Parkrunners Podcast
Parkrunners Podcast shares real stories from the global parkrun community—runners, walkers, and volunteers whose lives have been transformed by movement and connection. Hosted by Catherine Stenson, each episode celebrates courage, belonging, and the quiet power of showing up.
Parkrunners Podcast
Woden Pride: How Andrew & Lili are building an urban parkrun powerhouse
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Eight weeks in.
An ultra-urban setting in the heart of Canberra, Australia.
And in week 2, a staggering 731 people showed up for Woden Town parkrun!
In this episode of The Parkrunners Podcast, Catherine chats with Andrew Dempster and Lili Mooney, co-founders of Woden Town parkrun – one of Australia’s newest and busiest events. Set against high-rises, roads and shared paths, Woden Town proves you don’t need a picture-perfect park to build a powerful parkrun community.
Andrew shares how a simple idea (“Why doesn’t Woden have a parkrun?”) and how they've attracted crowds often bigger than Brooklyn Bridge parkrun in New York. He also lifts the lid on how they used data and AI to predict attendance and keep 700+ runners, walkers and volunteers moving smoothly through the finish funnel.
Lili opens up about her deeply personal journey from compulsive exercise and anorexia to a genuinely healthy relationship with movement – and how parkrun, and now Woden Town parkrun, have become a joyful, sustainable part of her life.
Together, they talk about:
- What it takes to launch a parkrun in a busy urban centre
- How they created a welcoming culture for every pace and every body
- The community stories that already make Woden Town feel special
- The small details that make a huge difference when c700 people turn up at once
Whether you’re a seasoned parkrun tourist, a volunteer in hi-viz, or someone wondering if your own town could support a new event, this conversation will leave you inspired – and maybe just a little bit tempted to start something where you live.
Thank you for tuning in. It's been great to have you here.. If you've enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. Stay connected with us on social media (Instagram, Facebook & LinkedIn) for updates and more inspiring parkrunners' stories. Until next time, keep running, keep smiling and keep on showing up!
Hi there and a warm welcome back to the Parkrunners Podcast. I'm your host, Catherine Stenson. Every parkrun has a story, and today's is about a community that looked at a blank patch of the parkrun map and decided, right, we're fixing that. Whether you're listening from a coastal trail in South Africa, a city park in the UK, or a forest course in Scandinavia, or maybe somewhere in between, you'll recognise this feeling, knowing your area is missing a parkrun and wondering if you could be the one to bring it to life. Our guests today did exactly that. Andrew Dempster and Lily Mooney are co-founders and co-event directors of Woden Town Parkrun in Canberra, in Australia. A brand new event in the heart of a buzzing city and rapidly growing urban district. Between them, they've clocked up hundreds of parkruns and volunteer stints, and they've poured all that love and experience into creating a course that winds through a high-rise development, dips under a multi-road roundabout, and somehow still feels like the friendliest local 5K. And Andrew is a self-confessed parkrun nerd, a distance runner, stats lover, and community advocate who's been championing better local facilities in Wodentown for years. Lily is a parkrun veteran, passionate community builder who has spoken in the Australian media about living with anorexia. And she has had an incredible journey towards a much kinder, healthier relationship with movement. So for her, the new Wodent Town Parkrun has become a weekly anchor of joy and connection and genuine feel-good exercise. So Woden Town Parkrun has really already exploded into life with record-breaking early attendances, which I'm sure Andrew and Lily are going to chat to us about. So, Andrew and Lily, a really warm welcome to the Parkrunners podcast. Andrew, I'm going to start with you. Like, how are you today and where are you both joining us from?
SPEAKER_04Thanks, Catherine. That was a very generous introduction of yours. We're both here in Canberra, capital city of uh of Australia. And uh and uh it's great to be with you.
SPEAKER_00Wonderful. Well, let's start with um you then, Lily. What first brought you to Parkrun? Do you remember your f very first event?
