If you want to actually support Margaret - which you definitely should because she is awesome and hard working and talented duh - get on that tharr internet and buy her record or some merch! Or, even better, go to your local record store and march up to the weird sweaty clerk in a trench coat who smells like a conepiece, hold your head up high and say, “I’ll take one copy of Echo the Diamond by Margaret Glaspy!”
Have a good one! Seeya next time!
(Host Nick Allbrook)
Much love to Tarkine for sponsoring the show and initiating the whole thing, giving me an opportunity for me to chat with these amazing people. They also make great shoes.
]]>This episode is a chat with Deo Kato, a ridiculously strong runner, community leader and activist. Inspired by the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955, when African Americans in Alabama staged a civil rights protest for 381 days Deo started the Running for Justice movement, where he ran 10ks every day for 381 days. This movement was taken on by other members of the running community and has now become some kind of epic protest relay that has been going for 4 years! The longest continuous protest of its kind I think!? The ripples this has caused is a testament to Deo’s strength as a leader and his ability to rally people around a cause and inspire with a positive message.
But now he’s taken on something waaaaaaaaaay bigger. He’s running from CAPE TOWN TO LONDON. My mind ist blown. Deo is tracing the path of human historical migration, as our species spread across the globe from our roots in Africa. He is showing the world that we are all one people, who have - and can again - achieve incredible things. The elegance and power of this message is unlike anything I’ve seen or heard to be honest. It feels almost artistic in its scope and message.
Anyway enough of my jabbering, listen to Deo explain it heaps better than me, then click the link below and donate to his cause because it is of great significance to all of us! And Deo is a lovely lovely person even though he's probably heinously tired.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/
Thanks for listening!
And thanks Tarkine for the support you guys firkin rock
]]>In this episode Blank Bruno and I discuss the Saddles 100 ultra, living a balanced and fun life, letting go of races, becoming the first non-binary finisher of the Chicago Marathon (2.47!!) and the myriad profound and spiritual experiences that grow from a life dedicated to running, learning, art and the Buddhist practice.
Bruno is an immensely deep thinker, and approaches running with not only athletic talent, but philosophy, spirituality and humour. Time unravels. Ego dissolves. Ancient bodies are inhabited. Rain is suckled. Feet kiss earth with foot lips. Human becomes dog.
Bruno is a gentle and deep soul, who will gently kick your ass on the track.
This episode of Run To Paradise was made by Nicholas Allbrook on the unceded lands of Wadjuk Nyoongar people. We thank them for their continued custodianship of this beautiful place where we run work and play.
It’s getting hot in here, so blah blah blah. El Nino is threatening to make this Birak (in Nyoongar) long, dry and very hot in the Southern Hemisphere, so I went scrambling around the country trying to figure out if there was any way to make life more bearable as a runner in the boiling antipodean summer.
Does sauna training work? How do you hydrate properly? Does punishing yourself in the midday sun make you a better runner? Are some people born for it? Who are you? Who am I and what am I doing here?
To answer these questions I went on a very long and circuitous journey which led me to Darryl Griffiths (founder of Koda nutrition and author of ‘Sweat. Think. Go faster.’), doing a sweat test on myself, speaking to the fabulous ultra marathon champion Sarah Ludowici, and training (and going to the speedway) in the far north west.
God knows if I found anything useful but eh, I had fun, so enjoy this bizarre exploration of HEAT!
Note, this podcast is just made by me alone, we don’t have anyone fact checking like other big fancy podcasts. Trust or do not trust what guests and I say at your own discretion.
Except Sarah. Definitely trust Sarah coz that is some of the best advice you’ll get. I encourage everyone to take what she says on, and be gentle with yourself, for your own mental health, and to run better and happier!
Also, don’t compare your summer running to your winter running. I’ve seen so many smart people, (and some dumb ones) do this and get despondent about their declining fitness. Don’t. You WILL slow down in the heat.
