Episode 239 - Quack Quack

Welcome

00:00:23Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 239 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie Spake and I'm joined by my co-host, someone who didn't spend last weekend in North Brisbane, Melissa Ellis.

00:00:41Melissa Ellis: Ouch! Ollie! That's a bit harsh.

00:00:47Oliver Spake: Probably should have added a second part to that. Sorry.

00:00:50Melissa Ellis: Oh, I'm in lockdown. Yes. That's okay. I'm in the greatest state, so I can't complain.

00:00:58Oliver Spake: Oh, no, look, a bit of complaining is fine. Longest run weekend wasn't what was planned, of course, but it was, let's throw it out there straight away. It was good to see you, I think, making lemonade. Yes.

00:01:14Melissa Ellis: I was, Ollie. I was. I was making the best of a really crappy situation. As we said last week, the longest runs in Victoria were all postponed. Yep. And we had some limitations. Melbourne Metro had a 25-kilometre radius imposed, so couldn't – I couldn't reach a lot of my friends that I traditionally would longest run with. They were not within my reach. We didn't overlap. So basically I looked at the map and I had five actual parkrun events in my radius that I could do. Five wasn't seven.

00:01:53Oliver Spake: Close, close. I mean, was that not tempting to say, look, that's a better fit for the longest run? No. Okay, yep, sorry.

00:02:03Melissa Ellis: No, no, no. Longest run has to be seven. So then I was like, okay, well, okay, I've got to have seven. What am I going to do? So Eynesbury, where we have our junior parkrun, there is a five-kilometre loop.

00:02:17Oliver Spake: Yes, yep.

00:02:19Melissa Ellis: down there so that was easy well okay we'll throw in a 5k down at Eynesbury at juniors and uh and of course Alice bella's parkrun was the other one that we threw it well that I threw in so I basically created my own course that start and finished in my general area And then any friends that I had local enough to be able to run with me.

00:02:43Oliver Spake: With the intersecting loops there.

00:02:45Melissa Ellis: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I kind of like, oh, who wants to come and do this with me? So, yeah, I had a couple of friends jump in. So that was great. So I had some company. There was only one where I was on my own. Okay, yeah.

00:02:56Oliver Spake: So which parkrun did you start with?

00:02:58Melissa Ellis: Toolern Creek.

00:02:59Oliver Spake: Tool and Creek.

00:03:00Melissa Ellis: Home parkrun in the dark.

00:03:04Oliver Spake: Early start then?

00:03:05Melissa Ellis: Yeah, it was still dark. It was head torch worthy.

00:03:08Oliver Spake: Oh, wow, yeah.

00:03:10Melissa Ellis: Yeah, 6.45 was the start time at Toolern Creek. And Toolern Creek's an out-and-back course, pretty straight, pretty flat, and a course I know well because it's in my five-kilometre radius. So through that, more reduced lockdown was one of the only places where I could run, yeah so that was fine and Melbourne put on a brilliant day yesterday we had fine weather there all the previous flooding that we'd had yes there has been a lot of flooding in the Melbourne area it was substantial yeah all the catchments are quite high at the moment so uh and and we had a little bit of flooding issue on some of the courses that we did yeah couldn't complete the courses because of of water

00:03:54Oliver Spake: Okay, so you had to come up with some creative alternatives then. Yes.

00:03:59Melissa Ellis: So Toolern Creek and then we went to Eynesbury and Eynesbury was fine. So, oh, Ollie.

00:04:07Oliver Spake: Do I know where this is going?

00:04:08Melissa Ellis: The puddle.

00:04:09Oliver Spake: The puddle. Yeah. So my question is, how much rain is required for this puddle to fill up? Was there a puddle?

00:04:16Melissa Ellis: There was a lovely puddle. There was a delightful, delicious puddle. I was very excited. So I have purchased a giant size rubber duck and I took it with me because I was feeling pretty confident after Victoria's weather that I would get down to 83 and I would have a puddle. I got out of the car with my girlfriend, who let's just call her Abby's mum yep yep yeah let's not give anything away yep yeah yeah no but that's how she goes these days yeah and we got out of the car and I tucked my giant size rubber duck under my arm and off we trotted and as we approached the 400 metre mark the excitement there's water And, yes, there was photos taken of the said puddle and said duck.

00:05:08Oliver Spake: Yes, I did see said image.

00:05:11Melissa Ellis: I have to say probably the highlight of my day, which maybe doesn't say a lot for my life, but in any case.

00:05:19Oliver Spake: Well, I think as you've shown, clearly creating a longest run, it's part of your box of tricks. You've got a knack for this and clearly it's about finding the fun in anything. So if it's bringing along a giant size rubber duck, I mean, I think I would have given you bonus points if you'd stopped right there and done the Mighty Duck style chant just to celebrate the moment.

00:05:42Melissa Ellis: Well, I would have if I'd known what it was. Can you give me a demo?

00:05:46Oliver Spake: The quack, quack, quack, and you just build up. I'll take it you haven't heard it then. Right. Okay.

00:05:55Melissa Ellis: Damn it. You could have mentioned this earlier. Never mind.

00:06:00Oliver Spake: Okay. The moment sounds like it was special enough.

00:06:03Melissa Ellis: It was so much fun, and I got such a kick out of it. Yeah. That was our second event, and Eynesbury obviously is not a 5K parkrun. It was our made-up 5K.

00:06:13Oliver Spake: Yeah. And look, sorry, not to labour the point, but the puddle had water.

00:06:17Melissa Ellis: Mm-hmm.

00:06:18Oliver Spake: Other courses were flooded.

00:06:20Melissa Ellis: Yes.

00:06:21Oliver Spake: Okay. Yes. Yes.

00:06:23Melissa Ellis: So the next course we went on to, Wyndham Vale. Yes. So Abby's mum, that's her home parkrun. And she did mention to me on the run at Eynesbury that, oh, yeah, Wyndham Vale has been underwater. And I said- Oh, you might have mentioned that to me when I was planning this. You know, that might have been good information to know. And she kind of went, oh, yeah. Anyway, well, we'll see how we go when we get there. And, yeah, sections of the Wyndham Vale parkrun had been underwater but it had receded enough by the time we got there that other than having to skirt a little bit around a bit of mud, we were able to complete the course. So that was fine. Point Cook was the next one we did and that's a flat out and back. That was not affected in any way by water. That was great. But then we got to Brimbank.

00:07:21Oliver Spake: Okay, full to the brim.

00:07:23Melissa Ellis: Brimbank has a B course that they use when there's a lot of water because they're on the, I think it's the Maribyrnong River, and they have a B course, which would be great if we knew what the B course was. But here's the thing, you know you go to the parkrun map on the webpage? Yes, yes. It's just got the main course.

00:07:45Oliver Spake: Of course, yeah.

00:07:46Melissa Ellis: There's nowhere that tells you what the B course is.

00:07:48Oliver Spake: Not the alternative. So you've invented the C course then? We just add the whatever course.

00:07:55Melissa Ellis: So what happened was I've done Brimbank. I think I went to the launch back in the day. It was in one of the Medibank launches.

00:08:03Oliver Spake: Ah, okay. Yes.

00:08:03Melissa Ellis: Yeah, yeah. So I was there on the day. And I've been back a second time in a previous longest run. And they were the only two times I'd done the course. So it was a little bit hazy and I was a bit nervous about going back there on my own because it's not an out and back. It's a bit of a squiggly line. So I was a bit worried and I did coerce a fellow parkrunner to come with me so that I wasn't alone because I was a bit nervous about doing it. And we realised after we set off that we'd gone the wrong direction. So we were actually going the opposite way as what the parkrunner said. Is supposed to go. Never mind. We realised that as we head off, like as we were following the map, we went, oh, actually we're going the wrong way. Oh, but never mind, we'll do it in reverse. It doesn't matter. You know, it's not official. And then we got to a point in the course where you cross a bit of a causeway and it was flooded. There was no crossing it. It was well in flood and would have been irresponsible to try and get across.

00:09:06Therese: Yeah, yep.

