— open the full-size coverEpisode 256 - X Factor
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Episode 256 - X Factor · 2021-10-14
Enhanced transcript — Produced by an automated editing pass — speakers named, sound described, segments marked. NOT yet checked by a person.
Speaker names appear only where they could be established with confidence; others are shown as “Unidentified speaker”. Non-speech sound is in [square brackets].
Source: https://log.5kadventures.net/transcripts/ep256.html · The Adventurers Log · An independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by parkrun.
Welcome
Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 256 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I'm Ollie Spake and I'm joined by someone who actually got to picnic with the one and only Abby last weekend, Melissa Ellis.
Melissa Ellis: Hello, Ollie. I did. I had a brilliant weekend this weekend. Picnics are awesome.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, picnics are really in vogue in 2021 in our parts of the world, aren't they?
Melissa Ellis: It's so retro, isn't it?
Oliver Spake: No, it was lovely to see. So look, I trust it was a great picnic. Should I ask about the food or is it more about the company?
Melissa Ellis: Well, let me start with Saturday morning. Okay. Let's wind back the clock a little. Okay. Saturday morning was a late start after a sleep in with a stock standard Ellis Palace nottie, which I couldn't even manage to run because I was so tired. With Zoe at her grandparents and Paul sleeping, there wasn't even a brunch offering. But all was not lost because we were excitedly anticipating an afternoon picnic catch up with Abby and friends at Eynesbury. Zoe was so excited as this was the first time she's seen other children since July. Wow. And that's literal.
Oliver Spake: Wow.
Melissa Ellis: So at 3 p.m. we met Abby's mum and her friend Lindley with Abby, Hannah, Alicia, Summer and Eva. The first thing we did was take a walk out on the Eynesbury Heritage Trail Junior parkrun course for a five-kilometre nottie. It felt so amazing to be back in the forest. I was very surprised to find that the puddle was actually still full of water. Even though Zoe literally hadn't done any exercise the whole lockdown, she trotted along happily with the other girls, even breaking into a run when swooped by a resident magpie. LAUGHTER After our walk, we found a spot by the lake to lay our picnic blanket and enjoy some shared treats of watermelons, strawberries, doughnuts and chips. It was so nice to spend time with friends. But I had another surprise up my sleeve for Miss Abigail, which I recorded. So let's have a listen to that now. Music Hi Abby, I've missed you. I've missed you too. Can you tell everybody where we are today?
[laughter]
[music]
Abby: So we're at Junior parkrun.
Melissa Ellis: We're catching up for a (not)parkrun and a picnic. Yep. You know, your little messages to me and Ollie make a lot of people very happy. Yep, I know that. And I think your happy birthday was the best one yet. Thank you. So a long time ago, parkrun used to give special vests to parkrunners who were awesome. Mm. And they were called parkrunner of the Month. Mm-hmm. And we think what you've been doing to make people happy is pretty awesome. So we've got a present for you. Our friend TOC from Inverloch sent down your own parkrunner of the month vest. And I bought you the freckles.
Unidentified speaker: Thanks! Shall we open it?
Melissa Ellis: Wow. See what it says? parkrunner of the month. Thanks. You're welcome. Ollie, Abby was so happy with her parkrunner of the month singlet. Her mum told me that she slept in it and wore it the next day.
Oliver Spake: Yeah. Look, I think if it's the singlet I'm thinking of, that's an absolute treasure and a For someone who is very deserving, thank you, Abby. And look, I have to add my own thanks, Mel. I mean, not to get off topic here, but it was a lovely present from Abby to get the birthday wishes. So thank you, Abby. And thanks for all of your contributions and your support to everyone. It's lovely hearing Abby's messages every week. We look forward to it. And yeah, it's great to hear that green running singlet is treasured
Melissa Ellis: And I trust you had a good birthday, Ollie, because last we spoke, it was leading up to your birthday and we got the pot out on Thursday. Yeah. So how were the celebrations?
Oliver Spake: Muted. Look, it was a try harder. I think we discussed a try harder birthday. It was nice. It was nice. I didn't get out for a birthday run. I had been looking forward to running all week because I'm actually, yeah, in my own, in the (not)parkrun world, I'm between jobs. So I planned all this time to get things done and have a run and duly injured myself last weekend. So, yeah, no running. But nonetheless, yeah. The girls were lovely. They looked after me. We spent plenty of time playing, homeschooling, all those fun things and ate lots of cake. And then we had some more cake and some coffee and some cake to go with that. So a good time.
Melissa Ellis: Are you recovered now from your injury?
Oliver Spake: I thought you were going to say from the cake.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, well.
Oliver Spake: Yeah. Yes, yeah, glad to say well and truly recovered. I managed, well, I managed a nottie on Saturday, on parkrun day. I managed two more notties, but I'm just hanging in there, Mel. I've made it to H today. I've got a long way to go to make it to Zillmere. I don't know if I'm going to be able to join you all, but I will give it a red hot go.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, I think you're going to be leading the Tail Walkers into September, Ollie.
Oliver Spake: Look, glad to be part of the pack, any pack that will have me. Yeah. And, yeah, I suppose, yeah, we take whatever motivation we can. For me, septober is still serving as the motivation, so I will take that. Thanks. Anything that pushes you into a jog, hey, whether it's a swooping magpie or something different.
Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. So did anybody join you on your (not)parkrun day nottie?
Oliver Spake: Not on Not parkrun Day. So still running by myself on Not parkrun Day. I did have company on Sunday, managed to get out with one of the parkrun adventurers podcast family once again, which I was running Galston on Sunday if I've got my days right. But yeah, no one on Not parkrun Day. The family's still a bit, I don't know, tentative. Hmm. But when us city folk are allowed to mix with them country folk, I look forward to mum coming back and doing a (not)parkrun with me then.
Melissa Ellis: You're separated from your mum like I am.
Oliver Spake: That's right. There was a thinking there that for a while Shellharbour, we were country folk as well, but apparently we got all sophisticated. We became city folk once again. Yeah. Not sure what we did, but we remain part of the Greater Sydney restrictions. And as things continue to evolve and change, we look forward to some visits not too far in the not too distant future. But Mel, I'm a little shocked. You made an announcement last week, but I'm pretty sure I didn't hear that you were giving up brunch too.
Melissa Ellis: Well, so there wasn't anybody here to have brunch with. That was the problem.
Unidentified speaker: Yeah, okay.
Melissa Ellis: Because Zoe wasn't home and Paul went to bed after night shift. So I was on my Pat Malone, but I knew I had my picnic, Ollie. So brunch was just a delayed event. Yes. And we had the nottie at Eynesbury.
Oliver Spake: Okay.
Melissa Ellis: Followed by the picnic. So the picnic inadvertently was the brunch.
Oliver Spake: Oh, like I say, these picnics are taking over. But, Mel, look, regardless, we do have some more parkrun fun to save it. Look, we've got a few things, really. I think we'll get through everything, of course, but we have a couple of announcements from the parkrun world we've got to unpack. Also, in this episode, we did hold over some of the roving reports from parkrun days not too far in the distance. I can't get this right tonight.
Unidentified speaker: No.
Oliver Spake: The distant past. The distant past. From the recent past, from parkrun Day's recent and some of the exciting news we saw at Dazza's at the weekend.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, Dazza's went off this week, wasn't it?
Oliver Spake: Yeah. So, Mel, I think you better lead us off with one important date. We're recording this Monday, the 11th of October, aren't we?
Melissa Ellis: We are.
International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day
Oliver Spake: And that means something.
Melissa Ellis: It does because the Ugly Christmas Singlet orders are closing tonight. Now, that's going to have been all past news by the time this goes to air. Then we seem to be saying that every week. It's a bit of a problem, isn't it?
[laughter]
Unidentified speaker: LAUGHTER
Melissa Ellis: However, I am led to believe that orders have gone really well this year and we've shared it a couple of times on the adventurers page, plus the International Ugly Christmas Singlet and Shirt page is also sharing the news. So I hope it's reached out to all the community and everybody's had a chance to order because you don't want to miss out. It's a thing to have these shirts.
