Episode 263 - Obi - 100

Welcome

00:00:23Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 263 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie Spake. I am joined by my parkrunning co-host, Melissa Ellis. And Mel, I've got one thing to say. Welcome back, Victoria.

00:00:38Melissa Ellis: Oh, thank you. And welcome back, Ollie.

00:00:41Oliver Spake: I missed you. Thank you. I missed you and everyone too. But, hey, look, it was really nice to hear Toc back on the pod, hear some of his adventures and doing a stellar job. Really huge kudos to Toc and the whole organising crew behind Palm 2022, listened to the news, very excited. So thank you. And thank you very much, Toc, for stepping in.

00:01:09Melissa Ellis: Yes, it was exciting. I am all set to start booking some plans for palm22. Got to get onto it, Ollie. It's on my to-do list. It's at the top.

00:01:21Oliver Spake: Yeah. Oh, look, I'm thrilled. I've made some bookings and yeah, I'm just counting down the days.

00:01:29Melissa Ellis: Hopefully we're not thwarted by Omicron. Is that how you say it? Omicron.

00:01:34Oliver Spake: That's my understanding so far. And look, like we've said before, everyone just keep an eye out when you're booking things. Fingers crossed, Mel. There's a bit of positivity.

00:01:47Melissa Ellis: Yes. But how did you spend your parkrun weekend, Ollie? What did you get up to?

00:01:53Oliver Spake: Ah, well, look, I'm way out of practice, Mel. I'm not going to know what's hit me when parkrun's back in New South Wales. After the week off, it's been pretty dull parkrun-wise and not parkrun-wise, aside from a few other things. So, look, I've been out for the odd run. Yeah, as we noted, I didn't go to Tassie.

00:02:12Unidentified speaker: No.

00:02:13Oliver Spake: Hang on, side note, well done Eman, looked up his result, stellar to be under two hours on a half marathon that goes up a mountain and thoroughly deserved the Tassie Pinot that I think he was going to enjoy afterwards. So great to see the guys down there and enjoying a bit of Tassie.

00:02:31Melissa Ellis: I hope he goes back next year, Ollie, and you can run with him.

00:02:35Oliver Spake: That's right. I can hitch on behind him. Amen?

00:02:39Melissa Ellis: Yeah, get in his slipstream.

00:02:41Oliver Spake: That's right. But regardless, we did have some fun. So weekend just gone. Got out for my run on Sunday. Thankfully missed a lot of the excitement locally. I'm not sure if we want to do a newsflash, but there was a bit of drama locally, rather concerning on the Banksia Avenue, not parkrun course or just nearby.

00:03:01Melissa Ellis: I think we should, Ollie, because listeners would be very familiar with the Windang Bridge. So listening and hearing Windang and the Odeng Cafe on the nightly news in a shootout in a, I don't know how you refer to it, there was a lone shooter in the area.

00:03:21Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:03:22Melissa Ellis: They might be more concerned, concerned for our own Bec Bailey, our Bailey shot.

00:03:26Oliver Spake: Thankfully, Bec was a long way away. Yes.

00:03:28Melissa Ellis: I know. Thank goodness. So we all know that Bec is off on an extended work trip for a school. She's leading a school camp, I think. And she's in Victoria. She's safe in Victoria, everybody. Don't panic. Bec was nowhere near the shooting.

00:03:46Oliver Spake: Yes, and look, fortunately, Mel, no one was injured. It was great to hear that the police did manage to arrest the individual. Clearly, there would be causes for someone to behave in such a way. It's hugely uncharacteristic of the area, let me say. It's a lovely town and, yeah, really glad that no one was hurt in the incident. But, yeah, quite scary, having seen a bit of the footage myself myself. Didn't run over there that particular day. So, you know, there's no sliding doors moments from me just as well. And yeah, thank you, my lucky stars. I wasn't anywhere near it.

00:04:23Melissa Ellis: Yeah, because possibly, Ollie, if Bec hadn't been away, you may have met up with her for a Sunday long run and been in the area. Yeah.

00:04:31Oliver Spake: Well, yeah, Bec's been fantastic for the training support. She keeps raving about her PBs, but I'd be, yeah, I'd be going backwards well and truly in terms of my pace and my training if it wasn't for a bit of motivation there. And yeah, probably would have been out for a Sunday run. So that's all right, Mel. I'll be there soon enough. And yeah, glad to know that things are quiet once again in Windang.

00:04:55Melissa Ellis: Peace is restored in Windang.

00:04:57Oliver Spake: That's right. Aside from that, I'll throw in something for my other passion. I was fortunate enough to take my eldest and my second eldest daughter off to the Matildas game, which, you know, in terms of the parkrun world, is located near Rhodes parkrun, for those unfamiliar with Sydney, at Homebush Park, Olympic Park, I should say, in Homebush. And, yeah, watched the Matildas get walloped 3-0. But nonetheless, it was good fun. It's another of my passions. And, yeah. We go again, and I'm still counting down the days to the Women's World Cup and the opportunities to meld those two passions together, get around to games and parkruns alike.

00:05:34Melissa Ellis: So forgive me, Ollie, is this soccer? Yes. What those UK people refer to as football.

00:05:41Oliver Spake: That's right. That's absolutely right. And I now have two daughters with Matilda's jerseys. I didn't get out of that cheaply. But needless to say, Zali has been hanging hers up every night behind her door and reading her Sam Kerr book at every waking moment. That's adorable.

00:06:00Melissa Ellis: Is she inspired to take up soccer on a junior level?

00:06:05Oliver Spake: I think that the interest is developing. She's got a cousin who's actually quite good, a couple of years older, and that'll help with the motivation as well. But it's just lovely to see those pathways open. And I can't think of a more enjoyable game I've been to in the last decade or more. Just the atmosphere is wonderful.

00:06:26Melissa Ellis: Excellent. So, yeah, sorry.

00:06:29Oliver Spake: Back to parkrun, Mel, you had real parkrun, so it would be nice to hear how that was.

00:06:36Melissa Ellis: I did, and I had a pretty quiet Saturday morning, Ollie. I chose to just stay local. I returned to Peppertree parkrun where I'd been the week before for not parkrun, and I met up with a girlfriend. Actually, I met up with Abby's mum. Ah, okay. So Peppertree parkrun is probably a halfway point for us between where we live. And, yeah, we had a lovely run chat. There were small numbers at Peppertree. Thirty-three people ran the course. That's nice. It runs along the Werribee River.

00:07:10Unidentified speaker: Mm-hmm.

00:07:11Melissa Ellis: And it's a gravel course, double out and back. And it was fabulous. It was just a nice, relaxing, easing back into that parkrun routine, if you like. Yeah. That experience. I didn't do anything exciting. I didn't achieve any, you know, numbers, any Wilson indexes or anything like that. It wasn't about that. It was just about being back at parkrun, being immersed back into the routine and, yeah, couldn't stay for brunch, unfortunately. I had to rush off. Zoe had had a friend over the night before. She'd celebrated a birthday the day before. Yes, happy birthday, Zoe. Thank you.

00:07:49Oliver Spake: A bit belated, sorry. Yeah.

00:07:51Melissa Ellis: So yeah, I mean, I hadn't left the girls at home alone. Paul was at home. However, I knew the parent would be coming to pick up their child. So I had to be home for that. And then Zoe had an appointment for uniform fitting because we're going into high school next year. So there's all that kind of stuff. This time of year, it's a busy time of year for all this type of end of school activities.

00:08:14Oliver Spake: Yeah, particularly going on to high school, that's right.

00:08:17Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so I had to basically give a month's paycheck to the uniform shop. That's okay. But, yeah, very enjoyable. Thank you very much for asking.

00:08:28Oliver Spake: Well, and might I say, in spite of your claims of lack of achievement, congratulations to you both on a new PB at Peppertree. Oh, yes.

00:08:37Melissa Ellis: It wasn't a stretch, though, because I was last there when I think for the inaugural and I walked with Zoe. So it wasn't a big effort to better that result.

00:08:52Oliver Spake: Low key maybe, but wonderful to hear parkrun back in Victoria and to see some of the firsthand accounts of people getting back into the groove.

00:09:00Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and only a couple of weeks away now for New South Wales.

00:09:04Oliver Spake: Yes, it's very exciting.

00:09:05Melissa Ellis: I'd be very happy if they give us another surprise like they did with Victoria and give you a bonus early return.

