Episode 359 - Rrrrriverside

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HostsMelissa Ellis Oliver Spake

Roving reporterAlison Fraser (King)

Show notes

From the Facebook post

This week, while Olly laments a missed parkrunday, Melissa gets busy on her p-index.

Rachel returns with Alphabet homework and there are similar 'messengers' in the emails.

Meanwhile, Alison is on the ground enjoying the launch at Northern Pathway (opens in a new tab) parkrun in New Zealand.

From the podcast feed

This week, while Olly laments a missed parkrunday, Melissa gets busy on her p-index. Rachel returns with Alphabet homework and there are similar ‘messengers’ in the emails. Meanwhile, Alison is on the ground enjoying the launch at Northern Pathway (opens in a new tab), New Zealand.

Roving reports

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:23

  Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country and Ollie Spake on Dharawal Country, recording for the first time on Riverside after Zencastr dropped its free tier and asking listeners for feedback on the audio. Ollie was on a four-day Ovation of the Seas cruise that floated between Sydney and Newcastle instead of stopping at Eden, and ran his parkrun-day 5K as 9.12 laps of the ship's deck at 5.50am, the only finisher at 'event number two' and logged as aparkrun on the Friday. Mel went to Point Cook, which was celebrating its 50,000th finisher, to lift her attendance there to eight for her p-index, catching up with Andrew Reynolds, before the pair turn to news following on from last episode.

• parkrun news bulletin starts at 9:32

  The show's news slot, opened "I understand we do have a bit of news and discussion following on from last episode" and closed "I think that's it for our news and discussion, Mel". Three items: the response to TOC's call for adventurers to log a naughty (34 adventurers took part; the Australian figure jumped from 93 the week before to 127, which Mel believes is the largest ever Australian total); parkrun Australia joining forces with the Diabetes Alliance Program Plus in the Hunter New England local health district; and the milestone hoodies reaching the Australian shop for pre-order from 28 November.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 13:21

  Ollie crosses over to Alison Fraser (King) in New Zealand for a report from the launch of Northern Pathway parkrun in Auckland, New Zealand's first event starting with N, Auckland's eighth and the country's 43rd. Alison signs on for the Channel 5 News crew and interviews Anna (chair of the Upper Harbour Local Board) and Scott (the Event Director) before signing off. Mel and Ollie debrief afterwards, noting New Zealand has no silent-launch restriction (only the UK, Ireland and Australia do).

• Dazza's starts at 23:03

  Ollie opens with Dazza's Remembrance Day 2023 welcome. Posts read out: Cass Castleton (eighth alphabet completed at Queenstown parkrun); Wendy Glen at Birdsland Reserve for her friend Jo's 250th; Barbara Luther and Belinda Taylor at Hamilton Island; Gemma Holly and friends dressed as pirates for the seventh anniversary of Nepean River parkrun; Val Warwick on park walking at Nantu Wama with Steve, Janet and Jeff; Andrew Yeatman on finish tokens at Lake Claremont and his first week as a parkrun photography and video ambassador; Sonja Pohlman's fairy bread birthday cake from Georgina Devine; Johan Duvenhage completing all 22 South African regions at Umfolozi; Calum Burrell at Bolton parkrun; and Andy Airey with 60 of the Airey Airways posse at Victoria Dock.

• the Obi Award — Gemma Holly starts at 30:11

  Ollie opens the envelope; this week's Obi goes to Gemma Holly, for dressing up as a pirate and getting into the spirit at the seventh anniversary of Nepean River parkrun, "sailed the seven seas to celebrate the seventh anniversary".

• Club Corner starts at 31:07

  Rachel answers TOC's homework from the previous week on how many times the parkrun alphabet can be completed worldwide. The answer is 9, limited by Q; Z and Y sit on 12 each and I on 14. In Australia C leads on 50 event names and M on 46, with I and V on 3 and Z on 1. Worldwide the most popular starting letter is C (180 events), then B (176), and she reads the full ranking. Caveat given: the count anglicises non-English alphabets, and Polish and French events are assumed to start with the location name.

• Emails starts at 33:53

  Ollie reads an email from David Messenger answering the same alphabet question independently: the limit is 9 because of Q, the second limit 11 because of Z, the third 12 because of Y, and the most common letter is C with 180. Mel notes the discrepancy between Rachel's 12 Zs and David's 11, adjudicated as 11 actual Zs and 12 Z-like characters, and adds that Australia and New Zealand hold five of the world's nine Qs and eight of the Ys.

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 36:33

  Mel reads the adventurers Consolidated Club Report for Saturday 11 November 2023: the club has passed 505 members, with 378 taking part in eight countries across 200 locations, 28 events in the UK, three each in South Africa and America, one each in Austria, Malaysia and Poland; locally 45 events in Queensland, 43 in Victoria ("the greater state"), 39 in New South Wales, 10 in South Australia, seven in WA and ACT, five in Tasmania and the North Island and three on the South Island. Milestones: Chris Roos 250th at Jells, Andrea Booth 100th at Jells, Amelia Garner 50th, Mark Scarborough 250th on his 10th parkrun anniversary. PBs: Erin Phillips at Stones Corner and Mark Scarborough at Wagi Bridge, his first PB in six years.

• the Frond — Andrew Capple, Claire Taylor, Maurice Cohen, Helen Watson and Alison King starts at 37:40

  Read inside the Consolidated Club Report. Mel skips the international frond this week to give New Zealand some love: a frond of five at Northern Pathway parkrun in New Zealand, Andrew Capple, Claire Taylor, Maurice Cohen, Helen Watson and Alison King. A frond of three is also mentioned earlier in Dazza's, at Bolton parkrun in the UK.

• Launches and anniversaries starts at 41:19"Where is the cake?"

  Ollie flags the week's launch. Northern Pathway parkrun, Auckland, New Zealand: 264 finishers, 25 volunteers and 25 people running their first ever parkrun. Ollie reads the course description, start at the public reserve, across the bridge onto the Northern Pathway, out to a turnaround near Rosedale bus station, back past the bridge to a second turnaround, then back to the pedestrian bridge and finish in the reserve.

• International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day starts at 42:25

  In the looking-forward slot, Ollie reports the final ugly singlets are shipping tomorrow and Australian orders should arrive this week, thanking the "elves" who made them. He gives the date for International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day as 16 December 2023 and points listeners to the Facebook event, adding there is no need to wait for the date to wear one.

• Sign-off starts at 43:12

  Mel said she was hanging local again and would likely be at Karkarook parkrun, which she called Karki Parki and named as Chris Ruse's home parkrun; Ollie said he would be at Kingston Park parkrun in Tassie, in lutruwita, hoping to finally hit event number 50 and maybe get his little brother along, and explained he was back in Tasmania for a second attempt at the Point to Pinnacle half marathon from Wrest Point Casino in Hobart, in nipaluna, up kunanyi or Mount Wellington, having just hit his fundraising goal for Carrie's Beanies for Brain Cancer. Mel told him to watch out for Martine Barrot, entered as a walker, and Andrew Johnston, who would be chasing him up the mountain, wished them luck, and Ollie gave the Facebook and email contacts and closed for another week.