— open the full-size coverEpisode 231 - The one with the bird
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Episode 231 - The one with the bird · 2021-04-21
Enhanced transcript — Produced by an automated editing pass — speakers named, sound described, segments marked. NOT yet checked by a person.
Speaker names appear only where they could be established with confidence; others are shown as “Unidentified speaker”. Non-speech sound is in [square brackets].
Source: https://log.5kadventures.net/transcripts/ep231.html · The Adventurers Log · An independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by parkrun.
Welcome
Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 231 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. Firstly, I'm Ollie. I'm Ollie Spake. And this is my wonderful editor, producer, and co-host, Melissa Ellis. And Mel, thanks for joining.
Melissa Ellis: Thank you, Ollie. We firstly would like to thank, special thank you to everybody who has supported Ollie and I since we have taken over the podcast, since we've come back from the parkrun pause, which includes the following people.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, look, first and foremost, we are not Mel and Scotty. You might have gathered that by now. And for those that have been to previous Palms, we've been fortunate to have them join us. But Mel and Scotty and Mel, thank you for joining us and supporting us with the gear. But thank you so much for trusting us with the pod that the two of you created and fostered for so long and the adventuring community that you fostered as well.
Melissa Ellis: We also need to remember to thank our families. They're not here with us this weekend, but they've had to adjust to a life around recording nights, editing days, uploading demands, and endless miscellaneous podcast talk.
Oliver Spake: Another important thank you is our visual arts department, Chris Fraser, who's photoshopped the episode photos for each post each week, often at late notice as we've ummed and ahhed over which one to use and what to call the episode. Thank you.
Melissa Ellis: Of course, we need to thank our Channel 5 News crew with the new addition that we sprung on everybody of Alison from New Zealand. Thank you for... Where are they? Tony is here and Lyndell is here. Lyndell's here.
Unidentified speaker: And... Dave.
Melissa Ellis: And Dave's here. Thank you for continuing to support us as we've taken over the reins and providing us with the content week to week, which has often been... Well, it is very helpful when we don't know what to talk about. Well...
Oliver Spake: And look, you get up to much more than some of us, so it's wonderful to hear those stories. Please keep them coming. And for those that aren't with us today of the Channel 5 News crew, we look forward to palming or parkrunning with you sometime in the future.
Unidentified speaker: Thank you to our informant.
Oliver Spake: Our informant who's brought us his own unique version of statistics, parkrun statistics. And look, gets more emails than we do, let's be honest.
Melissa Ellis: And a special big thank you to our Palm Party Planner extraordinaire, Mr. Tony O'Connell, aka TOC, who's worked so hard to help put together the weekend for us all, in conjunction with the Sunny Coast crew, of course. But thanks for all your efforts, TOC. Moving on from that, we must also thank Deb from Berry Lane, who opened today and gave us the venue to record. We're very appreciative of that. Thank you, Deb, behind the scenes there.
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Melissa Ellis: And, of course, Mel and the Nambour team that gave the beautiful morning this morning and the special... Oh, we should thank Fluffy.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, thank you, Fluffy. LAUGHTER
[laughter]
Melissa Ellis: Just for the world that hasn't heard the announcement yet and hasn't seen it flooded on social media, we did get to meet Fluffy.
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Melissa Ellis: We're very excited about that. And our roadie, our very special roadie, big round of applause for the wonderful sound effects we're getting.
[applause]
Oliver Spake: APPLAUSE So, as I think I said before, but just in case, welcome everyone to Palm 2021. Thank you for joining us. Welcome to Nambour and thank you so much, as Mel said, to the Nambour team for having us. Some of you didn't join us this morning, so this won't work so well for the audio medium, but just a quick show of hands, who went to Nambour this morning? Yep, so we've got a fairly good representation there. We've got some others that have been to other parkruns, so call them out and we'll share that with the audience. Kawana. Kawana. Kawana. Ocean View. Ocean View. Brightwater. Brightwater.
[crosstalk]
Unidentified speaker: Golden Beach.
Oliver Spake: Golden Beach.
Unidentified speaker: SS Koopa.
Oliver Spake: SS Koopa. Excellent. Well, look, thank you for making the trek across and joining us at the recording here. You missed out on a beautiful Nambour parkrun, but we trust that you know exactly what we're talking about. So it was fantastic. Thank you to the crew for letting us do Plan A. I won't lie, there was a little bit of disappointment about not getting to do Plan B.
Melissa Ellis: You can go back tonight, Ollie. I'm not coming.
Oliver Spake: But those extra few Ks we've done both this morning and yesterday afternoon across the Nambour course is more than made up for it. In theory, in theory. And look, it's a palm and who would have believed 12 months ago after the last Palm 2020 that we would have been fortunate enough to have a palm this time of year, you know, for the fourth consecutive year. So thank you to those that have joined us once again. Thank you to those that are joining us for the first time. We see a show of hands who's joining us for the first palm. Excellent. So there's a fair proportion, maybe a quarter of you. Welcome. And who's been to two? Two. That's good. We've got some repeat visitors. Mel's got a pet. Collecting them. Who's been to three? Three? Yep. A good solid contingent at three. But we have four now. Who's been to four? Excellent. I think a few of the threes were fours. Yes. Oh, good. I can't count. So look, it's a pretty special occasion for anyone that, obviously talking to everyone present here, but for anyone that is listening that hasn't been to a Palm, hopefully you will get to share it with us at some point in time. And thank you so much, as I say, for everyone that has joined us on this occasion. I certainly don't want to gloss over it. We've been fortunate enough to finally get to do Nambour parkrun. Mel, what did you think?
Melissa Ellis: It was very, no, it was beautiful. It was a really beautiful course. And yeah, the hilliest and the hardest I've done, no doubt about it. The rocks and the elevation and the downhill velocity, I think it was referred to this morning.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah. We thank the team, but a special shout out obviously to our Run Director this morning, David. Fantastic job and certainly enjoyed the run brief. Prepared us quite adequately, as did the first-timers briefing. Was it Trevor? Trevor.
Melissa Ellis: That was amazing.
Oliver Spake: Yes, yes.
