Episode 224 - Madness & Mystery
2021-03-04
— open the full-size coverHostsMelissa Ellis Oliver Spake
Roving reportersMark Scarborough Tony O'Connell
GuestSimon Mackley
Show notes
It's host vs host as The Quizmaster returns for March Madness. And we have roving reports from TOC at Louis Hamon Park (opens in a new tab) and Mark at Ginninderra (opens in a new tab) parkruns. Tune in to hear all the fun as Mel & Olly battle it out with a little help from some special friends.
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Enhanced transcript
Speakers named, sound described and segments marked by the editing pass — not yet checked by a person.
Read the transcriptGuest
Simon Mackley
Simon returns as the Quizmaster to run March Madness against the two hosts, then is asked about his own parkrun adventures, completing his 50th different parkrun (his "cow") at Cowpasture Reserve in Camden, the three events left on his Sydney Rayfarer (Casula, Chipping Norton and Panania), his alphabet chase, and a likely clash between the next live event and his wife's 40th birthday.
Roving reports
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:23
Melissa Ellis hosting with Ollie Spake. Ollie ran 35 km in loose training for a low-key local marathon that turns near Lake Illawarra, volunteered at Shellharbour alongside his mum and Hannah amid a strong Run Down Under turnout, and lost a very fast Kiama visitor on course; he also apologises to New Zealand for a careless word as the country's alert level rules out parkrun. Mel left at 4am for Louis Hamon Park parkrun, brunched with TOC, Jackie, Helen, Steve and Nathan while the ED fangirled over TOC, and starts on Sunday's juniors.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 18:29
TOC's roving report from Louis Hamon Park parkrun in Numurkah, northern Victoria, five hours up the Goulburn Valley Highway from Melbourne. He tail walks the out-and-back course along the Broken River, notes he was born in Numurkah, and interviews Leanne, the event's Run Director and Event Director, about the course's four bridge crossings, how the event got its name ("because we can't have the town name anymore"), her motivation to start it so she could run with her daughter, the strong local walker turnout and the event being only four weeks old.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 22:43
Mark's roving report from Ginninderra parkrun in Canberra, the first parkrun in Canberra, event number 424, average attendance 177.4. He interviews Rosie (a new Canberra arrival from Berry who rates Ginninderra prettier than her home Shellharbour and Husky), Amanda (Newcastle/Stockton parkrunner on holiday, tracking her Run Down Under progress towards Byron Bay) and Philip (Barcode Scanner, Ginninderra regular since 2013, praising the new scanning app and chasing the parkrun alphabet).
the Informant starts at 29:20
Anonymous unofficial-stats bulletin: no launches worldwide, a post-COVID record 457 events worldwide and 417 across Australia/New Zealand, 51,008 down-under finishers, 7,712 PBs, plus milestone counts. Runs through 11 new statespeople (including Melissa Ellis at Louis Hamon Park), the Most Aussie/NZ Events movers and Wilson Index movers, then answers Brendan Peel's listener challenge on which state has the most Cowell Club members, Queensland and Victoria tied on 31, New South Wales third on 20. Signs off "my spreadsheet is bigger than yours." Returns as Mel's phone-a-friend during March Madness, comically inflating the number of parkruns in Australia from 387 to 412.
March Madness — Oliver Spake starts at 43:30
Host-vs-host quiz, hosted by guest Quizmaster Simon Mackley, nine questions plus a two-point decider, with buzzers and a phone-a-friend lifeline each. Questions cover parkruns starting with "Palm", Zoes vs Hannahs, a "Who am I?" (Alison King), the number of parkruns in Australia, the 2020 average finish time, average step count (6,561), the closest parkrun to the equator (East Coast, Singapore), the longest Australian parkrun name (44 letters, Grand Ridge Rail Trail parkrun) and cow-named NSW parkruns (Pioneer Dairy, Cowra). Ollie wins 6-3 in what both call "a Stephen Bradbury moment". Prior history is discussed: Mel was the original champion of madness, later lost to Simon, who lost to Brendan Peel, holder of the golden pineapple.
The Oracle starts at 53:12
First appearance of a new anonymous character, a Yoda-voiced oracle used as Ollie's phone-a-friend during March Madness, reasoning aloud through continents to name East Coast parkrun in Singapore as the closest parkrun to the equator, and signing off "Knowledge is power. This has been the Oracle." Mel flags it as "a new identity in our podcast that we haven't heard from before."
Emails starts at 1:03:34
"You've got mail", Ollie reads an email from listener Leanne, a long-time listener and first-time communicator, who was running through South Bank in Brisbane while listening to the episode covering it, and who is heading back to her home parkrun Parramatta. Mel ties it back to Lyndell's roving report from the same location. The show's email address, parkrunadventurers@gmail.com, is given out.
Sign-off starts at 1:05:14
Mel said they had had a very full episode and Ollie said he was spent and that it was late. She asked whether he had something to remind her of, and he produced the running reminder to bring the budgies in, agreeing that a system where she reminds him to remind her could work. Mel suggested they leave it there for the week and catch up on a brand new week of adventures next time, and they said their thanks and goodbyes.