Episode 271 - Arise

00:00:00[music]

Welcome

00:00:23Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 271 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. My name is Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country.

00:00:34Oliver Spake: And I am Olly Spake and I'm coming from Dharawal Country.

00:00:38Melissa Ellis: Hello, Olly. Welcome. How are you?

00:00:42Oliver Spake: Pretty good, thanks, Mel. I must admit, I'm absolutely sweltering. I don't know what's happened to the air conditioning in the podcasting studios at the moment, but the fan is not cutting it and I'm sweating up a storm.

00:00:55Melissa Ellis: It's pretty warm down here in Melbourne as well as we speak. I've got everything closed up for recording purposes again this week in my office and it's stifling, but... Worth noting, it was also warm yesterday, Ollie, and both of us, both of us, unbeknownst to each other, attended music festivals. Yeah, how about that?

00:01:17Oliver Spake: Forget parkrun. It was all about the arts, hey?

00:01:20Melissa Ellis: It was. How nice was it to go and sit outdoors and see live music again?

00:01:26Oliver Spake: It felt bizarre, wonderfully bizarre. I think it's, what is it, surreal but nice is the term.

00:01:32Melissa Ellis: I was really surprised because I only noticed I think this morning on social media I saw a post pop up with you saying or showing that you were at your music festival and you've got your photo there with the screen, with the stage, and I was like I couldn't believe it because I didn't tell you I was going to one, you didn't tell me you were going to one, and we did it on the same day. That was weird.

00:02:00Oliver Spake: That's right. Our communication is so good, we don't even communicate.

00:02:05Melissa Ellis: Who were you there with?

00:02:07Oliver Spake: So this was a very much belated Christmas present. I'm not sure which year it was from. Naturally, the festival was something that was to occur some time ago but was postponed due to COVID. Fortunately for us, it actually went ahead and I was able to attend with mum because it was a Christmas present for mum and was accompanied by Hannah and Kathy, as well as my auntie, Hannah's partner, and a friend of Hannah's too. So we didn't all sit together, but yeah, still had a nice time, caught up throughout and thoroughly enjoyed it despite having no shade whatsoever.

00:02:47Melissa Ellis: Well, neither did we. I am a little bit tinged red. I wouldn't say I'm burnt because I've got no pain, but I am a little bit tinged red in a few places where I did apply 50 plus on more than one occasion during the day, but I probably spent seven hours sitting in the sun. So I guess that's not unusual, but it was my first time in a music festival and that's a tick on my bucket list.

00:03:13Oliver Spake: First music festival. Yeah. What a tick.

00:03:16Melissa Ellis: Yeah. I didn't know what to expect. I was clueless. I'm like checking and I'm trying to read all the emails and I'm like, do I bring my own chair? What do I do? Am I allowed to bring food? I don't know. I don't know what to do.

00:03:27Oliver Spake: So what were your observations, Mel? How was the experience?

00:03:31Melissa Ellis: Really less stressful than what I expected.

00:03:34Unidentified speaker: Really casual.

00:03:35Melissa Ellis: Everybody just rocks up with their eskies and their picnic blankets and their deck chairs and their cowboy hats and everybody just chills and dances and... Yeah, and just not as structured and strict as I expected it would be. So I went with my sister. I bought her a ticket. I bought us both a ticket for her 40th birthday. But I did get the impression that the people in the big groups, they were having way more fun. Yeah.

00:04:06Oliver Spake: Well, yeah, a new thing to add to your bucket list is music festival with more people next time.

00:04:12Melissa Ellis: Exactly. Yeah, that's the plan.

00:04:14Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah.

00:04:15Melissa Ellis: I could even tourist. I could do a parkrun adventure attached to a music festival.

00:04:19Oliver Spake: Oh, Mel, you've hit a sensitive nerve there.

00:04:23Melissa Ellis: Why?

00:04:24Oliver Spake: So Cathy and I have been deliberating around parkrun tourism and because we've got all these wonderful opportunities, we're so fortunate to be able to travel and to make plans with, I guess, should I say, less uncertainty than before. This will all come back and smack me in the face in a couple of weeks, I'm sure. But... Yeah, I think we're feeling that we're almost overdoing it. And so we were eyeing off a particular music festival and a particular, let's call it, territory I haven't been to in a couple of months that really would have ticked a lot of boxes for us. But yeah, just it's a bit too much. You know, we probably can't take the kids and... With all of these other great experiences planned, we may not get to do that one.

00:05:11Melissa Ellis: It sounds fun, Ollie. I want to know where it is because I want to come too.

00:05:18Oliver Spake: There's always time to live out a big list, hopefully. And so I really do endorse big tick on that idea of anything you can associate with a bit of tourism and a bit of, you know, supporting the economy, supporting the arts who have suffered so much lately as well. So many people, so many jobs.

00:05:37Melissa Ellis: Yeah, that's the point, isn't it?

00:05:39Oliver Spake: And throw in a bit of parkrun tourism. Everybody wins.

00:05:42Melissa Ellis: I noticed that the acts that we had in Melbourne or at Werribee, at Werribee Park, they were just so excited to be performing. These bands, some of them were saying they hadn't performed live in two years. They were so excited to be there.

00:05:57Oliver Spake: Yeah, likewise, likewise. I should ask, so for the listeners, who did you listen to, Mel? Who did you see?

00:06:04Melissa Ellis: Okay, so we saw in Melbourne, we saw Chocolate Starfish, yeah, Vika and Linda Bull, The Black Sorrows, Jon Stevens, The Living End, and Jimmy Barnes was the headline.

