Episode 250 - The Story So Far
2021-09-02
— open the full-size coverHostsMelissa Ellis Oliver Spake
Roving reportersMark Scarborough Tracey Wood
GuestsMelissa Erbacher Scott Trickett
Show notes
From the Facebook post
That's right, the parkrun adventurers podcast has reached its 250 milestone!
Mel & Olly are taking a walk down memory lane for the 250th episode.
We hear from Mark at Hampton Oval (opens in a new tab) parkrun, Tracey pops in from Des Connor Park junior parkrun and Pippa shares some more Streaky tips. Dazza’s was back this week, Olly explains the Bingoe card and we have some
related stats from The Informant
Join us for all this, plus a few little surprises!
(and then spend a quality 250-odd hours listening back to the remaining 249 episodes again!)
From the podcast feed
Mel & Olly are taking a walk down memory lane for the 250th episode. We hear from Mark at Hampton Oval (opens in a new tab) parkrun, Tracey pops in from Des Connor Park juniors (opens in a new tab) and Pippa shares some more Streaky tips. Dazza’s was back this week, Olly explains the Bingoe card and we have some 250 related stats from The Informant. Join us for all this, plus a few little surprises!
Listen
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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 transcriptGuests
Melissa Erbacher
A comic phone-call skit for the 250th: Melissa Ellis rings Melissa Erbacher, who does not twig who is calling and patiently explains that there are two Mels on the pod, suggests the caller email the show, and passes on warm words about "Mel Ellis and Ollie" and the milestone. Ends with Ellis dropping the act, "Thank you, Mel. It's been so lovely to hear your voice again."
Scott Trickett
Ollie calls the revived Hotline and Scott answers it. They cover the still-unbuilt Contiki tour, the Poem Zone and the 11% who voted to keep it, Scott's lockdown fitness and his stopwatch bingo, which segments he would bring back (Madness, the Hotline, the Perlustration) and the "bracket breakdown" idea Mel never let him run, his 99 global events and having no plan for the 100th beyond making it fun, whether he would sing them out, and a sincere thank-you to Mel and Ollie for carrying the torch.
Roving reports
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:26
Episode 250, Melissa Ellis and Ollie Spake ("not Mel Erbacher" and "not Scott Trickett"), recording at night with a party blower and gifted ginger chocolate. Mel, admitting lockdown fatigue, went with a yellow spring theme and hosted the Wagi Bridge troll, taking it round Ellis Palace, the Toolern Creek Trail and a Toolern Creek Freedom Run; Ollie got aparkrun PB back on the full Bass Point course and caught up with Bec near the bridge again. Mel noted the show is the first parkrun podcast to reach 250 and surprised Ollie with a new official parkrun club, The adventurers, before a recap of the years so far.
Episode 250 retrospective starts at 7:44The Story So Far
Melissa Ellis and Oliver Spake walk year by year through the show's history from its first episode on 6 January 2016: 50 episodes in 2016 (Tim Oberg in ep1, Ian Hay and Facts in a Haystack, TOC in ep4, PK in ep13, Peter Pohlman in ep16, Alison King in ep26, Danny Norman in ep37, Simon Mackley in ep48, the news crew still called Channel 4); 44 in 2017 (Lyndell's first report from Nambour and the first mention of the Pirate Club in ep58, Nicola Forward in ep59, the Channel 5 News Crew renamed by Scott when Lyndell was inducted in ep62, Dave Moss ep64, Gary Murphy ep65, Baby Wes ep71, Greta ep78, first Streaky September explanation ep79, Simon Mackley winning November Madness ep89, the Christmas song ep95, and the show's longest ever episode at 1:59 at Christmas 2017); 47 in 2018 (the missing ep113, the first POM at Shellharbour ep105, Melissa Ellis inducted into the Channel 5 News Crew ep115, Mel's Geeveston misadventure ep137 and kangaroo mishap ep138, Marvellous Mark's first roving report from Braidwood Showground ep142, and With Me Now's Danny and Nicola closing the year); 46 in 2019 (Mark's induction ep151, the second POM at The Beaches numbered 5959, Scott's farewell episode 170, Cameron's first interview at Champion Lakes ep184, a three-host episode); 27 in 2020 (ep189 Kangaroo Island bushfires, the POM at Mount Barker ep196 just before COVID, four Ellis/Spake trial episodes at 201, 204, 209 and 214, and Melissa Erbacher's farewell in ep215); and 35 so far in 2021. Ollie counts at least 16 different hosts and co-hosts across the run. Mel also unveils a surprise: an official parkrun club, The adventurers, that listeners can add to their parkrun profile. Brendan is thanked for the 250th anniversary artwork.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 19:27
A milestone run of back-to-back roving reports, teed up by Ollie. Mark Scarborough reports from the Pilbara in Western Australia, interviewing Jess, the Run Director who founded Hampton Oval parkrun at Dampier, about its mixed oval/trail/beach course, its volunteers, and mums Bianca and Kylie who take turns running while the other minds the kids; he notes Port Hedland parkrun was cancelled for a music festival and that he heads to Kununurra next. Tracey Wood then reports from Des Connor Park junior parkrun in Brisbane, talking to Mark (Wynnum RD and event ambassador, who once ran two parkruns either side of the date line), Andy (course setter and marshal, home parkrun Chermside) and Kiralee "Sass", the Run Director.
