Episode 232 - Celebrating first’s

Welcome

00:00:22Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 232 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. My name is Melissa Ellis and I'm joined by a man who is not adverse to rocking the fancy dress, the anonymous koala himself, Ollie Spake.

00:00:39Oliver Spake: Hi, Mel. How are you?

00:00:42Melissa Ellis: I'm good, thank you, Ollie. How are you?

00:00:45Oliver Spake: Look, I'm still intrigued as to why I am an anonymous koala. We're still trying to work that out, but I'm doing well, thank you.

00:00:53Melissa Ellis: That's good. And... How's your week been? Shellharbour on the weekend?

00:01:01Oliver Spake: Yes, Shellharbour on the weekend, back home again after the big travels. It was good to get back home, as much fun as we did have. And, yep, back in the vest, back on the tools and, yeah, welcoming a lot of visitors, actually. There was a lot of visitation going on at Shellharbour.

00:01:20Melissa Ellis: Is it still sort of touristy time?

00:01:23Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, it must be that. Well, I think a lot of them were New South Wales based, so I can't put it down to a long weekend because this particular year New South Wales didn't have an Anzac Day long weekend. But, yeah, some great representation from so many parkruns and what else? Well, it was PB season too, clearly. Heaps of people achieving PBs, which I think you can probably attest to as well. And the weather was good? The weather was lovely. We were at that time, and that's surely the big reason for the PBs. It's that cool morning with the morning sunlight creeping in because we do have a bit of beach. You get that sweet spot with the tide, and I think all things were just coming together. That sounds good. Yeah, yeah, lovely morning.

00:02:12Melissa Ellis: And good to be winding down after all the activity that we had the previous week. I know I've just been glad to come home and collapse and recuperate from the excitement.

00:02:26Oliver Spake: Oh, look, wasn't it fantastic? I couldn't cram in enough excitement, but as you say, it's nice to balance that out and have a quieter week and re-energise the battery. I think the rest of the weekend for me was pretty much just re-energising. So I'll be ready for another adventure soon enough, I'm sure, or another run as it were. But yeah, nice to have a quiet one.

00:02:50Melissa Ellis: Yeah, you need to rest up this week. Big event next week.

00:02:56Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Probably took the rest aspect a bit too seriously this weekend, but hey. It'll all come out in the wash, right? Taper, taper, taper. And Mel, how was your parkrun day and weekend?

00:03:12Melissa Ellis: Yeah, it was pretty good. Returned to an event that I was at earlier this year, ran a faster time, so that's always good. That's testament to my couple of weeks away where I got back into my running, I think, and running those hills at Cabaruda Beach.

00:03:32Oliver Spake: And very modest too, a three-minute PB. That's massive, Mel.

00:03:36Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, thank you. It's still trying to get back to where I have previously been. But, yes, I'll take that as progress. And I had friends there. Irene and Parth were at Fairpark Reserve, so that's always an extra bonus on a parkrun morning when you're touring and you've got friendly faces. Zoe jumped in and volunteered with Parth as Barcode Scanner.

00:04:04Oliver Spake: Very nice.

00:04:05Melissa Ellis: That was unexpected. So she actually really enjoyed the role. She quite happy to volunteer, which is very pleasing.

00:04:12Oliver Spake: Oh, good work, Zoe. I mean, I trust she enjoyed the app. I'm a big fan of the app.

00:04:18Melissa Ellis: She did really well with the app. I lent her my phone. Excellent. And she was doing the very polite thanking the participants and telling them to have a good weekend and all this kind of stuff. So I was very impressed with her.

00:04:31Oliver Spake: Sounds like a good morning there.

00:04:32Melissa Ellis: It was. And then, yeah, so we had a bit of excitement, which you'll hear about later in one of the roving reports. So I won't spoil that. And, yeah, off to visit mum afterwards, which was the reason I was there because that's her local event there. And then, yeah, juniors on Sunday after Anzac Day. So huge weekend.

00:04:53Oliver Spake: Yeah, big one. So did you have a service, Mel, that you joined?

00:04:57Melissa Ellis: We did. So at Eynesbury where my junior event is, mine, I don't own it, where our junior event is, there's a homestead and there was an Anzac Day service there as well. So it was really good, nice and convenient for me to turn up early with the gear in the back of the car, do the dawn service and then help out with the course set up.

00:05:25Oliver Spake: Oh, that's really handy.

00:05:27Melissa Ellis: Yeah. And we had nice weather for Anzac Day for the service. It was quite a mild morning. So the homestead had fire pits all around. The people were congregating around. So it was a really nice touch as well.

00:05:40Oliver Spake: Yeah. Oh, that would have been lovely. And I imagine good to get out to a physical service after last year. Obviously for all of us was done in lockdown, wasn't it?

00:05:50Melissa Ellis: Yeah, that's right. Yep, last year I stood in my driveway listening to the radio for the service. So definitely happy my father-in-law came down with me. He's a Vietnam veteran, so he accompanied me and he actually hung around afterwards. Well, he didn't have a choice actually because... He needed a little lift home, but he hung around. He actually walked the course, the juniors course, so he got to see what I'm up to on a Sunday morning. Lovely. Which was nice.

00:06:20Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's a nice way to obviously combine many, many special features, I should say, of a Sunday Anzac Day. Good to hear.

00:06:30Melissa Ellis: And we had a few of our juniors getting their 11 milestone wristbands too. So we're starting, I think we're 14 events in now, so we're starting to get some kids achieve some milestones. So that's a bit of excitement for us too.

00:06:44Oliver Spake: Very exciting for more of the juniors to be ticking over those milestones. And look, any milestone is special, but there's got to be something about it. A couple of those first milestones for those young parkrunners.

00:06:57Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Yep. I agree.

00:07:00Oliver Spake: Speaking of milestones, Mel, we celebrate all kinds of milestones, but I think you can pretty much line up any parkrunner and find something of a little bit of meaning, no matter how unique, arbitrary, or completely out there it might be. And I Look, again, while we're still soaking up the joy that we had last week in Palm, but while we were out there, we actually got a couple more roving reports and probably worth mentioning. Yeah, we've got an abundance of roving reports, so thanks to everyone who gave us one this week and last week. So, Mel, look, we should probably have a listen, and we have heard from PK, who was celebrating a bit of a milestone of his own.

00:07:47[14 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Paul Kitching — Centennial parkrun

00:08:01Paul Kitching: G'day, it's PK here checking in for the Channel 5 News crew with a roving report. Apologies for being MIA for so long. Dad moved into aged care, pretty much consumed my life for a good three plus months. But he is good now. Had to be done and all that went along with that kind of fun. But anyway, he's now settled and I can get back into regular programming and share some parkrun adventuring with you all finally. So I started parkrun, and bear with me now for this little story. I started parkrun back at the beginning of 2016. And five years later, I've done 167 parkruns in total, volunteered 50 times. So that's turning up to parkrun, what, 217 times. Most have been in my wonderful South Australia. But back in 2016, I did three overseas parkruns at Bath Skyline, Lanhydrock in Cornwall. That was gorgeous around a castle. And the Mecca. Ah! Bushy Park where I managed to not only turn up at the 12th anniversary of their event where they had 1,212 people turn up at Bushy Park but I also met Jesus yes I met Sir Paul Sinton-Hewitt and I did roving reports from all three after this podcast geez was that really five years ago But today, finally, after all of that, I am doing my first parkrun in another state in Australia. I'm here in Sydney to see family and also Hamilton the musical. Bring it on. And I've decided to come to Centennial parkrun. Far out. What a beautiful parkrun course it is. I've just turned up, driven through the gorgeous grounds here. It's nice and close to where we're staying. And it starts early, which is brilliant. It means I can get on with my Saturday. So a 7 a.m. start. Love it. I've been told I need to chat with some of the local legends. I've got someone called Shazy. Also, Lynn, who I believe, who's the RD today, who I believe is from Adelaide. How about that? Anyway, and there's also a few other little surprises I know they have in store. So let's go and get amongst parkrun, my first interstate parkrun. Woo-hoo! Well, I have done my first interstate parkrun and survived it. Centennial Park is beautiful. And I'm here with Lynne, who was going to be the RD when we spoke during the week, but then things changed. How are you, Lynne?

00:10:21Lynne: Oh, I'm great, thank you. Had a lovely run this morning.

00:10:25Paul Kitching: And I saw on your parkrun Facebook page that, is it re-due for taking over? You've got to love it when you get a takeover of parkrun. Tell us more about that.

00:10:33Lynne: Well, we actually put out a call because every week we need 15 to 20 volunteers. So we put out a call to running groups and ask anybody who wants to take over and take all the volunteer positions every week for one week that helps us all. They get to be seen and we get the help. So win-win situation.

00:10:51Paul Kitching: I absolutely love it. And there are a few runners here today, a few quick runners, in fact. It's great to see. Obviously, this is a very popular park for equestrian as well. We didn't have to stop for the horses today. Has that happened before for you?

00:11:05Lynne: Quite often, they're very generous. If they see a heap of runners coming, quite often they'll stop their horse. But technically, we have to stop for them.

00:11:12Paul Kitching: We have to stop for them. There you go. Because their horses have right of way. Well, it's a beautiful parkrun. Lots of happy people out here. Lots of 100 t-shirts. Obviously, there's a lot of regular runners, which is great to see. And yeah, congratulations. How long have you been associated with Centennial parkrun?

00:11:30Lynne: Since it started, actually, two and a half years. It started in October 2018.

00:11:34Paul Kitching: Brilliant, brilliant. Well, it's a beautiful parkrun. You should be very proud. And I love that it's in the middle of Sydney, but it's like, but you feel like you're out in the country. So congratulations. I absolutely loved it. I'm going to go and chat to some other legends now. Thank you so much. Congrats. Okay, then. We'll found a few more legends. I was told to chat with, I said Shazzy, but it's actually Shazzy. But Shazzy's not here, so when you can't have Shazzy, you find another legend. Here's Sam. How are you, Sam? I'm very well, PK. How are you going? Yeah, I'm awesome. I've also got Marius. Hello there, all parkrun listeners. How are you, mate? Now, look, great to have both you lads here. Out on the course, I was admiring your 100 T-shirt and your beard and your headband. So, a man after my own, I'm interested. It's an outfit that I usually wear. How long have you been involved with parkrun, Sam?

