Episode 219 - Lauren Reid

Welcome

00:00:24Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 219 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. My name is Melissa Ellis and I'm joined by the man with the mirrored sunglasses, Ollie Spake. Hi, Ollie. Hi, Mel.

00:00:39Oliver Spake: How are you?

00:00:40Melissa Ellis: I am really good. How was your parkrun weekend?

00:00:44Oliver Spake: My parkrun weekend was very summery and yeah, a lot of fun. Very community feeling parkrun this weekend.

00:00:50Melissa Ellis: What happened at Shellharbour? We're just going to assume that's where you were?

00:00:54Oliver Spake: A safe assumption. At Shellharbour this weekend, well, we had a fair contingent of visiting parkrunners. So I think the whole holiday in your backyard thing is really going strong. And we've heard in the last couple of pods that our Event Director, Brendan, had finished up. So we had the opportunity to just say a bit of thanks to Brendan at a parkrun morning in a bit of a Shellharbour parkrun way. So we had a socially distanced gathering this and presented Brendan with a special print from one of our special photographers at Shellharbour parkrun. It's becoming a bit of an emblem for the Shellharbour parkrun event team. Just to say thanks to Brendan. Yeah, and cheer him on as he went off to actually enjoy a parkrun.

00:01:40Melissa Ellis: I saw that. I saw the video footage that was posted to social media. I shared that on our page for any listeners that might like to see the occasion and your good self giving a bit of a speech for Brendan and the beautiful photo that was presented to him of the view from Killalea. I always say it wrong. Is it Killalea or Killalea?

00:02:03Oliver Spake: Well, I won't say I'm an expert. Locally, it's pronounced killerly, but hey, the locals have been wrong before. So you can be the judge.

00:02:14Melissa Ellis: But it's a very iconic view anyway of that outlook.

00:02:18Oliver Spake: It's a good reminder to us all, if anyone is visiting Shellharbour parkrun, come early, come and catch the sunrise. It's beautiful over by the steps that lead down to the farm beach. I might be biased, but it's one of the best views.

00:02:31Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. That was where we had our very first parkrun adventure listener meetup and such fond memories of that day and all the effort that Brendan put in not to labour the point.

00:02:44Oliver Spake: But... What about your parkrun weekend, Mel? How was your parkrun day, first of all?

00:02:50Melissa Ellis: Yeah, fabulous. How can parkrun day not be fabulous? I had a road trip, went north with three of my friends to Lake Boga and big surprise, like beautiful, absolutely beautiful place. The lake was stunning. It was a very fast, flat course. There was PBs aplenty on the day and a lot of history involved with the actual area. Military history, Ollie, so right up my alley.

00:03:23Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:03:24Melissa Ellis: I was very pleased. There's a little military museum in the general vicinity of the start-finish line.

00:03:31Oliver Spake: And the township, it's a bit of a home to some of the military history or is it more just something that's popped up as a museum, as a tribute?

00:03:41Melissa Ellis: Ollie, it's not a current military area. It was from 1942 to 1947, it was the home of a Royal Australian Air Force base for the flying boats. Have you ever heard of flying boats?

00:03:55Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:03:56Melissa Ellis: Because I had not. Right. But for anybody who might be an air enthusiast, and I know we do have several parkrun adventurers who enjoy that aspect of... That way inclined. Yeah, exactly. So after the Japanese attacked Darwin in 1942, their military looked for a safe place for their flying boats because... and this area was identified. One of the military members was from that Kerang area, so he knew, like, Boga was a good place for such a thing because it had no obstructions and it had an unlimited choice of landing and take-off direction. So anyway, it was identified as a really good place. So it became the home and they used it to do repairs and such and not just for Australian aircraft but for overseas aircraft. So for the Americans as well, they used it as a base. So, you know, and now there's a museum there and it's got, what's the name of it? Catalina, I think it's called, is the type of aircraft. There's one on display there in the museum. So, yeah, it's quite significant.

00:05:03Oliver Spake: One for the tourism list.

00:05:04Melissa Ellis: Exactly. Exactly. And I just love running near water. So it doesn't matter if it's a river or a lake or the ocean. If it's a parkrun that's near water, I'm happy. And this parkrun just circled the – well, it didn't circle because I think it's about maybe around 14 kilometres around the lake, but obviously we just go out and back. But, yeah, it hugs the shoreline and it's flat, so it's perfect for anybody that wants to do a fast time. And it was a warm morning.

00:05:33Oliver Spake: It certainly was in many places. I know you said it was beautiful there. I saw some of the pictures. It is stunning and a much bigger lake than I would have expected.

00:05:41Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and I really had no idea of Lake Boga prior to going there, and that's what I love about parkrun tourism. There will be some little parkrun created in some place, and you go, oh, okay, yeah, I'll go there. Absolutely no expectation whatsoever. and then turn up and like completely floored. Absolutely beautiful. Learn all this about the local area. Contribute to the local economy while you're staying, obviously, for the weekend. It's quite close to Swan Hill, which is probably more well-known tourist destination, especially at the warmer part of Victoria if you like so it was full of tourists this time of year and you know what they've got a giant cod Ollie a giant Murray cod in swan hill add to the giant collection so you are talking about a statue rather than an actual giant cod yeah it sounds a bit odd when you say it like that isn't it a great big statue of a great big fish which I didn't know existed either I hope you're journaling all of these giant features as you're travelling I think we need a parkrun club for all these giant things because I've got a feeling that Mark was quite close to a big banana this week.

00:06:50Oliver Spake: Yes, and we do have plans for said big pineapple as well.

00:06:54Melissa Ellis: Correct.

00:06:54Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:06:55Melissa Ellis: So I just wonder how many parkruns are close to giant things.

00:06:59Oliver Spake: Maybe the informant can help.

00:07:00Melissa Ellis: Homework for the informant.

00:07:02Oliver Spake: Or we'll have to just work it out ourselves, of course. I've seen the informant in an alley. I'm not going to be issuing any instructions. I'm not that brave.

00:07:09Melissa Ellis: Oh, let's give him a challenge. You know, you've got to level up. You can't just make it easy for him.

00:07:13Oliver Spake: Yeah, true, true. No, well done. And so where does that put you with respect to Victorian events, Mel?

00:07:20Melissa Ellis: Oh, 87 out of 87. Ollie? Ha!

00:07:22[laughter]

00:07:23Oliver Spake: We're back.

00:07:24Melissa Ellis: I've caught up. Yay!

00:07:26Oliver Spake: Good feeling?

00:07:27Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah. It's a little bit arbitrary, isn't it? But when you've done them all, it's always a little bit sad because until there's another event created, you've got no challenge. So I look forward to more Victorian parkruns being created that I can visit. But at the moment, I am one of the few that has been fortunate enough to visit them all. And I can happily recall every single course in my head, which I'm very proud to say.

00:07:54Oliver Spake: And then Sunday, was it another great day at Juniors?

00:07:57Melissa Ellis: It was, yeah. And those little kids, they're so cute, so cute. One of my Run Directors, her little daughter ran up to me after the event because I was obviously standing near the finish line and she ran up and she said, Mel, I got number 11. She was so excited. Last week I was 19. Yeah.

00:08:20Oliver Spake: Oh, what a step change too. That's lovely.

00:08:22Melissa Ellis: It was, yeah. They're just so excited about it. It's really cute. And during the run brief, I asked the kids, was there any questions? And I had one little girl put her hand up and I was in my mind, hmm, okay, I've got a question. That's unusual.

00:08:37Melissa: Okay, let's go with that.

00:08:39Melissa Ellis: Yes. And I said, yes, what's your question? She says, I had my hair cut yesterday.

00:08:45Melissa: Bless her. Yeah.

00:08:47Melissa Ellis: They're so cute kids. You just never know what they're going to come out with.

