Episode 274 - Johan Duvenhage

Welcome

00:00:23Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 274 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie Spake and I'm coming from Dharawal Country.

00:00:33Melissa Ellis: And I am Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country. Welcome Mel. How are you? I'm really good. How are you?

00:00:41Oliver Spake: I'm great. Thank you. And I should mention the cicadas say hello. Hello.

00:00:47Melissa Ellis: I can't hear them. So that's a good sign. You must have the windows closed.

00:00:51Oliver Spake: Windows are closed, but I can hear them. So maybe some of our others can. Yes. So Mel, look, straight up, straight up with everyone listening. This week, Mel and Ollie are busy packing. So we're bringing you all a bit of a tempo run pod, or is it better explained as the length of time it might take myself to drive to a NENDY? Yeah. But what that means is very little Mel and Ollie or Ollie in particular because, Mel, you've managed an interview this week and much more of that and our fabulous roving reports and informant to listen to. So, yeah, we're keeping it nice and brief so we can get away because we've got somewhere to be.

00:01:31Melissa Ellis: We do. It's hectic this week, Ollie, hectic.

00:01:36Oliver Spake: Yeah, not that we've left it all to last minute. No way.

00:01:39Melissa Ellis: No, no, there's just too much to do and not enough time to do it.

00:01:42Oliver Spake: That's right. So without further ado, Mel, let's start by saying a big congratulations to Mel for reaching a special milestone. Well done, Mel.

00:01:50Melissa Ellis: Oh, thank you.

00:01:51Oliver Spake: Would you like to share what it is? And well, your parkrun weekend, in fact.

00:01:56Melissa Ellis: Well, I better start with Saturday, Ollie.

00:01:58Oliver Spake: Okay, yes.

00:01:59Melissa Ellis: But thank you. This Saturday I returned to Wyndham Vale parkrun for their sixth birthday. It was my ninth visit to Wyndham Vale, placing it fourth on my most events list after Berwick Springs, Toolern Creek and Hastings Foreshore. The theme for the anniversary was to come dressed in parkrun colours of purple and orange. Founding EDs Maria and Andy did not disappoint with their outfits. Oh. I was Tail Walker and enjoyed spending time chatting with current ED, Daryl, and his kids, Charlotte and Joshua. What I also must mention is that we were also hosting a very special visitor from South Toowoomba in Eman, who was in Melbourne on business and keen to meet up with fellow adventurers at a new event. Yes. Daryl and I hadn't even completed the first kilometre, when we spotted Eman on his return journey, causing much excitement at his time as he led the field home. On completing the course, he walked out to find us with fellow adventurers Andrew and Abby's mum, excited to share that he had achieved an all-time parkrun PB. Oh!

00:03:06Tracey Wood: Wow.

00:03:07Melissa Ellis: Everyone was in awe. Brunch afterwards was at Cafe Notorious in Werribee, where the less cultured of us discovered batch brew and remembered back to the days when coffee was just a flat white. But, Ollie, my amazing parkrun experience did not stop there.

00:03:25Unidentified speaker: Mm-hmm.

00:03:27Melissa Ellis: Sunday was juniors where I was happily filling the first-timers briefing and Funnel Manager roles and arrived to discover Abby's mum had brought me some black and purple balloons to mark my 100th volunteer. Our kids had a fantastic morning as we welcomed a couple of enthusiastic new visitors to our magical forest. Afterwards, Paul and I joined a small group for post-parkrun park faff and coffee at Birdie & Co at the Eynesbury Homestead, enjoying the sun and the company and not really wanting it to end. All in all, it was one of the best parkrun weekends ever.

00:04:04Oliver Spake: Well, that sounds just brilliant, Mel. And, you know, clearly a big thank you to all of your help and support in volunteering. Very nice of Eman to help, you know, pump up the celebrations with a PB, a 13-second PB, I believe. But, you know, what a lovely community. And, you know, thank you to everyone that clearly made a big, or played a big part, I should say, in making the weekend special.