00:12:23Sam: I did my first one, PK, back in 2013, but I didn't do one again until 2016 and then started to do it more regularly. Awesome. And I just happened to be walking the streets of Canterbury and Sydney and saw the Cooks River parkrun and thought I knew what parkrun was. So I thought, oh, and I wanted to do a bit of running. So I thought I'll just turned up the following week and then made it a regular thing.

00:12:46Paul Kitching: Awesome. And is that why, because Centennial, this is like, what, the 80th or 88th, something, it's like under 100, isn't it?

00:12:53Sam: Yeah, so I started parkrun before this one even existed. And by that time I'd moved and I was running at St Peter's, which is the oldest parkrun in Sydney. Yes, I have heard about it. It's about seven or eight years old. And I got to know Paul Wilcock, who started the St Peter's parkrun. And he was involved in trying to start this one. And they were calling for... By that stage, I'd done about 80 parkruns. So they were calling for Event Directors and a Run Director to do this. Awesome. And I said... I'll be a Run Director.

00:13:22Paul Kitching: Why not? Yeah. I know what to do. Yeah. Well done, mate. It was a beautiful parkrun. I was just chatting with Lynn before who was going to be RD today, but then you had the takeover, which is always awesome. Great to see people. When you get a takeover, it's awesome that everybody who's on the RD or ED team can actually get out and do a run. So that's obviously brought you out.

00:13:41Sam: Yeah, yeah. Well, very, very grateful to the Rejuve Runners today for running this takeover. And it's great, you know, that we get a break for a week and get to get out and run. That's been great.

00:13:53Paul Kitching: Absolutely. And they get to experience volunteering as well because, you know, we know that the world, you know, runs on volunteers in so many ways, literally here.

00:14:01Marius: For a world where so many people were just going to run individually and running clubs were on the decline, parkrun has been instrumental in bringing back the communal, social running culture and getting everyone together again. And congratulations on surviving the lockdown.

00:14:15Paul Kitching: Well done. That's awesome, Marius. I reckon parkrun should, Doug, take that as a testimonial. That's awesome. But you're so right, mate. It has actually, and it's helped a lot of people with their mental health, just actually being able to get out and run and see people and meet others. So how long have you been doing parkrun, Marius?

00:14:31Marius: Next question. It doesn't matter. On and off. My parents took me to a parkrun in 2011, 2012. Early days? Yes, back in the old days.

00:14:42Paul Kitching: Wow, God, I wish I knew about it that long ago.

00:14:43Marius: Up at Fingal Bay, just north of Newcastle. Yeah, right. And I think as a hint, you know, you might like to consider running one of these days. And I think it's only, what, nearly nine years later that it's slowly coming into... That's okay. I'm slowly starting to take that hint on board.

00:14:58Paul Kitching: Well, good on you, mate, for getting out here and getting amongst it because it is beautiful, as you say, and it is a wonderful thing that we can all do and get amongst. But I will let you lads go because it looks like everyone's petering out and you may want to go and have your post-parkrun coffee or tea or whatever you do. So thanks, legends.

00:15:12Marius: Thank you, PK. Good on you, Marius.

00:15:14Paul Kitching: Good on you, mate. Thanks so much. Cheers, Sam, far out there are legends aplenty here at centennial park uh centennial park parkrun or centennial parkrun get it right mate anyway um I now have Anne and Werner. Now, Anne, last week uh tell us what you did

00:15:32Anne: Well, I turned 75 and I managed to coincide that with my 75th parkrun.

00:15:38Paul Kitching: Fantastic. I did see the celebrations on your Facebook page, the parkrun page, and there was cake.

00:15:46Anne: There was. Huge cake. It was the worst wicked cake I think we've ever seen. I was hoping all my rivals would have a lot of it and slow them down this week.

00:15:54Paul Kitching: It looked great. So what does parkrun mean to you?

00:15:58Anne: Oh, I absolutely love parkrun, particularly in Centennial Park. I mean, I was one of the founding people here. Really? And we had to struggle quite hard to get the Centennial Park Trust to allow us to have a run here. Right. Because they're fairly commercially oriented. They don't get a huge amount of funding and they want everybody to pay things. And, of course, we don't pay anything. However, it's now pretty well established. We have to struggle a bit every time our lease comes up for renewal. But I think we're becoming pretty institutionalised now.

00:16:27Paul Kitching: Absolutely. All the numbers today pretty well talk for themselves, don't they? I reckon 250, I reckon, they just came. There's still a few more coming over the line. But good numbers.

00:16:37Anne: Yeah, we do. We average about 240 and sometimes goes up to three. We've had four here at times. So it's quite a popular round. And, of course, when the tourists are around, it's one of the first faces that the tourists who hit Sydney come and find a park and they come to Centennial Park.

00:16:51Paul Kitching: That's why I'm here. Well, I'm staying nearby. I did look at some of the others. Obviously, there's St. Peter's and others. But we're just staying over in Bellevue Hill. So this was the closest for me. So I thought, why not? And Werner, how are you going, mate? How was your parkrun day?

00:17:04Werner: Very good. Very good. Today was my 40th parkrun. Awesome. Congrats. Not all of them here.

00:17:09Paul Kitching: No, no.

00:17:10Werner: But my 40th and it's my 84th birthday.

00:17:13Paul Kitching: today today where's the cake everyone 84 that's fantastic happy birthday no no I won't I won't I won't sing happy birthday to you mate we should um but that's fantastic mate congratulations what a way to celebrate your birthday doing parkrun on your 84th birthday that's very impressive my first one in South Africa in April two years ago wow and there it's big Yes, I know it's massive. I've spoken to a number of people, South African parkrunners. They love it over there.

00:17:41Werner: 1,600. How many? 1,600. Oh, my gosh. But they had to split them up. There are three parkruns.

00:17:47Paul Kitching: Oh, wow.

00:17:49Werner: At about... Oh, that is crazy.

00:17:51Paul Kitching: So there must be about 5,000 people. That is quite a few. Well... I know, right? Volunteers. And we were just saying how the world runs on volunteers, literally. And how much... I mean, you guys, how many volunteers do you need? I've noticed there would be about 10, maybe? More than that. More than that here? Because of the different places to go and whatnot?

00:18:09Anne: We had about 16. 16? Gosh. Set up, we closed down, washing the vests, Token Sorting.

00:18:17Paul Kitching: Of course.

00:18:17Anne: And it's got a bit more complex now with COVID, of course.

00:18:21Paul Kitching: Of course. But I think the best thing about today is that new people have volunteered, and I think I'm hoping that they've had a taste of volunteering and they come back and do it again.

00:18:28Anne: Yeah, well, that's a running club, actually.

00:18:30Paul Kitching: It's Rejuve. Rejuve, yeah, I did. I saw it, yeah, and I met some of the team.

00:18:34Anne: It's a takeover, and we love takeovers.

00:18:36Paul Kitching: Love takeovers. Gotta love it. It means we can get out there and get amongst it. Good on you. Thank you so much, Legends. Thank you, Werner. And thank you, Anne. I really appreciate it. Keep parkrunning and hope you both do a parkrun on your 100th birthday.

00:18:49Anne: That's it. That's the plan. That's the plan.

00:18:52Paul Kitching: Good on you guys. Thank you. Alrighty then, that's enough legends for one day. This is PK signing off from another parkrun adventure. My first interstate adventure. Finally, about time I got amongst this parkrun adventuring. Okay, I did, I have done it overseas, but certainly not interstate. And wow, what a beautiful course to choose. Centennial parkrun, highly recommend it here in Sydney. Very much like Bushy Park. Driving in through watching other people exercise. No deer to admire, but lots of horses. So there you go. Anyway, beautiful parkrun course in the middle of Sydney. Highly recommend it. Get amongst Centennial parkrun and get amongst parkrunning. Thanks. Cheers.

Roving report Cameron Drake — Calleya

00:19:43Cameron Drake: G'day everyone, it's Cam here reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew and if you can believe it that is the very first time I've ever remembered to say that for once. This morning I am at the bright, the beautiful and the wonderful Calleya parkrun, except I've turned up comically early, go figure. And today I am not quite chasing my Pirate Club, but I suppose you could say reinforcing it with a second run at this event. And what's a Pirate Club, I hear you ask? What's a Windexer? What the heck's a P-Index? A Passionista? What are all these weird terms that we keep throwing about with wild abandon? well they are part of statistics and running challenges just to I don't know really spice up parkrun but just to get a bit of extra quirk and kick out of visiting fun places and talking to people we make up all these random things around parkrun just basically for giggles What's a pirate club? Well, what do pirates do? They sail the seven seas. So you go visit seven parkruns starting with C and then it ends with an R. Fun, isn't it? Yeah, okay, we have a strange sense of humour. But let's see if anyone else has any clue about these running challenges and statistics and all that guff and or even care. Well, I'm here with... Brent. Brent. Brent, nice to meet you today. Beautiful day out here at Calleya parkrun. Now, you say you're not exactly a parkrun regular, but how often do you come?

00:21:24Brent: I try to do it at least once a month, but we've got the little one now, so one of us usually has to look after her, but that's no excuse. Oh, look, I've had little ones. I think it's plenty of excuse. So you say you get around in about 30 minutes? No. Yeah, I'm trying to get back down to 25, but somewhere between 27 and 30 is about my time at the moment.

00:21:43Cameron Drake: Oh, so that's pretty good. So how many parkruns do you reckon you've done in total?

00:21:47Brent: Probably 30 or 40 over four years, five years, yeah.

00:21:50Cameron Drake: Oh, that's pretty good. So you'll be getting up to your 50 parkrun shirt in a little while, won't you? That would be nice, yeah. That would be a nice little memento, yeah. Nice bright red shirt. Now, were you aware that there's all kinds of weird and wonderful statistics surrounding parkrun? I know some of them, but yeah, tell me a bit more. Well, there's this fun thing called a pirate club. Have you ever heard of that? A pirate club? Yeah. Okay. Do you need a parrot? No, but that actually, that'd be really cool. But what you do is pirates sail the seven seas. So you try and run at seven parkruns starting with sea and you end up with an arrr at the end. Okay.

