Episode 310 - Cheers

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HostsMelissa Ellis Oliver Spake

Roving reportersAlison Fraser (King) Melissa Ellis

Show notes

From the Facebook post

This week, we hear about a pair of 5s – 2 new parkruns holding only their fifth event - as Mel shares with us her visit to Nolens Park parkrun and Alison reports in from Broad Park (opens in a new tab) parkrun.

We hear a lot of cheers at Dazza's, and welcome a special guest to award the Obi this week!

From the podcast feed

This week we hear about a pair of 5’s – 2 new parkruns holding only their fifth event – as Mel shares with us her visit to Nolen's Park (opens in a new tab) parkrun and Alison reports in from Broad Park (opens in a new tab) parkrun. We hear a lot of cheer at Dazza’s, and welcome a special guest to award the Obi this week!

Roving reports

1Nolen’s Park2Broad Park

In this episode

• Tribute starts at 0:04

  Oliver Spake opens the episode, before the hosts' welcome, with the death of a dedicated Australian parkrun tourist at parkrun on the Saturday just gone. No name is given on air. Condolences to their friends and family, and thanks to the first responders.

• Welcome starts at 0:42

  After a note of condolence on the passing of an Australian parkrun tourist at parkrun on Saturday, Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country and Ollie Spake on Dharawal Country. Ollie has blue skies again while Victoria still has rain and events slowly returning from flood cancellations; after a late night at the Bootleg Beatles in Wollongong for his dad's upcoming birthday, he recaps volunteering at Shellharbour, walking with Tail Walker Paddy on his 100th parkrun and 25th volunteer, with Luke also on 100, and notes an influx of first-timers as the warmer months return. Mel is battling spring allergies and is about to describe her own adventure.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 18:20

  Ollie crosses to the week's single roving report, "We have one roving report this week ... from Alison over at ... event number five at Broad Park." Alison King files a three-part report from Broad Park parkrun, New Zealand's newest event, in Christchurch: an airport intro, on-site interviews with local voluntourists Big Dan and Lisa at the finish, and a wrap-up describing the lollipop course through Bottle Lake Forest, the cafe, and the New Brighton Hot Pools afterwards. It is week five for Broad Park and the first time they have used their official course. Hosts debrief it.

• Emails starts at 27:07

  "But Mel, we've got mail". One email this week, from Stephen Jackson, one half of the team behind the Panorama Punish at Mount Panorama, Bathurst, reporting that Bathurst parkrun was cancelled under three metres of water so he and Jen touristed instead, thanking the adventurers who came to the Punish, and flagging plans for next year. Ollie adds that Stephen took out his age group in 28:28.

• Dazza's starts at 29:58

  Opened on this week's "Cheers" theme, "welcome to Dazza's where everybody knows your name and they're always glad you came" (Ollie declines to sing it). Contributions read out from Sonja Pohlman (marshalling at The Beaches, eight sandcastles for their eighth birthday), Paddy Oshimo (100th parkrun tail walking at Shellharbour alongside Luke Schroder), Helen Reeves (three generations in the selfie frame), Richard and Sally (Whalan Reserve, plus a photo from the Cheers Bar in Boston), Johan Duvenhage from South Africa, Pauline Taylor (Goondiwindi), Irene (Chermside with Tracey in a tutu and Chris Fraser), Matthew "Billo" Billington (Ginninderra), Carmel (Bundaberg), Karen McKeon (Frank Keenan Reserve), Helen Rutter (Dalby Forest, UK) and Marg Prowse (100th run at Ballarat).

• the Obi Award — Helen Reeves starts at 38:19

  Handed over to a special guest this week rather than the hosts, "But, Mel, I don't have the envelope this week" / "we've got a special guest who's got the envelope". The guest announcer, Em, opens the envelope and names the winner. Awarded for her Dazza's photo of three generations of the Reeves family in the selfie frame at Traralgon parkrun, which Ollie had described earlier as "gorgeous".

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 39:33

  Adventurers Consolidated Club Report for 5 November 2022, read by Melissa Ellis: 327 members, 268 of whom took part at 139 locations, with adventurers in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, South Africa, the USA and the Netherlands. State breakdown: Victoria back on top with 34 events, Queensland and New South Wales tied on 27, South Australia nine, WA seven, North Island six, ACT three, South Island two.

• the Frond starts at 40:08

  Delivered inside the Consolidated Club Report. The largest frond was in New South Wales, at Shellharbour, with nine adventurers present, housemate Lance, Bec Bailey, Blake Wells, Gordon Turner, the Office Lady and Luke, Roberta Winters, Sue Keane and Paddy Oshimo, plus more volunteering. Runners-up: seven at South Bank (Qld), seven at The Ponds (NSW), six at Kirkdale Reserve (Vic). A smaller frond is also referenced in Irene's Dazza's post from Chermside.

• Sign-off starts at 41:22

  Ollie asked Mel what was on the horizon: she was catching a flight north on Friday to visit the podcast's quiz master, Simon Mackley, and attend Calamvale's eighth birthday, and had to find a costume that would fit in her carry-on. Ollie was having his last stint at home before travelling, volunteering in whatever role needed filling, and talked through his mountain half-marathon preparation and the reno, holiday and World Cup ahead. He wished Mel safe travels and a fantastic parkrun as part of the birthday celebration, gave the Facebook and email contacts and said that was it for another week.

• End audio snippet starts at 45:34listener sign-off

  The episode closes, after the hosts' sign-off, with a short unnamed child listener's audio message reporting on parkrun at Yarrawonga, kayaking afterwards, and congratulating Ollie on 250 volunteers, "pretty good, but not as good as my 25." The hosts explicitly treat this as a recurring feature earlier in the episode ("if you don't listen to the little end snippet, do yourself a favour and go back") and ("not playing down some of our other end audio snippets, we're fortunate enough to have a few superstars"), so it is a running bit rather than a one-off. Flagged here because it does not appear in the known segment list.