00:09:06Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so I had to turn around. Okay. But it was probably at about the 2.3, 2.4 kilometre mark. So we just kind of went, oh, well, we turn around, we go back. Well, by the time we get back, we've nearly done 5K, so...

00:09:20Oliver Spake: Yeah, and then you just do that awkward extra loop or run past, run back. Yeah. I think plenty of us have done it.

00:09:27Melissa Ellis: We just basically ran all the way back to the car and we got 5K.

00:09:31Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. You know, when the watch hasn't quite ticked over and you really want to get the 5K, a bit of catch-up.

00:09:40Melissa Ellis: So my sixth event I actually had to do on my own. So by that stage I was in a part of my 25-kilometre radius that nobody else could reach. And I did Sunbury, Ollie, that I've recently discussed. Ah, yes. I was back at the home of the Ashes.

00:09:56Oliver Spake: So back on Happy Hill.

00:09:58Melissa Ellis: Yes. And I was like, no problem. I know this course. It's fine. I don't have to worry about this. Off I go on my own. I'm working, walking at this stage, but that's fine. I'm like, oh, I've got plenty of time. And there's this little section where you go out to the nook. It's a section that goes across a little stretch of grass. It goes off the concrete path over a little stretch of grass. But because we've had so much rain, it had been flooded and the water had receded, but it was just all mud.

00:10:26Oliver Spake: I see. Yes.

00:10:28Melissa Ellis: I had seen earlier in the week posts on the Sunbury parkrun page to say that their course was flooded and if they were to come back this week, which of course we didn't, but if they had, they would run their B course again. Had no idea what the B course was. No idea and no way to find out. Well, the water's all gone, so it's safe to go across. It's just muddy. So, you know, as long as I go carefully and so off I go and I'm just trying to skirt, you know, the edges of the mud.

00:10:59Oliver Spake: Yes, sometimes that's successful.

00:11:01Melissa Ellis: Yeah, yeah, and find the tufts of grass and put your feet on the tufts of grass. Yeah. And that all kind of went fine as I progressed across this section until there was this last little bit where you sort of had to go uphill. And as each foot went uphill and tried to, like I tried to place my foot onto a little tuft of grass and it just slid back down and then I tried to put the next foot up and it slid back down and I wasn't finding any traction and all of a sudden the feet just, oh, down I went.

00:11:37Oliver Spake: Oh, it was a stack. Oh, dear.

00:11:40Melissa Ellis: It all happened kind of slow motion because I wasn't running at the time. And it was probably very comical if anybody was standing there watching me. But yeah, down I went on my hands. I must have kind of planked in the end because my feet were on the ground and my hands were on the ground, but no knees touched the ground.

00:11:57Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:11:59Melissa Ellis: And, of course, the phone fell in the mud and I was carrying these signs that I'd made. They went in the mud and everything was muddy and...

00:12:10Oliver Spake: And still with one parkrun to go too.

00:12:12Melissa Ellis: Yeah. So I picked myself up and I somehow managed to – I don't know. I picked up – I shoved the muddy phone in my pocket and I got my signs under my arm and I managed to get my way out of the muddy section and – continue on until I found a drinking fountain where I could try to wash myself off and uh complete and then I missed the turnaround I ended up doing nearly six k's on that parkrun oh bonus just what you want at number six parkrun that's just what you want after being covered in mud yeah at least it's two extra kilometre no worries yeah

00:12:50Oliver Spake: Some would love it, but yeah, yeah. And then finishing with the highlight.

00:12:55Melissa Ellis: It was just nice to be back home. It was all about the photos though. Daryl was still all dressed up from the Saturday morning parkrun theme that we'd had. And my girlfriend came back to meet me for the last one. So yeah, we had a bit of fun posing for the photos with Daryl for the final event. And yeah, it was just walked, but it was fun. And that was the day complete. So I can't complain, Ollie. Yeah.

00:13:20Oliver Spake: Well, that's the sort of welcome back you need. I think excellent planning to finish right where you can just... Everybody needs to come home to their Buddha. Yeah, exactly. I don't know why we haven't thought of that before. And remiss of me not to even ask, how was your (not)parkrun day? How was Pride Day at Ellis Palace parkrun too?

00:13:40Melissa Ellis: Yeah, it was good. It was fun.

00:13:42Oliver Spake: Great to see the colours.

00:13:43Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, we had fun. We made some rainbow cupcakes and... Rainbow cookies. So we had fun and dressed accordingly in our bright colours. And I now am the happy owner of a pride flag, so you've got to be happy with that. Yeah, that's right. And they'll come in handy.

00:14:04Oliver Spake: We'll find a parkrun day, I'm sure. Oh, for sure. I'm sure of it. Yeah.

00:14:08Melissa Ellis: Yeah, no, it was great to support the cause for the awareness for Pride Month. We were happy to do that. That's right. And, yeah, I'm not quite sure what the neighbours think because Daryl's still out there with his rainbow tutu and necktie on.

00:14:23Oliver Spake: Well, I'm sure they recognise that Daryl just loves supporting the cause. He's a very passionate Buddha. Yeah.

00:14:31Melissa Ellis: He is. He's always out there. We're just always looking for the new reason. I wonder if they've been missing it. Oh, well.

00:14:40Oliver Spake: Oh, well, it's good to have you back still, Daryl. That's for sure.

00:14:42Melissa Ellis: But enough about me, Ollie. What about you actually had a real live parkrun on Saturday. I did, yes. And Shellharbour celebrated their seventh birthday. That's right.

00:14:53Oliver Spake: Yeah, no, that was good fun. It was good fun. I got a late call up off the bench to run direct. So I got to run direct for our seventh birthday, which was a treat. Not so pleasant for poor Ralph, who was feeling a bit unwell. So he did the right thing and stayed back at home.

00:15:08Melissa Ellis: Poor Ralph?

00:15:10Oliver Spake: Sorry, that's just my lousy pronunciation. Poor Ralph.

00:15:14Melissa Ellis: Oh.

00:15:15Oliver Spake: So Ralph from our event team. Right.

00:15:17Melissa Ellis: Okay, okay, okay. Yep, yep, yep.

00:15:19Oliver Spake: Yes. So, yeah, it's always fun to have a celebration at parkrun and nice to see some familiar faces, some of the originals. You know, that's the name we give to our parkrunners that were there on launch day. So we always make sure we grab any of the originals we can. Yeah. and to get a visit from one of our co-founders. So, of course, Brendan was there, but Carl Hayes, who set up Shellharbour parkrun with Brendan, was there. And we had Nikki, our parkrun ambassador, who also volunteered back at the launch. She was volunteering with us. So, yeah, great support, no shortage of volunteers. We had our theme, which was suitably broad, so we had all different versions of a seventh, given it was our seventh birthday.

00:16:03Melissa Ellis: How did you, like, I saw your costume.

00:16:07Oliver Spake: Real original.

00:16:10Melissa Ellis: How is that related to seven?

00:16:12Oliver Spake: So my line there is it's one of the seven habits of highly effective parkrunners. I can't claim the idea of that particular theme, but I was happy to reinforce that as one of the habits. I was asked what the other six habits were, and I would be happy to rattle off anything from three to ten more, but by the time I try, I'll probably lose myself and state things over and over.

00:16:35Melissa Ellis: So for everybody listening at home, Ollie was wearing the costume that he created for Palm this year, which was the virtual volunteer app.

00:16:45Oliver Spake: That's right. And, you know, just as it was when we were at the surf club for dress-up evening, many people didn't get it.

00:16:54Melissa Ellis: Oh, really?

00:16:54Oliver Spake: Yes, even at a parkrun. Really? Even at a parkrun.

00:16:58Melissa Ellis: Wow. They're like, what are you, strange purple and turquoise man? That's right.

