Episode 221 - parkrun Royale

Welcome

00:00:25Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 221 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. My name is Melissa Ellis and I'm joined by the man in need of entry-level parkrun challenges, Ollie Spake. What volunteering tales from Killalea do you have for us this week, Ollie?

00:00:44Oliver Spake: Hello, Mel. Hello, everyone. And yeah, I suppose I do have some more volunteering tales from Killalea. So look, thanks for asking. This week at parkrun, I barcode scanned again. And I think I did a much worse job this week at actually learning people's names. So I kind of missed the point of one of my favourite roles. But Yeah, I still got to take it all in. We still got another new Run Director putting their stamp on our parkrun and the joy of welcoming new parkrunners. Some which were familiar, but not in a parkrun theme for me. And some were actually international parkrunners. So that was pretty cool.

00:01:22Melissa Ellis: Tell us about the internationals.

00:01:25Oliver Spake: Okay. Well, we do have, so this is a pair of parkrunners who've returned from Costa Rica of all places. And one of them is one of our Shellharbour parkrun family. And she's been overseas for a couple of years. Her parents have parkrunned with us throughout that period, but she's returned with her partner. And they've been running glaciers and mountains and all sorts of crazy things over in North America and then in Costa Rica, and finally finished their quarantine, passed their tests, and first thing on the agenda was Shellharbour parkrun.

00:01:58Melissa Ellis: Oh, very good.

00:01:59Oliver Spake: Well, I mean, that's a bit of a stretch. They got out on a Thursday, but, hey, you know, we can pretend. Yeah.

00:02:05Melissa Ellis: You've been a bit of a celebrity this last week in parkrun circles. Have I heard that you've been on local radio? Is it in Wollongong?

00:02:16Oliver Spake: Look, it's a bit of a stretch to call it celebrityism. I think parkrun adventurers podcasting is celebrityism, right?

00:02:23Melissa Ellis: Of course, yes.

00:02:25Oliver Spake: But yes, yes, our local radio station has taken a very active interest in Shellharbour parkrun in promoting their own fitness promotions. And we had the pleasure of a couple of radio interviews across the course of the week. They promised to send some of their crew out. So we got, of all people, Australian Idol winner, Damien Leith.

00:02:46Melissa Ellis: That's pretty awesome. Now, did you interview him?

00:02:49Oliver Spake: I failed to record any interview with Damien, unfortunately. He interviewed me, so I probably should have taken that as a bit of a trade, really, but whoops.

00:03:00Melissa Ellis: One job.

00:03:05Oliver Spake: oh okay I'm gonna oh I don't know I'm gonna give up on you so are these the entry-level parkrun challenges we're talking about entry-level parkrun adventure challenges which I don't seem to have had I mean I didn't want to mention but somehow I've managed to uh Chris Fraser you need to step up company

00:03:27Melissa Ellis: Oh, I guess. Yes. All right, all right. Well, you were busy. I guess you had important parkrun jobs to do and you're Event Director and everything, so I'll cut you some slack. You forgot about your podcast.

00:03:41Oliver Spake: What can I say? I'm not a good multitasker.

00:03:44Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay next time can you give me a heads up so I can give you the prompts and the memory because this is what I do with my husband because he doesn't remember stuff so I have to be the person that don't forget Don't forget. So you need to give me the heads up on these things so that I can make sure you don't forget.

00:04:04Oliver Spake: Good point. Yeah, look, I'll try and do that. I think I've got some support here to keep me honest as well. So I'll recruit Hannah because she'll keep me honest as well.

00:04:13Melissa Ellis: Yes, Hannah, we need your help. Dad needs your help. Apprentice Hannah. Would she be a good co-host?

00:04:23Oliver Spake: Hey, she's got podcasting experience. She'd love to. Sure thing. Let's get her on, Ollie. She'll remember much more. She can probably hear me right now too.

00:04:31Melissa Ellis: Was she at Shellharbour this week?

00:04:33Oliver Spake: She was at Shellharbour. She's been attending Shellharbour more in a supportive and volunteering capacity. But hey, she's hatching parkrun plans as well. So yeah.

00:04:42Melissa Ellis: Very good to hear.

00:04:44Oliver Spake: And what about your weekend, Mel?

00:04:46Melissa Ellis: I'm glad you asked, Ollie. My touring streak is over. Not an achievement or record in sight this week due to work commitments. I slipped discreetly into event 348 at Westerfolds parkrun, which was very close to my work. The good news is I needed a 348 for my Wilson Index.

00:05:10Oliver Spake: Oh, perfect. It was meant to be.

00:05:12Melissa Ellis: I did not find any of my Westerfoldian friends at home, which was probably a good thing as I had to eat and run as it would be. But Westerfolds does help me towards upping my P index as it was the fifth occasion that I've run there.

00:05:27Oliver Spake: Ah, how is your P index going?

00:05:29Melissa Ellis: Oh, it's on seven.

00:05:30Oliver Spake: Excellent.

00:05:31Melissa Ellis: Yep. So I need to run Westerfolds another three times in my quest to gain a P index of eight. Anyway, so after my run, so my run was pretty average. Westerfolds got a hill, as you know, which is not very fit. So it wasn't a super quick time, which is arbitrary. It doesn't matter what the time is. Anyway, as soon as I finished Oh, what other way? Yeah, that does help in that respect, doesn't it? Yeah. Quick change into my uniform for work in the toilet block, which had me feeling a little bit like Superman, and then off I dashed to work. parkrun fresh. Oh, what other way? Fortunate for me, social distancing. Yeah, that does help in that respect, doesn't it? Yes. Have we ever profiled Westerfolds Park on the pod? I'm thinking no.

00:06:16Oliver Spake: Look, with my memory like a sieve, I could be completely wrong, but I don't remember much about Westerfolds Park. I've seen it in the Strava maps. I've seen a few images, but I don't think we have.

