Episode 296 - Hot and Gold

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HostsMelissa Ellis Oliver Spake

Roving reportersAlison Fraser (King) Ingrid Botha

Show notes

From the Facebook post

This week, while

Mel shares stories of her adventure to Umbagong District (opens in a new tab) parkrun, we discover that someone plugged the

Hotline back in.

Ingrid files a roving report from The Ponds (opens in a new tab) parkrun and

Alison comes to us from Stratford upon Avon parkrun. We also have some

bumper emails,

Comm Games updates, plus all the usual fun with

Dazzas and

pronunciation challenges.

From the podcast feed

This week while Mel shares stories of her adventure to Umbagong parkrun, we discover that someone plugged the Hotline back in. Ingrid files a roving report from The Ponds (opens in a new tab) and Alison comes to us from Stratford-Upon-Avon (opens in a new tab). We also have some bumper emails, Comm Games updates, plus all the usual fun with Dazzas and pronunciation challenges.

Roving reports

1The Ponds2Stratford-upon-Avon

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:23

  Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country and Ollie Spake on a dry Dharawal Country with a hint of spring. Ollie took Ava and Zali to Shellharbour, where they rang the bell in their Oodies, junior RD Dylan took the reins again, more locals hit the 250 club and Melissa from Goulburn dropped by; Mel went back to the ACT for Umbagong District event three on Ngunnawal Country with Irene Bomakanti, TOC and Jacqui O'Connell, in sub-zero frost, learning about the axe-grinding grooves from volunteer Graham, cheered in by Will Barlow and brunching at Bunny Beans, and bumped into John Spooner and new adventurer Ian Shaw.

• Hotline starts at 7:46

  The hotline rings mid-show for the first time in a long while, Oliver Spake answers and takes anonymous feedback correcting last week's claim that there were no other military parkruns: Akrotiri parkrun on the RAF base in Cyprus, and Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands. The hosts invite more calls now that it's plugged back in, and later point listeners to it for pronunciation corrections.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 15:14

  Two roving reports back to back. Ingrid Botha reports from The Ponds parkrun (NSW), course description, painted rocks in the underpass, dogs on course, and interviews Barcode Scanner Janisha and Run Director Sukhwan Singh about the event's volunteer culture and post-COVID numbers. Then Alison King reports from Stratford-upon-Avon parkrun in the UK, her old home event, interviewing Co-Event Director Simon Teal about the three-lap riverside course opposite the Shakespeare theatre, its flatness, and his top three (Vogrie, Leamington and Bushy).

• Emails starts at 26:38

  Two long emails. Damon Young writes about missing Melissa at Yu Yangs parkrun, his home event Shepparton, and his run of 5K-app challenges (Fibonacci, position bingo, alphabet and name challenges), plus a pitch for parkruns at Seymour and Nagambie. Stephen Jackson writes with Jen from Bathurst, the event's sixth birthday celebrated with the Mayor and NSW Deputy Premier, his own 250 Club, and a funny story from Narromine Wetlands where he spent 20 minutes trying to drop a runner, Simon, who turned out to be vision impaired. He also asks for the history of Dazza's, which the hosts then supply.

• Dazza's starts at 35:04

  Prompted by Stephen Jackson's email, Melissa Ellis first explains the segment's origin: Dazza is a concrete Buddha statue at her front door whose real name is Daryl, which she dressed in a themed costume for a weekly selfie during lockdown Not parkruns, and who became the face of the show's virtual cafe. The week's theme is International Friendship Day, with posts from Brett and Tanya Bailey (and dog Brunner) at Pegasus, Sonja Pohlman at Varsity Lakes, Paris Lawrence at Fingal Bay with Roberta Winters, Joanne Blackbird at Willow, Julie Turner and Liz at Shellharbour, Karina Campbell at Ashgrove, Johan in South Africa, Michael Scott at Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens, Helen Rutter at Crane Park, Alison King at Stratford-upon-Avon and Tim Robbins at Eden Project.

• the Obi Award — Paris Lawrence starts at 43:43

  Awarded for her Dazza's post from Fingal Bay parkrun, a photo with Roberta Winters, finally getting to do a parkrun together after knowing each other on social media, and Roberta's first visit to Fingal Bay. The hosts agree to overlook the backwards selfie flag in the photo.

• the Informant starts at 44:52

  Weekly unofficial stats from "Level 2 with a view": a record 459 events down under, 424 in Australia and a record 1,771 worldwide; Aussie/NZ attendance 35,864 out of 194,000 worldwide; four Australian launches (Frank Keenan Reserve, Nantu Wama, University of Western Australia, Westbury Town Common); 4,260 PBs; milestone and bingo counts; new Statesmen (Mike Scott, Roger Wilson, Rebecca Edgecombe completing New Zealand); biggest movers Marilyn and Bradley McCann and Wendy Glen; an Oberg for Arno Micini and a Cowell for Wendy Beckhouse at Warrandyte River Reserve. Includes running jokes at the hosts' expense ("crickets still waiting for Melissa and Oliver") and at Sam's.

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 48:57

  Of 254 club members, 207 took part on 30 July at 116 different locations: 20 UK events (with Melissa Ellis apologising at length for her attempt at the Welsh names), three in the USA, one in Ireland, one in Germany, and locally 32 in Victoria, 19 in Queensland, 17 in NSW, 8 in SA, 5 in WA, 4 in Tasmania, 2 in the ACT, plus 4 in New Zealand.

• the Frond starts at 51:15

  Largest gathering of adventurers at a single event: The Ponds parkrun with nine. Three events tied on six, Shepparton, an unnamed event with Lance, Paddy, Jason Green, Melissa Khoury and Julie and Gordon Turner, and Umbagong District (TOC and Jacqui O'Connell, Ian Shaw, Alistair Buchanan, Irene and Melissa Ellis herself). The Vron (volunteer equivalent) is not resolved this week, "our research elves haven't quite worked that out".

• Sign-off starts at 56:29

  Mel said she was staying in Victoria and going local, back to Kirkdale Reserve for Jodie Maisie's 50th parkrun and Hoffman Club; Ollie said that with Cooks River coming up and another set of 250 milestones back at home he thought he would stay home. Ollie said it felt like a big week in which he had virtually been to a lot of places, thanked everyone for involving them in their parkrun adventures, gave the Facebook and email contacts and closed for another week.