00:09:13Oliver Spake: Funny you say that. I dreamt that that happened. I dreamt that that happened last night. It's Omen. And look, that'd be wonderful. I can only imagine what it's been like to be sprung into action. So, hey, if that happens, that'll be a good thing. Nonetheless, we wait and it will be wonderful when it comes here. And yeah, look forward to more parkrunning stories in the weeks to come, Mel. And so, Mel, as I understand it, the weekend just passed once again with Victoria back. It was the first weekend with the barcodes on phones.

00:09:48Melissa Ellis: It was. That was a big announcement last week. What was your thoughts on that, Ollie?

00:09:54Oliver Spake: Well, look, I think that there's clearly been a lot of feedback over time and I've seen that it's able to be done. I think as a volunteer, I do like... Knowing that someone's, in case of emergency, details are accessible, that's probably the first thing that jumps into mind. And I also respect that not everyone's able to, particularly at the last minute, access their barcode, and that can be, I was going to say upsetting. It can be upsetting. It can be frustrating if you, obviously, you go to a big effort and you're unable to record it. So it's great to see parkrun moving with the technology, but there are pluses and minuses, clearly.

00:10:37Melissa Ellis: Yeah, there are, Ollie, and I think primarily parkrun's done this to avoid confrontation with volunteers so that if a parkrunner has forgotten their barcode and is adamant that they want to scan, that the volunteer isn't in a situation where they've got to refuse a barcode on a phone. Yeah. I'm just concerned, Ollie, I'm just concerned that now that people know they can use their barcode on their phone, they're going to preference that. They're going to not bring their printed one. They're not going to worry about other methods and they're just going to think, I'll just bring it up on my phone. And I witnessed it at Peppertree on Saturday as I came over the line and And I went to approach the scanner with my wristband. There was somebody standing there with their phone open, doing the swiping, looking for their barcode and holding up proceedings. I'm just worried that now that people know they can use their phone, that they're going to not bother to bring their their other barcodes and they're going to just think that's the easy option. And I don't think that's the best thing. It's just not sort of the spirit of what parkrun has been about.

00:11:52Oliver Spake: No, and certainly, you know, wherever there are opportunities, I know, you know, with a lot of events, you know, sometimes people stream straight to get scanned and that can be a very helpful thing or a very helpful part of the system. It would be nice to see people be considerate and step aside, get it ready, step up, be scanned, to take those simple steps to make that possible wherever it's possible. But you're right, it does open up a new possibility where that's more likely now. Look, with all changes, there are obviously factors for and factors against. I appreciate, as a volunteer, parkrun taking that action to support our volunteers. But, yeah, wait and see, Mel. Hopefully people can still bring along those. And I know many of us, we love our wristbands. So many of us don't need to be told that twice.

00:12:46Melissa Ellis: And this is what's happened to me, Ollie. When I came over the line and I went to present my wristband, for the very first time, my wristband didn't scan. And I have mentioned previously on the pod that it's been something of a psychological thing for me not to remove my wristband over the pause. It was just like if I removed it, it was some sort of acknowledgement about parkrun being gone and I couldn't do that. I just refused to take it off. So I have worn it. But for the very first time when I presented it, it wouldn't scan. But rather than... me having to opt for searching on my phone for my barcode and I have saved it as a photo I did go on to do that and I do know also if you open the 5k app and you've updated the app there's now the option to bring up your barcode through the app so that's available now as well yes

00:13:41Oliver Spake: Very helpful.

00:13:42Melissa Ellis: I could have done that. I could have done both those things. However, in my phone case, I also have a hard copy of my barcode and it was way much quicker to just whip that out and present it and it was quickly scanned. So I'm sure that that was a lot quicker than if I had been searching through my phone for photos or apps or whatever. Yeah.

00:14:02Oliver Spake: Yeah. It'll come down to the individual, I imagine, Mel. We will get some people who are very organised and have it ready on their phone, but hopefully people can just approach it and support the volunteers in this new way. It's got the potential to be much easier.

00:14:16Melissa Ellis: Yeah. I just think that scanning off the phone is more of the last resort. It's the tourist that's on holiday and left their barcode at home because they just forgot to pack it or, you know... Lost on course. Lost on course. Yeah, exactly. Yep. It's not the default.

00:14:35Oliver Spake: Well, I mean, that's my claim to fame is I've now denied poor Damien Leith his barcode scanning twice because he didn't have his printed barcode. We've managed to scan his daughter, but as a former idol watcher way, way back in the day, it was a bit gutting to tell Damien that I couldn't give him a result, but nonetheless.

00:14:58Melissa Ellis: Can we start a movement to get him back?

00:15:01Oliver Spake: Oh, in good time, I'm sure.

00:15:03Melissa Ellis: But while we're on the topic of barcodes, Ollie, maybe we should mention I saw on, I think it was parkrun UK, they have advertised a new wristband called the Ultraband. Did you see that? I have not seen this. Okay, so they posted a video, and it was only today, showing a new purple wristband that has the barcode on the outside, but your name and your ice details and medical details are on the inside. Okay. Now, this, from a little bit of searching, is not currently available in the Australian shop, but it was posted today on the UK parkrun page.

00:15:46Oliver Spake: So that provides maybe a bit of privacy for those that don't want their name or in case of emergency details on the outside.

00:15:52Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and just not obvious to the whole world, I guess, when you present your wrist. But obviously if something was to happen to you and you were to collapse and it was needed, it's still easily accessible.

00:16:02Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:16:03Melissa Ellis: But also, Ollie, another thing that came up in the last week is parkrun announcing some new enamel pins. That was a bit exciting.

00:16:12Oliver Spake: Yeah, don't they look wonderful? Yeah.

00:16:14Melissa Ellis: They do. They look really good. I'm all about pins. I like to collect those types of things.

00:16:21Oliver Spake: Look, I must admit, I have eyed them off, haven't made any moves as yet.

00:16:26Melissa Ellis: I don't think that they're necessarily available yet. I don't think that parkruns, they've posted the photo, but I don't think that they're necessarily available yet on any online platform. It's a teaser, Ollie. Ah.

00:16:41Oliver Spake: Okay. And it was parkrun UK that shared it, wasn't it? It was. Yes.

00:16:45Melissa Ellis: Not dissimilar to something that popped up on April Fool's Day in a certain not to be named parkrun in New South Wales.

00:16:54Oliver Spake: Yeah. It's time to balance the ledger, don't you think, Mel? We had an SPF of zero last week.

00:16:59Melissa Ellis: I know. How good was that? I'm so proud.

00:17:03Oliver Spake: And look, I claim no credit for this whatsoever. But yes, we have had a brains trust behind Shellharbour parkrun's April Fool's Day efforts for some time. And said brains trust about two and a half years ago, yeah, made some very impressive looking pins that parkrun was supposedly using. releasing to the world. So all these things start somewhere and maybe there's a link, maybe there's not, but very satisfying to see, I think.

00:17:36Melissa Ellis: 92 shares that post had though, didn't it, Ollie?

00:17:40Oliver Spake: It was good fun. It was good fun. And naturally, there was a link to order, which would direct you to the April Fool's Day Wikipedia page. We wait for April Fool's every year. And thank you to the Brain's Trust for that inspiration.

00:17:53Melissa Ellis: Can we share that? I think we should share it. Let's. That post needs a reshare on our page.

00:18:00Oliver Spake: Yes. So, look, a lot going on in the parkrun world. A lot going on in the baked goods world too.

00:18:09Melissa Ellis: We love our baked goods, don't we?

00:18:11Oliver Spake: We do. We do. And look, I'm glad I stayed out of the fisticuffs last week around the pronunciation. And I would say pasty, by the way, but I won't get us back down that path.

00:18:22Melissa Ellis: In the UK, that's how they say it, a pasty. We say pasty, but some strange people up in Queensland say pasties. We love you, Mel.

00:18:32Oliver Spake: We do. Should I read on, Mel? Please. So bakers and pie makers from all over Australia, as our tip-off podcast, Converge alternatively, I should say, in Sydney and Melbourne each September to compete for the most sought-after award in their industry, the official Great Aussie Pie Competition. The competition is judged over a four-day period by an elite team of 16 judges from the baking industry. Ten categories of pies are appraised, including plain meat and chunky, gourmet meat, the gourmet section, And that's red meat, poultry, game, seafood, vegetarian, gluten-free, breakfast and apple. And 2014 saw our favourite, the official Great Aussie Sausage Roll competition added.

