Episode 270 - The only way is up

Welcome

00:00:23Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 270 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I'm Ollie Spake and I'm joining this week once again from Dharawal Country.

00:00:33Melissa Ellis: And I'm Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country.

00:00:40Oliver Spake: And the budgies are too.

00:00:42Melissa Ellis: That's actually the birds outside my office, Ollie. Oh, I got excited. Okay. The windows are open. It's very hot and balmy here in Victoria, in Melbourne tonight. I'm sweating up a storm. So the windows are open and the blinds are up and all the sound is All the usual things that I do to stop the ambient sounds from outside have gone out the window.

00:01:08Oliver Spake: Yep. It's melted the internet too.

00:01:10Melissa Ellis: Yeah, it has. It has. So we should tell the listeners I'm not on my normal internet. We've got server issues. So I've been forced to pull out the laptop, hotspot off my husband's mobile phone to try to get the recording done tonight. Yeah.

00:01:31Oliver Spake: The things we do. But I'm sure we'll be fine. What could possibly go wrong, Mel?

00:01:36Melissa Ellis: Oh, don't even go there, Ollie, after the day I've had.

00:01:39Oliver Spake: I won't. I won't.

00:01:41Melissa Ellis: But never mind about the day I've had. Please tell me, did you get to adventure last Saturday?

00:01:49Oliver Spake: Yeah, look, it was going to be a last minute decision. It was always going to be a last minute decision. It was a, do I come back and volunteer? Do I go up or down the coast? because this is the weekend where we go away down to the New South Wales south coast at Lake Conjola and stay in a house there. So I've usually taken the opportunity to go up to Husky or down to Batemans Bay on the coast, but this week... I visited Braidwood Showground parkrun. Woohoo! Yeah, I'm happy to say it was the first time I visited two new parkruns in as many weeks since Wildflower and East Coast Park, which was about two and a half years ago. But, Mel, it was, I guess, a fairly subdued family holiday this year. We kind of just took the opportunity to lay low and enjoy a bit of relaxation. To be honest, I spent most of the time paddleboarding, stand-up paddleboarding, as Zali discovered it was her new favourite pastime.

00:02:48Melissa Ellis: Sup.

00:02:49Oliver Spake: Sup. That's right. And with the extra time, I've decided the 300-odd kilometre round trip to Braidwood was worthwhile.

00:02:57Melissa Ellis: I'm very glad to hear that. I'm very, very excited that you're a tourist. Yeah. I'm so proud of you.

00:03:03Oliver Spake: And, look, I know we've heard a little bit about the Braidwood event before. Braidwood itself is inland from the New South Wales south coast. It's part of the Yuin Nation on Walbanga country. I hope I've said that right. And, you know, I was expecting it to be a smaller parkrun with a bit of a country feel. I wasn't disappointed. And I actually really enjoyed the three-and-a-bit lap course, with a very welcoming volunteer team, a guest Timekeeper. In fact, the course kind of took me back to when I was a fair bit younger. I used to play a computer game that our listeners might not know, but it was all that was in my head after it. It was called Wacky Wheels.

00:03:45Unidentified speaker: Oh, cool.

00:03:47Oliver Spake: You'd play the character of a camel or a panda or something like that. You'd race around these courses, very basic graphics, but with lots of twists and turns and three laps. And this was just like it. And fittingly, for this week in particular, it's very easy to lose your sense of direction while you're on course. So you just kind of strap in and just go, just follow the course. So, yeah, great fun.

00:04:09Melissa Ellis: And I believe there were some familiar tourists that you bumped into.

00:04:13Oliver Spake: I did. So after I was fortunate enough in my recent stint, first time as briefing on New Year's Day at Shellharbour, I bumped into some visiting Westerfoldians once again, Derek and Linda, who seem to have some big road trips on at the moment. And they told me they'd been attempting Braidwood for some time. Obviously, with all of the conditions we've had in the last few years, you can understand why those plans have fallen through, between bushfires and COVID and everything. So it was great to catch up with them briefly before I made that drive back. I am pleased to say, though, Mel, apart from it being my event number 31, I did manage to nab a bingo number and complete the Staying Alive Challenge. So, yeah, it was quite a successful morning.

00:05:02Melissa Ellis: Nice work, Ollie.

00:05:04Oliver Spake: But it wasn't as distant as your parkrun adventure.

00:05:09Melissa Ellis: So, yes, this last weekend I travelled. I travelled 616 kilometres west, yes, I'm sure it's west, and across the South Australian border to attend my nearest event not done yet at Murray Bridge. Murray Bridge launched in October 2014 and was the 98th event in Australia, giving me now 29 of the 101st events. It was event 326, which I did not have for my Wilson Index. Thank you. And although my first time there, it was actually the fourth time I visited Murray Bridge. The first two times the event was cancelled due to the International Pedal Prix, which is held in the Sturt Reserve. and we ventured elsewhere for parkrun. The third time, we were passing through Midweek, and I did a freedom run of the course. Now, Murray Bridge is so named after its historic bridge built in 1879 and the first to span the River Murray. The town is 78 kilometres southeast of Adelaide and is called Pomberuk by the traditional owners of the land, the Ngarrindjeri people. I travelled across with Zoe, who happily read her manga and keenly schooled me in all things anime. And we also shared some interesting discussions about mythology, as I encouraged her to research bunyips and yowies. Which leads me to one of Murray Bridges' famous attractions, the bunyip, who this coming Saturday is set to celebrate his 50th birthday. Yes, I was a week early. Bertha the Bunyip or Mulyawonk as it is known by the Ngarrindjeri in short is derived from the legend that the half man half fish lives in the water and if you swim alone or take more fish than you need from the river the Mulyawonk will get you. The story teaches children water safety and respect for the fishes of the rivers and lakes. The Murray Bridge Bunyip was built in 1972, on the banks of the Murray River at Sturt Reserve, and for 20 cents would emerge from its water and roar twice. But visitors can now view the bunyip for free. Whilst I ran the course, Zoe opted to sit and spectate, and afterwards I had a chat with Run Director Todd, which you will hear in our roving reports later. It was a brilliant couple of days. The weather was very warm and we were not impacted by the rain and flash flooding that hit other parts of South Australia. That was my 14th event in South Australia, which currently has 40 events. In short, I had a brilliant couple of days.

00:08:01Oliver Spake: It sounds like a great getaway, Mel. And, yeah, I love hearing about the Bunyip. I think it's a great experience when you can go and actually spend a bit of time there and, yeah, get to know and get to understand the place and obviously its significance as well. But that's quite a trip. I hope you had a bit of a chance to rest afterwards.

00:08:20Melissa Ellis: It was a lot of driving, I will admit. And being that I took my 12-year-old with me as well, Wonderful as her company was, it did mean that I had all the driving on my own and it was a lot. But I've got this new strategy when it comes to my parkrun tourism, which is travel on the Thursday. That's only good in school holidays, obviously, where Zoe doesn't need to go to school and I can manage not to go to work. But if I can travel on the Thursday, then I can have the whole of the Friday to rest and explore the area that I've visited. Then the Saturday morning, obviously, get up, go to the parkrun and then travel home. have the rest of the day to travel home. And which means I'm home Saturday night, ready for parkrun juniors on Sunday morning.

00:09:10Oliver Spake: Yeah. Oh, it sounds like a good formula. Just a shame about that work and school side of things. We'll have to work on that.

00:09:15Melissa Ellis: Yeah. So the... The strategy will only work in school holidays where I can manipulate such things. But yeah, very enjoyable trip to Murray Bridge to tick off my NENDY, Ollie.

00:09:28Oliver Spake: Yes, that must feel good. But meanwhile, Mel, there have continued to be some goings on in the world of parkrun. I believe a familiar voice popping up on a certain podcast.

