Episode 281 - Hoppy Easter
2022-04-22
— open the full-size coverHostsMelissa Ellis Oliver Spake
Roving reportersJohan Duvenhage Lyndell Murray Sarah Jefferson
Show notes
From the Facebook post
The parkrun adventurers reflect on a busy weekend of Easter hop-penings, and Mel talks about
adventuring across state borders to Riverbank (opens in a new tab) parkrun.
We feast on roving reports from
Johan at Loxton (opens in a new tab) parkrun,
Sarah at Homestead (opens in a new tab) parkrun and
Lyndell at the long-awaited (for real this time) return of Stones Corner (opens in a new tab) parkrun!
Dazza dazzles with a delicious twist on hot cross buns; our
Informant brings the goodies, and our
Easter mail-basket is full of correspondence!
From the podcast feed
The parkrun adventurers reflect on a busy weekend of Easter hop-penings, with Mel adventuring across state borders to Riverbank (opens in a new tab) parkrun. We feast on roving reports Johan at Loxton (opens in a new tab), Sarah at Homestead (opens in a new tab) and Lyndell featuring the long-awaited (for real this time) return of Stones Corner (opens in a new tab) parkrun! Dazza dazzles with a delicious twist on hot cross buns, our Informant brings the goodies, and our Easter mail-basket is full of correspondence!
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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 transcriptRoving reports
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:23
Ollie Spake on Dharawal Country, recovering slowly, and Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country. Ollie was RD at a sunny Shellharbour with a new cafe operator, Easter tourists and a visit from the Fraser family, descendants of the land's former owners; Mel drove northeast to Riverbank parkrun in Yass on Ngunnawal Country for a NENDY and her 16th NSW event (71 finishers at event 59), joining Andrew and James Reynolds for James's 100th, then wore matching Easter onesies with Zoe at juniors on Sunday with brunch at Birdie's Cafe.
parkrun news bulletin starts at 6:55
News round-up: Polar joins as a parkrun Australia sponsor (Melissa recalls her first Polar chest-strap heart rate monitor and plugs the Polar Pacer / Pacer Pro); junior parkrun turns 12, having started at Bushy Park in 2010 and still running there only on the first Sunday of each month, now in the UK, Ireland and Australia across 370+ locations, with Australia's five active events listed; and Rhodes parkrun announces an octogenarian celebration day for Saturday 7 May.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 13:06
Lyndell Murray reports from the long-awaited relaunch of Stones Corner parkrun in Brisbane (Turrbal and Jagera Country), restarting at event number 293 after 757 days off for COVID and a full redevelopment of Hanlon Park. She interviews a group of regulars (Isabel, Belinda, Michael and David) about touristing during the hiatus, Jim and his cult-hero cattle dog Banjo, and the new Co-Event Directors Lisa and Jim, who thank outgoing EDs Ian and Cass.
Dazza's starts at 30:39
Easter edition of the cafe bit: Dazza offers spicy apple, cinnamon doughnut, triple choc and sausage roll flavoured hot cross buns instead of "daggy old fruit-filled" ones. Posts read out from Steve's Bike (lead bike, another W and a cow club sighting), Tim Robbins (alphabeteer at Ipswich in a bunny onesie), Claire Stutchbury (Albert Melbourne), Martine Barrot (Hamilton, koala photo), Tanya Bailey (Wanaka, NZ), Greg Garner (30th different event as Tail Walker at Ocean View), Val Warwick (three generations at Geeveston), Janet Reid (Easter Bunny at Lochiel Park), Melissa herself (Paul back at parkrun at Werribee Park Mansion), Helen Runner (Ballincollig, Ireland) and Chris Ruse (RD at Karkarook), who finally settles the pronunciation of his surname.
the Obi Award — Janet Reid starts at 41:03
Ollie opens the envelope and announces that this week's Obi goes to "the Easter Bunny and the Easter Bilby, which means Janet", Janet Reid, for her Dazza's post and photo of herself as the Easter Bunny's "egg-cellent assistant" alongside the Easter art at Lochiel Park parkrun, with the award extended to the whole team there.
Emails starts at 42:13
"You've got mail", the Easter mail-basket. Stephen and Jen write from Bathurst after ISO with joint positive PCRs, celebrating son Joshua's 200th parkrun on his 15th birthday; "Eman" writes from Boston ahead of the marathon after doing Jamaica Ponds parkrun with his cousins and brother; and Johan Duvenhage emails about his roving day at Loxton parkrun, teeing up his report.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 46:17
Two back-to-back roving reports: Johan Duvenhage from tiny Loxton parkrun in the South African Karoo (about ten participants, event 119, a rerouted course now that the drought has broken and the dam has filled, the endangered Karoo riverine rabbit, and a lekker breakfast at Loxton Lekker), including an interview with Event Director Marnie Esterhuizen; then Sarah Jefferson from Homestead parkrun in Western Australia, event 27, interviewing Royce about working towards his white 10 t-shirt.
the Informant starts at 54:15
Weekly unofficial stats: 438 events down under (up 17, a post-COVID record), 402 in Australia and 36 in NZ out of 1,687 worldwide; attendance up ~7,500 to 47,344; two launches (Austria and the UK); 5,627 PBs and 2,579 first-timers; milestone counts; 22 people called bingo (Janet Murray quickest on 172 runs, Manfred von Appen slowest on 348, an Australian record); new statespeople Maria Babler (ACT) and Michael Evans (NT); Pete Oosthuizen completed the South Island; biggest Wilson Index mover Tracey Leeper; and three new Cow Club members.
Consolidated Club Report starts at 57:53
Saturday 16 April: 165 members, 139 taking part at 96 different locations, the closest the club has come to 100. Alison Fraser reads the UK list; then NZ, South Africa (Loxton and Homestead Lake), the USA and Ballincollig in Ireland, followed by the state-by-state Australian breakdown, with the Northern Territory finally on the board at Nightcliff thanks to Damon Young.
the Frond starts at 1:02:39
Victoria again tops the events list, and the two events with the largest fronds were Warrandyte River Reserve (5) and Werribee Park Mansion (4), the two newest Victorian parkruns still drawing the most Adventurer Club members.
Sign-off starts at 1:08:19
Ollie said it had been a pleasure, thanked Mel for the chat and everyone for their parkrun adventures, and said that although they wished they could keep recording right through and watch the marathon and cheer on Eman, it was time to wrap it up. He gave the Facebook and email contacts and closed for another week.