00:19:25Melissa Ellis: So the judging happened over the weekend and we saw the winners announced. And there's some interesting... Some interesting winners. So I have noted a couple basically for the sausage rolls, Ollie. The winner of the plain sausage roll was the Hope Bakery at Sovereign Hill Ballarat in Victoria. So if you need your sausage roll, you need to come to Victoria, Chris Fraser. The winner of the gourmet sausage roll was the Little Red Grape Bakery in Seven Hill, South Australia with their garlic chicken roll. That's an interesting combination. Inspires me to go and try that one.

00:20:13Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:20:14Melissa Ellis: And the winner of the gluten-free sausage roll was J&M Catering in Windery, Victoria. Windery, again, in the vicinity of Ballarat, and they have got their spinach and ricotta. But, Ollie, special mention to Buddy Bakery in Melton, who won seven gold, five silver, and five bronze medals in this competition.

00:20:37Oliver Spake: Wow. Wow.

00:20:38Melissa Ellis: So who knew that Meltown is the centre of baked goods?

00:20:46Oliver Spake: Wow. Yeah. What is it about that part of Victoria? I mean, I don't mean to group Meltown and Ballarat. I know that they're not right next to one another, but to me they're in the same direction.

00:20:58Melissa Ellis: We absolutely are. Yes. You know, brothers and sisters. Yeah. Yep.

00:21:03Oliver Spake: Clearly something has to go on the list there. Very exciting. And I can see that it's caught on. And I will add, after seeing some of the excitement, I did go and have a sausage roll at the soccer as well.

00:21:15Melissa Ellis: Oh, good one. Yeah, I didn't.

00:21:18Oliver Spake: It wasn't gourmet, but nonetheless, yep.

00:21:20Melissa Ellis: But I am going away in a couple of weeks. I am going to be staying out in the area of Ballarat, so I think that I might search out the gluten-free sausage roll in Windery.

00:21:33Oliver Spake: That sounds like a plan, Mel.

00:21:35Melissa Ellis: Yep, just because I need to go and visit a winner and just give them appropriate appreciation and support.

00:21:42Oliver Spake: Nice to see you, Mel. That's great support. Good to give them some great praise.

00:21:46Melissa Ellis: So, yes, we were very excited and thanks, Chris, for letting us know about the competition this weekend, which we otherwise would have had no idea about. That's right. But, Ollie, I think we've waffled on long enough. That was a very long intro. We've gone way over time. So it's time, I think, to throw to our roving reports.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Lyndell Murray — Nathan Road Sports Ground parkrun

00:22:14Lyndell Murray: G'day parkrun adventurers, it's Lyndell. And I am checking in this morning from Nathan Road Sports Ground parkrun. I'm not good with these big, long, multi-word parkrun names, but I think that's right. And I'm here for event number seven. And yes... The fact that I know that it's event number seven, it's pretty easy to jump to the conclusion that I'm here for a Wilson number. Now, this particular parkrun can be found in Rothwell, which is on the Redcliffe Peninsula, about 40 minutes, say, north of the Brisbane CBD, in the Moreton Bay region of Queensland. Lovely spot. The nearest parkrun is probably Redcliffe parkrun, to give you a bit of an idea. Now reading up on the course it's a bit of a mixed terrain course I think so anyway we'll get ready go to the briefing hopefully not get lost and I'll check in with you after the run. Okay parkrun adventurers I found a couple here that probably put anyone's story to a test I found Greg and Carolyn how are you guys today what event number what's what's going on here?

00:23:22Carolyn: 261 parkruns, 131 different event today. Yeah, we've driven an hour or so from home to do today. Nice course.

00:23:32Lyndell Murray: Yeah. Awesome. And what's probably your biggest parkrun adventure, would you say?

00:23:39Greg: The furthest one was Darwin, where we got some really cheap flights. $13. $13 and $162 return for the both of us. So that was a bargain. Ticked off the most northerly parkrun in Australia.

00:23:55Lyndell Murray: Nightcliff.

00:23:56Greg: Yeah, so that was good.

00:23:57Carolyn: So you've got your north. Any other compass points? We did Geeveston in Tasmania and we've done Kingscliff, of course. Kingscliff, yeah.

00:24:05Greg: Just the Western Australia to go.

00:24:08Carolyn: Yeah.

00:24:08Lyndell Murray: So you've got to get over there at a time when it's not going to get any more westerly because there's a few of us that have been caught out. I did Geographe Bay back when it was the westerly and I think there's been three different ones since then.

00:24:20Carolyn: Oh, no. Is that true? Well, we found out during the week that only 21 people in Australia have got the three, and we're two of those, so we're a bit keen to get to WA now. Yes. Yeah, but we just love touristing. You know, just jumping on a plane, check flights all the time and just doing different ones up and down the coast. We're trying to get our statesman here in Queensland. So we've got 15 to go. Wow. But some of those are Weipa, which is like $900 flights and Mount Isa, Cloncurry, like the really far away ones. So, yeah. But we've still got some local ones that we've sort of been keeping just in the dream. Yeah, like today. So, yeah, we love it. Just love it.

00:25:01Lyndell Murray: And what's the best thing about adventuring, do you reckon? Yeah.

00:25:05Greg: Just seeing this beautiful country. We love just driving through country towns and spending some time there.

00:25:12Carolyn: Money, supporting the locals, meeting new people.

00:25:17Greg: Great little getaways, weekend getaways. It's terrific.

00:25:21Lyndell Murray: Fantastic. All right. So you've got a few goals. You've got your compass or whatever it's called. I don't know, something. And your statesmanship. So what challenges have you got and what are your ones you're most proud of?

00:25:34Carolyn: Alphabet. We were pretty excited about that because way back when Zillmere started, we spent that Christmas before Zillmere started and Ticked off Echuca, drove down to Echuca, drove to Melbourne, did Jells. So we got our last two alphabets. So when we came up here, we were like, I don't know, third or fourth or something in Australia to get the alphabet. Thank you, everybody. Thank you.

00:25:57Lyndell Murray: And that takes a bit of commitment, the alphabet, doesn't it? So good on you. It's easier now because there's a lot of local ones, E's and J's.

00:26:07Carolyn: Back then there was only Echuca or an emerald. Or East Coast. I did East Coast in Singapore. The E was very hard to get, wasn't it?

00:26:14Lyndell Murray: All right. Well, is there anything else that you'd like to let the parkrun adventurers know? Any words of wisdom?

00:26:22Carolyn: When you get emails from airlines, get in there, book them straight away. Don't hesitate because you get the cheap flights. Don't even bother asking your husband. Just do it.

00:26:33Greg: We did one overseas in Hagley Park in New Zealand when we were out there for the half marathon. And we even did a pop-up parkrun in Waikiki Beach in Hawaii because there's no parkruns over there. So we took our own flag and did that with some of the other people who were doing the marathon.

00:26:48Lyndell Murray: Ah, you're those people. I've heard about you. Yeah. So good advice there. Don't think about it. Just do it. Just do it. Yep. Just do it. Don't worry about your husband or your significant other.

00:26:58Carolyn: Just do it. Just book it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Nice work.

00:27:00Lyndell Murray: Ask him later. Yep. It sounds like he'll go along with you. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

00:27:06Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:27:08Carolyn: Yeah, no, we just love parkrun. We just love the community. We love meeting new people, discovering new places. And we've never been in, like, we've got no more challenges to do because we've kind of ticked them all off now. But we're doing the Wilson thing now, which he thinks is silly. But anyway, that's why we're here today. Me too. I've got my seven. There's just nothing else to do. There you go.

00:27:29Lyndell Murray: Yeah. Oh, look, you just, you know, it's just fun, isn't it? It is.

00:27:33Carolyn: It's just something to keep you going.

00:27:35Lyndell Murray: Yeah.

00:27:35Carolyn: Yeah.

00:27:37Lyndell Murray: Yeah. All right. Well, thank you so much for talking to me. Keep on adventuring. Even when you've done all your challenges, keep on adventuring. Oh, yeah, absolutely. All right. Thanks a lot, guys.

00:27:46Carolyn: See you.

00:27:48Lyndell Murray: All righty, guys. I have tracked down very important people here at Nathan Road Sports Ground parkrun. Is that right? That's the one. Yes. I get confused with all these parkruns with lots of different names, but I've said it twice correctly now, I think, so that is great. So I've got Kelly and Matt. Now, co-EDs?

00:28:06Unidentified speaker: Yes, that's right.