00:09:42Melissa Ellis: Yeah, that was really good to hear David Crook from On Every Saturday pop up on the free weekly timed podcast last week, Ollie, interviewed by Helen Williams.

00:09:54Oliver Spake: Yes, and hopefully there'll be plenty of English readers out there getting to become a bit more familiar with our Australian parkruns after David's fantastic publication there.

00:10:07Melissa Ellis: I also took my book with me on my trip and had time to sit by the pool and continue reading it. I haven't finished it yet. I'm more than halfway through it and still enjoying it. I especially enjoy reading about the events that I've been to. It's really nice to read about an event and go, oh, I've been there. But also I was interested in that same thing podcast of free weekly timed to note Helen mentioning about her juniors event because Helen Williams also attends and volunteers at a junior parkrun over in the UK 32 volunteers Ollie they need 32 that's a great contingent of helpers oh my goodness I thought it was hard to find 16 every week at Amesbury is what we need to run our event 16 that's only half

00:11:01Oliver Spake: Yeah, well, to state the obvious, that's twice as hard. I guess the collective noun is a volume of volunteers. It's huge.

00:11:10Melissa Ellis: Oh, my goodness. It's massive. But also interesting news that has popped up in the last couple of days, Ollie, but not good news, I might say. Yeah. Hailing from New Zealand.

00:11:23Oliver Spake: I have seen some of the updates and, yeah, unfortunate to see that they're back to code red. But we don't have the decision yet at time of podcasting, is my understanding, Mel?

00:11:35Melissa Ellis: No, we don't. We can guess that it's likely that they're going to pause. Well, that's just going from previous experience of what's happened over in New Zealand during Code Red. But there's been no official word yet as to what will happen parkrun-wise. And so, obviously, very disappointing for those across the ditch. They've got a couple of events that are set to launch. So, Obviously, they will have to go on hold probably for the umpteenth time. Yeah, it's just very unsettling. I believe their own prime minister is putting a halt to her own wedding plans. I'm not sure if you saw that in the media.

00:12:16Oliver Spake: I did. I did. Yeah. And it's just impossible to predict in these times with those situations. So we do hope that you continue to have parkrun for as long as it's safe to do so. But more than anything, you all stay well.

00:12:32Melissa Ellis: It's just crazy, this COVID. I wish it would go away. Yes. In any case, time to move on to our roving reports.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Cameron Drake — Pioneer parkrun

00:12:49Cameron Drake: Good morning parkrun adventurers, it's Cam here reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew. It is bright early and sunny on the first day of the year. That's right, it's a new year, new you, new everything. So, as is tradition on New Year's, we have resolutions. What's yours? What's everyone else's? I made up three quick ones just on the spot. No, I didn't. I've been thinking about this for a little while. I want to stand tall, push through and finish strong. Mainly just to do with running, I guess. All right, well... at pioneer parkrun today is absolutely beautiful the birds are going off we're running next to a river again it is so lovely and shady it might be a hot day today but we're not going to notice because of all the shade the course description takes two whole paragraphs on the parkrun website and I wanted to hear someone explain it to me in say three sentences or less so let's see if they can do that along with telling me their news resolutions All right, everyone. I am here with Emma. And Emma, do you have New Year's resolutions? Unfortunately, I don't.

00:14:04Emma: I just think I'm just going to keep doing what I've been doing this year.

00:14:07Cameron Drake: You just kicked 2021's butt so much. You're just going to do the same thing again, are you?

00:14:11Emma: I think so. As long as it's injury-free, then that's fine.

00:14:15Cameron Drake: So a possible resolution could be stay injury-free.

00:14:18Emma: Definitely. That would be a good one. Yes, you took the words right out of my mouth.

00:14:22Cameron Drake: I stole your resolution. Sorry. You did.

00:14:24Emma: And I think it might be quite a few other people's resolution as well. Excellent. So are you one of the six Tail Walkers I hear we've got scheduled today? I'm not. I'm actually handing out finished tokens today. And my partner's timekeeping. But I think we do have quite a few Tail Walkers today, which is awesome for the first parkrun of the new year.

00:14:43Cameron Drake: Well, yes, it's a good introduction.

00:14:44Emma: All right. Well, thanks very much, Emma.

00:14:46Cameron Drake: And now I'm standing here with someone who's very smiling, walking up. Looks like they want to chat. Oh, she saw the microphone and ran away. Come on. Come have a chat. My name's Cameron. What's your name?

00:14:59Michaela: I'm Michaela.

00:15:00Cameron Drake: Hi Michaela, lovely to meet you. I was talking to Emma here about any New Year's resolutions you may have.

00:15:05Michaela: Oh my goodness.

00:15:06Cameron Drake: Apparently it's putting people on the spot because no one's coming up with any.

00:15:09Michaela: Do you have any? Well, yes. I want to get back into running 5Ks without walking again. That is fantastic. I used to be able to do that and I can't anymore. So that's my goal. What I'd like to do is run the whole 5Ks by the end of the year.

00:15:23Cameron Drake: That is a fantastic goal. Well, thank you so much for talking to me today, ladies, and I hope you have a wonderful event.

00:15:29Emma: We will, thank you.

00:15:31Cameron Drake: Okay, I'm here with... Jen. And Jen, what's your New Year's resolution? To never make another New Year's resolution. So you're going to keep that, you think? I will, 100%. Isn't that making a resolution? You're right, it is. A bit contradictory there. You got me, you got me. How was parkrun today?

00:15:48Unidentified speaker: Delightful, as always. Fastest time this year.

00:15:50Cameron Drake: Oh, well done. Congratulations. PBs all round.

00:15:52Unidentified speaker: Okay, everyone.

00:15:55Cameron Drake: I'm here with today's Run Director, Greg. Greg, how was today's event? It was terrific. Beautiful weather. Lots of shade. It's a lovely day for it. Yeah, it is. Now, you've got a lovely course here, but look, truth be told, I got a bit confused, and I think I did it, although the old distance on the watch was a bit short. Could you describe the course for me?

00:16:15Greg: Well we start off here behind the brick wall and there's cones to take you up the hill and a sharp turn, come back along the brick fence around to the swamp behind the old people's home and then we come across the bridge, come past the start line again and back, instead of going up the hill we keep going on the second lap to We can see the Orange Bridge on the right, so we turn right over the Orange Bridge, follow the path around the pond and the path will take you along a row of trees and the cones will take you off the path and through a gap in the trees and you'll come back this side of the trees, back across the Orange Bridge, you'll come back to the start line where somebody will send you up over the treetop walk which will take you up the top to the brick and stone wall and we go around to the swamp again over the little bridge, come back past the start line again, and then we do the Orange Bridge trip again, across the Orange Bridge, round the pond, through the trees, back this side of the trees, back over the pond, and back down to the boardwalk again, the treetop walk. We go up the top again and come around across the bridge. The third time across the bridge, we go across the finish line and get our token and go to the table and that's the finish.

00:17:44Cameron Drake: You make it sound so easy. Has anyone ever gotten lost? Yes, people get lost. I'm unsurprised.

00:17:52Greg: If they don't see the cones or they're not following people, they can get lost.

00:17:58Cameron Drake: Yeah, I was a bit on my own for a while there and I was a bit concerned, but I got it back eventually.

00:18:03Greg: After you've done it a couple of times, you don't really need the cones, but the first time you need to watch the cones and follow the cones.

00:18:11Cameron Drake: All right, fantastic. Thank you, Greg, for putting on a lovely event and having a chat today. All right, thank you. Oh, my God, I totally forgot. Do you have any news resolutions?

00:18:20Greg: Yeah, just to get a bit fitter, because there's a few people competing with me and they always like to beat me, so I want to do a bit more running. A bit of friendly rivalry helps, doesn't it?