00:08:50Oliver Spake: That's very true. Like some of the strategies you talked about in last week's pod, I'm really intrigued to hear if there were any new strategies at play around some of the kids and how they thought they'd tackle the course.

00:09:00Melissa Ellis: Yeah, no, I didn't get any more feedback with that. Everything went smoothly and that's all that we could hope for. And we had happy little faces and we look forward to next week.

00:09:11Oliver Spake: Yes. Well done. Great to hear it was another very positive week. And look, it's been lovely to see a lot of the fantastic parkrun days and junior parkrun days over the weekend. They're certainly building in numbers. Been lovely also to receive a couple of roving reports or a few roving reports, actually.

00:09:30Melissa Ellis: Yes. Marvellous Mark sent us a roving report from Coffs Harbour where I did see a photo of him next to a big banana.

00:09:40Oliver Spake: And I believe we also have a roving report from Lake Boga, which might contain a very familiar voice. And we've heard from another familiar voice. So thank you to Alison, who has been at Owairaka. I hope I've got that right. So let's find out and let's have a listen.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Mark Scarborough — Coffs Harbour parkrun

00:09:58Mark Scarborough: Hello parkrun adventurers, this is Mark reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew from Coffs Harbour parkrun. Coffs Harbour is on the north coast of New South Wales and is well known for its big banana. As I said, I'm at the Coffs Harbour parkrun where today is event number 144. On average they have about 99 parkrunners each week and obviously peak, around their Christmas and New Year's time with a lot of visitors to the area. And they have an average finish time of 31 minutes and 11 seconds. So last year, when we did our travels around Australia, I did actually do a freedom run here. And it's good to be back today to get my barcode scanned here. So let's have a chat to a few other parkrunners. I'm here with Laurie and Therese. Good morning. How are we?

00:10:44Laurie: I'm great, thanks. Yeah, we're doing well.

00:10:46Therese: Very well. We're on holidays and lovely to be here. So where is home? Home is Casino up the road from Coffs Harbour where we are today.

00:10:55Mark Scarborough: And what brought you to Coffs Harbour today?

00:10:59Laurie: Well, we're on holidays, so we try to do a few around the district here while we're away from Casino. But our parkrun is called Queen Elizabeth parkrun. And, of course, being a Q, we get a lot of people coming from Queensland around the place coming to our parkrun, so it's pretty good, yeah.

00:11:13Mark Scarborough: Yeah, I imagine in Canberra we have Queanbeyan, and it's a popular one for the Q as well. So you're big on the parkrun challenge as well then?

00:11:21Therese: Yes, well, I've got my 50 shirt on and Laurie's got his 100 shirt on and we just really love it, you know. It's a great community get-together event.

00:11:29Mark Scarborough: And have you been to Coffs Harbour before? Not this parkrun, no. And what would be your top three, Laurie, of parkrun events?

00:11:37Laurie: Well, I think I'd have to say Queen Elizabeth parkrun because that's my home one. I've been to a couple in Queensland, like South Bank, where there was, I think, 650 or something odd people run, which was quite interesting. My time wasn't that good because I was at the back of the pack, but other than that, it was great. Another one I went to, it was, I can't think of the name of it now, but it was an old army training ground And that was really interesting because I thought with the risk assessments we have to do, it was great risk. But anyway, it was fun. And what about yourself, Trace?

00:12:08Therese: Well, yes, of course, Queen Elizabeth is good at casino. And my husband and I went travelling in a caravan and I did Charleville. I think it was Charleville and it was only their third run. And I got a really good time, but I think I might have missed a turn. And then last week we did Yeronga, which was lovely, wasn't it?

00:12:28Mark Scarborough: Yeah, we had a look at the parkrun map and we don't have a U as yet. And there was a bit of consternation around whether we should travel a little bit further down the road to get our U. But we might have to put that on another list. So how else are you going for your other alphabet and other parkrun challenges?

00:12:45Therese: Oh, I'm not particularly going for the challenge. I'm just keeping on going and, you know, got a few back problems. So I mainly have to walk now, but I still love it.

00:12:55Mark Scarborough: Well that's the beauty about parkrun, isn't it? You can run, jog or walk and you're still part of the community.

00:13:00Therese: Yes, that's right. No, it's wonderful.

00:13:03Mark Scarborough: And what about your parkrun story? How did it all start?

00:13:06Laurie: 18 or 19 parkruns, different parkruns. 115. My main emphasis went on volunteering. I really love the volunteering side of it. I think 50, 48 or 49 volunteers. It's great being a volunteer. It's fun. That's the fun part of it, in my opinion, being a volunteer.

00:13:25Mark Scarborough: What's your favourite volunteer role?

00:13:27Laurie: Oh, I like being the boss. I think it doesn't matter. It's just I like cheering people on and having a good time. So it doesn't matter what the role is as long as you get the fun out of it. Very good.

00:13:38Mark Scarborough: All right, well, thank you much for your time and enjoy your run this morning.

00:13:40Laurie: Pleasure. Thank you very much.

00:13:41Mark Scarborough: Thanks, Mark. I'm here with Trent, who is a regular here at Coffs Harbour parkrun. Good morning, Trent. How are you? How are you going? Very good to meet you. I'm good, thank you. It's a beautiful, gorgeous day here at Coffs Harbour. How long have you been coming to Coffs Harbour parkrun?

00:13:56Trent: So it started about two years ago. I've done 87 here out of the 120 I think they've done here. So not a bad chunk of them, which is good to see, just to keep fit. I was about 110 kilos-ish before I started parkrun and now sitting at a 75-ish on average. So it was one of those... try and get doing something activities and stuff and then I met a whole lot of people here so it's been a bit more of a little family thing here now so there's a group of probably 20 of us that sort of started around the start and you still see them all the time which is great that's a that's a significant weight loss over what kind of time frame was that That was around 13, 14 months, so not rapid weight loss, just changing diet, lots of water and just activity, so a lot more walking and running. So I'll probably walk two-thirds of the parkruns I do these days. Plantar fasciitis is one reason for it. But managing that, and as I said, 5K is not a big toll on it, so just something to get out and get going.

00:14:51Mark Scarborough: I imagine that the weight loss would have been driven to keep up with the two lovely daughters you have.

00:14:55Trent: Yes, so I hit my peak when my oldest was about four or five, and we started going places, and then photos of me and the family, I started to look at it and go, wow, that's... not what I feel like so I'll have to fix that up and then I had a little bit of heart blood pressure stuff so I said I'll take the easy way out and just lose weight first rather than taking a medication.

00:15:17Mark Scarborough: That's a good plan and so parkrun's obviously been a big part of the journey and the community here.

00:15:22Trent: Yeah it's just the fact that it's always there for you I think is the one benefit and there's no real pressure to overexert yourself it's all about what you do to yourself and if you want to go for ridiculous times you can otherwise you just walk around the other people and I do a lot of tail walking as well, which means I can cheer on all the rest and stuff, so I try and make myself a bit known in the little group, which is really cool.

00:15:43Mark Scarborough: And do you get around to other parkruns in the area?

00:15:45Trent: I have only ever done one other, which was Brisbane's South Bank one. I was up there for a trip and stuff and joined that one. That was about 600 people, so a bit different to this one, which is about 140, 130. Didn't know where I started from, and that was an amazing one because it goes through the gardens over there, which is just beautiful.

00:16:02Mark Scarborough: Yeah, I've done a freedom run through there. Well, you know, my freedom runs are kind of interpretive because, you know, trying to understand the maps and the directions and things like that that go along with them. But yeah, I really thought the gardens was quite nice. I was quite intrigued as to how busy that area would actually be, particularly going over the bridge. Like, how did you find that?