00:28:08Lyndell Murray: And you guys started up this parkrun that I can't remember the name of?

00:28:12Unidentified speaker: Yes, that's right, we did.

00:28:13Unidentified speaker: We did. We did all the planning and the council applications and so on.

00:28:19Lyndell Murray: You've really made the most of what you have here by looking at how much path you've got and adding on some really interesting little features. Would one of you like to describe the course for us?

00:28:28Unidentified speaker: Yeah, sure. So at our parkrun here, it is mixed surface. So it starts off in a big open field, which is a great place to start because everyone can spread out. And once you get off the grass, you go onto a concrete path. So probably about two thirds of the course is concrete. And then you finish up on a bit of a gravel section through a wetland area, which is quite nice and scenic.

00:28:52Lyndell Murray: Yeah, it is. It's lovely. But that would have been why it was cancelled last week. I drove out here last week and found that it was cancelled. Rookie error. Didn't check the Facebook page. Should have done that. So event number seven, how is it going? Have you found yourself a little community of regular runners and regular volunteers yet? Yeah.

00:29:09Unidentified speaker: We've probably got more regular volunteers now than regular runners. We're still getting a lot of tourism. It's probably 80, 90% new runners from different running groups.

00:29:19Lyndell Murray: But yeah, we're getting our sort of core volunteers now, which is good. That's fantastic. That makes it a lot easier to keep going and get people involved and start to make friends around the place as well, yeah?

00:29:30Unidentified speaker: Yeah, definitely.

00:29:32Lyndell Murray: And they seem like a really friendly bunch. The volunteer that was barcode scanning had a bit of a chat. Yeah, it seems like a really lovely little group.

00:29:41Unidentified speaker: Yeah, and we did it to sort of form more of a community because we are a very new community here at Newport. And with COVID and everything, people not really getting out, we sort of wanted to meet everyone and get that sort of community vibe going.

00:29:54Lyndell Murray: That's really great. I was going to ask you that. There's a bit of construction still happening. Is the hope that the parkrun will grow with the community?

00:30:01Unidentified speaker: Ideally, that is our goal, particularly because a lot of the construction is happening across the road from the start line. So as more people move in, more people will see that we're here on a Saturday morning and might pop down, have a look.

00:30:13Lyndell Murray: See all the happy, smiling faces and the looks of pain as we cross the finish line.

00:30:17Unidentified speaker: Hopefully not.

00:30:20Lyndell Murray: Now, the sports ground here, there's been a lot of talk in the media lately about the Redcliffe Dolphins, but this is not the home of the Redcliffe Dolphins.

00:30:28Unidentified speaker: No, it's not. No.

00:30:30Unidentified speaker: This is the Tigers Club. Dolphins is down the road. Yes. Yeah.

00:30:34Lyndell Murray: Probably a good thing.

00:30:36Unidentified speaker: Yes.

00:30:37Lyndell Murray: Yes. And this is AFL, yeah? Yeah.

00:30:40Unidentified speaker: Yeah, correct, yeah.

00:30:41Lyndell Murray: And have they been a partner with you in setting up the parkrun? No. Or someone that you've had to work with a little bit?

00:30:48Unidentified speaker: No, they haven't. But we have worked with Sandra Ruck, our local member, who's helped us quite a lot, which we've really appreciated. And obviously parkrun HQ as well have helped us a lot. Yeah, fantastic. Yes.

00:31:00Lyndell Murray: All right. Well, thank you, guys. Thank you for starting this parkrun. Thank you for the contribution to the community here and to bringing another parkrun to the Redcliffe Peninsula. And thanks for talking to me today. And nice park dogs as well.

00:31:13Unidentified speaker: Yeah, we've got two park dogs. Two senior members.

00:31:19Lyndell Murray: All righty, guys. Short and sweet little roving report from Nathan Road Sports Ground parkrun. I think that's three from three, guys. Great little parkrun, lots of variety, really mixed terrain course, and really lovely. Like, I looked at the map before I came, like I always do, and I thought, ooh, this one could be tricky. I might get lost. But honestly, the Marshals are fantastic. The course is really well marked with little yellow cones everywhere. It's a lovely course. You won't get lost. They're friendly people and a terrific little new course on the north side of Brisbane. All right, everybody, that is it for me. This is Lyndell signing out for the Channel 5 News crew on the parkrun adventurers.

Roving report Tracey Wood — Kirra parkrun

00:32:04Tracey Wood: Good morning parkrunners, it's Tracey in a Tutu and I've toured to Kirra Beach parkrun and I've found Heather who's the Run Director today. Heather, what's happened?

00:32:14Heather: Well, we've probably had our biggest number today because of the Gold Coast 50 this weekend and From 101 to 150, their numbers started being given out upside down. So they realised about 15 numbers in and I've now been told I should have pulled out about 15 numbers. I should have clicked them through.

00:32:40Tracey Wood: So we've got a bit of a balls up with results today. I'm pretty sure all our listeners who some of them are RDs are well are nodding their heads and going, yep.

00:32:50Heather: Yep, heard that before. And one of the support parkrun guy, Paul, is here and he's hiding behind somebody. Please don't ask me to fix it. But apart from that, it all went well this morning. Yeah, it was great. Most people we've had running for some time with the border closure, we've had... no New South Wales people being able to come across so my twin town runners which I'm a member of they they're all running on their side of the border yes so we you know we were consistently getting 250 to 300 but then down to 120 to 150 so today I think we were about 250. yeah so for our Victorian listeners how close are we to the border Or hop, step and a jump, just about.

00:33:39Tracey Wood: A kilometre to...?

00:33:41Heather: You can see it right looking down the road.

00:33:44Tracey Wood: Yeah, pretty much.

00:33:46Heather: Does the course go into New South Wales? No, no. Look, it's probably a couple of k's from there. I work at Coolangatta and people don't even realise they've crossed the border from New South Wales to Queensland.

00:34:00Tracey Wood: And have you RD'd here a few times?

00:34:03Heather: Yes, I've been doing it for two, three years, I think. Big break over COVID. Love it. Love it? Yeah. It seems like nice people here. I was asked to do it and it took me 12 months to get up the courage and did my first two and I thought, well, what was I worried about? And I can see you're wearing your red...

00:34:21Tracey Wood: Yes, my new volunteer shirt. Is that your volunteer work? Yes, that's mine. Well, congratulations. Congratulations. That is awesome. Well done, you.

00:34:29Heather: And I just got my 250 runs as well. It's all happening for you. It is.

00:34:34Tracey Wood: Except for the results, it's all happening for you.

00:34:37Heather: It is. And Renee's here today, and she... That's Renee Russell, by the way. Yeah, and she's got her 250 volunteer shirt on today. So...

00:34:46Unidentified speaker: Yes.

00:34:46Tracey Wood: I hadn't seen one of those. No, not in the wild before. And we have seen a few people wearing their Ugly Christmas Shirts. Yes. But quite a few people wearing their running club shirts.

00:34:57Heather: We had Redland, Redland runners. We had Pinot, I think they were, runners. I'm not sure where they were from. And... uh Bribie Island runners yeah that's all down here for the Gold Coast fitness yeah I haven't run a parkrun in Victoria for the Victorian parkrunners yeah that's where I'm from I've done two in the UK and I've just done mainly Kirra parkrun so again for our Victorian people where are you from I'm from Hampton Victoria manalisa right grew up in manalisa oh there you go my family are there haven't seen them for two and a half years so

00:35:34Tracey Wood: I'll cross my fingers for you. But anyway, it has gone really well. Sorry about the results. I wrote results processing this morning as well.

00:35:43Greta: I saw on the roster.

00:35:44Tracey Wood: So for our listeners, I ticked there as well. It didn't rain.

00:35:48Heather: There was a strong headwind I heard. But it was coolish. It's been an awesome morning. So thanks for putting the event on.

00:35:55Tracey Wood: You're welcome. And that's all from me at Kirra parkrun. I'm going to head off in search of A, coffee, B, breakfast. I'm down here for the GC50 Run Festival. Have a good weekend, guys. Talk to you another time. See you on the B-side. Bye.

00:36:11Greta: Good morning, parkrun adventurers.