00:06:20Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:06:21Melissa Ellis: And Barnsey had Diesel as the special guest performer, which was an added bonus.

00:06:28Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. And look, for our overseas listeners that may not be too familiar with our Aussie music industry, yeah, we recommend a bit of music searching and have a listen to the catalogue there. Yeah, especially some good Barnsey and Diesel, that's for sure.

00:06:45Melissa Ellis: And what about you, Ollie? Who did you hear?

00:06:47Oliver Spake: So a big highlight for us because she crosses, let's just say, if this individual went to a parkrun, she would be my favourite person in the world. She's already Hannah's favourite person in the world. So Montaigne represented Australia at Eurovision, albeit from Australia last year. So she combines my love for Eurovision, for the Hottest 100. She loves the round ball game as well. And so we finally got to see her live as part of the acts, much like your description of the artists that have been waiting for gigs. Next up was Kasey Chambers.

00:07:24Melissa Ellis: Oh, wow. You saw Kasey Chambers.

00:07:26Oliver Spake: And I haven't, seen Kasey Chambers live so renowned Aussie country singer Kasey actually this was on a Sunday Kasey had received the call on a Thursday night because the other act couldn't attend and yeah she and the band hadn't had a gig in nine months so not quite as long as as your performers Mel but they were thrilled and I think that was the you know the sentiment throughout is just how excited everyone was to be back out there some of the other acts um maybe not widely known, but Ben's a buoyant bear. There was a relatively new band called Holy Holy who were in Triple J's Hottest 100 this year and did a collaboration with a local band as well around my neck of the woods, John Butler. I know them.

00:08:14Melissa Ellis: Yes, John Butler Trio.

00:08:15Oliver Spake: Yeah, and the Teskey Brothers were the headliners for us, so a very sort of soul and sort of blues finish in the dark, which was lovely.

00:08:22Melissa Ellis: Tamworth has a music festival, Ollie.

00:08:24Oliver Spake: Yes, it does, doesn't it? Mmm. Yeah.

00:08:31Melissa Ellis: Just saying.

00:08:33Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:08:34Melissa Ellis: But how was your parkrun morning?

00:08:36Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. We're a parkrun podcast. That's right. Look, I was at Shellharbour, which meant it was fantastic. It was also warm, particularly because a few of us began the day whippersnapping the course.

00:08:49Melissa Ellis: Oh.

00:08:50Oliver Spake: So, look, it's summer in Australia. It's growing season. But unfortunately, we haven't quite had the maintenance around the area as we would have liked. So, we put a call out and a few of us managed to do a bit of whippersnippering. I actually went there and did a bit of pruning in the week as well. So, my green thumb is getting a workout. Yeah. Fantastic morning. Enjoyed it with another wonderful group of volleys. I was Run Director and it'll be the first of a few weeks at home. So it's hitting the spot.

00:09:22Melissa Ellis: How are numbers this week?

00:09:23Oliver Spake: It's starting to creep up. Yeah, we still had a nice number of first timers, a couple of visitors. So for Shellharbour, typically we would be pushing 300 easily at this time of year, 168. Yep. So... Yeah, we're still seeing the Omicron wave and naturally and understandably a number of people that are not returning to parkrun at this point, but it's starting to push up.

00:09:48Melissa Ellis: Very good. What about yours, Mel? I was at Toolern Creek this last Saturday and I was the first-timers briefer person. Yes. And I really enjoyed that role. It's not one I've done very often in the past. I've probably only actually done it at juniors once maybe or twice. But, oh, hello, Paul's just come in to top my drink up for me. Thank you, sir.

00:10:15Oliver Spake: Thank you, Paul. I guess I'll go live.

00:10:21Melissa Ellis: He's just commenting. The only first timers that we had at Toolern Creek this week were tourists. So right up my alley.

00:10:31Oliver Spake: Perfect.

00:10:33Melissa Ellis: So stood there and obviously didn't need to worry too much about the details of, you know, make sure you give the token back and You don't need to worry about your barcode until the end. You didn't need to worry about any of that stuff because everybody was all across how parkrun worked. It was just, you know, explaining the course and welcoming them to Toolern Creek and having a chit-chat about, oh, you know, where do you come from and what other events have you done? Have you been to Peppertree? You should go to Peppertree. Yeah, um and yeah and that kind of thing that was really nice and uh yeah they were quite happy with the course and um that's that's great it's nice to hear that Toolern's getting getting a bit of love from the adventuring public yes our adventurers were people that were passing through the area we had uh adventurers that hailed from as far as lilydale area and Maribyrnong I believe so the That was really nice. But you know what I had to do, Ollie? Like standing there chatting to them about their alphabet challenge and how many events they've done and I'm like standing there keeping my mouth shut like don't mention the podcast, don't mention them. I didn't want to feel like I'd come to parkrun and I was trying to self-promote. I don't know. Is that wrong? Like should I have? I didn't but I didn't. I didn't say anything. I thought, oh, no, don't go there.

00:11:58Oliver Spake: Yeah, in their own time, Mel. I'm with you. I'm not much of a self-promoter either. So we'll catch them down the track. Hopefully they can jump on and share some of their challenge achievements as they progress further along.

00:12:12Melissa Ellis: But it was strange, Ollie, because I came home and granted I had to, I got halfway home and then realised I'd left my travel coffee mug at parkrun. So I had to turn the car around, go back, try and sneak in and retrieve it without looking too conspicuous and then return home for the second time. And I was home and just like by 9 a.m. thinking, oh, what do I do for the rest of the day? I didn't know what to do with myself. parkrun was all over and done with so quickly. I'm not used to that.