Melissa Ellis: I'd have to say that's the best first-timers briefing I've ever been, had the pleasure to listen to. He was great. I wish we could have recorded that. Damn it.
Oliver Spake: One job, hey?
Melissa Ellis: I knew he was going to be so funny. Yes, and we talk now that we did get to see Fluffy?
Oliver Spake: Yes. So, look, the elusive Fluffy, I suppose, as we've mentioned in previous pods, we've maybe taken for granted that there are other features of Nambour parkrun. Certainly Fluffy's been a very prominent feature.
John: But, yeah, look, thank you, Melissa, for taking us on a few Fluffy adventures and persisting to the point that we did get that special cuddle.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, look, he's a magnificent feature and obviously a well-loved local. It's wonderful to see him out there. Didn't see Muffy, of course, but Fluffy's certainly more than made up for it. Very fortunate, as we understand, getting to do the Plan A course and getting to go across the creek, particularly like the disco at the creek crossing. That was a nice motivator, and Mel. You did a pretty good time.
Melissa Ellis: Are you going to share that?
Oliver Spake: It was a lot of fun. I think, yeah, what I love about Palm is just getting to get together with parkrunners and people that are clearly passionate about parkrunning in a community. Getting to go to an event that has long been on my list and has one of the things that I love most, which was hills. So, yeah, it was great to get out there and to follow a few parkrunners and to be following. I didn't catch the young gentleman's name that came in third and got his PB, but... Murray, yeah, congratulations Murray, because he got me across the line too.
Melissa Ellis: Is he the one you referred to in the run brief that was going for a cool condition PB? Excellent.
Oliver Spake: Murray, son of the Event Director, sorry, Run Director. Run Director, there we are. No, well, he was fantastic. And yeah, he had about 400 metres to go. He was coaching me down there. Didn't quite help me avoid rolling my ankle, but sorry for that, yeah what a great morning it was yeah all right um so look usually when we record because in case you haven't noticed we're pretty new to this podcasting thing that some of us may be a little more than others but as co-hosts we'd get the chance to pause and and and think about what we're doing next so uh I'm gonna be a bit slow on the button here but but nonetheless um As with all palms, we love to have a chat to some of the team. So certainly we'd love to have a bit of a chat with Melissa and a few of the others too, if that's all right. So bear with us and we'll grab a mic and have a quick chat.
[15 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]
Interview Melissa Taylor — Event Director, Nambour parkrun (Queensland)
Oliver Spake: So Melissa Taylor, thank you for joining us. Thank you for hosting us at Palm 2021 at the event of which you are the Event Director.
Melissa Taylor: Thanks for coming out to visit. It's been great having you all out here.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, look, it's a beautiful parkrun. Certainly picked up a sense of pride around the event team on the day. And just generally speaking with regards to Nambour parkrun, there's a lot to be proud of. It's such a beautiful course.
Melissa Taylor: It is. It's a very tight-knit community. I think suffering on the hills brings people closer. So, yeah, we've got an awesome team of volunteers.
Melissa Ellis: So we went out this morning for the very early start for the course markings. You need to go out there and you need to put flour arrows down.
Melissa Taylor: Yeah, so at 5.30 every Saturday morning we have a set-up team go out of two people and usually the Run Director goes out with them They marked the course with flour and put the signs out and we've lost three people out there before that we know of because those are the ones that we've found.
Oliver Spake: So keep your eyes peeled, basically, in case that, yeah, okay.
Melissa Taylor: So the course sort of developed from there. It's like, all right, we need more flour markings there. We need an extra sign there. And then with the creek crossing, back in the day, we used to cross the creek no matter what was happening. And then too many people ignored the run briefing, please slow down and cross the creek. And we had a few too many incidents there without a caution sign. So now we've got plan B in place.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, so how long has that been an alternating course option?
Melissa Taylor: Probably, we would have gone close to 12 months if we'd just planned A.
Oliver Spake: Okay, yep, yep. And how do you find the local parkrunners and the visitors, I suppose respectively, their reactions to... each course?
Melissa Taylor: We find our numbers drop off surprisingly when it rains overnight. I suspect it's going to be plan B. And I don't know why, I don't mind it. It's only 20 metres extra elevation and to me once you back up the Twins it feels like you're going downhill all the way after you get over that hill.
Oliver Spake: So, the Twins. I've heard the mention of the Twins. Now, I haven't actually stopped to clarify which part of the course is the Twins, but there were two very familiar looking parts of the course. So, could you explain for anyone that I suppose might not be familiar, like me, the Twins?
Melissa Taylor: The Twins is the hill that heads down towards the creek.
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Melissa Taylor: That was half my point.
Oliver Spake: Yep, yep.
Melissa Taylor: So they're called the twins because you get down the first one, you think it's finished, but it only flattens out for a little bit and you're on to the second one and it's worse going back up the twins.
Oliver Spake: I would imagine. Yes. Yeah. Now, Again, I didn't catch this other parkrunner's name, but there was one of the regulars who I was running with at some stage who mentioned to me that during the lockdown he was out there freedom running and he just went to do Plan B all the time. So clearly you've got some passionistas for Plan B. Yeah, some Plan B professionals.
Melissa Taylor: I think that was probably Pete.
Oliver Spake: Might have been. Might have been. Reasonably colourful shirt, but yeah, not a fluffy shirt. And it's great to see so many fluffy shirts today. I think hopefully Fluffy was impressed when he saw a few of them.
Melissa Ellis: Well, the people in the caravan park were.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Well, even the locals in Nambour here. And look, you've been on the pod before, so we've heard a bit previously when you joined the pod about how you joined parkrun and the Nambour community here. But tell us how things been at Nambour parkrun, particularly since you've started back after COVID.
Melissa Taylor: Yeah, it's been a bit different, I think. It's a strange sort of feel. We do struggle to get volunteers and I don't think we're alone in that. I think a few people are struggling. I'm not sure what the reason is. I suspect that people are worried we're going to shut down again and they want to get their runs in. That's the only difference and I guess people aren't hugging as much as they used to.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah.
Melissa Taylor: But we're still a pretty tight community and we still do our breakfast every Saturday morning together. So that part's still good.
