Parkun 226 - Quiz

Good morning and welcome! I want to confirm our venue, in case you’ve just stepped through an intergalactic wormhole, this is planet Earth, Mount Barker and the event is Mount Barker parkrun 226!

We have a few minutes until our official start so let’s pass the time with a little quiz, as we occasionally do.

Our contestants this morning are (in alphabetical order): Arabella, Pablo, Paul and Paula.

Please step to the front and don’t be shy!

Arabella is one of our speedy juniors. She’s ran at ten different parkrun venues and has volunteered multiple times. Please welcome Arabella!

Pablo is a regular pakrunner. He brings his support crew (David, Paula and the kids) up the hill from Adelaide every Saturday. He’s been to 7 parkrun venues and sports a recent PB of just under 30 minutes. Oh, and Paula is Pablo’s interpreter. Put your hands together for Pablo and Paula.

Finally, we have our favourite cousin Paul, more widely and affectionately known as PK. Paul is an evangelical parkrunner, responsible for recruiting many of you here today. He is famous for reversing the first rule of Fight Club and applying it to parkrun. He’s turned “do not talk about fight club” into “never stop talking about parkrun”, evidenced by his contributions to the parkrun adventurers podcast and being one of our event directors. Let’s hear it for PK!

So the rules are: I ask the questions, you provide the answers and everyone is a winner.

Are you ready?

Let’s start with a trick question: which is the best parkrun in Australia? Mount Barker? Sorry, I am afraid the official answer from parkrun headquarters is “All of them”.

Question number 2: what are the essential items to bring with you to parkrun? Barcode? Yourself? A friend? The answer is all of the above. Other acceptable answers are: a group of friends; appropriate footwear; a chocolate cake, a bit of oomph.

Question number 3: who do we welcome to parkrun every Saturday? Visitors? First timers? Everyone? Other acceptable answers are: second timers, third timers, fourth timers.

Speaking of which who is here for a first time today? Who is visiting from another parkrun? Warm welcome to you all!

Next question: how do we find our way on the course? Follow everyone else? Turn around at the flag? Follow your nose?

Time now for a biased question: what is Arabella’s personal best time at parkrun? 25.55

Do you know of any running events coming up? Cleland 50, LeFevre marathon, Sturt Gorge trail run. [To the audience] Who’s doing Cleland 50 tomorrow? LeFevre? Sturt Gorge next week?

Final question: can you name all the volunteers today? David, Carmel, Phil, Grette, Kane, Phoebe, Harriet, Fernando, Ros. Don’t forget me! Big thanks to our volunteers, without who there will be no event. Everyone is welcome to volunteer, just put your name down at the voluneteer sheet at the scanning table. In fact we are short of a time keeper for next week.

Thank you for playing and congratulations on your achievements: 50 runs for Pablo and Paula and 100 runs for Arabella and Paul!

Over to you David. Keep to the left and Enjoy your run!