Fetcheveryone Member of the Month

Gooner asks: Well deserved, now, are there any lengths you wouldn't go to for a badge?

chunkywizard says: Cheers Gooner. Yes, there are lengths I wouldn’t (or couldn't) go for a badge. If it takes too much time and upsets normal family life then I’d give it a miss. I’ve reached my limit in terms of the distance in a month badges and I think WSW badges for Final and Winner would take too much time as well. In fact I'm running out of badges. I need to go some more swimming!

Angus Clydesdale asks: Congratulations chunkers. Now, to the most important question this month: Llandudno pier, with its staid echoes of Victorian austerity viewed through a veil of mist and drizzle or Bournemouth pier, set in literally acres of sunshine and which has its own ZIP-LINE?!

chunkywizard says: Ha, very good! To be honest I wanted Palace Pier or West Pier to win as I went to Uni in Brighton and I also voted for a lot of pliers but in answer to your question, I would vote for FUN! And go for Bournemouth

pedroscalls asks: Well done chunky, my question is if time and money was no object which race or route would you love to run.

chunkywizard says: Thanks Pedro. I have quite simple tastes, if I could run the London Marathon I’d be a happy man. After years of trying in the ballot I finally got our club place in the annual draw this year. I just hope I get to run it some time soon (and in a way that isn’t compromised)

RRR-CAZ 🇬🇧 asks: Well done CW. If you were given a golden ticket to any sporting event what would you choose to watch

chunkywizard says: Cheers CAZ. 2 events come to mind, although I reckon the longer I ponder the question the more ideas will come to mind.

Firstly is Wimbledon singles final. I’ve been to Wimbledon a couple of times and Centre Court is a fantastic arena where the view is just like watching on the telly.

Second is the Olympics. I really regret not seeing any live events in 2012 and I’d love to see some of the athletics finals.

westmoors asks: Congratulations CW. If you could meet anyone, past or present, who would it be and why?

chunkywizard says: Thank you westmoors. This is one of the most tricky questions I've been asked. I’d find it really hard to strike up a conversation with someone famous that I didn’t know I think so I wouldn’t enjoy it that much. I reckon the person I’d like to meet again would be my dad. I have so many questions for him and I'd love to talk to him and being him up to date on everything he’s missed in the last 10 years.

RunningRonnie asks: Is a wizard a male witch or is there more to it than that?

chunkywizard says: Hey Ronnie, just googling it, a wizard is a man with magical powers. Although my skills couldn’t really be defined as magic Mrs CW and Miss CW see them as such when I fix the television with a click of my fingers (and a discrete toggle of the power button)

Serendippily asks: Well done chunky-who-is-not-chunky. You’re on this site quite a bit at the moment what tipped you over the edge?

chunkywizard says: Cheers Serendippily. I think badges tipped me over the edge! In my quest for more badges I realised that the only way to get more was to do more things I started playing the Fetch games and aiming for targets that gave me badges eg WSW squares (I now have the Gridmaster badge), Fetchpoint (I have 10K points badge and all the bug clearance badges) and Conquercise (I managed to get 250 zones in a year). I also started blogging as they are a shed load of badges for that as well. I am now blogging daily (although not sure that is sustainable in the long term) so have all the number of blogs badges, but I am still working toward the badges for unique number of peoples comments. By the way, if anyone reading this has never commented on a blog of mine please do, I still have the 150 and 200 comments badges to go

Raggedy runner asks: Congratulations! What do you get most from being ED at Dinton Pastures (which is a lovely PR by the way)?

chunkywizard says: Thanks for the congrats and the complements about Dinton Pastures. parkrun is such a wonderful thing and I really miss it at the moment. I think the best thing about being ED is seeing how much it means to everyone that comes long. I just love being part of the team that makes the magic happen. It also brings together a fantastic community and I love the diverse range of people many of which I would never have met if it wasn’t for parkrun.

FML asks: Which Wizard are you like Harry Potter or Gandalf?

chunkywizard says: Hi FML, I don’t think I’m like either! I couldn’t grow a beard for love nor money (my facial hair is frankly embarrassing) and I’m far too old to be mistaken for Harry, although I do still have hair and wear glasses (when I'm not running)

BigChiefRunningBore asks: On a scale of 1 to 10 how chunky is the wizard? (1 low 10 high)

chunkywizard says: I’m probably a 2. I always strive to keep my racing weight as I read that every Kg is 5secs on a Km (or something like that!). I’m currently about 68kg (which I think is about 10.5 stone) which I’m happy with. I’ve actually never been chunky, it’s just a nickname!

Chrisity asks: Am i alone is getting an ear worm for the advert for "funky pigeon . com" everytime i see chunkywizard written down? Are you going to now set up chunkywizard.com, i can do the ad.

chunkywizard says: Hi Chrisity, yes you are alone! We never watch ads as we record everything on YouView and jump the ads so I’ve never seen the one you refer to. I do own the chunkywizard.com domain though so if you want to make me an ad, go for it!

Sharkie asks: What IS it with badges? *don't understand*

chunkywizard says: LOL Sharkie. Badges are my race/medal substitute As I can't enter a race and earn a medal I need something to focus on so I don't go mad.

Alice the Camel asks: Congratulations! Can I sneak 2 questions? What's your favourite run distance and your favourite race?

chunkywizard says: Cheers Alice. 2 questions? No problem :-). Favourite run distance? I guess it’s 5K. Because of parkrun I’ve run it far more than any other distance so I think I am better at running them. I also can gauge the effort needed when racing which I like.

Favourite race? If we are talking about my favourite race event then I reckon it’s either Wokingham Half or Endure24. I got great memories from both mainly because they are both big events for my club, Finch Coasters, but I have also run well at both events.

If by favourite race you mean mean my favourite race out of all the ones I've run then I have a particular affection with Marlow 5 2019. It was one of those days when everything clicked and I ran a blinder. It was a massive PB when I thought my days of PBs was over.

BarefootEm asks: Well done Mr Wizard! What is your favourite Fetch game and has it changed over time?

chunkywizard says: Thanks Em. Technically I think Badges is a game as it is under the Games section of the website! If so I choose them :-). If we are talking Fetchpoint/ WSW/ Conquercise then I always find myself coming back to WSW. It’s because you can do as much or as little as you want and you can still choose different routes (unlike bug splatting which is quite prescriptive. I also like the head-to-head nature of it, especially if you know your opponent!