Oliver Spake: Excellent, yeah. And have you been out parkrunning yourself at some other courses recently?
Melissa Taylor: I have. I took my dad out touristing over January because Kawana has a notorious Plan B as well. he doesn't like. So we did Petrie, Warner Lakes and oh god I've lost, what was the other one we did, do you remember? And so we've got so many parkruns on the coast now, we're spoiled for choice and then we've got Maleny that's only just recently launched and that's a beautiful course, absolutely.
Oliver Spake: That's it, yeah we've heard a little bit from Maleny recently from Lyndell and heard a few more recommendations today to go and check it out so I guess if there's any time left in the weekend I might try and squeeze in a squiz but
Melissa Ellis: Are you tempted, Melissa, to go over and attempt the other West Australian supposed hardest course? Yeah, I'd love to. To make a judgement. Can we have a GoFundMe? We could make that a palm on you.
Oliver Spake: Let's put that on the whiteboard for discussion a bit later. Look, I've noticed a bit of discussion recently across different forums around elevation and tough parkruns. On reflection, a couple of years down the track from last time we heard, how does Nambour rate, you think, compared to some of the others? I trust that you're completely unbiased in this.
Melissa Taylor: Well, there's Victory Heights, which is up near Gympie. That's more technical, I think. So that gives you a bit of a run for our money. But elevation-wise, they fall short. Western Australia, apparently they are elevation-wise more than us, unless we're on Plan B. Then we've got them.
Oliver Spake: Yes, yes.
Melissa Taylor: I think Maleny's got a few hills. Yeah, it doesn't come close to Nambour.
Unidentified speaker: I'm not sure.
Melissa Taylor: Apparently there's one in Sydney. Is it Blackbutt? That's in Newcastle.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, nah.
Unidentified speaker: Nah?
Oliver Spake: Awesome course, but nah. So still rates?
Melissa Taylor: I think we're still up there.
Oliver Spake: Yeah. Well, I guess there's only one way to tell.
Melissa Taylor: Okay, so Palm 2022? Yeah.
Oliver Spake: Well, we'll see, we'll see. It's somewhere on the horizon, but as you've suggested, because according to the run brief this morning, we got to try the best parkrun in the world this morning, but we need to try the second best parkrun in the world. Yes. Being plan B.
Melissa Taylor: That's right.
Oliver Spake: So to get the real objective view there. And so you're joined here today by your dad as well? That's right. Yes. Yeah.
Melissa Taylor: He's got 300 and how many runs now?
John: It's got a six in it, but I hate it.
Melissa Taylor: So Dad's 87 years old, 88 in August. He was the oldest parkrunner to reach 250 parkruns in Australia. I don't know about in the world.
Oliver Spake: Nice work, John.
Melissa Taylor: And so he's a big, what would you call it, supporter of all the Octo parkrunners. So he follows all the parkrunners that are in their 80s and keeps track of how many runs they're all doing and follows them. Do they have a Facebook group? They should.
Melissa Ellis: He needs to create a Facebook group for them. Maybe they write letters. Yeah.
Oliver Spake: And I don't know if the mic would stretch out to John. We were possibly going to have a chat, but you think it'll reach? Do you mind if we have a chat to John too?
Interview John — parkrunner and parkrun statistician; father of Nambour ED Melissa Taylor
Oliver Spake: So welcome, John. And thank you for joining us. Just hold the mic up there a bit closer. And yeah, look, wanted to just add to what your daughter was saying around the stats. You were showing me the folder earlier today. So yeah.
John: Well, it all started when I did the two, when I reached the 250 club.
Oliver Spake: Yes.
John: And then I started keeping stats of everybody in Australia who was in the 250 club. And then as a sideline to that, I started keeping stats on 80 plus runs. And now I think I have a complete list of every 80 plus run done in Australia. Wow. From 2012 on. There were five done in 2012. There were 5,000 done in 2019. And last year, of course, with the COVID, we got down 1,700, which we passed today.
Oliver Spake: Today?
John: Yeah.
Oliver Spake: So a huge... to our octogenarians. And look, that's a very impressive stats folder. It was great to see some familiar names. So we've got a question here. We have a mysterious identity as part of the podcast, the informant, and nobody's sure as to who it is. So obviously someone with a bit of a knowledge on statistics. So it sounds like you're a candidate to be this secret identity. Yes, and so you did Kawana parkrun this morning?
John: Yeah.
Oliver Spake: How was that?
John: Well, it was a very nice morning for it. I always think Kawana is the best parkrun around. It is pretty nice. Quite a nice morning this morning. Yes. So it got a little hot by the time I got to the finish, and I'm not doing very well these days. I'm just glad that I did it.
Oliver Spake: Nice work. Yeah. Yep. Get the finished token. Scan it in.
John: Yeah. Yeah. Well, when you get to my age, you've got, if you think about not doing something like background, you think, well, then you, if you're not doing that and you're not doing this and that, And what am I doing? And it's all over. So you just have to keep doing things.
Oliver Spake: Well, you're clearly kicking some goals and knocking over Kawana parkrun frequently. I think it has a deceptive climb on that first stretch out there.
John: Well, in my younger days, I used to like that. I liked running up those two inclines. And now... For the last two weeks, it's beginning to be a problem.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah.
John: But that might go away again.
Melissa Ellis: Do the octogenarians, do they have their own parkrun club that they're affiliated with?
John: No, no, no.
Melissa Ellis: Is that a word of mouth?
John: There's a lady in Rhodes in New South Wales, Marion Griffith, who organises octogenarian events.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Okay.
John: And we had one in Cleveland. In 2019, we got about a dozen octogenarians from around, mostly from just around the southeast Queensland area, but there was one traveller from New South Wales who joined us unexpectedly. The guy who took my title as the oldest 250 clubber in Australia, he's in Cleveland, John Day, and I've actually walked the course with him on two occasions now.
Oliver Spake: Which, yeah, as I was saying before, it's nice to see that that's not all too competitive then. You're willing to support each other.
John: Well, there's only a few parkrunners who are really competitive with other people. Yep. The rest of us are only competing with ourselves. That's right. Yeah.
Unidentified speaker: Yeah.