Anyway I’ll shut up now Bye!!
Nick
]]>I had a hella good time doing this one. I hope you enjoy it even though the sound quality is kinda shit… sorry about that! It just comes with the “field recording” territory I suppose. Forgive me and enjoy this yarn with one of my biggest 6 stringspirations (smh), the fabulous Delicate Steve!
]]>Here’s a little friendly catchup with some Tarkine favourites - Phil Gore, Erchana Murray Bartlett and Andrew ‘Googz’ Thorpe. Its been such a big year for all of these legends so I just figured we should catch up with where they’re at now that Run To Paradise is beginning a bright new second chapter.
I was gonna wait til we got through to Meriem Daoui, but she’s just too bloody busy! That’s why we love her though. Go Meriem!!
Anyway, I decided to release this asap because I realised Phil is only 2 sleeps away from doing the Backyard world champs, and after that, all of this might be somewhat irrelevant.
These 3 are so great and inspiring and cool and I would’ve been more than happy to have these chats without the validation of putting it out in a podcast.
Anyway, enjoy :)
]]>Welcome back to Run To Paradise! It’s me, Nick, continuing my cock-eyed-convoluted exploration of running and the people who do it, with all the japes and tears, ups and downs and painfully stupid intros you’ve come to expect. I guess this is season 2? Lets say it is.
Have you ever heard of the Hash House Harriers? They are a “drinking club with a running problem”.
I hadn’t until my mate Joe Alexander (Bedroom Suck Records, Music in Exile etc.) started regaling me with bizarre stories about chasing paper trails through Malaysian rainforests and being forced to sit bare-arsed on a block of ice while singing lewd songs with a bunch of “drunked up” runners.
This sent me on a path of advanced silliness and discovery, finding out what this old, beloved and somewhat misunderstood club is all about. I spoke to Joey, his Dad - long time Hash enthusiast Borneo Bob - and finally participated in my own Hash run with the weird and wonderful Fremantle Heave Ho Hash House Harriers and Harriets aka. H6.
This episode is a real time documentation of one man (me) being introduced to one of the most storied running / drinking clubs in the world, and all the joy, confusion and hilarity that went with it.
Enormous thanks to Joe and Rob Alexander aka. Borneo Bob, and the wonderful H6 club. You’re all mad.
This podcast is supported - and conceived - by the good people at Tarkine, Western Australia's very own, environmentally focused running shoe company.
]]>
“Milly Milly Milly
You’re a silly billy
It’s way too chilly
To climb up hilly”
Milly by N.R.Allbrook
Milly Young climbs up glacial mountain faces and runs across boggy wildernesses and just seems to be having a wicked time doing it. She set the FKT for running the 165km from Scotts Peak Dam to Cockle Creek in Tasmania, but the most impressive thing for me is the joy with which she approaches the sport. There's so much self flagellation, over analysis and gnashing of teeth in the running and adventure world - overcoming pain. Pushing the limits. GETTING and STAYING HARD (sic.) but she does it for the most obvious and sublime reason of all - it’s fun! This hit me like a mighty blast of fresh Swiss mountain snow right in the face.
In this chat we also figured out Milly is an experimental ambient sound artist and a studio engineer and she didn’t bloody know it, which to me epitomises something very cool which is easily lost from art and outdoor movement - that it holds inherent value, no matter the kudos. You might "be" something without wearing the glittering badges or yelling it from the rooftops.
We also talk about sounds, her kangaroo shod Dad, b&s balls (not as sordid as it sounds*), fear, adventures in the Alps and much more.
From Kojinup to Chamonix, the wonderful, gutsy and inspiring Milly Young.
]]>“Running is meant to be fun, it's meant to be liberating, it's meant to make you feel free. If you focus too much on how fast you run or what place you come it becomes toxic.”