00:17:04Oliver Spake: That's right, probably more confusing because I did tie a spare pair of shoes to me to be one of my other habits but um nonetheless I didn't notice that but I did notice in your longest run photos this strange pair of sunglasses hanging out of your ear yes well that was just a costume feature that I didn't have anywhere to store them when it got dark I just tucked them into the headband I

00:17:29Melissa Ellis: thought that's what must have happened yes I was impressed though I did say in your longest run photos you did appear to have a costume change at every event and I will admit I did not do that oh I didn't I let this side down I'm sorry oh well you improvised with the mud clearly yeah oh yes well I was beginning with mud this is true yes and that's right yeah

00:17:52Oliver Spake: So that was a highlight, joining the Sydney longest run. I've been fortunate enough to make it to many of the longest runs, not all five. They've had five as of yesterday at time of recording in the, well, the last six years in Sydney. So a huge thank you to Paul and Glenn for their organisation and the whole team, of course. Do they listen? I'm just curious. Let's see. Let's see. Okay. Okay. Paul and Glenn, you can let us know. But, yeah, look, it was lovely to bump into some people that do listen to the podcast, to share the day, to see some familiar faces from previous longest runs, from the tourism pages. And, yeah, just to have, you know, a nice day of achieving things, even if it did hurt. I clearly have not been running much since I did the marathon. So, yeah, I'm in worlds of pain right now.

00:18:51Melissa Ellis: Oliver Spake, I looked at your times on Strava. You did pretty well.

00:18:56Oliver Spake: I pushed myself. I absolutely did push myself. But, yeah, it was hurting. So you had a fall, Mel? You had a bit of a stack?

00:19:06Melissa Ellis: Oh, it wasn't a hard fall. It was basically like a little bit of a skate in the mud and down I went.

00:19:12Oliver Spake: Yeah. Obviously it was very slippery, you know, the surface. It's totally understandable. Yeah, yeah. I had a fall too. Oh. What happened? I had a stack. So just shy of 4Ks into the first run. So we started at Curl Curl. Oh, number one. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, it was beginning to become light. So, you know, I could see the course. I was looking where I was going. I was, you know. Running on the path, for those familiar with Curl Curl parkrun, it's a great flat path. Yeah, you do run across the grass as well. But the version of the course, because I should say that the first two courses were essentially sort of co-operating between the longest run and the Running Stars event, which has started up on a Sunday. So with the team that was setting up the longest run, they were also organising Running Stars there. And so it's a slight deviation from the Curl Curl course.

00:20:04Melissa Ellis: Oh, is it?

00:20:04Oliver Spake: Yeah, it's a bit of a tangent. So there's actually less elevation on this version, which was helpful. So in my case, I was on a flat part of the track, grass either side, no one around me, and, yeah, I fell over.

00:20:20Melissa Ellis: Oh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't laugh.

00:20:21[laughter]

00:20:24Unidentified speaker: Oh.

00:20:25Oliver Spake: Not quite sure what happened. Just twisted, fell over myself, did the great forward roll, got up and brushed myself off.

00:20:33Melissa Ellis: Zooming at the time.

00:20:36Oliver Spake: No, no. Running quite sensibly for some reason. I just fell over. Got back up. Nice gentleman walking the other way asked me if I was okay. Oh, bless. Yeah, so the ankle's a bit sore.

00:20:48Melissa Ellis: Oh, really? You actually twisted? Yeah.

00:20:52Oliver Spake: Oh, it was just, yeah, loose.

00:20:54Melissa Ellis: On event one. Wow. And you got through the rest all okay? Yeah.

00:21:00Oliver Spake: Yeah, so I was stoked to make it through. I was curious how it would go. But it was just a buzz. Just briefly for the Sydney longest run, yeah, it covered the city quite well. And as I mentioned, the first two courses up on the northern beaches there, so the second one up sort of almost towards the northern tip of the northern beaches up at Mona Vale where there isn't currently a parkrun. But, yeah, nice part of town.

00:21:21Melissa Ellis: No, but we did that as part of the longest run two years ago, Ollie.

00:21:25Oliver Spake: Well, this is actually same suburb, different course. So the team had very considerably come up with a longest run sequence where, for those familiar with Parramatta parkrun, as Glenn pointed out on the day, that was the most elevation of the day. And obviously, if anyone's familiar with the world's fastest time for a female parkrunner... It's not a terribly hilly parkrun. So, yeah, this version of Mona Vale, coming right back to the point, nice and flat, Mel, apart from a little bridge.

00:21:55Melissa Ellis: Well, that's a lot better than the two years ago when I visited where you just did every hilly parkrun in Sydney and I was absolutely killed by the time I finished.

00:22:07Oliver Spake: I think we all were. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. But hey, people came back. It was good to see some returning faces from that.

00:22:13Melissa Ellis: Emily. So I was very excited to see Emily.

00:22:18Oliver Spake: That's right. Yeah. So, you know, our friend that we met on the last longest run for a couple of runs there.

00:22:24Melissa Ellis: And was that that Mona? Was it that Mona? I think it was at the Mona Vale one.

00:22:29Oliver Spake: Yeah, she was there for the Mona Vale one. I think she joined at Wildflower, so just before that for a couple of parkruns. So, yeah, Emily and her partner were joining us for a couple of runs. They kept going right through to the end from about Greenway, which was number five there.

00:22:43Melissa Ellis: That's great to know because she was a brand-new parkrunner when we met her, so she's continued on for two years.

00:22:50Oliver Spake: That's right. Yeah, it's infectious. It's clearly infectious.

00:22:54Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I love that serendipity. Yeah.

00:22:57Oliver Spake: So yeah, great. Look, I even bumped into one of the friends I made the first time I did the Sydney Longest Run. So that's going back a couple of years. So yeah, great day. And I must say that the timing was so precise. It was ridiculous. So yeah, Paul clearly has a knack for that.

00:23:13Melissa Ellis: It's important to run to schedule.

00:23:15Oliver Spake: Yes, well and truly. And I think the effort from those guys was fantastic. They obviously gave us a bit of a taste of the Running Stars event, so we used our tap-on, tap-off cards and got our times recorded through that as well. So, yeah, fantastic day.

00:23:31Melissa Ellis: Excellent. So was that actually an official Running Stars event on the day?

00:23:35Oliver Spake: The first two were, but I suppose more or less the entire thing was set up so that it was all tracked as a Running Stars event as well. So, yeah, I can say I did 14 events.

00:23:46Melissa Ellis: 14?

00:23:46Oliver Spake: Well, because it's two versions of the same one for each one.

00:23:50Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay. Okay, so did you not parkrun plus your running stars?

00:23:55Oliver Spake: That's right, if I just remembered to record it.

00:23:58Melissa Ellis: So did they tap on and tap off at every event?

00:24:01Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:24:01Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay.

00:24:03Oliver Spake: Yeah. So clearly a great weekend for longest runs, kick off a month and a bit of longest runs as things are currently looking.

00:24:14Melissa Ellis: Excellent.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:24:15Melissa Ellis: Also, Ollie, we've got a couple of roving reports to throw to, and we've got a new voice coming to the pod waves this week. Yes. Coming to us from over... Over yonder.

00:24:30Oliver Spake: Yonder.

00:24:31Melissa Ellis: Yeah, yonder's a good way to describe it.

00:24:33Oliver Spake: Yonder. Over in England.

00:24:35Melissa Ellis: In England, exactly. So let's listen now.

00:24:38[13 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

Roving report David Irwin — Spaldwick Not parkrun (300th running), Cambridgeshire, England

00:24:52David Irwin: Good morning. My name is David Irwin, A109192, and I'm talking to you from all the way across the other side of the world in the UK. It's a Saturday morning, but I'm not at my home parkrun of Huntingdon and it's not nine o'clock. Today I'm at the 300th running of the Spaldwick Not parkrun. There were no first-timers, in fact there were no other runners at all, so I simply did the briefing to myself. It's a beautiful warm day in Cambridgeshire and perfect for running. The course is very simple. We start outside the pub, run to the next village, go round the green, past the church and the pond, and then back to the village again, finishing outside the pub. Today, rather surprisingly, I did a comeback PB. I was on a lockdown streak for over a year until unfortunately I came off my bike and needed shoulder surgery. But I'm back running again and very hopeful that the UK 5k parkruns will return very soon. Fingers crossed we get all the landowners permissions that we need to start on the 26th. I just cannot wait. Thanks for listening and I'll speak to you again soon. Bye-bye. Now, I just need to give you an update. This is David Owen from the UK. I have just run 22k to Junior parkrun. done the warm up and then run home again. And while I was running there, I listened to the parkrun adventurers. And guess what? I heard you talk about Cornwall and about Cornish pasties. Now I must say, I'm sorry, but Cornish pasties are from Cornwall and definitely five out of five. They beat a sausage roll hands down every time. Thank you. And your UK reporter finishes here. Goodbye.

