Episode 255 - Nottie Time to Die

Welcome

00:00:23Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 255 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. My name is Melissa Ellis and I'm joined by someone celebrating another orbit of the sun this very week, Ollie Spake. Tell me Ollie, is it an age category birthday?

00:00:42Oliver Spake: Thank you, Mel. No, it's anticlimactic. It's just an age birthday. Yeah.

00:00:49Melissa Ellis: Right.

00:00:50Oliver Spake: Yeah. Yeah. It's just one of those try harder ones.

00:00:56Melissa Ellis: Participation award.

00:00:57Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. I've had plenty of those in my lifetime. That takes me back to third grade soccer. Yes, I do look forward to the age category birthday. I remember coming second just after my last age category level up, and I should remember this. Maybe I came first at one stage in the category, but something to aim for.

00:01:23Melissa Ellis: Yes. Very good. And how was your (not)parkrun morning?

00:01:28Oliver Spake: It was a fairly quiet affair. I think I slept in a little bit, to be perfectly honest, took advantage of that, but made it out for a (not)parkrun and made it out through the dog park on my altered Bass Point Not parkrun. So I was out running with the doggies again.

00:01:49Melissa Ellis: Oh, nice.

00:01:50Oliver Spake: Yeah, beautiful morning, beautiful weather.

00:01:52Melissa Ellis: Because Killalea is no dogs, isn't it?

00:01:55Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. That's why it's such a novelty for me. Yeah, nothing against poor Sphinxie here, my kitty cat. But it's been a long time since I've had a dog in the family and a dog around at parkrun Day for sure. So to be able to run, it's mostly an off-leash dog area. So I don't want to lead the doggies astray. So I do pick my path and usually the 5Ks winds up a bit earlier than I'd expected because I'm zigzagging through the fields there trying to give the doggies a wide berth. But it makes it a bit more fun. And it was also a special not parkrun because I was at Dandenong.

00:02:32Melissa Ellis: Oh, fabulous.

00:02:34Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah. So I was at Dandenong with the dogs.

00:02:36Melissa Ellis: Excellent. Out in Victoria.

00:02:39Oliver Spake: And what about yours, Mel? Was it a thrill?

00:02:46Melissa Ellis: Yes, so I have to give credit to Bruce who gave this suggestion to me for a 007 James Bond theme due to the release of the latest Bond film.

00:03:00Oliver Spake: Yes. Well done, Bruce.

00:03:02Melissa Ellis: I know. He is providing a lot of content at the moment. He also came up with Septober, so I'm thinking we need to put him on the payroll, Ollie. He may need to come into the... into the inner circle of the creative brainstorming because he's doing pretty well at the moment. But, yeah, so the theme was James Bond. It was a red carpet and Desiree had his bow tie and a bit of a Hollywood premiere theme. But I've got an announcement.

00:03:33Oliver Spake: Okay.

00:03:33Melissa Ellis: I'm retiring the themes, the Saturday morning themes. I can't do it anymore, Ollie. I'm just, I've got nothing left. Okay.

00:03:44Oliver Spake: I was about to say let's cue the dramatic music and, hey, maybe post-production. But I think that's fair enough. I think when there's a good innings, you've got to applaud that, which is what I choose to do, applaud you for a magnificent array of not parkrun themes. And that's many, many, many more than I have managed to theme my (not)parkruns and many of us have managed to name – caught up in the emotion, Mel. Many more than many of us or any of us have managed to theme our own not parkruns. So your efforts are stellar and I think it's a well-deserved break from themes.

00:04:27Melissa Ellis: Thank you. I just need a couple of weeks. I need time off the stress of trying to come up with it every week. And I know I got to this point at the end of the last lockdown last year. I sort of scraped through until we got real parkrun back. But I've been hanging on, but I'm done.

00:04:52Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:04:53Melissa Ellis: So, of course, I'll still run. I'll still do Ellis Palace parkrun unofficial every week. But, yeah, the themes, I've got to draw the line. I've got to call time on it. Anyway, so let's bring the vibe back up.

00:05:08Oliver Spake: Well, I mean, yeah, big news. But, again, good cause to celebrate. And look, Mel, I suppose, you know, that is a nice way to enter the new month. I know you've already had an October not parkrun, but looking forward, maybe we better take a moment and also look back.

Streaky September

00:05:25Oliver Spake: Streaky September. How was it? Did you keep the streak alive?

00:05:28Melissa Ellis: I did. I completed the whole month and I'm still going.

00:05:31Oliver Spake: Well done.

00:05:32Melissa Ellis: Yes, I really enjoyed Streaky September. I loved the way that the community got behind it. The challenges, I think, were the bingo challenges were very well received and there was a lot of even unofficial bingo challenges happening over in the Streaky September Facebook group.

00:05:51Oliver Spake: Yes, what an inspiring bunch. Continuing to throw new ideas and new ways to turn a streak into something even more exciting. So thank you everyone for keeping that alive throughout the month and taking it forward.

00:06:05Melissa Ellis: Did you get to complete your last bingo challenges, Ollie?

00:06:09Oliver Spake: I think it's a matter of interpretation, Mel. I had some variations on the flightless bird. I did have some plans to go across to our nearby local airport where there is a grounded 747 no longer in operation. I thought that could be my flightless bird. But alas, I didn't make it. And look, truth be told, my camera roll still has a number of pictures that I had grand plans to share but caught up in the excitement of last week because it was a bit of a crazy week. I thought I'll just make it to the end of streaky September and that was my priority. I have managed to do my spelling challenge. In the end, it wasn't necessarily spelling. It was the Pirate Club. Excellent. And little did I know... I sailed eight seas before I'd even realised and celebrated with an R. And I did chronicle my local community, which had me thinking, you know the security checks? Now, I think they're captcha or something like that.

00:07:18Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:07:18Oliver Spake: When you log into something and you've got to select the street signs or the traffic lights or all of those. Bicycles. Bicycles, yeah. Look, I was chronicling my local community and I haven't shared it on the page, but I quickly realised all my photos were through fences. There's not much construction going on here. everything had a little nine-square captcha. So, yeah, I could play a little game and select the streets through that. It was only when I came across a bush of these beautiful cockatoos just hanging sideways and some even upside down, having a good feed and a good laugh in the morning did I realise I was the flightless bird. I was all caged in. And they were having a good laugh at that. So... I didn't take a selfie, but there's my interpretive flightless bird.

00:08:13Melissa Ellis: No, that's good. I like it.

00:08:14Oliver Spake: In a plea to complete my Bingoe card because I completed everything else.

00:08:18Melissa Ellis: No, I'll pay that. I also have the construction issues every time I want to take a photo. It's really annoying to have a port-a-loo in the background of your photo. Regarding the temporary fencing issue, if you get your phone up really close and you can actually have – Like through the middle.

00:08:38Oliver Spake: Through the square.

00:08:39Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:08:40Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:08:40Melissa Ellis: That's how I work it. But even my street signs, most of it, I was trying to angle it so I just had sky and not half-built houses in the background. So, yeah, well done.

Septoberalphabet not parkrun challenge

00:08:52Melissa Ellis: Good work. And what about Septober? Septober. You said you've done Dandenong, so you've got to D.

00:08:59Oliver Spake: I have, yes, yes. You're absolutely right. There were three before that. There's been one since. So I look forward to making it to F next.

00:09:11Melissa Ellis: Oh, Ollie, where did you go for E?