Oliver Spake: It is, yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Have you ordered now, Oliver? No.
Oliver Spake: I have. Good. I have. Proud to say I placed an order this afternoon. But the order is in, and I trust that Santa's helpers will be very busy over the coming weeks.
Melissa Ellis: I think so. But another exciting thing that we had that was posted in Dazza's was the 007-themed video from the Pohlmans. Yes.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Oh, wasn't it to die for?
Melissa Ellis: Oh, good one. It was really clever and I really enjoyed it. It gave me such a lift and thank you to Sonja. I believe Sonja was the brains behind the video initiative to put that together. It certainly gave me a lift and tying in with our theme that we had the previous week at my (not)parkrun, but also we tied that in with Dazza's post on Saturday morning. So it all worked well, Olly.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, look, it was a little too well coordinated, if you ask me. Do we need to check, you know, parkrun adventurers HQ for bugs? Or, you know, is there a secret agent in our midst? They're just in tune with us, those boys.
Melissa Ellis: They'll be posting trolleys in no time.
Oliver Spake: Yeah. But, look, there's something about the videos. The video game continues to be lifted. So great work. I look forward to the next production.
Melissa Ellis: I know. I'm expecting big things next week. No pressure. No pressure. But, Ollie, should we mention what's coming up in Dazza's or should we leave the reference to- Oh, I think we should mention it.
Oliver Spake: Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, okay. All right. Well, you mention. You start.
Oliver Spake: Okay. Well, look, I think we'd been following closely some of our parkrun adventurers community who'd been heading for a bit of a milestone, a bit of an achievement. We were fooled. There was a different achievement. Yeah. It was a different celebration.
Melissa Ellis: We were caught off guard.
Oliver Spake: We were. So, look, Ocean View parkrun, pretty nice place, I hear. I haven't been there myself.
Melissa Ellis: I've heard good things.
Oliver Spake: Yes. But apparently it's a good spot for a proposal.
Melissa Ellis: I know. I was at the picnic when I read that comment. You should have heard me shriek. Wow, so we want to extend our most heartfelt congratulations to Claire and Jack, the dynamic duo, not only for their Cowell Club achievement, that's kind of second place, that's like meh.
[laughter]
Unidentified speaker: LAUGHTER
Melissa Ellis: They're engaged to be married.
Oliver Spake: Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: And I do believe there's video evidence. So as soon as that's to hand, we will share that on our page as well because I do believe it happened shortly after, as you may hear in Dazza's, it happened shortly after the finish at Ocean View parkrun.
Oliver Spake: Wow. I'll echo those huge congratulations. Such wonderful news. And I look forward to seeing it. Really do.
Melissa Ellis: We're very invested in this couple now, aren't we?
Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. That's right. Yeah. I mean, I don't want to make any suggestions. I mean, we've still got plans for Palm next year, but... I don't know. We have to double check Claire and Jack's plans. And I don't know, is there an extra parkrun palm frond honeymoon?
Melissa Ellis: We can all get together and celebrate with them. That might be a bit intrusive. Yeah, sorry.
Oliver Spake: Maybe not the honeymoon. Let me rephrase.
Melissa Ellis: We definitely would like Claire and Jack to get to a palm or a frond.
Oliver Spake: Yes, that's right.
Melissa Ellis: That might be a nice theme for a palm dress-up.
Oliver Spake: What?
Melissa Ellis: Wedding. Wedding, yes, yes. Damn, if only that had been two years ago when I actually would have fitted into my wedding dress. Oh, well. So another point of interest that came up this week, Ollie, it wasn't at Dazza's. It was over in the Streaky group. Patrick... Say his last name for me.
Oliver Spake: Patrick Shymitzek.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, that's him. He did a pretty impressive Strava art, which I also intend to share may or may not happen before this pod comes out and probably will happen beforehand.
Oliver Spake: And I'm not sure if you've seen some of Patrick's Strava art suggestions, but, look, I'd say he takes orders. I think he's taking requests from one person in particular. But, yeah, look, the Stegosaurus was something else.
Melissa Ellis: It's an adventuresaurus, Ollie.
Oliver Spake: Oh, sorry. Yes. My apologies. The adventuresaurus.
Melissa Ellis: There's also been a hint or a suggestion that it could potentially be a dinosaur-themed Ugly Christmas Singlet next year, but I'm not quite sure how the elves will think about that because traditionally the Ugly Christmas Singlets have a very Aussie theme, so I don't know how Aussie a stegosaurus is or an adventuresaurus.
Oliver Spake: We'll have to pick an Australian dinosaur. That's all right. I'm sure there's a happy compromise.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah, we have them.
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Melissa Ellis: They look like great big giant wombats or something, don't they?
Oliver Spake: Perfect. Perfect.
Melissa Ellis: Perfect.
Oliver Spake: I think that would satisfy a few people. Yeah. No, again, the creativity in this bunch puts me to shame, puts me to absolute shame. So well done, Patrick, and thank you. Keep up the good work. Expectations are high, might I say.
Streaky September
Melissa Ellis: So moving along to Septober, Oli.
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Melissa Ellis: We heard back from Bruce after we gave him some homework last week about what to do for the X in the alphabet challenge.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, which was keeping me up at night. Yeah. Somewhat the fact that there's an extra day I have to factor in, but still love your work, Bruce.
Melissa Ellis: So Bruce said, thanks for the homework team. Both Nadine and I have been super impressed. How many streakers have embraced the nottie alphabet challenge? And we can't wait. Now about the X homework. There's a couple of ways to achieve and honour the X. One, log your 24th knot parkrun at Applecross parkrun as the next best thing. Number two, while doing the W nottie, find as many Xs as you can, maybe five Xs for five kilometres. And I think Bruce is referring to being that this is an audio content, finding Xs in signage.
Oliver Spake: Mm, yes.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah.
Oliver Spake: Or you could, could you Strava art Xs?
Melissa Ellis: Oh, yes, you could do that too. I do believe Bruce did that today, actually.
Oliver Spake: Ah, okay.
Melissa Ellis: I don't know why he's actually up to X already. We're not even halfway through October.
Oliver Spake: Wow. He's going to have to go into numbers next.
Melissa Ellis: He's going to have to pause. He's going to have to be septober on pause until the 30th of, is it the 31st of October?
Oliver Spake: I'm hoping so. Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: The Zillmere.
Oliver Spake: Yeah. October 30. 30.
Melissa Ellis: Okay. Yeah.
Oliver Spake: October 30. Look, I am reliably informed mathematically it's still possible for me. Really? Yes. Mathematically.
Melissa Ellis: Are you up to the challenge, Ollie? I might be. Okay. Okay.
Oliver Spake: I might be. Let's see. But thank you, Bruce. Really appreciate your effort. We'll come back to you about the payroll. We still owe you that response. But thank you very much for keeping us motivated at the moment.
parkrun news bulletin
Oliver Spake: Another thing keeping us motivated, Mel, there's a bit of news in the parkrun world.
Melissa Ellis: Yes, Ollie, so overnight last Wednesday, parkrun updated their website with new badges to reflect the introduction of the new volunteer clubs, thus changing the URL pathway to the results, which affected third-party apps like the Running Challenges Chrome extension and the 5km app.
Oliver Spake: All for a good cause.
Melissa Ellis: This threw the parkrun world into disarray. Oh, my goodness. People couldn't access their apps. It didn't really bother us because, you know, we don't need those sorts of things for our notties. But in any case, this is really exciting, Ollie, because now we can order a lot more volunteer shirts. Not only can we order the new volunteer shirts in a volunteer 50, 100, 250 and 500. And there's a 10 as well, I think, for the juniors. Well, to reflect the junior 10 milestone. But you can also now order milestone t-shirts that you've previously claimed. You can reorder them, which you could never do before. So if you've got chonk like me, we may possibly not fit into our previous milestone shirts. We can order bigger sizes now.