00:12:48Oliver Spake: I suppose I think that's what they call relaxation, Mel.

00:12:51Melissa Ellis: Oh, I know. So I literally just sat at my computer for half of the day looking at Facebook and parkrun results and waiting for my email, refresh, refresh, refresh.

00:13:00Oliver Spake: I did have that experience to some extent recently too. But all in all, still sounds like a really positive morning, even if you missed out on the road trip. Yeah. The silo art and all those great things.

00:13:12Melissa Ellis: It was really nice. And, you know, I've often felt because I've only recently moved over to this side of town and I haven't had a lot of time because I'm a tourist to connect with the people at Toolern Creek. But probably since I've been involved with juniors at Eynesbury, I have got to know a lot more people in the community. So it was a nice surprise to be getting people going, hi, Mel. Hi, Mel. Hi, Mel. Saying hello and I felt a lot more engaged.

00:13:43Oliver Spake: Lovely. I trust that they'll see a lot more of you then, Mel.

00:13:46Melissa Ellis: I am going to be more regular locally in the next, yeah. So Brendan Peel, he's given me a challenge.

00:13:52Oliver Spake: Okay.

00:13:53Melissa Ellis: But he's a bit cheeky. He's challenged me to get to 100 parkruns at my home parkrun.

00:14:00Oliver Spake: Oh.

00:14:01Melissa Ellis: Bearing in mind, I am now sitting on 16 at Toolern Creek. Oh, okay. And Brendan's about at 68 at Albert Park.

00:14:09Oliver Spake: Yes, look, it is a difficult one to achieve if you are pursuing a number of other challenges, that's for sure.

00:14:16Melissa Ellis: So I don't know what my hopes are to make good on that challenge. However, I did previously have 70 events that I'd run at Berwick Springs. That's right. But apparently I'm not allowed to include Berwick Springs.

00:14:29Oliver Spake: Well, I mean, you could be a hybrid one. Maybe there's a club for the relocationers, the relocating passionistas. Yes. Is that what we call it?

00:14:39Melissa Ellis: I think I need to accumulate.

00:14:42Oliver Spake: Relocationistas.

00:14:43Melissa Ellis: Or add up my local area parkruns because I frequent Wyndham Vale quite a lot.

00:14:51Oliver Spake: Ah, okay. So those parkruns, the lap club, the parkruns in your lap, local area parkruns. Oh. There you are.

00:14:59Melissa Ellis: Are you listening, Brendan? We're changing the rules.

00:15:03Oliver Spake: No, no, I'm not overruling Brendan. I haven't heard that right. That challenge still stands.

00:15:09Melissa Ellis: I'll challenge him. He's been cheeky with me. But, Ollie. Yes. We've got some other things to recap from last week.

00:15:19Oliver Spake: We do.

00:15:20Melissa Ellis: So we had some feedback about our discussion last week on the golf club and the famous five club. Now this led to the idea from the informant of an index that like four by four letter events, five by five letter events, et cetera, et cetera.

00:15:38Oliver Spake: Yep. I could see where this is going. Yes. Yeah.

00:15:41Melissa Ellis: And so the intern did some quick calculations in her lunch break and discovered that there are only two people. So this is in Australia, I might add.

00:15:51Oliver Spake: Okay. Yes.

00:15:52Melissa Ellis: The informant does tend to just look at Australian stats. I apologise to the rest of the world. All the rest of the world that listen to us. So there's only two people who have 4x4 letter events, Sean Fitzgerald and Neil Barnett. Uh-huh. And so it goes they have 5x5 and 6x6 all the way to 13x13. Okay. Neil Barnett has 14x14. Woo! So that's not surprising, Ollie, because he tops the Australian most events list.

00:16:25Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:16:25Melissa Ellis: So if anybody's going to have him, it's going to be Neil.

00:16:28Oliver Spake: That's right. Yes, yes.

00:16:29Melissa Ellis: But so, so far, nobody has 15 by 15.

00:16:33Oliver Spake: I can see how the strategy would work here. You don't waste your time with these long-winded name events. You've got to build up.

00:16:42Melissa Ellis: No offence to those long-winded name events that are listening.

00:16:46Oliver Spake: I'm just jealous. I haven't been to any of them.

00:16:50Melissa Ellis: I'm sure there's a club for the people that went to the events with the longest names. If there isn't, we can create one.

00:16:58Oliver Spake: Yes. While we're in creation mode, yes.

00:17:02Melissa Ellis: Now, Peter Pohlman also admitted that he was actually wrong last week when he gave us advice that there was only one three-letter event name in the world.

00:17:13Oliver Spake: Okay.

00:17:14Melissa Ellis: Because there's two, apparently.

00:17:16Oliver Spake: Ah, okay. Yes.

00:17:17Melissa Ellis: But thank you to Peter for letting us know.

00:17:20Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:17:21Melissa Ellis: Would you like to tell us what they are, Ollie?

00:17:23Oliver Spake: I'd love to. Thank you. Pronunciation feedback is most welcome, but I understand they are Ayr and Ełk.

00:17:32Melissa Ellis: I believe so. And if we have any listeners in Wales that want to be our Welsh correspondent for pronunciation, please get in touch.

00:17:40Oliver Spake: That's right. Yeah. Which is interesting. You could almost have an Ayr club if it weren't for the fact that Plantation parkrun is called Plantation parkrun because they're in Ayr, Queensland, aren't they?

00:17:52Melissa Ellis: Oh, I don't know. Yeah. Are they? Yes, yeah. On the Eyre Peninsula, is that correct?