00:27:05Tracey Wood: Good morning, everyone. It's Tracey in her tutu. I haven't got my barcode and I'm not volunteering. What's going on? Let's find out.

Roving report Tracey Wood — Central Lakes

00:27:15Tracey Wood: Okay, course number one, Central Lakes. I've got Debbie with me. Hi, Debbie. How are you? Yeah, good. That's good. How was it at Central Lakes? Freezing. Yeah, I did not warm up at all. I think I wore my gloves all the way around. Central Lakes was quite pretty. Can you give a brief description of the course?

00:27:33Debbie: Yeah, I went around the lake and it was like... Very cold. It looked like ice on the top. It was so cold. It did, yes.

00:27:40Tracey Wood: But it was very pretty though, wasn't it?

00:27:41Debbie: It was lovely. And then you went out on a long path. Mm-hmm. Yeah, and then turned around and did it all again. Yeah, so out and back course. Yeah, it was lovely.

00:27:48Tracey Wood: Yeah, it was nice. Okay. Thanks, Sammy. Talk to you later. Thanks. Bye.

Roving report Tracey Wood — Harris Avenue

00:27:55Tracey Wood: Good morning again. I'm now at Harris Avenue and we're just going around the course and I have Caroline with me. Good morning. Morning. Caroline, how many of these are you doing today? Probably three. Three? Okay, cool. And the three after this one or two after this one or...

00:28:11Caroline: Yes, we'll just do three in a row and then probably go for a swim, eat some lunch and then go home and have a nap. Excellent. Now, just for our listeners at home, can you give a brief description of the course while we're going around? Well, you're going to help me, Tracey. I think I've got this right in saying that you start near the sports club and we do a two-lap course, two laps of a lap around a lake and it has a mini out and back section at the end. The far end is part of that two-lap course. It is a lot on concrete paths, but it has a little bit of grass and it's pretty flat. Not Kirra flat, but yeah, just a couple of tiny undulations. And this morning it is sunny and nice and mild for a southeast Queensland winter. Excellent. See you at the next (not)parkrun.

00:29:02Unidentified speaker: Yep.

Roving report Tracey Wood — North Lakes

00:29:03Tracey Wood: Okay, we're now at, God, where are we now, Jo? North Lakes. North Lakes. Okay, this is run number, God, I'm losing count already. Three. Three.

00:29:12Jo: Can you give me a very brief description of this course? From memory, and we did it together, I think, back in 2019 as part of the longest. Oh, wow. It's round and round and round. And round. And round and round and round. Hopefully. And three. Okay. Are you doing all the runs today, Jo? I would like to. I will be there at the end to cheer yourself and Greg on who are trying to reach that longer marathon. Awesome. Thanks, Jo.

00:29:37guest: Thank you.

Roving report Tracey Wood — Redcliffe

00:29:39Tracey Wood: Okay, parkrun number four. Sorry, not parkrun number four. We're at Redcliffe and I've got Therese with me. Hi, Therese. How are you going this morning? Oh, wonderful, Trace. Wonderful. You're doing well. Got tired legs? No.

00:29:53Therese: No, I can feel my toes at the moment. But I feel okay. Excellent. Excellent. So, can you give me a brief description of Redcliffe course? Oh, Redcliffe's beautiful. I grew up here, so it's flat. And we will head in one direction, which is probably north, for about...

00:30:09Tracey Wood: two kilometres and then we'll turn around we'll head back down for another I don't know we'll end up that way that way and then we'll turn around and we'll finish just where we're talking now and it's beautiful yeah another dreadful day up here I mean look at look at this this is just horrible I don't know how you deal with it being a local it's just perfect running conditions well good work and I'll see you in the next parkrun okay Tracy

Roving report Tracey Wood — Sandgate

00:30:39Tracey Wood: Okay, parkrun number five. We're at Sandgate. Oh boy, I'm stuffed. But here's a man who's doing a little bit more than just parkruns today. It's Greg Webster, part of the organising committee for the Brisbane North Longest Run. Greg, what are you doing?

00:30:56Greg Webster: I'm just adding an extra K to each one so that I'll end up with 42.2 at the end of the day.

00:31:03Tracey Wood: And any reason?

00:31:04Greg Webster: Well, Joe Coutts made me do it, but no, just, you know, it seems silly to get so close and not actually do the marathon, so I thought I'd finish the marathon today.

00:31:13Tracey Wood: Well, we've got to talk nicely about Joe, because you did bring Zooper Doopers for us at the finish at Sandgate today, which was very much appreciated, because it is quite warm out there. Now, you've just done your six. Can you give a very brief description of Sandgate course for those who haven't been here before?

00:31:30Greg Webster: So it's totally flat. There's an incline of zero degrees in either direction. It's an out and back course along the waterfront of beautiful Moreton Bay, out to the end of Shorncliffe Jetty and back. One of, well probably, Brisbane's fastest parkrun. Evidence yesterday with 100 people running uh sub 20 minutes on it probably sub 18 I think for a hundred for the first hundred so uh yeah fast parkrun beautiful course and uh a must do if you're in Brisbane yeah did you go yesterday no no I went to Zillmere I help out at Zillmere most weeks so uh that's where I tend to do most of my running and now that you've done a 30k is how are you feeling just by the way I'm a bit sore. I've got a bit of a hammy problem, but by running at a relatively, for me, slow pace, I think I'll be able to pull through the last two at Chermside and Kedron.

00:32:30Tracey Wood: Excellent. Well, I'll see you there.

00:32:32Greg Webster: Okay. Bye.

Roving report Tracey Wood — Chermside

00:32:35Tracey Wood: Okay, it's parkrun, not parkrun number six. I'm at Chermside. I think I'm passing my way around. I think we're in 26km into the day now. And I'm with Arthur. Hi, Arthur.

00:32:46Arthur: How are you going?

00:32:48Tracey Wood: Good. How's it going with you?

00:32:49Arthur: Oh, it's never easy.

00:32:52Tracey Wood: What's your plan for today?

00:32:54Arthur: My plan for today is to get to the end of Chermside parkrun and do the Kedron and that will be 15 Ks.

00:33:00Tracey Wood: Oh right, so you're not doing all seven?

00:33:02Arthur: No, just the three. Just the Sandgate, Kedron and Chermside.

00:33:06Tracey Wood: Right, and you were just telling me that you were a Chermside regular before you went to Sandgate, was that right?

00:33:12Arthur: Yes, I think I, as it's called, I traitored over to Sandgate, a Sandgate traitor.

00:33:18Tracey Wood: Now, for people listening at home, Arthur, can you give a very brief description of Chermside course?

00:33:24Arthur: I don't think you'd get a PB. As we're doing now, we're going over a bit of a hill, a bridge. And, yeah, it's a bit of a climb, a bit of altitude there and back. So, certainly not a PB like we've just done. Not a PB course like Sandgate that we've just done, which is fast and flat.

00:33:46Tracey Wood: Right. Okay, well, thank you for that. I will see you at Kedron.

00:33:51Arthur: Thanks, have a good one.

Roving report Tracey Wood — Kedron

00:33:53Tracey Wood: Okay, it's parkrun number seven. Shorty, where are we now? At Kedron, near home. Near home, it is indeed. Tell me about this course.

00:34:03Shorty: It's relatively flat, straight out and back. So it's one of the easier parkrun courses, one of the faster parkrun courses in Brisbane.

