Episode 367 - YMMV

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HostsMelissa Ellis Oliver Spake

Show notes

One million Aussie parkrunners and no roving reports? Don't worry, Mel and Olly have you covered! It's been a big week in Aussie parkrun circles, so it's time for some reflection, emails, Dazzas, Birthday Boy and... ooohhh, a palm24 update!

The podcast feed and the Facebook post carry the same notes.

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:24

  Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country and Ollie Spake on Dharawal Country, Ollie home alone for a second week. Ollie's mixed team finished around 17th in the aquathon thanks to Bec Bailey's swim leg, and he ran 7 km without stopping for the first time since November; the hosts note the pod is now in its ninth year (first episode 6 January 2016) and their fourth as co-hosts, with a returning past interviewee promised in coming weeks. Mel ran Studley (event 347, 368 finishers, Medibank and Channel 9 on site for the one millionth participant milestone) with Sarah Jefferson and Matt Stephens; Ollie was RD at Shellharbour for its biggest crowd since January 2021 and Vera's 250th.

• parkrun news bulletin starts at 10:07

  Ollie signposts "switching across to our news and discussion" and the pair work through the week's parkrun news: parkrun Australia's one millionth participant and the limited-edition commemorative drink bottle; continuing mainstream media coverage (Colin Thorne, an ABC News package filmed at Frankston Nature Conservation Reserve parkrun featuring comedian Ross Noble); and Joint Australian of the Year Professor Richard Scolyer, a GreenWay parkrun regular, honoured with Professor Georgina Long for their melanoma immunotherapy work. Bill Barker's email proposing an adventurers league in the 5K app is read inside this block.

• Palm update starts at 24:56

  Teasers for palm24, the parkrun adventurers Listener Meetup, in Toowoomba in April: exclusive on-site merchandise to be announced, and the reveal of the dress-up night theme - "being that we are going to be in the town of flowers" - after a run back through past years' themes (Newcastle, South Australia's 20s, Nambour's parkrun theme, Tasmania's P party, Western Australia's West).

• Dazza's starts at 30:25

  Ollie hands over after noting there are no roving reports this week. Dazza's prompt was chocolate cake day. Posts read: Roberta Winters (Queensland) at Ocean View parkrun's 250th; Tracy Kavanagh celebrating her own 250th at Seacliff Esplanade parkrun's 250th event; Dave Allmark (WA) and the "old farts" at Whitfords Nodes, with a robot waiter at breakfast; Cathy Crispin touristing at Cowra parkrun (NSW); Brett Bailey at Pegasus parkrun (NZ) before marshalling at a muscle car show; Chantelle Hosking at Whangarei (NZ) making the most-events list; Chloe Bravos at Wanneroo parkrun (WA) and the dropped Zooper Dooper; Andrew Blanda at Benalla Botanical Gardens, whose "YMMV" line gives the episode its title; and Mark Hibbard at Taree parkrun (NSW).

• the Obi Award — Dave Allmark starts at 37:44

  The Obi goes to "the old farts" - Dave Allmark, who stepped up to file the Whitfords Nodes post when regular poster Andrew Yeatman was otherwise engaged, and supplied the robot-waiter photo. Ollie: "Well done, our tech-savvy old farts, and congratulations."

• Emails starts at 39:26

  Three emails: Andy Airey on his Airey Airways group trip of 115 tourists to Pokkinen parkrun in Oulu, Finland on 28 September, travelling by sleeper train from Helsinki, with RD Lorna on track to run-direct every Finnish event; Patrick "Paddy" Oshimo on logging his "notties" and chasing not-stopwatch bingo, plus his 50th volunteer at Shellharbour; and Chris Gore on the 24-parkruns-in-24-hours event on 13 January in WA, where Phil completed all 24, each under 24 minutes, in temperatures above 40 degrees.

• the Birthday Boy starts at 47:57

  The Birthday Boy's monthly rundown for February 2024: four parkrun days; Kirra turning 12 alongside Main Beach, New Farm and Albert Melbourne; Lake Mac turning 11 and Tuggeranong closed for foreshore path works; four first anniversaries (Australian Standing Stones, Maria Creek Reserve, Point Hut Pond, and Newcastle Park in WA); 35 further anniversaries by week, from Cyril Curtain Reserve to Toolern Creek; and Bellevue Park junior parkrun at Ashmore turning three on 25 February.

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 51:34

  CCR for Saturday 27 January 2024: of 547 members, 434 took part across seven countries and 219 locations - 29 UK events, four in South Africa, two in the USA, one each in Ireland and the Netherlands; and in Australasia 45 events in NSW, 41 in Queensland, 40 in Victoria, 17 in South Australia, 12 in WA, 10 in Tasmania, 8 in the ACT, 6 in the North Island, 3 in the South Island and none in the Northern Territory.

• the Frond — The Ponds parkrun (10 adventurers) - largest Frond; University of Northampton - international Frond starts at 52:48

  International Frond at University of Northampton - Phil Olson, Amanda Murray-Holland and Helen and Andy Rutter. The largest Frond locally was at The Ponds with ten: Dennis Peden, Geoff Robinson, Manish Bindroo, Jamie Cleen, Penny Prosser, Chirina Giran, Charles Burns, Vincenzo Coco, Kevin Pickup and Rio Lambino.

• Launches and anniversaries starts at 53:21"Where is the cake?"

  Two launches this week. Ball Park parkrun at Corowa, NSW - 105 participants, 37 of them first-timers, three out-and-back laps along the Murray River, opposite the Victorian town of Wahgunyah; Mel declares it her new NENDY. And Happy Valley parkrun in the UK, which the hosts believe to be a closed, apparently military, facility.

• Sign-off starts at 55:40

  Mel broke the run sheet order and asked Ollie first: he said it was copy and paste, run directing at Shellharbour, and that all going to plan one of his children would complete her parkrun again, and Mel praised him as a very good volunteer as shown by his recent award. Mel then said this was one of the very infrequent occasions when she could not attend a parkrun because she had to work, and would be back in two weeks, asking adventurers for extra vicarious adventures. Ollie trailed a few more palm24 details for the next podcast or two, thanked Mel for having him back, then gave the Facebook and email contacts and closed for another week.