00:09:13Oliver Spake: Oh, I went to East Richmond, Mel. Oh. I was tempted to go to Echuca Moama, almost made it there. But East Richmond I've done, well, we've done as a Freedom Run. Yes. That's right. So on the longest run.

00:09:29Melissa Ellis: Longest run day.

00:09:29Oliver Spake: So, look, I've been trying to select parkruns in lockdown and so far have been true to that. And parkruns that I am yet to do as official parkruns. I'm sure that that streak's going to be broken, but so far so good.

00:09:47Melissa Ellis: Well, Ollie, after my big announcement last week that I was going to do parkruns that I hadn't done where I could visit somebody, I got to D and I couldn't find one where I knew anybody. Yeah. So I managed four for the last week. I chose Darwin. Yep. I don't know anybody up there. But, you know, when you're a parkrunner, everybody's your friend. So I think there's plenty of friends I just haven't met yet.

00:10:13Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right.

00:10:14Melissa Ellis: At Darwin. Yes. And I need to get to Northern Territory. I haven't done that state. So Darwin seemed like a good choice. E, I thought I'd go to Ecco Ripley.

00:10:24Oliver Spake: Ah. Of course.

00:10:25Melissa Ellis: And catch up with Tracy, Tracey in training, because she was there recently, so I figure it's within reach for her. Yep. I did Fingal Bay.

00:10:34Oliver Spake: Ah, yes.

00:10:36Melissa Ellis: Because I've heard plenty of reports of how beautiful it is there at Fingal Bay. And for G, I headed over to South Australia to Gawler, hoping that Janet could catch up with me at Gawler.

00:10:51Unidentified speaker: Hmm.

00:10:52Oliver Spake: I think that's a spectacular effort and I'm sure that there are plenty of friends in waiting up at Darwin when we finally get to pull off some of these parkrun tourism plans ourselves.

00:11:04Melissa Ellis: Yes, one day.

00:11:06Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:11:07Melissa Ellis: I need that music, you know, that dream sequence music. I spend way too much time trying to find sound effects.

00:11:16Oliver Spake: I think we could introduce a new segment, imaginary parkruns. Now, Mel, another challenge that has been, I think, hot on the discussion, the water cooler discussion at the moment, the Fibonacci challenge. It seems to be getting a bit of a rap. Did you look up yours? I have not.

00:11:37Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Well, I'll give you a tip. If you go to that 5K app, it's all there for you and it saves you all the hard work. Sadly, I discovered that after I did all the hard work.

00:11:48Oliver Spake: That was a helpful tip. Yes.

00:11:50Melissa Ellis: I'd already gone and Googled Fibonacci numbers and gone searching through my parkrun history to find out what I needed. So I need number 13, number 21 and number 55 to get me to 233. Now that may seem really grand, but in actual fact it means I'm sitting on eight.

00:12:14Oliver Spake: Eight sounds grand too from where I'm standing. Most indexes I'm still on one.

00:12:21Melissa Ellis: But another thing, it's been added to the spreadsheet, something else to track one day when we get those things called parkrun back.

00:12:29Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. Okay. So I've got some homework. I do need to complete that. For some reason, I did have a few app related issues. So I'll keep working on that. I don't know what our budget is for tech support, but... I guess if the question is do we put Bruce on the budget or tech support, we'll go with Bruce. I'll try and solve the app problem myself.

00:12:51Melissa Ellis: While we're on the subject of apps, have you done any more zombie runs?

00:12:56Oliver Spake: I have done only two more, I think, since last talk. So you'll probably be catching up on me, Mel. I reckon Abel Township must be preferring you much more than me at the moment.

00:13:10Melissa Ellis: I'm getting really attached to Sam. Yeah. That voice, you know, it's very reassuring when you're running along.

00:13:16Oliver Spake: Yeah. No, I'm with you there. I'm with you there. And I trust you've been making it back safely.

00:13:21Melissa Ellis: I have. And do you know, and I quite like listening to Eugene and, is it Jack?

00:13:26Oliver Spake: Yep.

00:13:27Melissa Ellis: In the radio, what's it called? Is it Abel Radio?

00:13:31Oliver Spake: Abel Radio? Yeah, that's right, I believe. Karen can tell us. Yep.

00:13:35Melissa Ellis: Anyway, do you know, at the end, when they sign off, they say, guess what they say? They say, stay safe. Just like our very own Abby.

00:13:44Oliver Spake: Wow.

00:13:44Melissa Ellis: I have a little smile every time I hear him say it because I'm like, oh, they copy Abby.

00:13:51Oliver Spake: That's very sweet. It's not possible that Abby's a runner five as well, is it? Surely not. Surely not. But yes, great minds think alike in that respect. But Mel, I suppose, you know, we've been talking make-believe parkruns and challenges.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:14:07Oliver Spake: It's not lost on me that while we've been chatting, there are a number of our Channel 5 News crew that have been out on the road and keeping very busy and they've recorded some roving reports. So should we have a listen, Mel?

00:14:21Melissa Ellis: I think so. Okay.

Roving report Paul Kitching — The Avenues

00:14:31Paul Kitching: G'day legends, it's PK here checking in for another roving report for the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am coming to you live from the Avenues. The Avenues parkrun in Kuitpo Forest which is fantastic and absolutely stunning and I'm chatting here with Steve. G'day Steve, how are you mate? Good thanks. Just waiting for, you're the Run Director, Event Director, well man, everything today.

00:14:53Steve: Yeah, a bit of everything today. Down on volunteers a bit.

00:14:56Paul Kitching: Yeah, I noticed. But here comes some over the line, which is awesome. I won't interrupt you. No, that's fine. I'll let Steve just finish off there and come back to him in a minute. I felt absolutely terrible, actually, as most keen parkrunners would or those who volunteer would when Steve, during his welcome speech, said, so we don't actually have someone to do the first time briefing. We don't have someone to actually do the timing. We don't have a photographer. It was, yeah. And, of course, I was like, oh, come all this way to Kuitpo. Should I just? not run, she'll actually do one of those roles. And then my daughter, God bless her, said, Dad, you don't have to be a hero all the time. So I'm going to take that one as a compliment. Yes, I just heard Steve talk up the Mighty Blues. Yep, well done. Go Trace. Well done. But, Steve, thank you. I was just saying how gutted I was that I couldn't volunteer, that I wanted to volunteer, but then my daughter said, no, no, you don't need to, mate. Well, anyway.

00:15:53Steve: You need to do the course to see how beautiful it is.

00:15:55Paul Kitching: That's it, mate. It's beautiful out there. So you obviously, I know Greta's spoken to you a while ago, but I thought, mate, I'm here. I may as well have a quick chat. You do this course quite a bit, or you've done it before you turned it into a parkrun course?

00:16:06Steve: Yeah, I'm a Clarendon local, so I bring the girls up here in the double pram and Tom behind the bike and get out here and see nature.

00:16:15Paul Kitching: Oh, mate, and we sure did today. What a fantastic course. Is there a reason why you chose the exact course that we're on? I mean, obviously, there's lots of turns here and there.

00:16:26Steve: And I loved it. Mainly because it's a mix of pine plantation, gum plantations and natural scrub. We've also got the Big Avenues car park, so plenty of space for people to park with the old drop pit toilet.

00:16:40Paul Kitching: Yeah, I know, right?

00:16:41Steve: Facilities.

00:16:42Paul Kitching: Oh, it's great.

00:16:42Steve: Bit old school.

