Episode 223 - Abigail

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HostsMelissa Ellis Oliver Spake

Roving reportersMelissa Ellis Tony O'Connell

Show notes

Two hosts, two adventures, but did anyone enjoy their parkrunday more than Abigail? This week Mel and Olly talk palm21 costumes, parkrun adventuring experiences, a pink parkrun at Wynnum and we have a roving report from TOC at Fairpark Reserve (opens in a new tab)

The podcast feed and the Facebook post carry the same notes.

Roving reports

1·2Fairpark Reserve and Eynesbury Heritage Trail juniors

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:20

  Melissa Ellis hosting with Ollie Spake. On a family holiday Ollie ran Huskisson (Husky) parkrun alone, going sub-20 and fourth with a PB on the new Moona Moona Creek course, caught up with Shellharbour friend Michael over brekkie, saluted turnaround marshal Graham (90 of 117 events volunteered) and discovered the runner he passed was a high-school mate unseen for 20 years. Mel did event three at Fairpark Reserve (101 finishers) with friend Helen, her mum walking her ninth event, and talks silo art trails; a report from Tony O'Connell, who was also there, follows.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 11:24

  Roving report from Fair Park Reserve in Melbourne, filed by Tony O'Connell, who opens "Toc [TOC] reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew." He walks the course with two parkrunners, Jodie (eighth parkrun; first ever was the trail course at Kate Reid, on Brendan Peel's urging) and Lynne (down from Cobram, visiting family), covering the course's creek, bridges, greenery, animal noises and native-tree smells. Runs 00:11:24-00:14:05, with the hosts discussing it afterwards.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 23:39

  Melissa Ellis's own recorded report from her junior parkrun (spoken as "Eynesbury Heritage Trail Junior parkrun"), interviewing young parkrunner Abigail, the episode's title character. Abigail reports finishing 27th (a new best position for her), a rainy but fun morning, wearing her sister's hat, running with Zoe, Alicia and Summer, and her mum being Run Director. Runs 00:23:39-00:24:48.

• the Informant starts at 24:51

  The anonymous weekly stats segment, 00:24:51-00:28:03. No event launches worldwide; 447 events ran globally, 412 in Australia and New Zealand; just under 50k participants (49,946); a post-COVID record 7,134 PBs; 2,420 first-timers; 223 hit 50, 110 hit 100, 11 hit 250. Includes new statesmen/territorians for the ACT (10), NT (4) and SA, and Most Aussie/NZ Events movers. Hosts note afterwards he sounded "a little bit more relaxed this week, not as surly as normal."

• Statesmen update starts at 26:06

  Delivered inside the Informant's stats rundown rather than as a standalone bit: 10 new ACT territorians (Wayne Baylis, Emily Potts, Irene Bomacante and Paul Kelly at Coombs; David O'Kelly, Hayley Cuttle and Richard Dantas at Ginninderra; David Matthews, Derek and Linda Allen at Gungahlin), 4 new NT territorians (Aldo Conti at Darwin; Tanya Mace, Rebecca and Bruce Payne at Nightcliff), and Jonathan Morgan at Mount Barker rounding out new statesmen.

• The biggest Wilson mover starts at 27:25

  Explicitly announced inside the Informant's segment as "A new segment for Stats", the biggest weekly mover on the Wilson index. First edition has a parkrun-Adventurers-of-old flavour: Luke Crozier (Westerfolds) 2 to 10; Melissa Erbacher 9 to 23; a nudge to Scott Trickett to call in with his W index ("P.S. It's 13"); overall biggest mover Brad Carr, 33 to 62.

• Sign-off starts at 38:23

  Mel asked whether Ollie would be home at Shell Harbour next week: he will be, run directing again, and looking forward to seeing the Rundown Under shirts out for parkrun Down Under Day. Mel's parkrun day was still in the planning, with accommodation and logistics unsorted, but she needs to get to Lewis Hayman - about three hours north in country Victoria - the last event she needs to regain her statesmanship. They trailed next week's host-versus-host March Madness quiz with quizmaster Simon Mackley, gave out the email address parkrunadventurers at gmail.com, and Ollie said it was a shorter one this week so it was time to wrap up, thanking everyone for joining them and thanking Mel.