Episode 284 - The Very Very Best Day

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HostsMelissa Ellis Oliver Spake

Roving reportersIngrid Botha Sarah Jefferson

Show notes

From the Facebook post

Big announcement this week, with the date for palm23 being set!

But in regular programming,

Mel was at Coombs (opens in a new tab) parkrun and

Olly was at home, hosting some surprise visitors.

Mel brings us some tourism tips,

Sarah checks in at Nightcliff (opens in a new tab) parkrun and

Ingrid brings us news from Dolls Point (opens in a new tab) parkrun.

The Informants bring the stats and

art supplies,

Dazza gets his

nude on, and the

fines keep rolling in …

From the podcast feed

Big announcements this week with the date for palm being set! But in regular programming, Mel was at Coombs (opens in a new tab) parkrun and Olly was at home hosting some surprise visitors. Mel brings us some tourism tips, Sarah Jefferson checks in at Nightcliff (opens in a new tab) parkrun and Ingrid brings us news from Dolls Point (opens in a new tab). The Informants bring the stats and art supplies, Dazza gets his nude on and the fines keep rolling in …

Roving reports

1Nightcliff2Dolls Point

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:23

  Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country and Ollie Spake on Dharawal Country, recording on Ollie's wedding anniversary after a weekend of Mother's Day and his mum's and Zali's shared birthday. Ollie RD'd Shellharbour with 94 participants, his mum barcode scanning and Em and Brendan back on the roster, and was surprised by a visiting Bruce, the Ideas Man from Wallaby Track, who left cheetah ears for Zali after her first Dirty Cheetahs parkrun at Picton. Mel and Helen drove to Coombs parkrun on Ngunnawal Country, her sixth ACT event leaving only Mount Ainslie, with a Garmin fail and a chat with Will Barlow, brunched at Tootsie Cafe in Yass, then volunteered at Eynesbury juniors and the local Mother's Day fun run.

• Fines starts at 10:41

  The self-imposed fine system runs as a thread through the whole episode and takes a step toward being institutionalised. Ollie establishes the offence list-: claps, typing and mentions. Fines issued this week: Melissa for a missing apostrophe, on feedback from Brendan Scholarly ("Melissa, I'm calling in the punctuation police. Another $1 fine for your comment. Hashtag missing apostrophe"); Ollie for a clap Melissa caught while listening back in the car; the Informant for out-of-date food in the office fridge; Johan and William Boughton for their Consolidated Club Report comments ("an inaugural dollar in the jar"); and Melissa fining herself for saying "Mel Town" [Melton]. Two structural developments:- Ollie says "Sam, Sam's going to track the fines for us. Thank you, Sam", and the Informant sketch reveals Melissa has commissioned a physical fine jar ("Mel's got a bee in her bonnet... nagging me to make a fine jar"). Ollie also jokes that Australia lacking UK-style pop-up signs preserves fine revenue from reverse flags.

• parkrun news bulletin starts at 13:01

  Ollie's cue "But what's happening in the news world, Mel?" opens the news slot. Melissa gives a special congratulations to Pippa White in the UK, who reached her 250th parkrun and her 250th volunteer occasion on the same day at Trentham Gardens parkrun. The slot continues with the octogenarian meetup: on parkrun day, 7 May, 19 octogenarians attended Rhodes parkrun with five PBs achieved.

• Mel's tourism tips starts at 13:42

  FIRST APPEARANCE, coined live on air. Melissa: "I've got a new, I don't think you'd call it a segment, but I've got a new something that I might bring up regularly, which is Mel's tourism tips." She and Ollie then negotiate whether it qualifies - "I think the bar on the parkrun adventurers podcast for a segment is it has to last at least one week" - and she promises to find "some catchy music that's not a football theme song". This week's tip: do not rely on Google Maps to get you to the right parking spot and start line; read the event's own course page the night before for parking, public transport, toilets, taps, dog policy and whether you need trail shoes. Prompted by a Victorian parkrun chat group discussion and by Paul's recent tourism mishaps - a locked gate at Werribee Mansion parkrun and no toilets at Frankston.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 16:49

  Ollie crosses over "We do have a couple of fairly brief roving reports this week from Around the Traps, so I think it's time we pause and have a listen." Two reports back to back: Sarah Jefferson from Nightcliff parkrun in the Northern Territory (00:17:04-00:18:03) and Ingrid from Dolls Point (00:18:08-00:18:59). Melissa recaps both "a big thank you to Sarah and Ingrid for bringing us those two roving reports."

• Emails starts at 19:27

  Opened with the standing joke "We've got mail. You've got mail." One email, from Matt Stevens, asking what a "frond" and a "knotty/noddy" are. The hosts explain on air: a knotty is the show's slang for aparkrun; a frond is what TOC coined for a smaller adventurer gathering, from a palm frond, referencing the palm meetups; and palm is the acronym for parkrun adventurer listener meetups. Ollie clarifies that "noddy" is only "naughty" filtered through his nose. Matt's own guesses at the acronym ("free run on another day", "friends run on next day") get an appreciative mention, and Ollie suggests a glossary for the Facebook page.

• Hotline starts at 21:15

  Not performed this week, but explicitly discussed as dormant and worth reviving. Melissa "Maybe we need to bring back the hotline, Ollie"; Ollie "An old favourite. Yeah, well, there are some old favourites from podcast weeks gone by we could borrow from there, Mel. So, yeah, I think the hotline's a good option." Melissa then invites listeners to record a question on their phone and send in the audio.

