Episode 266 - Tinsel Time

Welcome

00:00:02Melissa Ellis: Last Thursday, in a small northwestern town in Tasmania, nine children were involved in a tragic incident when a jumping castle they were playing on became airborne. Six children lost their lives, two remain in a critical condition in hospital. One of the children, Addison Stewart, who tragically lost her life, was a Devonport parkrunner. On Saturday morning, the Devonport parkrun community observed a minute's silence during the run brief in honour of the children and wore a touch of aqua or green, which were Addison's favourite colours. We wish to offer our heartfelt condolences to the Devonport community in this time of grief and stand beside you as you deal with the aftermath of this horrible tragedy.

00:00:43[25 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:01:08Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 266 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I'm Ollie Spake. I'm joined by my fabulous co-host, Melissa Ellis. And Mel, firstly, Merry Christmas. Secondly, what are you hoping parkrun Santa brings you this year?

00:01:27Melissa Ellis: Oh, could parkrun Santa please bring me an uninterrupted parkrun year in 2022? That would be great. Thank you. No more pauses. But, yes, Merry Christmas, Ollie, and happy 50th podcast to you.

00:01:45Oliver Spake: Thank you. Thank you. I mean, very fitting that I get to celebrate colour red on such a, I think, a red-associated date.

00:01:53Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. But, yeah, can you believe it? 51 for you. Well done, Mel. Thank you very much.

00:01:59Oliver Spake: And thank you for all of the best wishes for New South Wales' return. It was a fantastic parkrun weekend. But I would like to know, how did you spend yours, Mel?

00:02:11Melissa Ellis: Well, I was joined by Paul and Zoe this week at Wallaby Track parkrun in Brownhill, which is a suburb of Ballarat and approximately an hour and 20 minutes north of Melbourne. Wow. We chose Wallaby Track as we were heading away for the weekend at a farm stay at a nearby alpaca and miniature donkey farm, and event 40 filled a missing Wilson number for me.

00:02:39Oliver Spake: Aha.

00:02:40Melissa Ellis: Well, I chose it for that reason. Paul and Zoe just followed along. Also often found at Wallaby Track was Bruce, the ideas man Purdy. Aha, sporting his ugly shirt, cheetah ears, and happily there to support his wife Donna to complete her Volunteer 25. I'm not sure if Wallaby has been profiled previously. Probably should have looked that up. But it was my second visit there as I was there two years ago at Event 1 on the 28th of December in 2019. So the event launched just prior to the first pandemic pause. Hmm. The course takes you along an undulating gravel bush path which follows the Yarrowee Creek to a turnaround at approximately 2.1 kilometres. A feature of Wallaby is their 120-metre tunnel that goes under the Western Freeway and has amazing acoustics. Volley Donna, dressed splendidly as Santa, had the Christmas tunes playing which echoed brilliantly through the tunnel for all to enjoy. The runners returned to the start point needing to continue along for another 400 metres in the opposite direction before returning to the start finish on a lovely downhill slope. There were 48 finishes, lots of Christmas joy and plenty of birdsong to enjoy along the way. Brunch was at In Exterior Cafe, where the event team from Ballarat parkrun were also, which was a nice way for the town's two events to exchange news of the morning's events.

00:04:18Oliver Spake: I like that, Mel. That's a nice touch.

00:04:20Melissa Ellis: It is.

00:04:21Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:04:21Melissa Ellis: Very much so. And they have a great big area, and you just have to wander in and say, I'm with parkrun, and they go, out the back you go. Yeah. Plenty of space. So, yeah, really good for the two event teams side by side out in the area. And it was excellent.

00:04:39Oliver Spake: Oh, that sounds like a pretty nice way to spend the time. Great support from Paul and Zoe. That's what we call that. Following is actually supporting. And clearly they were out to support you with the Wilson Index.

00:04:51Melissa Ellis: They were, yes. I did appreciate that. It was nice to have their company, I will admit.

00:04:57Oliver Spake: Yes, and congratulations, Donna.

00:04:59Melissa Ellis: Yes, but Ollie, we need a report on the return of the much-anticipated and new event course for Voldemort parkrun.

00:05:11Oliver Spake: I thought you were going to save the name there for a moment, Mel.

00:05:13Melissa Ellis: Not coming past these lips.

00:05:15Oliver Spake: No, okay. Well, yeah, let's see how we go in this episode. Okay. So Shellharbour parkrun returned for event number 332, which, yeah, it really did feel like it had been a long time. And I think the cafe, the team at the cafe felt like it had been a long time. I actually popped up there in the week to give them a heads up because I noticed with horror that, yeah, horror. Yeah. that their opening hours started at eight. What? And I mean, I don't need a coffee to get perked up to run direct, but it helps. And they were more than obliging. So very pleasingly, they had put on extra staff that opened up early and they were welcoming us with open arms because it's been a tough time for them. They don't get a lot of through traffic without the parkrun events. So Saturday morning is actually big for business.

00:06:10Melissa Ellis: They missed you. Yes, yeah, yeah.

00:06:13Oliver Spake: So we made sure to give them a bit of love and certainly relished the welcome back that they gave us.

00:06:20Melissa Ellis: And how was the new course received by the community?

00:06:25Oliver Spake: Well, relatively well. Relatively well. For those that might not know Shellharbour parkrun, it's always been a cross-country course. It's always been a combination of dirt tracks, rocky tracks, gravel trails, beach, sand, grass, a few more rocks. Good fun. And I think even though we're now predominantly on pathway, I think close to 75% or 80% of the course is on a rocky path. Yeah. It's not a flat path when it comes to the little rivets in the pathway and the protruding rocks and the tree roots and those sorts of hazards. So, yeah, plenty of warnings were given and everyone did be sure to keep an eye on things. But the combination of that and the tight squeeze in some areas of the track meant that it's going to take a little bit of adjustment, to be honest, Mel. And, look, I'm not sure people are a fan of the second hill track

00:07:24Melissa Ellis: I might have seen reference to it being a more difficult course, Ollie, but I thought surely not.