00:22:26Brent: Yeah, I think I've heard something like that.

00:22:28Cameron Drake: Yeah. So you've at least done one sea. Have you done any other seas? I'm trying to think.

00:22:34Brent: I did a few in Brisbane, I think, over there when we were there. Oh, Brizzy. Brizzy's nicer here. Yeah, yeah. It starts a bit earlier over there because it gets a bit warm. I've caught a slow I've done. Oh, two seas. Yeah, I'm trying to think of a few others, but none come to mind at the moment, yeah.

00:22:52Cameron Drake: Oh, okay. Well, I think I've got about three at the moment. Yeah. But anyway, lovely chatting with you. Yeah. And I hope to see you around the traps. Cool. Maybe at another sea. Yeah, cheers. Okay, I'm here with... Shannon. Shannon, nice to meet you, Shannon. Lovely top, Shannon. I did accuse you of being a runner, but you said not really, but I think you are.

00:23:16Shannon: Thank you.

00:23:17Cameron Drake: And then you admitted to being a Run Director, so I think you've got a bit of a serious streak for parkrun. Would you agree?

00:23:23Shannon: Oh, maybe. I do like it. It's the best way to start a Saturday morning.

00:23:27Cameron Drake: Yeah, absolutely right. Now, I'm assuming as RD and being around parkrun for a little while, you would be aware of some of these weird statistics and running clubs and challenges that abound, that people follow?

00:23:42Shannon: Yes, some of them. More the Strava-based ones, not so much the park.

00:23:45Cameron Drake: Strava-based ones. Oh, you don't know of silly clubs like, I don't know, Passionistas doing 100 runs at a particular parkrun? No? No? Or Regionaires, States? People?

00:24:00Shannon: Yeah, I do. I know there's people who go to get all the runs in one state and things like that.

00:24:07Cameron Drake: Any particular statistic that you'd like to try and finish or attempt or have done in the past?

00:24:14Shannon: It'd be nice to be able to run every parkrun in WA eventually.

00:24:17Cameron Drake: Oh, yeah. I hear that's a bit of a challenge.

00:24:20Shannon: Yeah, we've got to travel a fairly long way to do all the WA ones.

00:24:24Cameron Drake: Apparently not as far as other states, as I found out the hard way a few weeks ago. Yes, apparently. I was well schooled in sort of not as far flung that WA is as compared to, say, everywhere else in Australia. Oh, well. Okay. Well, lovely chatting to you. I'm trying to find some stats nerds.

00:24:43Shannon: Do you reckon there's any around? You've picked the wrong person. I'm not a stats nerd. I'm so sorry. That's okay. Probably not here today, but one of our other RDs, she would know all the stats. Sorry.

00:24:55Cameron Drake: Okay, no worries. All right, let's see what everyone else says.

00:24:59Shannon: Thanks. Thank you.

00:25:00Cameron Drake: Okay, I'm here with... Daniel. Daniel, nice to meet you. Hey, beautiful run out here today, isn't it? Calleya's lovely, isn't it?

00:25:09Daniel: Yeah, it's definitely a really nice one. And, you know, we don't get a huge amount of people, but it makes for a really nice parkrun.

00:25:15Cameron Drake: Fair call. All right. Well, look, I'm trying to find people who are into parkrun stats and challenges and things like that. Are you aware of all the stats and challenges and fun things around parkrun?

00:25:27Daniel: No, not really. Don't know of any of them.

00:25:29Cameron Drake: You know, I'm detecting a bit of a trend here in that there's only a very few people who seem to be into this.

00:25:35Daniel: Yeah, it certainly sort of looks that way.

00:25:37Cameron Drake: Dang it. Okay. Well, I'm going to try harassing more people and see if I can at least get one person who knows a challenge or a stat about parkrun. Thanks for chatting.

00:25:47Daniel: No worries. Thank you.

00:25:49[crosstalk]

00:25:49Cameron Drake: Okay, I'm here, thankfully, with coffee with... Margaret.

00:25:53Unidentified speaker: Jess.

00:25:54Cameron Drake: Bira.

00:25:55Unidentified speaker: Michelle.

00:25:56Cameron Drake: Adam. All right, gang, I... I'm not going to remember anyone's name. I'm very, very sorry. Sometimes I forget my own. Now, I've been asking people if they follow any particular parkrun challenges or statistics or anything like that. Anyone?

00:26:11Unidentified speaker: Anyone? No, not me.

00:26:14Cameron Drake: No, just the run. Just the run. Just the run. And we're saying that finishing the run was challenge enough, was it?

00:26:22Unidentified speaker: Getting up in the morning is challenge enough.

00:26:24Cameron Drake: Yeah, as it gets colder, it gets harder. Oh, absolutely.

00:26:29Unidentified speaker: Just feeling good to do the run. Yeah, I think so. Catching up after the run is the payoff.

00:26:39Cameron Drake: Ah, so we don't really need all this extra fluff around joining the pirate club or the Cowell Club or run off the pirate.

00:26:49Unidentified speaker: I think my motivation is that on a Friday afternoon it gets me thinking of how I'm going to spend Friday afternoon, and prepare myself for Saturday morning. So instead of, like, you know, having two drinks and not five drinks, it sets up that habit for how you're going to follow your weekend through.

00:27:07Cameron Drake: Ah, so parkrun prep starts on Friday.

00:27:10Unidentified speaker: No more Friday drinks. He will, yeah, he definitely will, yeah.

00:27:20Cameron Drake: Sure, thank you. Someone's picked up cones for us. Cheers. Now, I picked up on something. I don't know if anyone else noticed, but you just turned around and said you are one off the pirate club. I am. I've got one more C to go.

00:27:33Unidentified speaker: I've done a couple in Sydney and a C in Singapore.

00:27:38Cameron Drake: Yes, I've got one more. So, are you secretly into challenges, but you just don't want to admit it in front of all your friends? Secretly on that one. I do turn up to my next C in a pirate costume.

00:27:51Unidentified speaker: And I'm not his friend, I'm his sister.

00:27:53Cameron Drake: Friends, sister, yeah, okay, I can get that. So I'm starting to think that all these people who follow challenges secretly, they keep it to themselves because they don't want to admit it to everyone else. So maybe everyone else I've been speaking to have just given me shrugs and blank looks secretly as following all these things and they just don't want to admit it.

00:28:12Unidentified speaker: I think out of our group, you're the challenged person. Yeah. None of us really. He likes to push himself.

00:28:18Unidentified speaker: I do watch it for everyone. Secretly. There's normally another eight people here. And I do sort of check to see their numbers and where they're at with different things. But I'll let them know quietly how they've gone. But normally I keep them on the down line. So you're the challenge guy, huh?

00:28:33Florrie: The challenge guy.

00:28:35Cameron Drake: All right, well.

00:28:37Unidentified speaker: It's just being better than your life itself. That's for me. It's not a challenge against anything else. No, you're challenging against yourself.

00:28:44Cameron Drake: Yeah, competing against yourself sort of the previous time. Except I used to be better and now I'm worse.

00:28:50Unidentified speaker: Or just being that person that's not staying at home, just getting out and doing it. Like Adam, you always said, you're not that person on the couch, you're that better person. That's the challenge. Already winning to be better you.

00:29:01Cameron Drake: Absolutely. I think there should be a getting off the couch challenge.

00:29:05Unidentified speaker: That sounds pretty good. How many times did you do that exercise this week? You know, twice, three times. Well done, you know.

00:29:10Cameron Drake: Absolutely. There needs to be medals.

00:29:12Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:29:12Cameron Drake: Badges, right.

00:29:13Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:29:13Cameron Drake: All right. Well, thank you very much, everyone. This has been very illuminating. I'll see you around the traps. Thanks for your time. Thank you.

00:29:21Melissa Ellis: Great to hear from PK and glad to know that your dad is doing well now, PK. And we heard from an octogenarian, Ollie, Werner. Yes. Werner from South Africa.

00:29:35Oliver Spake: Yeah, so definitely one for the spreadsheet or the folder, as it were, or the Facebook group if that gets up and running, John. It is indeed. Yeah, what a way to celebrate. That was fantastic. And, oh, look, can I just add, Centennial is a beautiful parkrun course. Yeah, it's a lovely, lovely spot in the park there. So good pick. Have you done that one? Yeah, I have. I have. And, yeah, it was a nice morning also. I've got to agree with PK. The 7 a.m. start was a nice change from what I'm used to, just like last week. And... Yeah, really nice, really nice vibe, really nice crew there amongst the trees that line the paths around the area of the park that they parkrun in, and it sounds like PK had a lovely time there.

00:30:21Melissa Ellis: Is that the same area where you sort of start City to Surf?

00:30:27Oliver Spake: Not quite, no, no, and actually thinking completely different, in fact. LAUGHTER That's Hyde Park, which, you know, I think as the crow flies, is not all that far. But Centennial Park I'd never been to until I did a run through there five years ago now. And it's just gorgeous, you know, huge grounds. The horses there are something special. Nice big green space amongst the city, of course, which we all enjoy.

00:30:32[laughter]

00:30:55Melissa Ellis: Oh, clearly I've not been there either because every time I hear them talk Centennial, I'm always imagining Hyde Park.

00:31:03Oliver Spake: Aha, yes, yes. Hyde Park times many. Recommend a trip to Centennial, Mel. Next Sydney trip, whack it on the list.

00:31:11Melissa Ellis: Okay.

00:31:11Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:31:12Melissa Ellis: Why not?

00:31:14Oliver Spake: But what a way to celebrate for PK. Congratulations, PK, a special parkrun number 168.

00:31:20Melissa Ellis: Sounds like he had an action-packed weekend planned with the theatre, family, parkrun.

00:31:26Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:31:27Melissa Ellis: Sounded pretty good.