00:16:19Trent: I've never been in a start like that. It was kind of like running a marathon where everyone's running at snail's pace until they soared down all the speeds. And there's all bollards, which you're not ready for as well. And then the whole understanding of bikes in cities, which take up the other half of the lines as well, which you're never ready for. So you bike up, bike up, bike back, bike back. I'd never experienced that. It was very different, but it was fun. It was fun. All right.

00:16:41Mark Scarborough: Well, thank you very much for your time and enjoy your parkrun today.

00:16:44Trent: Thank you very much. Enjoy. See you.

00:16:46Mark Scarborough: So I'm here with today's Run Director, Keelan. Good morning, Keelan. How are you?

00:16:49Trent: Yeah, well, thanks. Thanks for coming along.

00:16:51Mark Scarborough: Thank you. It's a beautiful day here at Coffs Harbour. Well done on the weather.

00:16:55Keelan: Yeah, it's really nice. Perfect day for it.

00:16:59Mark Scarborough: It looks like we've got some pretty high numbers, well over 100 today, which I suppose is typically cool for this time of year.

00:17:04Keelan: Yeah, it is. Last week we had our second largest attendance, about 180, and I think this time last year we just got over 200 for the first time. So it's building well, yeah.

00:17:13Mark Scarborough: It's good to see the tourists coming to Coffs Harbour and helping the economy out here. How long have you been involved in the Coffs Harbour parkrun?

00:17:21Keelan: Oh, Coffs Harbour parkrun I've been doing for about, well, this time last year I was and then obviously we had a break over COVID so there's not much going on. But yeah, I just thought I'd get involved and before I know it I'm Run Director and I'm helping run the show.

00:17:39Mark Scarborough: Where were you before Coffs Harbour? Yeah.

00:17:41Keelan: So I was in Sydney at Macquarie Uni and I was just doing some parkruns there but I wasn't really part of a parkrun community so when I came back I thought I'd get involved.

00:17:52Mark Scarborough: Excellent, well done. Can you describe the Coffs Harbour parkrun course to us? I actually came and attempted a freedom run here last year going off somebody's Strava map and the course directions. I don't think I got it quite right, particularly this section around the finish and start line. Can you just give us a bit of a description of the course?

00:18:08Keelan: Yeah, sure. So the course starts at an open reserve next to Coffs Creek and it does a loop around the park before connecting onto a concrete path that takes you over Coffs Creek and then out through sort of a path that goes through some bush and littoral rainforest out to North Walcott Park and then it returns back the same way. It does a loop around the park and then runners go out for a second lap. So it's a two-lap course.

00:18:33Mark Scarborough: And it's right next to the beach as well and I can see some runners already cooling down in the water which is quite tempting to be honest. It is a bit of a warm day for us Canberrans. Some finishers coming across the line. Now you mentioned during the run briefing that there's talk of a new course. What's happening there?

00:18:53Keelan: Yeah, so this has been a year-long process in trying to get a course extension basically out to Muttonbird Island, which is an iconic point in Coffs Harbour. Runners will go along the northern break wall there, out to Muttonbird Island and then back to what they call Siberia. And so it would effectively turn it into a one-lap course with views of both the jetty and the mountains, hinterland, as you're running back.

00:19:22Mark Scarborough: Yeah, wow. So you're kind of just ticking off some of the main icons in Coffs Harbour, obviously not the Big Banana, but certainly some other big icons there, which is good.

00:19:29Keelan: Yeah, definitely. We feel that this course would showcase the best you could possibly showcase in the Coffs Harbour area, and we're really close to getting it up and running, which is exciting.

00:19:40Mark Scarborough: Looks like I'm going to have to come back sometime soon to run the new course.

00:19:43Keelan: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Hopefully we're expecting a bumper attendance for our first attempt at this course. So, yeah, stay tuned.

00:19:52Mark Scarborough: Excellent. Well, thanks for your time.

00:19:53Keelan: No worries. Thank you.

00:19:55Mark Scarborough: All right. Well, that's us done here at Coffs Harbour parkrun. A wonderful parkrun day here. Lots of fun. Nice and warm. And we're off to go find some breakfast and coffee. See you next time on the parkrun adventurers.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Melissa Ellis — Lake Boga

00:20:07Melissa Ellis: Good morning, parkrun adventurers. It's Melissa here, and I'm coming to you from Victoria's brand new parkrun course at Lake Boga. And I've got the Event Director with me, Melissa, and today's RD, Tony. Hi, girls. How are you? Good, thank you.

00:20:24Melissa: Yeah, good, thanks. Now, it's week two today. Yep. What were your numbers? We had exactly 100 today, which is a great turnout. Excellent. It's a beautiful morning down here. The sun was out. Yes, we're going to have a really hot day. It's going to be 43 degrees, so it was great to get out early and see so many people enjoying the lovely weather. There was a mix of tourists and locals? Yes, we had people from Melbourne, Geelong, Hamilton, all over the place today.

00:20:49Melissa Ellis: Can you describe the course for us?

00:20:50Melissa: Yeah, so the course is five kilometres obviously and it's part concrete and bitumen and it runs around the lake 2.6 kilometres and then back 2.4 to our finish line. There's a bit of history involved in this lake I believe, a bit of military history? Yeah, so right near the course we have the Catalina Flying Boat Museum and we have a cafe right next door as well so you can be a tourist once you've finished and have a look through there. And Tony, you were the Run Director today.

00:21:23Tony: Have you been involved with parkrun before being involved with Lake Boga? Not with Lake Boga parkrun. So I haven't been involved in parkrun much, but probably the motivation for it for me is I'm a runner, but I want to give back to running and others. So I wanted to be part of the volunteer side of it. That's great. And are you friends?

00:21:43Melissa: Is that how you knew about it? We know each other, but probably haven't been social before together, so it's a great way to make new friends. That's what parkrun's all about, isn't it? Yeah, it is. And what about yourself, Melissa? Have you been involved with parkrun before? So, no, I actually haven't competed in a parkrun or completed one before. I got roped into helping by Cameron Smiths, whose idea it was to get everything up and going, and it's just been a whirlwind since then.

00:22:10Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:22:11Melissa: Did you have much trouble getting the funding and getting the course, finding the route? We were actually really lucky. So Tony here actually had our course approved for us about 12 months beforehand and things just didn't quite work out. So we picked it back up using the same course that Tony had chosen and no issue with funding. The local community was really supportive. Oh, that's excellent.

00:22:38Tony: It's been so good to see so many people in this community you know, come out that, you know, I've never seen running before or anything. It's really good. We'll pick up the usage around the lake, do you think?

00:22:48Melissa Ellis: Yeah, definitely. It's good for the cafe too. Yes, you've got a cafe right on course. I should mention that. There's toilets. There's plenty of toilets on your course. And you've got the lovely, is it Boo's Place Lakeside.

00:23:01Tony: Yeah. And you can jump straight in the lake after you've finished. We were wondering, are you allowed to swim?

00:23:06Melissa: Yeah, it's beautiful. Last week we actually had some participants jump in the lake for a cool down afterwards. Yeah.

00:23:12Melissa Ellis: nice lovely caravan park just down there yeah for the tourists yeah there's camping um quite close by we stayed in swan hill so yeah you got it all actually at the moment there's there's it was a little bit hard last minute to get accommodation up this way so it's a good tourist destination as well yeah being that it's still school holidays it's a good um course for a PB because it's flat it is indeed I think there was a few this morning yes we did get a pretty good time good times All right. Well, thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for talking to me, ladies. Thanks for coming out. And good luck with the future of Lake Boga foreshore.

00:23:46Alison Fraser (King): Thank you. Thank you.