00:07:32Oliver Spake: Well, I was thinking PBs all round, but 182 attended, eight PBs.

00:07:38Melissa Ellis: Right.

00:07:39Oliver Spake: So, whoops. It's got effectively the same elevation. Yeah. It just depends how quickly you can turn around at the bottom of each hill. But the way it's structured now is that it's out and back to the north and out and back to the south that follows that. And the last, let's say, 500 metres or thereabouts of each out and back, you run down a hill, which means, of course, you turn around and run straight back up. It just so happens that in the final kilometre, that uphill is on soft, spongy grass.

00:08:07Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:08:08Oliver Spake: So yeah, there've been plenty of requests to bring back the original course.

00:08:12Melissa Ellis: Oh, can I just mention that Toolern Creek is a nice flat out and back on concrete.

00:08:19Oliver Spake: Excellent. I'll be sure to recommend it.

00:08:23Melissa Ellis: Oh, well.

00:08:24Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:08:24Melissa Ellis: Embrace it, I say. Ollie?

00:08:26Oliver Spake: Well, every parkrun is different. It just so happens that ours has joined the split personality club and we are going to embrace it. Yeah, we will revert to the original course for Christmas Day and New Year's Day and we'll see what happens in the future. But for the foreseeable future... from the 8th of Jan, we'll be enjoying the new Killalea course. And, look, yeah, look, we did have an incident on course. We did have someone trip and have a bit of cut, a few cuts, I should say, a bit of bruising, and he was, yeah, rather injured. So we did need to call in the medical support for that and have the fantastic... Community of parkrunners come and support him, make sure he was cared and looked after, pleased to report he's fine, he's well, and aside from those gashes, he's recovering well. But aside from that, all in all, a pretty positive morning.

00:09:20Melissa Ellis: Well, that's good to hear. Yeah. Yes, I do hope that he is recovering well. And so was there other feedback on the course?

00:09:31Oliver Spake: Yeah, look, I think being out and back, you know, one of the things that I've always loved and I know we haven't embraced it as much for obvious reasons during 2020 and 2021, high fives, social parkruns where you get to pass and encourage one another. So, yeah. Yeah. On the plus side, it's a social parkrun where you will pass one another. And it's also providing now the bailout opportunity, which Shellharbour never had. So my kids might actually consider parkrun now they know that... They might get out of it after three Ks.

00:10:07Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's not necessarily a good thing. Zoe did a lot of single loops of Berwick Springs parkrun and not complete the course because it was a double loop. And after the first loop and the lure of the playground, I never quite got her around the second loop.

00:10:25Oliver Spake: many a time yeah that's right that's right so we will see but I'll try and use that to advantage I'll try and use it to to bring parkrun back into their lives until at least we can get to a junior parkrun sometime Mel oh yes yes when you visit Melbourne exactly But, look, it was fantastic. I feel really fortunate to have parkrun back in our lives here. So many volunteers, such a lovely morning. I think I had two and a half coffees by the end of it, just trying to spread the love. And, yeah, just relishing that experience that let's say a large proportion of New South Wales was fortunate enough to enjoy.

00:11:05Melissa Ellis: So you run directed?

00:11:07Oliver Spake: I did, yes.

00:11:09Melissa Ellis: Yep. Are you up next week too? Yeah.

00:11:10Oliver Spake: No, well, next week Christmas Day Logistics might get the better of me, Mel. So at the moment I'm not volunteering, but... I don't know whether I can make it to parkrun.

00:11:22Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Oh, dear, Ollie. I'm a bit conflicted.

00:11:28Oliver Spake: That's right. So we will see. I mean, I'm volunteering for a few weeks after that. But, yeah, Christmas Day, yet to be seen.

00:11:36Melissa Ellis: Oh, we want you to be able to scan your barcode, Ollie. We're all behind you. Please try.

00:11:42Oliver Spake: I'm counting down. It's just that it's still in double digits, yes.

00:11:46Melissa Ellis: Right.

00:11:47Oliver Spake: Yeah, but we're back. And that's what counts for me at the moment. There was a big rush, as I've mentioned on a few of the recent podcasts, to get a new course and to get everything up and running. So hugely appreciative of the support we got with that. And it's nice to be there. And it's a feeling, Mel, it's a feeling that we wish for our fellow parkrunners as

00:12:10Melissa Ellis: We do. But before we jump to that, Ollie, can I just say that I know how much effort you've put in behind the scenes to get your event back up and running as the Event Director of Shellharbour. So big kudos to you for everything you put in. And I'm sure your community is very appreciative. And congratulations to Shellharbour for your return.

00:12:31Oliver Spake: Thank you very much. And look, I should elaborate that the guys at parkrun Australia have been fantastic and parkrun Global and our landowners in supporting our last ditch effort to have a parkrun course up and running. It was effectively eight days from the moment the course was created to the moment it was risk assessed, published. We even managed to have a nice core flute sign cut out and a full volley roster. So it was an exciting eight days, but we got there.

00:13:00Melissa Ellis: That's amazing. Well done, Ollie.

00:13:02Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:13:02Melissa Ellis: Steering the ship.

00:13:03Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:13:04Melissa Ellis: But, yes, we also were very excited to have our New Zealand friends in the 12th hour. Is that what you would say?

00:13:14Oliver Spake: Yes, 11th hour. But, yeah, no, I guess 12th hour is even later, right?

00:13:18Melissa Ellis: Oh, goodness, yeah. I'm not so good on that kind of thing. But we're just excited for New Zealand.

00:13:24Oliver Spake: Hugely. Wonderful news. It's always great and exciting to get something hot off the presses. And how good was it to hear that update? Thank you, Alison.

00:13:35Melissa Ellis: Yes. So at the time of recording, we're aware that some New Zealand events are able to return in time for Christmas, some for New Year, and others will be restarting in January as New Zealand slowly reopens. And Alison did share with me a lovely anecdote that I wanted to tell the listeners about. She went for her regular Saturday morning not parkrun and she met one of the community, which was their 85-year-old walker, Neil, who had been showing up every week on the off chance that they had restarted. And He had a tear in his eye when she told him he needed to bring his barcode and vaccine pass next week. And he said to her, I've brought them every week.