00:31:28Oliver Spake: Yep, yep.

00:31:29Melissa Ellis: And Cam at Calleya asking everybody if they're into statistics or running challenges.

00:31:36Oliver Spake: Yeah. And do you think, Mel, that maybe Cam was onto something that just maybe there are a few closet challengists that don't quite announce it? Or is it just a few of us?

00:31:51Melissa Ellis: I think we're a unique lot of some challenge chasers. What about you, Ollie? Do you chase anything in particular?

00:32:01Oliver Spake: Oh, look, I'm gradually taking my rowboat across the seven seas. So one day I'll paddle across, still only in the fourth sea.

00:32:13Megan: Well, you've done Centennial.

00:32:14Oliver Spake: Well, yep, I've done Centennial. Look, there's an abundance of seas near me. I mean, I live on the coast, so clearly. But... there are some great options that I just need to organise myself. But then there's that whole Wilson index number and I will admit to just a little bit of jealousy when one of the event team crew headed off to event number two this parkrun day, just gone to get a Wilson index number two.

00:32:39Jennine Sellers: So I'll keep my eyes peeled.

00:32:42Oliver Spake: Yeah, keep my eyes peeled. I don't think a trip to Leeton is on the cards this weekend. Yeah.

00:32:48Melissa Ellis: That would be a hike.

00:32:50Oliver Spake: Yeah, a bit too much on this weekend. But, yeah, just, again, it's the long game for me. Gradually tick them over and just take it all in from all of you.

00:32:59Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:33:02Oliver Spake: What about you, Mel?

00:33:03Melissa Ellis: I'm not really chasing anything like that at the moment. I'll fill in a Wilson Index here and there just for the sake of trying to feel like I'm achieving something for the weekend. But I'm not too fussed by it, to be honest. I just like exploring. I like going to new events and exploring the areas around and meeting new people. That's my thing. That's my M.O.,

00:33:29Oliver Spake: Yeah. Oh, look, again, we're very fortunate. You know, we look around, how lucky we are to be parkrunning right now. You know, probably worth mentioning, of course, Cam's report was from last week, like PKs, and, you know, Cam once again had to go without a parkrun day, this parkrun day just gone. So thank you, Cam. We hope the – is it a short black or a long black? I haven't checked with Dazza what your usual order is there, but I know it's hot. I hope it was just as good without the parkrun.

00:34:03Melissa Ellis: I'm just scanning down to see if it was in the cafe, but it was not. So, yes, I cannot remember his order either.

00:34:12Oliver Spake: Well, he was in lockdown, so, yeah, understandably he couldn't make it to the cafe.

00:34:16Melissa Ellis: It was an instant.

00:34:18Oliver Spake: Ah, okay.

00:34:19Melissa Ellis: No, no, no, I'm joking because he couldn't get to the cafe. He had to make it himself.

00:34:24Oliver Spake: I see, I see.

00:34:25Melissa Ellis: Anyway, nice to hear from the West again. And yes, I do believe that the lockdown is being lifted as of tonight and we are recording on Monday the 26th of April. So by next parkrun day when this podcast is released, he should be back out there enjoying maybe his local event or his travelling. We shall find out.

00:34:47Oliver Spake: No, that's exciting. And, hey, look, actually, just in terms of getting back out there, I know we've been seeing a few of our UK listeners and a few other UK parkrunners getting out for different events. Obviously, Juniors is back out there and it's fantastic to see. So, another, well, I'm going to say, you know, once again, I'll plug the name, Shellharbour parkrunner. Yeah, who's now living over in the UK, do the first event back. So, no, it is good to be seeing more and more, you know, get that opportunity. We still can't predict where it's all going, but great to see and well done.

00:35:24Melissa Ellis: So the Shellharbour parkrunner went to juniors, is that what, because they're seniors?

00:35:28Oliver Spake: No, well, no, in fact, was in a running event, was in a running event. Oh, okay. So our former event team member, Amanda Rogers, yeah, over there in the UK, took on the first running event since, well, I suppose since the conditions have been lifted. So she, like everyone, are eagerly awaiting June. Yeah. And the changes to come for parkrun for all the grown-ups in June in England. The grown-ups. The grown-ups are being very patient. But, yeah, she took on a 10-mile race out there up in the north there.

00:36:04Melissa Ellis: Okay. You don't remember the name of the race?

00:36:08Oliver Spake: The name of the race, I think it was actually, here we are. Yes, the big flat runway races at Elvington Airfield. So, yeah, yeah, nice. Well, it looked flat. I understand it wasn't maybe all flat, but yeah, series of events there. So, yeah.

00:36:26Melissa Ellis: Well done. Sounds like one our friend of the podcast, Mr Gary Murphy, would enjoy at our airfield.

00:36:33Oliver Spake: I reckon.

00:36:34Melissa Ellis: I like those unique events. Well, yes. Running places where you maybe couldn't necessarily usually go and it would be pretty quiet at the airport at the moment.

00:36:44Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. And my understanding here is that this one is used for all sorts of different events. But, you know, like you say, it's exciting to get to have that opportunity. And yeah, maybe it's without knowing the full context, maybe they are making the most of that opportunity.

00:37:01Melissa Ellis: Much like running around a racetrack.

00:37:05Oliver Spake: Yeah, you wouldn't want to be running close to cut off for that one. We shall see.

Dazza's

00:37:09Melissa Ellis: Yes. But, Ollie, we had many, many people drop by the cafe this week.

00:37:15Oliver Spake: We did. So lovely to see you all. Shout out to everyone that joined us. But it was good to hear from you. And the first of whom, understandably getting in early from across the ditch in New Zealand, Alison King. And Alison had to say, I scored a new stopwatch bingo number with a 40 at Kapiti Coast parkrun. I now have four to go. It's doing well. Sadly, there's no park-run cafe and the coffee cart was MIA. So we visited Old Beach Bakery at Waikanae Beach for coffee and pastry. I love their loyalty cards.

00:37:54Melissa Ellis: And Neil Taylor, we ran for cake on a cool morning at Ginninderra parkrun's ninth birthday. Happy birthday, Ginninderra. It looked like a chilly start there, Ollie.

00:38:06Oliver Spake: Yeah, it's getting to that season, but echo that. Happy birthday. Tracey Wood, morning all. Checked into Chermside this morning with youngest child. This could possibly be touristing as well because I've forgotten where my home parkrun is. Yeah.

00:38:24Melissa Ellis: I know a few people with that problem. Chris Fraser, run of ordinary baked goods continues after Whalan Reserve parkrun number two. Sausage roll just on a three. No Lamingtons. Substituted with what I think is yesterday's muffin. Whalan Reserve, not particularly attractive, but flat and fast. Maybe interesting for some as it is also a big kids playground, racing remote control cars, flying remote control planes and launching remote controlled rockets. Not sure if they are there every Saturday.

00:38:57Oliver Spake: Well, it sounds action packed and Chris telling it how it is. He's a straight shooter. And we also heard from Claire Stutchbury. Rainbow lattes at Piggyback Cafe following our 80th different event at Rocks Riverside.

00:39:13Melissa Ellis: And the photo of Jack there sitting under the sign that says this little piggy. With the very rainbowy coffees.

00:39:23Oliver Spake: Yeah, there's one to visit, that's for sure.

00:39:26Melissa Ellis: And Belinda Taylor volunteered at Sirromet. If you zoom in, you can see the wallaby heading towards the finish line. They've certainly got some wildlife happening up there in Queensland. Yes.

00:39:37Oliver Spake: Yeah, they do. They do. Good to hear from you, Belinda, and great to see you last weekend, of course. Bruce Purdy, we are enjoying the sensory attack of the Parap markets for post-parkrun breakfast. Hashtag join the Peel Club today.

00:39:54Melissa Ellis: Well done, Bruce. And Bruce ran at nightcliff up in the Northern Territory.

00:40:00Oliver Spake: Well, that's certainly a challenge achieved. Well done. Yeah.

00:40:03Melissa Ellis: Ingrid Botha I'll have a post parkrun pancake stack thanks Dazza ran at Kamay today which was chilly but as lovely as usual the tailed Tail Walker was a dog the size of Paris but wasn't actually Paris who was sleeping in this morning

00:40:22Oliver Spake: Ingrid, I'm going to have to check my notes, which jogs which once again. But can I just add Dolls Point back this weekend? Very exciting.

00:40:32Melissa Ellis: Oh, is that Ingrid's home parkrun?

00:40:34Oliver Spake: I believe I've seen Ingrid's name on the volunteer roster.

00:40:37Melissa Ellis: Right.

00:40:37Oliver Spake: I will eat my words if I'm wrong. Sorry, Ingrid, but I hope it's a wonderful morning. And, of course, we also heard from Erica Liotta. Zillmere today for my eighth visit there. Ran into a friend who I met when touristing at Ipswich parkrun. Last time Kay took us to her favourite breakfast. This time I took her to mine at Fuel & Co.

00:40:57Melissa Ellis: Eight Zs. Wow.

00:40:59Oliver Spake: That's a very sleepy morning.

00:41:01Melissa Ellis: It is. Okay, I've just moved the screen. Now I've lost my spot. Erica. Sam. Sam Schroder. I'm having volunteerism adventures while I sort out my broken knee. Oops, fell while searching for coffee. Today I handed out tokens at Bowral parkrun. And Sam putting a nice positive spin on things and it looked like a pretty sunny day there at Bowral.

00:41:26Oliver Spake: Yeah, Sam's doing great work helping the volunteers there. We'll see you soon, Sam. Speaking of see you soon, Bec, Bec Bailey, sunny morning at Lake Mac parkrun, halfway through my alphabet now and off to get a post-run sausage roll. Sounds like she's taking tips from Chris.

00:41:44Melissa Ellis: It's a bit of a thing, isn't it, this sausage roll thing? Yeah. Joanne Ward, great to be back at Home parkrun Maitland. Been a while because of work. Coffee van back also, so almond milk latte for drive home.

00:42:00Oliver Spake: Nice. And Carolyn Leighton. No parkrun today for us. Early morning kids tennis, but now home stalking results and planning parkrun adventures for next week when the tennis team has a bye.