00:18:30Cameron Drake: Yeah, it's good. It keeps you going. Fantastic, thank you. Well folks, just finished up at Pioneer parkrun and I'll tell you, this is about the closest to an adventure course style parkrun I've done so far. We've got bridges, grass trail, dirt, walkways, winding little maze-y paths through wetland areas and to top it all off, we've got an overhead bridge that goes over a playground. That's all uphill, that you do twice, but enough of that.

Roving report Adrian Hillyer — Peppertree parkrun

00:19:01Tyson: fantastic well I hope everyone's had a good new year's wish everyone the best of luck for surviving 2022 and I'll see you around g'day adventurers it's Adrian at Peppertree and I'm here with Tyson. Tyson, what brings you to Peppertree parkrun today? hi good morning yes uh my father actually lives over in encouraging in Melton so I normally do the Melton parkrun but I decided to come over yeah Toolern Creek that's the one we decided to come over to Bacchus Marsh and tackle this course yeah okay that's great um what was your favourite part of our course today Oh, this part would probably be the shade where the hill, so the hill comes over. Yep. And you get a lot of shade under the hill. And then the U-turn and then coming up that, I love a bit of hill run, so a bit of hills. Yep. It's always fun, yeah.

00:19:42Unidentified speaker: But it's not very hilly, is it? No, not compared to you.

00:19:44Tyson: It's only just that one little one. That's right.

00:19:46Unidentified speaker: And have you got an interesting parkrun story or journey?

00:19:49Tyson: Yeah. Me and my mate went to Wangaratta about two years ago, probably July, this around his birthday. And we drove up in the morning, got a coffee at the row. I drove up and just chatting away all the way. Get there on... No one there. There was one volunteer and he said it's cancelled because of the flood down about a K down. And we said, oh, what do we do now? So he recommended just go for a run around town. We got a coffee and came home. So drove about an hour for... Out for nothing, yeah.

00:20:14Unidentified speaker: How many different parkruns have you done?

00:20:15Tyson: I've done a few, probably this will be 12th or 13th, yeah. I've done, as I said, I've done all around Phillip Island, done Inverloch, done Overbendy, go away, even been up to Sydney, done the ponds up there, it's quite nice. Around Euroa, done Shepparton, Mansfield, haven't done Benalla yet, which is the next one I want to do, yeah. I like to get a few on my belt, run about 75 all up and volunteer at Euroa about 35 times, so yeah. That's good stuff. I like to run and volunteer about the same time.

Roving report Alistair — Riverbank parkrun

00:20:40Rachel Axton: yeah every every couple of weeks yeah yeah which is good but yeah all right thanks very much for your time thanks have a good day Alistair is your host today, but my guest is... I'm Rachel Axton I've um wanted to become a Victorian statesman for quite some time but they keep on adding new ones and so yeah they do that and I've still got a few of the really distant ones to go so I haven't done Nhill, and Port Fairy keeps on occurring when there's either COVID or Port Fairy Folk Festival so I keep missing that one so I've got a couple.

00:21:10Alistair: Where's Nhill? Where's that one?

00:21:12Rachel Axton: It's out past Horsham. Okay. So I've got about five or six to do left in Victoria. Cool, cool.

00:21:18Alistair: Okay, sorry. Where's your home parkrun? I probably should ask that first.

00:21:21Rachel Axton: It's Parkville now, so right in the middle of Melbourne.

00:21:24Alistair: Okay, because they're not Yass.

00:21:26Rachel Axton: No, and Parkville's nice and flat. Yass is a lot more challenging than Parkville.

00:21:31Alistair: Did you like Yass though? Oh, sorry, Riverbank. Riverbank, yeah.

00:21:35Rachel Axton: It's very, very pretty. But I wouldn't want to do that hill too many more times. Okay, cool.

00:21:41Unidentified speaker: I wouldn't describe it as undulating. I'd describe it as up.

00:21:46Alistair: rock and roll, rock and roll. What is the number one undulating course of all the courses you have frequented?

00:21:54Rachel Axton: Risdon Brook Dam. Yeah, Risdon Brook Dam was very... You think you're going to go round a dam, but you go up and down the side walls of the dam, so that's quite undulating. Mount Ainslie was also pretty undulating in Canberra.

00:22:07Alistair: Interesting. Mount Ainslie. I'm a Canberran by birth and I would have said undulating goes to Queanbeyan in the Canberra region.

00:22:17Rachel Axton: I haven't done Queanbeyan, which I've heard.

00:22:19Alistair: So that's not your Q. What's your Q?

00:22:21Rachel Axton: Queens Domain in Tasmania.

00:22:23Alistair: Okay, I hear that. That's closer for you.

00:22:26Rachel Axton: Have you done all the states though? I haven't done one in WA or Northern Territory yet, but I've done every other state.

00:22:33Alistair: Mind you, I saw on your, you have a homemade parkrun jumper, which has all your completed courses. I saw some pretty impressive flags. Is that some international touring I've seen?

00:22:45Rachel Axton: Yeah, so every time we travel, we always try and make sure we're there for the parkruns. So we've done France, Germany, Italy, Ireland and America. I think I've done six or seven different countries now. Wicked. Yeah, it's really cool. So I haven't done any of the Asian ones.

00:23:04Alistair: They're good to come. Since you've been to England... Have you done Bushy?

00:23:09Rachel Axton: Yes. Okay. Bushy Park is an awesome parkrun today. There was probably about 1,500 people there when we did it. So you line up and it's just massive and everybody starts heading in one direction. It's a great big field. And then there's these ant hills, at the time, so it's sort of really undulating and then there's some fallen down trees and there's people leaping the trees and you're just like, is this a run? But then it all sort of thins out and it's a really nice run around a really big park and there's deers and like, yeah, it's really lovely. If people are looking for a really fun parkrun, like a real tourist adventure, I would recommend Castletownbere in the south of Ireland.

00:23:48Unidentified speaker: It's in Cork and if you...

00:23:52Rachel Axton: Get up. It's like a 9 a.m. ferry ride. So you meet at the ferry at Castletownbere and they ferry you out to a little island. You jump off the ferry. The ferryman jumps into the front of a bus. Everyone piles into the bus and he drives you to the start line, which is only like five minutes away. And everyone then starts, and you go, you do a lap of this, like, island, and then everyone goes for scones in the little path. And then the ferrymen will come in and be like, all right, everyone, back on the bus. And then everyone gets back on the bus and gets back across the ferry. It's just, it was just such a really fun community event.

00:24:30Unidentified speaker: Okay, it is in Ireland. Ireland. It's wet, misty, raining, but it's awesome. You're running along the cliff tops around the end of this. It's quite spectacular. The adventure and the camaraderie on the ferry, the people saying, oh, if you want to come back to our place to have a shower, and everybody's saturated.

00:24:50Alistair: It was an awesome adventure. It was fantastic. How many people can go? Do you have to book to go on this park ride?

00:24:56Rachel Axton: No.

00:24:57Alistair: Since you have to go on the ferry and in a bus?

00:24:59Rachel Axton: They would make sure you get there. They'd work it out. They'd find a way.

00:25:02Alistair: They'd find a way. Build it, they'll find a way. Like locals. Well, it looks like it's breakfast time for you guys. You guys have been great tourists and great radio guests. So thank you very much for all that information.

00:25:13Rachel Axton: Thanks for volunteering today. I really appreciate it.

00:25:17Alistair: You've got to volunteer to make sure everything happens. I want to hit my 50 volunteers this year and my 250 runs this year.

00:25:24Rachel Axton: Wow, that's massive.

00:25:25Alistair: All right, well, enjoy your breakfast. Thank you very much for your time. Have a good day.

00:25:29Rachel Axton: You too, thank you.

Roving report Melissa Ellis — Murray Bridge

00:25:32Melissa Ellis: Good morning. It's Melissa coming to you from Murray Bridge in South Australia. And I've got one of the Run Directors here, Todd. Good morning, Todd.