Roving report Greta — Nuriootpa parkrun

00:36:12Greta: It's Greta here from the Channel 5 News crew, and I'm doing a roving report today from Nuriootpa parkrun. So Nuriootpa, or Nuri, as the locals call it, is in the beautiful Barossa Valley in South Australia. And the course here is a lovely course that winds through vineyards and parkland and it's along a river. So yes, we're going to go and do the course and see if we can find some people to talk to. All right, we've now finished our parkrun. Oh, and we're standing in ants. We might just move out of the ants. And I'm here with Kareen and Kareen's the Event Director for Nuriootpa parkrun. How are you going, Kareen?

00:36:53Kareen: very well thank you it's a beautiful day for parkrun oh it's glorious and we are now sitting in the lovely sun um having our coffee yep getting bitten by ants but delicious coffee yes and nice to have a big group of event ambassadors here this weekend so there was a bit of a takeover today which was awesome but I think you pretty much doubled the numbers of certainly uh volunteers but also there seem to have been a lot of participants this weekend too which is awesome

00:37:19Greta: Yeah, it's great.

00:37:20Kareen: So how many would you normally get here at Nuri parkrun? Well, since COVID, the numbers have sort of dropped a little bit. We generally get around about 30, 35 people, so 25 to 35 people each week. But I would say half of those would be tourists.

00:37:36Greta: Well, it's a lovely area to visit, isn't it? Being in the Barossa and being in the wine region, you'd have lots of people coming up to visit.

00:37:43Kareen: Yeah, it's a good way to start a weekend of gourmet food and wine. Yeah. Makes you not feel not so guilty to partake. To work up an appetite, yes. And tell us a little bit about the course. The course is in a beautiful park where you hear lots of birdies and see lots of beautiful gum trees and other plants. You run past the bush gardens that's here in the Barossa. It's got a caravan park to stay just next door. A little bit of a walk from the car park, which I think throws a few people. But it's just such a beautiful spot. It doesn't cater to big numbers of people, which works beautifully for us. So today was a great number to have on the actual course today. Yeah, it's just a beautiful spot. It is.

00:38:29Greta: And it's sort of a two, sort of double out and back. So it's very social, isn't it? It's very sort of intimate. You get to see the runners multiple times as you're going around the course.

00:38:38Kareen: Yeah, absolutely. And if there's people coming to watch or marshal or whatever, there's lots of spots that they can stand and cheer people on. And so how long have you been going here at Nuri? So we started September 2017. So a while. A little while, yeah. Kind of COVID makes you miss the odd year. It does, yeah. But yeah, it is a few years. I base it purely on how old my son Mackenzie is. There you go. And how old's he now? So he's four turning five, so... Yeah, it's four and a half years is what penguins... Mary parkrun is.

00:39:12Greta: So you birthed a parkrun and a baby around the same time? Oh, totally.

00:39:16Kareen: I don't know which is my favourite, though.

00:39:21Greta: Yes. Yeah, great. And look, what inspired you to bring parkrun to Nuri?

00:39:26Kareen: Because I used to live in New South Wales and I was around when Dave Robbo was setting up Newcastle parkrun and actually that's the first time I'd come across parkrun, but I didn't live that local area. locally to any parkrun at that point. So then we moved over here and I was looking for it for something that my husband and I could do regularly. I was surprised that there wasn't anything here in the Barossa but actually when I started looking for routes I understood it's not as easy as you think it would be.

00:39:58Greta: And where would the closest one have been at that time? Well that was pre-Gawler so you had to go back into Adelaide.

00:40:04Kareen: or further afield. Yeah, a long way. A couple of hours drive? Certainly a good hour, maybe hour and a half. So yeah, initially it was to run it myself, to be able to participate in something and for my husband to do it as well. But now that's not why I'm involved in parkrun. I didn't realise that the volunteering thing would be such an important part for me and I probably do it more for the volunteering than I do for any exercise. Why do you love volunteering? I think it's that sense of community, I think. Being part of something that's not associated with work and there's no pressure around it at all. It's just such a nice way to connect with people on such a neutral ground and to have such a health and active lifestyle is something that's quite important to me both personally and as a physiotherapist. So to connect with people in that way, it's been a surprising journey.

00:40:54Greta: Yeah. How wonderful. Well, thank you so much for bringing parkrun to Nuri, and it sounds like you've brought something to the community, but also something to your own life and to your own family's life. Absolutely. So congratulations, and thank you so much for having us today. It's just been absolutely beautiful.

00:41:09Unidentified speaker: Thank you for coming.

00:41:18Oliver Spake: And thank you to our terrific trio of roving reports. Thank you to Lyndell from Nathan Road Sports Ground there, Tracy at Kirra and Greta at Nuriootpa. I'm forever relearning that one. And Mel, Tracy, I suppose, shared a bit of the experience there with the finish tokens. I just wanted to say I've completely been in that boat. And yes, I've both been on the counting and maths side of trying to recalculate what the tokens should have been when the order's been out. And yeah, I'm pretty sure I've handed out the wrong tokens as well. So I don't know if it's just me. Yeah, sympathy there. Yeah.

00:41:58Melissa Ellis: And clean sweep for the girls for the second week in a row, Ollie. Yes. And we should mention that Lyndell actually recorded the week before, but we weren't able to bring that audio to you last week. Yes. But, yes, Nathan Road Sports Ground, Lyndell was at the week previous.

00:42:16Oliver Spake: Thank you very much to all three of you and some fantastic volunteering in there as well. So it's always lovely to hear the passionate and critical volunteers that bring it to us each week.

Dazza's

00:42:29Oliver Spake: But Mel, speaking of someone who brings it to us each week, Dazza was back and very punctual.

00:42:38Melissa Ellis: Yes, making up for the week before.

00:42:40Oliver Spake: Yes. No apologies or excuses needed for Dazza. Always puts on a good show. And once again, right on the mark with the official Great Aussie Pie and Sausage Roll competition, hey?

00:42:53Unidentified speaker: Mm-hmm.

00:42:53Oliver Spake: So as the message in Dazza did say, did you know that the official Great Aussie Pie and Sausage Roll competition has just occurred in Sydney? We didn't either, but we are a bit excited. So let's celebrate the sausage roll this week and join us at Dazza's and tell us how you spent your parkrun day. We want to hear all things. So thank you to everyone who did pop in. Who did we hear from, Mel?

00:43:16Melissa Ellis: Well, thank you for asking, Ollie. To start off, we have our Victorian return to parkrun, and we heard from Sally Heppleston, our friend Sal, Super Sal, who said, I went to Westerfolds parkrun, all uppercase. And I think Sal was pretty happy to be back running at the folds.

00:43:41Oliver Spake: Oh, I think so.

00:43:42Melissa Ellis: We also heard from Bruce Purdy. How good was this? A Wallaby Track parkrun PB. Breakfast, a park faff and a present. A huge thank you to Kylie for the gift of the On Every Saturday book and a snag roll for lunch from the In Exterior Cafe. And that's pretty good. A Crook book and a $3.50 sausage roll, Ollie.

00:44:06Oliver Spake: Yeah, I was impressed at the price. Don't know if that's just because I had a stadium sausage roll and they're extortionate, but that sounds like value.

00:44:15Melissa Ellis: I've got to jump in there and say that I was driving on my way to parkrun on Saturday morning, listening to my normal ABC radio, and my local Saturday morning ABC radio host was interviewing a certain David Crook. How fantastic. Fantastic. It was. I was so excited. And they were encouraging people to ring in or text in and let them know if they were on their way to parkrun. But of course, I was driving and I couldn't.

00:44:47Oliver Spake: There's the issue, yeah, with the audience, but nonetheless.

00:44:50Melissa Ellis: Yeah, yeah, they didn't think that through, did they? Don't make the interview at 7.30 when your potential listener base is actually en route to parkrun. That was very exciting and lovely to hear David talking about his book.

00:45:04Oliver Spake: Yes, very much so.

00:45:06Melissa Ellis: And we also heard from Jodie Maisie who said, I did Hamilton parkrun, was so lovely, Brendan Peel did his 50th volley. Jodie posted a photo looking out over the water at Hamilton parkrun. Brendan Peel, as a point of interest, also has another milestone coming up very soon, which I intend to be there for, which is his... I'm thinking of the word for it. What is it, Ollie, when you do 250 different events?

00:45:40Oliver Spake: Oh, I should know this. Of course, yes.

00:45:43Melissa Ellis: Sorry, asked you a question, answered it myself.

00:45:46Oliver Spake: No, that's quite all right. I just wish I had the book in front of me.