00:42:15Melissa Ellis: Tough one when you have a parkrun clash with kids activities.

00:42:20Oliver Spake: Probably provides a bit of motivation for that planning. So I hope you enjoy.

00:42:25Melissa Ellis: Sally Heppleston, after a few weeks close to home, back on a solo adventure to my NENDY, Warragul. Dog was not happy I didn't take him. I was happy with 27 minutes on a course with a few bumps. Very pretty and friendly. Sad I didn't have time for coffee. And Sally's understating the bumps. It's a nice little hill. on that course that you have to do twice. And she's looking fabulous. Shout out to Supercell. She's very fit and trim at the moment.

00:43:00Oliver Spake: Charging around. Well done, Sal. And Caro, Caro Vos, back to Woy Woy parkrun as a VI Guide and then a yummy brekkie.

00:43:09Melissa Ellis: Well done, Caro. And friend of the pod who we missed very much at Palm this year. I think that's the first one, Caro Vos. Is it the first one Caro's missed?

00:43:19Oliver Spake: I think it may have been, yeah. Yeah, we look forward to seeing you hopefully next year, Caro, if not before.

00:43:24Melissa Ellis: Parth Bommakanti, volunteer at Fair Park Reserve parkrun and a bonus to be the car park marshal today, gave me an opportunity to meet Adam Pike, elite athlete and 1500 metre specialist, represented Australia once, broke his 5k PB, achieved his goal of sub 15 minutes. Also interviewed him for the parkrun adventurers podcast, Feel Privileged. Irene was Timekeeper to see Fairpark's record broken in this spectacular way. So well done to the Bomakantis. They were there. And that's where I was, Ollie, at Fairpark Reserve, and it was very exciting to see an elite on the course doing – Amazing things, and it's not a flat course either by any stretch of the imagination, and it's got two turnarounds. So to do that time under those circumstances, it was pretty impressive.

00:44:19Oliver Spake: Well, well done, a huge well done to Adam, certainly, and to yourself, both for your PBs. Great work.

00:44:25Melissa Ellis: Yes. I think his was a bit better than mine.

00:44:29Oliver Spake: And we look forward to hearing about it too shortly. And we also heard from Louise Minty, back to lockdown in Perth, so had a (not)parkrun at Point Walter. A beautiful morning for it and the coffee and cake were perfect.

00:44:44Melissa Ellis: Ah. Well, we hope Perth will be back to parkrun soon.

00:44:50Oliver Spake: Yes. Yep, that's right.

00:44:52Melissa Ellis: And another of our friends from over that way, Cameron Drake, who we've just heard from. Is the not in not parkrun always lowercase as well? Asking for a friend. At least there's always coffee.

00:45:06Oliver Spake: Yep. Good to see you. Okay, I'm always seeing the sunny side.

00:45:11Melissa Ellis: And yes, Cam, it's got to be all lowercase. Everything to do with parkrun is lowercase. You must know this.

00:45:17Oliver Spake: And we heard from Val Warwick. Being without our car, we walked the three and a half k's to our home parkrun, Devonport. I know that runners do those k's in warming up, but for this old parkrunning walker, it was a long warmup, and then cool down after coffee, of course. So parkrun for me today involved 12 kilometres, but for Steve, who came back for me after he'd run, there was a bit more going into his old legs.

00:45:44Melissa Ellis: Wow. Nice work. That's a good effort, Val. Extra value. That's dedication. Daphne Day. Well done, Carmel. Maybe I may be able to beat my husband by a minute one day. Got to have a goal, I am told. My first parkrun since lockdown today, and I did the 5K and had Paul looking after me, telling me not to go on the grass as I might go over on my ankle, and he did not want to carry me. He really is a caring person. Nice. I'm not quite sure who Carmel is, but maybe Daphne can get back to us and let us know.

00:46:21Oliver Spake: Yeah. And we also heard from Andrew Turner. A trip to Karkarook with the Achilles crew for Amanda's 250th. She founded the Melbourne Achilles group and around 25 of us turned up to run, walk and guide.

00:46:37Melissa Ellis: Very good. And there was a stunning photo of Amanda in her yellow and green Achilles colours at what we down here like to refer to as Kaki Paki.

00:46:47Oliver Spake: Kaki Paki. Yep, shining brightly.

00:46:50Melissa Ellis: And Peter Dunn, Timekeeper at Coburg. Great course, fantastic volunteer team. And I've got to say, Coburg is one of our events down here that is absolutely spectacular in autumn when those leaves change colour. It's a great time to be going to Coburg.

00:47:05Oliver Spake: Okay, noted, noted. Adelina Trott travelled to Bright not only for parkrun but to admire the magnificent autumn colours. After parkrun stopped at the local farmer's market and had an egg and bacon roll plus a handful of local produce to take home. Win-win.

00:47:25Melissa Ellis: Yes. Good to see Adelina out enjoying regional Victoria and Bright is renowned for

00:47:31Oliver Spake: for its beautiful autumn colours. Ah, all right. I'll note it for next year then, I suppose.

00:47:38Melissa Ellis: You've got a very long list, Ollie.

00:47:39Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. Got to dream.

00:47:43Melissa Ellis: And Tony O'Connell, road trip to New South Wales to assist a new team with a launch at Leeton. They did good.

00:47:51Oliver Spake: Well done, Team Leeton. Well done and welcome. And last but certainly not least, Chantelle Hosking did Warringal parkrun today and then a late visit to Dazza's to prepare for Eynesbury Juniors on Sunday.

00:48:06Melissa Ellis: Yes, and thank you for volunteering at Juniors, Chantelle. And, yes, I received a selfie. Who needs a doorbell when you can just receive a selfie from your guest at the front door with your Buddha to know when somebody's arrived?

00:48:24Oliver Spake: That sounds like a condition of entry now, Mel.

00:48:28Melissa Ellis: It doesn't let anybody past, you know.

00:48:30Oliver Spake: Well, hopefully not without a latte. Yeah. No, thank you, everyone.

00:48:35Melissa Ellis: Standing room only this week at the cafe.

00:48:38Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, yeah. Look, and speaking of standing room only, of course, it's the same for our roving reports.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:48:44Oliver Spake: So, Mel, we've got another few roving reports that we've heard from, again, Alison, but a couple of new voices, one we've alluded to. So, look, let's catch up on all the parkrun goings-on from this week, Just Gone. Just Gone.

00:48:59[13 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

Roving report Parth Bommakanti — Fair Park Reserve parkrun

00:49:12Parth Bommakanti: Hi everyone, it's Parth Bommakanti here. I'm at Fairpark Reserve parkrun today and I have the utmost pleasure of saying hello to Adam Pike. Hi Adam. G'day, how are you? Adam Pike has represented Australia. How many times have you represented Australia? Just once at the World University Games in 2017. Thank you, Adam. And Adam decided to come over to Fairpark Reserve parkrun. So, Adam, what made you choose Fairpark Reserve parkrun today?

00:49:36Adam Pike: It's my closest one, and I noticed it was a relatively new parkrun. And, yeah, I've run around the trails a lot here for many years, and it was just pretty good to get out here and have an actual race and see some people going around the course. And, yeah, it's a great way to start my winter season.

00:49:52Parth Bommakanti: Thank you. You did talk about winter season. So how many events do you have coming up for the winter season?

00:49:56Adam Pike: At this stage, I'm just looking at doing some parkruns and some races. I like to just have a big off season through winter so I can get ready for the next track season starting in October. So we'll wait and see what the year brings and how fit I get and we'll set some targets soon enough.

00:50:12Parth Bommakanti: Well done. Adam, your run today, I noticed you came in first, of course. What was your time today?

00:50:17Adam Pike: 14.58 so I achieved my goal going under 15 for the first time so I'm very happy with that.

00:50:22Parth Bommakanti: Well done and congratulations and so what's in terms of your summer running calendar what's your what are the events that you're hoping to get into?

00:50:30Adam Pike: the biggest one on the calendar in the domestic season is the Nationals which we just had last week for this year and so yeah it's always good to go there and just do the best that you can and I'm a 1500 metre runner so championship races are so tactical and you never know what to expect so you've got to be on your A game so throughout the season track season we do a lot of races whether it's in Victoria or New South Wales and we build up to those nationals and then beyond that we hopefully get to go overseas again and do some racing on the European circuit. So that's the ultimate goal for next year.

00:51:02Parth Bommakanti: Wonderful. So is the European circuit your... In fact, let me ask it this way. What are three of your favourite running memories and what made you say that?

00:51:11Adam Pike: One of my fondest ones was from Europe in 2017 in a meeting in Leiden. That was in the Netherlands. That was my first ever international race and I was ranked number nine in the 1500 in the field there and I went out and I beat an Olympic finalist and won that race in half a second outside my PV and that was probably one of my most immediate memories I think of and then another one through school through the um the APS um I had some great wins there and that was in front of all my friends through from school and my childhood and then the last one the third one is just it's the training that I do and I've coached by my my dad Martin Pike and you know one of my favourite things just to get out training and have him there supporting me and like just trying to get the best out of myself so

00:52:00Parth Bommakanti: Wonderful. Adam, thank you ever so much for this interview and all the best today. And congratulations on your first parkrun. Thank you again.

00:52:07Adam Pike: Thank you very much for having me.

Roving report Alison King — Kapiti Coast parkrun

00:52:10Alison Fraser (King): Good morning, parkrunners. It's Alison King here calling in for the Channel 5 news crew from Kapiti Coast parkrun in New Zealand. And Kapiti Coast is on the lower North Island. It started in 2015. And this is my very first visit to this parkrun. And let's see who we can find. So I'm with Florrie and Joanne at the finish of Kapiti Coast parkrun. How was that for you today, Florrie?

00:52:36Florrie: It was fantastic. A lovely run along the river. Really enjoyed it. And it was easy to come here as a visitor and just go out and back. That sort of made it easier as well.

00:52:45Alison Fraser (King): So what's your home parkrun?