Oliver Spake: Well, that's right. That's right. It's exciting that parkrun grows and changes over time with us and particularly even when the letters are peeling off and we want something shiny in you to take us back. I think it's a wonderful step. It's fantastic to see it out there now. And I'll add the 25 parkruns milestone as well for those that have finished 25 parkruns, 5K parkruns, that is. So, I mean, the choice is overwhelming for me.
Melissa Ellis: Do the volunteer T-shirts, are they all purple? Or now if you, say, get a volunteer 50 shirt, is it red, the same colour as a 50 parkrun shirt?
Oliver Spake: Yes, my understanding is the colours are the colours we know and the logo is different. So I'm going to have to let go of thinking of purple as the volunteer colour. That's all right. I can move on. It's just going to be wonderful to see, you know, a whole, I guess it's not quite a rainbow, but, you know, a lovely colour palette out there with that volunteer logo on it. And, yeah, it certainly got me looking at where I'm up to in terms of achieving the milestones. So it was a nice little bit of excitement that I haven't experienced in some time in terms of looking through parkrun status and achievement.
Melissa Ellis: It was. So my parkrun profile now displays my 250 club status and a new badge to signify my 50 volunteer club status. And also I know how many now I'm off until I achieve my 100 volunteer status if I ever get parkrunning again.
Unidentified speaker: Okay.
Oliver Spake: And you will, yes.
Melissa Ellis: Correct.
Oliver Spake: Yeah. And I'm helpfully reminded I've got 70 more to go to get to my 250 parkruns milestone, but I am closer on the volunteers, so I'm very excited.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Yeah, no, it was a nice lift this week, despite the other issues that it caused for the apps. But I know that the 5K app... were very quick to fix their broken, what do you call it, broken code.
Oliver Spake: Yeah. Well, not that you want anyone to be inconvenienced, but, hey, if we're going to put someone out, you know, they're the typical resourceful and responsive people that will probably handle it best. So thanks, team, for getting onto that nice and quickly. Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, perhaps time now for us to throw to Lyndell the Legendary and Caveman Cam for our roving reports.
Unidentified speaker: Thank you.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew
Roving report Lyndell Murray — Yowie parkrun
Lyndell Murray: G'day parkrun adventurers, it's Lyndell. I'm back. It's been so long. I've missed you all. This morning I am checking in for the Channel 5 News crew from Yowie parkrun in Kilcoy, which is in the Somerset region of Queensland. It's about an hour, an hour and a half northwest of Brisbane, I guess, and it's the gateway to the South Burnet here. Um, um so Yowie parkrun I should have done my research a bit better the park is Yowie Park in Kilcoy and I guess that means I need to be on the lookout for supernatural creatures because that's what a Yowie is right I don't know I'll have a chat to some locals see what I can find out what a Yowie is where the story came from we're about to do the briefing I think so let's get going and I'll check in with you after the run Okay, so I haven't found some locals, but I have found some avid adventurers in Annika and Michael. G'day, how are you going? Good, well tired. Hi, how are you? Great. Now, tell me your story. Where have you come from to do Yowie parkrun?
Michael: Yeah, we've come up from St Lucia. I'm one of the Run Directors at the St Lucia parkrun, but we do quite like touring around. I think I've done 63 different parkruns all around. Excellent. Gradually working on all the ones around Brisbane at the moment. Yeah.
Lyndell Murray: And you've done your alphabet, I hear.
Michael: Yes, I've done my alphabet, finished that out west of Queensland at Emerald about six weeks ago and trying to get Annika her alphabet. She's got four letters to go, I think. This is one of them.
Lyndell Murray: All right, so the other ones I'm guessing are maybe a J.
Annika: Got your J. We did Jindabyne, so we got the J. At cold, we decided to do that when they had one of their snap cold freezers come through. So I think it was about one degree when we were doing Jindabyne.
Lyndell Murray: Well, you guys take your life into your hands. So you're freezing in Jindabyne. You drove through the storm to get here last night. What's your favourite adventuring story?
Michael: Oh, I think my, well, my favourite parkrun was probably Queensland, but favourite story, I don't know.
Annika: I think my favourite one from Michael would be that he was coming back from overseas via Sydney, so he hopped off the plane in Sydney and went and did, which one was it?
Michael: Well, I've done it twice, I did Dolls Point and St Peter's. So I hopped off the plane at 6am from Indonesia and then caught a cab out to the parkrun, did the parkrun and then hopped on the domestic flight up to Brisbane.
Lyndell Murray: That is commitment to get your parkrun in. Well done. I approve. Now, some letters to go in the alphabet, but you were saying you're not going back to the same ones that you've already done, Michael. So that makes this even a bigger challenge.
Michael: It does, it does. We've got, I think Annika's got D, so we were trying to get a Dalby but couldn't find accommodation.
Lyndell Murray: Oh, yep, yep, yep.
Michael: And we, I think you've got a V, which will do Victory Heights Trail, which is just near here. Yep. And a U, I haven't worked out yet.
Annika: And Z, we're going to have to go back to Zillmere, but he tried to take me to Zillmere last weekend, was it? Yes, and it was cancelled. And it was cancelled.
Lyndell Murray: Sorry. So you are quite the pair, aren't you, of adventurers. What's next? Well, I guess you've just told me what's next, the rest of your alphabet. Are you chasing any other of the challenges?
Michael: Yeah, I'm trying to work on the Fibonacci one at the moment. So I've got... Next weekend we're going to do Sirromet, which I've never done before. I think that's got its 377th run. And then Rocks Riverside's got one in a few weeks to get one of the other Fibonaccis. And then I'll be left with... Ah, three left, so...
Lyndell Murray: Anyway, we'll keep trying. So how big is your spreadsheet?
Michael: Yes, it's very big. Might have about 15 or 20 tabs.
Lyndell Murray: All right. Well, that's quite a spreadsheet. All right, guys. Well, thank you so much for joining me. Avid listeners of the podcast as well, so I understand. Thank you so much for having a chat. Thank you for all the great work that you do at St Lucia as well as a Run Director there. And hopefully I'll see you around the traps again.
Michael: Thanks, Lyndell. And thank you for all of the roving reports and everything like that. Thanks, guys.
Lyndell Murray: Just got our finisher coming in here and I found our Event Director and today's Run Director, Event Director Esther and Run Director Sarah and the volunteers. Now you're all in on this. So how are you all going today? Oh, fantastic. Well, yep, keeping fit. Keeping fit. And how about our Run Director? How did everything go? Very good, thank you. Excellent. Great event. And great event team.
Annika: Our tokens... Yeah, 29. We've got 30 waiting to come.
Lyndell Murray: Okay, sounds like we've got a tight ship here, guys. So well done, the run directing team. Now, Yowie parkrun, I've got a couple of questions. Are there Yowies on course?
Esther: Oh, he's very shy. He comes out once a year. LAUGHTER And you're most likely to see him beginning of every February. So I've really come at the wrong time, haven't I? A few months too early, but yes, he's definitely here the first Sunday of every year, so yeah.
[laughter]
Lyndell Murray: Our Tail Walkers are coming in now. Well done, guys. Now, I've got another question. You've got a bunyip lake on course. Apparently Bunyip Lake is the name of that lake. Oh, is it? What's the difference between a bunyip and a yowie? A bunyip?
Esther: He's a bit smaller and hairier. Oh, just as hairy, I suppose, but a bit smaller. Yeah, a bit smaller. And I've never seen him. But you've never seen a bunyip?
Lyndell Murray: No. But you see the yowie.
Esther: Yes, yes.
Lyndell Murray: I've seen the yowie. All right. Moving on to more serious things than bunyips and yowies, which clearly none of us know anything about. How did you come to start Yowie parkrun here in Kilcoy?