00:06:27Melissa Ellis: Let me enlighten you, Ollie. Okay. Westerfolds Park is situated beside the Yarra River in Templestowe on 120 hectares of parkland. And it has six kilometres of sealed trails throughout the park and even a view of the rapids where people canoe. It's a dog-friendly park. And it features an adventure playground, which is also coincidentally the start location of both the five kilometre and the junior parkruns. It's known for its hill, atop of which sits the manor house, which was built in 1936. Now, after World War II, much of the surrounding land was subdivided, but due to being flood-prone, Westerfolds was not subdivided and was added to the Yarra Valley parklands in 1977. Westerfolds has over 400 plant species, as well as parrots, corellas, cockatoos, kookaburras, waterbirds, bats, platypus, wombats, koalas, possums, echidnas and eastern grey kangaroos. Now the eastern grey kangaroos are probably what people are more familiar with seeing in the photos of Westerfolds Park. So there you go.

00:07:39Oliver Spake: Thank you, Mel. I'll be honest, Westerfolds has long been on the list. I think hearing the name a few times over as an avid listener, it's been drummed into me that I need to get to Melbourne and I need to try Westerfolds. But yeah, I was quite surprised there that I really didn't know much about it. And if I understand correctly, I may have heard it once or twice, they've even got their own running club.

00:08:01Melissa Ellis: Oh, yes, they certainly absolutely do. And the course is a one-loop course.

00:08:06Oliver Spake: We do like the one-loop courses.

00:08:08Melissa Ellis: Complete circuit. And I do enjoy being there. It feels like a little home away from home. So, Ollie, please come down with your lovely family and I'll meet you there and work on my P-index.

00:08:19Oliver Spake: Excellent. That sounds like a plan. We'll have to lock in a parkrun visit one day.

00:08:23Melissa Ellis: I'll speak to Hannah.

00:08:24Oliver Spake: Yes, speak to Hannah. And hey, speak to my sister too. She's even down there. She's been saying the exact same thing.

00:08:30Melissa Ellis: Right.

00:08:30Oliver Spake: There's a movement, Mel.

00:08:32Melissa Ellis: Okay, Operation, what can we call it? Operation Vic Spake Adventure. Oh, I like that. That's very military.

00:08:39Oliver Spake: Rolls off the tongue. Yes. Yes.

00:08:42Melissa Ellis: I'm going to write that down.

00:08:43Oliver Spake: Vic Spake Adventure. Excellent.

00:08:45Melissa Ellis: Op Vic Spake Adventure. Can you hear me actually writing it down?

00:08:51Oliver Spake: I can hear you. It's real now.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:08:54Oliver Spake: Look, this week, I think we've heard from a few more roving reporters, Mel. So we did have a wonderful array last week. And fortunately, we've been able to hear from a few more. So let's have a listen.

Roving report Alison Fraser — Puarenga parkrun

00:09:08Alison Fraser (King): Alison here reporting in from my home parkrun of Puarenga parkrun in New Zealand where today I am run directing. Today is Waitangi Day which is a national holiday in New Zealand to mark the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. Now the Treaty of Waitangi is considered to be New Zealand's founding document and to celebrate we're having a karakia this morning so I hope to get that recorded as well as also catch up with some other parkrunners but you know as Run Director I kind of have an job to do, but I'll see what I can do.

00:09:40Megan: Welcome to Puarenga parkrun. My name's Megan. I'm a new partner to the Treaty of Waitangi. I'm actually Australian, but I do karakia all the time at work with my tamariki, so I'm really excited to share our karakia tīmatanga, our opening karakia, and our hīmene with you this morning. Sorry about my croaky voice, but I will try and project. I'll be loud enough. So I just ask you to put your hands together, please. [karakia tīmatanga] [Te Reo Māori: ""karakia tīmatanga" - opening prayer/incantation. The speaker glosses it herself in the same breath as "our opening karakia"."] [Te Reo Māori: "tamariki - children. Glossed by the speaker at [00:11:37]: "I do it with my tamariki, with the children at work"."] [Te Reo Māori: "hīmene - hymn/song. The speaker calls it "the song" at [00:11:49]."]

00:10:10[music]

00:10:19Megan: [hīmene] Ka pai everyone and ramārie, have a great day. Thank you.

00:10:37Alison Fraser (King): So I'm here with Megan, who did our karakia today. So Megan, can you tell us a bit about yourself and what Waitangi Day means to you?

00:10:45Megan: Kia ora, everyone. My name's Megan. I'm Australian from Sydney originally, but living in Rotorua for the past two and a half years. So for me, I'm a kaiako, which is a teacher. For me, Waitangi Day is all about partnership. So just, you know, being... a new partner to the Treaty of Waitangi, which was originally between the Maori people and the Crown or the Pakeha, like New Zealand Europeans. And just as part of that, just welcoming everyone who's new to the country. We've got lots of new families at work who have moved to make New Zealand their home. So just being part of, yeah, the New Zealand whanau, the New Zealand family is really, really part of, what I see Waitangi Day as. [Te Reo Māori: "Hello / be well, everyone."] [Te Reo Māori: "Pākehā - New Zealanders of European descent. Glossed by the speaker as "like New Zealand Europeans"."] [Te Reo Māori: "whānau - family. Glossed by the speaker as "the New Zealand family"."]

00:11:33Alison Fraser (King): Were you a bit nervous during the karakia at parkrun? I was a little bit.

00:11:37Megan: We do it, I do it with my tamariki, with the children at work, so it's usually only like about a hand, like five or seven young children that will listen to me do it. So it was sort of a bit different doing it with adults, but it was quite nice when we did the song afterwards, the hīmene, a few people recognised the song and joined in, so that was quite good to... yeah, just be able to share in something with everyone on the National New Zealand Day.

00:12:06Alison Fraser (King): And you're a bit of a parkrun tourist, aren't you, yourself? Yes, yeah.

00:12:10Megan: My husband and I have done quite a few of the parkruns within New Zealand. Probably my favourite would have been Wanaka parkrun and Whanganui parkrun. They're just, yeah, really nice. You're running along the lake in Wanaka and the The river in Whanganui and yeah, it's just really beautiful and everyone's always so friendly and they get excited when you say that you're from Puarenga parkrun and they're, oh yeah, well there's no sulphur flats here and just seeing all the amazing places within New Zealand that parkrun is fortunate enough to be able to access is just amazing.