This week I talk to one of my heroes - the irrepressible Meriem Daoui! Meriem is an athlete, a running coach and an oncology nurse and is infuriatingly humble about being so blindingly brilliant. She wouldn’t even let me say she had been voted the Best Tasmanian in Tasmania Award 2022 even though it (sort of) true!! Oh yeah and in 2021 she received the Peter Norman Humanitarian Award for leading a number of fundraising initiatives for cancer causes as well as her work with the Muslim Women in Sport Network. She’s been doing this since she was 16.
Meriem has many powerful insights to share about maintaining an athletic lifestyle and a generosity of spirit through myriad challenges; as a woman of faith and colour surviving racism and bullying in Australia, living with type one diabetes and surviving mental ill health and eating disorder.
This episode gets pretty heavy and powerful, and the passion with which Meriem speaks about her own challenges and the way they’ve informed her approach to helping others to navigate the choppy waters of human life is unbelievably inspiring and moving. Her advice on these things is from a place of lived experience and true empathy. We both open up about mental illness and disordered eating in a very vulnerable way and I’m endlessly grateful for Meriem’s honesty and strength in creating a safe space for real discussion.
If this discussion of mental health and eating disorders has raised any concerns or triggered anything for you, don’t hesitate to call Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636
And remember, “It’s ok not to be ok”
]]>Australian marathoner, Tarkine Elite superstar, Erchana Murray-Bartlett accomplished a remarkable feat, having successfully run 150 marathons in as many consecutive days. The 32-year-old embarked on her journey five months ago, starting from the northernmost tip of her country in Cape York and culminating at the southernmost point in Melbourne.
The current world record for most consecutive daily marathons completed by a female, as recognized by the Guinness World Records, was set last August by Englishwoman Kate Jayden, who completed 106 in as many days. However, Murray-Bartlett has far exceeded this accomplishment, completing a total of 150 marathons in a row.
The journey, which covered a staggering 6,330 kilometres, took Murray-Bartlett to some of the most picturesque, renowned, and untouched regions of Australia, including the Old Telegraph Track in Cape York, the Daintree Forest, Parliament House, Bouddi National Park, and Victoria’s High Country.
In order to sustain her energy levels throughout the journey, Murray-Bartlett aimed to consume between 5,000 and 6,000 calories per day. She wore the Tarkine Goshawk for her epic journey, cementing its status as the go to eco-friendly high mileage trainer on the market.
Not only has Murray-Bartlett achieved a remarkable feat by surpassing the existing world record for most consecutive marathons completed by a female, but she also made it a mission to raise awareness and funds for a meaningful cause during her journey. Her determination and dedication to both her physical challenge and philanthropic endeavour serves as a true inspiration to all. In the end, Erchana raised more than $118,000 for the conservation organisation, the Wilderness Society.
Rather than despairing about the state of our planet, a small group of motivated runners with a deep passion for wild places have launched a new climate leadership camp in Australia.
Initially developed and launched in the US by trail runner, Dakota Jones, Footprints is making its way to Australia, in partnership with Patagonia, with the very first camp being held April 20th-25th 2023 in Warburton, the lands of the Wurundjeri people, Victoria.
“Footprints camp is dedicated to the idea that we all benefit from a healthy environment. We want to understand personal and external environmental impacts and find solutions through the context of the outdoor industry.” Said Dakota.
The premise is simple: the camp brings together 20 exceptional people who love to run (or walk) for five days to bond, develop environmental knowledge and leadership skills, and connect with grassroots organisations that are active in conserving and protecting wild lands through the creation of the Great Forest National Park.
Each morning campers go for group runs (or walk), then spend the afternoons and evenings workshopping their group projects through immersive, collaborative sessions.
Campers will be challenged, have fun, advance climate solutions, and eat delicious home-cooked food whilst working closely with world-class mentors and inspirational speakers such as Beau Miles.
Simon Harris, the Co-founder of Footprints Australia said ‘Campers will have a fun experience and be inspired by what others are doing, by what they can do, and come away feeling prepared to take action on climate change. We want to provide them with the inspiration, know-how and confidence to be effective climate action leaders.”
