Episode 260 - The Wild Card

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HostsMelissa Ellis Oliver Spake

Roving reportersPaul Kitching Tracey Wood

Show notes

This week, the parkrun adventurers talk notties on tour, while Dazza enjoys some company after being left at home. PK speaks to the team at Patawalonga River (opens in a new tab) parkrun while Tracey levels up her challenge at Sandgate (opens in a new tab) parkrun with a familiar voice. We talk hi-fives and pacers, hear about the (not) p-index and celebrate ugly Christmas singlets and parkrun books! It’s all very vanilla.

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Roving reports

1Sandgate2Patawalonga River

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:23

  Ollie Spake with Melissa Ellis, who took herparkrun on the road to Albert Melbourne for a rendezvous with Brendan Peel and his partner Jodie, speculating on what Victoria's 100th event might be (Mel's pick is Werribee Park Mansion) and celebrating her unknowing 100th nottie, done at Toolern Creek, where all her notties will now be. Ollie has settled into a marina out-and-back at home, claimed a Strava local legend, did five notties this week and has signed up for the Run Shellharbour half marathon in December. Coming up roving reports from Tracey Wood and PK, the Informant, Adventurers Club stats, Dazza and mail; from the Streak to New Year's Day group, City Striders, Barbara's second A-to-Z nottie challenge, Patrick Shymitzek's giant Buddha in Beechworth, and Tracey in Training's nottie visiting tour.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 15:57

  Tracey Wood's roving report from Sandgate parkrun, Brisbane, thrown to by Melissa Ellis. She runs through S-named events for the snakes challenge, then interviews Tim Oberg (visiting from Airlie Beach with his old weightlifting coach Peter 'Tomo' Thompson, at Tomo's first parkrun), volunteers Lisa (Token Sorting) and Linda (finish token support), and Run Director Brenton, who confirms pacers and high-fives are back. Signs off heading for brekkie and a friend's 250th.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 25:03

  Paul Kitching (PK) reports from Patawalonga River parkrun at West Beach Parks, Adelaide, around its 15th event. He describes the course along the Patawalonga near Glenelg, then interviews Run Director Craig, Timekeeper Ashley and scanner Julia Church, and repeatedly returns to the running joke of a 'parkrun dolphin' volunteer role.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew — Tracey Wood starts at 32:54

  The hosts debrief Tracey Wood's volunteer interviews and rule that by interviewing Tim Oberg, 'the volunteer that introduced parkrun to Australia', she has triggered a clause winning her a free pass into the Channel 5 News Crew. Ollie calls it 'the wild card', which is the episode's title. They ask listeners not to spoil the surprise on social media before Tracey hears it.

• Emails starts at 41:32

  One email, from Channel 5 News Crew member Alison Fraser in New Zealand: with only 34 operational NZ events she could not do Septober's alphabet, so logged aparkrun every day working through the NZ events alphabetically, landing at Whangarei on her birthday. She is now working on her 'not p-index', real p-index 5. Leads into a discussion of how hard not-parkrun history is to track.

• Dazza's starts at 44:32

  Themed 'Dazza was feeling left out because Mel had taken not parkrun on tour, show him some love'. Check-ins read out from Tracey Wood, Claire Stutchbury, Jess McDougall, Val Warwick, Pippa White (Netherlands alphabet finish plus an age-category record), Janet Reid, Mandy Oliver, Dennis Peden, Rebecca Bailey, Brett Bailey, Alison King, Bernadette Bennett, Peter Pohlman, Nadine Crawford, Lynette Anne, Jodie Mosey, Michelle Carlos, Ingrid Botha, Lee Cabarita, Sam Schroder, Parth Bommakanti and Jacqui O'Connell.

• the Informant starts at 57:10

  Weekly unofficial stats, delivered this week by a stand-in who says the usual occupant is 'otherwise disposed' chasing a Mr Whippy van. 210 runs in Australia (down 4) out of 1,414 worldwide across 18 countries; five launches; Aussie attendance 19,883; 2,171 PBs; 622 first-timers; milestone counts; ten people called bingo; and the standout, no new statespeople at all this week, 'nobody around here can remember that happening before'.

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 1:00:23

  Adventurers Club up two to 59 members; 19 clubs on the Consolidated Club Report and 27 notties logged. Not-parkrun table led by Kunwara on 82 (up 48), then Port Macquarie 48, Wyndham Vale 41, Shellharbour 14 and Toolern Creek back on 5. New Zealand: Whangarei 56, Hamilton Lake 53, Pegasus 36, plus University of Waikato's first birthday with 24 parkrunners logging 49 notties.

• International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day starts at 1:02:33

  Singlets are starting to land in mailboxes and a second ordering round opens Wednesday 10 November, closing 28 November, with no guarantee of delivery before the day, so order early. Rolls into book news: the #CrookBook 'Every Saturday, the story of parkrun in Australia' shipping from Booktopia, plus Richard's book, Alison's unofficial NZ parkrun guide and Eileen's.

• Sign-off starts at 1:06:19

  Ollie thanked the Channel 5 News crew, with a particular welcome back to Tracy, for sharing parkrun from so many different angles that year and hoped everyone had enjoyed it as much as they had. Mel then said that was it for another week, gave the Facebook and parkrunadventures@gmail.com contacts and signed off.

• Level 2 with a View starts at 1:08:04

  Post-outro office sketch: the stand-in who read the stats berates his colleague for sprinting after the Mr Whippy van and coming back with a single plain ice cream cone, 'that is so beige of you', no choc chip, no flake, no Tim Tam, no Milo, not even sprinkles. Ties back to the beige-trousered man described at the top of the Informant segment.