Episode 206 - Pause?

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HostsMelissa Erbacher Tony O'Connell

Roving reporterSteve Darby

GuestMark Scarborough

Show notes

From the Facebook post

Happy Blursday adventurers! Did you notice Episode 206 snuck out yesterday

after a slightly longer than usual pause? Fun is had with TOC guest co-hosting with Mel this week!

More vicarious adventures are on the agenda with Channel 5 News Crew's Mark Scarborough, still on his Aussie adventure. Plus Steve Darby gets roving in NZ at Millwater (opens in a new tab) parkrun (recorded before the re-pause). AND we can’t wait to start streaking and invite you all to join us this #streakyseptember!

From the podcast feed

The parkrun adventurers catch up after a slightly longer than usual pause, with Tony O’Connell (AKA TOC) returning to co-host. We check in with Mark Scarborough as his Aussie adventures continue, and Steve Darby gets roving in NZ and submits a report from Millwater (opens in a new tab) parkrun. Plus we can’t wait to start streaking and invite you all to join us this September!

Guest

Roving reports

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:23

  Tony O'Connell (TOC) from near Inverloch in Victoria with Mel Erbacher on the Sunshine Coast, comparing early magpie swooping seasons. Mel explains the gap since the last episode was a long run of non-COVID sickness through the Erbacher household; TOC is up to 70parkruns, one every day, with Inverloch topping Australia'sparkrun numbers three weeks running. Mel ran the virtual Sunshine Coast Marathon Festival 10K with Adam pushing the boys in the double pram, but Adam refused the fancy dress, so the costumes sit on the bookcase awaiting a family photo, perhaps a 2K when Streaky September starts.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 15:19

  Mel and TOC check back in with Channel 5 News Crew member Mark Scarborough, calling from under the caravan awning at Mount Isa. He recaps the Freedom Runs completed since the last update, Narromine Wetlands, Dubbo, Tamworth, Armidale, Coffs Harbour, Varsity Lakes, Surfers Paradise, Paradise Point, Nambour (where he met Fluffy the emu), Hervey Bay, Yeppoon, Rockhampton, Airlie Beach, Cairns and Mount Isa, the border-permit scramble out of NSW into Queensland, and the route ahead through Kakadu, Darwin, Litchfield and Uluru. TOC sets him an alphabet challenge: 13 letters ticked off in six weeks, 12 to go with eight weeks left.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 27:24

  Steve Darby files a roving report from Millwater parkrun in Silverdale, north of Auckland, recorded in the post-parkrun cafe on New Zealand's third run back after the COVID break. With Whangarei flooded out and Hobsonville not yet restarted, he notes Millwater is, for once, the most northerly parkrun in the world that weekend. He interviews the two Co-Event Directors about their first-run-back link-up with Italy (a run brief delivered in Italian via Google Translate and an Italian pronunciation app, plus contact with Giorgio Cambione), what has and has not changed post-break (QR contact tracing, sanitising tokens, otherwise back to normal), the course history and facilities, the absence of international visitors, and where they would travel if they could.

• Streaky September starts at 41:56

  TOC and Mel preview the fourth Streaky September, starting in two days: move two kilometres every day for the whole month, however you like. TOC flags streakers approaching 731 days and Carolyn Vandermeer nearing 800, plus the Facebook group (Streak 365 / Streak365plus1) with members like Cassie in WA and Pippa White in the UK. Mel explains the challenge's origin, she and Scotty looking for motivation to get their mojo back, promises Streaky Bingo and a "lockdown level up" set of challenges designed for people confined to their homes and neighbourhoods this year, and reassures listeners that a broken streak just gets restarted.

• International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day starts at 47:27

  Mel announces the 2020 date, 19 December, and teases this year's design: a new colour scheme, never a repeat of the original purple-and-orange release or last year's traditional Christmas colours, and for the first time t-shirts as well as singlets, so she can put designs on sleeves. Orders will open for a limited window only, never to be repeated. TOC notes the singlets now get worn at events year-round, so spotting one identifies a fellow podcast listener.

• Sign-off starts at 51:36

  Mel said there was nothing left to say for the week except stay safe and well, and thanked Toc for joining her on the pod, adding that it was lovely to hear his voice unmuffled by a mask. Toc said it had been awesome chatting to her and that it was always great to hear her voice from up there on the sunny Sunshine Coast, regardless of what Mark says.