00:17:58Oliver Spake: I believe, I believe. My Queensland geography is pretty terrible. Haven't adventured too far in Queensland, but yeah, I believe that's the case.

00:18:06Melissa Ellis: Well, Ollie, we're on the same page with that because I also have not done much tourism in Queensland, nor have I visited there very much.

00:18:14Oliver Spake: Hmm.

00:18:15Melissa Ellis: Which leads me to our next topic. Okay. So you indicated previously, last week perhaps, that often in a challenge you feel second best because I've got more events or I tend to have a higher achievement than you. So I felt a bit bad about that because, you know, it's not a competition, Ollie. I'm not trying to outdo you.

00:18:41Oliver Spake: And... I'm okay being second best. I'm happy to accept my place.

00:18:46Melissa Ellis: But you know what? I had a look at our results. I put us side by side to see what I could see that you had that I didn't have. And you may be surprised. No, there are a few things.

00:18:58Oliver Spake: All right.

00:18:58Melissa Ellis: So, Ollie, you've got your single tonne.

00:19:01Oliver Spake: I do.

00:19:02Melissa Ellis: I don't have that.

00:19:03Oliver Spake: No.

00:19:04Melissa Ellis: You've done 141 events at Shellharbour.

00:19:06Oliver Spake: I have.

00:19:07Melissa Ellis: Ollie, you also have total volunteer rolls of 404.

00:19:11Oliver Spake: Did you know that? I didn't realise it was quite that high. And I think that comes to my multitasking.

00:19:16Melissa Ellis: I've got 109.

00:19:18Oliver Spake: So you're more of a focused, dedicated volunteer.

00:19:22Melissa Ellis: You also have 18 distinct volunteer roles. Whereas I have 16.

00:19:27Oliver Spake: Oh, that one's close, Mel.

00:19:31Melissa Ellis: You have a V index of nine?

00:19:33Oliver Spake: That I do. Yes. I have six. That's fairly close.

00:19:38Melissa Ellis: But there's a few things, see? See, there's a few things that you're outdoing me on. And I give you kudos for that. Thank you.

00:19:44Oliver Spake: I appreciate that.

00:19:46Melissa Ellis: Of note, also, it was interesting that we've both done two countries.

00:19:52Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:19:53Melissa Ellis: And we've both done Australia and Singapore.

00:19:55Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

00:19:57Melissa Ellis: So we are equal on that.

00:19:58Oliver Spake: Yeah, I wonder what the next one will be.

00:20:01Melissa Ellis: New Zealand, New Zealand, New Zealand, New Zealand.

00:20:05Oliver Spake: As much as we'd love to see all of you, yes.

00:20:07Melissa Ellis: Or it could be Japan if Zoe has any say in the matter.

00:20:11Oliver Spake: Okay.

00:20:12Melissa Ellis: Zoe wants to go to Japan and I've been researching what their extra special day of the year is that they're allowed to do their special parkrun.

00:20:22Oliver Spake: Ah, okay. Just to double up. And do we know what it is? Because I can't remember.

00:20:27Melissa Ellis: We do, but I've forgotten.

00:20:29Oliver Spake: Okay.

00:20:30Melissa Ellis: I think it's like Green Day or something. Oh my goodness, that could be wrong, but it's something like that.

00:20:37Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:20:37Melissa Ellis: Any Japanese listeners can email us and let us know.

00:20:41Oliver Spake: Yes. Look, thank you for that, Mel. That does make me feel, well, yeah, warm and fuzzy. Yeah. I appreciate you making me feel included. I still have ambitions on some of the others, but yeah, I also have the ambition to find a way to grow that V index. So I've got a few roles that I need to do quite a lot of work on though to get there. So you have to give me time.

00:21:04Melissa Ellis: Don't forget you got your Z too.

00:21:06Oliver Spake: I haven't got my Z. Oh, that's true. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. But I have to go back for the new course. I mean, they've changed the course.

00:21:12Melissa Ellis: Oh, I have to go back for a damsel harbour course. Yeah. I've only got the OG course. Now we've got to go back to the new one.

00:21:20Oliver Spake: Yeah, sorry about that.

parkrun news bulletin

00:21:22Melissa Ellis: Moving along.

00:21:22Oliver Spake: In other news, Mel, other news. Off the press at time of recording, there's a new sponsor for parkrun Australia.

00:21:30Melissa Ellis: Ooh.

00:21:30Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. So parkrun Australia have announced, well, they have said, I should say, we're pleased to announce a new supporter will be joining the parkrun Australia family from February 1. Blue Frog. Blue Frog, offer a range of cereals made from the best sustainably sourced ingredients from Australia, New Zealand and around the globe. And they go on to say, we feel that Blue Frog truly understand our values and will support us with a financial commitment appropriate to our growing size and scale. This announcement is incredibly positive for parkrun Australia as we strengthen our financial position, ensuring we can continue to deliver free weekly events in an ever increasing number of locations across the country. Welcome, Blue Frog.

00:22:15Melissa Ellis: Oh, I'm a bit excited about this. I'm just having a look on their website now. Their macadamia almond and manuka honey is very low sugar and grain-free. That works in with my low-carb lifestyle. I might have to support them being as their parkrun sponsors now. I wonder, oh, where do you get them?

00:22:39Oliver Spake: Well, I'm assuming we can start with the website, but surely they offer, here we are, there's a store locator. I'll do a bit of research in the meantime, but I do see the little Crafted in New Zealand logo on them and they do have gluten-free raspberry, coconut and toasted almond. I hope our checks are in the mail, Mel.