Roving report Alison Fraser — Owairaka parkrun

00:23:48Alison Fraser (King): Hi there, it's Alison King here reporting in for parkrun adventurers from Owairaka parkrun in Auckland, New Zealand. I usually live in Rotorua and run at Puarenga parkrun, which is where I'm also co-ED, but I've come up to Owairaka parkrun to get a Cheeky Wilson index number. So I'm just going to have a chat with a couple of other people who've come up here today and see what they thought of the course. I'm here with Andrew Capel who is an Aucklander, or he lives in Auckland and we're here at Owairaka parkrun I don't think it's andrew's local so Andrew where's your home parkrun and what brought you here today well my home parkrun officially is actually in the UK but my home parkrun in Auckland so I've been been living in Auckland for 15 years and now running at Cornwall Park And what's brought you to Owairaka today?

00:24:44Andrew Capel: I'm trying to complete my Wilson index. So this, I think, is number 14. I'm hoping it's number 14. I've got a few gaps early on and then I've got a nice run of numbers.

00:24:56Alison Fraser (King): What do you like about the Owairaka course? I know you've been here before, you were here at the inaugural.

00:25:00Andrew Capel: I was here at the inaugural. Yeah, I've been here a couple of times since. It's a really nice course. It's mostly flat, goes over a stunning bridge. There's a little bit of a climb, but it's really nice. Out and back, good surface to run on. So, yeah, I quite like it here. It's good. Yeah, some very fast runners as well, so...

00:25:24Alison Fraser (King): You had a good run today?

00:25:25Andrew Capel: I did yeah yeah went pretty well yeah enjoyed it it's nice nice morning for it.

00:25:28Alison Fraser (King): It's not too hot is it?

00:25:30Andrew Capel: No no no it's and and we were just I think we just timed it right the sun had just kind of few clouds over just as we were running so it's actually yeah kept it kept it down a bit.

00:25:39Alison Fraser (King): Now you're one of the few in New Zealand to be a countryman with all 32 events

00:25:45Andrew Capel: Yes. So, yeah, that kind of all happened by accident to start with. But then you get to a certain number once you've been touring around and then you think, well, I've really got to finish it. You know, being in New Zealand, our events are so far apart, it actually takes quite a lot of planning. So, yeah, I've managed to finish that on Christmas Day at Flaxmere over in Hastings. What a great Christmas present. I know, I know.

00:26:10Alison Fraser (King): Cool. Thanks for your time, Andrew.

00:26:11Andrew Capel: Thanks very much.

00:26:14Alison Fraser (King): So here we have Nigel Milius and Wendy here who are two of the few other New Zealand countrymen here today at Owairaka. Nigel, what did you think of the course?

00:26:25Nigel: Beautiful, beautifully marked, very hard to get lost in it I thought today.

00:26:29Wendy: And you Wendy? I love this course and hopefully I did a PB today. What did you like about it? Easy, really friendly people and just lots of space.

00:26:40Alison Fraser (King): Now you two, I call you nomadic parkrunners because even though you have to specify a home parkrun, you don't really have a home, do you?

00:26:49Wendy: No, well I consider us people of no fixed parkrun actually because we have five or six parkruns all about three hours drive from home.

00:26:57Alison Fraser (King): three hours that's that's quite a commitment.

00:27:00Nigel: Also we're rarely at home so in normal life we're travelling quite often abroad but at the moment obviously in New Zealand which is a great opportunity to get round the New Zealand parkruns for a first, second or third time.

00:27:14Alison Fraser (King): And where are you going to be going to next?

00:27:16Nigel: Next week we're going to Hagley Park, Christchurch. We've got friends down there, so catch up with them. We've got this penguin art exhibition thing on, which we're very keen to see. And also I'm wanting to write a report for that one because I haven't written a report there yet.

00:27:32Wendy: Any final words from you, Wendy? Annie wants to go to the cricket down there. That's the other drawcard.

00:27:37Alison Fraser (King): Cool. Thanks very much.

00:27:40Melissa Ellis: And lovely to hear from our roving reports. Mark, coming to us from Coffs Harbour parkrun, he's having quite an adventure, Ollie, on his summer holidays.

00:27:50Oliver Spake: Yeah, thanks, Mark, for taking us up the east coast. It's lovely to hear again and great to hear from, obviously, some fellow adventurers out there travelling around. It was interesting to hear, I think there's a trend here. Has there been a top three that he's interviewed that hasn't had their own parkrun in that three?

00:28:07Melissa Ellis: Everybody loves their own parkrun. Everybody rates their own parkrun as number one, don't they?

00:28:11Oliver Spake: That's kind of fitting. That's that connection. That's understandable. But good to hear more of those local holidays and some other fantastic highlights in the people that Mark spoke with and speaking to Trent and the journey that he's been on. How fantastic.

00:28:26Melissa Ellis: I know. He's lost an amazing amount of weight.

00:28:28Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:28:29Melissa Ellis: Such a benefit, such a positive benefit that parkrun has on so many people.

00:28:33Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's just brilliant, Trent. Lovely to hear he's sharing that time with the family and making the most of it.

00:28:39Melissa Ellis: And the RD, Keelan, who was telling us all about the proposed new course, for Coffs Harbour. That sounds pretty exciting. It sounds fantastic.

00:28:49Oliver Spake: The Coffs Harbour sampler, basically.

00:28:51Melissa Ellis: Yeah, exactly.

00:28:52Oliver Spake: I can't wait. It's certainly got me reassessing any potential North Coast stops. That's a very good marketing campaign, Keelan. Thank you very much. And well done on stepping up. Certainly got a strong impression that Keelan's jumped in feet first and into that event team. And it's lovely to hear such enthusiasm, someone taking on a role like that and bringing parkrun to the community.

00:29:16Melissa Ellis: Yeah, he definitely sounds enthusiastic and like he's really relishing the new role.

00:29:21Oliver Spake: And second, we heard from you, Mel, at Lake Boga.

00:29:25Melissa Ellis: Oh, we did. And it was lovely to meet ED Melissa and RD Tony on the morning. Both of them have started a parkrun and they've never actually ran a parkrun. That's a huge thing to do.

00:29:38Oliver Spake: It's dedication to the cause of getting the parkrun up and going. And obviously they felt that they were onto something right. And big kudos to them.

00:29:45Melissa Ellis: Yeah, they're both very passionate, lovely ladies. And I tell you what, there was a few records that fell this weekend, Ollie, but I was very blessed to be at the finish line when one of my fellow Victorian parkrun tourists came in over a minute on top of her PB. So wiping a minute off her standing PB was Sue Arnott. And just to see the excitement of her husband who was standing behind me when he looked at his watch and saw her coming in and realised she was... taking a massive amount of her PB and to have a beautiful photo because that lake it's very picturesque I tell you what lake Boga they must have one of the prettiest positions for finished photos if anybody saw the photos that I posted on social media just fabulous the um event photographer has no problems at all at that parkrun I can tell you so I was just standing there in awe capturing Sue with her arms raised as she came over the finish line and it was just beautiful it was you know just one of those moments very blessed to be there and to have experienced seeing her do that congratulations again Sue what a massive achievement well done And we heard from Alison, Ollie. She sent us in a roving report. Thank you, Alison. I will let you announce the name of the place where Alison was.

00:31:08Oliver Spake: Yeah, look, I'll be the butcher for now. Fantastic to hear from Alison again, coming to us from Owairaka parkrun. Sorry, everyone in Owaraka parkrun, if I am butchering that. But great to hear from more of the New Zealand connection and to hear from some of the countrymen out there.

00:31:26Melissa Ellis: Yes, they seem to have a nice little group of countrymen going around enjoying their parkruns. But I'm still waiting for that snazzy terminology. I think, Alison, maybe you need to be polling the people as you go around New Zealand. and get some suggestions. We want to hear some suggestions for that terminology.