00:12:47Alison Fraser (King): And you're registered, your home parkrun is actually Parramatta, isn't it?

00:12:51Megan: Yes, but I've actually never done it. I only started parkrun when I moved to New Zealand. I signed up when I was still living in Australia before I got married and moved. So, yeah, like I've done the course itself but never actually as part of a parkrun. So when the borders are free and open again, I'm quite keen to go and do that one and...

00:13:19Alison Fraser (King): You've got Puarenga, Whanganui and Wanaka? Yes, yeah, they're really nice. Cool, alright thanks so much. You're welcome. I'm with one of our visitors here today, Marie. Welcome to Puarenga Marie and let's hear a bit more about your parkrun story.

00:13:35Marie: Thank you and thanks for an awesome run this morning. So I'm from Melbourne, I'm in New Zealand for three months at the moment. I had to do my two weeks of isolation. So every day I did three kilometres running around and around the isolation car park and I'm loving parkrun in New Zealand. I did the Kapiti parkrun which is just beautiful all along a river and now today in Rotorua with all of the hot pools and steam it's been a great day. Where's your home parkrun? So I'm from Melbourne so the Albert Park parkrun is home for me. Yeah and how does this one compare? Well this is pretty spectacular I have to say. I've never run through geothermal activity before and the views of the lakes and all the buildings, it's stunning here in Rotorua. Cool. So if you had a top three of Melbourne or Australian events, what would they be? Gosh, I'm a very, very new runner. At the start of last year, I couldn't even run 50 metres. But during isolation, I'm very proud to be able to run 5k now. So I don't yet have a top three runs, but I'm looking forward to finding them. Awesome. Cool. So thanks so much. You're welcome. And good luck with all the rest of your parkrun tourism. Thank you so much.

00:14:48Alison Fraser (King): that's a wrap on another successful parkrun we had 108 finishes today which was up on last week by about 24. lots of smiles lots of newbies I'm stoked to have an overseas visitor so that that really made my morning but I have a message for you Mel, and Puarenga, i.e. the steamy stinky parkrun It's about an hour and 20 minutes away from University of Waikato. So you can come here to Rotorua, have a week exploring, seeing the sights, going to the spa, really having a good time, and then you can head over to Hamilton to get your U. As for the name for our countrymen, Ollie, your pronunciation wasn't too bad, but I'm going to say Aotearoan, which is a play on the name Aotearoa, which is the Maori name for New Zealanders. Anyway, that's it from me. Hope to catch you all again next week and have a great week, everyone. [Te Reo Māori: "Aotearoa is the Māori name for New Zealand; Alison coins "Aotearoan" as a demonym for New Zealanders. Glossed by the speaker herself."]

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Lyndell Murray — South Bank parkrun

00:15:47Lyndell Murray: G'day parkrun adventurers, it's Lyndell here and I'm checking in this morning for the Channel 5 News crew adventuring not very far from home. This is not one of those days where I've gotten up at 3 o'clock, driven for a couple of hours to go somewhere new. But I am doing an adventuring milestone. Now this milestone is celebrating consistency in adventuring and my friend Erica and I are at South Bank Parklands right in the middle of Brisbane City. Today we are upgrading our P-index to 007 Licence to Kill.

00:16:15[music]

00:16:19[17 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:16:36Lyndell Murray: So here we are. We are looking awesome. Erica has made us these beautiful, fantastic James Bond tuxedo shirts. We've got our spy pistols ready to go. So watch out, everybody. Erica, how are you feeling today? Excited. It's going to be done. We've been waiting for this for a while, trying to match it up so we can both get to seven together. And here we finally are.

00:17:00Unidentified speaker: Yeah, it's happening. It's happening.

00:17:02Lyndell Murray: Alrighty. I'm just hoping that by the end of this that we are not shaken or stirred. Let's see how we go and we'll check in later. Alrighty adventurers, I am here with some first time ever parkrunners. What's your name? Laura.

00:17:19Unidentified speaker: Anna.

00:17:20Lyndell Murray: Rita. And I am hearing some accents. You guys are not from around here? No, I'm from Canada. I'm a New Zealander. Spain. So first parkrun ever, you've never parkrunned at home?

00:17:32Unidentified speaker: Yeah, that's correct. No, I have not.

00:17:35Lyndell Murray: Yes, first experience.

00:17:37Unidentified speaker: Now, you had never heard of parkrun before your run this morning, is that correct? This is correct. I just went for a run alone and I found you and I just joined you. You just look so much fun. Wow, definitely. I'm going to come back every weekend, yes.

00:17:55Lyndell Murray: Oh, awesome. You'll have to if you just live in the city.

00:17:57Unidentified speaker: Yes, definitely. This is amazing.

00:18:00Lyndell Murray: Perfect. Now, what has brought you to Australia in the first place?

00:18:05Unidentified speaker: I'm studying my PhD at the University of Queensland. Okay, and? I'm also studying my PhD at UQ.

00:18:11Lyndell Murray: And? I am studying a yoga teaching course. And please tell me one of you is studying at QUT. Sorry. I work at QUT and you're all going to the wrong place to study. My supervisor studied at QUT. He's great. No, that's okay. So you've come here to study. How's the experience being in Brisbane and are you coming back to parkrun again?

00:18:36Unidentified speaker: It's fabulous. It's wonderful to be able to be out here with everybody back in my country. parkrun's not really going on right now. Everybody's locked down. So I'm feeling really fortunate, really privileged to be here. Yeah.

00:18:47Lyndell Murray: And what's that like being so far from home in a pandemic?

00:18:51Unidentified speaker: Not great. Not great.

00:18:53Lyndell Murray: I'm glad that you can be here because you're right, it is a lovely place to be and we are very, very thankful. Yeah, all of us in Australia are so thankful and grateful for where we are and that we are here. We've all got friends and family overseas, so we're all nice. So hugs to you and your family on behalf of everyone on parkrun. Okay, now, where are you going next week? Are you adventuring or are you going to come back to South Bank?