The Footprints team will be joined by Patagonia to support the campers to create projects and initiatives for local environmental groups, including Friends of the Earth Melbourne and Wildlife of the Central Highlands, who have been advocating for the protection of the area for years through the creation of the Great Forest National Park.
We want runners to bring their ideas, initiatives, and projects to the camp for development to contribute to the ongoing campaigns to protect an additional 355,000 hectares of native forest through the Great Forest National Park Proposal” said Majell Backhausen, Patagonia’s Community Sports Manager.
“As this community of runners and the sport of trail running grows, so too will the number of runners who, once they experience and understand our wild places, choose to act, give back, and protect them.” continues Majell.
Applications for the first camp in Victoria are now open until February 22, 2023. Prospective campers submit an online application where they detail their ideas for a project that addresses a problem to support the Great Forest National Park proposal.
The camp includes food, lodging, instruction, materials, and transportation during the camp. Campers can apply for full or partial scholarships. Apply here.
]]>In this episode I (nick) talk to the Australian Cross Country Champion, Seth O’Donnell. Seth is someone Australia can be proud of - a died in the wool, true-blue weetbix kid (27 a day at his peak), great at footy, loves his family, wants the best out of himself and those around him, volunteers for the Salvos, studies hard at physio, plays in a sick pub-rock band (Adhesion), has a resplendent mullet and bloody loves the Hawks.
While he runs at a national elite level, Seth also has a deep appreciation of the power of running to bring joy and build community. We talk about running free and training hard, eating kangaroo, the mongrel game of CC, John Bonham, Footy and the transition to Running, and heaps more.
Listen, enjoy, and forward to anyone you know working at Weet-Bix so together we can get Seth SPONNO’ed!!! Oh, and go check out Adhesion if u live in Victoria. At a pub near you.
Tarkine Running and Run to Paradise are based in Walyalup (Fremantle) the un-ceded traditional lands of the Whadjuk people of the Nyoongar nation. We honour and are thankful for their continued custodianship over the lands we work, sing and run on. Always was, always will be.
]]>“When you’re regulated by the ground your body learns something about form, you relinquish the achievement and ego, but you gain this sense of being fauna, being regulated by place”
Simon Barker doesn’t care about distance, incline, cadence, heart rate or speed - the only running metric he is concerned with are form and experience.
Simon is one of the most astonishing drummers in the country and a dedicated barefoot runner. His teachings and explorations within these spaces are extensive and mind-melting.
I learn a lot with every episode of this show, but this one was truly enlightening. Simons views towards training and experience, about learning from the terrain rather than dominating it, have honestly shaken my whole view of modern running. I’ve never heard anyone speak so thoughtfully about the boundless intersections of running and music. It’s not just the rhythm of ones feet and heart, but the timbre of the wind and electricity in yr brain, and the emotions and sensations transmitted through the feet. Running informs every element of his music as fishing songs are sung by fishermen.
We talk about a bunch of stuff - unlearning as progress, J-Dilla, skateboarding, running and drumming in Korea and Japan and the new album by him, Chloe Kim and Jeremy Scott, titled Disruption!
I’ve never met anyone more attuned to the sounds and sensations of their body and the terrains on which it moves. I’m very proud to present this chat with the remarkable Simon Barker.
]]>
Erchana Murray Bartlett is running from Cape York to Melbourne raising funds and awareness for the extinction of Australian native animals. I caught up with her “1600 and 40 something” kilometres into her epic journey. We talk about soccer, tacos, animals, childhood, consuming ungodly amounts of food and footwear and what it's like taking an enormous, scary, leap of faith into the murky adventure of life, leaving the track and field world, and following your deepest dreams! At this point, Erchana is past the halfway mark… somewhere around Rainbow Beach. What she’s doing is completely stuffed tbh, and we love her for it! And for fighting the good fight for our native animals. And because she’s possibly the nicest person on earth. Support Erchana or face the wrath of our terrifying koalas and chuditches!!!