Esther: Well, it's mainly my son and myself, mainly my son Josh. My sister was doing a parkrun at Petrie and we're at my mum's place and he said, Mum, why don't we start a parkrun back at home that's here in Kilcoy? So that's how it started and we started the process of getting the grant through the Somerset Regional Council and it took about seven months and here we are. In Yowie Park, and we called it Yowie parkrun. So that's how it all started.
Lyndell Murray: And this is Ron Grant, one of our Marshals. And Ron's here as well. Ron, how long have you been volunteering at Yowie parkrun? Since it started.
Ron Grant: How long ago was that? Since it started. Two years ago. Over two years ago, yes.
Lyndell Murray: What event number are we today? Does anyone know? 104. 104. Okay, good, good. So it seems like you've got a really good band of volunteers here from the local community.
Esther: We've been really lucky. We've had a steady number, steady flow of people coming through, and like Grant and Anne and Jess and Mark and Sarah, we wouldn't be able to do it without them, our regular volunteers, so it's been great. And Helen over there too, and Shirley, yep. Excellent. And Ross, yep. That's fantastic. I mean, there's credit to the volunteers. We never go without not having enough. Not like some, they only get a few. We've always been lucky here at Yow. It's just the town and our people. That's fantastic.
Lyndell Murray: It's so great. It is. So you ran today. Did your son run today? No, no, he didn't. What's happened to your son?
Esther: He didn't get home till late, so he's asleep in.
[laughter]
Unidentified speaker: LAUGHTER
Lyndell Murray: I knew there'd be a story there. Now, your course here is an out and a back and an out and a back. This was not a good idea for me today. So I haven't run for a while. So the out and back and out and back I didn't love. But it is a lovely course.
Esther: It is. Look, they're planting more trees and the ponds never go dry and we've always got bird life. So, yeah, and wildlife. We've had the odd snake and the magpie. So it is actually a lovely course, yes.
Lyndell Murray: It is absolutely beautiful. And a little glimpse of cows over in the paddock behind us. So you can tell we're in the country. Yes. All right. Now, is there anything else you'd like the listeners of the parkrun adventurers to know? So this is a podcast for people who like adventuring and touristing with their parkrun. Why should they come to Yowie parkrun?
Ron Grant: Don't forget to mention Blake and his, what he did. Oh, yes.
Esther: And Blake, one of our up-and-coming young people from high school, he's... What did he run in, Ron?
Ron Grant: The state cross-country championships recently at Toogoolawah and he was second in his category. He's a high school boy here in town and he was second in his category in the state titles.
Lyndell Murray: Wow, and that's just all because of Yowie parkrun?
Ron Grant: Oh, no, he was running before that. Oh, shh, don't tell anyone that. Well, partly, well, that's contributed. But he was one of the first. There were two of them coming together, I think, today, and he was one of the two that were the winners today. High school boy from town here.
Esther: Fantastic. And we can't forget Ron too. What's Ron's story?
Lyndell Murray: What's Ron's story? So is this the Ron Grant? Yes. Yes. Well, righto, I've got a job to do. I found Ron Grant. Now, Ron Grant, you have a story of your own. You have a story of your own, I hear. You've got a bit of running pedigree.
Ron Grant: About 30 years of running. And what's your biggest run? Around Australia, I was the first to do it. The first one around Australia.
Lyndell Murray: And how many have done it now?
Ron Grant: A few have done it since and a few have attempted, but many have not made it.
Lyndell Murray: Absolutely.
Ron Grant: Yeah, in 1983 I was the first. 1983? 1983. A few desert crossings, Simpson Desert Crossings, first to do it.
Lyndell Murray: Wow.
Ron Grant: All that stuff. So, yeah, I've got a...
Lyndell Murray: And now you volunteer at Yowie parkrun. Do you run here still as well?
Ron Grant: I don't run because I prefer volunteering. My wife took it up because of the parkrun here too, by the way, my wife Anne. Yeah. And she took it up because of the parkruns in her older age. She's not as old as me. Now she runs and I just volunteer.
Lyndell Murray: It's not a just volunteer. You volunteer.
Ron Grant: Yeah.
Lyndell Murray: That's wonderful.
Ron Grant: Yeah, well, I enjoy it.
Lyndell Murray: Now, what would you say to somebody who is thinking of running around Australia, Ron?
Ron Grant: Don't do it. It's too hard. It's very hard.
Lyndell Murray: What was the biggest challenge?
Ron Grant: Every day, every day, just getting out of the caravan and moving forward was dreadful. Every day, just running down a white line. Wow. Yeah, 62 kilometres a day, every day for 217 days. It was just awful. It wasn't enjoyable at all. But I did it for the challenge. I didn't do it to be the second person to do it. I did it to be the first person to do it. And so for me, that was the challenge.
Lyndell Murray: That is unbelievable. It's not unbelievable because she did it.
Ron Grant: It had never been done. Yeah.
Lyndell Murray: And they said it couldn't. And 217 days of running every day for 65 kilometres.
Ron Grant: 62 kilometres a day. 62 kilometres a day.
Lyndell Murray: That's a long way, isn't it?
Ron Grant: Yes, it is.
Lyndell Murray: What a legend you are, my friend.
Ron Grant: You can Google it, Ron Grant running. Yeah.
Lyndell Murray: No, I heard your name and I thought, Ron Grant, he's the guy that ran around Australia. But I didn't realise it was you. I didn't know you were the Ron Grant. I am honoured to meet you, Ron. I really am. Wonderful. So thank you for everything. Thank you for your contribution to distance running in Australia. The first to do that. What a mighty feat. Thank you for your contribution to Yowie parkrun. I've loved my morning here.
Ron Grant: You've enjoyed it?
Lyndell Murray: Yeah, I have. Is there anything else you'd like to tell the listeners of the podcast?
Ron Grant: Oh, well, enjoy it. Come along to parkruns. Come and walk them. You don't have to run them either. Just walk them. Walking's a great thing to do and it's just a pleasure to be out. I enjoy being a volunteer just to watch everybody's enthusiasm. There's life in people. Yeah, there sure is. It's marvellous. It's wonderful.
Lyndell Murray: And that's the best thing about volunteering, just being a part of it and seeing people?
Ron Grant: Yeah, everyone's awake. Everyone wants to be here. They're not here forced to be here. They're up here. They're enjoying life. They're not moaning and whinging and whining. They're out running. They're walking. And there's a bucket here. So, yeah, I guess that's the part that's enjoyable, to see everyone wanting to be here and alive and moving and healthy and well.
Lyndell Murray: Good on you. I'm floored. I don't know what to say. I'm not very often speechless. But I feel a bit speechless talking to you, Ron. Thank you so much for having a chat and thank you for everything. Thank you. All righty, parkrun adventurers, that is a wrap from me, Lyndell, from Yowie parkrun in Kilcoy. I didn't really get to the bottom of what a Yowie was, apart from that it's big and furry, and there is a statue here of a Yowie. So it obviously exists and it's actually real. Not sure what the difference is between a yowie and a bunyip. But let me just tell you, Yowie parkrun is a treat. Lovely little town here in Kilcoy. A fantastically friendly event team. A beautiful little course past some lakes. Plenty of wildlife. And a bakery just across the road. And a coffee van on site. What more could you want? Oh, that's right. I know what you could want. A legend of long distance running, no less, Ron Grant. What are you waiting for, guys? Get yourself out here. Okay, this is Lyndell checking out for the Channel 5 News crew on the parkrun adventurers.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew
Roving report Cameron Drake — Mount Clarence parkrun
Cameron Drake: G'day everyone, Caveman Cam here reporting in from bright, sunny, beautiful WA. Now, I don't know about you, but I recently found myself arranging a holiday around a running event. And I don't think it ever used to be like that. I mean, used to go to places without running. That's a thing, right? But now I find myself... picking out a place on the map and going, ooh, what's happening around there? Or is there a parkrun I can pop into on Saturday? Now, I wasn't born a runner and I kind of just turned into one and I think it's all because of parkrun. So it made me wonder, is parkrun some kind of gateway drug to running obsession? Who knows? Let's see what other people think. G'day everyone, I'm here with Rob and Jackson. And where are we today? At Mount Clarence parkrun. Excellent. In Albany. That's right. Now, I've been wondering, is parkrun the new gateway drug for running? Has it introduced you to all kinds of new running exploits?