00:25:40Todd: Good morning. How are you?

00:25:41Melissa Ellis: I'm very good. Now, you're not RD today, are you?

00:25:43Todd: No, I'm not RD today, no.

00:25:44Melissa Ellis: You were the designated social media ambassador to speak to me.

00:25:48Todd: Yeah, that's it. Yep.

00:25:49Melissa Ellis: I believe you've spoken to the local radio recently.

00:25:51Todd: I have, yep. The last year or so, yep.

00:25:53Melissa Ellis: Yep, that was to give a bit of promotion to the event?

00:25:56Todd: Not to parkrun itself, no. It was just more like just as a running person. They sort of saw me running in the morning and got me on and had a chat. I forgot to mention parkrun in it. I'm still kicking myself about that.

00:26:08Melissa Ellis: Maybe you'll have to go back on and give them an update.

00:26:10Todd: Yeah, I will. I think so.

00:26:12Melissa Ellis: Now, a good morning down here. Compared to some parts of South Australia, it did stay dry for most of the event. We've got a bit of spitting now.

00:26:20Todd: Yeah, it's just starting to come in, but I don't think it'll be too much.

00:26:23Melissa Ellis: How are your numbers this morning?

00:26:24Todd: Actually pretty good. I think 40, maybe pushing up towards 50. So that's probably where we sit in the summer.

00:26:30Melissa Ellis: Excellent. How long have you been involved with Murray Bridge?

00:26:33Todd: Murray Bridge, probably about a year, a little bit over a year. Started off doing a few parkruns and then started volunteering and moved into run directing probably halfway through last year, I reckon.

00:26:42Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so that's a quick transition into run directing. So thank you. Good for you to join the team.

00:26:50Todd: Yeah, it's good. It's good to give back to parkrun and get people involved. Yeah.

00:26:55Melissa Ellis: Absolutely is. So yourself, how did you find out about parkrun?

00:27:00Todd: I started doing parkrun in 2015, 14. I did the Mount Barker parkrun and then I had a long hiatus and did the parkrun for probably six or seven years and then I knew it was always on and just had to get down there and Get involved again, and it just goes from there, I suppose. Yeah. It's on every Saturday. You know it's got to be there.

00:27:21Melissa Ellis: You've got a good contingent of kids that are taking part as well, a couple of kids volunteering today.

00:27:26Todd: Yeah, yeah. The kids like to volunteer. The Run Director, Amy, she gets her kids out, and my kids get involved every now and then. Yeah, it's good to have a little mix-up every now and then.

00:27:36Melissa Ellis: Did your kids run today?

00:27:38Todd: One of them did, yep. She walked half of it anyway, so it's hard to get them out and do the two laps.

00:27:44Melissa Ellis: Do you want to describe the course for everyone?

00:27:46Todd: So we start down near the, well, just up from the Bunyip and we sort of move away along the river, keep the river on our right and under both the bridges that cross the River Murray, where we get the town's name from, and then up, follow the old train line right up to Hume Reserve and then there's a turnaround point there and it's Yeah, straight back along the river, keeping it on your left this time. Come back to almost the start line, round the tree, do another out, do another lap, and then back through to the finish line, just down from the bunyip.

00:28:15Melissa Ellis: Yes, and it's very picturesque, and it's quite flat. Just got a bit of an incline, really just from, say, would you say the bridges?

00:28:21Todd: Yeah, the bridges up to the turnaround point would probably be the incline, but everything else is relatively flat.

00:28:25Melissa Ellis: Yeah, it's not really that major.

00:28:27Todd: No. Just a bit of gravel out there and more pavement. Yeah. Pretty much 70% of it. The rain just starts rolling in now.

00:28:35Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and it's Sturt Reserve here where we're starting. Not bad facilities. You've got a little rotunda.

00:28:42Todd: Yeah, a little rotunda where we start off. There's a toilet block over not far away. The community club just down the way there. We go there for coffee afterwards. Plenty of parking. Plenty of parking. Yeah, it's like a playground over there for the kids afterwards.

00:28:57Melissa Ellis: uh what else skate park yeah everything's down here so it's a good spot and we got our b course as well which is a bit further on and yeah we should mention that because I did come here uh in 2015 and 2016 with the pedal pre however back then you didn't have a b course and I had to venture further afield so um so that's pretty good now and it's a completely different start and finish point yeah it is completely different um so where we turn around it's just down from that

00:29:22Todd: So we start down there and then we run along the levee banks, follow right up down to the SA water pumping station, turn around there and then straight back to the finish line. It's only a one lapper all the way up and back. So yeah, it's a different course. It's fully gravel and bridges and all the little noises you hear in the reeds down the side. But anyway, we just don't pay attention to those.

00:29:46Melissa Ellis: It's not a bunyip in the reeds, is it?

00:29:48Todd: Nah, I don't think it's a bunyip. Probably something a little bit more slippery than a bunyip.

00:29:53Melissa Ellis: No worries. Well, thanks for having a chat with me this morning, Todd. The rain's coming down now. We're starting to get a bit wet, so I'll let you go. And thank you very much. Nice to meet you.

00:30:00Todd: No worries. Thank you. Nice to meet you.

00:30:08Oliver Spake: And thank you to our four roving reporters this week. Thank you to Cam catching up from New Year's Day, actually, at Pioneer. And, yeah, didn't you like Cam's New Year's resolution there, Mel?

00:30:21Melissa Ellis: Yes. Well done, Cam. Stand tall, push through and finish strong. I think we could all take heed from Cam's advice.

00:30:30Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. I think I forget the finish strong part a little too often.

00:30:35Melissa Ellis: Because you're busy doing zoomies.

00:30:37Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. I guess that's kind of strong. Yeah, there we are. I'm trying to live your resolutions, Cam, so thank you. And Adrian, checking in with those checking in at Peppertree. I'm speaking to Tyson there. Alistair at Riverbank. And thank you to Alistair. I know we did have some challenges just like our internet with some of the audio there, Mel.

00:30:58Melissa Ellis: Yeah, we did. We had to do a little bit of creative editing in a couple of spots, so apologise for that. But I think we still gave a good, broad idea of Alistair chatting to fellow Victorian tourist Rachel Axton. So that's great to hear from Rachel. But I think Alistair and Rachel maybe both need to join the Adventurers Club, Ollie.

00:31:23Oliver Spake: No pressure there. No pressure. Yeah.

00:31:25Melissa Ellis: Well, we're going to take all opportunities. I did notice that, well, Alistair is a Zoolander.

00:31:31Oliver Spake: Yes, yes.

00:31:32Melissa Ellis: So he has got an affinity already, but that's fine because you can have five.

00:31:37Oliver Spake: That's right. So as long as we make the top five, we'd be perfectly happy. But in the meantime, excellent work and thank you very much for the report. And thank you to our fourth roving report, Mel, you.

00:31:48Melissa Ellis: Ah, yes. Nice to chat to Todd out there at Murray Bridge.

00:31:52Oliver Spake: Yes. It absolutely sounds like it was a fantastic parkrun day.

Emails

00:31:56Oliver Spake: Must have been a good parkrun day because we've got mail. We've got more than mail. We've got bagfuls of mail. You've got mail.

00:32:04Melissa Ellis: Wow, Ollie, this is a PB for our inbox.

00:32:08Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:32:08Melissa Ellis: Four emails.

00:32:10Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. In fact, I think the rest of the pod now is dedicated to the inbox and, well, Dazza's, quite possibly. It's kept us busy this week, that's for sure. Should I start off with the first one? Let's.