00:23:00Melissa Ellis: I wonder if they want to sponsor a podcast. We could do with some free samples for Palm. If anybody else is out there listening, that could help us out with some prizes for Palm. We wouldn't say no. I'm already on their website, Ollie, for their store locators, and it looks like the closest one to me is Port Melbourne. So, yeah. It's my side of town. That's true. Yep. Not awfully close, but yeah, maybe they do mail order. I can look into it.

00:23:29Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. But yeah, free samples are not great to see another member of the parkrun family. And Mel, speaking of parkrun family, we don't actually having any roving reports this week. So we're going to throw to another member of our parkrun family, our informant.

the Informant

00:23:54The Informant: This is The Informant, coming to you live from Level 2 with a view. And this week's view is, well, nothing but darkness. You see, the stat job ran overtime, and someone had to stay back and process the results. We put names in a hat to see who the sucker was going to be, and the sucker is me. I'm calling shenanigans. Oliver and the beige one have stitched me up big time because of last week. I have no proof, but, well, I just know it, eh? And so these stats are unofficial, blah, blah, blah. Who can tell? It's past dinner time, nobody cares. And I miss Survivor. COVID cracked on New Zealand again while Australia got rained on. There were 405 runs held down under which is down 32 on last week. 395 of these were in Australia and 10 in New Zealand. This was out of 1,640 worldwide. Aussie New Zealand attendance was however about the same, only down 140 to 40,520. 209-ish thousand ran worldwide, down 15-ish. There were two launches, Oaklands Estate Reserve in South Australia, and one unpronounceable one in Poland. Down under we had 3,941 PBs, while 1,894 people participated for the first time. 105 juniors reached the Junior 10 milestone, 177 people reached their 50 milestone, 119 reached their 100 milestone, and 22 people reached their 250 milestone. 26 people called bingo. Scott Pelling was the quickest with 142 runs, while Ian Nicol was slowest on 291 runs. There were 10 new statespeople. Beverly O'Sullivan, Jocene Irving, Joan Simon, Hayley Thompson, Michael Hines, Carla Ormich-Carer completed the ACT. Jarvis Ryan, Scott Towner, Sarah Wardlaw, Sandy Chamberlain completed the Northern Territory, and Tanita Lutz became a Victorian. On the top 20 most Aussie New Zealand events list, there is Movement Mid-Pack. David Messenger, Kathleen Wallington and Nathan Castle all move up one to be equal tenth with Ros Burrell on 159 different parkruns. Biggest movers overall were Joanna Henderson and Brent Radoslavich who both moved 13 places up the rankings to 223 after running their 82nd different parkrun. 338 people lifted their Windex. The biggest mover this week was Steve Harris who smashed it. Steve jumped from 55 all the way up to 176, up 121 places and into 2nd on the Queenslander list. In the Junior parkrun world, there were five events. 273 juniors participated and there were 40 first-timers. 59 got a PB. Annabel Dee, Andrew McCann, Charlie McCutcheon, Isabella Palmer, Natalie Ramirez scored their half-marathon wristband for 11 runs. Ada Gossink, Evan Cameron, Nathan Murby, Riley Freer all scored marathon wristbands for 21 runs. And Riley Cairns, who was leading the race to bingo, picked up a new number and is now on 51. I hope all our junior parkies have had a great first week back at school. If you study hard and go to university, you too could get a job in a grey office making coffee, working late getting all the work done for no credit, or you could do the smartest thing and join the circus. Have fun and get paid to run around, jump on trampolines, drive a funny car. Ha-ha-ha, funny clown car. Not, oh, my God, box funny pulsar. Yeah. If you want to see the stats in full, search for the informant on Facebook and there'll be a link or something if someone remembers to post it. Laters!

00:27:56Melissa Ellis: Thank you to our informants again this week.

Emails

00:27:58Melissa Ellis: Ollie, which leads us into our mail this week.

00:28:03[other]

00:28:03Unidentified speaker: You've got mail.

00:28:04Melissa Ellis: We heard from Michael Blain, who sent us a message and said, Hi guys, love listening and just finished this week's On a Drive to Tourist and Volunteer Pacer at Hervey Bay tomorrow. Anyway, I, and I imagine many others who are hard of hearing, really struggle to hear clearly the informant. Is that his natural voice or is it distorted? If the latter, perhaps you'd tone down the distortion so people aren't excluded. The content of this segment is great though. And thank you very much for your feedback, Michael. We really do appreciate that.

00:28:39Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:28:40Melissa Ellis: So we probably should explain that to protect the informant's identity, we do use a voice changer app to distort his voice, and that's intentional so that he can't be recognised as to who he really is. And we have had feedback in the past that he is a little bit difficult to understand. Well, we understand that, but we're also committed to his voice. So it's a little bit awkward to change it at this point. And we've tried to slow him down. He does try to speak slower to try to overcome that problem. But the feedback that we get, especially if you're listening in a car, it is harder to understand what he's saying. Yes. However, he does publish his stats. He publishes them on his web page and via his Facebook link.

00:29:32Oliver Spake: Yeah, sorry, Mel, I was just going to say, and that's absolutely worth checking out because they're great stats. And for anyone that hasn't jumped on to the informants Facebook page or the web page, which I believe is the informant.me website, or .me, you'll find quite a lot sitting in there. So I highly recommend to check it out. Yes. But all the same, we always appreciate the feedback and we always appreciate the mail too. So thank you, Michael. We'll keep working with our informant. And, yeah, please write in to us any time if you've got any other questions or feedback.

00:30:14Melissa Ellis: And we should say as well, the intern, I believe, is a lot easier to understand.