00:16:43Paul Kitching: No, I love it. And I hear if you come here in winter, you might even get a fire, a fire pit.

00:16:48Steve: uh yeah if someone gets it up and running usually some sometimes it's running on a Friday night from someone having a bonfire there so nice we just Stoke it up again I love it I love it um mate and I must say uh how awesome it was to have the cones out there by the way that was amazing thank you yeah well we've had a few issues in weeks losing people so we're getting better at doing the cones now and we seem to use less

00:17:10Paul Kitching: Yeah, well, no, I certainly needed it. Sorry, mate. I know you're trying to concentrate on people coming over the line. Well, yeah, look, I'll let you keep working, mate. I just wanted to say thank you so much. Mate, I loved it. It was very clever having the cones there because I knew which way not to go. It was very cool. And congratulations on a beautiful course.

00:17:27Steve: No, thank you.

00:17:28Paul Kitching: Good on you, mate. Cheers. Cheers. Getting back to my squad here. And that's me saying goodbye. Farewell. Goodbye. Goodbye. And it's goodbye from me and it's goodbye from him.

00:17:38Unidentified speaker: The Avenues.

00:17:39Paul Kitching: The Avenues, him.

Roving report Tracey Wood — Old Thomson River Road

00:17:39Paul Kitching: Thank you, bye.

00:17:40Tracey Wood: Good morning, parkrunners. It's Trainee Tracey and I've taken my tutu and toured out west. Now, if I said I was at the Longreach of the Old Thomson River, where would I be? Yes, I'm at Old Thomson River Road parkrun at Longreach. It's 11 degrees. I can't believe it. Strange enough, it's going to be 40 degrees tomorrow. But I'm here nice and early. I found my way. There's people around, and it looks like things are happening, so I'm going to go find a local to talk to. Righto, I found a bloke here who looks like he knows what he's doing. Good morning, Anthony. Good morning. What's your job today?

00:18:22Anthony: I'm the Run Director today at Old Thomson River Road parkrun in Longreach.

00:18:25Tracey Wood: Right, and you were just saying that it's not a very old parkrun.

00:18:28Anthony: No, we just started at the end of December in 2020, just after the COVID restrictions left, so we were ready and raring to go all through 2020, but had to wait, unfortunately.

00:18:37Tracey Wood: And the other fellow was just saying that this is a fairly new park area as well. We're standing next to a little lagoon.

00:18:46Anthony: Lagoon sounds very, very promising.

00:18:49Tracey Wood: It might be a bit of a stretch. It is pretty anyway. It's got a nice fountain in the middle, but that wasn't here a while ago.

00:18:56Anthony: No, that's right. So this is actually part of the water treatment plan for the town. And the council in 2019 did it up and put in the fountain and just made it a bit more pleasant. And it was just really good timing for us to set up the parkrun to start in 2020.

00:19:10Tracey Wood: Yeah, excellent. Now, can you tell me about Old Thomson River parkrun course?

00:19:15Anthony: Yep, yep. It has been nominated. I'm not sure if it's won, but as the straightest and flattest parkrun in Australia. We're very, very lucky to have the old, it's actually the old highway to Winton, which is now closed off after the new road was built. And it's just available to pedestrians and cyclists. And so the council's made it available to us every Saturday. um and it um it's just 2.2 kilometres straight out into the outback into the bush and the never never turn around come back unfortunately when you get back to the start you've only done 4.4 so you've got to run another 600 metres before you actually finish so that tricks up some visitors sometimes

00:19:52Tracey Wood: Right. So you're saying I won't get lost unless I get captured by something or eaten by a few drop bears and hoop snakes. That's right.

00:19:59Anthony: We've had a few kind of hazards on the course. So, you know, sometimes there's roos, emus. We haven't had any reports of a snake, which is great. But a few weeks ago, we did have some horses out there which were very interested in the runners and followed them around. So, you know, whatever your face on the day, you've just got to deal with, just like life in Longreach. Yeah.

00:20:18Tracey Wood: Because I see you're also on Event Day Course Check today as well.

00:20:22Anthony: That's right. Yeah.

00:20:23Tracey Wood: And so you've obviously sussed it out and there's nothing out there. It's looking good today.

00:20:27Anthony: Mostly the biggest thing we have to check for is water. So if there's been a bit of rain, it does come up across the road sometimes. So we check that every Saturday particularly. And there was a bit of rain this week, but it's looking really sweet today.

00:20:39Tracey Wood: Yes. Excellent. And how many parkrunners do you usually get here?

00:20:42Anthony: Our average is 55, so numbers dropped off a little bit in the wintertime when it got a bit dark and a bit cold, but it's starting to build up again now. The most we've had is about 103 back about last February, I think.

00:20:55Tracey Wood: Yeah, you were saying a few more interstate visitors.

00:20:58Anthony: Yeah, definitely. Well, during the winter months, there's been more runners and fewer walkers, I think, which has been a bit sad because we want to encourage the community to get out there and do some physical activity on a Saturday morning, have a coffee and engage with each other. So that's certainly our aim here.

00:21:15Tracey Wood: Have you had an impact on the community at all?

00:21:18Anthony: It seems to have been really, really well received, particularly for an outback parkrun in a small town. People talk about it. There's a bit of a buzz about it. We run some regular events. In May, the council was kind enough to give us some fresh fruit and water as part of their healthy living month every Saturday. So we kind of had a bit of a picnic after parkrun every Saturday for the whole of May, which was great. Other people have kind of, you know, used the event to raise awareness of different kind of conditions or things. We've had a special Anzac Day event. So it does seem to have been well received and we've been really pleased with the response.

00:21:53Tracey Wood: And are you attached to a running club as well?

00:21:56Anthony: No. We kind of started a bit from scratch. Longreach, surprisingly, has a lot of activity. There's some really active triathletes in town.

00:22:06Tracey Wood: I have seen cyclists on the highway. That's right.

00:22:08Anthony: So they take their lives into their hands. But no, we're not aligned to any specific running club.

00:22:14Tracey Wood: Excellent. All right. Well, thank you for having me this morning, Anthony.

00:22:18Anthony: Absolutely. Thanks for coming along. We really appreciate it.

00:22:20Tracey Wood: This looks awesome. And thanks for chatting with me.

00:22:23Anthony: My pleasure.

00:22:24Tracey Wood: Alright, I've corralled a couple of ladies here to have a chat with. Who have I got? My name's Danielle. My name's Lindy. Hello and welcome to you both and thank you for chatting with me. Now, I was just asking about some locals here and you tell me that you've just moved here three weeks ago.

00:22:41Danielle: Yeah, oh, it's probably about maybe seven weeks now. But yeah, I just moved from Brisbane. But I've been coming to the parkrun since I've moved here. So that'll probably be about seven parkruns in Longreach.

00:22:52Tracey Wood: I'd consider that a local. And what about you, Lindy?

00:22:55Lindy: Oh, well, first of all, welcome to the new local. Thank you, thank you. I'm like a medium local. I've been here for about three years now.

00:23:03Tracey Wood: Is it true in the outback that you have to stay here for about 15 years, 15, 20 years before you are local or what?

00:23:10Danielle: I've heard this rumour that there's a river in Longreach and if you cross it, the Thomson River, if you cross it enough times, you become a local. Have you heard that yet?

00:23:17Lindy: Well, I've heard that you've either got to be born here or you've got to have a baby here, so watch out. LAUGHTER No!