Unidentified speaker: Yes, I think, yeah, I probably wouldn't be out running as much as I am if I wasn't for parkrun, but at the moment I'm not running. I'm doing the volunteering for... what we call photography.
Cameron Drake: Oh, I've done photos a few times. You end up running around a fair bit trying to chase these guys taking pictures. How about yourself?
Unidentified speaker: Yeah, I'd find parkrun's definitely a good kind of excuse to get out at least once a week, making sure you're doing some exercise, keeping you accountable. Yeah, and it's kind of trying to beat yourself. While it's not a competition among others, you try to best yourself when you can, and yeah, I think it's great.
Cameron Drake: So while other people aren't here necessarily trying to race you, are they here trying to encourage you to go to more races?
Unidentified speaker: Definitely a lot of encouragement. Yeah, everyone sort of backs each other up, and I guess they're looking for each one to beat their individual times, yeah.
Unidentified speaker: Yeah, no actual pressure, but definitely encouragement to come along, get as many numbers here as possible, and volunteer as many times as possible as well, because it doesn't happen without volunteers.
Cameron Drake: No, you're absolutely right. Well, thank you very much, fellas, and I hope you have a good day. You too. Cheers. Thanks. Okay, I'm here with... Bernie. And you're not first-timers, are you? No. Technically, I'm a visitor, so I'm okay.
Unidentified speaker: $215.50.
Cameron Drake: Oh, $215. Well done. Okay, so I was talking to people, seeing if parkrun is the new gateway drug into running. What are your thoughts, Bert?
Unidentified speaker: Most definitely. I was always a runner, and then I lapsed, and I've restarted again, and parkrun got me starting again.
Cameron Drake: Into just parkrun, or more than parkrun, or a bit of everything?
Unidentified speaker: A bit of everything. It just got me going again.
Unidentified speaker: Oh, that's good. How about yourself, sir? I had been a runner for a few years before parkrun came along, but it definitely, as I was getting older, it definitely re-motivated me, you know, and sort of got me to do something on a regular basis every Saturday morning with a great bunch of friends. So it's kept me going, that's for sure.
Cameron Drake: Now, I can't help but notice the caps that you're wearing with Run Down Under and Goldfields Pipeline Marathon. Would you say that there would be some positive peer pressure at the participants at parkrun to come along to other events?
Unidentified speaker: Most definitely. I have a friend that I'm buddies with and that motivates me to continue trying to keep up to her pace.
Cameron Drake: Ah, someone to run with, trying to keep up with and encourage you into other events.
Unidentified speaker: Sounds great. Well, I'm a very slow runner in marathons. I mean, I can still do them, but very, very slowly and with a lot of walking. And finishing that counts. Yes, yes. So parkrun, at least being only 5k, I can more or less run the whole time and try and concentrate on a bit of speed. I wouldn't be so, you know, boastful as to say I was fast, but it is faster than... running a marathon definitely and the hills are great as well because that's where you get a bit of um aerobic fitness and leg tone yeah I think I think I should have paid more attention when I saw the word mount in the name of the park sorry this is one of the steepest in Australia I think this is the second hardest parkrun in Australia what I've been told is correct
Cameron Drake: Okay, thanks. Well, I'll see you guys next week, and I'm going home now. Oh, no, we'll see you out on the track. All right.
Unidentified speaker: We've got about 100 metres of water gain in five kilometres, which is quite a lot, really. Oh, yeah.
Unidentified speaker: Okay.
Unidentified speaker: I'll manage.
Unidentified speaker: See you.
Unidentified speaker: Anyway, the first 1K is uphill, but it improves after that. It's all downhill after that.
Cameron Drake: Well, it's undulating after that.
Unidentified speaker: Undulating.
Cameron Drake: Undulating. I hate that word. People use that word to describe very, very, very hilly. All right. Well, thank you for the forebodings, and I'll see you out on the track.
Unidentified speaker: Thanks, Cameron. Good on you, Cameron. It was nice to meet you.
Cameron Drake: Note to self, beware of any parkrun with the word mount in its name. Beware.
Oliver Spake: And thank you, Cam and Lyndell. Welcome back to parkrun World, Lyndell. Must be nice to have it all back. We have also heard from some of our other parkrunners.
Emails
Oliver Spake: Mel, we've got mail. Yes. Yeah, mail from Eman. So thank you, Eman, for writing us back after we were wondering about the latest with Juno. So Eman wrote, Hi, guys. Heard from the last episode that you wanted to find out about our newborn daughter, Juno. We're doing well, and after having her six-week vaccinations, we embarked on our first family parkrun adventure. We completed Yowie parkrun at Kilcoy this morning and enjoyed the relatively flat two-lap course. It was an intimate event with 20 finishers. I ran while Christine walked with the pram along with the Tail Walker. I then took over the pram pushing duties on their second lap, which also served as my warm down. Great to be back touristing again. Eman.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, thank you, Eman, for giving us that update. I'm glad you're out touristing. I hope Christine has recovered well after having baby Juno. And what a coincidence, Ollie, that he was at Yowie, where Lyndell has recently been.
Oliver Spake: That's right. Yeah. It's got me all curious about Yowie now, that's for sure. I have to check it out, add it to the list.
Melissa Ellis: We can go there for our septober. Why?
Oliver Spake: Of course. Yes. All right.
Melissa Ellis: Meet you there.
Oliver Spake: There's some more motivation. Meet you there. That's right.
Dazza's
Melissa Ellis: But at Dazza's this week, Ollie, we kept with our 007 theme and Dazza wrote a run brief. Did you see it?
Oliver Spake: I did. I did.
Melissa Ellis: And Dazza said, welcome to parkrun, where you never forget your barcode twice. You can guarantee that parkrun is free forever. We love a clear view to the finish flags, where a downhill means a license to kill your PB. Then go to see the man with the golden volunteer vest, but doctor, no barcode, no results. And come in and tell us how you spent your parkrun day. So first up at Dazza's was Peter Pohlman. He gave me a clap for working in so many movie titles. Thank you, Peter. I spent a bit of time on that. And Bruce Purdy, thank you for the 007 inspiration. Today was a nottie listening to Spotify with the theme songs from the Bond movies. My top three Bond theme songs are number three, Wings. live and let die. Number two, John Barry Orchestra, James Bond theme. And number one, Shirley Bassey with Goldfinger. And we heard from Adrian Royce from Berrinba with love. And Bernadette Bennett, we received our quantum of solace this morning on a nottie on Ash Island, a local national park, which is definitely not Kangaroo Island where we would have been on our tour. No kangaroos, unfortunately, but lots of bird life. World War II radar station, wetlands and bush tracks.
Oliver Spake: And we also heard from some parkrunners. We heard from Mandy Oliver. My birthday run walk with Linda at Paradise Point. And happy birthday, Mandy. We heard from Linda Robertus. And we took it easy, run walking, so no time to die. There's another reference for us there, Mel. Mm-hmm. And we heard from Val, Val Warwick. Hi, all. I walked the most southern parkrun in Australia, but, tock, there were no platypus this morning. We had our two eldest grandsons, 13 and 12, with us, both of whom beat Pa home. They've always beaten Nana, who walks. We've had a lovely time with some of the Geeveston crew at Harvest and Light afterwards. Of course, the boys, and Pa wasn't going to object, wanted to go to the lolly shop after that. A good morning to you all from the Deep South. Take care, all of you, in lockdown. We don't take our parkrun for granted and are thinking of you all. We also heard from Janet Reid. Another week of keeping Geoff company and ensuring he complies with doctor's orders to maintain a walking pace. We took our 1957 Dodge truck called Bert to parkrun today. Perfect weather for a drive. Two iced coffees, please, Dazza, and a cinnamon scroll to share.