SPEAKER_03I do, yes. So I had never heard of Parkrun previously, but I when I was a kid and a teenager, I was quite a keen, sort of competitive. We wouldn't go that far, but runner. And as you mentioned in the intro, I then, when I was 15, I was diagnosed with anorexia and had to stop all exercise. And I was hospitalized in and out of hospital for quite a long time. I think I was 22 when that all that revolving door sort of of treatment had stopped. And I had given up running. I don't think running caused my eating disorder, but it definitely didn't help because I had an exercise addiction at the same time. Right. And I had some pretty negative last memories of running. But when I was in uni, I think I was about 23 then, just dealing with, you know, normal 23-year-old stress, uni, working, friendships, relationships, and I just started running again. And it brought me that, you know, people talk about a run as high. And I started getting that and I started feeling good. And so I noticed that there was a local fun run coming up and for a charity in Australia called Lifeline, which is sort of a mental health and suicide awareness. And so I entered it and my mum came with me. And we had such a good time doing that run that we were like, I wish there was a fun run every weekend because the the vibes and atmosphere of the fun run are so incredible. You really get that run as high. And then that's when my mum had told me about her friend that was posting on Facebook about parkrun. So we looked up to see where our local parkrun was if Canberra had one, and we found out that Canberra had several at that stage. So we went um to our local park run the next weekend. And I think apart from the pandemic and the occasional um sickness and weekend here or there, we really haven't missed one. And that was in 2017. So yeah, pretty, pretty long stint now, but we we love it.
SPEAKER_00Well, well done to you because just for the benefit of our listeners, Lily has 116 parkruns notched up and add to that 63 volunteer stints. So your your passion is um there in those numbers. Congratulations on conquering those challenges that you had in the teenage years, and how lovely is it to hear that parkrun has been a really positive part of that reconnection with running. So well done, Lily. Thank you. Yeah, I'd love to hear about your first parkrun experience as well.
SPEAKER_04Sure. Well, like Lily is an absolute veteran compared to me. I I'm a newcomer. I just started off it was New Year's Eve in 2022, like less than three years ago. I was on holiday in New Zealand, and my son and I decided to go to the Queenstown Parkrun, which was on the 31st of December 2022, which is a wonderful run, very in a popular tourist town in New Zealand, and and they have so we ran it's first time I'd ever run a timed event, I think, in in years. And uh we really enjoyed it. Came back to Canberra and joined the local parkrun scene here. And uh Canberra's rich with parkruns, it's a it's a city of about 450,000 people. Until Wodentown came along, it had nine parkruns, so it's already quite a lot of choice for parkrunning here in Canberra, and uh my son and I, you know, we just like travel around, try each one, get a taste for them, and um yeah, really enjoyed parkrunning when we came back to Canberra.
SPEAKER_00That that is really lovely, and actually, Andrew, I didn't realise this, but we share that um Queenstown Parkrun because last last January I was visiting both Australia and New Zealand because two of my children are there, and we went to Queenstown Parkrun and it is it's still one of my favourite next to Bushy, obviously, because I go there every week. But Queenstown is such a beautiful setting around the forest and the it's absolutely gorgeous. So it's a must-do for anybody who's listening who hasn't tried that one yet. So for people who've never been to Canberra, how would you describe um Woden? And why why did you feel that it needed Parkrun number 10?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, okay. So Woden is um is one of the townships in Canberra, and there's about six or seven different little townships in Canberra. Woden was actually the first township established outside of the city centre back in the 70s. So it's been around for a very long time. And over the years, other townships have popped up. And incredibly, each of those other places have got either one or two park runs that people can choose from. But for some reason, nobody ever decided to put a park run here in Woden. So it's quite a central part of the city, uh, it's very easily accessible from from other parts of Canberra by bus as well as by car. And uh, you know, at one point um, you know, early this year, I just thought, well look, what's why is this? Why why why doesn't Boden have a run? It really needs one. People who live here. And um, of course, what's happened over the last few years in Wodon is that there's been a revival of a residential construction. So a lot more residential towers being built up. It's become a more of a high density part of uh Canberra, which is needed because you know Australia's got a bit of a housing crisis at the moment, it's hard to find place to live. But Woden is building a large number of apartments in a hurry and to the point where in the next couple of years there'll be about 5,000 people who are expected to be living right here in the Woden town centre. So one day I just thought, look, all these people, many of these people will be runners or walkers or would be happy to come out and join a party. If we found a place we could do it, let's um let's give it a try.
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, hats off to Australians in general, because you have a really, you know, well-deserved and well-earned relationship with outdoors and exercise. So parkrun really fits that cultural um, you know, bias for for the outdoors.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Lily, was there a was there a particular moment when you thought, like, if we don't do this, no one will? And how did you and Andrew kind of come together and be those co-founders of Wotentown Parkrun?