00:32:21Melissa Ellis: Okay, so we heard from Faye, Faye Canberra, who said, have been waiting for an X to pop up for a long time. But I don't live in New South Wales, but I have a suggestion for those good people at East Richmond. Why not rename their event to XRH, RAAF Base Richmond? XRH, which would be X-Ray Romeo... Oh, what does H stand for? What's the H? Hotel. Yes. I should know this. X-Ray Romeo Hotel is the official IATA call sign for the RAAF base Richmond. They would sure get a heap of visitors and bring plenty of dollars into the Richmond coffee shops. Airbnbs, motels, et cetera. Probably some rule against it, but it's legit. So thank you, Faye. It is a really good idea. However, because the parkrun doesn't actually occur at the RAAF base, that would rule it out, unfortunately.

00:33:30Oliver Spake: Oh, no. Now you've set the idea that the RAAF base itself could set up its own parkrun. Absolutely could. Well, we'll be watching on. Yeah.

00:33:41Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah, make the only X in the world somewhere where it's close to the average person. I don't think that would go down too well.

00:33:49Oliver Spake: No, but look, we need our thinking caps on, and thank you, Faye. We'll find it one day. Our next mail comes from Peter Pohlman, and he wrote, Hi, folks. Following on from the Informants Challenge, I've added two new clubs for Oz. The first is the Golf Club. A golfer. Complete four events with four letters in their name. And we have five options in Australia. Mel, I believe you're on your way with that club.

00:34:16Melissa Ellis: Yes, I've got two. I've got Bega and Sale. Two of the four.

00:34:20Oliver Spake: Excellent. And look, Peter went on to share with us the famous Five Club. Choose your name, complete five events with five letters in their name, and we have 23 options of those in Australia. You could be a Julian, Dick, Georgina, Anthony or Timothy.

00:34:36Melissa Ellis: Anne, not Anthony.

00:34:38Oliver Spake: Anne. Oh. It has been a while since I've read them.

00:34:41Melissa Ellis: Do you not know your famous five?

00:34:43Oliver Spake: I don't know them that well. My brother had the books.

00:34:46Melissa Ellis: Didn't you even? I sung that when Peter wrote it down in my head. I'm Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Timmy the dog.

00:34:57Oliver Spake: Oh, no. Sorry, Mel. And sorry, Peter. I've stuffed it up. And if we ever get some threes, we could have the three musketeers. But with only one three event in the world, it may not be too soon.

00:35:14Melissa Ellis: No, that's sad. But I've got seven of the famous five events. I have Euroa, Jells, Kirra, Lalor, Moana, Nhill and Wagga.

00:35:26Oliver Spake: Well done.

00:35:27Melissa Ellis: How many have you got?

00:35:28Oliver Spake: I have Kame.

00:35:29Melissa Ellis: Yay!

00:35:30Oliver Spake: A very respectable Kame. Yay!

00:35:34Melissa Ellis: You get the participation award, Ollie. Thank you.

00:35:38Oliver Spake: Thank you. I've got a few of those on the shelf. But thank you, Peter. We're going to have to come up with a few more of those, please. There's got to be one where I'm beating Mel.

00:35:49Melissa Ellis: These are fun clubs, though. I like them, especially when I'm already in them before I know about them. But I need to work on my golf club. I need two more. It shouldn't be too hard.

00:36:04Oliver Spake: And bigger was an option. Yes. Anyway. Yes.

00:36:09Melissa Ellis: Moving swiftly on, we had also correspondence this week from Bec Bailey who said, Hey guys, just thought I'd better reply after last week's podcast. Yes, work has granted my leave so I can come to palm22. Excited as this will be my first Palm. I'm not revealing what my milestones are publicly because Murphy's Law, something will happen and my planned milestones won't. But I hate to disappoint you, Mel. The milestone is not a wedding for a number of reasons. Number one, this adventurer is flying down solo. Number two, I am very much single. Number three, mum and dad said it can't happen unless they are there and we will celebrate with Bailey shots all around. Their words, not mine. I'm allowed to meet someone at this palm and maybe we'll talk about palm23. Anyway, thanks for the laugh and I hope to finally meet a lot of you down at palm22. Ah, so, uh...

00:37:17Oliver Spake: Maybe that wedding on the Sunday just might be a bit challenging. Mel?

00:37:22Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I know. It's not looking good, is it? I may have also received anonymous Facebook messages warning me not to identify anybody else as a possible candidate.

00:37:39Oliver Spake: Well, thank you, Bec, on that note for your response. And we hope you're still a listener.

00:37:45Melissa Ellis: I stirred up the hornet's nest a bit.

00:37:47Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:37:49Oliver Spake: We'll give it some time and who knows, yeah, as Bec says, maybe in the future there'll be more palms and opportunities out there where we can throw that theme around.

00:37:59Melissa Ellis: I do know of a few couples who have considered the renewing option, the renewing the vows.

00:38:07Oliver Spake: Okay, so you've actually had some traction.

00:38:09Melissa Ellis: Well, look, I wouldn't rule it out completely just yet. Even if it's a mock one, you know, there may be a curmudgeon or two out there in the ranks. Did I say that right? But perhaps there might be some willing participants. You never know.

00:38:28Oliver Spake: It's all a bit of fun. Well, that's right. That's right. We'll see. Maybe Hobart is the romance capital of the world and we'll have that event after all. Or maybe we'll just have a great Palm 2022.

00:38:41Melissa Ellis: Might have to do it myself, Ollie. Yeah.

00:38:43Oliver Spake: Well, yes, Paul's coming, isn't he?

00:38:45Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:38:46Oliver Spake: Yeah. Yeah. There we are, Mel.

00:38:48Melissa Ellis: What he doesn't know won't hurt him. He doesn't listen.

00:38:53Oliver Spake: As you would say, moving swiftly on. We've also received mail from Eman, who has said, Hi, guys. Happy New Year. Great to catch up with Ollie on New Year's Day. I ended up having waffles at the Waterfront Tavern post Shellharbour parkrun, which was nice. Thanks for the recommendation. I wanted to give a shout out to South Toowoomba co-ED Margie Bryant, who celebrated her 250th volunteer milestone on Saturday. She has been amazing to our local parkrun community and instrumental in coordinating our weekly volleys. We welcome voluntarists and would appreciate your help, especially when I'm on RD duties. Congrats, Margie. Eman.

00:39:33Melissa Ellis: Oh, wow. Congratulations, Margie. That is amazing.

00:39:37Oliver Spake: It's huge. Yes.

00:39:39Melissa Ellis: That deserves a round of applause. Thank you.

00:39:45Oliver Spake: And I certainly look forward to that and hopefully I can do some volunteerism when I finally do make it up there one day. But thank you, everyone, for your mail.

Dazza's

00:39:54Melissa Ellis: Yes, the inbox was overflowing, as was Dazza's this week, Ollie.

00:40:00Oliver Spake: It was. It was. And I think there was a bit of traction. I think we found a common direction shared by many parkrunners because the theme at Dazza's this week, we continued the directional theme with Dazza's saying, welcome to Dazza's geography lesson. Today, we are learning our compass points. Shellharbour is north of Toolern Creek. Toorland Creek is north of Bellerive. New Zealand is east of Victoria. And if Mel is travelling to South Australia, she is going

00:40:30Melissa Ellis: west which direction did you travel at this parkrun day and first up we heard from Bruce Purdy have travelled to lake Boga which is east of South Australia south of Shellharbour west of New Zealand and a bloody long drive northwest from Wallaby Track And Chris Fraser. Oh, no, I went south to Shellharbour for a stint of finish tokens. Freedoed the new course beforehand. Thumbs up from me. The views north-south-east from the southern turnaround are excellent. View west is a big hill, not as excellent.

00:41:10[laughter]

00:41:10Unidentified speaker: LAUGHTER

00:41:11Melissa Ellis: And Michael Gentle, I travelled south from my home to the centre of the parkrun universe, Shellharbour. With Dazza's help, we know this is north from Toolern Creek. It's also west of Whangarei, south of Bill Rose Sports Complex and east of Gawler. I think there's a – how did I get all these Shellharbour mentions? This is a conspiracy, Ollie. Yeah. Hi, Dazza. I went north four kilometres to do a nottie before heading south eight kilometres to turn up at Shellharbour. What? I had a coffee and muffin at the kiosk for breakfast before timekeeping for 153 fellow parkrunners. Afterwards, I had a second coffee from the kiosk with the friendly locals. To top off the morning, I picked up a couple of sausage rolls from a local bakery and had that for lunch with the missus. What a great half day.

