Episode 305 - You’ve Got Mail!

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HostsMelissa Ellis Oliver Spake

Roving reportersIngrid Botha Sarah Jefferson

Show notes

The parkrun Adventurers have mail! Lots of mail! After a week that included an 18th birthday and the launch of parkwalk, we hear from a plethora of our Adventurer community about challenges, reviews, podcast listening speed and pronunciation. In the parkrun world, Mel recaps her latest cross-border adventure to Charleston, South Australia (opens in a new tab), while we hear about the first steps for parkwalk from our roving reporters, Ingrid at Armidale (opens in a new tab) and Sarah at Zillmere (opens in a new tab). Plus Dazza’s, consolidated club achievements and all you need for your next commute, long run, chipmunk-speed listening or however you enjoy your podcast.

From the podcast feed. No Facebook post text is recorded for this episode.

Roving reports

1Armidale2Zillmere

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:24

  Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country and Ollie Spake on Dharawal Country, opening in fast 'pixie' voices after Bruce Pryor's International Podcast Day feedback about listening at 1.3x speed. Ollie, on tonsillitis medication, missed Shellharbour and Cameron's visit; Mel ran Charleston parkrun in the Adelaide Hills on Peramangk Country (Wilson number 167 and a south for her UK compass club) before returning for juniors and a 30 km Capital City Trail walk with Renee Jackson in support of Andrew Reynolds at the London Marathon. Feedback from Geoff Glaab and Alison King on rating the podcast, and Brett Bailey on pronouncing Waikanae.

• parkrun news bulletin starts at 11:01

  Recap of the week in the parkrun world: parkrun's 18th birthday (30 September) and the parkrun blog's 2022 highlights read out by both hosts, average finish time now over 30 minutes, the new equal walking/running/volunteering milestone clubs, Russ Jeffries taking over as CEO, IWD parkrun, 2,200 locations and 7 million registered parkrunners; the launch of the #parkwalk campaign for October; and a new course record at Nambour parkrun by Aidan Hobbs (17:28, 1:37 faster than the previous record held by Dean Cain, his 24th current course record).

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 19:10

  Ollie hands over to "a couple of our roving reporters, Ingrid and Sarah this week, who will recap what was the first park walk day". Two back-to-back reports: Ingrid at Armidale parkrun (NSW) interviewing first-timer Margaret, second-timer Chris, and regulars Amanda and Ian; then Sarah at Zillmere (QLD) interviewing Damon and Maria Newman, volunteer Jill Gardiner, and parkwalkers Terry and Dylan. Hosts recap both.

• Emails starts at 34:31

  The episode's title bit, "You've got mail", after the show discovered its inbox was working. Emails read from David Irwin (aka Monty Slade, recommending Marathon Talk), Calum Burrell (the 5K app's new "Total Days Attendance" stat, his and wife Lindsay's joint 250, and praise for Streakmeister Pippa White), Eman Vergara (recommending the AFF On Air frequent-flyer podcast), Sarah Langley (first international parkrun and first parkwalker volunteer stint at Amager Fælled, Copenhagen, then presenting at a conference), and Quizmaster Simon Mackley (a photo from Bali reading "Ollie Pake"). Both hosts also compare their own Total Days Attendance (Mel 444, Ollie 355).

• Dazza's starts at 42:22

  Listener posts read out under a happy-18th-birthday/park-walk-party theme: Roberta Winters (mini frond at Geeveston), volley Catherine Greenstreet (parkwalker at Robelle Domain), Tony O'Connell/TOC (jump-shot photo, first finisher and an age-category record), Sarah Jefferson (frond, meeting Tracey Wood at Zillmere), Sam Ilsley (50th parkrun), Janet Reid (RD "aboard the mothership" Lochiel, hastily sewn capes in lieu of the missing blue vests), Graeme Wilkinson (Poland, his fourth country), Andrew Reynolds (Bushy with son James, met Paul Sinton-Hewitt), Richard (Sally's 50th at River Oaks, Oakville, Canada), Brett Bailey (Pegasus, NZ), Natalie Soper ("doing a naughty", finishing the Cape to Cape walk in WA) and Jonathan Morgan (Nelson T-shirt at Lochiel event 333).

• the Frond starts at 42:35

  Fronds (gatherings of Adventurers Club members at one event) run through this episode rather than standing alone: Roberta Winters has "a bit of a frond", a mini frond at Geeveston; Sarah Jefferson is "having a frond this week" meeting Tracey Wood at Zillmere; and in the Consolidated Club Report the largest frond was six Adventurers at Robelle Domain, Queensland.

• the Obi Award — Sarah Jefferson starts at 53:31

  Mel produces a parkwalker-blue Obi. Awarded jointly to Sarah Jefferson and Tracey Wood for their photo in the selfie frame at Zillmere, Sarah nabbing her Z, and "our two latest Channel 5 News crew reporters" meeting up for the first time.

• Launches and anniversaries starts at 55:06"Where is the cake?"

  Within Mel's stand-in stats rundown: last week's launches were Nolan's Park in Boort, country Victoria (67 participants) and Coober Pedy Oval in South Australia (66 participants), "almost line ball".

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 57:16

  Saturday 1 October: 308 members, 238 taking part at 142 locations, across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, South Africa, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Denmark and the USA. Largest frond six at Robelle Domain, Queensland (Steve Amor, Cherie Martin, Barbara Luther, Mark Brighton, and Catherine and Ian Greenstreet); five each at Shellharbour and The Ponds in NSW. Victoria topped the states with 34 events, Queensland 29, NSW 18, SA 10, WA 6, Tasmania 5, ACT 4; six events across the ditch in New Zealand.

• Sign-off starts at 58:42

  After thanking Mel for the Consolidated Club Report, Ollie asked her plans for next parkrun day: she was jetting off to Darwin with flights but no accommodation, landing after midnight and planning the closest parkrun to the airport or city, which she believed was Darwin, with juniors depending on how empty the roster was. Ollie would be volunteering in the blue and white vest at home at Shellharbour. He thanked everyone for tuning in, apologised for not keeping up a 1.3 times speaking pace and noted Bruce's tip for speeding them up, gave the email address and said that was it for another week.