Oliver Spake: All right. Look, fantastic. And thank you so much for joining us, John. Okay. A pleasure. Well done on another Kawana parkrun. And, yeah, look forward to reviewing this week's stats. Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Thanks, John. Thank you.
Oliver Spake: Thank you. So thank you, John and Melissa.
[16 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]
palm quiz — Brendan Peel
Oliver Spake: So for those of you who maybe haven't been to a Palm before, you've probably heard, but we do have a tradition of including a favourite feature of the podcast as part of our Palm get together. So with no further ado, we'd like to introduce Lyndell the legendary.
Unidentified speaker: Yes.
Oliver Spake: our Quizmaster for the day. So we will be seeking volunteers to join our quiz for today. So we've got a series of questions. So do we have any volunteers? Erica?
Unidentified speaker: Erica. Erica will.
Oliver Spake: If it helps anyone, what I've noticed is that anyone can win the quiz. Anyone can win. In case you're up to date on your podcast.
Brendan Peel: I'm not happy to go, but I'm happy to give someone else a go.
Oliver Spake: No, we'd certainly welcome some returning contestants as well.
Unidentified speaker: What about Mossy? Melissa Taylor? Melissa? Yes.
Oliver Spake: Melissa? Chris, would you like to...
[crosstalk]
Unidentified speaker: Anyone else? Can I get one more girl?
Lyndell Murray: What about Jackie?
Melissa Taylor: Is this like a state of origin? If you're gonna tackle, don't be rough. Janet, yes!
Unidentified speaker: She's the only South Australian.
Oliver Spake: And certainly it's always been a tradition of the quiz to have a prize. You'll notice the prize might be slightly different this year, but it's still a prize nonetheless. We hope you appreciate it.
Melissa Ellis: Sizes and everything.
Oliver Spake: So let's hand over to Lyndell to take us through, I suppose, everything we need to know for the quiz. And I'll put my listening ears on to try and help with your adjudication.
Lyndell Murray: Yeah, that'd be great, Ollie. If you could help with the buzzing in, because it will be a buzzing quiz, um I guess the ground rules one answer only so once you've buzzed in and answered unless everybody else has answered that's your only chance just just just to keep it a bit fair and give everyone a go to answer particularly with the ones where there's clues that add up to reveal what the answer is. So be careful, don't buzz in too early. Don't know that there's any other rules really. It's all meant to be a bit of fun. Obviously the questions are parkrun themed. We will try and make it as painless as possible for everybody and try and keep things moving along. Are there any other rules, Mel or Ollie, that you can think of? I know that you said I was legendary, but I've never done this before. I wouldn't call us experts either. So I don't really know what I'm doing.
Oliver Spake: Full disclosure here. Have we done a sound check on each buzzer yet? Because this is an indictment on my listening skills.
[other]
Melissa Ellis: Brendan.
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Melissa Ellis: Melissa. Janet.
Lyndell Murray: And Chris. All right, so that's what we're listening for for each of our contestants.
Oliver Spake: Do we have someone keeping score or is that me?
Lyndell Murray: How about you do that, Ollie? It sounds like you just volunteered yourself. Okay, is everyone ready? Scorekeeper ready? Adjudicator ready? Quizmaster kind of ready? Contestants ready? All right, okay. So we're gonna jump straight in to a where am I? So this is a question where we will get clues layer on layer to reveal the location. So today will be the 118th event for me, and only last week filled the fastest 500 table. The average finishes per participant is 4.7 and 20 participants on average each week. Back in July 2018, the event had five participants and five volunteers.
Melissa Ellis: Brendan.
Lyndell Murray: Brendan. Meningie. No. No. Whilst the name might sound like nothing, they are a strong community of approximately 2,000 people. The town borders onto Little Desert National Park.
Melissa Taylor: Janet.
Lyndell Murray: Janet. Broken Hill? No. My course is a double out and back in a swamp and wildlife reserve. And even though Hill is present in my name, the course is flat. I'm located halfway between Melbourne and Adelaide on the Western Highway and my name sounds something like Phil.
Unidentified speaker: Nhill.
Lyndell Murray: Yes. Well done. One point to Chris. Nhill. Okay, second question. I'm looking for a two-part answer to this question. Which junior parkrun has changed its location and name since returning? Janet. Janet. I've forgotten the first part. The second part is Bellevue.
Unidentified speaker: Oops. Oops.
Lyndell Murray: Oops. Okay, does somebody else want to buzz in? Is it Catamount Genius? No. No. Schools. Anyone else? Southport Park. Okay, I'm willing to accept that, Janet. Southport and Bellevue. Southport was the old name, but since returning they've moved to Bellevue Park. Well done, Janet. Okay, question number three. What was the last country to join the parkrun family?
Unidentified speaker: Chris. Japan.
Lyndell Murray: No. Brendan. Yes. Okay, so scorer, can we do a score check?
Oliver Spake: Yes. Currently, we have three contestants off the mark. Brendan, Janet and Chris. And Melissa is just one behind.
Lyndell Murray: Just one behind, so there's plenty of time, Melissa. Okay, my next question is a who am I? Whilst I'm a prolific Australian adventurer, I have also run at events in the USA, Italy, France and New Zealand.
Melissa Taylor: David Moss?
Lyndell Murray: No. I've volunteered at parkrun 28 times and run 174 times at 73 different locations. My athlete ID is 344899 and I first scanned in in November 2012. My first run at Nambour parkrun was in 2017. My surname shares part of the name of a regional South Australian parkrun, Chris.
Unidentified speaker: I was going to say Robert.
Lyndell Murray: No. Before today, my last parkrun was at Main Beach's 10th anniversary. Janet. No. I need a name. Brendan? Okay, has everybody tried to answer now? Okay, you haven't answered yet. I've run at Bunyaville 32 times, where I've seen the fastest female. So, since you've all buzzed in, only Brendan's eligible to answer now.
Brendan Peel: I have no idea, but I'll say then.
Lyndell Murray: I'm a member of the Channel 5 news crew, and I'm standing right here. So that's one point to Brendan.
Unidentified speaker: And one point to me.
Lyndell Murray: And one point to me. Okay, next question. Which parkrun is the only one in the whole continent? Brendan.
