Episode 351 - Missing Magpies

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HostsMelissa Ellis Simon Mackley

Roving reporterLyndell Murray

Show notes

From the Facebook post

Simon's back! And so are the Ugly Christmas shirts. So, tune in to hear all about this year's designs.

We have Lyndell the Legendary reporting from Tuncanbar at Wes Mitchell Park (opens in a new tab) parkrun and Rachel is discussing the what and why of parkrun courses – inflated or not.

Another hour full of laughs and levels ups, all for your listening pleasure.

From the podcast feed

Simon’s back! And so are the Ugly Christmas shirts. So, tune in to hear all about this year’s designs. We have Lyndell the Legendary reporting from Tuncanbar (Wes Mitchell Park (opens in a new tab) parkrun) and Rachel is discussing the what and why of parkrun courses – inflated or not. Another hour full of laughs and levels ups, all for your listening pleasure.

Roving reports

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:24

  Simon Mackley on Quandamooka Country with Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country, Mel fresh from her daughter Sarah's bridal shower and a rewatch of Priscilla, with her mother-in-law noting the first Mad Max was filmed around Melton. Mel photographed at Peppertree on Wadawurrung land for ED Adrian with her dog Lucy as parkrun-with-a-friend; Simon ran his 11th new event of the year at Coomera on Yugambeh land, about 80 people, a misty two-lap out and back with a quirky first-timers brief, and ticked off number eight on his I-index.

• International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day starts at 10:14

  Melissa reads an excerpt from the (as yet unpublished) announcement post: Ugly Christmas Singlet Shirt Day falls on 16 December 2023, with two designs - a new 2023 design of two budgies, Buddy and Bluey, swinging from tinsel with "Merry Chirpmas" on the back, and a reimagined version of the 2019 koala-hugging-a-pineapple design with knitted detail and Christmas lights. Visors return in a new design, strictly limited as they are not made to order. The order portal closes 1 October; details at the Facebook page or iheartugly.com. Melissa gives a full spoken description of both shirt images for listeners.

• parkrun news bulletin starts at 13:55

  News round-up: results of the Women and Girls of parkrun project - 52% of first-timers in the last 12 months identified as female, up from 47%, over 5,000 more female than male first-timers, with every Australian state and territory recording more female first-timers; the adventurers bumper and phone stickers organised by the Office Lady have all been posted out;parkrun numbers in Australia dropped below 100 for the first time since the pandemic (97 last week, 1,111 worldwide); and a rundown of the current Australian parkrun start-time rules - 7am in Queensland and the NT, 8am in NSW, Victoria, SA and the ACT, 9am in Tasmania, and 7am/8am either side of the 26th parallel in WA, with historical exceptions.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 19:59

  Melissa crosses to Lyndell Murray's audio from Wes Mitchell Park parkrun at Tin Can Bay (Tuncanbar), Queensland, where she interviews Event Director Greg Garner and Run Director Gordon on event number eight, the foreshore course, council funding and the anniversary cake to come.

• Emails starts at 26:39

  "You've got mail" - one email, from Josh Button, who completed his sixth parkrun and his first since adding the adventurers as his club, running Huskisson parkrun on Jervis Bay over a long weekend and setting a parkrun and 5k PB, before volunteering for the first time ahead of the Sydney Marathon. The hosts discuss the two photos he sent, including one of him mid-'snot rocket' on course.

• Dazza's starts at 28:27

  Guacamole Day prompt drew in excess of 162 comments. Posts read out: Holly Pleasance and the encouraging ducks at Warwick parkrun; Lee Cabrita scanning at Parramatta with Sally and Bianca (the Office Lady, Luke and the Ideas Man were there too); Mary DeLuna and the Wagi Bridge Troll at Bishan parkrun, Singapore, with the Scarborough family on their first overseas parkrun and otters crossing the course; Vicky Smith tail walking Maroondah Dam in 72 minutes; Catherine Greenstreet at Picnic Point Parklands during the Toowoomba carnival of flowers; Darren Pead and Lucille completing their third alphabet at Quinns Rocks in Perth; Tracy May at Casnewydd (Newport) in Wales; Belinda Rachel Caffey at Clermont Waterfront parkrun, Florida; and Roberta Winters taking a friend to Scribbly Gums for her third parkrun.