00:19:18Unidentified speaker: Next week I have some work in Surfers Paradise. Yes. But the next weekend I will come back here to run with you. Definitely.

00:19:28Lyndell Murray: Make sure that you register so that you've got a barcode and you can scan in. I'll show you about that in a minute.

00:19:34Unidentified speaker: Okay. Next weekend I'm camping, but I'm going to be here the weekend after. Perfect. And? I've got to work. I'm a fortnightly runner, so I'll be back here in two weeks or on St. Lucia's. Awesome. I'll do a virtual one next week. Social distance.

00:19:49Lyndell Murray: Social distance. Perfect. All right. Well, ladies, thank you so much for talking to me. Welcome to parkrun. I'm glad that you've had a really great experience and you can enjoy the sunshine here in Brisbane. And I hope that you continue to enjoy being here and keep on parkrunning.

00:20:04Unidentified speaker: Thank you.

00:20:04Unidentified speaker: Thank you so much. Thanks a lot.

00:20:09Lyndell Murray: Alrighty, now I am checking in with Matt and Jodie. Jodie, you are wrangling volunteers here today.

00:20:14Jodie: Yes, we are always very grateful to have our volunteers come and help us put on our event here at South Bank and luckily we have a lot of nice people who step up and help us out. Fantastic. Now it looks like you need quite a lot of volunteers on course. Yes, we have nine people, I believe, out on course, plus all our people here at the finish line. I think we lock in just over 20, about 21, 22 volunteers total for our event every Saturday.

00:20:40Lyndell Murray: So I can see why volunteer wrangler is an official volunteer role here at South Bank, even though it's a big parkrun here, isn't it?

00:20:48Matt: Yeah, we average around about 550 to 600 every week. We're the biggest in Australia any given week. Sometimes Rocks beats us, sometimes Newy beats us, but usually South Bank any given week would be roughly around the biggest in Australia. So if you get about 600 people, we need 20 volunteers. We only need 3% of people to volunteer, but really grabbing that 3% each week makes it really difficult.

00:21:08Lyndell Murray: Oh, great stats, 3%.

00:21:11Matt: I have worked it out before in the past. It didn't just roll off the tongue.

00:21:16Lyndell Murray: So, look, the other thing I noticed, all the volunteers wear little name tags out on course. What a nice touch.

00:21:22Jodie: Yeah, we think it gives our volunteers a good personal touch, and it's really surprising when you're standing out on the course, the amount of runners and walkers that take the time to read your name tag along the way, and thank you for volunteering. Yeah, I tried to do that.

00:21:36Lyndell Murray: I didn't get everyone, but I did try to thank everyone by name today.

00:21:39Matt: It's mostly because I can't remember these names. Having the name tags on is really for my benefit.

00:21:46Lyndell Murray: Okay, so I am interviewing you for the parkrun adventurers. What kind of adventuring have you guys done?

00:21:52Matt: We love to travel. So Jenny and I, every year, we'll at least do, well, before COVID, do at least one big trip. And we'll always try and hit up a parkrun if we can to do there. So we've been to places in Africa. We've been to places in England. We've tried to get to the US, but we haven't been able to find a parkrun in the US. But wherever we like to travel, we always try and hit a parkrun. And if we don't hit it on the day, we'll try and at least do the course so that we can say that we have been there and done the course.

00:22:15Lyndell Murray: Yes, fantastic. So I'm going to put you on the spot here. Can you name a top three that doesn't include your parkrun at home?

00:22:25Matt: My favourite is probably Minnippi here in Brisbane. That's because it's my fastest parkrun. It's flat and it's fast and it's easy. So really enjoy Minnippi.

00:22:33Lyndell Murray: Yeah. What about you, Jodie? Is there a standout for you?

00:22:37Jodie: One of my favourites is Kamay in Sydney. It's a little parkrun in the Botany area that a lot of people probably don't know about that you run along the foreshore. And one of our friends is one of the Run Directors down there. So every time we're in Sydney, that's where we frequent. And it's a nice little parkrun.

00:22:54Lyndell Murray: Right, there you go. Hidden treasure for all you adventurers out there. Fantastic. All right, well, I better let you get back to your duties. Thank you so much for talking to me today and good luck finding your 3%.

00:23:04Matt: Thanks very much.

00:23:05Lyndell Murray: Thank you. Okay, so now I am here with today's Run Director, Ross. Ross, it took a bit of arm twisting to get you to talk to me. You're a pretty shy kind of guy, I reckon.

00:23:19Ross: Very shy, very shy. I don't like to talk at all.

00:23:22Lyndell Murray: Now, I was taken by your run briefing this morning. A bit of fun there?

00:23:26Ross: I love the briefing because I think it's time to get everybody energised, ready for the run.

00:23:32Lyndell Murray: And I was very impressed with your outside voice.

00:23:35Ross: Yes, I have a very quiet voice, which goes along with my shyness. And at South Bank here, we've got people that like to line up amongst the trees, so I like to pull them in from under the trees like the koalas and get them in ready for the briefing.

00:23:48Lyndell Murray: Koalas, do you have to wake them and prod them as well?

00:23:50Ross: No, they're already awake. I just have to prod them.

00:23:54Lyndell Murray: Excellent. Well, under your guidance, you've had quite a few runners here today. It's a big parkrun here at South Bank, isn't it?

00:24:00Ross: Yeah, we get probably 500 or 600 every week. I think we've got probably going to be 600 this week, and we're just under 1,000 for our Christmas Day record.

00:24:09Lyndell Murray: Alrighty, now Christmas Day, we know Christmas Day parkrun this last year at South Bank, that was a bit of a sad occasion for all of us but things happen and we understand that you can't always volunteer all the time. Big volunteer field here to coordinate on a weekly basis including yourself. What is your story Ross, how did you get involved with parkrun and you know running, volunteering, whatever you'd like to tell me about?