00:14:31Oliver Spake: Oh, Neil.

00:14:32Melissa Ellis: Oh, Ollie, my heart. When I had that thought of that man turning up every week with his barcode and his vaccine pass just in case.

00:14:42Oliver Spake: Yep.

00:14:42Melissa Ellis: Oh, Neil, enjoy.

00:14:44Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:14:45Melissa Ellis: Enjoy your parkrun.

00:14:47Oliver Spake: Oh, I look forward to hearing how it went. That's really exciting.

00:14:51Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. At Paranga.

00:14:53Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:14:54Melissa Ellis: Yes. So obviously Paranga is set to go next week, one of the events that is set to return in time for Christmas.

00:15:03Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:15:03Melissa Ellis: But we also had mail this week, Ollie.

Emails

00:15:05Melissa Ellis: We got mail.

00:15:06Oliver Spake: You've got mail. Yes, we've received mail from two sources this week. So if I may, Mel, I'll read out our first from Geoff Glaab. Hello, parkrun adventurers. Greetings from America. I'm a Run Director at Joe Creason parkrun and wanted to draw your attention to what I believe is to be a special occurrence. This past Saturday, December 11, at Aspen parkrun in Colorado, the results table looked a bit strange to me. It seems Aspen parkrun had one finisher and no volunteers. Aspen is a resort town in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and doesn't typically have a lot of finishers, but I wanted to share my admiration for the sole finisher, Michael Ireland, barcode number A5303890. As a lover and advocate of a small parkrun, I know that if I'd set up and run our event myself, I would probably do it just to keep it alive. I'm sure there are others who listen to your pod and feel the same way. Michael is especially admirable in that he is twice my age and is likely doing this in some of the worst weather conditions imaginable. Kudos to Michael and thanks for the pod. Hope to get down under at some point and check out some parkruns in Australia soon. From Geoff Glaab, A4625863. Thanks, Jeff.

00:16:32Melissa Ellis: Oh, wonderful to hear from you, Jeff, and thank you very much for sending us the email. It's nice to know that we're having an audience over in America.

00:16:43Oliver Spake: Yes, and some pretty dedicated parkrunners there. It's, I don't know, it certainly bumps the event up my list, Mel. I know that I'd love to get there as it is, but, yeah, to support a nice, intimate parkrun like that, wouldn't that be fantastic? One day.

00:17:02Melissa Ellis: Aspen, yeah. Yeah. So that's sort of traditionally, from my understanding of the USA, like a holiday destination for Americans to go to Aspen to ski. Would that be correct?

00:17:18Oliver Spake: Well and truly. I have been to Aspen. What? I have been to Aspen. I've been to Aspen 20 years ago.

00:17:25Melissa Ellis: Show off.

00:17:26Unidentified speaker: Okay.

00:17:27Oliver Spake: And it was in the summer. So no parkrun and no snow.

00:17:30Melissa Ellis: Wow.

00:17:31Oliver Spake: But, yeah, very much a holiday feel and I'm just fascinated at what the parkrun experience would be like there, especially this time of year. So, phew.

00:17:42Melissa Ellis: The Rocky Mountains. Yeah. Wow. I can't even imagine. It just seems like something in my world that was completely out of reach. I can't even imagine ever being somewhere like that. But Paul does have aspirations to travel to America, so you never know, I guess.

00:17:56Oliver Spake: Well, yeah, now there's the idea. I think it's worth it, Mel.

00:18:01Melissa Ellis: But we're obviously also very excited for Jeff to be able to potentially travel to Australia and experience an Aussie parkrun.

00:18:11Oliver Spake: Yes. Let us know if you need some parkrun suggestions, Jeff. We've got a book full of them.

00:18:17Melissa Ellis: We do. We absolutely do. But, Ollie, we also heard from one of our regulars this week, Eman. Yes. And Eman said, Hi, guys. Back on the road for the holidays and started it off with a celebration of parkrun's return to New South Wales by completing Tamworth parkrun. It was a stinking hot morning, but we enjoyed the course along the Peel River, passing an outdoor velodrome, swimming pool and an elaborate kids' playground. We had just over 100 participants and I enjoyed chatting with ED Mark Makepeace, who I met earlier in the year at Ginninderra parkrun. Hope to see you guys again soon. Eman. Good to see that Eman's out there still adventuring, Ollie. That's right.

00:19:02Oliver Spake: And heading across the border. So it's nice to see some of our visitors to the state getting to celebrate the return. So thank you, Eman.

00:19:12guest: I trust, I trust.

00:19:15Oliver Spake: No, I'm not going to say that. I don't trust. I look forward to the possibility of Eman visiting one time in the not-too-distant future. Ooh. And by that, let's just say any time in the next five years because who knows what's going to happen.

00:19:28Melissa Ellis: To Shellharbour. But has he been to Melbourne? Has he been to Victoria? He's got to share the love.

00:19:34Oliver Spake: Yes, yes.

00:19:34Melissa Ellis: It can't be all New South Wales.

00:19:36Oliver Spake: That's right. Yeah, yeah. I'm sure he'd be a big fan of a fast course, you know, a nice, flat, hard-surface, fast course. Yeah.

00:19:45Melissa Ellis: And there's a few more than just Toolern Creek, I might add.

00:19:48Oliver Spake: Yes. But lovely to hear from you, Eman. Thank you very much.

00:19:52Melissa Ellis: Indeed.

00:19:53Oliver Spake: Look, Mel, I suppose it's probably worth mentioning. Christmas is on our doorstep. Merry Christmas once again, everyone. We have, I suppose, a bit of a quieter pod this week, don't we?

00:20:04Melissa Ellis: Yeah, but that's good because that means my editing will be reduced.

