Episode 280 - Breakout

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HostsMelissa Ellis Oliver Spake

Roving reportersSarah Jefferson Tracey Wood

Show notes

This week Mel adventures to the amazing new event at Werribee Park Mansion (opens in a new tab), while Olly is sidelined at home Tracey checks in from Chermside (opens in a new tab) and Des Connor Park juniors (opens in a new tab), Sarah’s back with compass news from SA – what? Plus all the regular updates from Dazzas, The Informants and the Adventurers Club.

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Roving reports

1·2Chermside and Des Connor Park juniors3West Beach

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:23

  Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country and a croaky Ollie Spake on Dharawal Country, who has been unwell after his Melbourne trip, slept through parkrun and has dropped his planned Run Shellharbour marathon on 1 May, though the rest has settled his knee. Mel was at event two of Werribee Park Mansion parkrun with Helen and Steve Davis, Cheryl and Mark Smith, Errol Poole, Andrew Turner and Russ Johnson, and rates it a jewel among Victorian events; Eynesbury juniors had to cancel three marshals short on the first weekend of school holidays. Good feedback on Sam's Phil Gore interview, Eman has flown out for the Boston Marathon on Easter Monday, and Stones Corner's relaunch was flooded out at the last minute.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 12:34

  Ollie crosses over "We have a couple of roving reports. So why don't we have a listen to them now?", two self-contained reports follow (Tracey Wood from Chermside and Des Connor Park juniors, Sarah Jefferson from West Beach parkrun, SA), with the hosts debriefing both from 00:22:54.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 12:45

  Tracey Wood's report is explicitly framed as her Channel 5 News crew initiation challenge, "this is a special challenge given to me by the Channel 5 News crew in order to prove my worth to become an official Channel 5 News crew member", the goal being to interview a person doing every volunteer role. She ticks off three (pacer, Funnel Manager and 'the other role'). At 00:24:27 the hosts decide Sarah Jefferson has proven her worth too and start planning a challenge to bring her into the crew.

• Emails starts at 25:10

  A null week, Ollie: "So we have no mail." Mel: "The roving reports were mail, but, yeah, other than that... No fan mail." Segment acknowledged and passed over.

• Dazza's starts at 25:22

  Facebook post round-up. Dazza's prompt was about the relentless New South Wales rain and cancellations. Contributions read out: Steve's bike ("doubting whether West is actually best"); most likes went to Chris Fraser with a then-and-now shot of one parkrun in October 2019 versus April 2022; Chris Royce at Frog Hollow; frond entries from Ingrid Botha (St Peter's, with a 'walk like an Egyptian' chalk drawing) and Andrew Turner (meeting Melissa Ellis at Werribee Park Mansion, doubling his Wilson index); tourist and achiever Karen Hamilton (Mount Ainslie, completing ACT Territorian status); Heather Hunter at Foster; Matthew Billington volunteering as Timekeeper; Brett Bailey at Pegasus, New Zealand; Johan Duvenhage's 7th 'Sea Dunn' pirate achievement at Century City, Cape Town; Helen Rutter at Chopwell Wood in the UK; and Dawn Branton's eight-hour road trip to Cowra.

• the Frond starts at 27:37

  Adventurer-meets-adventurer reports inside Dazza's, "But on the frond front this week, we heard from Ingrid Botha" at St Peter's parkrun with Bec Bailey, and a second frond from Andrew Turner, who met Melissa Ellis at Werribee Park Mansion. The Consolidated Club Report later notes the largest fronds of the week: seven adventurers at Werribee Park Mansion and eight at Warrandyte River Reserve.

• the Obi Award — Dawn Branton starts at 34:31

  Envelope opened live, with an audible shriek from the household audience. Awarded for her uber-touristing trip: an eight-hour, roughly 800-kilometre solo road trip to Cowra parkrun in the POW camp area, with a selfie-frame photo. Mel: "Congratulations, Dawn, and well done on your big tourist trip."

• the Informant starts at 35:56

  Weekly stats read, 'live from Level 2 with a view'. Opens with an office story about re-re-gifting the beige man's Easter chocolate while Ollie is off sick. Four junior parkruns, 333 juniors (down 26), 63 first-timers, 76 PBs, 10 half-marathon and 3 marathon wristbands. 421 5k events down under (385 Australia, 36 New Zealand) out of 1,670 worldwide; 39,801 attendees down under, 186,473 worldwide. Five launches including Chaffee Park (NSW), Myponga Reservoir (SA) and Russell Park (NZ). 4,630 PBs, 1,868 first-timers, milestone counts, 28 bingo calls (Karen Potter quickest on 146, Alan Field slowest on 439, a record for Australia). Five new Statespeople, Wilson index movers, and 12 new Adventurer Club members. Signs off "my spreadsheet? Well, it's not as beige as some."

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 40:35

  For Saturday 9 April 2022: 157 members total, 126 taking part at 75 different locations. 11 events in the UK, four in New Zealand, one in South Africa (Century City) and none in the USA because Geoff was volunteering. Locally 23 events in Victoria, 14 in Queensland, 12 in New South Wales (down, due to rain cancellations), three in South Australia, three in Tasmania, two in WA and two in the ACT. Largest fronds at Werribee Park Mansion (seven) and Warrandyte River Reserve (eight), the two newest events.

• Sign-off starts at 44:22

  Mel asked whether Ollie would be well enough to emerge from isolation; he said he was optimistic and hoped Shellharbour would go ahead for the Easter long weekend after a run of cancellations, though he was a bit scared to go and see how much of the course had eroded. Mel would not show her hand beyond saying she was headed north on Easter Saturday, doing only an overnighter so she would be back to help at junior parkrun on Sunday in matching rabbit onesies with Zoe. Ollie said it would be a shorter one as he was under the weather, thanked Mel, hoped everyone stayed well and got their parkruns back, gave the Facebook and email contacts and signed off with 'Go Eman'.