Streaky September starts at 33:31
The 2021 Streaky September launch. Pippa's tips piece follows earlier contributions from TOC (what counts as a streak) and Alison (streaking in a fog-bound airport), and challenges listeners to find and measure their own two kilometres close to home for lockdown. From Ollie unveils the crowd-sourced Bingoe card: a selfie with a park bench, streak with a friend (in person or virtually), a flightless bird photo, record aparkrun, streaky Strava art, coffee at Dazza's, find a "stranger thing", and run with a podcast (the Zombies, Run! app as a mini level-up). A Facebook group and a parkrun adventurers Streaky September Strava group are announced, with the card to be uploaded to Strava for listeners not on Facebook.
Emails starts at 35:15
One email, from Eman [Vergara]: South Toowoomba parkrun hosted Olympian Pat Tiernan, who was interviewed afterwards by Robbie, but Eman missed it because he and Christine had just welcomed their daughter Juno on Thursday 26 August. He looks forward to sub-20-minute pram parkruns. The hosts congratulate the family.
Dazza's starts at 37:22
The Saturday-morning Facebook check-in read out. parkrunners: Claire Stutchbury at Ecco Ripley, Val at Warwick volunteering on the last parkrun of winter, Linda Coombes at Warwick with Bella the dog, Pip taking 19:15 off her Warwick Racecourse time, Janet Reid and the record coffee-cup tower at Lochiel Park. Not parkrunners: Caro Vos along the Woy Woy path, Alison King baking after a wet walk, Bernadette Bennett singing about 13 pubs with no beer, Ingrid Botha's virtual Joey Hoppet ski race, Chris Fraser, Sonja Pohlman, Abigail's mum at Wyndham Vale, Tony O'Connell, Richard, Sam Schroder's week nine of the Love Shack not parkrun, and Jodie with Brendan Peel. The Bailey shots from Tanya, Brett and Rebecca Bailey, and Rebecca Scott's newborn Teddy (Edward Peter Scott), born 21 August. Ollie also explains the segment for new listeners.
the Informant starts at 50:05
A 250-themed stats report for the milestone episode. 10,741 parkrunners worldwide have 250 or more runs, 1,551 on Australian soil and 119 in New Zealand; Rob Allen was slowest to 250 (833 weeks, first at Bushy Park #45, 250th at Bushy #835 on 24 July) and David Bull fastest (235 weeks); 45 people have run at more than 250 locations, two at 250 Australian locations, and 3,781 have run the same event 250 times. Week that was: 1,156 events in 17 countries, 210 in Australia, New Zealand still paused, six launches (Netherlands 1, Poland 2, Russia 2, UK 1), Aus/NZ attendance 17,513 of 162,776 worldwide, 2,289 PBs, 542 first-timers, milestone counts, eleven bingos (Brenton Parker quickest on 184 events, Kylie Mui slowest on 324), six new statesmen all from the Northern Territory, plus movers on the most-events and Wilson Index lists. Signs off thanking hosts past and present and promising to be back for the 500th.
Hotline starts at 1:05:31
Revived for the milestone: Oliver Spake rings the parkrun adventurers Hotline and Scott Trickett answers it, taking a booking for the still-mythical Contiki tour. They talk about the Poem Zone (Ollie claims to be among the 11% who voted to keep it), Scott's lockdown fitness and stopwatch bingo, the segments he would bring back, the bracket-breakdown idea Mel never let him run, and his 99 global events with no plan yet for the 100th beyond making it fun.
Sign-off starts at 1:14:30
In the last of the 250th-episode retrospective calls, Scotty publicly thanked Ollie and Mel for carrying the torch for the parkrun adventurers, said anything that spread the word of parkrun was a good thing, and promised to catch up and listen in sync now he had the time. Ollie replied that that was the beauty of a podcast, thanked Scotty and Mel for everything they had done, said 250 was huge and that they still looked back and delighted in episode one.