00:31:46Oliver Spake: We can build up a bit of a sample and we can collate those results.

00:31:50Melissa Ellis: We could do a quiz.

00:31:51Oliver Spake: Yes. So look, we'll talk, Alison. We'd love to hear more and love to hear some of the suggestions coming from the field.

00:31:57Melissa Ellis: Yeah, get some suggestions for us and we'll do a poll and we'll get the public, all our listeners, all five of them, they can vote. Well, probably two votes will win.

00:32:07Oliver Spake: That'd be nice. Let's coin some terms.

00:32:09Melissa Ellis: Yeah. I'm sure there's some alliterations that we can come up with. Let's get all our listeners onto it.

00:32:15Oliver Spake: All right. So we're opening this up beyond just the New Zealanders?

00:32:19Melissa Ellis: Yeah, why not?

00:32:20Oliver Spake: Excellent. And specifically, we are seeking snazzy terms for the islanders, as in the North Island and South Island version of the statesman, Mel, or are we after a countryman equivalent?

00:32:32Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's too many questions. Let's just see what everybody comes up with, either either or. But how many have they got over both the islands, Ollie? How many events? Because I'm feeling a bit upset. I've got 87 just in Victoria. I think I need to be a countryman.

00:32:47Oliver Spake: Yep, well... I think numerically you've got a strong argument. The number was 32. I'll stand corrected. There's another opportunity for my butchering to be corrected if I have messed that up. But you've certainly done a fair number compared to the New Zealand total, Mel.

00:33:03Melissa Ellis: I have, haven't I? I'm feeling a little bit proud now. Yeah, so let's not split them up, North and South Island. I think we need to keep them together and if they want to be, if they want to have a title, they need to have done all of them in their whole country.

00:33:16Oliver Spake: All right, that sounds like a plan. We'd love to hear.

00:33:18Melissa Ellis: But there were some other records that fell this weekend.

00:33:20Oliver Spake: Yes, and what a record.

00:33:22Melissa Ellis: It was Lauren Reid at Parramatta and wow, that caused some excitement around the country, didn't it?

00:33:29Oliver Spake: Yeah, look, I think the waves are still rolling through, those shockwaves. I know that Parramatta parkrun is a fairly flat and fast course. I think there's a tiny bit of what you'd call undulation and at the finish line too, for that matter. What a run.

00:33:43Melissa Ellis: Have you been there, Ollie? Have you done Parramatta? I have done Parramatta. You have? Oh, my God, I am shocked. Must have been in your younger days, was it, in your touring days?

00:33:54Oliver Spake: Back in my heyday, back on the road, back in the days of the double longest run. I did a longest run to Parramatta as well. So, yeah, beautiful location alongside the river. And I think it really lends itself to those that want to push themselves, obviously, from this evidence. A great community as well.

00:34:17Melissa Ellis: What's the name of the river? Is it the Parramatta River?

00:34:20Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:34:21Melissa Ellis: Okay.

00:34:22Oliver Spake: And clearly Lauren has been gunning for this one. So congratulations, Lauren.

00:34:27Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so she also holds the course record at Curl Curl. I looked her up. She's a Curl Curl runner and their course record there, 16 minutes, 17.

00:34:36Oliver Spake: And this new record at Parramatta, so that's 15.45. Taking off the parkrun Women's Global Record and, of course, the Australian Women's Record as well. So what an achievement, fresh in the new year too.

00:34:49Melissa Ellis: That would have been exciting for all those people at Parramatta on the weekend. I saw there was 302 runners, so it would have been nice to have been one of those and to have witnessed that going on. I'm sure that they must have announced that on the morning.

00:35:02Oliver Spake: And after Lauren's fantastic new world record, we had the fortune to be able to catch up with Lauren. So let's have a listen.

Interview Lauren Reid — parkrun women's world record holder, 15:45 at Parramatta parkrun, Sydney

00:35:11Oliver Spake: Our special guest this week is Lauren Reid, who this last parkrun day at Parramatta parkrun in Sydney became the new world record holder for the fastest female parkrunner worldwide in an amazing 15 minutes and 45 seconds. So welcome, Lauren, and congratulations on your parkrun world record.

00:35:33Lauren Reid: Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me.

00:35:38Oliver Spake: No, thank you for joining us. And it's been wonderful already to see so much parkrun love for your fantastic effort. Firstly, I suppose there's a bit of... Yeah, it's really cool. Yeah, and I think people across the globe have embraced you. You know, parkrunners in Australia and certainly a fair few from back over in Scotland and the UK, I've noticed.

00:36:01Lauren Reid: Yeah, it's actually really, really special, the parkrun kind of... communication I've had particularly there's a parkrun in my hometown in Scotland and I did that parkrun the last time that I was there when my daughter was just really little and they remembered that I'd been there and that I'd done it and they reached out to me recently congratulated me and were super excited for me and I just thought that was so lovely because I'd only been and done that run once but they remembered me and I thought that was really cool. So, yeah, a few of the different parkrun race directors have reached out to say well done, and I love that. Yeah, it's really special.

00:36:46Oliver Spake: That's great support, and you obviously had quite a bit of support from Parramatta parkrun, but I suppose in the first instance, why Parramatta? Why the choice of Parramatta for the record attempt?

00:36:59Lauren Reid: Well, it was a bit of a kind of... like a vague last minute type of idea that was drawn out by some of the guys that I run with. We were going to do a parkrun and have a coffee as a bit of a farewell because my husband and my little daughter Ruby and I are leaving Sydney. Yes. So in true runner style, we thought we'd farewell with a parkrun and coffee. And then, yeah, one of the guys had kind of said, oh, you should have a shot at that record. And so then began the debate on which is the best course in Sydney. And basically no one really knew. We couldn't quite decide. But we knew that parkrun was quite a decent course in terms of the turnaround point and it's not too winding or anything like that. It's got a couple of little hills on the way back, but nothing significant. So I left the people in my running group to debate and decide. So Parramatta was, I think, the happy medium in terms of location for everyone and also quite a lot of people had run quite good times on its own. It was either of that one or Greenway or Rhodes.

00:38:12Unidentified speaker: It came down to those three.

00:38:15Lauren Reid: I quite like the eight o'clock start as well, to be honest, because the one next to me starts at seven and I thought, oh, it's a bit of a sleep in.

00:38:22Unidentified speaker: Right.

00:38:23Lauren Reid: But little did I know it was going to be super hot that morning. So actually, maybe the earlier one would have been better, but never mind.

00:38:31Oliver Spake: Well, that's It really was, and clearly, you know, heat must have played a factor. Did you feel that as you were running?

00:38:40Lauren Reid: I felt it on the back part, like on the way back, which, you know, you've got that combination of just being tired because it's the second half, and then those couple of hills, and then also, yeah, the heat. I kind of felt fine for most of the run, and then I just really suddenly didn't feel fine. I didn't realise, you know, oh, I'm quite close to being completely gassed here. But I managed to hold on, so that's okay. Yeah, and then it wasn't really until I stopped, it was like, oh, my God, this sun is absolutely burning hot. There wasn't any shade, so, yeah, it was really warm afterwards. There was a lot of sweaty high fives and catch-ups, too.

00:39:23Oliver Spake: I bet, I bet. And there is a slight uphill right at the end there too, isn't there? So you must have felt that.

00:39:29Lauren Reid: Oh, it's a sting, yeah. It does sting your legs. If it does at any other time, it's not big enough to even be that much of a problem. But definitely when you're running fast and you're hot, I felt it.

00:39:43Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. And we did notice, interestingly, you broke the record that was set on the very same weekend, two years before the female record at Parramatta there. So there must be something about the heat in Parramatta parkrun.

00:39:56Lauren Reid: No way. I didn't know that.