00:45:49Melissa Ellis: And we heard from Irene Bommakanti. Parth and I were on timekeeping and finish tokens, respectively, at Fairpark Reserve today, keeping our legs fresh for Sandy Point 10 kilometres tomorrow. Great opportunity to work towards our volunteer shirts. Is that a 100? That's a 100. Yeah.

00:46:09Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:46:10Melissa Ellis: And Irene, I can inform you, did really well at Sandy Point and I think bagged herself a 10k PB. Well done.

00:46:21Oliver Spake: That's fantastic. Thank you for volunteering too. Mel, we also heard from Andrew Turner. We were at Ocean Grove parkrun today, as well already planned a camping trip, a windy run followed by a beach warm down, then a long black at the garage. And incidentally, Andrew had a photo there showing finish token number three, and I believe he came very close to the PB as well. So yes, nice work. Impressive. Lynette Anne. Hi to all at Dazza's. What a ripper of a morning. Blue skies and bright orange vests. Mansfield Botanic parkrun for me. Happy to be back with parkrunners enjoying the best event ever. My cappuccino was perfect while chatting to E.D. Ron and his partner Kathy. Very committed people through some challenging times. And Lynette also shared a lovely photo overlooking the water as well. Helen Reeves got up at 4.45 to volunteer at Berwick Waters parkrun and to babysit so parents can get ready for a first birthday without helpers. Helpers possibly intended to be in speech marks there. But, yes, well done, Helen, and thank you for the photo in orange as well with a pram at the flag.

00:47:43Melissa Ellis: Fun fact, I do know Helen's daughter, Caitlin. Ah, yes? Yes. I ran in the same running club as Caitlin back in my days at Berwick Springs.

00:47:54Oliver Spake: Ah, excellent. There you go. It's a small world down there. It is. And Nadine Crawford. An early start to get to You Yangs parkrun for Victoria's relaunch this morning with Karen. Beautiful one-lap course and a friendly crew, followed by a sensational breakfast and parkrun chat with new parkrun friends. Perfect parkrun morning. So, so happy to have Vic parkrun back, and so is my wallet. And I had time to clean my house this weekend too. Although the South Australian government is confused why I got a border permit and never showed up.

00:48:32Melissa Ellis: Sounds like Nadine had plan B on the go there.

00:48:35Oliver Spake: I think so.

00:48:37Melissa Ellis: And we heard from Toc, lol. Desert is open early this week. No sleep-ins. Road trip to Burley Griffin and excited to meet Sam. I'm tipping Sam was more excited. And Chris Fraser. Willow parkrun first became my NENDY on the 13th of October in 2018. Finally got to tick it off. The sausage roll was a bigger challenge. Going down... The Trip Advisor list. First bakery only had beef and beetroot sausage rolls. And there's a vomit emoji. The second one was closed. The third one sold out. But only a seven-minute wait for them to come out of the oven. Worth the wait. Large size, good flavour, good filling consistency, not flaky. Good mouthfeel. Consumed on the slightly flooded Murray. Four stars. That's pretty impressive. He's getting a bit like a pro with those ratings. I mean, mouthfeel, that's just a bit weird.

00:49:48Oliver Spake: He's clearly gutting to be one of the experts.

00:49:50Melissa Ellis: He's going to be your master chef next.

00:49:52Oliver Spake: Yes, that's right.

00:49:54Melissa Ellis: Maybe we need to have a taste test sausage roll on palm, Ollie.

00:49:59Oliver Spake: Oh, it's got to happen.

00:50:00Melissa Ellis: And we heard from Sam Schroder, Dazza. We had the best morning. Our third weekend of heading to the ACT was a massive friends edition at Burley Griffin parkrun where we caught up with Toc and Jacqui, Mark and Nicole, Barbara and Lynn, Susan and Russell, Kathy, Ray and her school friend Mark who she hadn't seen in 40 years. And my lovely friend Trudy who was tail walking with her barkrunner Charlie. Breakfast afterwards with Kathy, Mark and the OCs. Oh, that's the O'Connells.

00:50:33Oliver Spake: The OCs. Yep.

00:50:36Melissa Ellis: In nearby Yarralumla. Yarralumla?

00:50:40Oliver Spake: Yarralumla.

00:50:40Melissa Ellis: Yarralumla. Say that three times fast. Was delicious, but no one had a sausage roll. Letting the team down.

00:50:52Oliver Spake: I think they can get away with that.

00:50:53Melissa Ellis: And Claire Stutchbury back fresh from her ocean swim. Sometimes professional development courses are scheduled so perfectly. 8.30am start. Walking distance from Redcliffe parkrun, where they have showers. Happy to kick off a big day of learning with a run along the coast. But where was... Jack. Hmm.

00:51:17Oliver Spake: I haven't checked. Missing in action. Yeah. Meanwhile, though, Mandy Oliver checked in a walk with Linda at Surfers Paradise parkrun for our sixth anniversary. And I should say happy sixth anniversary there.

00:51:30Melissa Ellis: Yeah, happy birthday.

00:51:31Oliver Spake: Yeah. And I believe it was a big one, as in many anniversaries, parkrun Day just gone. Chris Hood checked in, took Fluffy for a run around Coomera for a sea number five. And Chris did share his fluffy, Ugly Christmas Singlet, Sailing the Seas at Coomera. So well done, Chris.

00:51:53Melissa Ellis: Yes, it looks like Chris is after a pirate club.

00:51:57Oliver Spake: I think so.

00:51:58Melissa Ellis: And maybe Chris's first visit to Dazza's, so welcome.

00:52:01Oliver Spake: Yes, ticking off all the achievements. We also heard, checking back in, Pippa White. Welcome back, Pippa. And Pippa said, Hi, Dazza. Sorry for being MIA last week. I'm coming into the cafe early because it's windy and I'm not sure if my parkrun is going to be cancelled. So a tea, please, while I take stock and obsessively refresh the parkrun Facebook page. 2.5 hours to 3, 2, 1...

00:52:31Melissa Ellis: Surely Pippa wasn't two and a half hours early to parkrun.

00:52:36Oliver Spake: Well, she's being careful. But Pippa did update. Oh, my goodness, Dazza. Thanks for the tea earlier. My first choice parkrun cancelled at 8.52 for 9 o'clock. Cue a mad scamper to the next closest that hadn't cancelled. Caught the Tail Walker, so got a time. I have completed my Cowell. 100 different locations. Smiley face. Can I now have breakfast? And a very large hot chocolate. That was more exciting than I needed. But well done, Pippa.

00:53:08Melissa Ellis: Wow.

00:53:09Oliver Spake: You really earned that one.

00:53:10Melissa Ellis: That's a very stressful Cowell morning.

00:53:13Oliver Spake: Yes. But Mel, a lot of cancellations, a lot of cancellations over in the north there, over in the UK. So yeah, let's hope the weather has passed and eased a bit.

00:53:25Melissa Ellis: I don't think so. They're going into their winter, Ollie. I think they've got more to come.

00:53:28Oliver Spake: Well, hopefully a little less severe.

00:53:30Melissa Ellis: It's their cancellation and ice season.

00:53:33Oliver Spake: Yes, well and truly. But now we also heard from some of our Bailey shot. Firstly, Rebecca. Happy Saturday, Dazza's. I'm only 15 minutes away from Mansfield Botanic parkrun course this morning, but no parkrun for me. Day 7 of 23, out leading a school camp, and we are cycling the rail trail from Bonny Doon to Mansfield today. Have a good day, everyone, wherever that may be. And Mel, I believe you're familiar with the picture.

00:54:04Melissa Ellis: Oh, I was so happy to see Bec at Bonny Doon. So a bit of background, I actually owned a caravan at Bonny Doon Caravan Park for probably 10 years. And it's one of my favourite places in the world to spend time and relax. So it was exciting to see that Bec was there enjoying all there is on the lake, Lake Eildon. And that rail bridge that spans Lake Eildon at Bonny Doon, best potential parkrun course ever.

00:54:37[laughter]

00:54:37Unidentified speaker: LAUGHTER

00:54:39Oliver Spake: So, well, you'll have to discuss that with Bec and you can plot out the course.

00:54:44Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I'm a bit inspired to go up there for a holiday.

00:54:48Oliver Spake: But, Mel, we also heard from Brett Bailey who had to say no notties for the Bailey shot today, Dazza, while Rebecca was checking out the Serenity at Bonny Doon. Tanya and Brett had surf official duties at a surf life-saving competition in Christchurch today. We did check out the sausage rolls at the Naked Baker on the way home. A solid 6.5, I think. A bit stodgy, but plenty of flavour.