00:34:11Tracey Wood: And this is the last one we're doing today, is that right?

00:34:14Shorty: Sure is, seven of them.

00:34:15Tracey Wood: Fantastic. Now, can you tell me the story behind the longest run?

00:34:19Shorty: Well, they started in England back before 2011. They did it on the longest day of the year in England. So when we did our first one here in 2012, we did it at the same time, which meant that it was on our longest day of the year, December. December. And it was a very, very hot day.

00:34:38Tracey Wood: I bet. Yeah.

00:34:41Shorty: So we started, I think, at North Lakes and finished at Main Beach. So it was a lot of territory we travelled.

00:34:46Tracey Wood: Wow. Well, I think everyone is grateful that we moved it to June. Yeah. Because it's been a fantastic day. So we moved it to June the second time, yeah. Yes. All right.

00:34:55Shorty: But I was so delirious after that first one that I went out the next week and did it again.

00:34:59Tracey Wood: What? Now, why would you do something like that? Hey, looks like we're about to start. Park round number seven. Let's go. Thanks, Shortsy. No problem. Okay, it's now a very exhausted Tracy and her tutu going home for a bath and bed. See you another time. Toodles from Tracey. See you on the B-side.

00:35:19[16 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:35:35Oliver Spake: And thank you to Tracy and David for the reports this week. It was fantastic, Mel, to hear a voice from, well, from the other side of the world there with David with a very impressive 300th event for the (not)parkrun there at Spaldwick. Yes. Yeah, thank you for the course description, David. I particularly liked the fact that it starts and finishes at a pub. I think those parkruns that finish at the right venue are highlights and big congratulations for the comeback PB too.

00:36:07Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and thank you for sending us the content, David. Can we call you Dave? Can we shorten it? Can we be familiar?

00:36:15Oliver Spake: Yeah. Is that okay, Ollie? I think so. I think so. It's Dave. Maybe it should be Davo. Davo might be pushing the friendship. You'll have to let us know, Dave.

00:36:26Melissa Ellis: But, yeah, great to have another contact over there in England, in Cambridgeshire.

00:36:33Oliver Spake: Yes, yes, Cambridgeshire.

00:36:36Melissa Ellis: Isn't it Shire, Ollie?

00:36:38Oliver Spake: I'm going to butcher any pronunciation. Just you wait. I'm going to butcher a bit of pronunciation tonight. But I will add, Mel, not wanting to upset any of our listeners, but I'm team Dave the whole way. I'm particularly fond of a Cornish pasty and – And I would tend to agree with my limited experience. I would tend to agree with it though.

00:37:04Melissa Ellis: I'm not going to argue. I submit. It's fine.

00:37:08Oliver Spake: Well done, Dave. And we also are looking forward to the return of parkrun in England. But look, it was nice to also hear from the longest run in North Brisbane. Thank you, Tracy. And well done to you and everyone.

00:37:22Melissa Ellis: Yes, yes, yes. Even though I couldn't be there, I'm trying not to hold that against them for their fabulous day that they had. It looked like the weather was fine also in Brisbane.

00:37:34Oliver Spake: Albeit fresh in parts by the sounds of it.

00:37:36Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah, but probably still for us would have been warm, Ollie. It's just those northerners having a sook if it's like under 30 or something.

00:37:44Oliver Spake: Well, I'm pretty sure I heard Zoopa Doopas mentioned there. I know.

00:37:49Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:37:50Oliver Spake: Yeah, and well done to all of you, probably. An extra well done to the longest runner there, making it an extra longer run and doing the marathon with an extra K for each one.

00:38:02Melissa Ellis: That's a good idea, isn't it?

00:38:04Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah.

00:38:05Melissa Ellis: Not that I'm particularly interested in.

00:38:07Oliver Spake: No, no, to each our own, yes. But one thing we were interested in this week, Polish snot logs.

00:38:15Unidentified speaker: Yes.

00:38:15Oliver Spake: Yes, Ollie.

00:38:16Melissa Ellis: I know, right? So how excited was I when I was Googling what poles might potentially have as their choice of baked goods and came across the karpatka. And I thought, oh, okay, this seems to be, you know, the baked good choice in Poland. Let me Google it and see what it actually is. And it comes up with Polish vanilla slice. What?

00:38:45[laughter]

00:38:45Unidentified speaker: LAUGHTER

00:38:48Melissa Ellis: This is amazing.

00:38:50Oliver Spake: Yeah, and we do like sharing in the joy and the celebration of parkrun returning around the globe, and what better way to do it than with baked goods?

00:39:01Melissa Ellis: Exactly, and Poland had 72 events come back on the weekend, Ollie. You might be interested to know. Yeah.

00:39:07Oliver Spake: Very, yes.

00:39:08Melissa Ellis: And may I also tell you that the karpatka, the Polish version of the vanilla slice, is made with choux pastry instead of puff pastry and takes its name from the mountain-like pleated shape of the powdered choux pastry which resembles the snowy peaks of the Carpathian Mountains.

00:39:30Oliver Spake: Wow. That's obviously a well-thought-out dish. Yes.

00:39:34Melissa Ellis: So don't let it be said that you don't learn things when you listen to the parkrun adventurers.

00:39:40Oliver Spake: That's right. Well, if I could just learn how to speak in Polish a little better, then this next bit won't be so painful for everyone.

00:39:47Melissa Ellis: Exactly. So we did try to welcome in the native tongue.

00:39:51Oliver Spake: And what was it, Mel? It was Witaj Ponownie. [Polish: "Welcome back"]

00:39:57Melissa Ellis: Thank you, Ollie. Well done.

00:39:59Oliver Spake: No, I'm not sure a thank you is in order. But yes, yeah, I don't think a thank you is in order.

00:40:06Melissa Ellis: I have no clue. We perhaps should have asked Dorota to pre-record that for us.

00:40:10Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah, sorry, Dorota.

00:40:12Melissa Ellis: In any case, that was exciting that Poland returned. So, yay, another country back.

00:40:17Oliver Spake: That's right. And look, again, as we fairly accurately suggested, not many listeners were enjoying their karpatka or their czarna kawa. Is that it? The black coffee? [Polish: "Probably "czarna kawa" — black coffee. The host's own reading at [00:40:28] is "The black coffee?""] [translation uncertain]

00:40:29Melissa Ellis: I don't know. It's an espresso. That's all I know when I Googled it.

Dazza's

00:40:33Oliver Spake: Yes, but we did hear from Alison King. And, Alison, I'm going to try this pronunciation too, but mille-feuille, I think. [French: ""Thousand leaves" — glossed on air at [00:40:58] "Milfoy is French and means thousand leaves and relates to the pastry.""]

00:40:42Melissa Ellis: I think that's right.

00:40:43Oliver Spake: Yeah, at Shibata Bakery today. I'm not sure. Let's wait and see the jury come back on the pronunciation this week. Yes, mille-feuille at Shibata Bakery today after volunteering at Boeranger parkrun. Mille-feuille is French and means thousand leaves and relates to the pastry. It's an upmarket snot log. It did look like a fancy snot log. Yeah, we're getting quite sophisticated with our snot logs now, aren't we?

00:41:11Melissa Ellis: I know, they're turning up everywhere.

00:41:13Oliver Spake: Yep.

00:41:14Melissa Ellis: But Tracey Wood said, So a bit of balance. Team sausage roll for Tracy. Balancing out the snot log, you know, is what I'm saying.

00:41:32Oliver Spake: That's right, yeah. Brett Bailey, RD at Pegasus today, 73 parkrunners and a few bark runners. Cold and grey, one degree at the start.

00:41:43Melissa Ellis: Yeah, they can keep that.

00:41:46Oliver Spake: Good work, Brett. I hope you had gloves on.

00:41:49Melissa Ellis: And Bruce Purdy, my fellow dirty cheetah. We joined the Wallabies at Wallaby parkrun to give the course a lockdown tidy up. Fingers crossed that we are back next weekend. So that was the volunteers down at Wallaby Track doing a bit of a tidy up, Ollie. What a great idea.

