be a nice way for us to end off the weekend and get a group photo with as many people as possible instead of just lots of smaller group photos over the weekend that misses some people out.

00:47:25Speaker 2: Yeah, and to be fair, it's all about us. And you and I have not done a fun run on the Sunday morning the previous two years. But we have enjoyed breakfast. Yeah.

00:47:34Speaker 1: We have. And cheering other people. And I felt a little bit sad. I missed out on all the freedom runs in terms of actually doing the courses this weekend just because physically I wasn't up to it. So, I'm looking forward to next year being able to explore some of the other courses because I definitely had FOMO when everybody else was out doing them. And even seeing the people who who did road trips Victoria or Queensland and other areas and they were doing freedom runs on their way home and being able to see that on social media and they're just knocking off three to five different events as well on their way home which is very cool so I'm keen for more of that action next year good well don't make any more babies after you've got the second one out okay time it a bit better time it a bit better I will do my best, Scotty.

00:48:31Speaker 2: So let's crack on to launches and anniversaries this week because the parkrun world continues. Special mention to parkrun Japan who launched on the weekend. I mean, I could blame my focus was diverted a little bit on Saturday morning with Japan launching and the rest of the staff out of the country. I was on the incident line, but I won't use that as an excuse. I just cocked up. I didn't do my job properly, but it was a successful morning over in Japan and I wonder if we'll get any listeners. I wonder if we'll get more downloads from Japan over the next few months.

00:49:06Speaker 1: For the podcast, you mean?

00:49:08Speaker 2: Yeah.

00:49:09Speaker 1: Well, you never know. Was there any mention made of the podcast while people were over there? I doubt it. I think they were too excited about parkrun.

00:49:18Speaker 2: Yeah, probably.

00:49:20Speaker 1: But, you know.

00:49:21Speaker 2: But?

00:49:22Speaker 1: Japan was the third most exciting thing scheduled to happen this month. The first, of course, being Palm 19. And no, no, that's actually second. First is Game of Thrones is coming back next week, Scotty.

00:49:37Speaker 2: What's that? Is that a new game? I love games. Is this the gaming segment?

00:49:43Speaker 1: It's the final season of the whole series. Like, yeah, it's kind of a big deal. Hence, it goes Game of Thrones podcast, Japan launching.

00:49:55Speaker 2: Something like that. The people in Fingal Bay might feel otherwise because they're celebrating their anniversary this week, along with Georgetown in Tasmania.

00:50:05Speaker 1: And South Toowoomba in Queensland and Warragul in Victoria.

00:50:09Speaker 2: Now, I want to know, Mel, was that your last parkrun for a long time on the weekend? Or are you going to try an adventure somewhere and have a crack at breaking that one hour 27 that you set on the weekend?

00:50:22Speaker 1: I've got some adventures still planned. I'm not quite ready to drop a child yet. So, I do have a couple of weeks of volunteering lined up. However, no, it's not my last one for a long time. There will be more. I've noticed you're still only one behind me on the most events list, and I can't yet let you take advantage of my situation to get ahead of me in the most events list, or at least not too far ahead.

00:50:52Speaker 2: I will. Look, I'll try and play fair, but I probably won't. That's exactly what I'm expecting. Being only one behind. Yeah, being one behind. We'll see how we go. But I'm not going anywhere new this weekend. The showman's in town.

00:51:08Speaker 1: He is. He's coming to visit.

00:51:11Speaker 2: So we're going to take care of his Nendi in preparation for your move down south.

00:51:18Speaker 1: Well, I think it's just in preparation for this is the last time he's going to get a weekend to take any photos without having a complete entourage of tiny urbexers trailing after him. So... Yeah, he's going to get in a new event. I will be not getting in a new event. However, that will kind of make up for the fact that I got one last week and he didn't. You should be catching him in the run number stakes because he's been volunteering and or just not participating very much lately. So you're doing well on that front, Scotty. Yeah, but no adventures planned for me beyond training some new people to run direct, which is always a little bit of an adventure anyway. Okay.

00:52:02Speaker 2: Sounds like fun. So, Mel, let's wrap up Episode 59 at 59. I love it that we're going to be back on track. So, we're never going to talk about Episode 113 again. This just sort of syncs us up nicely.

00:52:14Speaker 1: I'm not making that promise, Scotty.

00:52:16Speaker 2: Okay. It's going to be a good story to tell if we ever do episode 113. We can explain why.

00:52:24Speaker 1: Exactly.

00:52:26Speaker 2: But not this week.

00:52:27Speaker 1: No, not this week.

00:52:28Speaker 2: This week was all about the parkrun Adventures Listener Meetup. That did happen. You guys just didn't hear it, but we can guarantee that it did happen. We've got the photos. It was a great weekend. Yep. Lots of photos. Join the Facebook page if you want to see what happened because you can't hear what happened. And let's do it all again in 12 months' time. Mel, let's you and I get together next week for maybe one last time. Give me a couple more weeks.

00:52:53Speaker 1: Give me a few more weeks. God, everyone's trying to push me out.

00:52:57Speaker 2: Did you hear the banter between Lyndell and I?

00:52:59Speaker 1: It was awesome. I know. Just give people some anticipation. We've only just announced this week it's going to be Lyndell. You don't want to give everyone the payoff next week, do you? You need to make them wait in anticipation for a little while. Get some expectations going.

00:53:15Speaker 2: And we'll leave you this week with an extended version of the theme music, which is the best theme music we've ever had in the four or three and a bit years of the parkrun Adventurers podcast. Speak to you next week, Mel.

00:53:27Speaker 1: Talk to you then, Scotty.

00:53:56Speaker 8: Thank you.