00:04:30Melissa Ellis: I've got to say, Wyndham Vale is one of my favourite places to go. It's very local to me. So probably after Peppertree would be my closest, my next closest parkrun. And I know a lot of the people down at Wyndham Vale and they make me feel very welcome. I got a special shout out from Andy in the run brief for Mel from the parkrun adventurers. That was really nice. Thank you, Andy. And we got some great photos. So, yeah. It was lots of purple and orange everywhere and it was a brilliant morning.

00:05:02Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, and lots of congratulations on social media as well, which was great to see. How can you top that? How can you possibly top that, Mel?

00:05:13Melissa Ellis: I don't know. Palm? You know, not every week has that level of excitement, but just all in all, like Saturday and Sunday, both days were just absolutely brilliant. I'm still floating. I really enjoyed it and most of all it was because I spent it with friends.

00:05:31Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:05:32Melissa Ellis: It was all shared with friends and that's what it's about, eh?

00:05:36Oliver Spake: It really is. We ask and obviously our wonderful Channel 5 News crew ask as well, you know, top three parkruns, but it is impossible to pick your favourite. You know, you do have these experiences that are just unique and I don't see how you can ever compare one to the other. That'll be a favourite for what it was for sure.

00:05:55Melissa Ellis: 100%. Yep. And Eman, thank you for coming down. We loved you being here. Thank you for coming and putting on a show and we look forward to seeing you at Palm.

00:06:06Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah.

00:06:07Melissa Ellis: And Christine and Juno.

00:06:08Oliver Spake: It's oh so close. So I hope he's got some time at home before he turns around with everyone and comes back down.

00:06:15Melissa Ellis: No pressure, Eman. But, you know, you could pump out another PB at Palm. That'd be really good.

00:06:20Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. Make the morning.

00:06:22Melissa Ellis: I'll buy you one of those brews. What are they called? I've forgotten already.

00:06:26Oliver Spake: Batch brew.

00:06:27Melissa Ellis: That's it?

00:06:27Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah, that's right. All right. Well, there's another thing on the list for Palm. We'll have to have a batch brew. But Mel, despite the fact it's been a fairly brief intro, we've got a fantastic amount of contribution from everyone else this week, as we said. So it's probably time now for some of the highlights for this week, our interview, a couple of the roving reports. And Mel, you spoke to one of our adventurer family over in South Africa this week. So let's have a listen and see if you've picked up any pronunciation tips.

Interview Johan Duvenhage — Run Director, Heidedal parkrun, Bloemfontein, South Africa

00:07:04Melissa Ellis: Our guest today comes to us all the way from South Africa. He has run 170 parkruns at 88 different events across three countries, volunteered on 140 separate occasions, and is RD at Heidedal parkrun in Bloemfontein. Welcome to the podcast, Johan. How do you say your surname?

00:07:25Johan Duvenhage: Duvenhage. And thank you very much for including me in the podcast. I appreciate it.

00:07:31Melissa Ellis: Thank you for coming on to chat to me today. We've been enjoying your comments and your emails, so I thought it would be good to get to know more about your home parkrun at Heidedal and how you came to be involved in parkrun. So tell us, Johan, how did you get started with parkrun?

00:07:48Johan Duvenhage: I had a back operation about 10 years ago, which meant that on the advice of my doctor, I had to stop running. And obviously, I had been walking for a few years then after the operation and then restarted running. He told me that I won't listen to him. And parkrun then became sort of a nice way to get back into running because of the distance. 5k is just enough not to be too far, but still challenging enough. So I went from trying to run as far as possible and as long as possible to trying to get a bit faster.

00:08:24Melissa Ellis: So you had a history in running. Had you been running regular events?

00:08:29Johan Duvenhage: Yeah, but I started quite late. I actually hated athletics at school, but started in my late 30s to start running and it became quite addictive, yes.

00:08:41Melissa Ellis: Fabulous. So were you aware of your local parkrun event?