00:42:09Oliver Spake: I think it's great. And the name to go with it. It's perfect. Tanya Bailey. Brunner says hi to his fellow bark runners. Slow run today with mum. Picked up speed when he saw the finish, though, and mum needed roller skates.

00:42:22Melissa Ellis: Yeah, that sounds good to me, getting pulled along like that. Well done, Brunner.

00:42:27Oliver Spake: Yes, and Tanya, of course.

00:42:30Melissa Ellis: Claire Stutchbury, slow run at Capalaba. Is that how you say it, Ollie? Capalaba, yes. Capalaba parkrun after a few days spent dying in bed. Oh, no, Claire. Followed by a very sweet breakfast at Whiskey Business. First time I've had to run in long sleeves since moving, almost offended by the sinking temperature. 86th event, 23rd Queensland event, 30th interest streak. Wow. Lots going on there.

00:43:00Oliver Spake: Good recovery. Glad to hear that there has been a recovery.

00:43:03Melissa Ellis: Yeah, dying in bed. But how good does whiskey business sound like for a brunch place, Ollie? I think I like the sound of whiskey business.

00:43:11Oliver Spake: Yeah, I don't know how close it is to the finish of Capalaba parkrun, but there we are once again, the right kind of venue to finish at. Rebecca Bailey, morning and happy birthday Shellharbour parkrun. I hope you all enjoyed my baking and sorry I couldn't be there, had to go to work. They did let me drive myself this morning so I got a run in at the closest parkrun, Galston, before heading to Berowra Waters Marina and meeting the group. And it's a G, bonus, plus a post-COVID PB. Good work, Bec. Yeah, a couple of things there. Well done on the PCPB. There's another letter for Bec. And I should mention, yeah, Bec did donate some fantastic bickies to Shellharbour parkrun, even though she wasn't there. We had milestone shirt bickies in almost all the right colours. No one had genuinely earned their 500, but we ate them all the same. And rainbow sevens. So they wouldn't have gone astray at your event.

00:44:06Melissa Ellis: Rainbow sevens? What's a rainbow seven?

00:44:10Oliver Spake: Sevens in rainbow colours. Given that it was Shellharbour's seventh birthday.

00:44:15Melissa Ellis: Oh, I get it.

00:44:15Oliver Spake: And the rainbow because seven colours of the rainbow.

00:44:18Melissa Ellis: Yes, yes, excellent, yes. And that would have tied in perfectly with my pride theme, wish I'd thought of it.

00:44:25Oliver Spake: I wish I'd brought it up on the day, but never mind.

00:44:28Melissa Ellis: Excellent, yes. Thank you, Bec. Galston parkrun is a beautiful parkrun and that's one that I did as a Freedom Run two years ago when I was up for the longest run, Ollie.

00:44:38Oliver Spake: Yeah, nice and hilly one, isn't it?

00:44:39Melissa Ellis: Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. It is hilly and you do that three times from my recollection. But a very pretty location for a parkrun and it is one that I do recommend to people when I'm mentioning events that I know in the area up there. Because it's not one that you hear a lot about, Galston.

00:45:00Oliver Spake: Yeah, fair point. Beautiful location, even just for a walk or a picnic. I'm with you there.

00:45:05Melissa Ellis: Okay, me next? Yes. Okay, Chris Fraser. Keeping on theme with this week's episode, Bread Rocks at Shell Cove is the nearest sausage roll to Shellharbour parkrun. 1.7 by road, considerably less as the seagull flies. It was also my bakery in NENDY, so I had to give it a shot. A little on the slender side, but a four-star offering all the same will be a pleasant spot to partake in baked goods once the new Marina Promenade opens. So what's this new Marina Promenade, Ollie? Please tell me.

00:45:39Oliver Spake: I'm glad you asked. So right near Shellharbour parkrun is the, well, Shellharbour parkrun is part of the greater Shellharbour city area, but Shell Cove is adjacent. It's pretty much over the hill. And for some years now, there's been a new marina under construction. So full excavation and opening. And it's mighty close now to said marina actually opening, so much so that they've got their Woolies, they've got their cafes, bakeries, Red Rocks. I'm a big fan of, in fact, Hannah and I have a habit every Friday morning of going down, grabbing our coffee and then walking past the bakery and grabbing our Danish. So yes, lovely area. And Chris is right. It's starting to build up. And when the marina opens, it's supposed to be a 200 to 300 berth marina. So lots of boats.

00:46:31Melissa Ellis: Sounds nice. And I've realised that when I was in town a couple of years ago for the inaugural parkrun adventure listener meetup, I really didn't get a good feel for Shellharbour area.

00:46:41Oliver Spake: Yeah, I think if I recall correctly, you got to explore sort of the broader area, you know, the escarpment, the Wollongong area with the run on the Sunday. But yeah, that's probably the case.

00:46:53Melissa Ellis: Anyway, have to come back. That's my thoughts. That's right. Have to come back.

00:46:56Oliver Spake: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, we've got a hill you can train on for Bathurst.

00:47:00Melissa Ellis: Yeah, okay.

00:47:01Oliver Spake: And we heard from Ingrid Botha. RD, on a bright, clear morning at Dolls Point today, it was a great position to see some really inspiring efforts today right throughout the finishes. Good work, Ingrid. And I failed to mention before that my longest run finished at Dolls Point, so it was good to get back there, albeit a little broken by that point.

00:47:21Melissa Ellis: I'm sure you overplay the broken bit. And we've got marvellous Mark back this week. Run Director at Wagi Bridge today on a cool Canberra morning. I was meant to be RD last week as well, but had to call in sick with man flu. Remember to stay at home and rest if you are sick, parkrunners, even if you are volunteering. And that is a great point, Mark. Thank you for reminding us. Stay at home if you are not well.

00:47:49Oliver Spake: Yes. Well, good to hear you back and thank you for volunteering. And we heard from Val Warwick. Today's coffee was celebrating with the newest parkrunner at home in Devonport, young Bryce. His mum was one of our original RDs and when Bryce was getting too quick for her, Steve was the first to run him to a new PB when he was under 11. Others then took Steve's place as he got faster and faster. He is now in high school and it's great to see this young man enjoying his running so much. No sausage rolls, no snot logs, just three coffees, a hot chocolate and fabulous company. And who needs more than that on a Saturday morning? By the way, the biggest and best sausage roll in the land down under can be found in Pingrup in WA, nowhere near a parkrun. You'll have to take Steve's word for that. It was so full of gluten I could not partake.

00:48:43Melissa Ellis: That sounds pretty impressive. And we did see the pictures that Val posted of said sausage rolls in the, what do you call it, the display case, I guess, Ollie? Yeah, yeah. For context against other baked goods, and they were massive. Yeah. I'm sure the stat man will be on the case if he has the opportunity to be out that way.

00:49:05Oliver Spake: Sounds like we need another parkrun in WA there.

00:49:08Melissa Ellis: Closer to the baked goods.

00:49:11Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:49:12Melissa Ellis: And Sam Schroder. I scanned barcodes. Luke walked Sandon Point parkrun today. Someone might have had a cheeky raspberry and white chocolate muffin from Bulli Beach Cafe. Balance. Yeah, I would too, Sam. And we also heard from Bernadette Bennett.

00:49:25[12 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:49:37Oliver Spake: And I was particularly impressed at the costume. Zali, actually, I was showing Zali. She liked the theme as well. So well done and happy birthday to Newy.

00:49:44[17 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:50:01Melissa Ellis: And I'm just happy with any parkrun that has brunch at the Bolo. I just love that. It's just so Aussie. Yeah.

00:50:10Oliver Spake: going to the bolo yeah and and it was great we did note also some additional context in the conversation there Newy organised abc Newcastle outside broadcast for the morning so they interviewed some parkrunners rowing club members dragon boaters Dave robo as well and as we all know a legend of the area and the original Newy ed and as Bernadette said yeah I got to walk the talent to the start line so he could do the countdown and then throw to the 8am news. It was all very punctual this morning.