00:52:47Florrie: I actually, the home parkrun is Anderson parkrun, but we've got Flaxmere and Hawke's Bay as well. So I'm actually closer to Flaxmere. But I do both, love both.

00:52:57Alison Fraser (King): And what's brought you down today?

00:52:59Florrie: We've got a habit of going away for weekends, being a bit of park-run tourists. So we just thought Kapiti would be nice. It's one that we haven't done before. Some of us have done the Wellington ones. So yeah, we're just stretching ourselves north.

00:53:13Alison Fraser (King): So not counting your home parkruns, Anderson and Flaxmere, what would be your top three?

00:53:20Florrie: Oh, I enjoyed Greytown, the Woodville one, because I ran with my dog there. And yeah, so that was a really nice parkrun to do. Top three. Gosh, Anderson Park. Apart from Anderson Park, did you say? Oh, gosh. Joanne, help me out here. Top three.

00:53:38Joanne: Oh, my top three are different.

00:53:39Florrie: I loved Gisborne and Taupo. Oh, Gisborne and Taupo. Oh, Wonganui. Wonganui was lovely. Again, along the river. And the artwork along there is really nice. And, oh, Invercargill. The park is beautiful. Queen's Park in Invercargill. Definitely recommend it. And we got free ice cream that day.

00:53:58Alison Fraser (King): Nice. You sound like you've done quite a bit of touring. How many events have you done?

00:54:01Florrie: 65 and 13 different ones. Awesome.

00:54:05Alison Fraser (King): Two more to get on the most events table. Is that right? Yeah, on the New Zealand most events table. Oh, wow. Okay. Thank you. And how about you, Joanne? How did you find that today?

00:54:14Joanne: Today was absolutely lovely. There was rain last night, so I was a bit nervous it was going to be wet. So it was absolutely beautiful this morning. I'm standing in the sun melting, which is rather nice for this time of year. I just loved it. It was really easy to follow people. Everyone was really friendly. I really wanted to stop and take photos, but I was trying to run the whole thing, so... I'll have to walk it to take some photos it was beautiful absolutely stunning.

00:54:38Alison Fraser (King): And who gets to choose where you go away?

00:54:40Joanne: We meet for coffee and we decide where our next one's going to be.

00:54:43Alison Fraser (King): How often do you go away?

00:54:44Joanne: Probably about twice a year we try and get a yeah probably a spring one and an autumn one and yeah we started a few years ago and we've done a few yeah. Whanganui was our last one previous to this so we did that post post lockdown so that was quite nice to and we did I think their second one or their third one. It was quite nice.

00:55:03Alison Fraser (King): So what would be your top three?

00:55:05Joanne: I loved Gisborne. I thought Gisborne was beautiful. I thought, what other ones? Lower Hutt was probably the biggest I've done and that was different because it was just massive. You felt just, yeah, and it was the first out and back I'd done. And I enjoyed Taupo just because it's a beautiful setting and I love Taupo. So they're probably my favourite ones.

00:55:24Alison Fraser (King): And they're all out and back's?

00:55:26Joanne: Most of the ones I, yeah, most of the ones, the one I'd love to try that I haven't had a chance to do is Dunedin. I lived there and I'd love to do the one down there but it just hasn't happened yet so that would be next but that's a little bit difficult to organise a trip for from Anderson Park.

00:55:38Alison Fraser (King): And I've heard that's the reputation of being New Zealand's hardest parkrun.

00:55:42Joanne: Yes, and that's kind of why I'd like to see it because it's a beautiful, yeah, I love Dunedin so I'd quite like to see what their parkrun's like because we're a bit spoilt in Anderson Park because it's quite a flat run. And it's kind of sealed, so we started off easy there.

00:55:57Alison Fraser (King): Yeah. Well, thanks so much for your time. Great idea. So I'm with Megan.

00:56:03Megan: How did you find that today Megan? Oh that was actually gorgeous. I love the parkrun. It's just so scenic. I did take too many photos.

00:56:11Alison Fraser (King): Is there such a thing as too many photos on a new parkrun?

00:56:14Megan: No.

00:56:14Alison Fraser (King): No. How many different ones in New Zealand have you done now?

00:56:17Megan: This is number 13. Okay.

00:56:19Alison Fraser (King): Yeah. So two more to get on the most events table.

00:56:22Megan: Oh okay. Is that all? I didn't know that. Yep.

00:56:24Alison Fraser (King): 15. And so which one's going to be next? Hopefully Rotorua. Yeah. So Puarenga parkrun. It's my home run. Get used to the smell. Got used to that with Taurira. I've heard that you're on a girls trip. We are. So who chose this one or was it a consensus?

00:56:41Megan: We did look at going to Rotorua initially but there was nowhere to stay so we came down here. But I'm an instigator in these trips. They'll tell you that.

00:56:53Alison Fraser (King): And what are your top three parkruns?

00:56:55Megan: This would be one of them. Porirua. Third one, oh, probably Anderson.

00:57:04Alison Fraser (King): Not counting your home one?

00:57:05Megan: Oh, it stinks. Maybe Western Springs.

00:57:09Alison Fraser (King): Okay, what about Western Springs do you like?

00:57:12Megan: Just the fact that it's just a nice one. You go past a zoo, you can hear those animals.

00:57:17Alison Fraser (King): Yeah, that's cool. Cool, thanks so much. Thank you. So I'm here with today's Run Director, Bruce. So how was your parkrun today, Bruce? Did it go well?

00:57:27Bruce: Yeah, it was a pretty good event today. Luckily we've got some good tracks, so it's quite good too. It doesn't matter the weather, we still have a good run here.

00:57:35Alison Fraser (King): But it's a beautiful day. I don't know what you're talking about.

00:57:37Bruce: Well, it was beautiful today. Last night was some fairly heavy torrential rain, so there's a few of us that were a little bit worried. But even if it does rain, our track's pretty good. We can run well in it.

00:57:48Alison Fraser (King): How many do you think you had today?

00:57:50Bruce: We're looking at about 120, I think, today, which is pretty good numbers for us, especially being a long weekend.

00:57:55Alison Fraser (King): Yeah. So how did you get involved with parkrun?

00:57:58Bruce: So my wife ran parkrun and then wondered if I could come and volunteer. I used to be a runner. I used to represent the Air Force and the police in cross-country running, but I permanently injured my foot a couple of years ago. So for me, it was a chance to give back to running because I'd run for so many years and help everyone else out and try and get some more runners into the fray of running.

00:58:19Alison Fraser (King): And what do you enjoy about this parkrun?

00:58:21Bruce: It's a good community. We've got a good lot of volunteers. And it's a beautiful parkrun up and down the Waikanae River. So you can't really beat it.

00:58:28Alison Fraser (King): You wouldn't really come here for anything else, would you?

00:58:30Bruce: No, no. The view's amazing and the run's amazing. So it's not one where it's, yeah, it's a nice scenic run, which is good for people to enjoy.

00:58:37Alison Fraser (King): Yeah, and a bit of gravel underfoot to make it a little bit of a challenge.

00:58:40Bruce: Yeah, there's a little bit of gravel. But I think it's quite, for me, when I used to cross-country run, that was quite the enjoyable part, having a different surface to run on.

00:58:47Alison Fraser (King): Cool. Well, thanks so much for a great day.

00:58:49Bruce: Not a problem at all.

00:58:50Alison Fraser (King): Thank you. And that's a wrap from Kapiti Coast parkrun. As you heard, we had about 120 finishes today. Beautiful autumn weather, blue skies, a few clouds. And now I'm off to go and find some breakfast. So I'll see you the next time.

Roving report Jennine Sellers — Mount Isa parkrun

00:59:09Jennine Sellers: Okay, good morning everybody. I'm here at Mount Isa parkrun with Lynn, who has volunteered for today. Lynn, tell me about how long have you been doing parkrun?

00:59:18Lynn: Approximately two and a half years and it's been running for three years in Mount Isa. Fantastic. So we just had our third birthday.

00:59:25Jennine Sellers: Oh, that's exciting, isn't it? And what does parkrun, do you think parkrun means to the community here?

00:59:30Lynn: It's a great way to get together. It's about fitness. It's about just pushing yourself a little bit more every time. But we have a great community here. We know when people are here, when they're not here. And it's a very welcoming place.

00:59:43Jennine Sellers: Yeah. And you think it becomes part of your every weekly things, isn't it?

00:59:49Lynn: Oh, yeah. We look forward to it. My husband's recently retired. He looks forward to coming down every Saturday to meet with his mates and

00:59:56Jennine Sellers: oh great oh it's fantastic and how would you describe your course here do you think it's a hard course a slow course um it's a varied course because we have sort of like it's all on concrete but we have some downhill bits and some run

01:00:12Lynn: And after you do a while, you know where there's a hoodoo area for you that you're going, I've just got to get through that 10 metres or the 100 metres and I'll be okay.

01:00:20Jennine Sellers: Yeah, yeah.

01:00:21Lynn: So we have two turnaround points, which I know is unusual for some. It would be great if it was just a big loop, but we don't have the availability of that. Yeah, that's right.

01:00:30Jennine Sellers: That's right. But you're getting good numbers here. There's a good number here today. It's fantastic, isn't it?

01:00:35Lynn: Yeah, we usually outreach around the 40 to 50. Sometimes we have up to 70 or 80.

01:00:39Jennine Sellers: Yeah, that's great. And I think Mount Isa is a community's embracing park, right? Do you think it's something that's going to grow over time?

01:00:48Lynn: I think it will grow over time. It fluctuates depending on, because we're a mining town and there's ship work, so it depends what ships people are on. Yeah, I think it's growing. It's a very welcome park. People will know about it. We've got over 700 people registered. Oh, wow.

01:01:04Jennine Sellers: But, yeah. But it's a good base, though, isn't it?

01:01:08Lynn: It is a good base. The least we've ever had here is maybe 25. Gosh. So, yeah. That's great. It just depends what's happening with it.

01:01:17Jennine Sellers: And how do you think the heat gets people here in the summertime?

01:01:21Lynn: Yeah, the heat is a problem. And, yeah, starting at 7, even at 7, it can be really hot some days. But, you know, we still do it. Absolutely. And we help each other and jolly each other along.