00:39:57Oliver Spake: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so on the 26th of January back in 2019. So, well, yeah, there's something there. So, yeah, clearly heat running must favour you. So well done, I believe, on backing up a couple of days later. You got first at the Invitational on Australia Day.

00:40:19Lauren Reid: Oh, yeah. Yeah, I was really surprised actually that I felt okay because I didn't think that I would. I actually had quite sore legs yesterday, still that day uh not not really sore but you know I don't often get um I don't often pull up sore from races or run but I actually did pull up a little bit not injury sore just fatigue sore in my quad so I'm definitely trying to fix them before the invitation of spraying magnesium on them and having baths and all sorts of things but they were actually okay felt fine and I just didn't push myself because my coach told me not to do that because it would probably affect training for the rest of the week. So I tried to sit quite comfortably. Yeah, I actually felt surprisingly okay. But again, it wasn't really until I finished. I was like, oh my God, it's so hot. It was even hotter on Australia Day than it had been on Saturday. So we've had some pretty high temperatures.

00:41:21Oliver Spake: Oh, really well done in those conditions. Now, the Parramatta parkrun effort was certainly a team effort. You had some pacers out there and you had a lot of support there. So who paced you on the morning?

00:41:35Lauren Reid: So I had Harry Summers pace me, which was amazing. And I didn't know until a couple of days before that one of the guys had organised that for me, which was like I was quite honoured to have him lining up next to me because he's obviously a very talented athlete so yeah he paced me the whole way he was definitely yelling at me on the second half because I slowed down a little bit but he did a really good job I honestly do I know that running is obviously an individual thing but in occasions like that it feels so far from individual it's definitely a team effort yeah absolutely

00:42:18Oliver Spake: Yeah, really a great community there. Now you run usually with, is it the Delta Running Project?

00:42:26Lauren Reid: Yeah, so I run with the Delta Running Project and there's also another group called the Manly Hearts crew and so I run with both of those groups. They're kind of intertwined a bit and they're just like my extended family. They're amazing. So you've always I'm very, very spoiled here in Sydney to have so many amazing people to run with and have chats with and solve all our problems together on a long run and support one another, whether it's a parkrun or a marathon or a track race. We've all been there for one another over so many different races and runs and times throughout our lives. I'm going to really miss them when I move to Orange. I think that's what I'm going to miss the most. And I've decided that I'll come back every four weeks so I can have a long run with them.

00:43:17Oliver Spake: Do you have plans to continue, I suppose, that running aspect or even coaching or otherwise when you move?

00:43:28Lauren Reid: Yeah, so I want to keep training. So at the moment I'm training towards the... nationals which are in April and they will double up as the Australian Olympic trials so that's my goal at the moment I'll try to run as close to the qualifying time as I can over the 800 and 1500 um so it's going to be a little bit different in orange because there's no track and obviously my coach won't be there but we're going to try and make that work um through yeah I guess this distance programs and when I need to I'll come back to Sydney for sessions and training and races wherever they are whenever they are and we're hoping to make it work but it will be logistically a little bit more challenging but I think that if you want something bad enough you'll just make it work so I think there'll be some really good pros that come out of running in orange I think it's slightly above sea level and a lot of the training will be on draft instead of the spec which I think I think, one, it's really nice for your legs to have that, but two, you feel the difference when you do get on a track a bit more. You feel a bit quicker. So, yeah, I'm confident that I'll manage it okay, and I'm looking forward to meeting some running buddies out in Orange. So, yeah, looking forward to getting settled into life there.

00:44:50Oliver Spake: No, I'm sure you'll settle in quickly, and that'll be part of a fantastic journey that you've already been on so far, clearly. Look, you've got a massive range in terms of different distances as well. Do you have a preferred range or a preferred distance? Is it the 800, 1600, or now the 5K?

00:45:08Lauren Reid: Well, I just really like running, to be honest. I came into running quite late. I couldn't do anything vaguely competitive until... only a few years ago, and then kind of quickly got stuck into that. And I'm still, I suppose, figuring out what the quick spot is. I think that it's probably 800 or 1500 at the moment. But I also think that as I age, because I'm 35, I'll be 36 this year, I think that just naturally that kind of top end people start to to follow again. I might be able to focus a bit more on the 5,000 and the 10,000, maybe even the half marathon. I've got no desire to go as far as marathon. But for now, I think while I can, while I'm still getting a bit quicker over that shortest, I'll focus on that. But I like it all. I prefer anything over 3,000 metres. I just prefer it on the road as opposed to the track. But yeah, just happy to see what comes my way and just enjoy the process of, I guess I'm in training years, I'm quite young, maybe not biological years, but training years, I'm quite young. So I'm still learning a lot. Spring chicken. Yeah. So that's really cool because I can still see some improvements and get excited about learning how to, train a bit better because I think initially I was just like I'll just run heaps and really hard all the time so it's a learning curve to find what really works and yeah got really good people around me to help me with that yeah and so somehow you've you've found parkrun along the way there in that journey and I suppose for now Curl curls being your home parkrun is that right yeah so Curl curls like I can walk to the start from my from my um apartment it's really close close to where I am and um I I just think parkruns great like it's a weekly opportunity to kind of test where you're at and be around your friends and I also do a little bit of coaching work I've got like a few um clients that I coach for running and I also work with kids and it's a great like it's a great opportunity to get them involved in that as well in a place that it's as serious as you want it to be it can be you're trying to run the fastest time or a It can be, oh, I've never done a race before, so this is like kind of, it's not really a race, but it might feel a bit like one. So you can kind of use it as you want to, I suppose. I think that's really unique. And I love that when I went back to Scotland, I was like, cool, I'm going to go and do the parkrun in Edinburgh and I'm going to do the parkrun in Dunbar. And when I went to go to Orange to visit my in-laws, I did the parkrun in Orange. And I think it's awesome because straight away, you know, you're going to chat to people and you're going to feel like included in something and I like to cheer on people at the end and I get really overexcited at the kids running so I ran I did parkruns when I was pregnant and I did them with my daughter when she was a baby in the pram and the whole time like each one is just as important as the next one it doesn't really matter what you know what your goal is it just matters that you're there yeah yeah and I suppose with

00:48:25Oliver Spake: The exception of what the world's experiencing at the moment, it's there every week and one day will be there every week. So you can always go back and try it a different way, try it somewhere else. And in those parkruns you have been to, do you have any highlights? Favourite courses?

00:48:43Lauren Reid: I really like, my favourite course I've ever done was the one in Cramond in Edinburgh. It goes out along the surface forest and it's just this big, wide, path right along the water's front and it's flat as a tack and dead straight and it's got a nice big wide U-turn and I would love to go there and try to run really fast on that course I have run on it but I think my little one was only about 7 or 8 months so I wasn't quite fit I think I ran around about 16 or something like that which was good but I'd love to give that a really good shot and actually my my younger sister messaged me yesterday and told me that she thinks that I should do that. She said, I think you should come to Scotland as soon as you can. And I think you should run that course again because it's just, it would be great for a fast time. And also it was, it was really, it was a really busy parkrun, which I know there's nothing now, but it's cool that there were so many people. And the guy who was the race director the day that I was there was absolutely fantastic. He was like a comedian. He'd be on this little show and,

00:49:54Oliver Spake: made us all laugh at the start line it was brilliant so that would be my standout one yeah that was that was a really cool one yeah yeah oh look it sounds lovely and that sounds like a plan you'll have to have to give that a shot when it's available um this is this is a question that we'd love to understand uh your thoughts on uh really if if money or COVID were no object which parkrun globally would you like to run to run out

00:50:23Lauren Reid: Honestly, right now, I would just want to do that one. I say it because it's close to all my family and I miss them a lot. So, yeah, I'd have to say that. It would be that same one for that reason. And, you know, if I had just been into my family and missing them wasn't a thing, I suppose I'd probably look up where, how exhausted I can get with parkrun, looking somewhere that I haven't been before. But I don't actually know all the places where parkrun is, so I'd have to... do some research.