00:55:13Melissa Ellis: I'm not sure about stodgy 6.5 sausage rolls by a Naked Baker, though. Moving swiftly on, we heard from Richard. Good morning, Dazza, as I couldn't convince the Minister for Eternal Affairs that getting up at 3am to drive to the ACT from the central coast of New South Wales for parkrun was a totally sane and acceptable thing to do. I got up at 6.15 and hit out a nice 10 kilometres. On the plus side, it's only two more Saturdays until our road trip to Jindira parkrun on December the 11th. Now it's time for a flat white. And I don't know what's strange about getting up at 3am, Ollie. Nothing strange about that.

00:56:04Oliver Spake: Not at all.

00:56:05Melissa Ellis: And Peter Pohlman, not even a nottie for us this week so far, but did manage to collect a sausage roll. And Peter posted a photo of his sausage roll with absolutely no context.

00:56:19Oliver Spake: It was a nice plate, though.

00:56:20Melissa Ellis: It was a nice plate, yes. We'll give him that. And Alison King did a nottie and a half and then went for coffee. Just me, Dan, Wilson the dog this time. It's a beautiful day in the Bay of Plenty, so off strawberry picking. Wilson the dog, is he named after parkrun? Ollie, how did I get Patrick this week? Did you think I did a good job last week with my pronunciation?

00:56:47Oliver Spake: You did a fantastic job. Of course, that's me speaking, not Patrick.

00:56:53Melissa Ellis: And Patrick Shymitzek. Nothing parkrun to report here, just having a great family day, but I'm here to cheer everyone else on. And we're eagerly awaiting Patrick's next... Strava art. Yeah.

00:57:08Oliver Spake: Yes, the very artistic art.

00:57:10Melissa Ellis: Masterpiece, that was the word I was looking for.

00:57:13Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's it. Mel, checking in also was Val Warwick. Val had a bit of an update. Oh, Dazza, I am very late to the party this week. I was doing Devonport's photos and our NBN crashed four times while trying to upload the album to Devonport's Facebook page. But now it's done and I can come and report no sausage rolls, but good coffee and great company at Drift after parkrun. I was excited to see the photos from Burley Griffin and to know that Steve's cousin, Lynn, had been able to meet Toc and Jacqui and Sam and Luke when she went with Barbara to the ACT.

00:57:55Melissa Ellis: That's who they are.

00:57:59Oliver Spake: It's a small world. It's a small, small world. She goes on to say, so good to be able to see the excitement of so many being able to get back to parkrun this week, a great day all round, and sending hugs to those still in lockdown or affected by floods today. Thank you, Val. And thank you for volunteering with a little bit of extra effort there. We also heard from Tracey Wood, who, of course, checked in with a roving report. Morning, team. I'm down at beautiful Kirra parkrun for the GC50 Run Festival this weekend. And Tracy was also checking in at the entrance to the beach there. Doesn't look half bad out there. Greta? Once again, from our roving report team this week, up with the birds to go to Nuriutpa. I've done it again.

00:58:49Melissa Ellis: Nuriutpa.

00:58:51Oliver Spake: Nuriutpa parkrun in the Barossa Valley with a bunch of rowdy parkrun ambassadors for a takeover.

00:58:57Melissa Ellis: I bet there was wine involved.

00:58:59Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:59:00Oliver Spake: Surely, surely. But yeah, what a photo. Team purple and black from the takeover, complete with one young parkrunner and two barkrunners. So well done. And look, we're now advised, I understand from the comments, that the collective noun for a group of parkrun ambassadors is a purpleness. So credit to Tracy with a bit of support from Greta there.

00:59:23Melissa Ellis: They do like to travel in purple, those South Australian ambassadors.

00:59:29Oliver Spake: In their purpleness, that's right. And, look, completing our hat trick of roving reporters, Lyndell, who was checking in this week, Barcode Scanner at home at Bunyaville parkrun. No pastries, but I did get a coffee in my personalised parkrun Australia cup. And cue photo in orange with cap as well. So Lyndell was representing.

00:59:54Melissa Ellis: She has been. Have you got one of those cups yet, Ollie?

00:59:57Oliver Spake: I got one for my birthday.

01:00:00Melissa Ellis: Oh, fantastic.

01:00:01Oliver Spake: And, yes, it did arrive recently. So I haven't gone anywhere with it, but I've been enjoying making myself my afternoon coffee in it.

01:00:09Melissa Ellis: Yeah, me either. Mine's sitting on my shelf.

01:00:11Oliver Spake: Yeah. No, looking forward to using it. But thanks, Mum. I appreciate it. And last but certainly not least, Janet Reid. Well, Dazza, I hope that you're sitting down as this will surely come as a big shock. Today I was not aboard the mothership Lochiel Park. Q-shocked face.

01:00:31Unidentified speaker: Mm-hmm.

01:00:31Oliver Spake: Nope. I went on an adventure. Along with my fellow EAs, we headed to Nuriootpa parkrun, where we fulfilled all the volly roles. What a beautiful parkrun. Through gum trees, past a few houses, along some bush vines, over a wobbly bridge. I checked, but no troll. Past a lovely native plant garden and back again. Then repeat. Coffee at Fleur Social, then some...

01:00:58Melissa Ellis: There we are.

01:00:59Oliver Spake: Wine tasting...

01:01:00Melissa Ellis: Told you.

01:01:01Oliver Spake: At Koleski Wines, followed by lunch at Four Seasons of Nosh. To round off, please may I have a skinny flat white. Finally, welcome back, Victoria. We have missed you.

01:01:16Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's a nice one to finish off with, Ollie.

01:01:20Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:01:21Melissa Ellis: Always love to hear from Janet.

the Obi Award — Pippa White

01:01:23Melissa Ellis: But we have to make a decision. We've got to award our new award. Yes. So have we picked a name yet? We haven't.

01:01:34Unidentified speaker: But.

01:01:35Melissa Ellis: We didn't have any feedback, Ollie. Nobody got back to us and said what their preference was. So I think that I've got a feeling you're on board with me that we call it the Obi.

01:01:49Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. It's just got that familiar rhyme to it from our part of the world. So I think, call us biased, but I think the Obi has it. Now, Mel, any candidates? There were certainly some great experiences there.

01:02:03Melissa Ellis: Yeah, it's tough. Look, Ollie, I'm leaning towards our international friend who was absent last week.

01:02:15Oliver Spake: Yes, and put in such an effort to not be absent this week.

01:02:20Melissa Ellis: Yeah, 100%. That's a true adventurer going above and beyond to get her barcode scanned. So, Pippa White, you are this week's recipient of the Obi Award.

01:02:34Oliver Spake: May not compare to your Cowell. We'll see. I don't know which one's your favourite. But congratulations, Pippa.

01:02:39Melissa Ellis: Maybe we should be tracking who wins every week, Ollie, and then at the end of the year we can, like, have an overall, like.

01:02:45Oliver Spake: That's right. Everyone, you've got, what, four weeks?

01:02:48Melissa Ellis: How many weeks until Christmas? Okay, didn't get that through. Maybe we'll start it next year.

01:02:56Oliver Spake: Excellent. Well, this could count. This can count. We don't need to be constrained to things like calendars, Mel.

01:03:02Melissa Ellis: No.

01:03:03Oliver Spake: Needless to say, a lot of fun was had. And thank you, everyone, for sharing your experiences. You know, it warms the heart like a nice glass of red.

01:03:13Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, it is time now for us to throw to our informant. I believe, again, we have the OG. So let's listen to see what he comes up with this week.

the Informant

01:03:34The Informant: This is the informant. These are unofficial stats, their only current at the time they collected, and may differ from the stats you read elsewhere. Despite the return of Victoria, no records this week, possibly due to the large number of bad weather cancellations in both Australia and the UK. There were 291 runs held in Australia, up 68 on last week. This was out of 1,314 worldwide, which is down 207. There were no launches anywhere. Aussie attendance was up by 3,621 to 25,139 out of 109,429 worldwide, which is down a massive 74,000 on last week. Down under we had 2,293 PBs, while 812 participated for the first time. 55 juniors reached their Junior 10 milestone, 124 people reached their 50 milestone, 74 reached their 100 milestone, and 20 people reached their 250 milestone. 18 people called bingo. Tom Gallagher was quickest with 175 events, while Tim Edwards was slowest on 342 events. There were five New States people this week. In the ACT, we had John and Tracy Minkoff, Samantha Isbell, and Millie Corrin. In the Northern Territory, we have Suzanne Otto. In the top 20 most events list, David Messenger moves to 15th outright after running at Homestead. Roger Millett was the biggest mover on the Wilson Index, jumping up 15 from 10 to 25. Roger was one of 123 people to increase the index this week. And there's a PB for shortest stat report. Go me. If you want to see a full breakdown of the weekly stats and the ones I didn't get around to posting last week, you can download them from the blog at www.theinformant.me. That's the informant, or one word, dot M-E. Or look for The Informant on Facebook. This has been The Informant, and my spreadsheet is bigger than yours.