Brendan Peel: It's Cape Pembroke Lighthouse parkrun.
Lyndell Murray: Yes, and it's located?
Brendan Peel: It's in the Falkland Islands.
Lyndell Murray: And the continent?
Brendan Peel: The continent of South America.
Lyndell Murray: Yes. I was just putting you to the test there. I just really needed the name, but that's okay. Okay, we have a couple of multiple choice questions. Okay, so again, one answer, first in gets the first guess. How many registered parkrunners have the name, have the surname Sunshine? Sunshine. Is it A, 20, B, 30, C, 40, or D, 200? Chris? 40. No. 200. No. Anyone else want to guess? Brendan?
Brendan Peel: 30.
Lyndell Murray: No. 20. Yes! LAUGHTER Okay, we'll do one more multiple choice and we'll do a score check. Okay, so since we're on the Sunshine Coast, how many registered parkrunners have the surname Coast? Is it A, one, B, seven, C, 14, or D, 21? Chris? Seven. No.
[laughter]
[17 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]
Lyndell Murray: Yes, that's correct. Okay, Ollie, score check, please.
Oliver Spake: Okay, our score check is currently sitting in fourth, Melissa. Yet to get off the mark. Sitting in third, we have Chris on one. Sitting in second, Janet on two. And leading, Brendan on four.
Lyndell Murray: All right, we have two questions left. Next question, which Australian parkrun is closest to the sun? No. It's a bit of a trick question, maybe. Thinking a bit laterally, maybe. Yes, Chris.
Unidentified speaker: Armidale.
Lyndell Murray: Correct. And the reason is?
John: The highest elevation.
Lyndell Murray: That's correct. Okay, final question. Which is Australia's most westerly junior parkrun? Chris.
Unidentified speaker: Ayersbury?
Lyndell Murray: No. No.
Brendan Peel: It's Thorndon juniors in Test Drive.
Unidentified speaker: That's right. Janet! Janet!
Lyndell Murray: What happened to our South Australian? That is correct. Okay, so that is the end of our questions. Do we need a tiebreaker? Oh, no, it's not the end of our questions. We have one more left.
Oliver Spake: We have one more. Do we make this worth normal points?
Unidentified speaker: Ooh.
Brendan Peel: parkrun's about consistency.
Unidentified speaker: parkrun's about consistency.
Brendan Peel: That's beating your best, yes.
Lyndell Murray: So, double points are worth two points. Will that make a difference, Ollie? You can make it worth two points?
Oliver Spake: Maybe not to the score, no. Currently Brendan's leading by three.
Lyndell Murray: Brendan is leading by three, okay.
Oliver Spake: How about I go away and everyone plays for a second?
Lyndell Murray: Okay, let's see how we go. There are 80 parkruns in the world that start with the letter A. 13 of those are in Australia. The question is, can you name five of them? Brendan.
Brendan Peel: Okay, Albert Melbourne parkrun, Airlie Beach, Aldinga Beach. Some very obvious ones I'm leaving. Aplins Weir parkrun. Augustine Heights parkrun.
Lyndell Murray: Augustine Heights no longer exists, so that is not the correct answer. For double points, does anyone else want to buzz in for an alternative answer?
Unidentified speaker: No. Ashgrove. Yes! Two points to Melissa. I mentioned two minutes ago.
Lyndell Murray: We'd already talked about Armidale, so that was probably a bit of a gimme that nobody got.
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Lyndell Murray: OK, so, score check.
Oliver Spake: Score check, and forgive the creative accounting here, but in second place, we have Melissa, Janet and Chris on two.
[laughter]
Unidentified speaker: LAUGHTER
Oliver Spake: And our quiz winner today is Mr. Brendan Peel, regaining the title on 5.8.
Lyndell Murray: So I have a tiebreaker question. Should our second place contestants have a go at the tiebreaker? Okay, so this is guessing a number. So we will go higher and lower between the three of you until one of you gets it. I'll prompt you whether it's higher or lower than the guess, mainly because my maths isn't very good and I won't be able to tell which one's closer if you all guess. So are we happy to go left to right with our guesses? So Chris, Janet, Melissa? So the tiebreaker is, can you guess the combined total of Mel and Ollie's parkruns? 380.
[crosstalk]
John: Higher. 407. Higher.
Lyndell Murray: 470.
Unidentified speaker: Lower.
Lyndell Murray: 448. Higher.
[13 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]
Lyndell Murray: 463. Higher. 465. Higher. 469. Lower. 468. Yes! The total is 468 with 293 is Mel's and Ollie is on 175. We're not far off. We might be able to synchronise 200s. Yes!
[15 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]
Lyndell Murray: All right, so congratulations, all contestants. Well done. We have a prize for our champion.
Oliver Spake: We have a prize for our winner. So. It's probably a good thing. I hope you'd appreciate something different. No, absolutely, absolutely. So certainly to embrace some of the traditions of the parkrun adventurers, what we do have is some other kind of pineapple, tropical pineapple chocolate.
Brendan Peel: Thank you, that'll last every bit of five minutes, thank you.
Oliver Spake: And because we've been entrusted with the keys to the Ferrari, we'd like to pass on a Ferrari to you. Thank you very much. And as Mel says, size doesn't always matter.
Unidentified speaker: No, thank you to everyone for joining in as part of our quiz.
Oliver Spake: And thank you especially to Lyndell. Thank you to our quiz master for support with the questions.
Melissa Ellis: All right, so we're coming to the last part of the morning where we thought we would have a little discussion perhaps about Palm 2022. We have thought that we liked the idea of it being in a different state or territory every year because we're adventurous so we like to go somewhere different.
Oliver Spake: And we have had some good representation so far. Probably New South Wales got the bonus, the bonus palm.
Melissa Ellis: Yes, had a bonus one. Yes. Maybe to make up for that. So yes, so we also thought we would return to the Sunday fun run concept of adding in actual event in the location that we choose.
Oliver Spake: So it's not always easy to line things up, but we'll certainly do our best to line it up with one of those. Yes.
Melissa Ellis: So we haven't chosen an event, but we've chosen a state. So we are planning to go to Tassie.