Melissa Ellis: I was very impressed with Bert. I had no idea they had a Bert. Yeah. I don't think a lot of people knew they had a Bert. LAUGHTER
[laughter]
Oliver Spake: Obviously, it takes some fine weather. But, yeah, thank you for introducing us to Bert, Janet. We're uncovering all the secrets. That's right. Linda Coombes became a mother duck at Warwick parkrun. Nearly ran on these two, tried to return them to their family, then had them try to join parkrun. No barcode, no time, even for cute little ducklings.
Melissa Ellis: Aww. Linda had a photo of herself holding the two little fluffy ducklings.
Oliver Spake: And Pippa White. Hi, Dazza. Please may I have all the pancakes with fruit and hot chocolate. Christine Imbert and I met up for a parkrun almost in the middle of us, and our travels were trumped by a tourist from Sydney, following a trot of a parkrun, a trotty around a nottie, then breakfast, all the fog and mist and spider webs, juniors tomorrow. And we did also have another update from Pippa, a worthy one for sure. Awesome juniors this morning. So we'll have more hot choc, please, Dazza. I met two people in the park early as I was running loops. Are you coming to juniors? What's that? Upshot. They arrive to have a go 20 minutes later and I have high hopes that they come back next weekend. Now that's a good effort. Well done, Pippa. We heard from Erica Leota. I finally visited my NENDY at Wishart. Great course, friendly parkrunners.
Melissa Ellis: Well done, Erica.
Oliver Spake: And Tracey Wood. Hamming it up on a walk at Chermside. Rest before Sunday's big trail run.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, and the celebration. Claire Stutchbury. So, as surprising as it may be, reaching Cowell Club this morning at Ocean View was not the most exciting part of parkrun. Then... Jack Corkill had to race to the finish line to get everything ready and got a stopwatch bingo number two. What a morning.
Oliver Spake: So there was a stopwatch bingo too.
Melissa Ellis: With an engagement emoji, an engagement ring emoji even. Oh, my goodness, those two. They had us all excited and in a frenzy. So, yeah, how exciting is that? Oh. Cowell Club, stopwatch bingo numbers, beautiful ocean view, parkrun, and a proposal. Wow.
Unidentified speaker: Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Moving on to our Bailey shot. Brett Bailey, a nottie walk down the track with Tanya and Brunner, who was in a hunting mode. Legs have finally come right after the big race last weekend. How did we go with our pronunciations? We haven't had any feedback on that.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, look – I am advised mine was rather poor.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay. All right. Tanya Bailey, nice nottie walk with the two men in my life. Brunner stopped to dig a couple of holes and we stopped to look at the ducks. I'm glad it was Brunner that dug the holes and not Brett. Yes. Rebecca Bailey, evening nottie planned today for our friends out at Fingal Bay parkrun, another event that's on my parkrun alphabet tier list. Mine too, Bec.
Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. I was meant to be there last year. Maybe this year. Maybe this year. Maybe next. And also out on the nottie trail, Alison King, enjoying a coconut flat white, having just run my fastest nottie in months. So good.
Melissa Ellis: Woo, Alison.
Oliver Spake: That's fantastic. Well done. And Lynette Anne, glorious five kilometres at Cobram, not parkrun. Plenty of parkrunners out on the track enjoying our surrounds. The mighty Murray is high and flowing fast. Paddlers enjoying downstream. Nice to be in Dazza's, grabbing a cappuccino and taking all things parkrun, as opposed to the dreaded C word.
Melissa Ellis: What's the C word? I don't even know what she means.
Oliver Spake: Well, I'm going to refer to the one that still surrounds us. Oh, COVID. Yeah. That's how I read it. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. And I'm with you, Lynette. I'm with you.
Melissa Ellis: I'm feeling a lot better now that it's, yep.
Oliver Spake: Yep. That's right. Moving along. Peter Pohlman, we ran Newcastle today. And thanks for the 007 inspiration. We ended up covering seven Ks and I got to practice my 007 times table. Now, Peter did share the photo of Newcastle Road, I should add, continuing on his stellar effort of running suburbs. And, Mel, the numbers.
Melissa Ellis: I know, it's very clever. He's a smart man, our Peter Pohlman.
Oliver Spake: That's right. So if you haven't seen it, he photographed the numbers 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42 and 49, which if you haven't gathered from the comment and that, that's the seven times table. I think I deserve a slot on letters and numbers, Mel. LAUGHTER And Sonja Pohlman, I've been trying to load a video, but it keeps failing. Let me try again. If this works, then please enjoy the premiere of Not Casino Royale from Studio 2298, which referred to the previously mentioned video. Yes. Chris Fraser, close to a double nottie. The answer is no. I won't be able to run the full 14Ks next week.
[laughter]
Unidentified speaker: Hmm.
Oliver Spake: Look, we live in hope. You can do it, Chris. You can do it. Sam Schroder. Dazza. So lovely to be here. Luke and I did our Love Shack not parkrun for Jay today. I went to Jindabyne and Luke went Jubilee Way. But just pretend. Lol. It was a hot and slow but very pretty walk through some of the old streets of Picton. And Chantelle Hosking ventured down the Yarra Flat Park for a bit of exploring and Bruce, he's an ideas man, has recommended the Raspberry Mars bar, so one of them and a caramel milkshake. Dazza?
Melissa Ellis: And Ingrid Botha. This morning was spent eating pancakes, or as we runners call it, carbo-loading, in preparation for Sunday's not parkrun. And Abigail's mum. So lucky that our bubble extended and we've been able to visit Eynesbury Heritage Trail Juniors and see some special friends for a walk and a picnic. Sally Heppleston, three times not parkruns in my 15-kilometre run along the very busy main Yarra Trail, bumped into a few parkrun friends, which was nice. And TOC, early morning run on the beach to complete Inverell not parkrun, then a couple of walks around Cape Paterson and a few jobs around home to round out the day. Suze Arnett, a couple of walks around the Burb, still on no-run rules from physio but getting there, six kilometres up. And Mark Scarborough. After three months away, we returned to Wagi Bridge parkrun for a (not)parkrun.
Oliver Spake: Welcome home, guys. And last but certainly not least, with a good September update, Michael Scott. Good morning, adventurers. Update on September Challenge. Have completed notties at Albert, 5th, Burnie, 6th, Claisebrook Cove, 7th, Darwin, 8th, and Emerald this morning. For my list, I have chosen the first run in each state and territory. Fortunately, they start with different letters of the alphabet and other parkruns I haven't done and would like to get to sometime soonish. Frog Hollow, Ginninderra, Hamilton, Inverloch, Jubilee Way and Kirra coming up. Hope to be in Zillmere for the 31st.
Melissa Ellis: And while we're on Septober, Ollie, we probably should check in on how we are both doing in our Septober challenges. Okay.
Oliver Spake: I think you already mentioned that you're up to H. I completed H today. So my next run will be at an event in lockdown that I'd love to get to that starts with I.
Melissa Ellis: Ooh, can I guess?
Oliver Spake: Sure.
Melissa Ellis: Does it have a stump? Is it always sunny?
Oliver Spake: I'm hoping it sends some of its sunshine tomorrow.
Melissa Ellis: Does it have a troll?
Oliver Spake: I don't know, does it?
Melissa Ellis: By the time this podcast comes out, it might have.
Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right.
Melissa Ellis: So how many notties did you get done this week?
Oliver Spake: Oh, just, well, hey, if we're talking weekending Sunday.
Melissa Ellis: Yes, we are.
Oliver Spake: It was two because I only got up to G as of Sunday, Fingal Bay and Galston after my outage.
Melissa Ellis: Okay. Well, good effort, Ollie. I win, I win, I win.
Oliver Spake: How many did you get done? Yes.