Tarkine Running and Run to Paradise are based in Walyalup (Fremantle) the un-ceded traditional lands of the Whadjuk people of the Nyoongar nation. We honour and are thankful for their continued custodianship over the lands we work, sing and run on. Always was, always will be.
]]>]]>
A beautiful chat with Andrew ‘Googz’ Thorpe. Gunnai gunditjmara man, heroic runner and mental health advocate, graduate of the fantastic Indigenous Marathon Project!! We talk about running 100ks, the 777 challenge, Indigenous Marathon Program, fundraising, coping with depression and mental ill health, foster children, and much more. Googzy is really someone we can look up to - honest, humble, vulnerable and hard working. Eye opening and essential, chatting with Googzy was an absolute privilege.
Tarkine Running and Run to Paradise are based in Walyalup (Fremantle) the un-ceded traditional lands of the Whadjuk people of the Nyoongar nation. We honour and are thankful for their continued custodianship over the lands we work, sing and run on. Always was, always will be.
]]>I first walked south into the Tarkine wilderness in 1973, searching for the thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger. This large, striped carnivorous marsupial was hunted to the brink of extinction after 1888, when the Tasmanian parliament voted to put a one pound (two dollars) bounty on its head. However sightings persisted, and some of the most promising were in the Tarkine, northwest of Australia's island state of Tasmania.
We saw none, but what I did see had me spellbound: 450,000 hectares of cathedral-like rainforest, rushing rivers, wild flowers and ferns, and fungi of every hue. Named after the Tarkiner people who lived along its coastline for thousands of years before European dispossession in the 1830s, the region remains rich in Aboriginal heritage. This includes the sites of huts just above its shore, and stone engravings thought to be 6,000 years old.
The Tarkine abounds in wildlife. It is a secure habitat for rare and remarkable species like the Tasmanian devil, the spotted-tailed quoll (both are marsupial carnivores), the world's largest freshwater crayfish, as well as platypuses, echidnas and Tasmania's giant wedgetailed eagle. The wedgetails have a wingspan of up to three metres. A decade back I was walking across the buttongrass plain to the Tarkine coast when two wedgetails flew east from the mountains. One turned back but the second circled overhead before flying down in a corkscrew maneuver to land just 10 metres away: the monarch of this domain.
Sustainable Timber Tasmania has released plans to clearfell about 4569 hectares of hardwood plantation and native forest in the North-West.
The three-year plan also outlined STT's intentions to log and regenerate nearly 6600 hectares of forest in the North-West, 44000 hectares across the state and, notably, only a handful of coupes in the Tarkine
Bob Brown Foundation campaign manager Jenny Weber said "significant" areas of the Tarkine - such as in the Sumac forests - had been left out.
"While our Foundation is analysing the logging plans we have noticed a temporary reprieve for significant areas of forests in the Tarkine where our protests have taken place in the last five years," she said.
"Rainforests and ancient forests have been removed from the logging schedule in the Tarkine's Sumac, Frankland river and Rapid river areas."
STT did not directly respond when asked why the areas had been omitted.
Ms Weber said the BBF was concerned that habitat for endangered species still remained on the schedule.
Australians watched on in abject horror through their screens as the ‘lungs of the planet’ blazed and blackened.
After weeks of raging fires consumed large stretches of the Amazon, the media eventually turned our eyes to the global tragedy.
A flood of chilling soundbites filled our feeds. Distraught indigenous communities screamed for their homeland as ancient, irreplaceable water and food systems incinerated in seconds.
All we could do was witness and wonder… how could this happen?
How could Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, fail to protect his own people? How could he put a price on an ecosystem that sucks up 20 per cent of global carbon emissions when the world is in a state of existential climate crisis?