00:23:21[laughter]

00:23:24Tracey Wood: Oh, okay. No worries. Now, both of you ladies have obviously done this course before. Yeah. And I'm told it's out and back, and no worries about that. No other hazards I should watch out for. You know, no stray roos are going to jump on me.

00:23:42Lindy: Sometimes there'll be a few kangaroos, but they won't jump on you. And it's an easy course to follow because there's around about zero corners, yeah no hills either very flat in Longreach yeah no it's good and Lindy have you been coming to the parkrun in all that in all the time since it started uh I wasn't here for the first couple because I was out of town um but since I've come back I've tried to get to as many as I can yeah and why do you keep coming back Look, it's a great reason to do your exercise each week. The goal is, yes, I'm going to fit that parkrun in on a Saturday morning. So I like to add it into my exercise routine. It's also fantastic to catch up with other people and meet some new locals.

00:24:29Tracey Wood: Excellent. It sounds like a bit of shouting is going on, so I might end that there. And thank you for chatting with me.

00:24:30[other]

00:24:35Unidentified speaker: Thank you.

00:24:38Tracey Wood: Okay, I've just found a finisher here. He tells me he's not the first finisher, but the course record holder. Would that be correct?

00:24:44Dan Prosser: That's correct. Today, I was just going out there and more or less pacing my friend, Ben Galea, who had a monstrous run, actually got a PB himself. So he went from 1936 or something like that to 1917. So a huge, huge gain for him. And yeah, good for me. I'm a bit sore from training during the week. So it was a good hit out for sure.

00:25:03Tracey Wood: Excellent. Sorry, I forgot to ask your name.

00:25:05Dan Prosser: Dan Prosser.

00:25:06Tracey Wood: Dan.

00:25:06Dan Prosser: Yeah.

00:25:06Tracey Wood: And Dan, tell me about your training plans. You're doing a marathon next week.

00:25:10Dan Prosser: Yes, I'm currently sort of in a bit of a taper, a bit of a limbo before the race. I'm hoping to go to the sunny coast and run a 2.48.48, which would be just under four minute Ks for the marathon, which would be amazing. See how we go, honestly. I don't think I'll... I think positively about it, but I don't know for sure that it's going to be this time that I do it. But I give my best shot, hopefully get around the 250 mark or something like that. And March next year, I'll go back to my hometown, which is Noosa. Yes. And do the Noosa Marathon, I think early March, April, whenever it is. Go for it then. But I'm not ruling it out this time. So, you know, fingers crossed in a week's time, I've got the new marathon PB. Yeah.

00:25:47Tracey Wood: Yeah, awesome. You got a few other events on your radar?

00:25:50Dan Prosser: Funnily enough, ultra stuff next year. I've just started dabbling into some ultra trail running this year. Went to the Simpson Desert Ultra outside Birdsville, which was amazing. Tried to do 100Ks. Was a bit ambitious with my expected time, so I had to get cut off at 75. I've also done dead cow gully in around Wanda Kingaroy area, which was just awesome. It's sort of this great lap last man standing type thing. Yeah, which is awesome. I'll do that again next year. I'll do the Simpson Desert Ultra again next year. There's a new run coming out in Wanda as well. I think Western Branch 100 that just got announced recently. So hoping I can get the marathon out of the way at the start of the year so I can stop training for it and start focusing more on doing some longer stuff. But we'll see how we go.

00:26:33Tracey Wood: Yeah. And how many times have you done Longreach parkrun?

00:26:36Dan Prosser: Oh, well, funnily enough, last week was my 50th parkrun, which was great. I signed up for my free shirt a few days ago, so that'll be coming soon.

00:26:45Steve: Good on you.

00:26:46Dan Prosser: I've probably done the Longreach parkrun, most weeks it's been on since late last year when it started. So I'd probably say about 50, about 30 times maybe, 20, 25 times. Is it worth it?

00:27:00Tracey Wood: parkruns you've done and can you name your top three parkruns?

00:27:03Dan Prosser: I can, I can. These are my favourite top three. So my home parkrun is the Noosa parkrun. It can get pretty hot and it's got some sort of very light undulating hills in it but it's where I sit most of my home turf I guess so I love it. It's a parkrun for number two that actually no longer exists. I think there were some problems with some locals and some complaints made which is a big shame town of seaside I love town of seaside so I got my until I got my new 5k PB here um it'd be my long-standing like four-year PB 17 30 something so that was a great run super fast but you know it's gone now so unfortunately and then number three would be of course Longreach you got to gonna represent the home team now it's I love it out here the the volunteers are awesome the crew's great I know pretty much everyone that does it yeah um the course is good it's pretty uh straightforward but um you know sometimes you want a sort of fastish run the only thing about this course I don't think people it looks easy but uh it can be really windy really really windy and I find that can add like 15 seconds under your time or something like that I don't Um, funnily enough, it started last year heading into the warm months. So everyone that started doing it and sort of kept it alive managed to do it all through summer. So as much as, yeah, it is kind of, uh, it does get warm. Um, it's still, it's, it can be, it's quite nice, but we, we do love it during winter. Yeah. Well, yeah, in the middle of winter, it can get a bit frosty. But yeah, this morning was perfect.

00:28:42Tracey Wood: What a cracker.

00:28:43Dan Prosser: Oh, yeah, superb. And the wind wasn't too bad either. So yeah, a great day for focusing around and going to do some personal best. So I think there's a few people actually did some personal best today.

00:28:52Tracey Wood: So look, thanks for chatting with me. And good luck for next week.

00:28:55Dan Prosser: No worries. Thank you. And yeah, good luck with your million parkruns. Catch a ride somewhere. Yeah, for sure.

00:29:04Tracey Wood: Okay it's Tracey in a Tutu signing off from Longreach parkrun. I've just been to breakfast where I've chatted to some more of the locals. Really lovely people out here. I got three interviews for the podcast but honestly I could have gotten a lot more. Really lovely people to chat to out here. Yeah great stories to tell. Really interesting place. If you haven't been here before do yourself a favour get out to Longreach. I'm heading back to my accommodation now after a yummy breakfast and no, there is nothing wrong with mud cake for breakfast. Good luck to Dan for next week at Sunshine Coast. Shout out to Schulze and Neil Barnett who are at Proston launch today and I believe Newport parkrun is also launching in Brisbane. Anyway, that's all from me. Toodles from Tracey. See you on the B-side. Bye!

Roving report Mark Scarborough — Renmark

00:29:55Mark Scarborough: Hello parkrun adventurers, this is Mark reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew and today we find ourselves at Renmark parkrun. Renmark is a town in South Australia's rural riverland area and is located 254 kilometres northeast of Adelaide on the banks of the River Murray. The parkrun here, Renmark, runs right alongside the river. So we're going to have a chat to a few of the other parkrunners here today and do our parkrun. I'm here with Dave, who is one of the few locals here at Renmark parkrun today. How was your parkrun today, Dave?

00:30:26Dave: Yeah, really nice. Nice day, no wind, a bit cloudy, but yeah, good run, good numbers too. Lots of visitors up for the long weekend, I think. So yeah, no, it was a nice run today.

00:30:36Mark Scarborough: And how long have you been coming to Renmark parkrun?

00:30:38Dave: Ooh, probably three or four years. Yeah, I clocked up my 50th recently and yeah, it was something that I was doing on my own for a while and now my wife's got into it. So now we run, we've got three kids and so yeah, we bring the kids every week and we alternate. So one week I run with the pram and then one week I get to just have a crack and try and beat my PB.