01:01:33Jennine Sellers: That's right. Well, that's perfect. Thank you for your time. And we'll get this shared out to everybody in Australia. That's great. Thank you so much.

01:01:42Melissa Ellis: Great to hear from Parth, Alison, and we had a new voice today, Jennine Sellers, coming to us from Mount Isa.

01:01:50Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, look, there's some wide-ranging locations there and lovely to hear from you all. Always good to hear any roving reports and, look, thank you, everyone, for sending them in again this week.

01:02:05Melissa Ellis: Yes, so nice to hear from our friends across the ditch again.

01:02:09Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah, that's a long list of parkruns that I want to do there, honestly.

01:02:14Melissa Ellis: Yeah, you're going to have to create some kind of way to cut that list short, I think. You're never going to get around them all, Ollie.

01:02:22Oliver Spake: It's simple, everyone. I'm moving to New Zealand.

01:02:24Melissa Ellis: As long as you can still record from over there.

01:02:27Oliver Spake: Oh, I can record from anywhere.

01:02:30Melissa Ellis: And we haven't really had an opportunity, Ollie, to reflect much on the weekend that was... Palm. Palm 2022. Because we had a lot of activities.

01:02:42Oliver Spake: Oh, Palm 2021. I'm getting ahead of myself, yeah. As you can see. You're right, Mel. Certainly we got the chance to share and how fantastic was it that we were able to capture the audio. So, again, huge thank you to that excellent technical support there. Huge.

01:03:02Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

01:03:04Oliver Spake: But that was clearly just the point in the whole weekend. And it really was all about the weekend, wasn't it, Mel?

01:03:10Melissa Ellis: Oh, it was about the people for me. It really was. It was, hang on, it's like going on school camp, Ollie. I mean, with all the people you like.

01:03:20Oliver Spake: Hey, guys, we like all the rest of you as well. Just to clarify, you know, correspondence welcome in case you take exception. But you are all invited to school camp next year. I agree with you, Mel. It was a lot of fun just exploring some new locations. Look, for some, it was revisiting locations. But, yeah, just having that laid-back atmosphere as well.

01:03:47Melissa Ellis: If only we could have done all those Freedom Runs as official ones. It was fabulous to finally see Kawana. We've spent all these years listening and hearing Kawana mentioned and referenced, but to be there, to see the lighthouse, you know, in the fading light, I was dark when I came across that finish line, but we got to see a spectacular sunset as we ran around that lighthouse.

01:04:13Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. And what about the silo art? Well, tank art, I suppose, technically.

01:04:18Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I know. That was a little bonus.

01:04:20Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:04:21Melissa Ellis: And I guess if we had done it on a Saturday morning, we wouldn't have had the sunset, would we?

01:04:25Oliver Spake: That's quite right. Maybe a sunrise. But yeah, the sunset I wasn't expecting, obviously given geographical location, you know, across the water almost, looking out from the point there that the lighthouse sits on. And yeah, Yeah, I think the balmy Queensland Friday evening, April Friday evening, just really added to the exciting vibe of arriving at a palm. So, yeah, special thanks, of course, to Mel for hosting us there.

01:04:54Melissa Ellis: And the venue for our two dinners, that was pretty special. We had a private room. Private room. So.

01:05:03Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, and look, some great hospitality. It was good to see. I think it was Saturday night we almost recruited the new parkrunner in the security guard there. We tried. We tried.

01:05:17Melissa Ellis: Maybe just like the fancy dress.

01:05:19Oliver Spake: Yeah, I think he was attracted to the fancy dress.

01:05:22Melissa Ellis: So how good were the costumes, Ollie? We haven't told people about the costumes and they may have seen photos. I did post a few photos, but I think they might have been in the listener meetup group.

01:05:33Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, some of them have spilt out. I mean, we didn't quite honour the what goes on palm stays on palm aspect because, you know, we kind of wanted to share it with everyone. But for those that didn't see, there was some impressive costume out there, some interpretive costume, some quite literal costume and all sorts of variations in between. Any highlights, Mel?

01:05:55Melissa Ellis: Yes, yours. No.

01:05:58Oliver Spake: Well, look, thank you for the input on the costume idea there. That was nice to dress up as a parkrun feature that I love that wasn't Shellharbour.

01:06:09Melissa Ellis: So for the listeners at home that may not have seen the photo, Ollie was the virtual volunteer app.

01:06:16Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:06:17Melissa Ellis: Some quite impressive arts and craft skill had gone into creating that turquoise and purple ensemble. Yes.

01:06:28Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, my attempts at spray painting white paint onto canvas. It was a steep learning curve.

01:06:36Melissa Ellis: Is that how you made it?

01:06:38Oliver Spake: Yes. Really? That's how it started, yeah. But, hey, you know, when in Kawana, you've got a high standard to live up to, don't you? Yeah.

01:06:46Melissa Ellis: Wow, I didn't know you did it that way. That's amazing.

01:06:50Oliver Spake: Yeah, but, oh, look, it was a lot of fun trying to explain to the other patrons of the Kawana Surf Club exactly what I was. I'm not sure anyone got it.

01:07:04Melissa Ellis: It's kind of a niche thing, isn't it?

01:07:06Unidentified speaker: Yes.

01:07:07Melissa Ellis: Yes. Not even all parkrunners would know what the volunteer app looked like, let alone the general public.

01:07:14Oliver Spake: That's right. But, hey, I didn't have the technology that went with it. So, yeah, special shout-out to a very impressive stopwatch and Barcode Scanner there.

01:07:25Melissa Ellis: I know. She just comes out with the most amazing costumes, does our Mel Erbacher. Absolutely amazing. And the scanner even had a red light that was... what would you call it, pulsating. Yes.

01:07:40Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you didn't know what she was, she almost looked like a transformer. Exactly, exactly. But, yeah, I think anyone that has experienced the Barcode Scanners knew exactly what she was. I was just listening for the beep and the extra touch of the battery on the stopwatch being taped up.

01:08:01Melissa Ellis: It was brilliant.

01:08:03Oliver Spake: Yeah.

01:08:04Melissa Ellis: But also a special shout-out to the Polmans. I mean, theirs were Sonja as The Beaches' future incident report as a blue bottle.

01:08:18Oliver Spake: And you've got to cast the net pretty wide to come up with some incident reports for them given what they've been through lately. Yeah.

01:08:24Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah, true that. And what did the P3 and P4 have on the front of them? The under 11?

01:08:34Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:08:35Melissa Ellis: Who runs alone because he's too fast for his parents?

01:08:39Oliver Spake: Yep, yep, no comment, yep.

01:08:41Melissa Ellis: And what was the other one? Something about cutting a corner.

01:08:44Oliver Spake: Yes, yes.

01:08:46Melissa Ellis: Can you remember?

01:08:47Oliver Spake: I can't remember exactly what it was. I've only got a blurry picture to go by. Oh, well, anyway, they were very funny, quite amusing. Yeah, there was a good mixture of, I think, tributes to the local parkrun, great tribute to, should I say, Shellharbour.

01:09:04Melissa Ellis: You've got to get that in there, yep.

01:09:06Oliver Spake: That's right. Lochiel Park.

01:09:08Melissa Ellis: I'm sure we mentioned that at the start. Oh, anyway.

01:09:11Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, just in case, Mel.

01:09:13Melissa Ellis: Oh, yes, because Chris's wife, Kerry, she came dressed as Shellharbour.

01:09:17Oliver Spake: That's right, yeah.

01:09:19Melissa Ellis: And we had Chris as Cowpasture Reserve.

01:09:22Oliver Spake: Yep, yep.

01:09:23Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and, yes, some people representing their dream parkruns and current parkruns as well. So, yeah, it was a bit of fun.

01:09:33Oliver Spake: Yep, and a couple more barcodes. The finish token number one and the most important part of parkrun, Mel, what were you?

01:09:42Melissa Ellis: I was brunch. That's right. Yes, I just I didn't make my costume. I cheated. But I bought one.

01:09:52Lynn: And yeah, it was a cupcake.

01:09:54Melissa Ellis: Oh, but Tracy, how good was she with her Wilson?

01:09:57Oliver Spake: Oh, yeah, she had me. I went blank in panic. But yep, represented it perfectly.

01:10:04Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so for those people who may not have seen the photo, if you cast your mind back to the show in the, oh, I would say 80s, late 80s. 90s.

01:10:13Oliver Spake: 90s. I reckon 90s, early 90s.

01:10:16Melissa Ellis: Okay. Get onto Google, Ollie, while I just scroll. Anyway, the program was Home Improvement and in that it was Tim the Toolman Taylor and he had a neighbour out the back, Mr Wilson.

01:10:29Unidentified speaker: Oh.

01:10:30Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

01:10:30Oliver Spake: Mr. Wilson? Mr. Wilson.

01:10:33Melissa Ellis: Or I just called him Wilson. Wilson. Yeah, and you only ever saw his eyes. So, yeah, Tracy had a little row of paddle pops that represented a fence on that she held up over her face and they were all numbered with like Wilson index numbers and one paling was missing, which clearly is the Wilson index number she's missing. Very clever.

01:10:54Oliver Spake: Oh, look, and yeah, that's the magic of it. Well done, everyone. And sorry to those we've missed, of course. Dress Up Night, despite the fact that it wasn't a very apt alternative being Wizard of Oz or a movie theme, but hey, we've got lots of ideas for next Palm now.

01:11:10Melissa Ellis: I thought it was a great theme, though. Like, everybody embraced it and came up with something, you know. It's very inclusive, too.

01:11:18Oliver Spake: That's right. Yeah. Yeah, it's nice to have a lot of scope for interpretation. And fact-checking there, Mel, 91 to 99.

01:11:25Melissa Ellis: Oh, that really surprises me. Yeah.

01:11:30Oliver Spake: Look, thanks also to the other parkrunners, local and a bit further afield, that joined us both at the Freedom Runs and at the Fancy Dress. I mean, Brightwater was a pretty nice Freedom Run on the Saturday afternoon.

01:11:43Melissa Ellis: Yes.