00:24:32Ross: Sure. Had knee surgery for my 50th birthday. Happy 50 to me. So I could get back to running and walking through South Bank and recovery saw the parkrun sign. So talked to two gentlemen named Reece Anderson and Murray Skilling and they were the guys in charge that day and they were just so lovely that I actually asked to volunteer with them while I was injured and then joined their team. And that was nine years ago, and I've been a Run Director for seven years and just absolutely love the experience of the community, I think, giving back and taking from the community and seeing all those other people that want to do it as well. Fantastic.

00:25:07Lyndell Murray: So that would have been, you've seen a lot of volunteers in your time?

00:25:10Ross: I've seen hundreds of volunteers and lots of teams of RDs as well. We have five teams of Run Directors here and seen lots of teams come and go and people giving to the community for a few years and coming back. So absolutely loving it.

00:25:26Lyndell Murray: Fantastic. Now, did you get back to running?

00:25:28Ross: I am a mad runner again. Yay! And doing a lot of trail running at the moment and entering my first ultra marathon in April. In April, which one would that be? Doing the Dead Cow Gully Ultra, which is last man standing. Incredible.

00:25:44Lyndell Murray: Cool. Well, I might see it. How many laps do you reckon you're going to do, Ross?

00:25:48Ross: I don't want to put it out there, but I'd like to crack the 100k and see how we go after that. That'll put me into night time. I think that'll be fun. And we'll see where we go. But I don't think I'll be getting up to the winner last year, 2019, that did 465 kilometres.

00:26:03Lyndell Murray: Yes. I think that takes a very special talent.

00:26:07Ross: Special is an inverted commas word.

00:26:12Lyndell Murray: yeah yeah interesting character I would say yeah all right now parkrunning have you done much adventuring in your parkrunning um career

00:26:21Ross: Yeah, we're really big into parkrun tourism here. And as the RDs, we used to go out to different parkruns as groups. So probably 40-ish or so and lots overseas in the States and New Zealand and places like that. So we, my wife and I, actually, when we go on holidays, are looking where parkruns are. And we tend to maybe book accommodation around parkruns. It has been done. And we may have left on holidays at 2 in the morning just to get to Yamba in time for the parkrun on the way down. So yes, we may or may not be a little bit addicted.

00:26:56Lyndell Murray: Yes. All right. So I'm going to put you on the spot here. Have you got a top three parkruns, not including your home one here at South Bank?

00:27:04Ross: The one in Rotorua, I can't remember the name, it's a marina, Pookarong or something like that. It's fascinating because you run amongst the mud pools and the steam. It is, and they say stick to the track and there's a good reason for that. Washington DC on Roosevelt Island, so it's a national park and you walk on a bridge over to the island, there's no vehicles there and you run around the island and the run briefing says when you're on the boardwalk, look out for deer jumping the boardwalk and please don't trip over turtles. So that's probably a great one as well number three uh I think orlando uh because you run around a little lake and when we did it there were two guys with our shirts on that were leading and the Run Director said don't follow them at halfway uh apparently they're triathletes and they dived into the water and did some swim and we said why not because it looks nice and cool and they said because there's gators in the lake so probably you know for the three interesting ones those would be them yeah

00:28:01Lyndell Murray: That is quite a story. Well, there we go, adventurers. Some highlights for your adventuring spreadsheet. Now, Ross, you sort of said to me beforehand that you're sailing off into the sunset and that you're hanging up the run directing boots.

00:28:18Ross: Yeah, I had kind of aimed to do my 100th volunteer with my 250th run at the same time because I beat Taylor and Charlie. But COVID kind of put a stick to that. It means that's two years away. So I've decided I just want to concentrate on getting my 250, which I'll do, and then I'm about 80 volunteers, and then I'll come back and do my other 20 volunteers and hit the 100 as well. But come along in lots of different parkruns. So I'd like to volunteer in lots of different parkruns because I run a lot of different parkruns. Give back to different communities, I think.

00:28:49Lyndell Murray: Do some volunteering.

00:28:50Ross: Exactly. Volunteering is, I love it. I'm going to use that word now.

00:28:53Lyndell Murray: All right. Well, Ross, thank you so much. Enjoy running for a little while and touring for a little while. And thank you for the contribution that you've made here to South Bank Park, South Bank. parkrun. I'm a bit out of practice at these roving reports, listeners. Jeez, I'd better get back on the wagon. All righty. Thank you, Ross, for everything that you've done. Enjoy touring and we'll talk to you another time.

00:29:19Ross: Excellent. Lovely to see you in your 007 outfit today.

00:29:23Lyndell Murray: Thank you for noticing. We've put a lot of thought into it, actually.

00:29:27Ross: Oh, I can tell. Yeah, yeah. The gun was a giveaway.

00:29:30Lyndell Murray: Yeah. Well, parkrun adventurers, I think that's a wrap from South Bank. As you can tell, I'm a bit tongue-tied. I'm a bit out of practice with my roving report, so I might have to start adventuring again and getting back on it. But what a lovely day. I'm licensed to kill now with my good friend Erica. Let's see where we can go to get our P index to eight. All right, this is Lyndell over and out from South Bank parkrun for the Channel 5 News crew.

Roving report Simon Mackley — Cowpasture Reserve

00:30:03Simon Mackley: Morning adventurers, it's the Quizmaster reporting in from Cowpasture, Camden where I've just done my 50th different event on my Cowell so the synchronicity has not been lost on me. On the way in here I drove past the movies. Cowpasture is an amazing course, it's a little undulating, it's covered by trees at the start. They do a cow down to start you off, as they always do. Yeah, as I say, an excellent team. I've got really sore calves after doing it, and I'm utterly exhausted. If you come out to Camden, make sure you put Cowpasture on your list. All right, I'll speak to you later. I'm heading off for breakfast. I'll probably have some muesli.

00:30:54Melissa Ellis: And we had Alison back again from Puarenga on Waitangi Day. So I'm loving this, Ollie. I am loving learning about New Zealand. This is their national day that they celebrate, and she interviewed Megan who did the karakia, I think is how it's pronounced, which is the prayer to start the day. That was really wonderful. Yes. Two of the interviews that Alison did were Australians over there living the life in New Zealand.