00:31:03Mark Scarborough: It's good resistance training, pushing a double pram with three kids in there. That's a fair bit of weight in there.

00:31:08Dave: Yeah, yeah. It is pretty heavy at times, but it depends. One week, Ruby, my daughter, she's run a few as well, so she's run a few parkruns, and that's always a lot lighter when you're only pushing two. And this morning, Angus ran three stretches, probably 200 metres each, so that was good. It's good for the kids to get a bit of exercise as well.

00:31:28Mark Scarborough: It's setting a good example for them for a young age. What does parkrun mean to you?

00:31:32Dave: parkrun for me is just, it's a really good way to get outside the house and get outside in fresh air. I love getting fresh air and just having a run. I've loved running. I did a marathon back in 2010 and so I've loved running for a long time. But for me, this is also just about community. Everyone here is really friendly. Everyone says g'day and good job and just really encourages each other. And it's a community run event, everyone chips in and volunteers, and it's just a really nice way to start our weekend. And then the rest of the weekend, it kind of doesn't matter what you do, because at least if you've ticked off your parkrun, you feel like you've done some exercise, you've got some fresh air, and I don't know, that's parkrun for me.

00:32:14Mark Scarborough: That's pretty good. All right, thanks for your time, Dave.

00:32:16Dave: You're welcome.

00:32:17Mark Scarborough: I'm here with Tanya. Good morning, Tanya. How was your parkrun at Renmark?

00:32:20Tanya: It was actually a bit harder than I thought, but I had my 11-year-old friend with me, so she was spurring me on to keep going.

00:32:30Mark Scarborough: Have you been to Renmark before, though?

00:32:32Tanya: Yes, we have, but we couldn't do it last year because of COVID. So, yeah, parkrun wasn't happening this time last year. We come every October for the long weekend. Yeah, so this is the second time we've done it.

00:32:43Mark Scarborough: This is a very popular place for the October long weekend. Why is that? We had trouble finding a caravan spot. Luckily, we were slotted in. But what's so popular around Renmark at this time of year?

00:32:54Tanya: It's far enough away that you think you're actually getting away. But most people that come here book every year. So as you're leaving the caravan park, they give you the rebooking form. This is just really popular because it's on the river and it's normally amazing weather. I'm sorry it hasn't been that great this weekend. Yeah.

00:33:12Mark Scarborough: It's not too bad. So where is your home parkrun?

00:33:15Tanya: We're normally down at West Beach and we run along the sort of outlet river and along the ocean there. It's absolutely beautiful.

00:33:22Mark Scarborough: Yeah, so we were there last week. We were staying at the West Beach Caravan Park. It was like one kilometre walk down the start line and off to the surf club for breakfast. We were there. It was a really good parkrun. We enjoyed that one.

00:33:31Tanya: Yeah. How many parkruns have you done, Mark?

00:33:34Mark Scarborough: Oh, geez. I think this is 192 today.

00:33:37Tanya: Right. And how many places have you run?

00:33:40Mark Scarborough: About 35-ish. I'd have to look it up.

00:33:44Tanya: This is only my second place, so I need to work a bit harder. Oh, yeah, Clare. Sorry, we've done three. Yeah, only South Australia.

00:33:52Mark Scarborough: So normally I ask people when I'm interviewing them, what's your top three parkruns in Australia? So I'm going to say West Beach, Renmark. Clare second, then Renmark.

00:34:01Tanya: Yeah, no, Clare was really good. This one was good. Got a little bit narrow at some point, so you had to actually pay attention where you were running.

00:34:09Mark Scarborough: So where would you choose to parkrun next? If you could travel anywhere around, say Australia, where would you go?

00:34:15Tanya: Anywhere in South Australia? I might like to try one in the hills, maybe Mount Barker up near there because it's beautiful up there but quite hilly.

00:34:25Mark Scarborough: Well, funnily enough, I've done Mount Barker. It's not hilly.

00:34:29Unidentified speaker: Oh, really?

00:34:30Mark Scarborough: No, we thought the same thing. We were going there and we thought, this is going to be a hilly course, a bit challenging, like our home parkruns, a bit undulating.

00:34:36Tanya: And they dress up in that one.

00:34:38Mark Scarborough: Yeah, yeah. So if you go there, go and seek out PK. Yeah, he's a friend of ours. That's what I said. There you go. Yeah, but yeah. Okay, you've got to go do Mount Barker soon.

00:34:49Tanya: PK is the ultimate networker, so I'm not surprised that you know him. So how are you going, PK? Hi.

00:34:54Mark Scarborough: Well, he's another one of us. He's another roving reporter for this podcast. Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, yeah. He's the right character for such a thing. Yes, exactly. All right, well, thanks for your chat today and best of luck with your parkrun tourism and getting by that number three.

00:35:08Tanya: Thank you. And happy travels home.

00:35:10Mark Scarborough: Thank you. I'm here with today's Run Director, Susie. Good morning. How are you?

00:35:14Susie: I'm good, thank you.

00:35:15Mark Scarborough: Quite a few visitors to Renmark parkrun today.

00:35:18Susie: We do. I think visitors outnumbered probably 80 to 20 of locals, but that's okay. It's great to see visitors.

00:35:25Mark Scarborough: Yeah, I just found out this is a very popular place for the October long weekend and we struggled to find somewhere to park our caravan, but thankfully we found somewhere at the last minute, which is good. But yeah, it's a beautiful place to come and visit and get away from, I suppose, the hustle bustle of Adelaide.

00:35:38Susie: It is. We usually get lots of visitors, but I think this is probably the first long weekend in a little while that we've seen the visitor numbers get up, which is really good.

00:35:47Mark Scarborough: And how long have you been involved with Renmark parkrun?

00:35:50Susie: Since the beginning, so I think we're on five years.

00:35:53Mark Scarborough: And what does parkrun mean to you?

00:35:55Susie: It just means coming out every Saturday morning, no matter what, really. I really love it, actually. So it's something that I do and I get to travel with it. When we can travel, I always take my barcode with me and go overseas or something like that. I always try and find a parkrunner. I just really love parkrun, actually.

00:36:11Mark Scarborough: Have you done some overseas?

00:36:12Susie: I have, yes. I've done them in the UK. So we've travelled to the UK when we could travel regularly to the UK and each time I make sure I do at least one or two parkruns while we're over there.

00:36:21Mark Scarborough: So today's the 17th anniversary of parkrun, starting at Bushy Park. Have you been to Bushy parkrun?

00:36:27Susie: No, I haven't. No, we're in the Midlands, usually in the UK. So, yeah, haven't done any around London area.

00:36:34Mark Scarborough: There you go. And where are some of the other ones you've done here in Australia?

00:36:39Susie: In Australia, I've done... Oh God, now you put me on the spot. I've done Mildura when we could drive into Victoria. I've done a couple Edithburgh. I think I've done one around Sydney area. I actually haven't done probably as many in Australia as I have in the UK actually. So I haven't travelled around Australia as much as I've travelled overseas.

00:36:59Mark Scarborough: So without naming Renmark, what would be your top three parkruns globally?

00:37:03Susie: Clumber Park in the UK. And we did find out a place called Bognor Regis, which was like a little old train track parkrun, which I don't know how they managed it. And as a Volunteer Coordinator, I don't know how I would manage it. But you literally, they just kept changing where you had to run all the time. It was a really strange one. And not parking. I did like Mildura actually, because that was all along the river as well. So I liked that one.