00:42:12Oliver Spake: Oh, well, thank you, Melvin.

00:42:15Melissa Ellis: Thank you to our... You rigged that.

00:42:20Oliver Spake: Moving swiftly on.

00:42:21Melissa Ellis: Chantal Hosking.

00:42:22Oliver Spake: Heading to Frankston. Southeast from Aurora, Mernda, Lalor, Coburg and northwest from the sunny parkrun. Val Warwick. We're both travelling eight blocks north to Bass Strait, then east a block and a half to Bivollies and make a racket as we serve our home parkrun. I will lob up, all over the place as the photographer and Steve will run the baseline as Tail Walker. Hopefully there will be no foot faults as everyone runs or walks east along the straight and turns south along the river and then changes ends to go north and west before repeating until the two sets are completed. By the way, we will be south of all the mainland, but north or east or west of all Tassie parkruns, except for White Mark Wharf, which is east northeast of us. Hopefully there's enough tennis and directional references to cover the Aussie Open and Mel's geography lesson here. And yes, Ollie, it was an amazing day to be at the fifth Ashes Test last week. Who would have believed that 17 wickets would fall in a day of Test match cricket? And Val did share the photo of two Warwick's there in two vests and two tutus and two parkrun hats for that matter. And Stephen did add, I'm lost as I can't follow map directions very well being geographically challenged. I just played follow the leader as Tail Walker at my home parkrun of Devonport, which the last time I looked was somewhere north of south, east of west, south of north and west of east. I love this segment. Yeah. Sonja and I are going east-southeast and could conceivably end up in Queenstown if a good swimmer. I think we'll just stop at the Beaches parkrun instead. And the image shared did actually vouch that Queenstown was well and truly in the same direction with a bit of a water crossing required.

00:44:16Melissa Ellis: And Richard, not travelling very far today, heading to San Remo north of Shellharbour. Hey, there's another reference. And west of New Zealand for parkrun number 99, and Brett Bailey first of our Bailey shot west to rangiora sorry team did a fundraiser for the surf club marshalling the car parking for our annual big hot Rod show managed over 40 000 steps though our fourth Bailey shot son Nathan managed to raise the flag at Pegasus in our absence running the exact same time that I ran last week Oh, nice work. Tanya Bailey travelled west today to volunteer at the Muscle Car Madness Car Show. No parkrun for me, but a nice walk to the beach with Brunner. And Bec Bailey headed northwest of home parkrun Shellharbour, north of last week's course, Picton, and exactly south of where Sam Schroder was today at Werrington Lake. To tail walk at Cowpasture Reserve parkrun, I took my borrowed bark runner, collected my NENDY, And sailed my second sea. And there was a photo of Bec holding her bark runner.

00:45:32Oliver Spake: And Bernadette Bennett on the road heading north to Fingal Bay for wootenteering, which is the Wooters Runners Volunteer. This would be east of Broken Hill. Joe Richards have jumped on a plane and headed south-southeast of Envy to visit my queen, Jane Luke. Well, I drove up the southeastern freeway to Mount Barker, so I assume I travelled southeast. Grette Wilkinson, we travelled the opposite way on the Southeastern Freeway to come to Anstey Recreation parkrun. So I guess we travelled northwest. And Mandy Oliver travelled south to my home parkrun at Surfers Paradise, which is north for those in the southern states, wearing my tutu for 22122. And Mandy did share the photo in the Surfers Paradise parkrun cutout, complete with tutu.

00:46:25Melissa Ellis: And Simon Mackley. After stepping down as co-ED of Sydney's most beautiful parkrun Mosman, not Dolls Point, I ventured a long way north to Fodder Forest and celebrated 10 years since I'd tried my first parkrun at St Peter's. And happy 10th anniversary to you, Simon.

00:46:44Oliver Spake: Yes, happy birthday.

00:46:46Melissa Ellis: Greg Garner. Headed southwest from home parkrun of Victory Heights Trail parkrun to Highfields parkrun for today's adventure with my daughter. Alison King. I travelled west to the University of Waikato parkrun for a number 42. While 42 is said to be the meaning of life, I think it's a parkrun. Enjoyed a tutu run, then coffee and chat with friends made through parkrun. Sam Schroder. Dazza. We headed due north from our South West Sydney home to visit Werrington Lakes Reserve parkrun where I was volunteering as Tail Walker today. We met a dear friend there who travelled east from her home to try parkrun for the very first time. Then we had breakfast at Mr Watkins in Penrith. And their bread pies are the most outrageously delicious things you'll ever eat. Think old school Jaffa, but make it in a pie maker. So yummy. Mine was mac and cheese with bacon. Luke's was Philly cheese steak. And Tamara's was jerk chicken.

00:47:50Unidentified speaker: Mm-hmm.

00:47:51Melissa Ellis: In other words, our diets all went south and we have no regrets. And Sam shared a photo of herself, Luke and Tamara, plus one of the Jaffas.

00:48:03Oliver Spake: And Tony O'Connell, north for a tutu extravaganza at Nathalia Showgrounds. South will be palm. Lyndell Murray, I ran south to volley at New Farm parkrun. I was planning to work on my P index there, but saw they were still on the lookout for some Marshals. Volunteering is always fun at parkrun. And good work, Lyndell, sharing a photo in the volley vest. Tracey Wood. My little white wagon headed north this morning to Nathan Road Sports Ground parkrun, where I was both Tail Walker and guide. And Tracey shared the photo of her and the whole tail walking group. And Jack Corkill. Claire and I did lots of ups and downs today at Bunyaville parkrun. Very hilly and a bit of rain during the run. Disappointed that I'll miss out on Palm. But if anyone is up in Brisbane, Claire could use a tourist buddy.

00:48:55Melissa Ellis: And Pippa White. I went south to Horspath parkrun near Oxford. It was very much more exciting than needed as I was in a loaner car and couldn't manage to open the filler cap to refuel before parkrun. 50 miles of heart-stopping anxiety. Lots of chasing with friends, which is why I'm late. Hot chocolate and whatever cake's left, please, Dazza, before I figure out how to de-mud my shoes. And perhaps Pippa needs to figure out how to refuel the car. Shirley Dell. Greg and I went out west over the bridge to Phillip Island parkrun and Shirley shared a selfie of herself and Greg. Nadine Crawford, I had a southbound adventure this week travelling to Wynyard Foreshore parkrun in sunny Tasmania. There's two words you don't hear in the same sentence very often. A beautiful course that travels east then west along the foreshore, taking in a beach section on its double lap course. This is a beauty in Tasmania with the friendliest locals. Special thanks to Graham and Vanessa Fairbrother, who over breakfast loaned us a car for the weekend, allowing us to travel west along the coast and east to Latrobe, enjoying more of Tassie's beauty. God love the parkrun family. And I do believe Nadine had a little bit more of an adventure on her trip home with her plane after taking off, having to turn around with smoke in the cockpit.

00:50:31Oliver Spake: In the cockpit?

00:50:32Melissa Ellis: Uh-huh.

00:50:33Oliver Spake: That's certainly one of many locations you don't want smoke. I trust they're all okay.

00:50:39Melissa Ellis: Well, I believe she's safe.

00:50:41Oliver Spake: I know she was returned to Wynyard, and I do believe she's home now.

00:50:47Melissa Ellis: Anyway, Ingrid Botha, which direction is it when you go straight up? I did my 100-milestone run at beautiful Dolls Point. If I knew that proper running attire includes a tutu and a party hat, I would have started years ago. And what a magical photo of Ingrid in a colourful tutu and a fantastic jump shot, Ollie.

