Episode 371 - Out & Moving

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HostsMelissa Ellis Oliver Spake

Roving reportersAlison Fraser (King) Tracey Wood

GuestNikki Thomas

Show notes

With both our hosts returning a tad late from their adventures of the weekend, there's lots to catch up on. From the ups and downs around our adventurer community, to the very long, long runs and walks down under and across the ditch, people have been busy! Hear about Mel's triple treat of Stebonheath, Thorndon Juniors (opens in a new tab) and Adelaide Airport, Olly's Batemans Bay (opens in a new tab) return, plus roving reports from Tracey at Broadbeach Waters (opens in a new tab) and Alison at Gordon Spratt Reserve (opens in a new tab). After that we'll need another coffee, thanks Dazza!

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

Guest

Roving reports

1Broadbeach Waters2Gordon Spratt Reserve

In this episode

• Tribute starts at 0:04

  Oliver Spake opens the episode, before the theme music, with the death of Stephen Jackson in an accident in which his wife Jen was injured. Stephen and Jen had been part of the adventurer community for years and were interviewed in episode 229; he was central to Bathurst parkrun and to the Mount Panorama Punish. Love and thoughts to Jen, the family and both communities.

• Welcome starts at 1:21

  Ollie Spake opens with the sad news of the death of Stephen Jackson of the Bathurst and Panorama Punish community (interviewed with Jen in episode 229) in an accident, with wishes for Jen's recovery. Then Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country and Ollie on Dharawal Country, recording on a Tuesday ahead of the Matildas match and Mackenzie Arnold keeper jerseys selling out in five minutes. Mel flew to Adelaide to join Sarah Jefferson at Stebonheath (event 244, Kaurna land, Rundown Under day, where Sarah completed her snakes challenge), brunch and the jetty at Glenelg, then volunteered at Thorndon juniors under RD Jonathan Morgan alongside Janet Reid and granddaughter Zoe, Belinda Land, Anthony Patterson and ED Kirsty Shermer, a local school's healthy-living visit lifting attendance to a record 90, before a delayed flight home.

• Emails starts at 19:45

  An email slipped in early: Steve Warwick writes in following Mel's blood-donation discussion, explaining that recovery from a whole-blood donation can take a couple of weeks while a plasma donation only takes two to three days, which lets him donate more often and still jog that afternoon.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 24:44

  Two roving reports, both on Run Down Under / parkrun the World Day: Tracey Wood chasing her NENDY at Broadbeach Waters parkrun on the Gold Coast (with P2, Run Down Under member Danielle and Run Director Nigel), and Alison Fraser at Gordon Spratt Reserve parkrun in Papamoa, New Zealand (with founding co-ED Helen Bischel, Tasmanian visitor Leanne, and token volunteer Axel).

• Dazza's starts at 42:33

  Listener posts read out: Georgia Divine soaked at The Beaches, Sonja Pohlman volunteering in the same weather, Eva Blanda's frond of geocachers at Wagga Wagga, Alison King at Gordon Spratt Reserve with son Axel on tokens, Chris Ruse celebrating Nathan's wedding morning at Karkarook, Felicity Castellan's Run the World shirts at Koonwarra, Adrian Luscombe at Templemore, Tamsin Smith's birthday at Southampton, Janice Whittle's first international parkrun at Weedon Island Preserve, Chloe Bravos at Aveley, and Val Warwick's alphabet-finishing Z at Zeehan Golf Club.

• the Obi Award — Felicity Castellan starts at 50:28

  The envelope goes to "a swathe of Run Down Under shirts", the group photo posted by Felicity Castellan from Koonwarra on parkrun Down Under Day.

• Emails starts at 53:11

  Second email of the episode: Calum Burrell clarifies last week's confusion about Freedom Run logging, freedom runs can still be logged and still appear in personal results; what parkrun removed is the per-event table of recent freedom runs. He cites a screen grab of five freedom runs of Burnage parkrun done before 9am in August 2020 for a Davenport Runners fifth-anniversary challenge.

• the Birthday Boy starts at 56:21

  March 2024 preview: five parkrun days (2, 9, 16, 23, 30) with Easter on the final Saturday and no special days; no events joining Main Beach, New Farm, Albert Melbourne or Kirra on 12 years, but Riverway (QLD) and a New South Wales event turning 11; first anniversaries for Picnic Point Parklands (Toowoomba) and the custodial event Spring Creek; 30 anniversaries in all, with Cascades on Clyde Wetlands (3), Albury Wodonga (10), Avondale University College (3) and Mount Isa (6) picked out; no junior parkrun anniversaries; and a reminder to check the cancellations page.

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 1:02:08

  For Saturday 24 February 2024: of 585 members, 446 took part across six countries and 221 locations, 38 events in the UK, 5 in South Africa, 3 in the USA, 3 in Ireland; locally 45 in New South Wales, 42 in Victoria, 36 in Queensland, 14 in South Australia, 12 in Western Australia, 7 in Tasmania, 6 in the ACT, 5 on the North Island, 3 on the South Island and 1 in the Northern Territory. Milestones: Pauline Taylor's 250th (walked) at Wishart, Fern Patterson's 100th at Chermside, Amy Kent's 10th at Wagga and David Bennett's 250th at Chaffey Park. No launches for a second week running and no reported PBs.

• the Frond — Pont y Bala parkrun (largest international frond, 8 adventurers); The Ponds parkrun (largest local frond, 10) starts at 1:03:36

  Largest international frond was at Pont y Bala with eight adventurers, Mark Perkins, James Avery, Nigel Lane, Andy Airey, Nadege Rata, Kat Lane, Rhiannon Taylor and Debbie Airey, with Andy's Dazza's post noting a 20% attendance record and a new volunteer record, plus his becoming the seventh person to complete the periodic table challenge. Locally the largest frond was at The Ponds with 10, then Panania with eight, and Wagga and Wishart with seven each.

• Launches and anniversaries starts at 1:05:34"Where is the cake?"

  No launches at all this week, the second week in a row with nothing. March anniversaries were covered separately by the Birthday Boy earlier in the episode.

• Sign-off starts at 1:07:50

  Ollie asked Mel about her next parkrun day and she said she honestly had no idea, with no ability to tour that week, so it would be somewhere local out of a couple of options she had not yet nutted out; Ollie said he was going to Shellharbour, that he saw no more adventures for a few weeks until his hoped-for Hunter trip, and that it was their pacers day, the first parkrun day of each month, though he was not sure yet whether he would be running, walking or volunteering. Mel called that the mystery for everyone, then Ollie gave the Facebook and email contacts and closed for another week.