00:37:26Mark Scarborough: You like your rivers.

00:37:27Susie: I do like my rivers. It gives you something to look at while you're running.

00:37:29Mark Scarborough: Yeah, yeah. I like the ones running along the coastline beaches and things like that. Yeah, they're always nice.

00:37:34Susie: Yeah, there's one at West Beach and stuff. I have done West Beach, actually. Yeah, that was along the river. And then the one at Edithburgh was along the ocean as well. It's nice to have a look at something while you're parkrunning.

00:37:45Mark Scarborough: Yeah, we were hoping, actually, on our trip, our travels would do Edithburgh properly, but we went there and did a Freedom Run there. Oh, yeah. Because there's been some iconic photos from there, which is good. And then we did West Beach last week, so... Oh, great.

00:37:56Susie: I did like West Beach. West Beach was a good one. And that was a sort of, came off a little bit, but yeah.

00:38:00Mark Scarborough: Yeah, I was quite surprised with that one. I expected to be running right along the beach like some of the other ones, but turn off and run along the Rivers Torrens. That's right. Yeah, strange. It was good. We enjoyed it. Thank you for your time and thank you for having us at Renmark.

00:38:13Susie: Excellent. Thank you for coming.

00:38:15Mark Scarborough: All right, parkrun adventurers, that's us done here at Renmark parkrun. We're going to go have a breakfast and coffee. And it's also us done with our travels around Australia. After 20,000 plus kilometres, it's time for us to head back home. So it's Mark signing off for the Channel 5 News crew.

Sausage Roll Report

00:38:31Cameron Drake: Hello everyone. Welcome to the Sausage Roll Report, where we search this wide brown land for the best baked goods you can possibly get. Today, I've called in to the Denmark Bakery and ordered one of their award-winning sausage rolls. And let me tell you, oh my goodness, it was worth the four and a half hour drive. My good. It was so crunchy. It was so tasty. Beautiful golden crust on the outside. Lovely meaty filling on the inside. I could actually see bits of carrot in there. The flavour, amazing. Well worth the very long drive. No, who am I kidding? I was already down here. But still, if you're down in this way, come to the Denmark Bakery. Order anything it is all good well that's me for the sausage roll report this week and I'll see you next week the search is on bye

00:39:32Melissa Ellis: Thank you to all our adventurers at Real Live parkruns. Great to hear them. And on parkrun's 17th birthday, Ollie.

00:39:40Oliver Spake: Yeah, I agree, Mel. Lovely to have a bit of parkrun experience, celebrate the big day. Happy 17th, parkrun.

Dazza's

00:39:49Oliver Spake: And wasn't everyone getting in on the action at Dazza's too? This 17th there was, yeah, congratulations and celebrations in all forms.

00:39:58Melissa Ellis: There absolutely was. And first off the mark over in New Zealand, we had Alison King celebrated with a nottie and my fastest one since June. Wore my apricot to celebrate, then enjoyed a flat white afterwards. Happy birthday, parkrun. Meant to have been taking it easy since it's the virtual London Marathon tomorrow.

00:40:19Oliver Spake: Oops. And we also heard from Val Warwick. I celebrated the 17th birthday by doing my 100th day of volunteering. Four states, 22 parkruns and eight rolls. Add those numbers and we get two times 17. Probably a bit of a stretch, but it's been a good parkrun birthday. A cappuccino overlooking the Strait to complete a good morning at Devonport. And well done on the 100, Val.

00:40:45Melissa Ellis: Yes. And half of our dynamic duo, Claire Stutchbury, our 99th event today, so close at Stanthorpe parkrun, another 0001 for Jack Corkill. And we did wonder why they were missing in action last weekend, but Jack did let us know that it's all strategic.

00:41:09Oliver Spake: planning a good one I was I was kind of uh maybe it's a bit of a stretch there the 99th parkrun was was maybe just taking that secret agent theme a little further Mel um from your (not)parkrun to get smart agent 99 agent 99 yeah I thought well you're going to go along the line of they didn't want to share their um celebration parkrun taking any of their uh well yeah that's That's probably some wise planning as well. You need some free air time for these big events. We can't saturate the market. And we were also joined by Jane Luke, Port Lincoln parkrun and Post parkrun Coffee with a view.

00:41:48Melissa Ellis: Welcome, Jane. Yes, and Mark Scarborough. We started our Australian adventures travelling through South Australia, Western Australia and Northern Territory three months and 20,000 plus kilometres ago. The first parkrun course we visited was Renmark parkrun for a Freedom Run. Today, the last parkrun course we will visit is Renmark parkrun for a proper parkrun before we head home.

00:42:11Oliver Spake: Now there's also some good planning. And Chris Fraser, is this a confessional? First run since 14th of September. A 7K because it's my parkrun birthday on Tuesday and I'll be seven. The truth of it is that I decided with two weeks to go, it's time for some city to surf training. A shpadoinkle day in Bulambi. And Chris, I might need pronunciation lessons on that one. Sorry.

00:42:39Melissa Ellis: And Tracey Wood, happy birthday, dear parkrun. I did my 70th different event at Old Thomson River Road parkrun today. Well done, Tracy. Yeah.

00:42:48Oliver Spake: Nadine Crawford joined another nottie at Rosebud for me. As happy as I'll be to get touring again, I will miss the regular Saturday routine and regular locals I see each week at our nottie. It's been the highlight of each week. Also ticked off O in my September challenge. Visited Old Thomson River Road parkrun this morning. Keeping pace with Bruce. So far, we are neck and neck.

00:43:14Melissa Ellis: Oh, same one as Tracy.

00:43:15Oliver Spake: That's right. A bit of company there.

00:43:18Melissa Ellis: And Ingrid Botha wore my apricot and logged a nottie in honour of parkrun's birthday. Now for pancakes.

00:43:25Oliver Spake: And Rebecca Bailey, the first of our Bailey shot, logged my nottie today for Broken Hill Racecourse parkrun. And while looking for a bee, I also found a course called Banksia Hill, which is a closed run inside a prison. Warm morning and lots of people having picnics in the park. Starting and finishing at the Racecourse, this parkrun is described as a meandering out-and-back style track along a wide gravel path through outback scrub. Thanks, Bec.

00:43:54Melissa Ellis: Peter Pohlman. Hello from our (not)parkrun spelling Arlington today. Oh yes, as it was a (not)parkrun 17th birthday, here are the not 17s we passed today. And that was a great compilation of not number 17s and very well played by the Pohlmans. Yeah.

00:44:15Oliver Spake: Don't miss a beat. And, look, the most suave of the bunch this morning, taking nothing away from you, Mel, Bruce Purdy, channelling Sean Connery as the RD at the third anniversary of the Ballarat parkrun.

00:44:30Melissa Ellis: And he was looking pretty spiffy in his suit, holding his 0007 token.

00:44:36Oliver Spake: That he was.

00:44:37Melissa Ellis: And Melanie McGregor, happy 17th birthday parkrun. My (not)parkrun this morning was running around my local streets and the countryside. I felt very relaxed as it is the first day of the school holidays and first time doing a morning run for about three weeks as life and teaching have got in the way. I struggled a little, but glad I completed the run. I'm missing parkrun today and I'm looking forward to being back at my local parkrun soon, hopefully. And Melanie added that her local parkrun is Greytown Woodside Trail parkrun.