00:51:12Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. Happy 100. And that's an impressive jump. I know that we're loving this segment for us directionally challenged individuals, and I'm putting my hand up here too, but strap yourself in, Mel. We've got a few more. I promise, everyone, we're getting through them. So... Heather Morgan went south. Jodie Mazie, we are heading east. And Jodie did share a special note in her photo indicating a Wilson number 10 at Dorset Recreation Reserve. Matthew Billington, south. Jane Hassel, 443 kilometres southeast today to Mount Gambier. Aaron Hardy flew south to visit Kate. Kate Reid. Helen Davis, due north from Ringwood East to Cobram. Jenny Reidman, northwest to Yowie. And Melissa Ellis. I think I'm northwest.

00:52:07Melissa Ellis: You can never be too sure when you're geographically challenged.

00:52:11Oliver Spake: No.

00:52:12Melissa Ellis: And we heard from Janet Reid. Yes. Well, Dazza, we took a 500-kilometre drive west from Adelaide to get our Y and tick off another South Australian parkrun. It has rained non-stop since 5pm yesterday. Yeldulknie parkrun has been cancelled due to flooding. We've been advised that sandbags are even available. Roads are flooded, so for now we are stuck in Cleve. We wanted an adventure and we are sure having one. We'll check in again later with an update, but a skinny flat white would be most welcome, thanks, Dazza. And Janet checked back in to say... Hi Dazza, we are back home safely after flooding, detours, roads that had disappeared, debris, thunder, lightning, a ferry ride and yet more heavy rain. Are we disappointed that we didn't get our why and a parkrun? Of course we are. But the rain was needed. The very happy smiles on the faces of the locals and the laughter of the children canoeing in a very large puddle beside the road, more than made up for our lack of a parkrun. We have hearts that are full and memories to last a lifetime. It's over and out from the hashtag Lockeal Ladies Go West until our next adventure. And we had a lovely photo of the Lockeal crew home again.

00:53:38Oliver Spake: Yes, that was well and truly an adventure. I'm glad to hear they all got home safe. And we did also hear from Lynette Ann. Morning, Dazza and co. Refreshing apple juice will do me thanks. Had a top morning at Willow parkrun in Wodonga and met the lovely, energetic E.D. Maria Thames. Fantastic, friendly crew at Willow. I enjoyed the fragrance of lemon eucalyptus after the recent rains and flooding on the track. Perfectly warm today and many happy faces, so there must have been several PBs. And last but certainly not least, Phil Olson. Not sure it's so early. I feel half asleep. But there were lots of tutus at Bicester parkrun. That's... Sorry. Yes, thanks, Phil. Bicester, not Bicester. I know you love pronouncing English place names. So excuse the narrative through there. And thank you very much for the correction there, Phil. So, Mel... How's your compass?

00:54:40Melissa Ellis: Oh, you know, if you could picture a compass just spinning crazily around and around and around and around, that's how I feel. I'm lost.

00:54:52Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. Absolutely lost.

the Obi Award — Ingrid Botha

00:54:54Melissa Ellis: But we need to award an Obi winner this week, Ollie. So have you got the envelope?

00:55:03Oliver Spake: I do have the envelope. I do. And our winner this week, Mel, is Ingrid. Somewhat fittingly being on the 22-22 day wearing the tutu and with a very impressive jump shot. But, hey, thank you, everyone. There were some epic journeys, travels and directional references in there and lots more to boot.

00:55:41Melissa Ellis: There were, Ollie. Thank you for everybody for getting on board.

the Informant

00:55:45Melissa Ellis: And speaking of getting on board, it's time to hear from our informants.

00:56:00The Informant: This is the informant. These are unofficial stats. They are only current at the time they are collected and may differ from the stats you read elsewhere. The following stats relate to parkrun day 22nd of January 2022. There were 437 runs held down under, which is up four on last week. 403 of these were in Australia and 34 in New Zealand. This was out of 1,733 worldwide. Aussie New Zealand attendance was 40,666 out of a post-COVID record 224,000 worldwide. There were four launches. Lewis Park Reserve in Victoria, along with another two in South Africa,

00:56:33[13 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:56:46The Informant: and one in the United Kingdom. Down under we had 4,087 PBs, while 1,990 people participated for the first time. 92 juniors reached their Junior 10 milestone, 172 people reached their 50 milestone, 106 reached their 100 milestone, and 27 people reached their 250 milestone. 17 people called bingo. Norman White was quickest with 193 runs, while Will Barlow was slowest on 325. There were four new statespeople. Cathy Ray and Roger Pilkington completed the ACT, while in South Australia, Chris Reimer and Anne Fry completed the set at Patawalonga River. In the top 20 most Aussie New Zealand events list, Errol Poole ran his 182nd different event to claim outright 5th spot in front of Michael Schultz. 136 people lifted their Wilson Index this week. The biggest mover of the week was Linda Doty, who moved up 28 to 36. This big spike moves her up to 5th place in the New Zealand rankings. And that's a wrap. If you want to see the full breakdown of the weekly stats, you can download them from the blog at theinformant.me.

the Intern

00:58:08The Informant: That's www... What are you... I'm recording in here.

00:58:12the Intern: Yeah, and now I'm recording in here.

00:58:16The Informant: Well, get out.

00:58:17the Intern: Nah, mate. Give me stats back.

00:58:19The Informant: Says who?

00:58:20the Intern: Ollie?

00:58:21The Informant: Ollie?

00:58:22the Intern: Well, I asked Ollie and typical male he wouldn't commit to an answer. Said he'd think about it. So I went and got a coffee and then I asked him again. And then he got all cranky and said he was still thinking about it. So I asked Mel and she said 100% go for it. So move over Harry Highpants.

00:58:39The Informant: Fine. Will you lock up? I'm going home.

00:58:42the Intern: This is The Informant, coming to you live from Level 2 with a view. And this week's view is an old man storming out of the office wearing his pants up around his chin. There he is, getting into his vintage Nissan Pulsar to go home. See you later, you old...

00:59:00Unidentified speaker: He stormed it!

00:59:02[laughter]

00:59:02the Intern: Oh my God, so funny. Anyway, on with the show, eh? There were five junior parkruns held across Australia, in which 212 junior parkies took part. There were 28 PBs and 32 first-timers. Seven junior parkies celebrated milestones. Five parkies were stars and claimed their half-marathon wristband for 11 runs. Alexander Blake, Dylan Reid, Elsie Moyler, Isla Reid and Ruby Hanley. Eva Jenkins was a whole galaxy and collected a marathon wristband for 21 runs. And Amy Simons was a universe and collected the ultra wristband for 50 runs. Congratulations to everyone who ran this week, whether you celebrated or you're a first-timer or you're a volunteer. You're all legends, and I hope to see you soon. And this is The Informant signing off from Stat Central. Laters!

01:00:00Oliver Spake: And thank you to our informant or informants. Mel, it was nice to hear from the intern.

01:00:06Melissa Ellis: It was. I've missed her. She's so cheeky.

01:00:10Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. They make a good team.

01:00:13Melissa Ellis: Yeah, they're kind of like that odd couple. Yes, yes. Aren't they like that?

01:00:23Oliver Spake: I think so.

01:00:24Melissa Ellis: Oscar and Felix.

01:00:25Oliver Spake: Yes. Well, I was trying to think of a, no, I'm not even going to go down that path.

01:00:30Melissa Ellis: A contemporary comparison because mine's like going back to the 1970s.

01:00:35Oliver Spake: I can't even remember the reference I'm trying to think of. So, you know, I won't take us down that. I'm showing my age. Okay.

01:00:44Melissa Ellis: We'll stick with mine and only half the audience will understand. Yes.