00:20:08Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:20:10Melissa Ellis: I've still got Christmas shopping to do, Ollie. I can't spend all my time in front of the computer editing.

00:20:15Oliver Spake: Yes. Look, it's really crept up on me this year, to be perfectly honest. I feel like a real Scrooge. I've barely had any Christmas lights out, although that's because the house has been chaos. We've had a lot of work being done around here. But I sit here and I look at the front of the house because I'm still working from home and think, oh, I really, really should just put out a few more. So...

00:20:37Melissa Ellis: I'm making up for it for you, Ollie. Our house is lit up like a Christmas tree. I don't think our neighbours across the road can probably sleep at night from the amount of light that is emitted from the front of our place. All thanks to Paul.

00:20:51Oliver Spake: Yes. Oh, good work, Paul. That makes me feel a little better. A little more guilty, but a little better.

00:20:57Melissa Ellis: No, no, no, no. I'm... I'm doing it for both of us at the moment.

Dad joke

00:21:02Oliver Spake: Yeah. But, Mel, I suppose not having prepared any bonbon jokes, I've gone and looked one up, so I have to ask you one. So are you ready?

00:21:10Melissa Ellis: Oh, definitely.

00:21:11Oliver Spake: Yes. And look, in the theme of 2021 and Christmas shopping, I'm not sure if it was your experience, but I'm going to start. Why did nobody bid for Rudolph and Blitzen on eBay?

00:21:24Melissa Ellis: Oh, tell me.

00:21:25Oliver Spake: Because they were too dear.

00:21:33[laughter]

00:21:33Melissa Ellis: Insert applause. Yes. Well done.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:21:37Melissa Ellis: Okay. Shall we throw now to our roving reports and the informant?

Roving report Melissa Ellis — Wallaby Track parkrun

00:21:49Melissa Ellis: Okay. Just finished Wallaby Track parkrun. I've walked back out to their very famous tunnel. And I'm speaking to Donna, celebrating 25th volunteer today, dressed as Santa Claus. Good morning, Donna. Good morning. How are you? I'm good. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Thank you for volunteering today. You do look splendid. Might I add, for those at home, the Santa costume, complete with fluffy Christmas singlet. Beautiful. What I love about, I love Wallaby's Tunnel.

00:22:21Donna: It's very unique on a parkrun course because it's quite long, isn't it? It is a really long one and the tunnel just breaks it up and adds a little something special to it.

00:22:30[music]

00:22:30Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and we've got the Christmas music playing which is amplified through the tunnel.

00:22:35Donna: Yeah, a lot of people have said how lovely it is and even people who aren't part of parkrun have come through and said how lovely it is. Morning. Morning. Morning. Yes, it's a lovely touch. It's a little bit of uniqueness that Wallaby has that I haven't been to a lot, but yeah, it's something that I've never seen anywhere else, so I love it. Of course, your lovely husband is Bruce Purdy, the Ideas Man. He is the Ideas Man, and we do a lot of travelling. Ha ha! So where will you be next week? Are you parkrunning on Christmas Day? We are parkrunning. We are parkrunning at Ballarat, and I will have a new ensemble. Yes. So look out for that one. So that'll be awesome. And, yeah, I love volunteering, just saying hi to everybody and trying to uplift their spirits when they've gone, I can't go any further.

00:23:02[laughter]

00:23:24Melissa Ellis: Yes. Well, good on you, and thank you for talking to me today. Thank you very much. Merry Christmas.

00:23:28Pippa White: Merry Christmas, everybody. Hi, Dazza. Mel left me a note in a napkin, something about Christmas. So here's hoping. What a year this has been. UK was back to parkrun in July, and I think I've managed 21 parkruns since the restart, which has been brilliant. And I know people have been able to do more or fewer, but any parkrun has made it worthwhile. I've managed to now have better run reports. Still putting it out there that it's a bit of a niche, but it's my niche. I've made friends who've streaked. I've shared laughter and tears and jokes and sorrows. And basically, I've had a parkrun family to call my home. Let's hope we have a peaceful, lower virus new year. Merry Christmas.

the Informant

00:24:18The 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. This week we see post-COVID records for a global number of runs held and global 50, 100 and 250 milestones. Helped by the return of New South Wales, there were 382 runs held in Australia, up 74 on last week. This was out of 1,669 worldwide, which is up by 95. There were three launches, one in Poland, one in South Africa, and one in the UK. Aussie attendance was up by 8,140 to 33,765 out of 167,037 worldwide, which is up almost 17,000. Down under we had 2,716 PBs, while 1,134 people participated for the first time.

00:25:10[16 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:25:26The Informant: 89 juniors reached their Junior 10 milestone, 198 people reached their 50 milestone, 137 reached their 100 milestone, and 27 people reached their 250 milestone. 17 people called Bingo. Colin Fitzpatrick was the quickest with 150 runs, while Car Go was slowest on 342 runs. There were four new statespeople this week. In the ACT, we had Selina Rambour. In the Northern Territory, we had Leonie Butler. And in Tasmania, we had Linda Coffey and Darren Young. Some action in the top 20 most events list. Errol Poole moves up equal six after running at Anstey Hill. Kathleen Wallington and David Messenger both move up 1 to equal 13 after running at Mildura Weir and Burswood Peninsula, respectively. And in huge news, we have our second debutant in two weeks. Neil Schultz moves into a four-way tie for rank 20 after running at Fyde Forest. The biggest mover of the week is Tiara Matthews, who moves up 10 to 188 after running at Westerfolds. On the Wilson Index, we had a massive 228 people lifting their index. On any other week, Kevin Muller's rise of 32 would have been a standout. However, this week, Ian Craxer from Queensland jumped the whopping 94 to 203. Very impressive. Now if you want to see a full breakdown of the weekly stats, you can download them from the blog at theinformant.me. That's www.theinformant.me or look for The Informant on Facebook. And that's a wrap for Stats Year 2021. We'll be closing the spreadsheet for a couple of weeks and taking a break. On behalf of everyone here at Stat Central, have a Merry Christmas.