01:06:04Oliver Spake: And thank you to our ever-enlightening informant.

01:06:08Melissa Ellis: He is always coming up with interesting stats for us.

Consolidated Club Report

01:06:11Oliver Spake: And, Mel, I did miss the opportunity to, although I did listen, of course, to hear where the Adventurers Club were up to, but how are things?

01:06:21Melissa Ellis: It's a slow climb, Ollie. I won't deny it. But this week we're up five to 69. We had 43 members on our consolidated club report. That was up 20 from the week before. So that's probably thanks to the return in Victoria. We had 22 people log notties and that was down five again, probably because a lot of Victorians were back at actual real parkrun and weren't logging their weekly (not)parkrun.

01:06:54Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:06:55Melissa Ellis: In the (not)parkrun results table, Campbelltown topped the list this week in Australia with 31. And coming second was Koonwarra with 15. And Port Macquarie equaled. We had equal second place, didn't we?

01:07:12Oliver Spake: Standing aside on the podium. Yeah.

01:07:14Melissa Ellis: No, well done. Then our long jump down to Shellharbour. Oh, there we go. I gave him a mention.

01:07:21Oliver Spake: Thank you.

01:07:24Melissa Ellis: Nine. And Toolern Creek, two. Me and Ingrid both are.

01:07:30Oliver Spake: Good work, team.

01:07:33Melissa Ellis: And you can do New Zealand, it's your turn.

01:07:35Oliver Spake: It's good to get it back. And once again, thank you to Alison for passing us the numbers here. So the biggest nottie in New Zealand for the week, Hamilton Lake, 51. So well done, Hamilton Lake. Whangarei, a little back but not too far on 44. And Anderson, just behind at 43. So well done, more than keeping up the numbers in New Zealand.

01:08:02Melissa Ellis: And we're hoping that our New Zealand friends are inching closer to having Real parkrun return. They are not getting much news out of New Zealand as to what the likelihood is. Obviously, now we've got the new variant of Omicron.

01:08:20Oliver Spake: That's my belief. Yes.

01:08:22Melissa Ellis: Yeah. So hopefully that doesn't set anybody back.

01:08:25Oliver Spake: Fingers crossed. Yeah, we'd like to see you guys enjoy it all very, very soon.

International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day

01:08:30Melissa Ellis: But looking forward, Ollie, well, sort of looking forward, we're looking forward to Ugly Christmas Singlet and Shirt Day, but remembering that we've just closed off orders for the Ugly Christmas Singlet and Shirts on Sunday Just Gone, I did note that one adventurer had last-minute FOMO and ordered at the 11th hour. Oh. That was our friend Jeff Whiffen.

01:08:58Oliver Spake: Just in time, Jeff.

01:08:59Melissa Ellis: And I believe that this year orders have really exceeded previous years. So we're going to be seeing a lot of Ugly Christmas Singlet and shirts out there very soon.

01:09:10Oliver Spake: Yeah, it's sounding very, very popular and just a couple of weeks to go.

01:09:15Melissa Ellis: It is indeed. But what are your plans for this coming Saturday, Mr. Spake?

01:09:21Oliver Spake: Well, I'm hoping for a (not)parkrun, Mel.

01:09:24Melissa Ellis: Do you want to visit her?

01:09:26Oliver Spake: Yes, yes.

01:09:28Melissa Ellis: You want to take me on a tour?

01:09:31Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, all my study so I can take you along the course. So, yes, very much looking forward to not parkrunning in person and, yeah, it would be good to enjoy a (not)parkrun with company. Thanks, Mel.

01:09:47Melissa Ellis: So, spoiler alert. Yes. This week I'm heading north, flying to Sydney was supposed to be for sydney's triumphant return to parkrun which was then delayed by a couple of weeks so sadly I can't actually scan my barcode when I visit unless there's a miracle this week that happens much like last week in Victoria but I'm not banking on that And I will just be happy to come and see Banksia Avenue potentially, Banksia Avenue not parkrun course, and some morning light on the Windang Bridge.

01:10:26Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah. Look, I hope it goes part of the way to making up for missing parkrun day back in Victoria, Mel. But we look forward to sharing a bit of New South Wales nottie fun, with you and we will um we'll let you know we'll let you know if we look if we relaunch quickly yes I wouldn't be too disappointed yeah I would just have to return another day well in any case I could probably do windang on Friday night that's right there's always a way there's always a way so yes that's the plan Mel um aside from that uh just hopefully preparing for the return of parkrun

01:11:06Melissa Ellis: Do we have anything else to mention, Ollie? I know we have had a very long intro and middle.

01:11:13Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:11:13Melissa Ellis: So we've probably covered everything.

01:11:15Oliver Spake: Well, we've covered almost everything, Mel. And remiss of us would be to not share your experience from Sunday. I asked you about Saturday, but not Sunday.

01:11:25Melissa Ellis: Oh, juniors was back, Ollie. Junior parkrun returned in Victoria. Eynesbury Heritage Trail junior parkrun, the puddle was full.

01:11:38Oliver Spake: What a metaphor.

01:11:39Melissa Ellis: It was our 21st event and we had 21 happy little children. So that was a nice synergy.

01:11:47Oliver Spake: Absolutely.

01:11:48Melissa Ellis: Volleys were all excited. There was just a really good feeling. Everybody was happy. It was great to see some of our regular volunteers jumping up, putting their hand up to volunteer because three days to fill our roster, it was touch and go.

01:12:05Oliver Spake: That's a big ask, yes.

01:12:07Melissa Ellis: It was a big ask, yeah. We didn't have the full week and I was a little concerned as to whether we'd manage it, but we did manage. We got over the line and it was a beautiful morning too. The weather was perfect. It was perfect running conditions for the kids and the Eynesbury market, the monthly market was on. So it was very nice after juniors to just relax. Take a short walk to the market and have a wander around and buy a coffee. Just enjoy the happy vibe, the post-lockdown happy vibe of people are just happy to be out and about, enjoying a little bit of normality to life. So... And next week, one of our juniors is going to be running his 21st Junior parkrun event, which will qualify him for his half marathon wristband. So that's exciting. That's the first one we will have awarded at Eynesbury.

01:13:04Oliver Spake: Well done. That's come along quickly. I know it doesn't feel like it, but good work to Team Eynesbury and welcome back to you guys and, of course, your fellow Victorian junior event there in Westerfolds Juniors.

01:13:18Melissa Ellis: Yes. And it's funny, Ollie, it feels like we've been going at Eynesbury for two years, but we're only up to event 21. And the reason it feels like it's been two years is because obviously we were due to launch prior to the original pause back in February of 2020 or March of 2020, around that time in any case. Then we weren't able to launch until... the 17th of January this year. So we are eagerly anticipating our first anniversary.

01:13:50Oliver Spake: Well, yeah, we look forward to hearing about more of the fantastic achievements and as more of the juniors head towards that half marathon wristband milestone. But yeah, good work to everyone for bringing it back.

Sign-off

01:14:03Melissa Ellis: Thank you. Well Ollie, I suppose that could be everything for the week. I think so. I think we've covered it all now.

01:14:11Oliver Spake: So, as always, you can contact us via Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. But that's it for another week. We'll see you all next week for more adventures.

01:15:20Unidentified speaker: Bye.

01:15:33Tony O'Connell: Hi, Mel and Ollie. It's Toc, and I'm super excited. I got to do a real parkrun this week at Burley Griffin in Canberra. Not only that, we got to meet Sam and Luke Schroder, Barbara Dobby and Lynn, who's a cousin of Val and Steve, Russ and Susan Crane, Mark and Nicole Scarborough, Kathy Ray. It was just so much fun. There were so many people we knew, and I can't wait to get back to parkrun again this week. See you soon. A772279.