00:50:40Melissa Ellis: Yes. Well done, Bernadette.

00:50:42Oliver Spake: Yeah. Must have felt pretty special. Yes.

00:50:44Melissa Ellis: And Ollie, we had a reply from Mscholary. To get to Shellharbour parkrun this morning, we had to travel seven kilometres just so I could get my morning coffee from Bean Roasted in Shellharbour, which opened at seven o'clock. That meant we got to parkrun just after 7am. And to celebrate Shellharbour parkrun's seventh anniversary, I wore seven balloons from my birthday, which was seven days ago. That means I have been volunteering now for seven years. And after it warmed up beyond seven degrees, I took off seven layers of clothing so you could see my new parkrun shirt. Love, Em from Shellharbour. Thank you, Em.

00:51:24Oliver Spake: Yes, thank you, Em. And, yeah, I'll guarantee that, yeah, Em was dressed very warmly, so...

00:51:31Melissa Ellis: And the photo she shared, one of the photos was from her 21st birthday party and she looked beautiful.

00:51:38Oliver Spake: Looked amazing, didn't she? Yeah, she's fittingly had a big celebration, potentially been celebrating all seven days. And hey, Em, if you're listening, hope it's still going.

00:51:48Melissa Ellis: And thanks for sharing the photos, Em. We appreciated that.

00:51:51Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. And maybe you picked up on the theme there too, Mel.

00:51:55Melissa Ellis: Seven. Yeah. It's my lucky number.

00:51:59Oliver Spake: Oh, there you go. There you go. I should have focused a bit more on Shellharbour this week.

00:52:03Melissa Ellis: Yeah, we can't hear enough about it. Shell who?

00:52:08Oliver Spake: Moving on. We also heard from Michelle Zaluka. And I'm just going to say sorry, Michelle, but thank you. Dzień dobry was Michelle's comment. [Polish: "Good day / good morning — the hosts gloss it themselves at [00:52:23] "I do believe it was good morning.""]

00:52:19Melissa Ellis: Nice work, Ollie, because that's just way better than I would have managed. But I do believe it was good morning.

00:52:26Oliver Spake: It was.

00:52:26Melissa Ellis: Yes. So thank you. Can you reply, Ollie?

00:52:30Oliver Spake: Now, I had done my research, but I've forgotten.

00:52:33Melissa Ellis: I don't know how to pronounce it. You've written it down, but I don't know how to say it.

00:52:37Oliver Spake: We could say good evening. That's the one I wrote down. So dobry wieczór is my understanding there, but I'm butchering it consistently there. [Polish: "Good evening — glossed on air at [00:52:37] "We could say good evening. That's the one I wrote down.""]

00:52:48Melissa Ellis: But at least we're trying. We're trying. That's right. Well, you're trying. Well, I tried. I only wrote it in written form, my Polish. But in any case, we're embracing Poland.

00:53:01Oliver Spake: No, I think the more we talk about it. If I could have a good Polish language lesson, I have to reach out to a couple of the local Polish runners here. Maybe they can give me a few tips because it's great. We're obviously celebrating Poland's return. It's great to take on a few more things. And if I can learn a few words and maybe to speak less offensively in the language, then I'd enjoy that.

00:53:24Melissa Ellis: I'm sure they won't be cross with us because we're giving it a go.

00:53:27Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:53:28Melissa Ellis: And Janet Reid, quick coffee and park faff at Lochiel Park today. No sausage rolls, no vanilla slices, just a delicious, hot, skinny, flat white. Then off to a family lunch at a local cellar door. Happy me. And I would be too if I was off to a cellar door.

00:53:46Oliver Spake: That's right. And Tamsin Smith, still not parkrunning in England, but I was excited to hear a mention of Heartlands parkrun, which is likely to be my return parkrun. It's a lovely course that shows off some of Cornwall's mining heritage. It's mostly pancake flat with tarmac paths, so you can get done quick times there. But I'd argue the best Cornish pasties are from Phillips Bakery in Hayle, which is closer than St. Ives. And she did share a pic from her Christmas Day 2019 run when her ugly singlet was in the wash, which is appropriate because it would have been after the ugly singlet day.

00:54:26Melissa Ellis: Is Heartlands parkrun, is that the one that you mentioned last week, Ollie, that was the closest to the best alleged Cornish pasty in Cornwall?

00:54:36Oliver Spake: That's right. So I was going off my very limited experience. Now we've got a local telling it and fortunate that it does still link back to Heartlands. Yes.

00:54:46Melissa Ellis: Well, thank you, Tamsin. I love that. So you mentioned Heartlands and then we got interaction from Tamsin. That's beautiful. Thank you, Tamsin.

00:54:54Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, and appreciate any more good parkrun or bakery tips along your journeys.

00:55:00Melissa Ellis: We just have to throw out some more contentious issues about random baked goods around the world, Ollie, and we might get more people joining us in the cafe.

00:55:09Oliver Spake: Or we talk about parkruns too, but hey.

00:55:12Melissa Ellis: Well, it seems to be the goods that's getting the interest. And Lee Cabarita, sub 30 at Para. Super happy with that. No dog de sausage this week. Oh.

00:55:28Oliver Spake: No, never mind. Never mind, yeah. But well done, Lee, sub 30, nicely done.

00:55:34Unidentified speaker: Mm-hmm.

00:55:35Oliver Spake: I will add, sorry to keep talking about my own longest run experience, at Parramatta parkrun, I made the point when I got to, it was, this is going to be embarrassing, it was 15.45, wasn't it, Lauren's record run time?

00:55:50Melissa Ellis: Oh, Ball Park, yeah, something like that. Yep, yep.

00:55:53Oliver Spake: Well, if I got it wrong, it's completely off the mark. But I stopped and took a selfie of where I was in the course at that point. Oh, did you? Just to kind of reiterate, yeah, okay, this is how far I've still got to go.

00:56:02Melissa Ellis: I did see lots of photos of you that Paul Rainbow took for the Longest Run event. There was lots of photos of you in your different costumes of the day. Doing lots of zoomies, zoom zooms.

00:56:15Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah, clearly had fun.

00:56:18Melissa Ellis: You're a bit spoilt, Ollie, because I had to take all mine as a selfie. You had photographers. Clearly you're the star.

00:56:26Oliver Spake: I think everyone else had photos as well at the Sydney Longest Run. But again, all thanks to Paul for the photos there. It was a great effort. Yeah, and he still managed to do two and a half Ks at every single run as well.

00:56:38Melissa Ellis: He's a champion.

00:56:39Oliver Spake: Yep.

00:56:39Melissa Ellis: Shout out, Paul.

00:56:41Oliver Spake: Yep. Now, speaking of champions, should we listen to the next one?

00:56:45Melissa Ellis: The Informant.

00:56:46Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:56:47Melissa Ellis: Okay. Yes. Good point, Ollie. Let me throw to the Informant. Let's listen to him now.

00:56:53[music]

the Informant

00:57:02The 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. This week, we were rejoined by 71 events from Poland. We had 308 in Australia, 33 in New Zealand, we had 67 events in Russia, 24 in the USA, 27 in South Africa, 12 in Japan, and 5 in UK territories. That's a total of 547 events worldwide at the time of recording. That includes two launches at Park Modzowie, Poland and Valentine Peak in the USA. Aussie New Zealand attendance was down approximately 1,500 to 32,942 runners out of 42,922 worldwide. We had 4,648 PBs, while 1,076 people participated for the first time. 79 juniors reached their Junior 10 milestone, 168 people reached their 50 milestone, 116 reached their 100 milestone, and 17 people reached their 250 milestone. 20 people called bingo. Ernesto Obeas was quickest with 152 events, and it's Venta was the slowest person taking 291 events. We had two new ACT Territorians in Meg Ryan and Gail Trevorrow. We had four in the Northern Territory in Kathleen Hicks, Carol Gaust, Mark Beach-Jones and Sarah Kennedy. On the top most Aussie New Zealand events list, Kathleen Wellington moves up to equal 12th with Nathan Castle after running at Lota. Kevin Muller moves up one to equal 15th with Tony Jennings after running Baringa. The biggest winner was Roger Luther, who moved up 11 spots to 155. On the other side of the ledger, there were 20 people who dropped three places. 25 people increased their Wilson Index. Biggest mover of the week was Karen Wishart, who increased her Wilson Index from 1 to 26. To see these stats in full, visit theinformant.me, or visit me on Facebook as The Informant. This, for the last time, has been The Informant. Yes, I'm afraid I'm retiring from public life. This newfangled podcasting is a gig for a younger crowd. Despite the image that my outwardly sunny disposition betrays, being a chirpy people pleaser is not really my thing. Do not fret, I will still be here crunching the numbers in the background, but I am hereby permanently handing over the presentation role to someone better sit... well, someone else. This has been the informant, and my spreadsheet remains bigger than yours. Well, um, Mel, what do you think of that?