00:27:25Unidentified speaker: Hey, I can speak for myself. Merry Christmas, everyone.

00:27:29The Informant: Okay, on behalf of myself, have a Merry Christmas. This has been The Informant, and my spreadsheet is bigger than yours.

00:27:38Unidentified speaker: So did you get me a present?

00:27:40The Informant: No.

00:27:41Unidentified speaker: Typical. I got you one. Close your eyes.

00:27:43The Informant: Really?

00:27:45Unidentified speaker: It's a Sudoku puzzle book.

00:27:46The Informant: Sudoku. Well, no spoilers then. But thanks. I don't know what to say.

00:27:53Unidentified speaker: Just say you'll take me for an ice cream.

00:27:55The Informant: Okay, but just a plain one.

00:27:57Unidentified speaker: No way. I'm having the works.

00:27:59The Informant: Okay, a double plain cone.

00:28:02Unidentified speaker: You'll never change. We're not going to miss the whippy, mate. We're going upmarket.

00:28:06The Informant: I'm not made of money.

00:28:08Unidentified speaker: Ah, you'll find the money for your BFF. Come on, let's go now.

00:28:14Oliver Spake: And thank you to you, Mel, for our roving report this week.

00:28:18Melissa Ellis: And thank you also to Pippa for our Christmas message coming all the way from the UK.

00:28:22Oliver Spake: And to our informant, of course. I think getting into the festive season, hopefully, and I think it's eggnog time, don't you, Mel?

00:28:31Melissa Ellis: Yes, I do. I agree.

Dazza's

00:28:34Oliver Spake: Look, after that very brief roving report interlude, what we don't have so brief is Dazza's. Dazza's was absolutely pumping. I think everyone's having their Christmas party at Dazza's this week.

00:28:47Melissa Ellis: It was good to see, Ollie.

00:28:48Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:28:49Melissa Ellis: The more the merrier.

00:28:50Oliver Spake: Yes. So look, this week at Dazza's, we continued the fun from last week's pod where we discovered some of the mobile monopoly and Dazza had a monopoly theme. So Dazza opened the morning and asked, did you parkrun today? Yes. Advance to go and collect your results email. No? Please take a chance card. You may record a Freedo or a Nottie. Forgot your barcode? Go directly to jail. Do not collect your results email. Regardless of your status and welcome back, New South Wales, come inside and share your morning. We want to hear all the things and tell us all your Monopoly memories. And look, Mel, I think reminding us, sadly, as we know, that life has far too many ups and downs, many, many more than monopoly. I think it's probably fitting to kick off with Val's check-in. Good morning, Dazza. Today we experienced a parkrun like never before. You know about the tragedy our town has experienced. We came together as a very quiet and sombre community wearing aqua and green in memory of Addison. We had a minute's silence during the briefing. Our community is shell-shocked. It was our privilege as parkrunners to stand with the bereaved families and especially Kylie and her other children who were part of our parkrunning community. Please keep our big country town in your thoughts and prayers, and especially the families of the five who have died and the three still critical in hospital, and the staff of the school, the first responders at the scene, and the second responders in our Tassie hospitals. Thank you. There were no Ugly Christmas Shirts worn today, but you understand why. And as we acknowledged in our intro, it has been heartwarming in the tragic circumstances to see our parkrun communities, Devonport and well beyond, showing care and support to our fellow parkrunners. And as we've seen in the updates since then, the tragic news has continued. But yeah, as we've said, our hearts go out to you all.

00:31:08Melissa Ellis: Yes, absolutely, Ollie, and I think you and I both having daughters primary school age, it hit home of how fragile life can be and how things can be taken from you in an instant and we can't know when these things will happen and I know myself having Zoe as a grade six student It's really hit home and it's shaken me to put myself in the situation of those parents and what they've dealt with. But to know that they've got their community around them, their parkrun community around for whatever that could offer as support, that's amazing. And I'm sorry for getting emotional, putting myself in that position. We wish them all the best and we're very sorry for their loss.

00:32:15Oliver Spake: Hugely. No, I don't think I need to add to what you've said, Mel, except to say that Yes, it's gut-wrenching. And I take what positive I can and, you know, it's wonderful doesn't feel the word, but, you know, to see that support, to see that community spirit and to see that it transcends, you know, the physical presence on the morning. Thank you, everyone. And whether it's providing that support or whether it's celebrating the happy moments, yeah, that's clearly what we know and love about this particular event. And it goes a long way. It's carried us through a lot. And we hope that that support carries Kylie and the other children and the other families through things.

00:33:13Melissa Ellis: And sending much love also to Val and Steve today.

00:33:18Oliver Spake: That's right. And Mel, look, as I said, there was a lot going on at the weekend, but we certainly don't want to take away from a lot of the other celebrations of the day. And it was great. I think being back on parkrun ground myself to see a few of those celebrations, it felt a bit closer. Thank you to everyone that shared the celebrations with us this weekend too. So some of those in the milestones this weekend, Mel, so we heard from CJ Gotham, had a little 50th birthday celebration at Birdswood. It was fantastic. And Grette Wilkinson also checked in at Mount Barker to celebrate two 250s for the two Wilkinson boys. And also she had a photo of the family in green splendor, I should say, in front of a familiar tree at Mount Barker.

00:34:17Melissa Ellis: Yes, and we also heard from Tracey Wood, a tinsel of uglies at Bunyaville to celebrate Erica Liotta's 250th with a photo of a big tinsel and celebration plus an impressive cake. Then we also heard from Linda Meredith. Well done to Erica. Love Monica's socks. I got my V today and that was a photo at Varsity Lakes. Well done, Linda. We also heard from Lyndell Murray. Volunteered at home at Bunyaville parkrun to celebrate Erica's milestone. So Erica was getting lots of love from the parkrun faithful and And we heard from Nadine Crawford. Welcome back, New South Wales. So happy for you. I did a pre-parkrun nottie at Rosebud before barcode scanning. Two of my favourite people celebrated their 100th parkrun this morning. Wore green for Addison. Then enjoyed post-parkrun park faff with all the people. As usual, a perfect morning spent in parkrun world.