• Dazza's starts at 21:57

  Full segment, 00:21:57-00:30:20. This week's Dazza prompt: "it's naked gardening day. We don't make the rules. Were there nice gardens at your parkrun today?" Posts read out: Brett Bailey (RD at Pegasus, New Zealand - duck shooting season, Star Wars costumes for May the 4th, Darth Vader and Luke Tail Walker); Chris Roos (khaki pacing, a first perfect :00 finish time, one number left for bingo, a reverse flag in the photo); Alison King (parkrun New Zealand's 10th birthday cake baked by RD Megan and decorated by her husband Russell, meeting Rochelle from Willow parkrun); Barbara Luther (350th parkrun and 106th location at Sirame [Sirromet] parkrun, with husband Roger, Pauline Taylor and Russell Taylor - and, Melissa notes, her first time posting in Dazza's, prompting a call for a "first time poster" jingle); Jodie Maisie (Cleveland parkrun with Brendan Peel, new Goodr sunglasses); Sonja Pohlman (volunteering at the fourth birthday of a muddy Nogba/Nalkaba parkrun, visited by Wendy and Ross); Cass Castleton (Yarrabilba for her fifth alphabet, with Simon Mackley in attendance); Johan (post-COVID relaunch of Langenhoven parkrun at a new venue, South Africa); Karen Hurrell and Juliet Colville (both at Cheadle Hulme, UK); Steve's bike (a cryptic clue near a former Olympic site); Pippa White (250th parkrun and 250th volunteer at Trentham Gardens - "The very, very best day"). A closing shout-out to Monty Slade at Fellfoot parkrun with the UK pop-up sign and his adventurers buff.

• the Obi Award — Pippa White starts at 31:12

  Melissa calls for the envelope "Time to announce our winner. Do you have the envelope?" Ollie announces- "Mel, the Obi [Obi] this week goes to... The very, very best day, Pippa." Awarded for her Dazza's post about reaching her 250th parkrun and her 250th volunteer occasion on the same day at Trentham Gardens parkrun in the UK - a post whose phrase "The very, very best day" gives the episode its title. Melissa notes- "That's her second Obi [Obi]... She's the second person to get two Obi [Obi] awards."

• the Informant starts at 32:24

  Full stats read, 00:32:37-00:37:09. 446 events held down under (up one, a post-COVID record): 409 in Australia, 37 in New Zealand, plus three freshly returned Singaporean events, making 1,757 worldwide (up 36, also a post-COVID record). Australia/NZ attendance 38,186, down 45; worldwide around 207,000. Five launches - Elliott Heads Beach in Queensland plus single launches in Germany, South Australia, the UK and the US. 5,110 PBs down under and 1,594 first-timers; 81 Junior 10s, 184 fifties, 113 hundreds and a record 32 people reaching 250. 27 people called bingo (Chris Williams quickest on 141 runs, Jeff Buchan slowest on 299). New statespeople in the ACT (Mary Craig, Debbie O'Donoghue, Matt Robbie, Jenny Tsar, Imogen Taylor), NT (Mitch Martin, Anne Marie and Nathan McDonald), SA (Jane Hassel, Troy Helbers) and Victoria (Sarah Gee). Neil Scott to equal 16th on 158 locations at Ginninderra; Kathleen Wellington to equal 11th on 169 at Chelsea Bicentennial; Paul Graham up 10 to 240. 176 people lifted their Wilson Index, biggest mover Meg Littler (up 28 to 64), and Cindy Robins debuts on the Victorian top 10. Adventurer Challenges: Nicole and Andrew Hay joined the Peel Club; three cow clubbers; two half Freynes and 15 half cows. Interrupted mid-read (00:35:19-00:36:13) by a comic sketch in which an unnamed colleague raids the office for craft supplies to decorate Mel's fine jar and leaves with whiteboard markers, rubber bands, an elderly Mars bar and some tape.

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 37:34

  Ollie's cue "But Mel, what hasn't been slipping is the Adventurers Club. How are we doing?" Out of 187 members, 160 took part at 104 different locations - the first time the club has broken 100 locations ("We broke the hundred. Broke the hundy"). 15 UK events, read in by a contributed insert; two South African events, read in by a second insert; one German event at Fuldauer [Fulda-Aue]. Locally: 33 events in Victoria, 19 in Queensland, 18 in NSW, five in South Australia, three in Tasmania, two in WA, two in ACT and one in the Northern Territory, plus two in the North Island of New Zealand and one in the South Island - "Got the set again." The hosts' stated membership goal is 210.

• the Frond — Five adventurers at Werribee Mansion parkrun starts at 39:33

  Awarded inside the Consolidated Club Report "And our biggest front [frond] this week was five adventurers at Werribee Mansion parkrun." Two smaller fronds are noted in passing earlier in Dazza's: Cass Castleton with Simon Mackley at Yarrabilba ("It was practically a frond") and Karen Hurrell with Juliet Colville at Cheadle Hulme ("Another frond"). The term's origin is also explained on air in the Emails segment this week.

• Sign-off starts at 39:55

  Mel said the Festival of Mel was happening, with the volunteer roster at Toolern Creek nearly all Mels and Floyd ready too, while Ollie said he was volunteering back home and looking forward to Eurovision, whose final was on SBS at 5am Sunday. They flagged the start of Australia's National Volunteer Week on 16 May and ran through the Longest Run dates posted so far - 12 June for Gippsland, Melbourne North, Melbourne West, two in Sydney and North Brisbane, and 19 June for Perth, South Australia and the Sunshine Coast - with Mel saying the dates were not in her favour this year. They then announced the date for Palm 2023: Saturday 15 April, in Western Australia and specifically the Perth area, before Ollie thanked Mel, gave the Facebook and email contacts and closed for another week.