SPEAKER_03Well, I know Andrew through running in Canberra, and he I remember he um approached me after a training session one time and pitched the idea, and he knew that I, you know, love parkrun and and you know thought anyone who will listen, I will tell them how good Parkrun is for the community. And so he probably knew that it was an easy sell. I I mean Andrew's passion for it was I couldn't say no, he's a good salesman. Yeah. Which was amazing. But I think it I grew up in Woden, that's where my parents live, and so I'm a Woden local and it's a great spot to live in. And there's so many uh good, well-maintained parts, so it just made sense that there's a lot more people living in the area, and it's as I said, so good for the community that it was a no-brainer.
SPEAKER_00Andrew, could you like speak to um our listeners about like the challenges and what what was involved in securing the spaces and getting this parkrun off the ground? Because in the middle of a high-rise development, it's quite quite a busy urban space. How did you get a route that was safe and appealing in that landscape?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, great question. All right. So I I think that's one of the reasons why no one had put a parkrun in Woden before is because and some people probably assume that it couldn't be done. There's so much buildings and construction around, like where where would you put it, right? The first thing we did, Catherine, we went and looked at the Strava Global Heat Map. All right. So you can go over Strava and click on your area and it shows you where people run and cycle, you know, where they actually exercise. You need to cross. And so runners had naturally gravitated to this Yarralumla Creek corridor um for for years because of the ease of running, no conflict with traffic, and well-maintained paths used by both pedestrians and cyclists. And so that's that's that's what we started with. We we looked at running along the creek, we found a local park which was not very well used, but which was accessible to public transport and with with heaps of car parking nearby. We kept it very simple. It's an out and back along the creek. We just go out to two and a half kilometers, turn around, we come back, which is very simple and uh it's where people already run.
SPEAKER_00Fantastic. I love that use of available technology to provide you with the insight. So hats off to Strava for giving us that kind of data insight. It's amazing. And well done for you for coming up with that as an idea to plan your route. So the course famously goes under that huge multi-roundabout system. How do how do people react when they see that like part of the route? Is that is that a surprise to them?
SPEAKER_03Well, it's uh it's um a very Canberra thing. Um it it sort of is a bit of a joke to other places around Australia that Canberra is known for having a lot of roundabouts. And this one, it's got to be one of the biggest. Um in the and so running through it, it's just very iconically Canberra. I've done 300 odd park runs, but none through the middle of busy roundabouts. So it is it is very unique and very cool that we've got that as part of our course.
SPEAKER_00You've already clocked up an incredible number of regular participants. Andrew, would you like to take that one and just share with the listeners how you how you went about launching your new parkrun and what kind of audience is it attracting today?
SPEAKER_04All right. I might take the lead on event one, but then you can ask Lily about event two, okay? Because all right, so event one, in Australia, very strict rules around the first event that you hold. Parkrun Australia asks you to do what they call a soft launch. That is no publicity, keep it on the down low. They don't want huge numbers of people turning up to the first parkrun because it puts stress on the volunteer team. You know, it it might cause the event to fail. So there's a very strict rule that the first event must be a soft launch, which means just run it quietly with with not too many people. So and that's what we did. And we had a volunteer crew, we asked them to invite one or two friends. Now we didn't broadcast it on social media or or really get the word out too far. But even so, when we turned up at that first event, which was the 18th of um October this year, 102 people just showed up out of nowhere to run the event. And some of them had come down from Sydney. And they'd been Sydney ciders who were just in Canberra on the Friday night, and they said, Oh, they just looked at the website in the morning and they said, Oh, there's a new parkrun here. Let's go to Woden.
SPEAKER_00So it's amazing how a few parkrun tourists on your first time.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's right. That's right. We had parkrun tourists even at event one, which was which was quite unusual. But um it all went well. It was a it was a fairly quiet event compared to the ones that that have come subsequently. But we wanted to make sure that we we did the right thing and that we we didn't violate the Australian parkrun soft launch policy.
SPEAKER_00Well done. Um Lily, can you tell us how um the numbers have grown from event one and you know how that's been achieved?
SPEAKER_03So we'll go to week two, event number two. We had 731 people. Yeah. So we actually broke the record for ACT for attendance at a parkrun. Um and it all went well. It was definitely a jump up in attendance and processes, and we learnt a lot that you know then has helped us refine all our processes going forward. But the main thing was everyone that I saw left with a smile on their face, and throughout the week, when I would see people, they would say what a good time they had and what a great parkrun I was. So that was the main thing, and it was you know cool that we broke the record.
SPEAKER_00So incredible that you go from a launch event of 100 people to seven times that. What was the what was going on behind the scene that actually brought out those kind of numbers?