00:30:19Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, she does a fairly good job at speaking through the app, doesn't she?

00:30:25Melissa Ellis: She does, yes.

00:30:26Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah.

00:30:27Melissa Ellis: She's a little pro, probably because she's, what, a millennial?

00:30:31Oliver Spake: Tech savvy, yes, yeah.

00:30:33Melissa Ellis: What's the generation after millennials? Is there another one? Because she's probably that newer one.

00:30:39Oliver Spake: Yeah, I'm going to have to ask for feedback on that one because I can't remember the generation.

00:30:43Melissa Ellis: Well, this old Generation X doesn't know what the current generation is, so there you go.

00:30:49Oliver Spake: We can all watch on with envy at these tech-savvy new generationals, but it's good to have one of those on the team as well.

00:30:57Melissa Ellis: It is, yeah. It keeps us on our toes.

00:30:59Oliver Spake: That's right.

Dazza's

00:31:00Oliver Spake: Speaking of keeping us on our toes, Dazza kind of wanted to keep us on our toes as well this week, Mel. So at Dazza's this week, we did ask for a bit of feedback and Dazza went on to say, last week's geography lesson was so successful, we had record responses. And again, thank you, everyone. But unless we all want a two-hour pod, Mel and Ollie are going to have to find a way to bring you the best of the best, the highlights. So the short format will return this week and we're open to suggestions for selection criteria. But most of all, we want to hear all the goss from today's parkrun adventurers.

00:31:38Melissa Ellis: Yes, Ollie, can I just interject? Please. So, Ollie, did I not perhaps suggest last week that Dazza's may have been a little bit long?

00:31:50Oliver Spake: You did. You absolutely did. And I think in all my excitement, I did suggest that I did really want to listen to all of Dazza's. And I think at one point I did acknowledge that.

00:32:06Melissa Ellis: What did you say?

00:32:07Oliver Spake: I love this segment. Yes. Yes. You mean off the air? Yes. Yes. Yeah, I think the words were, you were absolutely right, Mel. As much as we love hearing and sharing everyone's feedback, we at least get to do that over the weekend on parkrun Day and the equivalent of parkrun Boxing Day, otherwise known as Junior parkrun Day. So sometimes the short format is worthwhile, yes.

00:32:35Melissa Ellis: So Mel was right, Ollie.

00:32:37Oliver Spake: Mel was absolutely right, yes, yes.

00:32:43Melissa Ellis: So we have come up with a new format this week. Yes. We are going to do abbreviated Dazza's. Yep. We have looked at the comments that we've received. We know we've had 32 comments and we appreciated every single one of them and we read them all. We know that many of them were from home parkruns and many of them were touristing and we had a whole kaleidoscope of adventures. So we're going to choose and read out the best of the best.

00:33:18Oliver Spake: Bit of a sampler.

00:33:19Melissa Ellis: Yeah, a show bag. That's right. So shall I go first?

00:33:25Oliver Spake: Yeah, let's take it in turns, Mel.

00:33:27Melissa Ellis: Okay, well. Oh, I see you've already put my name against this, Ollie. Thank you very much.

00:33:32Oliver Spake: You're welcome.

00:33:33Melissa Ellis: On the home parkrun stakes, we had Grette Wilkinson saying, home at Mount Barker to celebrate the arrival of the third green shirt. And we had a photo of three Wilkinsons splendid in their 250 shirts. Congratulations to the Wilkinsons.

00:33:53Oliver Spake: Yeah, excellent job there. Over on the New Zealand front, we heard from Alison King who went to Taupo parkrun. Was a lovely morning catching up with friends. Much faster than all other parkruns this year. It's either a fast course or everything fell into place.

00:34:12Melissa Ellis: Oh, no, she said fell.

00:34:13Oliver Spake: I just realised that.

00:34:15Melissa Ellis: Oh, Alison, we are really, really sorry to see about your recent accident on your trek.

00:34:23Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah.

00:34:24Melissa Ellis: And, yeah, for those who aren't aware, Alison has actually had a terrible fall recently. And broken her ankle. Quite nasty. She had to be helicoptered out from where she was. Yeah. And at time of recording, she's waiting. It's the second night that she's been in hospital and she's waiting for her operation to repair her ankle.

00:34:45Oliver Spake: And I could get the pronunciation wrong. I mean, it looks spectacular where she was. So... Yeah, really obviously feel for Alison, what would have been a great experience otherwise. I think it's Tongariro Crossing?

00:35:02Melissa Ellis: No idea.

00:35:03Oliver Spake: No? Okay. A safe and hopefully relatively pain-free recovery for you, Alison.

00:35:09Melissa Ellis: She'll be back on her feet as soon as she can, no doubt about it. But, yeah, all the best on your recovery for that, Alison. Yes. In the most likes area of posts this week, Ollie, we had Abigail's mum who said, ''It's my last day of captivity today, so a tready nottie for me and making my own post-run cuppa. It's worth mentioning I don't have a lock on my toilet door, so no fear of being locked in.'' Sorry, Melissa. Hashtag, it will never be not funny. So there's a little toilet gag.

00:35:45Oliver Spake: Yes. Look, and a special shout out to Abigail's mum and her Home parkrun crew. I did like the report on the Home parkrun from Abby last week. For those that have listened to the end of last week's podcast, check it out. I think, yeah, there was a special extra role for the volunteers, for the Marshals.

00:36:06Melissa Ellis: Musical chairs.