• the Obi Award — Belinda Rachel Caffey starts at 35:32

  After hunting for the envelope, Melissa reveals this week's Obi winner for her Dazza's post from Clermont Waterfront parkrun in Florida - "I felt like a piece of sizzling bacon on the run walk. Does that count?" - with a photo of her and a friend in run down under singlets against a superb sunrise, which the hosts called a magical photo.

• Club Corner starts at 36:53

  Rachel presents Club Corner on course design - not the official process (she points listeners to volunteer.parkrun.com) but the shapes events make seen from above: single lap, multi-lap (Eastleigh UK once ran 12 laps in December 2010 because of ice), out and back, multi-lap out and back, butterfly out and back, multi-lap butterfly out and back, and squiggles; plus special features like Ocean View's foot shape around the vines and Somerdale Pavilion's curly whirly, and combinations such as the lollipop and the balloon. She invites listeners to write in with their favourite course shape, and closes with her standard line that all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun.

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 41:46

  The adventurers Consolidated Club Report for Saturday 16 September: 351 of 461 members took part, in 10 countries across 175 locations - 29 UK events, two each in South Africa, America and Singapore, one each in Canada, Germany, Ireland and Italy; locally 40 in Victoria, 34 in Queensland, 33 in NSW, nine each in SA and WA, five in the North Island, three each in the ACT, Tasmania and the South Island, and one in the Northern Territory. The largest international frond was five at Bishan (Marvellous Mark and family plus Mary DeLuna, likely there for the Singapore Grand Prix); three events tied on a frond of eight - North Sydney, Shellharbour and the Ponds - with the North Sydney adventurers named: Bill Lodwick, Jason Andrews, Peter Howes, Michelle Joines, Renee Jackson, Andrew Reynolds, Jeff Whiffen and Stephen Cox.

• Launches and anniversaries starts at 44:12"Where is the cake?"

  Three launches, none in Australia: Muncaster Castle at Ravenglass, Cumbria (131 finishers, 35 of them first-timers; an undulating three-lap tarmac and gravel course around the castle with views of England's highest mountain); Silloth Promenade at Silloth Green, Cumbria (73 finishers, seven first-timers; a two-lap promenade-and-grass route); and Whitekirk Hill at North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland (42 finishers, two first-timers; two laps of gravel and grass trails from the car park).

• Streaky September starts at 46:13

  Pippa's three-weeks-in streak audio - the habit has had time to form, and she talks through why she keeps streaking: mental health, maintaining fitness, and that the half hour is her own time, adding that any regular activity counts, running, walking, cycling, swimming, yoga or Pilates. The hosts then compare notes: Simon has broken his streak three times, Melissa is still going on three kilometres a day; they discuss progress on the Bingoe card, Simon's magpie photo that turned out to be a selfie (the missing magpies of the episode title) and Callum's unfindable magpie; and they choose the next level-up challenge in Ollie's absence - say hi to everyone on your streak, an idea Simon credits to Dave 'Robbo' Robertson.

• Sign-off starts at 55:17

  Mel said she was back to adventuring and heading west to Seacliff Esplanade in South Australia, travelling with Martine and Andrew and taking Zoe because it was school holidays; Simon said he was staying close to home and going to Cleveland to work his p-index up to seven, probably pairing Cleveland with Scribbly Gum or Redland Bay. Mel fumbled the rewritten sign-off script, then remembered to thank Simon for joining her again (he said he would see her in a month) before giving the Facebook and email contacts and closing for another week.