00:31:27Oliver Spake: Yeah, so jealous. It was great to hear, great to hear directly from Puarenga.

00:31:32Melissa Ellis: We're getting a little rapport over there with Puarenga. I'm starting to feel like it's my home away from home.

00:31:37Oliver Spake: home we can visit soon, I hope, whenever's possible anyway. But it was a really nice way to start the parkrun day and to mark the date. So well done, Alison and everyone there at Puarenga.

00:31:49Melissa Ellis: And Marie, his home parkrun is Albert, Melbourne, where our very own Scott Watkins is from. Yes.

00:31:55Oliver Spake: How about that? So many connections. It's nice to hear some very familiar voices there. I certainly couldn't get over Megan and her home parkrun.

00:32:03Melissa Ellis: Oh, Parramatta, that she hasn't been able to run yet. Home of the world female record recently.

00:32:10Oliver Spake: That's right. The very, very fast Parramatta parkrun. And I can tell that Megan's looking forward to getting over there one day.

00:32:17Melissa Ellis: Now that it's famous. Yeah.

00:32:19Oliver Spake: Maybe before it was famous.

00:32:21Melissa Ellis: And thank you, Alison, for letting me know that Puarenga is only one hour and 20 minutes from the University of Waikato and that it is completely doable, way under the six and a quarter hours that I'm used to having to travel. So yay, holidays coming together nicely.

00:32:37Oliver Spake: Yeah, that New Zealand list is building. I would dearly love to pursue the club, which I'm going to try and pronounce now I've had the guidance. So thank you very much also, Alison, for the Aotearoan Club. And if I butchered that again, I'm truly sorry. I am a slow learner.

00:32:55Melissa Ellis: I'm sure that's how you said it last week.

00:32:59Oliver Spake: Shows that I don't learn.

00:33:00Melissa Ellis: It doesn't matter any difference, Ollie.

00:33:01Oliver Spake: Yeah. But I think that's a great term. Love it. And yeah, it's been good to have that feedback too. So thanks, Alison. It's been nice to have a hat trick of reports from you.

00:33:12Melissa Ellis: I did think though, Ollie, the previous podcast, we did say we would do a poll about the term and then Alison's come back with one option and we've gone, yeah, great. We'll take that and forgot completely about our poll.

00:33:26Oliver Spake: Missing some poll opportunities. Okay. Noted. Bit too eager, you think, Mel?

00:33:31Melissa Ellis: Well, it was a good option though.

00:33:33Oliver Spake: It was. Look, happy to put it out for a vote, particularly if we've got some New Zealand listeners that would give us some other interesting insights. So yeah, why not?

00:33:43Melissa Ellis: Maybe we should give it another week for engagement. And then if nobody comes back, then we'll call it.

00:33:50Oliver Spake: Okay. All right. And how nice was it to hear from Lyndell? Great to have you back on the wagon, Lyndell. And I have to say, is there anything you don't do in style? That was a remarkable get up for the 007 day.

00:34:05Melissa Ellis: Spy pistols for a pee. A P-index.

00:34:10Oliver Spake: That's right. And well done for not getting pulled up and interrogated by the police, taking a pistol to parkrun. Yeah, it was fantastic to hear some of the different interviews there. One thing I did pick up is that Lyndell's interviews there really picked out some interesting and danger-themed parkruns in the top three. I think Ross, the Run Director, has a real appetite. So I don't know whether it was the 007 getup that just brought out the danger in everyone, but... alligators and obviously a mention of Puarenga there yeah there was a real appetite for risk

00:34:43Melissa Ellis: You see, Ollie, all I heard out of RD Ross's interview was that he had a good outside voice. That's what came across to me. I was very impressed.

00:34:52Oliver Spake: Yeah, which is very helpful as an RD.

00:34:54Melissa Ellis: Definitely. And we had some audio from Simon, our parkrun adventurer's very own quiz master, who was at Cowpasture Reserve completing his Cowell.

00:35:08[other]

00:35:08Oliver Spake: How fitting. We've got the sound effects, Mel.

00:35:15Melissa Ellis: I know. I'm on it, Ollie.

00:35:17Oliver Spake: Excellent. Thank you, Simon, for giving us perfect opportunity to debut the new sound effects.

00:35:26Melissa Ellis: And thank you, Simon. Congratulations on your milestone.

00:35:31Oliver Spake: Yeah, well done. One final observation on the roving reports though, Mel, is, and sorry to harp on about New Zealand, is Puarenga's getting a few mentions. So of the lists of not yet done parkruns, as far as my list goes anyway, it's shooting to the top. It's nice hearing some of these other options, but that one, that one I've really got to try.

00:35:52Melissa Ellis: I thought you were going to say something along the lines of Puarenga's getting so many mentions, they're going to get banned.

00:35:58Oliver Spake: Yeah, no one can get mentioned more than Shellharbour now. Great to hear. Thank you, everyone, for the roving reports. And look, thank you also to the informant who has sent in another report. Mel, let's have a listen.

the Informant

00:36:14the 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. There were five event launches worldwide this week. In New South Wales there were four which were all supposed to launch mid last year before the COVID shutdowns cancelled them all. Casula Parklands, Northparks Oval, Pioneer Dairy at Tuggerah and Ted Scobie Oval in Griffith. In Queensland, we had Cane to Riverwalk. Out of 459 runners who took part in these events, there were 124 who scanned a barcode for the first time and another 46 unknown runners. This week 418 events ran worldwide. We had 384 events run in Australia and New Zealand, with the remainder taking place in Japan, Russia and remote UK territories. Down under we had 50,798 runners, which is down around 3,500 on last week. However, those that did run, ran hard. There was a post-COVID record of 7,113 PBs, which is 268 higher than last week. 3,045 people in Australia and New Zealand participated for the first time. 249 reached their 50 milestone, 112 reached their 100 milestone, 268 higher than last week. 3,045 people in Australia and New Zealand participated for the first time and a post-COVID record of 29 people reached their 250 milestone.