SPEAKER_03Well, I'll start, then you can uh so Canberra, as we said, like it's it's got quite a few park runs, so it's quite popular. Canberra's big enough but small enough. So if you live on the other side of town, it's very easy to drive to Woden. You don't have to get up at 4 a.m. to make that parkrun. So we got our social media up and running, but we didn't necessarily promote it, like we didn't tell everyone we need to come to Woden Town Parkrun. I think everyone just was keen to check it out. It shows how popular our parkrun is and people wanted to see the new course.
SPEAKER_00Be be honest, Andrew, did you have enough finished tokens? Like could you actually be expecting 700? How did you improvise?
SPEAKER_04No, we did not have enough finished tokens, and uh course it would have been um, you know, presumptuous for us to plan to break the ICT rail. So we didn't. We had 600, which meant that the last 131 tokens were scribbled by impromptu volunteers on little pieces of paper and handed to people as they crossed the line. And then we actually organized for a photograph to be taken. Each of these people who got one of the impromptu finished tokens, they had a photo taken of their barcode and uh just manually after the event.
SPEAKER_03But it did mean that those people could technically keep their tokens. That's true. Very unique. Not usually thing we say parkrun, we say please return them.
SPEAKER_00This is what I love about the parkrun community. There's nothing's any problem. People just you know dive in and try and solve the problem rather than like we've got an issue here. It's done with the best possible um heart, and it just goes to show that you can be ingenious. Because there was a similar issue at Bushy Park when they had the thousand parkrun. They had over six thousand people showed up, and I think the most they'd ever had is about three thousand on a Christmas day. So that was that was pure drama and but everybody got it everybody got a time. Everybody was happy that they'd been part of that bit of parkrun history. Anyway, um I'd love to dive in and chat to you about your social media presence because you're a very young parkrun, but you already have this sort of playful way of promoting Woden Town Parkrun. Would you like to tell us all about it?
SPEAKER_04Sure, okay. Well, you know, I think communications is a is a really important part of any parkrun's mission and you've got to be able to use the tools that you've got to let people know about your parkrun, let people know what to expect, let people know the facilities and and um, you know, all of the things that that helped make their parkrun experience a good one. One of the reasons I think we got many more people turn up to that second event was that we actually did have a story running in Canberra local press after the first event, which actually um had the headline, face up Woden, Canberra's missing parkrun is here. And so as far as Canberra's missing parkrun was the one that was um being established in Woden Town. And of course when people you know hear that there was a missing parkrun but it's arrived, well they want to turn up to them. Part of our our personality on social media is to do a lot of posts which which actually call out other features of the Woden Valley which we love and which we're proud of. Could be Yarralumla Creek or Mount Taylor, which you can see in the distance, or the Woden graffiti wall, which uh people come and and uh line up to as they start the event. These are all features of Woden which uh you know help to make our little part of Canberra a little unique. And so, you know, we call those things out to let people know then they can come down to the Woden Town Park run and they might love us as well.
SPEAKER_00Tell us a bit about the Woden Pride hashtag, because you've got quite a um lovely social stream of um highlights and posts.
SPEAKER_04There are other parts of Canberra that that often associate pride with their part of Canberra. So there's a part called Belconum, and for years people have been posting about Belco Pride. When I went to look at Woden Pride, there were like zero posts. And so I thought, well, this is our opportunity, right? Because we're pulling this incredible event right here in the heart of town, and um, we're going to associate this uh pride with with the Woden Town Parkrun. And um there are many kind of features of Woden which which which are great. Some mountains, that's hills. We've got Yaralumla Creek, which goes right through our suburb, and uh there are there are some some other things too, so that's something that we can feel pride in as well.
SPEAKER_00That parkrun has been the catalyst to spotlight Woden and that Woden pride. So well done, Lily and um Andrew on that. You've built up quite a roster of supporters and volunteers. Maybe you could share some insights into how you did that because there might be tips for other event directors and people who are considering s setting up their own park run. I'd love to hear about that. Lily?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, um, so I think we just approached people that we knew and thought would be interested in joining the Woden team. A lot of them are Woden locals, so it makes sense if they live in the area that they would be interested in coming on board for the for the Woden park run. I know that I asked my parents, of course they wanted to say yes, but it sort of um just really leans into that community. People um love volunteering as much as they love park running or particul you know, doing the run or the walk because you really feel part of something. And so a lot of people, yeah, more than happy to come on board and be part of that supporting team.