00:36:07Oliver Spake: Yes, being sat on. That's right. Speaking of volleys, Richard reported in and shared, volunteered as Barcode Scanner at San Remo parkrun this morning, hoping to get my final single for that elusive century at our home parkrun, Pioneer Dairy, next week if their permit dramas are sorted out.

00:36:31Melissa Ellis: That sounds ominous.

00:36:32Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:36:33Melissa Ellis: Do you know anything about that?

00:36:35Oliver Spake: I haven't followed the Pioneer Dairy parkrun story of late, but, yeah, that can certainly be a bit of a challenge. So fingers crossed for you guys.

00:36:44Melissa Ellis: So Richard's set for his single tonne next week as long as Pioneer Dairy goes ahead.

00:36:51Oliver Spake: Yes, yes.

00:36:52Melissa Ellis: Is that how I take that? That's right. Good luck, Richard. I hope it goes ahead.

00:36:55Oliver Spake: I mean, these things do sometimes take time. I can relate, but I'm sure everyone's working on it and it's going to be all the more sweet when it's back.

00:37:03Melissa Ellis: Yes. Now, in the parkrun adventurer catch-up stakes, we heard from Sam Schroder. I had visitors. Patrick Shymitzek, Michael Gentle and Roberta Winters came to experience the Picton course and then we had a lovely breakfast and chatted happily about parkrun adventures, as you do. And it was nice to see the photo of the group at brunch.

00:37:27Oliver Spake: I think a few nendies being crossed off there, or at least one. Sam, I need to do the same, but great to see everyone fronting away there.

00:37:36Melissa Ellis: And Sam putting Picton on the list.

00:37:38Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:37:39Melissa Ellis: On the map, I should say.

00:37:41Oliver Spake: Yes. Over in the UK, Phil Olson. Henlow Bridge Lakes. Easy to pronounce today. But the coffee machine wasn't working. So please, can I have a coffee, Dazza? It was nice leaving home in the daylight today too. First time this year. Just as well it was daylight because that would have been a bit harsh without the coffee.

00:38:03Melissa Ellis: I can appreciate that because I know how exciting it is to travel down to juniors, especially when I've got to go down for pre-event set up and it's light and I'm not driving down there in the dark and hitting kangaroos.

00:38:15Oliver Spake: Yes, yes, yes. Well, and truly I can also appreciate the easier to pronounce parkrun, although I think I may still have butchered it. So apologies, Phil.

00:38:22Melissa Ellis: Now, the first of our tourist posts this week, Bernadette Bennett, a trip to Canberra for athletics saw us test our trail undulations at Mount Ainslie. All the goss. RD Suzanne was handing out friendly first-timer welcomes, finished tokens and the best tasting choco brownie I've ever eaten. I don't know if the brownie is a regular occurrence, but the locals seem to take it in their stride. So I'm thinking it is. So I'm thinking it is regular enough to keep the numbers steady. And it was her birthday, as she said, last one in the foxy 50s before joining the 60s 60s. And Bernadette posted a lovely photo of herself and perhaps her significant other in their rundown under tops.

00:39:10Oliver Spake: Very nice. Another tourist, Michael Scott. Hi, Dazza. Made it to Sydney's latest gem, Wentworth Common parkrun in Sydney Olympic Park. Terrific run and caught up with volunteering, running and walking friends. Unfortunately, no one to share brunch with. Maybe next week, Dazza. See you then.

00:39:29Melissa Ellis: Well, thank you, Michael, for dropping in and sharing your online brunch at Dazza's.

00:39:35Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:39:35Melissa Ellis: Because that's what we're here for. We also heard from tourist and challenge chaser Heather Morgan. I continued on my adventuring streak even though I was super worn out and worried about the storm brewing at home, but I made a three-hour trek down the Hume on Friday night. Windex hunted a 47 at Aurora and did something I've never done before. First female and fourth overall. I had no idea what position I was in as it is a four lap course and people were passing each other all the time. Something to be said for small events as where else can you come fourth with a time of 27.43. My best time since October 2020, which incidentally was the beginning of my tourist streak. I was super happy with my effort this morning. And Heather posted a fantastic photo of herself in the selfie frame holding her token number four. Well done, Heather.

00:40:34Oliver Spake: That's fantastic. Congratulations. Obviously a very, I think, magical set of ingredients there. But what an achievement. Nice fast time. Yeah, and continuing the tourist and challenge theme there, Mel, Matthew Probst. Sydney officially complete. Thank you to Cathy Ray for handing my race token and hat at Parramatta today and to everyone who has encouraged me along the way. It all started New Year's Day 2021 out at Campbelltown and I have been to a different location ever since. Lots of great stories and memories and such a great community. Erkan, what a great idea of the knighthood photo. I'm now officially a Rayfarer. And Matthew did share the photo of said knighthood from the Queen herself, Cathy Ray, Knighting Matthew.

00:41:29Melissa Ellis: Congratulations.

00:41:31Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. So, yeah, all those Sydney events completed. That's quite a trek through a particularly difficult timeframe, a challenging time, so it's got to feel pretty sweet.

the Obi Award — Matthew Probst

00:41:43Melissa Ellis: It does. Okay, Ollie, time to choose the Obi winner for the week. Have you got the envelope?

00:41:51Oliver Spake: Oh, hang on. Oh, yep. No, it's just been handed to me. Thank you to our intern.

00:41:58Melissa Ellis: Okay. Hang on. I haven't heard the envelope sound.

00:41:59[other]

00:42:03Oliver Spake: Okay. Oh, sorry. Yes, I better open the envelope. Okay. Sorry. It was stuck. Okay. This week's Obi goes to Matthew Probst. Congratulations. Look, well done to everyone and some great achievements in there, but happy Rayfarer.