Statesmen update

00:37:55the Informant: For the ACT, we have one new statesperson in John Woolard who ran at Gungahlin. In the Northern Territory, we had Edithia Bethania at Darwin, Bronte Ballett and Sinisa Bogdanovic at Palmerston, and Tracey Lakey at Nightcliff. In Victoria, we had Chantelle Hosking, Rhianna Wick Amble, Cheryl Smit, Parth and Irene Bomaganti regaining statesmanship once again at Fair Park Reserve. Over in New Zealand, we had Warwick Smith, Julian Paul Gordon, who became North Islanders and New Zealand countrymen at Trentham Memorial. Sarah Jantscher became North Islander at Gisborne. Over on our Most Aussie New Zealand Events list, Amanda O'Reilly, Mill Clayton, Emily Steele jumped from ranking 223 up to 214. The biggest mover of the week is Kay Pham who has jumped 11 spots up to 179th after running at Warner Lakes. In the top 20, Kevin Muller moves to equal 17 up from 19 at Gainsborough Greens. Jan Bigham moves to equal 15th at Gander Riverwalk. Tony Jennings continues his move up the ladder now on 13th after also completing Gander River. This has been The Informant and my spreadsheet is bigger than yours.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:39:10Melissa Ellis: More great facts from the informant this week and especially super Saturday launch in New South Wales, Ollie. We had Casula Parklands, Northparks Oval, Pioneer Dairy at Tuggerah and Ted Scobie Oval in Griffith. Griffith. I can't say that word. All launch. All those events were supposed to launch prior to the pause. There was a big event going on across New South Wales this week. And are any of those close to you, Ollie? Well, somewhat close.

00:39:46Oliver Spake: But I mean, how wonderful is it to see all those events launching? Look, the nearest one to me is Casula or Casula Parklands, I should say, which does make it into my list of 10 closest parkruns. I think that one is 100km away. So that's pretty close in your terms, right, Mel?

00:40:06Melissa Ellis: That's practically next door.

00:40:08Oliver Spake: Yeah. The others I'd be clocking up some similar Ks to some of your regular adventures there. But they sound like wonderful locations. Having seen a couple of the pictures out there, they look like some pretty good parkruns.

00:40:24Melissa Ellis: Oh, didn't Ted Scobie Oval look fabulous? I saw those photos that Chris Fraser posted. Very impressed with the landscape over there. Looking very lush but some beautiful outlooks. Yeah. I'm looking forward to that one.

00:40:40Oliver Spake: So any plans, Mel?

00:40:41Melissa Ellis: Well, once I knock off the couple of Victorian events that I've fallen behind on, Ted Scobie Oval will become my NENDY at 476 kilometres away.

00:40:55Oliver Spake: So I would have expected that to be further, but that's my geography failing there, isn't it? So that sounds doable. It's a big one.

00:41:02Melissa Ellis: Yes, it's only five and a half hours. Okay. I could just get up early and do that one.

00:41:08Oliver Spake: Knock it over in the morning.

00:41:09Unidentified speaker: Okay.

00:41:11Melissa Ellis: No, but I really am looking forward to planning that one into my future events.

00:41:16Oliver Spake: I would love to visit Casula Parklands. Gee, there we go. Casula Parklands before too, too long. Handy location and, yeah, really no excuse.

00:41:30Melissa Ellis: And do you know how excited I am about it, Ollie? This is how excited. I've discovered a sound effect app. You might have noticed the moo earlier.

00:41:42Oliver Spake: The moo. Yeah, no, I figured that wasn't Chico in the background. Look, my reaction would be the same in terms of my excitement, but I don't have the sound effect app, so I'm going to rely on you to produce whatever my reaction is.

00:41:56Melissa Ellis: I'm loving it.

00:42:00Oliver Spake: Oh, well, now Chico's out of a job. Those drum rolls won't be needed.

00:42:04[other]

00:42:04Melissa Ellis: But this is my favourite.

00:42:13Oliver Spake: Yeah, I could see the interest there. Yep.

00:42:15Melissa Ellis: Way back when mobile phones were but young, I used to have this little Nokia phone that I could have download ringtones and I would have a different ringtone for different people that messaged me regularly. And that was one of my ringtones. And it was so sad, like, you know, because you get a new phone and then you lose all that stuff.

00:42:34Oliver Spake: So that's going to make a comeback now, will it? So you'll have the bugle or the trumpet. Sorry, Mel. Which one is it? Bugle, trumpet?

00:42:41Melissa Ellis: I think it's a bugle. I'm going to say it's a bugle because, you know, the military thing. But I like this one too. Ollie, listen.

00:42:47Unidentified speaker: No boogers.

00:42:49Melissa Ellis: What's that from? That sounds familiar, but I can't remember what it's from. Got nothing?

00:42:55Oliver Spake: Not sure on that one. Got nothing. Got nothing.

00:42:59Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay.

00:43:01Unidentified speaker: You disgust me.

00:43:05Oliver Spake: I can see these are really going to help production.

00:43:08Unidentified speaker: I apologise.

00:43:13Melissa Ellis: I'm sorry, I digress. I'll stop now. I've got to find some way to insert my sound effects.

00:43:20Oliver Spake: Ah, yes.

00:43:20Melissa Ellis: Anyway, what have we got coming up next week, Ollie?

00:43:24Oliver Spake: Next week, well, it is getting rather close to PALM, the parkrun adventurers Listeners Meetup, which we did rather hopefully announce at the beginning of the year when we got the keys. And look, we're still really excited. We're still looking forward to that. And for those that haven't, caught that particular podcast or haven't heard the memo we are having a parkrun adventurers Listeners Meetup in April so the weekend being the Friday the 16th I think is right Mel parkrun day the 17th and Sunday the 18th of April on the sunshine coast

00:44:01Melissa Ellis: That is correct. And next week, we are going to have the one and only Mr. TOC joining us to talk everything PALM related.