00:50:54Oliver Spake: Ah, right. And I suppose with you moving to Orange, we'll see you at the Orange parkrun and maybe some of the neighbouring parkruns over the coming years?

00:51:04Lauren Reid: Well, I've done Orange parkrun and I will definitely be doing it again. I think it's probably where I'll spend most of my Saturday mornings because I'm hoping I'll get to meet some other running buddies or just buddies who'll stop. So that's That's what I'll be doing most Saturday. And I hadn't thought about neighbouring parkruns, actually, but that's a good idea. Let's get one other one. The orange course is not a particularly nice course because I don't like hills and it's quite hilly.

00:51:35Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. I think you'll find some variety. It might be a bit of a drive, but a bit of variety at least.

00:51:42Lauren Reid: Yeah, that's a good idea, actually. I'll have to check that out.

00:51:45Oliver Spake: Look, we know it's been a whirlwind week for you, especially with the move and with the family. So look, thank you very much, Lauren, for sharing your experience with us, sharing obviously what was a magnificent effort and achievement, but also clearly your love of athletics, coaching the community and obviously as a parkrun volunteer too. It's nice to have someone like you in the parkrun world. So thank you so much for joining us.

00:52:14Lauren Reid: Thank you so much for having me. I hope I managed to articulate well enough how much it meant to me to be a part of that on Saturday and to have such an amazing spirit around. I'm hoping, I'm not sure exactly what time our removal truck is coming on Saturday, but I've messaged my local parkrun to ask if I could help and volunteer there, with them but I'm just waiting to find out what spots they have left and what time my removal truck comes up but um yeah I think it's really cool that you can be running it one week and then the next week you can be giving something back it's pretty nice yeah yeah no look it's it's wonderful it gives back a lot and there's obviously so many people that do give back I hope to chat to you again somewhere along the way

00:53:00Oliver Spake: Absolutely. No, we'll have to catch up. And look, when you are finally into hill running, please come on down to Shellharbour parkrun on the south coast. We'd love to have you too.

00:53:09Lauren Reid: Shellharbour, okay.

00:53:10Oliver Spake: There we are.

00:53:11Lauren Reid: I'll put it on my list.

00:53:13Oliver Spake: No, good.

00:53:14Lauren Reid: Okay.

00:53:14Oliver Spake: But in the meantime, all the best to you. It's mad, isn't it? And Ruby.

00:53:20Lauren Reid: Yes, that's right.

00:53:21Oliver Spake: Good luck with the move.

00:53:22Lauren Reid: Yes. Oh, thank you so much. I appreciate that. Cheers.

00:53:25Oliver Spake: Cheers.

00:53:27Unidentified speaker: Cheers.

the Informant

00:53:37The Informant: This is the informant. These are unofficial stats. They may differ from the stats you read elsewhere. They are only current at the time they are collected with a 100% chance of an error from time to time. This week, they exclude Cape Pembroke Lighthouse which to date has not published results. There were no event launches worldwide this week. Therefore, we remain on 432 current events. 32 in New Zealand and 400 in Australia, with nine of those being closed events in prisons. 435 events ran worldwide. We had 404 events run in Australia and New Zealand, which is up from 393 last week. The remainder are still on hold due to COVID fears, maintenance on course, and a bit of deja vu with Cologne being cancelled due to high fire danger. We had 54,665 runners this week, which is up approximately 2,500 on last week's record. Average attendance was 135, a slight increase on last week's 132. We had 6,765 PBs. 263 people reached their 50 milestone.

00:54:44[14 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:54:58The Informant: 137 reached their 100 milestone, which are all post-COVID deaths. 3,211 first-timers took part, and 16 people reached their 250 milestone.

Statesmen update

00:55:13The Informant: It has been a huge week for new statespeople. For the ACT, we have nine. Rachel Horton, Catherine Santacuso, Sharon Ringland, Nina Myers, Erin Daugherty, Nicole Gallimer, Charlotte Harper, Veronica Murtagh, and Daniel Zhu. Noel Lockwood, Melanie Hardwick, Charlie Marrington in the NT, Michael Arnott, Chantelle Hosking, Rhianna Wick Gamble, Cheryl Smit, Melissa Ellis, Parth Bommakanti, Irene Bomakanti, Suzanne Arnott in Victoria, Paul Firth in WA, and Chris Fraser in New South Wales, who also joins Emma Zammett and Amanda Hardy in claiming concurrent statesman status in three states and territories. Over to our most Aussie New Zealand events list, the biggest mover of the week is Bruce Purdy, who moved up eight spots to be ranked 139th after running his 81st different event at Warringal Parklands. Moving up the list to the top 20, Neil Barnett has a seemingly unassailable lead on 291 unique events. However, Tony Jennings jumped one spot to be 14th after running Kelvin Grove. That puts him level with Kathleen Wallington on 134 events. This has been The Informant, and my spreadsheet is bigger than yours.

00:56:43Melissa Ellis: And another great report this week from our informant. Great to hear all the latest stats. And we're up to 87 parkruns now in Victoria, Ollie. And I noticed we are fast approaching New South Wales in number of events. I think you've got, what, 93 now?

00:57:03Oliver Spake: I'm not going to put, I suppose, an informant level stamp on that particular statistic, but I think you're right. And that's pretty close.

00:57:12Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so we're only six behind you and I've got a feeling that Victoria's got a lot of new events on the horizon. I'm not trying to make it competitive. I wouldn't want to do that at all.

00:57:24Oliver Spake: But at least I suppose if I'm investing in just representing the New Zealand, there we go.

00:57:30Unidentified speaker: New Zealand.

00:57:33Oliver Spake: There's my secret allegiance. If I can invest in representing the New South Wales events, then at least there's maybe a stat I can compete with you on, Mel. Let's bring it on. I think we have a few more New South Wales events on the near horizon now that we're seeing a bit more momentum with some of these events.

00:57:50Melissa Ellis: Can you just get a few more like southern New South Wales? Because my NENDY at the moment.

00:57:55Oliver Spake: I know. Tell me about it.

00:57:57Melissa Ellis: My NENDY is New South Wales. I just need that border open so that I can get across to reach some of the parkruns that I would like to compete. Compete. Complete.

00:58:10Oliver Spake: We're getting competitive now. You've wrapped up all the Victorian events.

00:58:14Melissa Ellis: It's not a race.

00:58:15Oliver Spake: No, just for statesmanship. So that would mean which events would you be aiming for, Mel? Are these 2021 goals or are these just they're nearer than that?

00:58:25Melissa Ellis: Every time I look at the tourist tool, it tells me that my NENDY is Jindabyne. However, the tourist tool goes as the crow flies. It does not take into consideration that there is a massive mountain range in the way that I have to literally go around to get to Jindabyne.

00:58:43Oliver Spake: Details.

00:58:44Melissa Ellis: Jindabyne sits there taunting me. One day soon I will get there. But yeah, I am yet to. And The other ones that it keeps telling me are my NENDYs are in Tasmania, of course, not taking into consideration that, you know, I have to swim across the Bass Strait to get to them.

00:59:03Oliver Spake: Yeah, well, I mean, you can fly, you can sail, but clearly that's still a logistical challenge.

00:59:10Melissa Ellis: To be honest, it's a little bit easier for me if I just jump in my car.

00:59:13Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:59:14Melissa Ellis: Other than Palm, I don't have any big trips planned, but I am a fan of the last minute adventure where I just jump in my car and take off somewhere. But do you have plans for this weekend?