01:11:44Oliver Spake: What did you think of the course, Mel?

01:11:46Melissa Ellis: Ah, flat, which was good after all the elevation we had at Nambour. So I was quite happy about that. And we actually saw some sort of shark fins in the water there.

01:11:59Oliver Spake: You what?

01:12:00Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Did you not notice?

01:12:02Oliver Spake: I did not know that. Okay.

01:12:07Melissa Ellis: Yeah, there was some sort of shark. We couldn't identify what type it was, but my esteemed colleague, Mr Tony O'Connell, was pretty sure that it was a fin-of-the-shark type.

01:12:23Oliver Spake: Wow.

01:12:24Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

01:12:25Oliver Spake: Okay. Well, there it was, happily jogging, walking along and not noticing the impending doom. I'm sure a friendly shark, yes.

01:12:35Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so no, I was, what do you call it? It wasn't really one loop, was it? You sort of went out and around a lake, a man-made lake.

01:12:46Oliver Spake: It was kind of like, I suppose, a loop with almost a thread to begin with. I don't know, better description surely than that, but...

01:12:57Melissa Ellis: Okay.

01:12:57Oliver Spake: A warm-up loop followed by the real thing. Yeah. And again, fantastic to meet more of the local parkrunners, the South Toowoomba crew obviously turning up for that and the fancy dress.

01:13:11Melissa Ellis: Eman and Robbie?

01:13:12Oliver Spake: Yeah. Is that right? That's right, yep. And obviously others, you know, from Victory Heights and others around the area. So, oh, look, it was lovely. And then, of course, the Freedom Run on Sunday morning at Mudjimba Beach. And thanks to Nella and Gerry for showing us the course there. What did you think of that one, Mel?

01:13:32Melissa Ellis: I... enjoyed that one very much it was nice to run with you Ollie so thank you for thank you to you and Dave for spending a couple of kilometres with me as I tried to get my um daily run yes yeah you kept it up throughout well and truly and uh there was a nice little view of that mountain at the turnaround point I've forgotten what it was called yes remember uh was that uh mount Coolum maybe I And to know that it's nice and close to the airport for future possibility of tourism to come back and do it officially.

01:14:09Oliver Spake: Oh, yeah, yeah. I wasn't acutely aware of, obviously, all the parkrun history in the region. It was great to get, you know, those insights and the sort of first-hand accounts of how things have changed over time. Of course, being a long-time pod listener, I've heard the reports, but after the... A few people mentioning Town of Seaside parkrun being just up the road from there. I had to go and explore that one afterwards as well. So, yeah, well and truly close to the airport. I had to do the David Moss-style run once I realised my walking in thongs was going to leave me late to get the hire car back. But I got it in.

01:14:51Melissa Ellis: Oh, really?

01:14:52Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:14:53Melissa Ellis: But, I mean, you mentioned that long-time listeners to the pod, Ollie, but perhaps if we were more attentive listeners to the pod, we might have recalled that Brightwater had been mentioned and possibly featured previously as our predecessor, Mel, had actually been involved with the setting up of Brightwater. So, oops. Sorry, Brightwater.

01:15:19Oliver Spake: It's always good to get a fact check. So I will look forward to re-listening to that one, unfortunately after the event.

01:15:30Melissa Ellis: Homework.

01:15:33Oliver Spake: One job, hey? Yeah.

01:15:35Melissa Ellis: But yes, Mudjimba Beach and plenty of sausage dogs to find. I was getting a bit carried away. I cannot... Not noticed sausage dogs now.

01:15:43Oliver Spake: Yeah, well, you did a good job at noticing that. How many did you count now?

01:15:48Melissa Ellis: I've lost count. There were so many. There's so many in Queensland. We went to Sandgate. So after we said our goodbyes to you, Ollie, and headed back down towards Brisbane because we were warned about the traffic, the potential congestion of traffic, which there was on our return to the airport, we took off early, and had time once we got down to Brisbane to do another Freedom Run at Sandgate. And I actually was really, really impressed with Sandgate too. I definitely want to get back for that one officially. That's the one that runs out along the jetty. And, oh, there was sausage dogs everywhere at Sandgate. There was that and everybody was pointing them out to me, Mel, look, Mel, look. And I'm like, oh, no, I can't possibly go up to any more people and ask them their dog's names. Yeah. was getting ridiculous.

01:16:39Oliver Spake: But I was impressed at how you took a very personal approach and got to know the dog and the owner, incidentally, as well.

01:16:48Melissa Ellis: I know. It's sort of like, I don't know what I, asking permission, like, may I please take a photo of your dog? And then asking the dog's name. So I try to be, you know, a polite stalker.

01:17:02Oliver Spake: You've got to have standards. Did any of the dogs or their humans say no? No. They seem to be quite accommodating.

01:17:09Melissa Ellis: There was, I think, one of the ones at Mudjimba Beach, that first one that Frankie, I think it was. Frankie got a little bit growly.

01:17:18Oliver Spake: Just for clarification for the listeners, that was the dog that got growly, not the human.

01:17:23Unidentified speaker: Yes.

01:17:24Melissa Ellis: no the humans were quite happy they were actually um quite happy to to allow me to photograph frankie but yeah frankie wasn't so impressed I know though from having my own chihuahuas you know little dogs and especially unique breeds they often do create interest from people and people often will stop and you know ask about our dogs and it's not something that bothers you you know you're always happy to talk about your dog and

01:17:51Oliver Spake: So we look forward to more of the same, do you think, Mel, next year? I mean, obviously we announced live on the spot the plans for 2022. The planning's underway?

01:18:03Melissa Ellis: It is. We're on the hunt for just the right location, yes, in Tassie.

01:18:10Oliver Spake: Yeah. So we'll certainly keep everyone up to date with the plans there. But, yeah, I'm counting. I don't know how many days I'm counting down, but I'm counting it down.

01:18:21Melissa Ellis: We'll have to get one of those apps, Ollie, that does the countdown.

01:18:24Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:18:24Melissa Ellis: Once we've picked a date.

01:18:26Lynne: And I think I'm just going to go for a whole week because it's just never long enough.

01:18:32Melissa Ellis: But then, as TOC said, if we were there for a week, then we would just fill it with Freedom Runs and we would just be exhausted, wouldn't we?

01:18:39Oliver Spake: Exhausted is a word for it. Yeah.

01:18:43Melissa Ellis: Cup filled. Yeah. Hey?

01:18:46Oliver Spake: Cup filled, essentially.

01:18:48Melissa Ellis: Oh, yes.

01:18:49Oliver Spake: Yeah. Overflowing. Overflowing. Definitely.

Sign-off

01:18:52Melissa Ellis: And anyway, where are you next week, Ollie? You have to take it easy, I would imagine, seeing as you've got a big event on Sunday.

01:19:00Oliver Spake: Well, yeah, I was looking forward to barcode scanning at the, you know, at the home here, but our roster's pretty much full. So I will be volley coordinating. So I will be back home once again. Maybe a... you know light jog around the course just to enjoy that but something local what about yourself Mel you just skimmed right over the Sunday yes yes it's that one that I've been trying to ignore for so long um yes this coming Sunday is uh run Shellharbour I think it's the second of time they've had the event I've mentioned it before on the pod so I'll try not to rehash but uh It looks like it's going to be a popular one. Lots of local and even some visiting parkrunners, I think, have mentioned that they might be coming on out. So we'll see. Wish me luck. Second marathon ever. Training nothing like the first. And, hey, let's see how it goes.

01:20:00Melissa Ellis: Oh, I wish you abundance of luck. And I'm sure you don't need it because I have the complete faith that you'll smash it out of the ballpark.

01:20:09Oliver Spake: I'll do something.

01:20:12Melissa Ellis: Well, me, I am going on a road trip.

01:20:17Oliver Spake: Excellent. Back on the road. Where's this one?

01:20:20Melissa Ellis: Yeah, back on the road. This one is called Ovens River Trail and it's in Myrtleford, country Victoria. And Paul and I, we're leaving Zoe with the grandparents and we're going to head off for the night and stay locally and enjoy that. There might be some silo art touring involved.

01:20:42Oliver Spake: Tick, tick, yeah.

01:20:43Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and another big tick, I think I'll have a few fellow tourists up there for event two at Ovens River Trail.

01:20:54Oliver Spake: Event two. I'm very happy for you, Mel.

01:20:58Melissa Ellis: Sorry.

01:21:01Oliver Spake: No, I hope that'll be a lovely one.

01:21:04Melissa Ellis: No doubt it will be because the Ovens River is absolutely beautiful and I believe the course is an out and back that does run along the river, so I'm expecting big things.

01:21:15Oliver Spake: Oh, we'll look forward to hearing more about it next week, Mel.

01:21:18Melissa Ellis: And, Ollie, should we touch on the obvious omission this week?

01:21:23Oliver Spake: Ah, I'm not sure whether for legal reasons we're allowed to mention much, Mel.

01:21:28Melissa Ellis: Yeah, we should let the investigation be completed.

01:21:31Oliver Spake: Okay. Well, yeah. Look, until we have our next meeting with HR and have further advice, we'll refrain from elaborating too much. But we understand the informant will be back. But yeah, I suppose stay tuned, everyone. We'll have to use our own spreadsheets this week.

01:21:51Melissa Ellis: Well, we haven't.

01:21:56Oliver Spake: I mean all of us individually.

01:21:57Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay. Oh, I thought you meant us, yeah.

01:22:00Oliver Spake: Yeah.

01:22:01Melissa Ellis: As in creating a stats report. Oh, well. Not to worry, Ollie, there's always next week.

01:22:08Oliver Spake: That's right. Well, Mel, we'll chat again next week, I suppose.

01:23:06Melissa Ellis: Have you got something to tell me, Abigail? What number were you? 23. And how was your run today? Great. Have we got... Eva. Eva. How was your run today? Good. And what number were you? 24. Well done. That was a special morning for you today. Abigail, what did you get? I got my wristband for 11 parkruns and this is my 11th. Congratulations. I'm glad to be back. I missed you.

01:23:50Lynne: I missed you too.