Oliver Spake: So firstly, we'd like to apologise to Cam, because of course we haven't been to WA, but we will get there.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, it wasn't close.
Oliver Spake: We will get there.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah.
Oliver Spake: And maybe Mark as well, because we haven't been to ACT.
Melissa Ellis: Oh true that.
Oliver Spake: But the Victorian contingent certainly do seem to travel, so I don't think that they're too phased about us not going to Victoria.
Melissa Ellis: But I don't think we will line it up with the Cadbury Marathon because that's January.
Oliver Spake: January or Feb. Is it Feb? Might be Feb. Might be Feb. But there are a couple of... It's April this year. Ah, okay. Well, there are a couple of candidate events.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, okay.
Oliver Spake: So we certainly haven't gone as far to picking a specific parkrun yet.
Unidentified speaker: No.
Oliver Spake: So we'll get to the drawing board. Suggestions are always welcome.
Melissa Ellis: You haven't done that one. I haven't done that one. I'm yet to go to Tassie.
Oliver Spake: Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah.
Oliver Spake: Yeah. So, um... Geeveston. Well, there's been a few people go to Geeveston, so we'll have to line it up so that, I suppose... We've got both. Yeah, exactly.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, we'll stay for a week. Yeah. Both.
Oliver Spake: Both. Yes.
Melissa Ellis: All right. And we also have an update, Ollie, of another type. Yes. That you may not have caught wind of yet.
Oliver Spake: Yeah. Yeah. It was an update given to us.
Melissa Ellis: Well, this is right. We didn't know either.
International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day
Melissa Ellis: But come July, there's going to be a special release of another item of ugly apparel. So, I don't know that we can say, well, we can say it's not going to be a shirt or a singlet. And it's likely to be, I think, the 24th of July, which will come close to... A date to be confirmed in that... That's the event.
Oliver Spake: Event.
Melissa Ellis: The event.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Yes. So stay tuned well before then to get to embrace and prepare and to join in, I suppose, Ugly Christmas in July.
Melissa Ellis: Can't have too much ugly.
Oliver Spake: No, that's right. As we've proven today. Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Will there be a social occasion to mark this event?
Oliver Spake: I think there should be.
Melissa Ellis: A central location. A social occasion. Oh, a social occasion.
Brendan Peel: It's not a positive if you can keep it on that day if you want to.
Melissa Ellis: We can workshop that.
Oliver Spake: Warrington and Melbourne.
Melissa Ellis: Victoria, we haven't done anything in Victoria.
Oliver Spake: That's right, that's right.
Melissa Ellis: We could have an unofficial mini palm. I'm getting ahead of myself.
Oliver Spake: A whole palm forest. Palm frond. Yes.
Melissa Ellis: Well, this is bringing us close to the end. We did wonder if there was any questions for us. Previous palms have had a Q&A session. We might need a mic unless we just went. Yeah, we would. Yeah. But we didn't prepare anybody. I know what yours will be.
Unidentified speaker: I was going to say, now that Ollie has toured to a different parkrun and not Shellharbour, is he going to go to somewhere else now? And if so, where?
Oliver Spake: Yeah, it feels a bit unnatural. It crept up on me. I thought I was starting to get in a bit of a rhythm of actually touring to other events, but I got a bit comfy once again. No immediate plans, but I certainly do need to get my backside in gear and get down to Melbourne sometime, so I don't know when that'll happen. July's sounding like a good candidate, really. Yeah, yeah, so we like to do something before July and hopefully there's an event two there, or an event two somewhere in between that I can jump on the bandwagon for. Maybe next week or... Hmm.
Melissa Ellis: Anybody else? Or we can wrap up.
Lyndell Murray: I have a question.
Oliver Spake: Yes, Lyndell.
Lyndell Murray: Is the informant here this weekend? Oh.
Oliver Spake: I think, generally speaking, the informant is always with us.
Melissa Ellis: Good answer.
Lyndell Murray: That's a great answer, Ollie.
Oliver Spake: Thank you.
Unidentified speaker: Are you the informant, Lyndell?
Oliver Spake: Yeah, I understand there was some informant discussion this morning. So, yeah, hopefully we'll find out.
Melissa Ellis: We hope you have enjoyed the informant.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Or the intern. Yes. Yeah, I mean, who's more popular, intern or informant? For any that may not have caught up, catch up on the most recent. That's going to be harsh.
Unidentified speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Oliver Spake: I'm sure they can handle the criticism.
Unidentified speaker: Is he going to make a good duo? A duo? I don't think there's one that's better than that.
Melissa Ellis: Batman always needs his Robin.
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Unidentified speaker: The intern's cheeky and quirky, and the intruder's very smart.
Oliver Spake: The inform- yes.
Unidentified speaker: The yin and yang. The intruder. Yes, that's an intruder. Okay. We haven't heard much from the oracle.
Unidentified speaker: Chad's made an appearance, and then that's disappeared. So is the oracle coming back again?
Lyndell Murray: I think the oracle is a power to themselves, really.
Oliver Spake: Far too.
Lyndell Murray: Just a power to themselves.
Oliver Spake: Yes, yes, yes. Only the oracle.
Unidentified speaker: Only the oracle can know.
Oliver Spake: Answer that question, can only the oracle. Yes. Well, that's at least three or four questions more than we get via email. All right. Thank you once again, everyone. We've loved getting to stand up in front of you and record a podcast in front of you. That's something we've been looking forward to a lot.
Melissa Ellis: I'm sorry to Pippa in the UK who thought this was going to be actually live on face. Did you? We liked the quiz. Ah, okay. Oh, well, thanks for telling us.
Oliver Spake: Probably thanks for not telling us, yeah.
Unidentified speaker: Well, we hope you enjoyed the quiz. Bye, Pippa.
Oliver Spake: all right okay so um anyway what's up what's up to you next week Ollie you back to Shellharbour? Yeah, I'm back to Shellharbour next week yeah I've just got to wrestle the Run Director vest back off Hannah so yeah yeah but um yeah some adventures soon too yeah what about you Mel yeah I'm staying local next week after uh had a long run of touring yeah I I meant to ask so top three events from this holiday I haven't done three here yet well during your your time all right yes
Melissa Ellis: My favourite event is the one that is Mel's.