00:45:10Oliver Spake: Hopefully soon. Cameron Drake. Today I visited Mount Clarence parkrun, where it goes uphill both ways. And they had the nerve to tell me it's a downhill course because it's a net drop of one metre between starting on the path and finishing down on the sand. The cheek, I tell you, managed to find an award-winning sausage roll at the Denmark Bakery. Well worth the four-and-a-half-hour drive. Might go find some Bibbulmun to explore later today.

00:45:42Melissa Ellis: And Sonja Pohlman, a nottie for us. Across our eight parkrun years, the relationship would have moved through a few statuses and would probably currently be classed as an open relationship. Hmm.

00:45:53Oliver Spake: Like many adventurers, I suppose.

00:45:56[laughter]

00:45:56Melissa Ellis: OK. LAUGHTER

00:45:59Oliver Spake: Erica Leota. Redland Bay parkrun for our 82nd tourist and my 239th parkie in total. A sneaky little hilly course with a couple of grassy loops included.

00:46:11Melissa Ellis: And Margie Lewis. Happy 17th parkrun. Nottie for me. No parkrun geese at Taree now. However, met our parkrun ducks. Many of them. It's a blended family. Yep, there's a heartwarming story.

00:46:24Oliver Spake: We also heard from Abigail's mum. Abigail and her friends and sister had a lovely not parkrun this morning along the Werribee River. Happy 17th parkrun.

00:46:35Melissa Ellis: And Chris Wood. Petrie, for their sixth birthday, NENDY knocked off. Tick. Well done, Chris.

00:46:42Oliver Spake: Yeah. And we heard from Melissa Taylor. Couldn't do international or interstate. So went country and touristed with dad out to Wondai parkrun. We ran into some other sunshine coasters out there, pure coincidence. Dad accidentally photobombed them and I couldn't let him have all the fun. We were lucky we are still allowed to be parkrunning while our southern parkrunning cousins are stuck with notties for now.

00:47:08Melissa Ellis: Aw. And Liesl Marie McElwraith. Happy birthday parkrun. Our little family ran our 299th mum, 215th dad, 251st 12-year-old son, 197th 9-year-old son at Kingston Park parkrun today in very wet and boggy conditions. Mud splattered and happy. Oh, that sounds like a busy morning.

00:47:32Oliver Spake: What a compilation. Greg Garner, adventured to South Toowoomba parkrun, where I got to catch up with Eman, who I had met at palm21 earlier this year. It's a palm frond, Mel.

00:47:44Melissa Ellis: Oh, it is. I wonder how the baby's going. Yes. You'll have to let us know, Eman. And Phil Olson, happy birthday, parkrun. We are off to Hilly Fields, London, shortly. Coffee and cake afterwards.

00:47:57Oliver Spake: Time for another Bailey shot. Tanya Bailey had a busy not parkrun day today. No running, but driving the car while Brett ran in the Takahe to Akaroa Road relay. We did marshalling duty at a village called Duvauchelle. That is my best French accent. Pretty poor, I'm sorry. Did walk Brunner when we got home though.

00:48:22Melissa Ellis: And Brett Bailey did a 10.4 kilometre run in lap two of the Takahe to Akaroa relay. First time running in this event for several years. A lack of training, particularly on the hills, had its effect, but I managed to complete in around an hour, parkrun Pegasus had three teams competing in the event that was being run for the 81st time, then marshalling at the last baton change road crossing.

00:48:47Oliver Spake: And I will just add, Mel, apologies for my pronunciation.

00:48:50Melissa Ellis: Oh, and mine. But I can edit mine in the post-production.

00:48:56Oliver Spake: Well done, Team Bailey. We also heard from Janet Reid. Today we celebrated parkrun's 17th with balloons and coffee and a little bit of dancing with my husband on the Lochiel course because why not? Happy 17th birthday, parkrun.

00:49:11Melissa Ellis: and Lyndell Murray. I got to an actual parkrun today. And Lyndell, was it Yowie?

00:49:19Oliver Spake: Yeah. Welcome back to parkrun, Lyndell. Sam Schroder, we had a bush nottie planned, but it was harder than expected. So we came home and did the B course of the Lubshack Knot parkrun, giving our times to Edithburgh and Yoroa in the alphabet Knot parkrun Challenge. You look gorgeous all dressed up, Dazza.

00:49:40Melissa Ellis: A bush nottie. It sounds a bit rude. And we heard from Anne Fry. Accessorised my new volunteer shirt to celebrate at Lochiel.

00:49:53Oliver Spake: Oh, well done, Anne. And last but not least, Pippa White. All the twos for me. So two cakes, please Dazza. And a hot chocolate with two flakes. An amazing one lapper. Salcey Forest. Rain stayed off for parkrun, but now solid. About to go run a nottie, then in for a bath. September was an all over the place month. Here's to autumn and a little quietness.

00:50:21Melissa Ellis: It was another busy morning at Dazza's. Thank you very much to everybody that popped by to say hello and especially to the new people.

00:50:28Oliver Spake: Absolutely. Yeah, it was really packed, Mel, but what an array of parkrun and not parkrun experiences. Could do with a bit of that Dazza cake myself now.

International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day

00:50:39Melissa Ellis: But that wasn't the end of the excitement for the week, Ollie. There was a big announcement this week that Ugly Christmas Singlets were released. We told you. We did. We did.

00:50:52Oliver Spake: We would have told you more if it weren't for Facebook.

00:50:54Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah. Yes, we will be sharing the links that's underway. But let's have a talk about the design this year, Ollie, because there's a bit to unpack.

00:51:05Oliver Spake: Yes, and hopefully that involves unpacking many Ugly Christmas Singlets and shirts. What's your favourite feature, Mel?

00:51:12Melissa Ellis: Well, we've got to return to the more traditional colours. Yes. With the red, the white and green, I suppose you could say predominantly.

00:51:20Oliver Spake: Yep, yep.

00:51:22Melissa Ellis: The character that was hinted at early on was the platypus.

00:51:27Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:51:29Melissa Ellis: But one thing that I can say, you might not be aware of this, Ollie, is that the echidna was not originally intended to be in the design. Oh. The echidna was an addition due to the feedback on the sneak peek. There was an overwhelming amount of people that were hoping it would be an echidna.

00:51:52Oliver Spake: Wow. Wow. What helpers? Santa's little helpers are incredibly dynamic this year, Mel.

00:51:58Melissa Ellis: They are. So the mystery character is going to be held over. So we won't be saying what the mystery character was.

00:52:08Oliver Spake: Okay.

00:52:09Melissa Ellis: And you will also notice along the bottom of the design, there's a little train.

00:52:14Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:52:15Melissa Ellis: On the front of the shirt or singlet, that train contains something in the next to last carriage?

00:52:22Oliver Spake: That it does.

00:52:23Melissa Ellis: A little pineapple. You will find a pineapple on every incarnation of the Ugly Christmas Singlet or shirt.

00:52:32Oliver Spake: Funny that.

00:52:33Melissa Ellis: And I believe the train is there to represent all the children.

00:52:36Oliver Spake: That's lovely, yeah.

00:52:37Melissa Ellis: And on the back of the design, hanging off the last carriage, you'll find a little red balloon. And moving along to the back of the design, we're getting jingle with it, is the slogan.

00:52:49Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:52:50Melissa Ellis: On the back. And our little snowman is holding a bell because he's getting jingle with it, with his jingle bell. He's gone all Inception with an ugly Christmas buff around his little neck. He's wearing the koala buff.

