Episode 354 - It’sa Mario

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HostsMelissa Ellis Oliver Spake

Roving reporterCaveman Cam - roving reporter

Show notes

Mel and Mario (aka Olly) race through a speedy and somewhat Italian themed pod. Caveman Cam pops up at Mensola (opens in a new tab) parkrun and we have a new statistical offering from our Adventurers club. Plus, a little musing about junior parkrun and the growth?? of 5k events so far this year. *Disclaimer – all opinions are correct at time of recording and may differ depending on state of origin.

From the podcast feed. No Facebook post text is recorded for this episode.

Roving reports

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:24

  Ollie Spake on Dharawal Country and Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country, with Ollie back after his birthday, sporting a new moustache the kids call Mario. He spent parkrun's 19th birthday and his own 40th at Shellharbour, greeted by balloons, a chocolate cake from RD Bec Bailey, 202 participants singing happy birthday and a Zoomie photo collage, with daughters Ava and Hannah marking junior 10 and 50th volunteer milestones; Sydney FC then won the cup that evening. Mel and Martine went to Parramatta (event 501, 338 participants, Darug Country) hosted by Chris Fraser and joined by Andrew Blanda, where Mel finally broke 30 minutes for the first time since Kerang Regional in January 2020; also two unrelated James Whites finishing in consecutive positions with the same time in the UK, and Mel on the difficulty of promoting Eynesbury juniors after With Me Now discussed junior parkrun.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 21:41

  Melissa Ellis crosses to the week's single roving report: Caveman Cam at Mensola parkrun in Florence, Italy, where he interviews Run Director Riccardo, founder Susie, and a group of visiting Australians. Ollie thanks him in Italian on the way back to the studio.

• Birthday messages for Ollie from Shellharbour parkrun — Oliver Spake starts at 26:55

  A pre-recorded montage assembled on the morning by Bec Bailey, run directing at Shellharbour: "I'm going to run around real quick and have a word to a couple people who are here to wish him a big happy birthday." Six voices follow, including his daughters ("Happy birthday, Dad") and his mother recounting his birth 40 years earlier at Hornsby, before Bec signs off for the whole event team.

• Emails starts at 29:20

  "But moving on, Mel, we have mail." One letter, from Brett Bailey in New Zealand, correcting Mel's suggestion that the Baileys had missed parkrun through overindulging - they were marshalling the New Zealand Road Relay Champs and had to be in position by 8.30am. He praises daughter Rebecca ("Bec") for Ollie's birthday cake, rules out attending the Punish next year, and flags a Christmas visit to New South Wales and a Gold Coast trip in early June.

• Dazza's starts at 32:13

  Skipped this week. Ollie: "We'll keep it a bit light this week because I haven't done my homework. And it's a busy week. So we will skip Dazza's [Dazza's]. My apologies, Dazza, and to everyone that did attend."

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 32:28

  Adventurers Consolidated Club Report for Saturday 7 October 2023: of 477 members, 378 took part in 12 countries across 196 locations - 27 UK events, three each in Italy and South Africa, two each in Germany and the USA, one each in Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland and Singapore; locally 40 events in NSW, 38 in Victoria, 37 in Queensland, 14 in SA, nine in WA, five in the ACT, four each in the North Island and Tasmania, two in the South Island and one in the Northern Territory. Four adventurers at Fountains Abbey (Helen and Andy Rutter, Amanda Murray-Hunt, William Bodson) and four Scarboroughs at Rubbenbruchsee in Germany. PBs: Adrian Heawood at Beaufort Lake, Kay Anthony at Lake Wallace, Matt Hopcraft at Pakenham.

• the Frond — Shellharbour parkrun (10 adventurers); South Toowoomba parkrun (7 adventurers) starts at 34:18

  Largest local groups of the week, read inside the Consolidated Club Report: 10 adventurers at Shellharbour, and seven at South Toowoomba - Roger and Barbara Luther, Catherine and Ian Greenstreet, Russell and Pauline Taylor, and Denise Orton.

• Adventurer milestones — Sally Gutierrez starts at 35:18Adventurers Club

  "And we've got another new statistic for our listeners this week, Ollie, and it is adventurer milestones drawn from those in our Adventurers Club." A triple hundredth: Sally Gutierrez, Blake Wells and Tony Everingham all ran their 100th. Mel reminds listeners they can add the Adventurers Club as one of their five parkrun profile affiliations to be tracked.

• Launches and anniversaries starts at 38:08"Where is the cake?"

  One launch worldwide: Thonock Lane Farm parkrun, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, UK - two laps of farm fields on a working farm, so no dogs and not buggy-friendly; 99 participants, one of them running their first ever parkrun. The hosts note it is unusual for a single event to be the world's only launch, and on International parkrun Day at that.

• Sign-off starts at 39:24

  Ollie said he would not be speaking to Mel on the pod again until he saw her at the Punish, then asked her plans: she was venturing to the Mornington Peninsula for her eldest daughter's wedding on the Friday, staying overnight and doing Rosebud beach parkrun on the Saturday with her sister Cassie, who had promised to pack her runners and barcode if Mel went in the water afterwards. Ollie congratulated her daughter and wished them a wonderful day, and said he would be back at Schlaba expecting to volunteer, staying close to home for someone else's birthday and preparing for his next adventure the week after, before Mel gave the Facebook and email contacts and closed for another week.