00:42:34Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and a great photo there as well that was shared. And we hope you enjoyed the new format of Dazza's, which we will bring to you going forward.

00:42:45Oliver Spake: That's right.

Consolidated Club Report

00:42:45Oliver Spake: Thank you, everyone. Moving along once again, Mel, how's the Adventurers Club looking?

00:42:50Melissa Ellis: Oh, I'm glad you asked. I feel like we need another round of applause, but I won't put everybody through that again.

00:42:59Oliver Spake: That's okay. They can remember the sound, yes.

00:43:02Melissa Ellis: We're up to 105. We've achieved our 100 shirt. Hooray. Hooray. Hooray. So, yes, we were up eight this week.

00:43:13Oliver Spake: Okay.

00:43:13Melissa Ellis: Which was another big jump for us. So thank you to everybody who's come on board. We had 83 members on the Consolidated Club Report. That includes seven events in the UK, which are, oh, goodness me. Can you remember how you say that one?

00:43:30Unidentified speaker: Oh, yes.

00:43:31Oliver Spake: Do you want me to have a go? Oh, please. Yes. So we had Southampton, Rising Sun, Haigh Woodland, Tooting Common, Irchester Country, Peel and Henlow Bridge Lakes.

00:43:46Melissa Ellis: You know what? I really like the sound of Tooting Common. I don't know why.

00:43:51Unidentified speaker: Yes.

00:43:51Melissa Ellis: It just makes me feel happy when I hear Tooting Common. So shout out, big shout out to Tooting Common. We had two in New Zealand, which was Taupo and Greytown Woodside Trail. Two in South Africa, Ebotse and Norm-Hudlin Trails. And none in America.

00:44:11Oliver Spake: Yes. Snow Day, perhaps.

00:44:14Melissa Ellis: Joe Creason.

00:44:15Oliver Spake: They were cancelled. They were. They were. No, look, I suppose it's that time of the year. But, yeah, well done, everyone. Once again, that's a big turnout in the Adventurers Club on the report.

00:44:28Melissa Ellis: It is. Now... Oh, I should mention how many events went ahead in New Zealand, if I could remember how many they were. Alison told me and I've forgotten. I can't remember if it was two or ten. What do you think it would be, Ollie?

00:44:49Oliver Spake: Google will tell me shortly.

00:44:51Melissa Ellis: Tappity, tappity, tappity, tappity, tappity.

00:44:53Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:44:55Melissa Ellis: It's probably 10. I don't think it would be two.

00:44:58Oliver Spake: I'm still unsure. Sorry, Mel. Okay. I believe it was 10. Yes.

00:45:05Melissa Ellis: All right. Well, that is because New Zealand is in Code Red and there was only a limited amount of parkruns that were allowed to go ahead. And we're unsure how long that will go on for. Okay.

00:45:17Oliver Spake: Yes, hoping the situation improves for you all there soon, but that parkrun can return as soon as it's safe to do so.

Sign-off

00:45:25Melissa Ellis: That's right. Now, Ollie, what is on the horizon for you next week?

00:45:30Oliver Spake: More of the same, I think, Mel. Not meaning to spoil the surprise, but I'm going to Shellharbour.

00:45:36Melissa Ellis: Ah, gosh, we haven't heard much from that parkrun this week. What on earth went wrong?

00:45:41Oliver Spake: I think we used up all of our SPFs in recent podcasts, so a bit of balance is needed. And what about yourself, Mel?

00:45:50Melissa Ellis: Oh. Please don't take me off the parkrun club list, but I don't know that I can parkrun this week. It's playing on my mind. I'm thinking of all contingencies, how I can possibly still register a parkrun. No. Unfortunately, I am required at work. Yep, which starts at 8 a.m.,

00:46:19Oliver Spake: Oh, much to my dismay. I mean, I don't want to throw cats amongst pigeons, but, I mean, sometimes there are other things in life.

00:46:30Melissa Ellis: No. I love my job. I love my job.

00:46:34Oliver Spake: I love my job. That's right. Look, the last, and sorry to cut you off, Mel, but the last two years have prepared you for this. Oh, thanks. You can do this. That's what (not)parkrun is for.

00:46:44Melissa Ellis: That is the whole problem, Ollie. I've missed so many parkruns over the last two years when it's come from bushfires and COVID. So I am really reluctant to have to miss any that I don't need to miss, especially when parkrun's actually running.

00:46:59Oliver Spake: Very understandable.

00:47:01Melissa Ellis: So it's really, I'm sure everybody out there who's an adventurer can feel my pain. If I can find a way, I will. And you'll have to tune in next week to see if I do.

00:47:14Oliver Spake: Otherwise, we both need to make it to a music festival.

00:47:20Melissa Ellis: Goodness me.

00:47:21Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah. Well, Mel, I suppose with that not so bright prospect for both of us running a parkrun next week, we look forward to hearing everyone else's experiences at Dazza's, of course. And as always, you can contact us via Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. But that is it for another week. And we'll see you all next week for more of your adventures.

00:47:45[music]

00:48:55Unidentified speaker: Hi Mel and Ollie. Today I came on 10th and guess what we're doing after Junior parkrun? What? We're going to the movies. What are you going to see? Addams Family 2. Oh, have fun. We will. Guess what we're going to get? What? We're going to get a drink each and ice cream each. Like we're going to share it, me and Hannah. Okay, what's your favourite flavour ice cream? Boysenberry. Oh. Yeah.

00:49:26The Informant: Bye. Stay safe.