00:53:07Oliver Spake: Gone for the other slightly traditional Christmas-themed ugly Christmas attire, yes.

00:53:14Melissa Ellis: And he's wearing an Akubra. Of course. So there's a little Aussie theme there. But how about the little image in the frozen pond? That was my favourite bit.

00:53:25Oliver Spake: I thought so, Mel.

00:53:26Melissa Ellis: Our little ducky. Our little ducky, Ollie, who's doing a Zoom Zoom that's there to represent you and me.

00:53:34Oliver Spake: Yeah, I think every pond needs a rubber ducky, as we've discussed previously. And yeah, one that's zooming, it's clearly having a great time. And why wouldn't it be on an Ugly Christmas Singlet? And after it has its great time, we could perhaps sit down, Mel.

00:53:53Melissa Ellis: Yes, on the park bench. Yes. Which has been added to represent one of the features that we did mention in one of our episodes and did feature on the Bingoe card this year, Ollie, which is representative of looking after our own psychological health, you could say, during the pandemic.

00:54:14Oliver Spake: Yes. Yes.

00:54:15Melissa Ellis: And was challenged, set by one of our parkrun adventurer listeners, to make sure she took a walk every day to her local park and she photographed the park bench.

00:54:26Oliver Spake: It's a magical combination.

00:54:28Melissa Ellis: Yeah. There's a lot of meaning behind and a lot of thought has gone in to the elves' designs this year. I think so, yeah.

00:54:38Oliver Spake: There are some nice subtle hints tucked in there, some so subtle I hadn't even picked them up. So, yeah, thank you for that insight. And silly question, Mel, have you ordered any or are you planning on ordering any? Oh, absolutely.

00:54:53Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. I actually haven't put my order in yet, but it's closed on the 11th of October. So I've got to get a wriggle on.

00:55:01Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, you don't want to miss this train. That's not very long, everyone. So if you're listening to this podcast a few days or, in fact, a week after it's come out, I hope you've had your order in.

00:55:16Melissa Ellis: We will be sharing it. I shall get on to that soon.

00:55:20Oliver Spake: Mel, look, another thing that's progressing, developing since we last checked in is our Adventurers Club.

Consolidated Club Report

00:55:29Melissa Ellis: We're up to 53 members now. We've earned our red shirt in our club.

00:55:34Oliver Spake: Welcome to the family.

00:55:35Melissa Ellis: Yes. Welcome, everybody. We had 19 members on the Consolidated Club Report this week and 26 of our members ran or lodged their notties.

00:55:46Oliver Spake: Yeah, so that's a pretty good showing. And hopefully we can see plenty more of those notties until we all get back on the parkrun list too. It's certainly a nice little buzz for me just to see that club and see the fellowship continue to encourage my efforts. I'm going to need it after Streaky September.

00:56:10Melissa Ellis: And looking at our (not)parkrun results table for the week, Ollie, Wyndham Vale was once again topping the list with 65 Not parkrun attendees.

00:56:21Oliver Spake: Well done, Wyndham Vale.

00:56:22Melissa Ellis: Coonwarra was in second place with 57, so they jumped up and they had quite a big improvement from the previous week. Well done, Cooney. And coming in third this week was Inverloch with 45. Well done. Then taking our long jump down the list, we have Shellharbour at 22. And Toolern Creek at three.

00:56:47Oliver Spake: Well done as well.

00:56:48Melissa Ellis: So that's all my stats.

Sign-off

00:56:51Oliver Spake: Thank you, Mel. Thank you for sharing. I suppose it's another week of consolidation. I don't know about you, but I look forward to some more September, not parkrun tourism. And I think that's going to sum it up for me. No themes, Mel. Anything else on the horizon for you this week?

00:57:12Melissa Ellis: I've planned out my alphabet events.

00:57:18Oliver Spake: So you've planned it all, spreadsheeted?

00:57:20Melissa Ellis: No, no, no, old school, pen and paper.

00:57:23Oliver Spake: Yep, yep.

00:57:25Melissa Ellis: I actually completed H today, so I've got a head start there. So, yeah, I've worked out all the places where I'm touring to and, yeah, that'll keep me busy trying to get as many 5K notties in for the week as I can. What about yourself?

00:57:40Oliver Spake: Look, I'm flying off the seat of my pants. I think I messed up that expression there. LAUGHTER Needless to say, making it up as I go along, true to style. So I do know where I will be getting to with an F and I think I'm going to need to get a move on if I want to keep it to Septober rather than Septovember as I think the next best alternative is. So I'll be following in your footsteps for F and then we'll see where we go from there.

00:57:47[laughter]

00:58:17Melissa Ellis: Actually, one thing that we probably should mention, Ollie, Nadine and Bruce are planning to do, I think, was it the Z at Zillmere on the 30th of October? Okay. And they were hoping to get as many of the adventurers to join them to do the Z or the Zed. Are you a Z or a Zed person?

00:58:39Oliver Spake: I'm a Zed.

00:58:40Melissa Ellis: Right.

00:58:41Oliver Spake: Okay.

00:58:42Melissa Ellis: I don't think about it. Does that change things? We can't be friends anymore. I don't even think about it. It just comes out. I don't even remember what I said. So anyway, if anybody is playing along with... September alphabet notties and can manage to get to the last letter of the alphabet by the 30th of October, I'm going to give it a go. I'll try to be there. I don't like to miss a party. So I might have to sit down with the diary and work out if it's actually mathematically possible. Yeah.

00:59:18Oliver Spake: I think you're safe. I'm hearing hurry up, Ollie, but mathematically possible sounds achievable. Now, again, it depends as to when people are listening, but we are recording on, what is that, Monday the 4th of October. Anyone starting now can make it.

00:59:39Melissa Ellis: Oh.

00:59:39Oliver Spake: Yeah, subject to what you do with an X.

00:59:42Melissa Ellis: Yes.

00:59:44Oliver Spake: And do we have a solution? I think there's been some discussion about this. Are we all skipping the X?

00:59:51Melissa Ellis: I don't know. Bruce.

00:59:55Oliver Spake: I mean, I've got a few weeks to plan.

00:59:57Melissa Ellis: There's been discussion of the Xanadu parkrun, of course.

01:00:00Oliver Spake: Oh, yes. Yes. Okay. All right. Stay tuned, everyone. It looks like Bruce is on the payroll.

01:00:08Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, so one last question that I do have to have for you. Will you be streaking on your birthday?

01:00:17Oliver Spake: Yes, I hope so. I certainly hope so.

01:00:20Melissa Ellis: Well, I'll tell you what, I'll try to get the pot out for you for your birthday present.

01:00:25Oliver Spake: That's very kind of you. No, look, I look forward to a good run and what better day to enjoy it than that one. And I'm going to need it. I'm going to need it to make the 30th. So there's my motivation. Thank you, everyone.

01:00:40Melissa Ellis: Excellent. We've got a plan.

01:00:42Oliver Spake: We do. No more flying off the seat of my pants. Excellent. Yeah. Well, I suppose that's it for the week, Mel. As always, you can contact us via Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week, and we'll see you all next week for more adventures.

01:01:04Melissa Ellis: Happy birthday for Thursday. Happy birthday.

01:02:11[music]

01:02:11Unidentified speaker: Hi Mel and Ollie. I heard it was someone's birthday today. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Ollie. Happy birthday to you. Hip hip hooray. Hip hip hooray. Hip hip hooray. Happy birthday Ollie. Bye. Stay safe.