Episode 292 - Floods, Cows & Milkshakes

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HostsMelissa Ellis Oliver Spake

Roving reportersAli Sheppard Johan Duvenhage

Show notes

From the Facebook post

It's raining men!!

No not really… but NSW is

flooding and

Mel had a stressful visit to Wollongong, dodging cancellations before ending up at Cowpasture Reserve (opens in a new tab) parkrun, Camden. Meanwhile,

Olly popped up at North Sydney (opens in a new tab) parkrun with the

Idea's Man!

We also have news from Johan at Swakopmund (opens in a new tab) parkrun in

Namibia and a special

NAIDOC

report from Ali.

Plus all the fun from

Canada Day,

Dazza's and the ongoing office

industrial relations.

From the podcast feed

It’s raining men!! No not really… but NSW is flooding and Mel had a stressful visit to Wollongong, dodging cancellations before ending up at Cowpasture Reserve (opens in a new tab) parkrun. Meanwhile, Olly popped up at North Sydney (opens in a new tab) parkrun with the Idea’s Man! We also have news from Johan in Namibia and a special NAIDOC report from Ali. Plus all the fun from Canada Day, Dazza’s and the ongoing office industrial relations.

Roving reports

1Swakopmund2Dolls Point

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:03

  Ollie Spake on a very wet Dharawal Country and Melissa Ellis on a dry Wurundjeri Country, with an acknowledgement of country for NAIDOC Week and news that the Aboriginal flag will now fly permanently on the Westgate Bridge. Ollie stayed in Sydney and ran four-lap North Sydney parkrun in the rain, his 38th event, bumping into Bruce Purdy but missing David Crook; Mel visited Chris and Kerry Fraser in Wollongong, saw the new Killalea signs, and after storm cancellations scanned in at Cowpasture Reserve, Camden for her Bradman event 334 before a nail-biting flight home ahead of the Sydney curfew with the juniors kit safely left in her garage. Also Colin Thorne at Whangarei becoming the oldest parkrunner to join the 100 Club, and Canada's extra Canada Day parkrun.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 17:22

  Melissa Ellis crosses to Johan Duvenhage, who files a self-contained report from event 201 at Swakopmund parkrun in Namibia - the town's German colonial history, the recently changed out-and-back course along the seafront, the week's gale-force east wind and dust storms, and the fog that covers the town roughly 300 days a year. He interviews first-time Run Director Emily James, who set up a WhatsApp group in January to solve the event's volunteer shortage, and long-serving volunteer Alan Beck, who mans the turnaround point ("Alan's Corner") with his dogs despite never having run the event, with 140+ volunteer credits.

• Emails starts at 23:05

  Ollie introduces an audio message received through the show's account from Ali at Dolls Point parkrun, timed for National NAIDOC Week. Ali explains the difference between a Welcome to Country and an Acknowledgement of Country and how events can add one to their run brief, points listeners to the Indigenous Marathon Foundation's Run Sweat Inspire Festival, and flags that several events including Dolls Point are running a NAIDOC theme - red, black and yellow for the Aboriginal flag, blue, green, black and white for the Torres Strait Islander flag. This year's theme: Get Up, Stand Up, Show Up.

• Dazza's starts at 29:09

  NAIDOC-themed edition: "Come on in and tell us where did you show up today?" Contributors include Steve's Bike (home in bed with flu, Ollie correctly guessing the clue), Bruce Purdy (most likes - North Sydney, ticking off the north for the compass, and the surprise meeting with Ollie), Geoff Glaab (Canada Day at Victoria Park parkrun Kitchener plus a second Canadian event with Pepper), Michael Gentle (too wet and cold), Sonja Pohlman (volunteering at The Beaches, flag last seen heading for New Zealand - plus a photo of Peter with a backwards flag, earning a fine), Roberta Winters (Ginninderra parkrun), Dawn Brampton (Jurassic parkrun, PB by five minutes), Chris Aruz, first-timer Felicity Castellan (Varsity Lakes), Tanya Bailey (New Zealand, cars and gin), Johan (Namibia) and Graham Wilkinson (Crathes Castle, Scotland).

• the Obi Award — Geoff Glaab starts at 38:25

  The envelope goes to Melissa Ellis this week. Awarded to Geoff Glaab "and Pepper" for two events in Canada over Canada Day weekend - touristing and getting his very first new country, with the Canadian flag in the selfie frame.

• the Informant starts at 39:49

  The stats segment continues its running industrial-relations storyline - the office is still on strike over full cream milk and a daily caramilk, with dissent in the ranks over almond milk, so only a limited report is delivered. Stats: 433 runs down under (37 NZ, 396 Australia, many lost to the East Coast rains), attendance 26,730, one UK launch, 3,275 PBs, 1,032 first-timers, 60 junior 10s, 131 fifties, 81 hundreds, 23 two-fifties, 19 bingos. Scott Pelto quickest on 171 runs, Ruth Taylor-Hull slowest on 328. Twelve new statespeople. Alan Burrell up one to equal 14th on 163 events, Brian Hardy debuting equal 20th on 149, and "the boss" Melissa Ellis to outright 19th on her 150th different parkrun. Vicki Thompson and Steve Amor up eight to 172; Tricia Griffiths the biggest mover, up 24 to 38; 93 lifted their Wilson Index; nine half cows, no Peels and no cow clubbers.

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 44:49

  Adventurers Club for Saturday 2 July 2022: 232 members, 164 taking part at 101 different locations. 18 UK events, three in Canada (Whitby, Beach Strip and Kiwanis), one in Namibia (Swakopmund), one in the USA (Roosevelt Island DC); locally 28 in Victoria, 17 NSW, 14 Queensland, 7 SA, 4 WA, 2 Tasmania, 2 ACT, and four in New Zealand's North Island. Followed by a bonus Canada Day report - five members at two locations on Friday 1 July - after Helen Rudder tipped the hosts off that it existed and Calum Burrell shared the link.

• the Frond starts at 46:19

  Reported inside the Consolidated Club Report. The largest frond this week was five adventurers at Redcliffe - Lance and Robin, Roger and Barbara Luther, and two Gemmas. The biggest frond on record remains eight adventurers at a junior parkrun, including Dawn Branton, Catherine Coombridge, Melissa herself, Abby, Renee Jackson and Andrew Reynolds. A frond also comes up in Dazza's, where Roberta Winters celebrates one at Ginninderra and Graham Wilkinson narrowly misses one in Scotland.

• Sign-off starts at 48:25

  Mel said circumstances were keeping her to her local area, so she would join a little frond at Kirkdale Reserve parkrun, the event she needed to regain her statesmanship and had been keeping in her back pocket. Ollie said he was scheduled to run direct at the newly renamed parkrun in the Killalea Regional Park, but might have to seek out a new event if the rain continued. Mel took the sign-off, called it a bit of a shorter pod, gave the Facebook and email contacts and closed for another week.