00:44:10Oliver Spake: Yes. And for anyone that hasn't seen it already, please do check out our page. We've got the link there to point you to the listener meetup page. And should you be in a position to join us or should you want to join the fun remotely, of course, that'll have all the important prompts around remembering to pack your Ugly Christmas Singlet.

00:44:30Melissa Ellis: singlet and any questions that we want your feedback on as well of course look forward to chatting to TOC and hearing much much more about that next week yes Ollie and we're gonna see how we can incorporate a poll possibly for some feedback on what you might like the theme to be for our fabulous famous Friday night dress up Is it Friday night, Mel? Oh, don't tell me it's Saturday night. Have I got it wrong? That doesn't work with Fabulous Friday. That doesn't rhyme. Oh, okay.

00:45:02Oliver Spake: Fabulous. Oh, Sensational Saturday.

00:45:04Melissa Ellis: Okay, let's go with that.

00:45:06Oliver Spake: Sensational Saturday. Hey, look, you know, that could be the poll in itself. But no, that's a very important matter to get feedback on. Heading to the Sunshine Coast, we do have some very high standards to meet in that neck of the woods when it comes to fancy dress and outfits. So, yeah, we need all the input we can get to get this one right.

00:45:27Melissa Ellis: Okay, who wants to vote for Wizard of Oz theme? My hands up.

00:45:32Oliver Spake: See, I was thinking, I mean, there are some pretty famous features around the Sunshine Coast there, but the wildlife, maybe there's an animal theme.

00:45:42Melissa Ellis: Right.

00:45:43Oliver Spake: As hard as that might be.

00:45:44Melissa Ellis: See, I thought you were going to go that pineapple, the fruit theme. Pineapple. We're all going to be dressing as pineapples. Well, we've seen some pineapples before. I think that'd work. Exactly. She says as she scours for an appropriate sound effect. That's a bowling strike.

00:46:05[other]

00:46:06Oliver Spake: My gosh, I was wondering what was happening in the background there, Mel.

00:46:09Melissa Ellis: It didn't really work, did it? Oh, dear. And I probably can't edit that out. Damn it.

00:46:16Oliver Spake: That's all right. Adds to production value. I think a strike is it. The good strike, the actual bowling strike. Because I think the pineapple theme could be a winner, personally.

00:46:25Melissa Ellis: Either than that, or we're all dressing in bowling costumes and we're going to actually go bowling. Yes.

00:46:31Oliver Spake: Hey, it's something we haven't tried. Why not?

00:46:33Melissa Ellis: Oh, we haven't done it. PALM bowling night. Yeah.

Sign-off

00:46:37Oliver Spake: There we are. Well, we're going to have to listen to TOC, find out, and anything else to be resolved, look out for those polls. You also mentioned next week. Mel, do you have any plans for next week?

00:46:48Melissa Ellis: I'm going adventuring.

00:46:51Oliver Spake: Back on the road.

00:46:52Melissa Ellis: Yes, I am back on the road. On the road again. I will be. I'm not going to tell you. You can find out next week. Okay. What about you?

00:47:01Oliver Spake: It's going to get this way a bit now, isn't it? No, I'm not going to tell you either.

00:47:07Melissa Ellis: I can guess. Anyway, it's not like we all don't know where you'll be.

00:47:11Oliver Spake: I may or may not be at Shellharbour.

00:47:15Melissa Ellis: One day you'll surprise me.

00:47:18Oliver Spake: One day I will. One day I will. I look forward to that. Hey, look, it's coming. It's coming. I've got, I think I mentioned her before, I've got the instigator in the family who keeps speaking into my ear and feeding me ideas.

00:47:30Melissa Ellis: Is that Galen or is that Hannah?

00:47:33Oliver Spake: Yeah, look, Mum's certainly had a couple of suggestions, but, you know, it hasn't been quite on the parkrun bandwagon as much lately. She's been pretty flat out. But Hannah, yes, Hannah's talking up some parkrun tourism. Excellent. Yep, I think we're going to have to harness that enthusiasm.

00:47:52Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I mean, gee, Ollie, you've got a child that actually wants to go parkrunning. That's just a milestone in itself.

00:48:00Oliver Spake: Yes, yes, they do go through phases, don't they?

00:48:02Melissa Ellis: I'm going everywhere solo at the moment.

00:48:05Oliver Spake: So any chance of Zoe joining you this weekend? Nope. Okay.

00:48:10Melissa Ellis: But, yeah, she came to juniors, so I made her. Excellent. She came to juniors.

00:48:16Oliver Spake: That's the spirit.

00:48:17Melissa Ellis: So we should mention again, Ollie, our email address, just in case on the off chance somebody sends us an email, please feel free, parkrunadventurers at gmail.com.

00:48:29Oliver Spake: Yes. And hey, especially if I don't work out how to actually launch a poll on Facebook, send us emails, guys. Send us, yeah, send us suggestions.

00:48:39Melissa Ellis: Definitely.

00:48:40Oliver Spake: Love to hear from everyone. And well, I suppose if there's anything you want to hear on the pod, please do drop us a line. I think we're still driving with the P plates, but happy to take some suggestions.

00:48:52Melissa Ellis: Desperate for content?

00:48:55Oliver Spake: Was I that clear? Yeah.

00:48:58Melissa Ellis: No, we're doing okay, Ollie, I reckon. We fill in an hour every week.

00:49:02Oliver Spake: That's right. And if three of you listeners tell us we are, that's a majority and we're happy.

00:49:07Melissa Ellis: Yep, playing it for those three. I thought it was five. Have we lost a couple?

00:49:14Oliver Spake: Well, no, I was thinking, well, a three out of five.

00:49:17Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay.

00:49:18Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah.

00:49:19Melissa Ellis: A couple might be a couple of episodes behind. That's right. That's right.

00:49:23Oliver Spake: Certainly am looking forward to next week and very much looking forward to hearing about the listener meetup. But in the meantime, Mel, I suppose that's it.

00:49:32Melissa Ellis: It is. We will catch you all next week.

00:49:33[music]

00:51:42Unidentified speaker: Bye. Bye.