Episode 332 - Severn Swather
2023-05-04
— open the full-size coverHostsMelissa Ellis Oliver Spake
Roving reporters"Action Man" Johan Duvenhage Mark Scarborough Paul Kitching
Show notes
From the Facebook post
This week we have a S W A T H E R of roving reports to catch up on with PK at Shiraz Trail (opens in a new tab) parkrun, Mark at Yackandandah Rail Trail (opens in a new tab) parkrun, Johan in outback Coober Pedy Oval (opens in a new tab) parkrun and Action Man out at Altona Beach (opens in a new tab) parkrun.
We have news of special days and parkrun ends, emails and club creations, plus a new challenge (or is it) to ponder.
Plus Rachel is back to bring us insight from cyberspace.
From the podcast feed
This week we have a S W A T H E R of roving reports to catch up on with PK at Shiraz Trail (opens in a new tab) parkrun, Mark at Yackandandah Rail Trail (opens in a new tab), Johan in outback Coober Pedy and Action Man out at Altona Beach (opens in a new tab) parkrun. We have news of special days and parkrun ends, emails and club creations, plus a new challenge (or is it) to ponder. Plus Rachel is back to bring us insight from cyberspace.
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Enhanced transcript
Speakers named, sound described and segments marked by the editing pass — not yet checked by a person.
Read the transcriptRoving reports
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:23
Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country and Ollie Spake on Dharawal Country, where the forecast east coast low delivered only a millimetre of rain before Ollie RD'd Shellharbour parkrun on a freshly resurfaced but partly uncompacted path, with a Marshal stationed at the new 'beach' and Heather from Rouse Hill visiting. Mel took Zoe to Wangaratta overnight so she could run event two of Yackandandah Rail Trail parkrun on Dhudhuroa land, alongside Martine Barrot, Andrew Johnston, Matthew Billow-Billington and John Graham, before hightailing it back without brunch.
parkrun news bulletin starts at 7:42
News and updates block: signing up for the City to Surf adventurers team ("Adventurers Pod", the collective noun kindly created by Chris Fraser); Jindabyne Sport and Rec parkrun's announcement that its final event on the current course will be Saturday 10 June 2023, with hopes of returning to the original lakeside course after winter; South Africa's Freedom Day on 27 April, with adventurers out at Sunrise-on-Sea, Zandvlei, Bridgetown, Vaal Marina, Mountain Drive and others; Norway's special day, with Helen Davis, Alison King, Hendo Stu, Nicola Tarrant and Stephen Davis making a frond of five at Ekebergsletta parkrun in Oslo.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 13:58
Four banked roving reports played back to back to clear a backlog from the show's break, Mark Scarborough at Yackandandah Rail Trail, PK at Shiraz Trail, Action Man at Altona Beach and Johan Duvenhage at Coober Pedy. Ollie coins "a swather of roving reports" for the collection, which becomes the episode title.
Dazza's starts at 39:07
The segment itself is skipped for the second week running ("Once again, we're going to skip over Dazza's. Sorry, Dazza"), but the hosts pull out two items from it: the 500th event at Pakapakanthi parkrun in South Australia, where Medibank's travelling lounge event made breakfast television and the nightly news; and Dan Baldwin, a West Australian, completing the Baywatch Challenge (nine Australian events with "bay" in the name, Batemans Bay, Cormorant Bay, Fingal Bay, Geographe Bay, Hervey Bay, Horseshoe Bay, Jurien Bay Foreshore, Largs Bay and Redland Bay), which the hosts turn into a challenge for themselves.
Club Corner starts at 43:07
Rachel explains the "bingo" club: collecting every finish-time second combination from 00 to 59. Once only one number remains you have a 1.67% chance of getting it in any given week; the average is about 280 events, with some people still going past 300. She got hers in 60 events. She points listeners to The Informant's page for the Australia/New Zealand stats summary, notes the finish-position variant (last two digits of your finishing place, 01 to 00), and reminds everyone that all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun. Mel is still chasing double-zero after 379 events; Ollie has three numbers to go.
Emails starts at 45:36
Installments four and five of the Jackson's World Tour from Stephen and Jen. Week four was Medina I.O.W. parkrun on the Isle of Wight, visiting their daughter Jenny, with grandson Thomas running his first parkrun at the junior event the next day; week five was Severn Bridge parkrun, out and straight back across the old Severn Bridge from Wales into England and back, 223 finishers, spectacular views entirely hidden by fog. Five weeks, five countries, a tourist streak of seven.
Consolidated Club Report starts at 49:22
Consolidated Club Report for Saturday 30 April 2023: 418 members, of whom 325 took part at 185 locations. Twenty-one locations in the UK, four each in South Africa and Norway, two in the USA, and one each in Ireland, Singapore, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan and Canada. Locally: 41 events in Victoria, 36 in New South Wales, 34 in Queensland, 10 in WA, seven each in South Australia and the North Island, six in the ACT, four in Tasmania and three in the South Island.
the Frond — The Ponds parkrun — Charles Burns, Dennis Peden, Manish Bindru, Jeff Robinson, Rio Lambino, Mary DeLuna and Lisa Spencer starts at 50:12
Largest frond of the week, reported inside the Consolidated Club Report: seven adventurers at The Ponds, Charles Burns, Dennis Peden, Manish Bindroo, Jeff Robinson, Rio Lambino, Mary DeLuna and Lisa Spencer. The hosts note they were probably all at their home event, making them "passionistas at The Ponds" rather than tourists.
Launches and anniversaries starts at 50:37"Where is the cake?"
Tallangatta Station parkrun joined the parkrun Australia family on Saturday, with 99 participants at the launch. The event is in the small town of Tallangatta, not far from Yackandandah, on the banks of the Mitta arm of Lake Hume, and is another rail trail out-and-back. Mel notes Victoria has had a lot of launches this year and may be leading the country.
Sign-off starts at 51:36
Ollie said the short pod meant it was time to look forward: Mel was flying to Sydney and taking the train to Wollongong for Sandon Point parkrun, and Ollie was staying close to home for birthday weekend in the Spake household, a parkrun and dash before the Run Shellharbour half marathon the next day. They then flagged that Ollie would be away the following week for a busy household weekend, with Mel keeping the identity of her already-booked co-host secret, and signed off with the Facebook, socials and email contacts.