01:00:02Melissa Ellis: Oh, I feel sad. Ollie, he didn't run this by us. Shouldn't we have meetings about this kind of thing?

01:00:11Oliver Spake: You would think that, you know, with an informant, information is the name of the game. Well, I have to admit, management didn't give us a heads up about this. So I can only assume he's been found out.

01:00:28Melissa Ellis: Oh, do you think so? Yeah. Or he's just not feeling the vibe to put out that chirpy disposition on a weekly basis. That was what I thought.

01:00:42Oliver Spake: Chirpy disposition. Now, are we comparing to someone else there with a chirpy disposition? Yeah.

01:00:49Melissa Ellis: Well, the intern did get a lot of fan mail. So Mel's got his nose put out of joint.

01:00:56Oliver Spake: Yeah. Well, look, respect where it's due. We really appreciate all the help that our informants provided. And I'm with you, Mel. It is sad. It's always sad.

01:01:06Melissa Ellis: I'm going to miss his deep voice.

01:01:08Oliver Spake: That's right. Those dulcet tones. Yeah.

01:01:12Melissa Ellis: He might do cameos. That's right. Maybe he'll, you know, pop in now and again.

01:01:16Oliver Spake: Well, I think that's what we love about the pod is the cameos, you know, the returns of some of the favourites. We've got a lot of favourites from the past there that we, you know, we'd like returns, absolutely, the informants on the list.

01:01:29Melissa Ellis: Maybe we could get guest reporters to read the stats, Ollie.

01:01:33Unidentified speaker: Ooh.

01:01:37Melissa Ellis: I don't know. I didn't run this past you in the meeting.

01:01:42Oliver Spake: There's no consultation in this organisation. They'll have to do it at some date other than parkrun day, clearly. Yeah.

01:01:55Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, so who gets the job? We'll have to workshop that.

01:01:59Oliver Spake: Well, so you submit your applications to parkrunadventurers at gmail.com.

01:02:05Melissa Ellis: Goodness me. Yes. Okay. Yes. That's a bit sad. Anyway, thank you, informant, for one final. I'm going to miss the music.

01:02:14Oliver Spake: Yeah. Yeah, it was spine tingling, I thought. It was.

01:02:20Melissa Ellis: It's very dramatic. Oh, well.

01:02:22Oliver Spake: Yeah. It's not all goodbyes. For some, it's welcome back.

01:02:26Melissa Ellis: Yes. Oh, good segue, Ollie. You're referring to Denmark returning this coming Saturday, which potentially is tomorrow if you're listening to the pod on Friday.

01:02:40Oliver Spake: That's right. Welcome back, Denmark, in advance.

01:02:43Melissa Ellis: We will be Googling your baked goods accordingly for next week's episode.

01:02:48Oliver Spake: And sampling, yes.

01:02:51Melissa Ellis: Yes. So eight events, I believe. And Denmark, to my research, started in May of 2009. So they've been going a while. One of the older countries in the parkrun family.

01:03:08Oliver Spake: So I think that's a very exciting time. We've got a few more returns lined up, but we look forward to celebrating with you, Denmark.

01:03:16Melissa Ellis: Yes, and if Victoria doesn't get to run this week, I guess that's my theme. I'll be running out to see if I can source a Danish flag. I'm not feeling hopeful.

01:03:29Oliver Spake: Princess Mary dress-ups.

01:03:31Melissa Ellis: Oh, mate. Well, I don't know that I could carry that off. That's probably a stretch. But we could have a royal theme, certainly.

01:03:40Oliver Spake: There we go.

01:03:40Melissa Ellis: Tasmanian theme. She's from Tassie.

01:03:42Oliver Spake: I'm all for that. Absolutely.

01:03:44Melissa Ellis: Yes. And, Ollie, we have to make, I guess, reference to what isn't occurring now.

01:03:51Oliver Spake: Yeah, unfortunately, despite a huge amount of effort and I think some great support and great outcomes from parkrun there over in England, we saw that huge groundswell of late permissions coming through and I think a mixture of excitement and exhaustion from many. Mm-hmm, only to have the confirmation from Boris and the gang that stage four has been delayed. So what was to be just a week away is now the 24th of July, as I'm sure many of you will have already heard by now.

01:04:27Melissa Ellis: And I can definitely feel for the UK. We know what that's like in Victoria.

01:04:33Oliver Spake: That's right.

01:04:34Melissa Ellis: But it's still coming.

01:04:35Oliver Spake: It is. Yeah, all of that good work hopefully will pay off even more so with a bit of time to prepare. We'll keep our fingers crossed for you. I won't say any more. Don't you moz them. No, not at all.

01:04:47Melissa Ellis: Oh, good grief. What if it's been our fault this whole time? Or your fault, not mine.

01:04:52Oliver Spake: Take me off the air. But look, we're eagerly awaiting that time. And to all of our listeners over there, our parkrun family.

01:05:01Melissa Ellis: Yeah, Tamsin, Dave. Yes. New parkrun family.

01:05:05Oliver Spake: That's right. Hang in there. Love to still hear from you. I know it's a few more weeks of unplanned not parkruns, but hopefully a junior parkrun experience or four.

01:05:15Melissa Ellis: I'm assuming that junior parkrun in the UK is doing really well out of this, though.

01:05:19Oliver Spake: Well, it certainly sounds like it's been well supported and well attended, listening to obviously some of our fellow pod friends. I think it's just delightful to hear the amount of enthusiasm and just how much appreciation is going out there to our Junior parkrun volunteers. So well done, everyone.

01:05:38Melissa Ellis: I've still got fingers crossed that Eynesbury Heritage Trail Junior parkrun will be back this week. Yes. But who only knows, Ollie. Yeah, that's right. So as of today, oh, well, we are recording this outro on Wednesday evening, the 16th of June.

01:05:54Oliver Spake: Recording secret, yep.

01:05:57Melissa Ellis: Yeah, there was a slight delay between recording the intro and the outro, but restrictions are lifting in Victoria, giving us hope that we could potentially be back on Saturday, but as is the case usually. There's no definitive answer yet. Yeah, yeah. So we still don't know. We're still waiting. So we mad scramble to fill some volunteer rosters across the state if we get the go-ahead. And all our fingers are crossed.

01:06:25Oliver Spake: Well and truly.

01:06:26Melissa Ellis: Because I've got a puddle. I need to get back there. Quick.

01:06:30Oliver Spake: Before it all evaporates. Yes.

01:06:33Melissa Ellis: Hurry up.

01:06:34Oliver Spake: Yeah. Yeah, well, Mel, I suppose it's the waiting game for anyone out there enjoying a (not)parkrun or hoping for a parkrun or a junior parkrun there. Hopefully the good news comes. But, you know, whatever your adventure, as always, you can contact us via Facebook or on our email, parkrunadventurers at gmail.com.

Sign-off

01:06:57Melissa Ellis: Yes. And, Ollie, I think that's it for another week. Yeah. We'll see you next week for more adventures.

01:07:59guest: Hi Mel and Ollie. We did a (not)parkrun today down at the river and it was very loud and me and my sister dressed up as stormtroopers. We had lots of fun. Bye.