Episode 339 - West Side Story

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HostsMelissa Ellis Sarah Jefferson

Roving reportersPaul Kitching Tony O'Connell

GuestSarah Foley

Show notes

From the Facebook post

Sarah Jefferson joins Mel this week for a pod with a Western flavour.

Mel visited Narooma Wetlands (opens in a new tab) parkrun while Sarah led the troops at Cottesloe (opens in a new tab) parkrun.

They discuss speed week at Sandgate and the World Record attempt at City2Surf.

We hear from PK at Parkindula Reserve (opens in a new tab) parkrun and TOC at Malahide Castle junior parkrun, as well as Rachel about streaking.

Mel and Sarah discuss a new V-P index and Sarah laments the co-host curse.

From the podcast feed

Sarah Jefferson joins Mel this week for a pod with a Western flavour. Mel visited Narooma Westlands while Sarah led the troops at Cottesloe. We discuss speed week at Sandgate and the World Record attempt at City2Surf. We hear from PK at Parkindula Reserve (opens in a new tab) parkrun and TOC at Malahide Castle junior parkrun , as well as Rachel about streaking. Mel and Sarah discuss a new V-P index and Sarah laments the co-host curse.

Guest

Roving reports

1Parkindula Reserve2Malahide Castle juniors

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:23

  Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country with Sarah Jefferson on Whadjuk Country stepping in for Ollie. Sarah introduced herself: a primary school teacher who moved from Sydney's northern beaches to Western Australia seven years ago, with a Dirty Cheetahs connection via Paul Rainbow; she RD'd Cottesloe parkrun in calm weather with no first-timers, tourists or milestones, then coffee at the Orange Box Cafe. Mel drove solo overnight to event six of Narooma Wetlands parkrun in South Australia (Ngarrindjeri Country), the new course downstream of the old Murray Bridge one, chatting with RD Wendy and adventurer Julie Doolin before driving straight home.

• parkrun news bulletin starts at 7:32

  Sarah Jefferson runs the week's news: Sandgate parkrun's Speed Week, read from a message by Russell Johnson, a record 712 finishes, attendance up 106, 11 runners sub-15, 233 sub-20, including congratulations to Eman Vergara on an all-time PB of 16:51; Dan Baldwin regaining his WA statesmanship at Baxter; and the worldwide release of the Event Management System (EMS) replacing WebFMS, announced on the parkrun Australia site on 13 June.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 13:15

  Sarah Jefferson hands over, "on that note, we might throw to some roving reports, Mel", to two back-to-back reports: PK from the brand-new Parkindula Reserve parkrun at Mount Barker, SA, and TOC from Malahide Castle Junior parkrun in Ireland. Mel and Sarah pick the thread back up.

• Emails starts at 24:07

  Two listener emails. Calum Burrell proposes a "VP index", the number of locations you have volunteered at X or more times, inspired by his wife Lindsay's 10th volunteering stint at Bramhall parkrun; her VP index is 6, his is 3, and juniors can be counted. Chris Gore reports on the Longest Run in Perth: 30-40 participants, about 15 doing all seven, from Shipwreck through Champion Lakes, Pioneer, Homestead, Canning River, Shelley and finishing at Bibra Lake.

• Dazza's starts at 29:24

  Sam Schroder ("the Office Lady") stands in for Melissa Ellis and delivers the weekly milestone/attendance round-up in parkrun alphabetical order, covering 20 of the 25 available letters, and sets the listener challenge to get to a parkrun starting with A, E, J, I or U.

• Club Corner starts at 34:17

  Rachel explains tourist streaking: the base version counts consecutive attendances without repeating an event (so 10 different events in a row is a streak of 10), the classic approach being to tour away and volunteer at home; the hardcore version never repeats a parkrun at all, but that is a private list and not publicly verifiable. She notes all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun.

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 36:53

  For Saturday 17 June 2023: of 432 members, 348 took part at 182 locations, 31 events in the UK; two each in South Africa, USA and Ireland; one each in Finland, Italy, Norway and Poland; and locally 37 in Queensland, 36 in Victoria, 36 in New South Wales, nine in South Australia, eight on the North Island, six in the ACT, five in Western Australia, two on the South Island and one each in Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

• the Frond — Kilmore Racecourse Walking Track starts at 37:45

  The week's largest frond was eight adventurers at Kilmore Racecourse Walking Track, Brian Manekis, Irene and Parth Bommakanti, Carolyn McRae, Wendy Beckhouse, Chantal Hosking and Cheryl Smit. Runners-up: seven at Shellharbour, seven at Beaufort Lake in Victoria and seven at Speed Week in Sandgate.

• Statesmen update starts at 46:41

  Sarah Jefferson reads the current statesman ladder, South Australia leading on 34, Western Australia second on 15, New South Wales seven, Queensland seven and Victoria one. Melissa Ellis notes Victoria's triple launch means nobody has caught up yet, and announces she is heading to Maroondah Dam parkrun in Healesville the coming Saturday to regain her own statesmanship. (Earlier, Sarah had flagged Dan Baldwin regaining his WA statesmanship at Baxter, which is what prompts this later recap.)

• Sign-off starts at 47:32

  Mel took the statesman ladder as a segue to next parkrun day: she was heading to Maroondah Dam parkrun in Healesville to regain her Victorian statesmanship, having held off a week so Zoe could come and they could visit Healesville Sanctuary afterwards. Stand-in co-host Sarah said she would be staying home and run directing at Cottesloe, hoping the mulch had been cleared off the course, before jetting off a couple of weeks later. Mel thanked Sarah for joining her and for the lowdown from the West Side, and gave the Facebook and email contacts.