SPEAKER_04So I'll say that I think that you know the the the woad and pride helped us with this as well, Catherine. So um yeah, the fact that we're bringing uh a new power grant to this part of Canberra, which has never had one before, helped us to bring on board a range of other volunteers and run directors who were keen to see it happen. Uh yeah, so we explained what we were doing. We said we we need help, you've got to be a part of it.
SPEAKER_00And I you have been a fantastic team for bringing together such an incredibly full list of um volunteers. So really well done. Uh Lily, I hope you are okay. Well, I think it would be potentially helpful to a lot of listeners to hear from somebody who has had challenges. You you just mentioned compulsive running and anorexia. But this is an illness that's on the rise, and a lot of people struggle with how to manage it. Um I'd love your personal insights there if you're if you're happy to share them. And because I think Yeah. Would you benefit others?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, definitely. I mean, I guess the number one tip would or your advice would be you like need to seek professional advice.
SPEAKER_01Sure.
SPEAKER_03You need a good treating team around you. People that even if um there's close family and friends that you feel comfortable even having that initial discussion with. Um I was very fortunate that I was a child when I was diagnosed. I, whether I wanted it or not, got treatment.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But it can definitely take over your life. So getting help and recognizing that things aren't normal or right is really important early on because the longer that you live with certain ways of thinking and habits, the harder it is to break them. But I guess like if I tie back to parkrun, I did mention before that I had to stop running completely. And it was quite difficult when I started running again. A lot of people in my family were quite nervous about it because of how it ended up last time. And I don't blame running for it, but it it definitely played into it and it didn't help me at all. And I think what's been really amazing about Parkrun in particular is that my mum and I did it together for so long, and then we got my dad on board, and it has enabled us to, or me to run in a way that's been safe and healthy for my mind and my body. And so running with other people, running with your community is always like I enjoy it so much more than running alone, and it doesn't feel in those early days, it didn't feel like something I had to do or something I was doing because I wanted to. And so obviously, if you are struggling, you need to check in with your team because sometimes exercise is not the right um approach, depending on where you are at your recovery. But if it was something that was healthy for you at that time, I definitely think something like Park Run is really good because it encourages a community, and so it's not you being by yourself doing something that it fit for control.
SPEAKER_00I think that's that's really thoughtful insights there. So thank you, Lily, for being so open about about that and considered in in in what you've shared there. I think probably when when people think about exercise and running, especially if it is around somebody who ha has had struggles with anorexia, they do worry about it becoming an obsessive thing again. But the the really nice thing about parkrun is it's 5k is a challenge, but it's doable and it's a finite amount of time running surrounded by friends, family, and community. So I think it has that really lovely balance of being habitual. It's there for us every week if we choose to be there, and so many people are weekly parkrunners, but you can dip in and out according to how you feel. So it can be a really positive part of um routine and movement, which is good for us all.
SPEAKER_02That's right.
SPEAKER_00Andrew, you are a runner of a different caliber altogether. I'd love you to talk to our listeners about your running beyond parkrun because you've done um some of the marathon marathon majors, I believe recently you did Chicago. So how does parkrun play into preparation for those races?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's a great question. Look, I think the great thing about parkrun, Catherine, is that you can have a different plan for your run every different week. Okay. So some weeks you turn up to parkrun and you think, okay, today's gonna be a tempo run. I'm gonna run it pretty fast. It might be my my half marathon pace, it's gonna be faster than usual, but it's a tempo run today, that's what I'm doing. Other days it might be, oh, you know what, it's gonna be an easy run. I'm just gonna run conversational, easy, it's just gonna help me kind of build my aerobic base, but it's not gonna be fast, it's gonna be an easy run. And then other days you might be pacing a friend to their PB, uh, which could be, you know, even slower. Uh or it could be an interval session where you decide you're going to um you know do 500 metres fast, five hundred metres slower. Just do an interval session. So that's the great thing about parkrun. Because it's not a race, you don't have to win or go your fastest every week. You can actually have a little nun plan for parkrun which ties in to the rest of your training. And so uh yeah, parkrun is is all of those things depending on on what you need for that day.
SPEAKER_00And um share with our listeners your time for the Chicago marathon and don't be shy.
SPEAKER_04Oh, okay. Well, it it was my my best time, yeah. So yeah, I finished Chicago in three hours and seven minutes and uh I think twenty twenty-five seconds, so that was good. Uh Catherine, I've got to say my my whole goal for Chicago, sorry, was to beat Lily's best time, which was 309 D. Seth.
SPEAKER_00Lily, you you've run you've run marathons as well. Have you run Chicago? Yes, yes, yeah. Oh my gosh. Okay.