Melissa Ellis: I got seven, ha ha ha. I started the week with H, oh, I started the week with H at Huskisson. Ah. I decided, Ollie, I would come to Huskisson and hopefully catch up with you.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, sorry Mel, I went to Highlands.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, that's okay. You can see Gary.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right.
Melissa Ellis: I'll find someone else more important than you. So for I, I went to Inverell. Now, I chose Inverell because I have, well, my grandfather came from, well, my grandfather's family came from that area. So I was going to go and explore some family tree heritage, for want of a better word. Yes. And I do believe that I caught up with some other parkrunners at Inver... Oh, TOC. TOC was there too. Bumped into TOC. I also bumped into TOC at number J. Number... Letter J for Jindabyne. Now, I chose Jindabyne for my J because it is my NENDY, as all the apps keep telling me, because they don't factor in the fact that it is on the other side of a huge mountain range.
Oliver Spake: Details, Mel. Details. Yes.
Melissa Ellis: Anyway, I went there again with TOC. Now, K was Kangaroo Island, which is another event I really want to get to.
Unidentified speaker: Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: It is high up on my tourist list. L? was Lakeview coincidentally we had the message from Michael Scott yes that's right Michael Lakeview Scott that we met when we were up in Newcastle and we did a freedom run walk at lake yes were you there that day
Oliver Spake: I was there that day.
Melissa Ellis: Excellent. Then I had an M where I went to Mount Ainslie. Mount Ainslie is also an event that's high up on my list in the ACT and I had plans to go to Mount Ainslie. It is situated sort of atop the Australian War Memorial and they have their brunch at Ainslie, the cafe at the war memorial called Poppy's. So I am really keen to get to Mount Ainslie one day in person. But today, Ollie, I completed N where I went to New Farm. New Farm is the event I was supposed to attend yesterday When we went into lockdown and I had to cancel my Brisbane flight, so I was supposed to go up there and stay with Tracy and go to New Farm parkrun. So that is also an event very high on my tourist list.
Oliver Spake: Back in June, wasn't it? Yes. Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah. So there you go. That's my seven.
Oliver Spake: That's a good collection, Mel. Wow. Well done. Thank you. There's no catching you. Yep.
Melissa Ellis: It's not a race.
Oliver Spake: No. No.
Melissa Ellis: It absolutely isn't a race. And, you know, I'm doing one a day at the moment. It's mostly because I'm doing this ultra thing. Like my life is so complicated. All the things that I've got to do, I've got to do my nottie and then I've got to log it on parkrun and I've got to log my ultra marathon kilometres.
Oliver Spake: But is it keeping you motivated? Is it spurring you on?
Melissa Ellis: It's distracting me. It actually is, yeah. It's nice to have some focus, bearing in mind that other people have real events and real runs to do, which we're very happy for. It was a lot of excitement for the London Marathon just recently. Yeah.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. Look, there are a few fantastic running events going on. I noticed a loved member of the Shellharbour parkrun event team, more recently our communications manager because it was very difficult for her to help out in any other capacity from the other side of the planet, but she ran the Manchester Marathon, Amanda Rogers.
Unidentified speaker: Oh. Yeah.
Oliver Spake: So, yeah, great to see these events going on and take a little bit of inspiration. We'll get our turn, Mel. We'll get our turn.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, I know.
Oliver Spake: And I think with your ultra marathon, that's going to keep you plenty busy in the meantime.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, yes. I'm trying not to get too competitive, Ollie. I am actually. These things where you track yourself over multiple days with other people, I'm actually not looking at the leaderboard anymore because I tend to get caught up in it. And I want to challenge myself. I don't want to try to beat anybody or worry about where I am compared to other people. I just want to do my own things. I'm trying really hard not to look at the leaderboard and just do my own personal challenge. Does that make sense? It does.
Oliver Spake: And sometimes the challenge between one another is a motivating factor. But look, I find that one of the most motivating aspects is trying to better your own efforts or hit those goals. If it weren't for a slight knee injury, I was trying to tick off some goals by last week. But it gives you the chance to reset and try again on your own terms. And hopefully the...
Melissa Ellis: yeah a couple of days without the leaderboard will give you the same Mel you'll you'll smash it yeah well I'm already ahead I know from from a spreadsheet because of course you know we need to have spreadsheets for all these things yeah I'm already on track it was supposed to run over 100 days I think this ultra marathon and the average was to do 5.6 kilometres a day and I know I'm ahead of that at the moment so if I fall over in a heap I probably got a few kilometres up my sleeve. It's never a bad thing. I should be good to make Melbourne from Mildura by Christmas Eve.
Oliver Spake: Well done. Keeping it in the bank. Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: But Ollie, we had some exciting news posted on our podcast social media post the last episode.
Oliver Spake: We did.
Melissa Ellis: From the informant.
Oliver Spake: Yeah. Who was holidaying? MIA? What do we call it, Mel? Oh, who only knows?
Melissa Ellis: I think that – I don't know that it's a holiday. I think it's been a technical glitch covered up in the ruse of a holiday. Yes. So – There was a comment posted that said, we took all our cans and bottles to the recyclers, used all the money Mel got back from her streaky September trolley returns, and in turn sold a few Pokemonsters, whatever they are. Long story short, we managed a little capital upgrade at the stat hub. Should be okay for a while with a few more gigs of data. Not enough time to get the report into the pod this week, but the spreadsheet is back. And there was a link. Yes. To the stats spreadsheet.
Oliver Spake: That's right.
Melissa Ellis: So that was last week. And obviously that refers to last week's pod where we didn't have the informants report. But we do this week.
Unidentified speaker: Yes. Surprise.
Melissa Ellis: We are led to believe that the informant is back. The OG informant is back, Ollie.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, OMG, it's the OG.
Melissa Ellis: So let's have a listen now.
[music]
[the recording continues here — the words are not reproduced]
the Informant
The Informant: This is the informant. These are unofficial stats. They're only current at the time they are collected, and may differ from the stats you read elsewhere. Ah, it's good to be back, and able to interrupt the waffle from management to bring you the important stats. It has been too long. If you're one of the thousands of people who read my blog, you'll know that we have scrounged up all the pennies we can muster for a big capital upgrade. It has been a tough few weeks, but here we are. Bigger. Better. Stronger. The number of global events running keeps hitting post-COVID records, and we had 1,398 worldwide this week across 18 countries. There were 209 runs held in Australia, one down on last week. Aussie attendance was up 1,000 to 21,035 out of a post-COVID record 172,930 worldwide, which is 17,000 more than last week. Down under we had 2,027 PBs, while 739 people participated for the first time. 51 juniors reached their Junior 10 milestone, 87 people reached their 50 milestone, 61 reached their 100 milestone, and 20 people reached their 250 milestone. 19 people called Bingo. Elaine Gregerk was the quickest with 161 events. Nikki Plimmer was slowest on a whopping 411 events. Well done, Nikki. I'll be having a celebratory Milo for you later on. Just two new statespeople this week, Natasha Lankowski and Elvin Lee in the Northern Territory. No movement at all in the top 20 most events list. Overall biggest movers were 6 people who moved up 11 places. Brian Thaker, Kerry Holder, Kay Pham, Elaine Rogers, Steve Amor, David Cliff. 78 people increased their windex. Biggest improver on the Windexle is... Good lord, now I'm saying it. Biggest improver on the Wilson Index is Sarge Jameson, who moves up 16 from 1 to 17. Just before the big spreadsheet meltdown in 2021, I received a message on Facebook from Bruce, who requested a Peel Club update in preparation for the inevitable day when Australia annexes New Zealand. Currently there are 122 parkrunners who have completed their run in each state of Australia. In that cohort there are 45 who have run in New Zealand. However, there are just 15 Peel Club members that have run both in North and South Island, and the first person to accomplish that feat was... Tim Oberg, on the 15th of August, 2015. Now, to see these stats in full, look for The Informant on Facebook, or visit the blog at www.theinformant.me. That's The Informant, all one word, dot M-E. This has been The Informant, and my spreadsheet is bigger and more powerful than yours.
