Episode 307 - Cops & Robbers

— open the full-size cover

HostsMelissa Ellis Oliver Spake

Roving reporterLyndell Murray

Show notes

From the Facebook post

Join us this week as Mel and Olly tell us about being at their home events of Toolern Creek (opens in a new tab) parkrun & Shellharbour (opens in a new tab) parkrun.

We hear from Ch5 news crew member, Lyndell, adventuring to Mansfield QLD (opens in a new tab) parkrun, where they celebrated Cops & Robbers week.

And we celebrate a family reunion, an Obi, and an upcoming break!

But who's got the keys to Level 2 with a view next week?

From the podcast feed

Join us this week as Mel and Olly tell us about being at their home events of Toolern Creek (opens in a new tab) & Shellharbour. We hear from Ch5 news crew member, Lyndell, adventuring to Mansfield, QLD parkrun, where they celebrated Cops & Robbers week. And we celebrate a family reunion, an Obi, and an upcoming break! But who’s got the keys to Level 2 with a view next week?

Roving reports

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:22

  Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country and Ollie Spake on Dharawal Country. Ollie RD'd a busy Shellharbour parkrun after an early-morning community meditation (The Sit) at Killalea, with two dozen volunteers plus Darwin, north of 150 parkrunners, a sunny day, plenty of caramilk and cake, and birthday girl Bec Bailey doing the First Timers Welcome joined in real life by two other Baileys, with Brett and Tanya Bailey over at Pegasus parkrun in New Zealand; brunch followed at the marina at Shell Cove. With widespread flooding cancelling 35 Victorian events, Mel stayed home at Toolern Creek (102 parkrunners) with Peppertree ED Adrian Hillyer and Marg Prowse from Wallaby Track, then, after Eynesbury juniors was cancelled for lack of volunteers, took visiting Sonja and Peter Pohlman to Westerfolds juniors and the Westerfolds 5K course before brunch in Templestowe.

• Mel's tourism tips starts at 9:44

  Melissa Ellis closes her home-event report with a flood-themed tip: "This week's tourist tip is... Stay off the roads during extreme weather events and never, never drive through floodwaters. This has been a public service announcement."

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 14:59

  Ollie crosses to Lyndell's self-contained roving report from Mansfield Queensland parkrun's Cops & Robbers Day, run with the Queensland Police as a fundraiser for the Blue Hope charity. She interviews officer in charge Senior Sergeant Michael Moria on the event's origins, constable Daniel who covered the 5K in full uniform, and founding Run Director Neville on the event's history and the ~300 turnout; she also records the police pipers on course and shouts out Erica and Ryan, who won best dressed carrying a TV set the whole way ("they ran like they stole it").

• Emails starts at 32:16

  The email slot is explicitly nil this week, "Nope, nope, nope. No emails and no roving reports. The inbox was empty this week."

• Dazza's starts at 32:31

  Dazza's cops-and-robbers-themed prompt: "are you more of a law-abiding citizen or do you have the potential to be a criminal? Would you look as good as Dazza in prison garb?" Responses read out from Calum Burrell (Dazza dressed as a barcode), Claire Stutchbury at Kingscliff, Alison King in New Zealand (son Axel dropped the finish tokens), Bec Bailey at Shellharbour (most likes), Jason Green, Gemma Kajasky and Neil at Mount Isa after a 21-hour Inlander train trip, Chris Fraser at Jerrabomberra, Johan at Brandkop in South Africa, Graham Wilkinson in the UK, Cass Castleton at Tidworth, Peter Pohlman touristing in Melbourne, and Val's leaving-certificate photo look-alike.

• the Obi Award — Bec Bailey starts at 40:43

  Ollie opens an on-theme caramel-coloured envelope. Awarded for the real-life Bailey family reunion at Shellharbour parkrun on her birthday, Bec seeing her parents again after three years of closed borders, with the first ever on-record real-life "Bailey shot" photo. Mel: "It was lovely to see the Baileys reunited from across the ditch... The adventure community was all warm and fuzzy seeing that occurrence."

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 44:42

  Saturday 15 October 2022: of 317 members, 244 took part at 126 locations. State counts, Victoria 28 events (top of the charts despite the flooding), New South Wales 23, Queensland 22, South Australia 9, Western Australia 7, ACT 6, Tasmania 3; six events across the ditch in New Zealand with Queenstown the only South Island representative.

• the Frond starts at 44:53

  Largest frond was 15 at Shellharbour (Housemate Lance, Richard and Sally, Sam and Luke, The Fool, Bailey Shot, Jason Green, Julie Turner, Gaillyn Cooper, Ingrid and Jasmine, Louise Clements and Paddy Oshimo); a frond of 10 at Westerfolds in Victoria (Thomas Martin, Craig and Bec Ryan, Scotty Trickett, Sally Heppleston, Bram Cassidy, Andrea Booth, Dan O'Connell, Irene and Parth Bomber Canty); nine at The Ponds. Ollie also claims the largest Vrond with 10 volunteers at Shellharbour, noting Eynesbury juniors was cancelled.

• Sign-off starts at 49:42

  Mel announced that next week's pod would be different: she was taking a week off, so the inaugural hosts Mel and Scotty were coming back as guest hosts and the keys were being handed back. Ollie linked that to where Mel was going next parkrun day - Bathurst for the weekend, for Bathurst parkrun and the Panorama Punish, camping and thanking Jen and Stephen for putting the event on and welcoming the adventurers - while Ollie looked forward to volunteering at Bathurst parkrun and seeing the adventurers there. He said he would leave the keys and the tidied post-its, gave the email address that was also the guest hosts', and signed off for two weeks.

• the Informant starts at 54:13

  A short post-outro sketch rather than a stats rundown. An unnamed character spots the Informant, addressed here as "Beige Man", at a race: "Oh no, please don't tell them I was here." Asked why he left the pod and where the intern is, he says "I really can't say. I've got to go. Just don't say anything", and the sketch ends "Well, that was weird."