SPEAKER_04Catherine, here's the thing. Here's the thing. Like, I'm I'm old, right? I'm not gonna get any faster. I'm getting slower. Lily's gonna beat me, right?
SPEAKER_00She's just I am in awe of both of you. I mean, if if you are saying you're old and you're running a three, you know, whatever, is a three anything is just incredible. Lily, that's amazing as well. Three oh nine. Chicago is a is a beautiful but kind of tough route as well, right?
SPEAKER_03I unfortunately didn't do Chicago. I was at Sydney Marathon this year.
SPEAKER_00My daughter did Sydney this year as well. So I was I was up late at night tracking the dot on the map. She was arriving towards the the most fabulous finish I think you'll ever get from Marathon Sydney Opera House, right?
SPEAKER_04It's an incredible event. It's really justified its place as one of those seven now marathons. It has an epic start, you run over the harbour bridge at dawn, you finish at the opera house, which is one of the most incredible finish lines in the world, but it is hilly, it's not easy.
SPEAKER_00It does have the most iconic finish for a race, and it must feel incredible as you approach that um Sydney Opera House and the and the bay.
SPEAKER_03No, I've done it three years in a row, and I'm almost too tired. I did appreciate it more this year. The last two years, I I feel like I was just exhausted. But this year, all year, I was like, I've got to soak in this finish line because everyone's talking about how amazing it is. The crowds were, and it was, you know, it was a beautiful day in Sydney, the sun was shining at that at that point. It was it was pretty special. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Lily, the reason you're exhausted is because you've sprinted a marathon. That is the reason you've you're exhausted. Yeah, it's it's it's always interesting to explore with people because some people run parkrun every week, people walk it and that's their weekly thing. But there are runners like yourselves who have a very healthy running habit outside of that and use and still get value from parkrun. As Andrew, you've just outlined with um how you integrate it as part of your run training some weeks, and then some weeks you just run for fun. So let's look ahead. What does continued success look like for Woden Parkrun a year or two from now? Andrew, do you want to take that?
SPEAKER_04We're very much still in the early stages. We've had eight events, so we're we're not even a teenager yet. We're um just finding our feet. I hope that within a couple of years Woden Town Parkrun.
SPEAKER_00Well, I I recently spoke on this podcast to Ben Roach, who um the British guy living in New York, and he founded the Brooklyn Bridge Park Run, another fabulous, iconic space, and there hadn't been a run anywhere in New York State, so that's a real win. But you guys are already exceeding or matching the numbers that a global city like New York is attracting. So I predict nothing but continued success for Woden. And also there's a growing number of registered park runners who are motivated by different challenges doing the alphabet challenge. So I'm sure there'll be people who want to get their W and will be looking at new park runs. Darren Peade, who I had also the good fortune of chatting to on the podcast um about a month ago, and he's a Sydney-based guy who travels all over the world. He's on his 11th alphabet challenge. He's just finished 10. And he, I mean, he really does go everywhere. Like he's been to Ireland, the UK, and Scandinavia this year, Germany, Poland, Japan. I mean, it's there's there's a lot of seriousness to some of these parkrun tourists in their commitment to seeing the world and seeing and experiencing new parkruns.
SPEAKER_01Well, the challenge to Darren Pede, get yourself to Woden Town. Yeah. So we're coming to the end of our conversation, which has been wonderful.
SPEAKER_00And you can tell from our chat together that it's been built on great passion and great Woden pride. And I'm sure that alone is going to um mean that you are very pleased with the number of visitors and tourists who will be showing up to Wodentown Parkrun. It's been an absolute pleasure talking to both of you today. It's really great to have guests, you know, from down under in Australia, where Parkrun is such a staple of grassroots community all over. So thank you so much, Andrew, for reaching out um to me on the podcast and for the time spent with you and Lily today. Lily, I've really appreciated your, you know, insights and how how Parkrun has been a you know a big foundation stone in your recovery from um anorexia. I think your insights there will help other listeners who might have family members or be going through that journey at the moment. And I wish Woden Town um a really successful future. I'll be watching with interest. And on my next visit to Australia, I will now be spending some time in Canberra. So very much look forward to meeting you there.
SPEAKER_02Andrew, and thank you, Lily.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for joining us on the Park Runness podcast. I'm Catherine Stenson, and I love sharing stories from our amazing Parkhouse community. So today's conversation is a party. Why not share it with a friend? Or better still, bring them along to your next park run. Until next time, keep moving, keep smiling, and you guys.