Oliver Spake: And thank you to our informant. It's lovely to have you back.
Melissa Ellis: It is. Base trousers himself.
Oliver Spake: Those dulcet tones, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yes.
Consolidated Club Report
Oliver Spake: Well, speaking of stats and numbers, Mel, do you have another update for us on the Adventurers Club?
Melissa Ellis: I do. We've climbed up another three to 56 members. 18 members on the Consolidated Club Report this week and 26 people lodged notties as well.
Oliver Spake: Well done.
Melissa Ellis: In the (not)parkrun results, we had Wyndham Vale top of the leaderboard again this week, but slightly down on the previous week's total with 57 not parkruns and coming second again, Koonwarra with 54. Campbelltown was third with 41. And then we did our big long jump down to Shellharbour at 21. And Toolern Creek was on eight. A couple of tourists this week at Toolern Creek.
Oliver Spake: Ah, yes. Yeah, look, I'm looking at these numbers and thinking I think there's a factor here. I think we have some touristing not parkrunners taking it on the road and maybe spreading the love. So that's to take nothing away from Wyndham Vale, Koonwarra and Campbelltown because they are absolutely championing the (not)parkrun community.
Melissa Ellis: Yes, but we had Bruce and Nadine at Toolern Creek this week. So thank you for visiting, guys. I have to give a shout-out to Nadine because I know we give Bruce a lot of credit for Septober. But I do believe a lot of the planning and brainstorming for the challenge was in conjunction with Nadine.
Oliver Spake: Ah, okay.
Melissa Ellis: So she's very much involved behind the scenes.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Thank you, Nadine. Appreciate the motivation. And I think we're going to have to review that payroll, Mel.
Melissa Ellis: More trolleys. I've got to find more trolleys, Ollie.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah, keep on the trolleys. I'll look down the street here. Yep.
Sign-off
Melissa Ellis: But looking forward for next week, what have we got coming up?
Oliver Spake: Well, it just so happens to be the virtual city to surf. So... Mel, have you registered?
Melissa Ellis: I have.
Oliver Spake: That's good. I still have to register, but it's going to happen, and I am thoroughly looking forward to it. It was a lot of fun last year. A great big pick-me-up and lovely to see others out there. So whilst unfortunately some of my fellow City to Surf contestants, competitors, What do you call them, fellow runners?
Melissa Ellis: I don't know.
Oliver Spake: May not be local at that point, but... What, the Scholaries?
Melissa Ellis: They're not doing it.
Oliver Spake: Oh, the Scholaries will be doing it. I'll be referring to, yeah, Chris and Kerry. Oh. I think they've planned another course.
Melissa Ellis: Rude.
Oliver Spake: Hey, guys, I think you're allowed here now. We're part of the cool kids. Wow. Anyway... Nonetheless, nonetheless, yeah, looking forward to that happening. And, yeah, more of the same, Mel. Apparently seven, not parkruns. Ah, seven? Well, if I'm going to keep up, yeah. Oh.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, yes. Oh, sorry. I thought you were saying that your City to Surf was going to be seven not parkruns and that's like 35 kilometres, isn't it? Yeah, no. And that's a bit longer than City to Surf.
Unidentified speaker: That's right.
Melissa Ellis: But you're saying that you've got to catch up on your (not)parkruns. Yes, you do. Yes. You need to do seven. You need to do one a day or you're never going to make it to Zillmere on the 30th.
Oliver Spake: Okay. I'm looking forward to it.
Melissa Ellis: You can walk them, dude. Just get up early.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's true. That's true. What about you, Mel? What's coming up?
Melissa Ellis: Well, so I also am doing my virtual City to Surf. I did it last year in Meltown, where I ran Trail to Weir.
Oliver Spake: That's right.
Melissa Ellis: I've got a course mapped out. I ran it last year on my own. I expect I will be running it this year on my own. I'm hoping I can get my husband to drop me at the start line and pick me up at the finish line like I did last year or he did last year. And I will continue to do my daily notties and plough through those. I'm just a bit sad because I'm probably going to finish or get to Zed before the 30th, which means I'll have to stop and wait for that last one. But it probably means I can spend a bit of time deciding what I'm going to do for Zed. X. X. Yes.
Oliver Spake: Well, you could just do several weeks of, oh, sorry, several weeks, several days of the X, of the Applecross. Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: I could, couldn't I? I could think up a few. I could just keep going on. I'll just do every day X until it's time for Z. Yeah. That's a good plan. That's right.
Oliver Spake: We don't get to enjoy an X parkrun that much.
Melissa Ellis: I did O today. Oh. I know. I'm skipping ahead. This is next week's content. Maybe I shouldn't say. But. Yes. Guess where I went for O? I went to the Celebration Place. Ocean View.
Unidentified speaker: Oh.
Melissa Ellis: God, it's hard.
Oliver Spake: Oh, how fitting. How fitting.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah.
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Melissa Ellis: I almost felt like Wedding Party, only we're not that far advanced down the line yet.
Oliver Spake: No, no. Oh, nice way to celebrate. That's a great tip of the hat, Al.
Melissa Ellis: But forget I said that and I'll say it again next week.
Oliver Spake: Oh, well, if you wish, yeah. You know I'll always catch up eventually.
Melissa Ellis: I'm so tired. I'm sorry. We've got to go.
Oliver Spake: All right. All right. But, Mel, all the best for your (not)parkruns and look forward to virtually running the City to Surf with you as well.
Melissa Ellis: Yes. I'm excited because that app's fun. I love how they clap us.
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Melissa Ellis: You get that little cheer from the crowd every kilometre. That's right. It's kind of cool. Did you use the app last year?
Oliver Spake: I did. I did. Now, was there Bon Jovi? I'm pretty sure there was Bon Jovi at the halfway point. Maybe. I don't remember that. Or was that just me? Maybe.
Melissa Ellis: I'm going to be all expectant now.
Oliver Spake: Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: I hope they're there. It'll make up for the Smurfs and the gorillas.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right.
Melissa Ellis: Hopefully we can be there next year, Ollie. Let's have a parkrun adventurers city to surf group thing next year. Let's all dress up.
Oliver Spake: All dress up as palm tree fronds, yes.
Melissa Ellis: Okay.
Oliver Spake: Yep. Done. Who's in?
Melissa Ellis: Somebody write this down.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Don't mind me. I'm just writing it down. Yep.
Melissa Ellis: I'll forget. I'm delirious. Are you really writing this down?
Oliver Spake: It's in the calendar.
Melissa Ellis: I think it would be fun though. Yes. I'm pretty sure we'll pull a crowd.
Oliver Spake: Be a whole jungle. Yep.
Melissa Ellis: A jungle. A jungle. Palm trees. Yeah. I'm pretty sure I've got inflatable palm tree from one of my themes. Yes.
Oliver Spake: I love it. Yep. All right. Well, no, that sounds like a plan. But, Mel, I suppose that's it for this week.
Melissa Ellis: Okay.
Oliver Spake: Are you signing out or am I?
Melissa Ellis: Was it me?
Oliver Spake: Oh, I think it was, but I could sign out. Oh, okay.
Melissa Ellis: All right. Yep, yep, yep. As always, you can contact us via Facebook or on our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week. We'll see you all next week for more adventures.
Oliver Spake: All right. Okay, gang. Now, because Mel's not with us anymore, I could probably announce the other parkrun news, which is that the New South Wales government's roadmap to reopening has continued to progress and parkrun have this week announced that parkrun events in New South Wales look forward to reopening after or on, in fact, the 4th of December. So exciting news for our New South Wales parkrunners. Let's face it, we all wish our Victorian parkrun family were involved in the same announcement and the same timeframe. But let's hope they catch up with us soon and we can share that love a bit further. Happy parkrunning.
Abby: Hi, everyone. I love my (not)parkrun Runner of the Month top so much. I'm never taking it off. Thanks, TOC and Mel and Ollie. Bye, everyone. Stay safe.