These questions remain unanswered, outside of the obvious and insufficient response of revenue. It’s now time for Australia to ask the same questions of its own government as the pristine Tasmanian Tarkine Rainforest once again comes under attack.
]]>It had been quiet in Tasmania's forests, until recently.
With a long history of forest conflict, a peace deal struck between environmentalists and loggers in 2012 cooled things off in the state.
And despite the Liberal government putting a symbolic end to the peace deal in 2014, there had been some semblance of peace.
But now, it seems, the conflict is back on, with tree-sits in the Tarkine, locking onto machinery at Ta Ann's Smithton mill, glueing themselves to the offices of the state-owned forestry agency Sustainable Timber Tasmania resulting in about 25 activists arrested in the past six months.
Now, two decisions in Victoria are being closely watched for whether they'll spell more conflict for the island state.
]]>What if you could run to save one of the last truly wild places on earth?
Currently, in Tasmania’s North-West corner, there are protesters chaining themselves to trees or occluding the path of bulldozers.
Tireless protesters, putting their lives on hold to help save one of the world’s most beautiful temperate rainforests (and Australia’s largest), Takayna/Tarkine. Takayna/Tarkine is one of the last, truly wild places on earth. Such largely undisturbed extensive tracts of cool temperate rainforest are extremely rare worldwide.
It is a living example of one of the most primitive vegetation formations on Earth. Providing a unique window into our planet’s ancient past, the cool temperate rainforests in Takayna were once widespread across the ancient supercontinent Gondwana. It is home to some of the best-preserved plant fossil sites in the world, dating back 65 million years.
]]>Cassy O'Connor MP | Greens Forests spokesperson
The logging industry’s destruction of ancient rainforest in the takayna/Tarkine region is the first major test for Tasmania’s new Premier and Climate Change Minister Peter Gutwein.
The Gondwanan rainforests of north west Tasmania are not only priceless for their conservation values, they are also vital carbon banks. If Premier Gutwein is really serious about climate change, he needs to intervene to stop this destructive, unnecessary logging and release of the carbon they store.
In a climate and biodiversity emergency, with massive tracts of forest burned on the mainland, there is no justification for native forest logging.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is oxygen clear in its assessment that deforestation must end if we’re to slow down global heating.
Claims from industry figures that forest destruction is actually good for the climate are a pathetic, self-interested and unscientific attempt to greenwash practices the industry’s own polling has shown no longer have a social license.
]]>A Bob Brown Foundation activist has turned to the public to help pay off fines received during forestry protests.
Hobart veterinarian Colette Harmsen was ordered to pay $1000 for her involvement in protests at the Ta Ann mill at Smithton, Tarkine logging sites and the Sustainable Timber Tasmania office.
The Hobart Magistrates Court issued the penalty last week along with a $1000 fine for activist Lisa Searle and $400 for Atalaya Ferrari.
Dr Harmsen has since launched a $3000 crowdfunding campaign to cover the fines, legal costs and the ongoing Tarkine campaign but said she was not "pushing" or "pursing" people for donations.
"Most of the people donating are friends and families and supporters of direct action within Tasmania," she said.
"We're trying to conserve what is left of native forests for the values that are in them and we're putting a lot of work in .... It's a great issue and that's why a lot of people are doing direct action."
More than 20 North-West GPs and emergency doctors have banded together in hopes of protecting a "high value conservation area" of the Tarkine recently released from a moratorium on logging.
They say logging the area would be a direct threat to the Coast's health.
"Our concern is about the negative and potentially devastating effects on health, businesses and employment for people in Tasmania as well as on the environment," they wrote in a letter sent to various politicians, health and education facilities, and related businesses.
Group spokesperson Dr Stefan Delitzsch said logging was an important part of Tasmania'a economy, but that an area like the Tarkine had far more value as a source of leatherwood for beekeeping, tourism, and as storage for carbon.
"We need to think with a long term view for the next generations," he said.