Brendan Peel: Yes.
Melissa Ellis: There's two Mel's.
Oliver Spake: yeah so yep fair park fair park for me next week excellent well um thank you everyone for being a part of palm21 we hope to uh have to see many of the your faces and certainly many more of you at palm 2022 we'll have to get the information out nice and early and provided you know we um we do get to have safe travel and um should say you know We've been very fortunate to have Safe Travel. So again, thank you all for bearing with us with the uncertainty of the time. We're very fortunate. And hopefully, hopefully some of those who may not have been able to travel, even on the international side, I think there's some interest in making it across to the next palm. Hopefully we can be joined by a few more. Thank you, Mel.
Melissa Ellis: Thank you, Ollie.
Oliver Spake: And thank you, everyone, once again, who supported us.
[13 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]
the Informant
the Informant: This is the informant. These are unofficial stats. They are only current at the time they are collected and may differ from the stats you read elsewhere. Before we get into the stats, I would like to apologise for the previous week's stats not being uploaded until Monday. Apparently the phrase, make sure you post to the blog before you leave, is a little ambiguous.
the Intern: You did not tell me to do that.
the Informant: I did. You were probably just too busy with your ticky tocky thing.
the Intern: Whatever, boomer.
the Informant: You're lucky I didn't find out until Monday. Or you would have been left at home.
the Intern: Nah, you're stuck with me, old man. The fans like me the best. The palm public said so.
the Informant: I don't think that's what they said.
the Intern: Yeah, Mel told me. Linda wants me to stay and you to go, you old grumpy. Rubbish.
the Informant: Moving on with the stats.
the Intern: Let's talk about exciting stuff.
the Informant: Stats are exciting.
the Intern: It's not as exciting as launch day.
the Informant: I've told you we don't do roving reports.
the Intern: We went to the Whalan Reserve launch.
the Informant: Hey!
the Intern: It's a nice flat pavement course. Some of it's an old go-kart track. It was pretty cool pretending to zoom around.
the Informant: Are you done?
the Intern: Okay. I guess you don't know how to zoom since you have a pulsar.
the Informant: You didn't mind when it was driving you down there.
the Intern: Oh my God. So boring. AM radio is the worst. Two hours of nothing but talky talky. Hey everyone, did you know you can't put on the crappy air con and you can't put the windows down because it uses too much petrol. What a time.
the Informant: There were 425 events.
the Intern: But we got a selfie with Cathy Ray. That was awesome.
the Informant: I guess that was good.
the Intern: And we met her friend Erkin. He's a spunk.
the Informant: Excuse me?
the Intern: But I stalked him on Facebook. And he already has a hottie wifey.
the Informant: Right. There were 425 events held in Australia and New Zealand. Out of 512 worldwide. 392 in Australia. 33 in New Zealand. A few more in Russia, Japan and remote UK territories. And surprise, there was one event launch at Whalan Reserve in New South Wales. In Australia and New Zealand, we had 47,886 runners out of 52,413 worldwide, which is slightly down on last week. We had 7,451 PBs, while 2,026 people participated for the first time. 171 juniors reached the Junior 10 milestone, 230 people reached their 50 milestone, 132 reached their 100 milestone, and 16 people reached their 250 milestone. 18 people called bingo. Murray Iser took just 166 events, while Vivienne Buttergeek was the longest with 333 events. We have eight new Territorians. In the ACT, we had Ben Rains, Luke Swetman, and Andrew Guild at Wagi Bridge, while Nicky Harper, Tommy Slonker, ran at Coombs. Up north, Nicholas Loveday, Stuart Hurd, and Liz Hales all completed the set at Palmerston.
the Intern: Oh, that's the one with the water slides.
the Informant: Well, it starts in a water park, but there's no water slides on the actual run.
the Intern: They should change the course so you get to go down the big slide.
the Informant: You can't add water slides. Imagine adding that to the risk analysis. On the most Aussie New Zealand events list, Mitchell Kohler and Matthew Allen are the biggest winners, moving up 13 places to 201 at Logan River. In the top 20, Brendan and Janine Sellers move up to equal 18th with Jan Biggan after running Cloncurry. Kevin Muller ran Cormorant Bay which puts him up 1 and Neil Schultz down 1. Aaron Hardy who moved to equal 6 last week is now outright 6 after running at Avondale University College. Biggest Wilson mover of the week is Bree McGraw, who jumped 11, coming from zero. Carol Perez is still the highest Wilson indexer on 175. This has been the informing...
the Intern: Wait, what about me?
the Informant: Huh?
the Intern: I'm winning Windexer!
the Informant: No, you're not.
the Intern: You said I went to the launch, so now I'm the number one Windex.
the Informant: I said you are now one on the Wilson Index.
the Intern: Yeah, number one. So I'm winning.
the Informant: No, that's not how it works.
the Intern: I'm number one.
the Informant: No, like I told you before, you have an index of one. The higher the number, the better it is.
the Intern: No, it isn't. You're just saying that because you're on 15, you loser.
the Informant: This has been the informant and my spreadsheet is bigger than yours. Look me up on Facebook. Oh, look at the time. Longest report ever. Mel's going to go ballistic. We'll be cutting in on all their banging on about palm, emus and sausage dogs.
the Intern: Well, Ollie won't be banging on about Shellharbour.
the Informant: Oi, don't be cheeky, or it will be your last launch.
Melissa Ellis: Well, how about that, Ollie? The informant wasn't at Palm after all.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, the informant gets around, doesn't he?
Melissa Ellis: Sounded like a fun trip to Whalan.
Oliver Spake: Fun's a word for it. But it would have been a fun parkrun day. Congrats to the Whalan team.
Social Adventurers
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Melissa Ellis: And we should add that we've just popped back in so that we could read through all the lovely comments we got on Fluffy's food truck post. Yeah.
Oliver Spake: I mean, well, Dazza had his own version of the holiday. Fluffy, so kind enough of you to roll out the food truck and naturally attract a big turnout as you've proven you're very capable at doing. And it looks like everyone had a pretty good parkrun day.