00:35:27Oliver Spake: And speaking of perfect mornings, Simon Mackley, I think, summed it up. 5.55, the parkrun alarm finally went off. 6.40 arrival, excited crowd growing. Three first-timers at the welcome, ran with a friend for the first time in over two years. Breakfast, an extended park faff, home at 11. Normal service has resumed. And Bernadette Bennett, rocking the RD duties at Newy, dressed in suitable clothing for both the duties and ugly shirt day, sharing the photo. And I love the style there, Bernadette, RD vest and ugly combo, looking splendid. Chris Fraser, back on the tourism train, celebrated New South Wales' return with a little five-and-a-half-hour road trip to Leeton. 32 runners, no uglies, on a flat track, a few doggos, and a superb 4.5-star golden sausage roll from Mix. A bingo number for the 2021 edition. Car's in the background. Sorry, Chris.

00:36:36Melissa Ellis: He'll like that.

00:36:38Oliver Spake: He will, he will. If only he were at Bathurst for that one, it would have been perfect. Increased Wilson Index from 17 to 26. Must work. Increased NENDY distance from 513 to 604 kilometres. And look, just to top it off, two photos, one of the parkrun, one of the sausage roll. Thank you, Chris.

00:36:59Melissa Ellis: Jeez, those stats. He's given the informant a run for his money.

00:37:03Oliver Spake: That's right. And Heather Hunter, Feels Like Forever, since I had my barcode scanned, but I finally did today.

00:37:12Melissa Ellis: And we heard from Ingrid Botha. We made a tinsel at Rhodes. I met Annette Ferris and Lynn Harrison, who also displayed wonderful fashion sense in their Ugly Christmas Singlets. I also brought along a first-timer and am now having pancakes. After a long week in a long year, it feels like an almost normal Saturday. And Ingrid shared a photo of her tinsel. Then we heard from Joanne Ward. No, I'm in the Newcastle region and many have either not returned yet or cancelled due to high COVID numbers. Fingers crossed for the new year. So coffee at home this morning, Dazza. We hope you return to parkrun soon, Joanne. Lynne Anne, visiting my son and daughter-in-law in Sydney and just completed Wildflower parkrun. In the run brief, the RD said, this is the hardest event in New South Wales. Glad I didn't know that beforehand. LAUGHTER Beautiful parklands, but plenty of incline. Here I am in my Ugly Christmas Shirt, having a cool water now to recover. And Ollie, we can both attest to having, I know I've done Wildflower unofficially on Longest Run Day, as have you. I don't know if you've done it officially, but yes, it's a tough course.

00:38:16[laughter]

00:38:38Oliver Spake: Yeah, I went back and I did it officially. Didn't get any easier. It's fantastic.

00:38:43Melissa Ellis: And Margie Lewis, so good to have our parkrun back in New South Wales. I'm with Heather. Feels like forever. And just in time to show off the new singlet. And Margie posted a photo of herself in her ugly shirt with the parkrun flag.

00:39:02Oliver Spake: And we also heard from Matthew Billington checking in from Taree parkrun. And Matthew shared the photo. And look, I don't know if I'm just envisaging it, but it looked warm there, Matthew. On more familiar ground, Patrick Shymitzek. A tinsel of Merry Christmas makers at Shellharbour today, celebrating the new hilly course in warm conditions. It was great to be back in the real world of parkruns. A good post-parkrun analysis was conducted with fellow runners outside the kiosk while we quaffed on coffees and Gatorades. And Patrick did share the photo of the tinsel.

00:39:42Melissa Ellis: I'm very happy for Patrick to return to parkrun, but he's in the sin bin because he was being cheeky.

00:39:51Oliver Spake: Would you care to elaborate?

00:39:53Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah, there was a post, I saw it, where he was like, Shellharbour, Shellharbour, Shellharbour.

00:40:01Oliver Spake: Yeah, we were relishing it, that's for sure. Someone also glad to have parkrun back in New South Wales was Richard. Hi Dazza, ran at The Entrance today before heading up to my home parkrun, Pioneer Dairy parkrun to do finish tokens. How good is it to be back? I remember Monopoly games taking days as a kid as no one wanted to declare bankruptcy. And yeah, the photo there, fantastic looking Ugly Christmas Shirt in front of the dairy.

00:40:33Melissa Ellis: I do concur. Sorry to interrupt, Ollie, about nobody wanting to declare bankruptcy. That can be a very long and...

00:40:44Oliver Spake: It is a bit of a slow and painful end to the game, isn't it? And I'm not sure it's any better when you're losing rapidly. I suppose it does break the tedium.

00:40:55Melissa Ellis: Did Richard run at The Entrance and then go to Pioneer Dairy for finish tokens?

00:41:02Oliver Spake: That's my understanding, yes.

00:41:04Melissa Ellis: Wow. Well, so he's been at two events in one day. He's getting the most out of the return.

00:41:13Oliver Spake: I wouldn't spread that secret too much, but thank you for volunteering, Richard.

00:41:17Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:41:17Oliver Spake: And Sam Schroder. Dazza! We scanned our barcodes and we were ugly. And Asher and Evie walked the course happily and in a great time. Milkshakes and pancakes were a great incentive. And Sam did show the photo in the cafe where, yeah, those incentives looked very tasty. Good work, team.

00:41:39Melissa Ellis: And I've got the Bailey shot. Brett Bailey, hi Dazza. We had yet another surf, I nearly said scarf. We had yet another surf carnival this morning, so had a delayed nottie on the beach with Tanya and Brunner. Thanks for sending us some sunshine. We needed it after a very gloomy start to December. We are all hoping for a special parkrun present on Christmas Day. And Brett shared a photo with Brunner on the beach. And then... Bec Bailey, Dazza, sorry for being MIA last week. I was up in the Victorian bush, but I'm back, parkrun NSW is back. It was a great and ugly day. I went to Shellharbour parkrun and gave Shellharbour's new course a go. A bit more hilly, not as scenic without the lake, but it's a great course for the social park faff in its new out-and-back style. I'll be back out at Shellharbour next week for some Christmas barcode scanning as they run that old traditional lap of the lagoon. SPF equals three. And Bec showed a photo of baking cupcakes with a parkrun logo.