00:59:29Oliver Spake: This weekend? Yes. I'll be at Shellharbour.

00:59:33Melissa Ellis: And what's happening at Shellharbour this week, Ollie?

00:59:36Oliver Spake: Look, more parkrun goodness. We'll have another one of our new Run Directors taking the stand. So I'm looking forward to supporting them and just enjoying the morning. I've got some weekends of travelling coming up in the not too distant future. So I'm enjoying as much Shellharbour as I can possibly get in the meantime.

00:59:54Melissa Ellis: Well, that sounds like a good plan. So the weekends that you've got planned, would they be family holidays? That might include parkrun adventures.

01:00:01Oliver Spake: That's certainly part of the plan. Now, I don't know whether I'll make it to a new event on one of those at this stage, but we're making plans. And of course, looking forward to Palm.

01:00:10Melissa Ellis: Excellent.

01:00:11Oliver Spake: What about you, Mel? Not Jindabyne, I take it?

01:00:13Melissa Ellis: The adventure in me has, what do you call it? What's the saying? The fires are lit, want to go somewhere I want a new event to be honest I'm looking to get an event I'm probably I'm looking at an interstate border crossing and a six-hour drive so okay these are the issues that I face and yeah I'm kind of scheming can I do the six and a half hour drive to Meningie on the weekend or not

01:00:42Oliver Spake: Well, a bit of suspense there. We'll have to see.

01:00:44Melissa Ellis: Yes, I'll leave you hanging, cliffhanger.

01:00:47Oliver Spake: Tune in next week and we'll get to hear the follow-on episode and work out whether you made it or not.

01:00:51Melissa Ellis: Oh, look, and you know what I really should do? I just really should go to my local and show my face.

01:00:57Oliver Spake: Do we recalibrate? Do you go Wilson? Do you look at some other index that you're looking to boost in the meantime?

01:01:03Melissa Ellis: Yeah, there's so many things to consider.

01:01:06Oliver Spake: It's a bit like some of the listeners may have seen up at Tamborine Mountain, a fellow Shellharbour parkrunner making a different event out of a parkrun. So there's always that option as well.

01:01:18Melissa Ellis: Oh, was that the marathon?

01:01:19Oliver Spake: That was Rick up there.

01:01:21Melissa Ellis: Tell us a bit more about that, Ollie.

01:01:23Oliver Spake: For anyone that hasn't seen that online, obviously jump on, have a look. Rick is one of our Shellharbour parkrunners who's been, I think he's jumped feet first as well, back into parkrun since its unpause in New South Wales and in Queensland now, it seems. And Rick has... A fantastic record when it comes to marathon running. The gentleman runs parkruns like he runs marathons and marathons like he runs parkruns. So it was fantastic to see the tribute given to Rick for running his 300th marathon recently and then to run a quasi-marathon marathon on the morning of parkrun with special thanks to Bruce, the director, to allow Rick to cross and to finish his marathon with a very special number, almost a very special finish token as well. I think he just missed 43 by one.

01:02:11Melissa Ellis: So what did he actually do? So he was in the middle of running a marathon and he incorporated that with a parkrun.

01:02:17Oliver Spake: That's right, to finish up the marathon. I think whether or not it was intentional, he'd be on the start line for that last 5Ks of the marathon. He wasn't as it panned out, but well done to Rick for recovering and completing, I think, what was 7.5Ks in that parkrun time to finish up at the parkrun.

01:02:34Melissa Ellis: So it was multiple laps of the parkrun.

01:02:36Oliver Spake: With a bit before, yeah. I think they were fairly creative with the course, but then obviously incorporating the parkrun course afterwards.

01:02:43Melissa Ellis: Have you done Tamborine Mountain?

01:02:45Oliver Spake: I have not. Have you?

01:02:46Melissa Ellis: No, I haven't done a Queensland event yet. I'm hanging out for my impending trip in April when I'm up for Palm to get hopefully two Queensland events under my belt. But at this stage, yes, I am. When it comes to Peel Club, I am missing a few states and territories. I have not done a West Australian event yet. I have not been to the Northern Territory. And I have not done Queensland. What about you? How many states and territories have you got up your sleeve?

01:03:20Oliver Spake: In my back pocket.

01:03:21Melissa Ellis: Yeah, that.

01:03:22Oliver Spake: Yeah. I still have a number to go. I have completed events in New South Wales, ACT, Queensland, Victoria, and South Australia.

01:03:33Melissa Ellis: Have you been to Tassie? Have you done one in Tassie?

01:03:35Oliver Spake: Yeah. Shamefully, I have not. I grew up in Tasmania, so it's eating away at me that I haven't been to Tassie. So Tassie will be happening this year. It's just a question as to when and how often.

01:03:47Melissa Ellis: Okay.

01:03:47Oliver Spake: Yeah.

01:03:48Melissa Ellis: So we're sitting about the same, aren't we? Other than I've done Tassie. Oh. I've got a few events in Tassie.

01:03:54Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:03:54Melissa Ellis: Up my sleeve.

01:03:56Oliver Spake: Yeah.

01:03:56Melissa Ellis: Four, she says as she clicks her spreadsheet.

01:04:00Oliver Spake: And which four are they again, Mel?

01:04:02Melissa Ellis: I have done Geeveston, Railton, Devonport and Kate Reed.

01:04:07Oliver Spake: Ah, okay. So aside from Geeveston, obviously, there's a northern lean there.

01:04:12Melissa Ellis: Yes, but do hope to get back there again soon, possibly in February. I have a friend that lives in Tassie, so she's got a birthday coming up. I've been invited too, so if I can fly over for a night or two and get a parkrun and a birthday party and get back in time for juniors on Sunday, I'll be a very happy girl.

01:04:32Oliver Spake: How about that? That sounds like a very good weekend plan.

Sign-off

01:04:36Oliver Spake: Your spot for choice, Mel?

01:04:37Melissa Ellis: It's quite surreal, isn't it? We have to stop and remind ourselves the rest of the world is still really battling this pandemic. It's quite a strange situation we find ourselves here in Australia. We've all but almost eradicated the virus. We're still getting cases in hotel quarantine, but we're so fortunate there isn't any current community transmission. And we're pretty much, apart from a few issues with borders, we're pretty much business as usual. So we have to keep reminding ourselves that our friends overseas are still battling a lot of hardship with the virus and their lives are still uncertain. far from normal and our thoughts go to them. And yes, we have to not get too carried away with our own situation and our own good fortune.

01:05:24Oliver Spake: Thank you to everyone who is listening, who is in that situation and is hopefully enjoying some of the parkrun chat and some of the fact that we have a degree of parkrun normalcy here. It's obviously, it's a very delicate balance and we're really fortunate to be in the situation that we are And as you say, really mindful that so many aren't. We look forward to everyone getting to share that parkrun normalcy, that freedom again. It will come.

01:05:53Melissa Ellis: Yes, and if you can listen to us and forget the troubles for a while and join us in enjoying the parkrun stories, we just hope we can bring you a little bit of parkrun fun to your week.

01:06:04Oliver Spake: And if you've got some parkrun fun or not parkrun fun as well, we'd love to share it too.

01:06:09Melissa Ellis: Is that a call out? Drop us a line.

01:06:11Oliver Spake: always drop us a line. We'd love to hear.

01:06:13Melissa Ellis: Do you think we're done again for another week, Ollie? Another jam-packed podcast full of records and adventures?

01:06:22Oliver Spake: It's all serving as inspiration for me. It'll get me across the line before long. But I think you're right. I think that's been another great week. Thank you to all of our roving reports and obviously to Lauren. And thank you, Mel.

01:06:36Melissa Ellis: No worries. We shall see you next week.

01:06:37[music]

01:08:45Unidentified speaker: Bye.