Melissa Ellis: They have, Ollie, and mindful that we've already practically recorded the pod, so we'll do a quick recap on all the posts that we had.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Would you like to start? I'd love to. So it was great to hear again from Val Warwick. I had fun at home celebrating a young friend's 100th, lending her a cape I'd made when Steve did his 100th. Coffee at Drift beside a sparkling Bass Strait.
Melissa Ellis: And Cameron Drake, ham and cheese toasty please. Just chilling with the cool kids at Kalaya parkrun with coffee at the local. I think I might blow off the chores and head out for another run. Such a great morning and what better way to start the day than with 5K.
Oliver Spake: Absolutely. Or was that 10 in the end? Penny Simpson, wish I could be at palm21, but a lovely morning touristing at Collie River Trail parkrun. The photo is of all the parkrunners who are in the town for the Collie Trail Fest tonight and tomorrow. Got a number in my seconds bingo for the second week in a row. Only five to go. No coffee today due to an impatient fellow traveller.
Melissa Ellis: Tony O'Connell, went to parkrun, met a new bird.
Oliver Spake: And Bec, Rebecca Bailey, wet run at Yeronga this morning, but nice and refreshing rather than being hot and sweaty. One more week in my April adventuring slash alphabeteering. Wish I could have been a palm, but have a mountain bike event on Sunday morning I have to be back home for.
Melissa Ellis: Irene Heather, ugly singlets made an appearance at Warringal Parklands parkrun for Wilson Index number 18 with Parth and Cheryl. Afterwards, coffee and muesli brunch at the train yard in Heidelberg.
Oliver Spake: And Ingrid Botha returned to Cooks River this week as the 7am start at Kamay was not going to work for my 11-year-old. My 15-month-old Schmoodle became a bark runner for the first time today. Woof, woof. This photo is not the most flattering for me, but look at that dog go. Not bad for a dog the size of Paris. And a little context, Mel. Context is the dog's name is Paris. A bit of context I neglected to give during a With Me Now lockdown live leading to confusion about the dog being as big as a city. And now a dog the size of Paris has become a family joke.
Melissa Ellis: Oh. And Mark Scarborough. Whoa, this cafe opens early. Hope there is room for us after our 9am parkrun start at Risdon Brook parkrun Tasmania. We are now at Currency Cafe for brekkie and coffee.
Oliver Spake: Mark dials in at all hours. It's always good to hear from Mark. Chantelle Hosking, today was Laylor's fifth birthday. Theme was F, so our fragile fun director took the lead. I just participated with Fluffy on a festival top on a fantastic parkrun fanatic. I know only four Fs.
Melissa Ellis: That was a mouthful. I'm glad you got that one.
Unidentified speaker: Oh, just, just.
Melissa Ellis: Alison King, wish I could have been there. I went to University of Waikato parkrun again. A fellow tourist, Nigel Milius, also wants to visit Nambour to meet Fluffy. Nothing significant to report from me aside from a small turnout, a bit of rain, but great coffee and chat at the parkrun Cafe, Jack's Coffee Lounge in Hamilton, New Zealand.
Oliver Spake: And then Chris Fraser. The rain on the drive over cleared just in time for a nice run at Golden Beach. Sausage roll was a disappointment again.
Melissa Ellis: Uh-oh, he's been a bad run of sausage rolls. Vicky Thompson visited my new home parkrun this morning. Sunny envelope. Has to get a mention, doesn't it? But no sun. Ran a good time for me and reduced the 75 to 79 age category record by two minutes and 27 seconds. Phew.
Oliver Spake: Wow. Well done. And well done also, Mandy Oliver, volunteer Timekeeper at Surfers Paradise.
Melissa Ellis: And Tracey Wood. Morning team, I've just toured at Brightwater, cracker of a day on the sunny coast. Pick of me and fellow tourist Caroline Southwell.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, very nice to have Caroline pop in to say hi at the recording too, Mel. It was. Yes. We also get a bit of distance inclusion or, you know, being part of the event from afar from Pippa. Pippa White joined you in spirit with a new PB.
Melissa Ellis: Yes, and she was sporting her Ugly Christmas Singlet, Claire Stutchbury. Balanced the books this morning at Kirra parkrun. Jack and I are now on the same number of events, 79, as I've done this course before. Some answers for questions from the pod. No palm, devastated. As you may have worked out by now, we already had a weekend booked for another event, so yes, early notice would be great. Home was Canberra, Goulburn until December. We have just moved to Brisbane. So many new events to adventure. Cowell Club is next, which we should achieve together now, and Event 200, which should be achievable prior to the end of the year.
Oliver Spake: You guys don't stop. That's fantastic. And Bernadette Bennett, RD at Newy. Drizzle kept the numbers to the hearty ones and a good time was had by all.
Melissa Ellis: Good work. Excellent. Lots of lovely inclusion there and lots of people getting festive and wearing their Ugly Christmas Singlets.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, look, it's been fantastic to see the tinsel up close and, again, from afar. But, you know, clearly parkrun Day was something special for a lot of us. And, yeah, thanks, everyone, for sharing.
Sign-off
Melissa Ellis: All right. And, Ollie, we should mention, because we keep forgetting.
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Melissa Ellis: If anybody would like. Yes, to send us any messages or any feedback or any questions, please feel free to send us an email at parkrunadventurers at gmail.com or send us a Facebook message. We can be contacted that way as well.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, always great to hear from everyone. We imagine we're going to start to hear a few questions about dates before long, Mel. Ah, yes.
Unidentified speaker: Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: We better get the whiteboard out, Ollie.
Oliver Spake: I think so. A good whiteboarding session is in store.
Melissa Ellis: Yes. So probably time for us to say goodbye for another week after a very big week.
Oliver Spake: Huge week.
Melissa Ellis: But can I just say, Ollie, when you listen back to the pod, make sure you listen all the way to the end because you don't want to miss anything.
Oliver Spake: Noted, Mel. I look forward to it.
Melissa Ellis: All right. I'll chat again next week. See you, everyone.
Unidentified speaker: Hi Mel, I came 22 today and I got a picture with Parth. We put two fingers up each and there was this really large ant on my foot and Bec stomped on it. See you soon Mel. I miss you.