01:00:51Oliver Spake: And moving swiftly on.

Consolidated Club Report

01:00:52Oliver Spake: Now that we're a little less tongue-tied from Dazza's, where are we up to with the Adventurous Club now?

01:01:00Melissa Ellis: We're going really well, Ollie. The Adventurous Club's up to 97 this week. That's an extra seven on last week, with only three left to get to that magical 100 shirt.

01:01:12Oliver Spake: That's very close.

01:01:13Melissa Ellis: Yep. I predict I'm looking in my crystal ball. I'm predicting we'll be there next week.

01:01:19Oliver Spake: I think we could surge past.

01:01:20Melissa Ellis: So we had 79 members on the Consolidated Club Report, five of those being from the UK in Southampton, Haigh Woodland, Sittingbourne. Not Blister, Bister and Horspath. Three in New Zealand, University of Waikato, Owairaka and Trentham Memorial. Two in South Africa, being Homestead Lake and Lichtenburg Raceway. And one in America, Joe Creason. And, Ollie, 19 Notties were also recorded. Yes.

01:02:02Oliver Spake: Yeah. That's a great effort from the whole club. Good work, everyone. Absolutely.

01:02:07Melissa Ellis: But I think we can make an announcement. Ollie, we alluded to it last week, I believe, in the pod about needing to come to a decision on the theme for the dress-up at Palm.

01:02:23Oliver Spake: And there have been some great contributions, a bit of discussion, not heated, which is good. It's always nice when the ideas are thrown out there. And I think there are a lot of good ideas out there, Mel.

01:02:35Melissa Ellis: Yeah, there were. And we've tried to come up with something that means that everybody can interpret their own ideas into this theme.

01:02:49Oliver Spake: That's right. The inclusive solution.

01:02:51Melissa Ellis: Yes, open to everything, open to everybody. So would you like to announce what it is, Ollie?

01:02:58Oliver Spake: Oh, absolutely.

01:03:00Melissa Ellis: P. It's pretty simple, isn't it? That's right.

01:03:05Oliver Spake: That's right. And I do believe it was one of the suggestions. Yeah, credit should be given. But it does actually appear to relate to several of the other suggestions. And probably at a stretch, I'm pretty sure Tutu has a silent P following some of those suggestions as well.

01:03:24Melissa Ellis: Ollie, if you want to wear a tutu, you just come as the party.

01:03:28Oliver Spake: Yes, you do. Or a parkrunner, given I think more parkrunners run in tutus than not these days.

01:03:34Melissa Ellis: That's right. Or you could come in your pyjamas.

01:03:38Oliver Spake: That's correct. You could come dressed as your parents.

01:03:42Melissa Ellis: Or you could be a prisoner.

01:03:45Oliver Spake: Yes, yes.

01:03:47Melissa Ellis: A.K.A. convict. Or for some of our favourites, you could just be a poleman. We could dress as the Pohlmans, Ollie.

01:03:55Oliver Spake: We could. Oh, that's brilliant. Yeah.

01:03:58Melissa Ellis: Oh, shh, don't tell them.

01:04:05Oliver Spake: And in danger of being too close to last year's theme, parkrun does start with P. But let's ignore that. That's details. Lots of options. Look, I went to a P party once. I went dressed as Pavarotti and I do wish I still had that outfit.

01:04:19Melissa Ellis: Really?

01:04:20Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:04:24Melissa Ellis: I'm going to have to put my thinking cap on, although now I'm really keen to be Sonja Pohlman. Yeah. I don't know that I could pull it off.

01:04:34Oliver Spake: Yes, yes.

01:04:35Melissa Ellis: Sonja's a bit unique and I'm not quite her shape. I wish I was.

01:04:40Oliver Spake: Well, I'm just thinking of what else you could be, Mel. I mean, it doesn't quite, no, cricket, Ricky Ponting. Here we are, Tasmania link and everything. So, yep, yep.

01:04:50Melissa Ellis: Lots to think about, Ollie.

01:04:51Oliver Spake: Thinking caps on for sure. I do not have a costume ready to go, so I will need to invest some thought in that. And I trust you've got some great ideas at the local costume shop, Mel.

01:05:03Melissa Ellis: I'm working on that now, yes. The mind is... turning its attention to that.

01:05:09Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:05:09Melissa Ellis: We've still got a few weeks. We do. And we should say, Ollie, we're also planning contingencies in just in case we get hit or we get taken out at the last minute. We're considering our subs.

01:05:26Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:05:27Melissa Ellis: Should we not be able to make it to Palm? So, yeah, who's going to be? So, Abby's mum?

01:05:34Oliver Spake: Yep.

01:05:35Melissa Ellis: You're my first emergency if I can't get there because Rona takes me out. And who's yours, Ollie?

01:05:41Oliver Spake: Well, I think TOC always does a smashing job, so I can sit in the audience anyway.

01:05:48Melissa Ellis: They're our emergency, our first emergencies. Surprise.

01:05:53Oliver Spake: Yeah.

01:05:55Melissa Ellis: Oh, well.

01:05:56Oliver Spake: Oh, look, it is getting close. Hopefully, hopefully we all get to make it. Hopefully if anyone's still, you know, considering whether they can come and join, the opportunity still exists and you get the opportunity to jump on board. It will be a great time and it always is a lot of fun.

01:06:14Melissa Ellis: Yeah, it is. And even if a wedding doesn't occur, you know, I think we've come up with an idea. We probably shouldn't give it away just yet.

01:06:27Oliver Spake: No, no, no, that's right.

01:06:29Melissa Ellis: We might workshop it a little bit with the inner sanctum of parkrun adventurers support crew and see if we can get it happening. But I reckon we're on a winner with our little idea.

01:06:44Oliver Spake: Yes, I'll look at it. It'll be fun no matter what. We will have good fun and there'll be coffee, there'll be parkrunners, adventure-styled parkrunners for that matter. So I'm sure that we're going to have a great time. But yeah, I think it could be a good one.

01:07:00Melissa Ellis: Absolutely, it will.

Sign-off

01:07:02Oliver Spake: I suppose, yeah, as we get closer, we'll have to give a bit more of a preview, I'm expecting. We haven't discussed this, but I'm sure we can give everyone just a bit more info on what they're looking forward to. But in the meantime, I trust you've got some exciting plans for next week.

01:07:20Melissa Ellis: I forgot we were going to discuss that.

01:07:22Oliver Spake: That's all right. It's a surprise.

01:07:25Melissa Ellis: Uh, yeah, I'm staying close to home next week, Ollie. After the excitement of my big trip to South Australia, I thought a weekend near to home was in order. So yeah, and I'm not travelling far at all. I am going to do a little bit of local volunteering.

01:07:45Oliver Spake: Oh, good work.

01:07:45Melissa Ellis: What about you?

01:07:47Oliver Spake: Oh, let's just say there were a few clues in Dazza's as to my plans for next parkrun day.

01:07:52Melissa Ellis: What was with giving me all the Shellharbour references in Dazza's? That was really sneaky.

01:07:56Oliver Spake: Look, it must have been the intern.

01:08:01Melissa Ellis: Right.

01:08:02Oliver Spake: Yeah.

01:08:02Melissa Ellis: There's a bit of a theme going on here, blaming the intern for stuff.

01:08:06Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. But once again, moving swiftly along, Mel, I suppose that's it.

01:08:13Melissa Ellis: Yep.

01:08:14Oliver Spake: And, well, look, everyone, as always, you can contact us via Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. But that's it for another week, and we'll see you all next week for more adventures.

01:08:23[music]

01:09:34Unidentified speaker: Hi Mel and Ollie, this week our family had to isolate so we didn't get to go to juniors. But mum set up parkrun in our backyard. We had chairs as Marshals and me and my sister kept stopping to sit on the Marshals and we watched mum do the laps. Bye adventurers, stay safe!