00:42:51Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:42:52Melissa Ellis: And we had Tanya Bailey, parkrun nottie this afternoon down Woodend Beach, took Ducky for a paddle along the way. All going well, we should have Pegasus parkrun going on Christmas Day. And Tanya had a photo of a very familiar looking duck in a very large puddle. I'm very impressed. To round out our Bailey shot, I think an honorary Bailey, Alison King. Ran a Freedo, hopefully the last, was a bit chilly to start with but quickly warmed up and was pleased to be in my ugly singlet. I love playing Monopoly. I recently visited the Hobbiton film set and bought the Lord of the Rings Monopoly. In terms of parkrun... Could the stations be volunteer positions? And go directly to jail could be punishment for forgetting your barcode. And Alison posted a photo in her Ugly Christmas Singlet.

00:43:55Oliver Spake: Yeah, I can feel this parkrun monopoly really growing. And look, we certainly noticed a lot of those ideas popping up, particularly from the ideas corner after last week's episode. So, yeah, we're going to have to have some good solid thinking over the Christmas break. But continuing the parkrun fun, Claire Stutchbury, a solo adventure this morning to Lota parkrun. Fantastic. 53 weeks of tourist streaking and counting. November 2020 to December 2021. Not a calendar year to answer your queries on the pod. Thank you, Claire. Jack Corkill, my own South Australian adventurer today at Patawalonga River parkrun. Lovely flat course along the river was very nice. Third South Australia location and continuing the streak.

00:44:47Melissa Ellis: I'm confused why Jackie's in South Australia and Claire's not. I'm confused. I need an explanation, but I'm sure they will give me that next week. Thank you.

00:45:00Unidentified speaker: That's right.

00:45:01Oliver Spake: The request has been placed. Jodie Maisie. Tony O'Connell is right. Inverloch is a beautiful parkrun in the lovely morning sunshine. Yummy breakfast afterwards. And Jodie, thanks for the photo looking over the dunes to the beach. Phil Olson, planning to go to Penryn Campus parkrun in the morning to reclaim Cornwall. And, of course, coffee at Dazza's. Well done, Phil.

00:45:28Melissa Ellis: That's exciting. Phil's from overseas.

00:45:32Oliver Spake: Yeah, Cornwall.

00:45:33Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:45:34Oliver Spake: And, look, I'm sorry. That's quite an achievement. I didn't mean to gloss over that, but I like Cornwall. That's a nice take.

00:45:41Melissa Ellis: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And we heard from Greg Garner. We were lucky enough to have a visit from Santa at Victory Heights Trail parkrun this morning for our Christmas celebration. And we had a photo of Santa with the selfie frame. Mm. Abigail's mum an ugly morning in warm conditions at Wyndham Vale today much complaining from the little people not that you'd know it from the finished photo happy parkrun day to all and the family there the Abigail's mum family For want of a better word. Sporting their Ugly Christmas Singlets and looking brilliant. We heard from Bruce Purdy. There were carols in the tunnel at Wallaby Track parkrun this morning with a smiling Santa DJ catching up with Melissa too. P.S. So proud of our Santa, a.k.a. Donna, on achieving her official V25 today. And thank you for sharing the photo of myself with Donna Claus, plus a video of the carols in said tunnel. We also heard from Chantelle Hosking, increased my P index to six at Coburg, decided to rock last year's Ugly, will wear this year's Tomorrow at Juniors. And Chantelle posted a selfie of herself celebrating with the fluffy vintage shirt.

International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day

00:47:13Oliver Spake: Yes. Needless to say, we're into the tinsel section now. And things just got uglier. That's not a reference to you, though, Jeff Whiffen. LAUGHTER Happy ugliness parkrun day. As per the spreadsheet, we were at Portarlington today for event number 158. Just another Wilson number, gap filler for the collection. And complete with photo, uglies and bark runner. And Irene Bommakanti enjoyed regaining our Victorian statesperson at event number three, Nathalia Showgrounds parkrun. Cheryl, Dawn, Parth and myself were fashionable in our ugliness. Enjoyed brunch with volleys and fellow parkrunners at Three Bells Collective. Cheesy toasties and ice lattes were enjoyed by all. And photo evidence there of the brunch with the ugly shirts. So, yeah, great work. And well done on regaining the statespersonship. Now, Adrian Homburg had a different approach to the tinsel. And he was, however, debuting a different kind of shirt. He took the new 25 out for the first run at Birdsland Reserve. But... Totally forgot the ugly buff, but I will say that the new purple looked fantastic. So thank you for sharing, Adrian. And Mandy Oliver, sporting my Ugly Christmas Singlet under the bridge at Surfers Paradise parkrun. Complete with photo here under the bridge with the large word belief spelt out underneath. And Mel, I don't know why it says belief, but yeah, I like it. Oh, yes, next, Melissa Ellis from our roving report this week. A tinsel of eight at Wallaby Track today with three versions of the Ugly Christmas Singlet represented. And thank you, Mel, for sharing the photo of the tinsel.

00:47:22[laughter]

00:49:12Melissa Ellis: Ah, you're welcome. We also heard from Pippa White. Hi, Dazza. There aren't as many uglies in the UK, so thrilled to bits to meet Tracy at Salcey Forest. Tail Christine Imbert is also properly dressed but not in yet. Mince pie and hot choc, please. And Pippa shared a photo with Tracy in a mini tinsel and then a framed photo with Christine looking festively hideous. We also heard from Rhianna Wick Gamble, a close to home today, Campaspe parkrun, nice to return here for a visit and a course PB. And Rhianna shared a photo of herself in her Ugly Christmas Singlet. Also Shirley Macon shared a photo of herself in her Ugly Christmas Singlet. And Janet Reid Dazza. Guess what? Santa joined us aboard the mothership Lochiel. We couldn't believe our eyes. The children were so excited. I think the grown-ups were too. We had a tinsel of uglies and very festive volleys and I got to wear my Christmas shoes. Our resident artist, Grant Fleming, did a beautiful mural on the water tank which made a perfect backdrop for all the very colourful Santa photos. Then he had to leave to go back to the North Pole to cool down after being in the Adelaide heat. Iced coffee for me, please, Dazza, and have a great week. And Janet posted a photo with Santa and Bark Runner, or volunteer, and a huge tinsel.

00:51:00Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, it looks like things were festive at the mothership this week. But, Mel, always festive is the one and only Melissa Erbacher, who had to say, Bit late to the cafe today. Glad you're open all day, Dazza. Had a warm parkrun at Kawana this morning and got all sparkly with a little tinsel after the event. Happy International Ugly Christmas Singlet or Shirt Day, everyone. And Mel did share the photo of the tinsel, which happened to include all four Erbachers looking absolutely hideous.

00:51:41Melissa Ellis: How happy were we to see that picture, Ollie?

00:51:45Oliver Spake: Yes, that's right because, you know, that's what International Ugly Christmas Singlet or Shirt Day is all about. It's about getting out there, getting festive and, well, some fantastic effort from the one and only Melissa Erbacher. So, yeah, our thanks once again for a fun year and a fun International Ugly Christmas Singlet or Shirt Day. How many times can I say that? To Mel.

the Obi Award — Melissa Erbacher

00:52:11Melissa Ellis: So it's time, Ollie, to announce the winner of the Obi Award this week. Have you got the envelope?

00:52:28Oliver Spake: No. But is it Bambi?

00:52:32Melissa Ellis: No, it's Chico. I think it was both of them.

00:52:36Oliver Spake: Chico's got the envelope. Okay. I think the excitement's getting high. The pups have caught on to the excitement of the Obi. There's no topping that. But, look, I'll open the envelope, Mel, if the crowd can just calm down for a moment. This week the Obi goes to, let's face it, Melissa Erbacher because it has to.

00:53:03Melissa Ellis: It absolutely does.

00:53:11Oliver Spake: Yes, for our wonderful ugly singlets and festive day once again. That's a well and truly deserved Obi. Thank you, Mel.

00:53:20Melissa Ellis: Absolutely wonderful to see Mel and the showman and the boys, Wes and Emmett.

00:53:30Oliver Spake: Look, honourable mentions to so many, of course, so many that I probably can't mention them, which defeats the entire purpose of making an honourable mention. But as we said, so many different special moments for everyone and, of course, yeah, heartwarming moments amongst a very challenging week. So thank you, everyone, for being a part of this wonderful community for Dazza's this week. Thank you for the monopoly suggestions.

Consolidated Club Report

00:53:57Oliver Spake: And moving along, thank you also to our Adventurers Club.

00:54:01Melissa Ellis: Yes, Ollie, we were up by one this week to 73. I'm not sure who the extra one was, but thank you for joining us. Yes. We had 61 members on the Consolidated Club Report. That's up 17 from last week, probably due to New South Wales funding Fabulous return. And we had 18 notties recorded, which was only down by one from the previous week. So not reporting this week on Australia's not parkruns due to the fact that all our states are now back parkrunning. But New Zealand, Ollie, they've got some stats. Yes.

00:54:46Oliver Spake: They do. And, look, obviously New Zealand's in the spirit of returning parkrun because they've shared top spot. So good work, Whangarei and Anderson, both on 44 this week, Whangarei being down one, Anderson being up four. And not far behind, as always, Pegasus on 37, who are also down one. So some great representation there. Understand there may be still a few not parkruns over the coming weeks, but we look forward to seeing you clock up some barcode scans as time passes.

00:55:21Melissa Ellis: Great to hear from the Fung and Ando and Pego.

00:55:25Oliver Spake: That's right.

Sign-off

00:55:27Melissa Ellis: What do we have to look forward to, Ollie, for the next year, for the next week even? LAUGHTER Oh, my goodness.

00:55:34[laughter]

00:55:37Oliver Spake: Yeah, we'll have to save the next year for next week, I reckon.

00:55:42Melissa Ellis: Oh, goodness me. Ollie, so we are going to take a week off, but not next week.

00:55:49Oliver Spake: No, that's right. We'll still catch up to round out what has been an interesting year and catch up on all the excitement of everyone that has enjoyed parkrun on Christmas Day, being on a parkrun day this year. So we look forward to checking in with you all next week there. I understand there's also some other news this week as we approach Christmas.

00:56:13Melissa Ellis: Yes, we have a very special parkrun adventurer celebrating her seventh birthday and we wish to wish a warm happy birthday to our very own Abigail.

00:56:27Oliver Spake: Happy birthday, Abby. Hope you have a magnificent one and then just a special Christmas.

00:56:35Melissa Ellis: I think it's me signing off this week. I think we're done unless there's anything else that you've got to add.

00:56:45Oliver Spake: No, look, Mel, I look forward to hearing how your Christmas Day, parkrun Day and Christmas Day in general has been. It's been wonderful to catch up and to see all of the excitement as we approach Christmas. I wish you and the family a very happy Christmas and to everyone else out there too, sorry.

00:57:05Melissa Ellis: Thank you, Ollie, and the same to you and yours. Thank you. But as always, you can contact us via Facebook or on 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.

00:58:17Unidentified speaker: Thank you.

00:58:29guest: Hi, Mel and Ollie. I did two parkruns this week. We did Wyndham Vale parkrun in our Christmas T-shirts and then we did Juniors on Sunday and I came 15th place and Santa was number 10 Marshall. It was so fun. Bye, everyone. Merry Christmas, Adventurers. Stay safe.