00:08:45Johan Duvenhage: I think I saw a mention of parkrun on social media and I decided, oh, that's interesting. Then I don't have to run on my own. And that was around about in the beginning of 2015, January. I think it was a New Year's resolution. And me and a friend went to the then Naval Hill parkrun, which started about six months before then. And I got hooked.

00:09:13Melissa Ellis: As we all do. But with Heidedal, have you been involved there since its inception?

00:09:20Johan Duvenhage: I started going there a little bit after they opened, probably about a year after they were opened. And the reason for that was that Naval Hill parkrun became quite crowded. And I do have a preference for the smaller, more intimate parkruns. And Heidedal tends to have anything between 20 and 80 parkrunners at a time, which makes it much more crowded. like a family affair and you know everybody and everybody knows you.

00:09:52Melissa Ellis: Lovely.

00:09:53Johan Duvenhage: It's almost like friends.

00:09:55Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Can you describe the course for us?

00:09:58Johan Duvenhage: The course is at the Clive Solomons Stadium, which is a combination of a cricket field, a rugby field, soccer field and a netball field. And the course is runs around all of these different sports events. Unfortunately, Heidedal being in the township, the local authority does not maintain the grounds as well. So surprisingly, the route is almost very much like a trail run, quite challenging.

00:10:27Melissa Ellis: Okay, so an out and back type course or loops?

00:10:32Johan Duvenhage: Yeah, it's several loops. So we run twice around the cricket field, then go on some retaining walls around the rugby field, past the netball field, around the soccer field, and then back to the cricket field for our final loop. Okay.

00:10:44Melissa Ellis: It's hard to visualise. And what about your facilities? Have you got toilets having all those fields? I would assume that you've got good parking and toilets.

00:10:53Johan Duvenhage: They are there. Unfortunately, you set your own risk.

00:10:58Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay. What about cafes? Tell me, do you have a cafe culture?

00:11:05Johan Duvenhage: No, unfortunately, most of our parkruns do not have that. Although I see that with a lot of the newer ones, there seems to be much better facilities. But in our case, pre-COVID, we made our own pop-up cafe in the sense that we provided coffee, tea and water to our parkrunners. But obviously, since COVID, we had to stop that practice, which is sad, but also does make it a bit easier and keeps it more simple.

00:11:30Melissa Ellis: But that's interesting because that's giving us a good insight into the differences and the challenges that you face in your country as opposed to what we're used to and what we assume all parkruns are like, I suppose.

00:11:41Johan Duvenhage: Yeah. We don't have that normal parkrun culture that seems to be prevalent and especially in Europe.

00:11:47Melissa Ellis: So you said that it's predominantly a smaller course. What would be your average participants each week?

00:11:54Johan Duvenhage: At Heidedal, we tend to have between 20 and 80 every week. We're very happy if we have between 40 and 60. So if it's a smaller turnout like this week and we had a big marathon in town, then we get about 20. But we are still happy even if one parkrunner turns up. We will put up the show even for one. Our smallest field so far has been five.

00:12:19Melissa Ellis: I'm exactly the same at my junior event, yes. So also, have you noticed much of a difference since you returned from the parkrun pause?

00:12:29Johan Duvenhage: initially it was a bit quieter but I think after having restarted in September last year we are really back to normal figures I think the the one thing that we have noticed is that we have a few new people and we've lost a few of the regulars and we really miss them it would really be nice if they would come back we're not quite sure what's happened to some of them but In terms of numbers, we are really much back to the same for us. Some of the other parkruns, especially the other one that's open in Bloemfontein, numbers are significantly lower. But for us, it's very much the same.

00:13:06Melissa Ellis: It's good to get that different perspective because a lot of the feedback that we get when we hear about South African events is some of those very big events that get 2,000, the ones that are near, especially on the Comrades Weekend. Yes. They get such large numbers and I know that brings to mind, oh, South African events, they're huge.

00:13:25Johan Duvenhage: There are a lot of big events, but there are also quite a lot of the more rural events. And that's the type of event that I prefer are really very small and intimate type events. And that's why I like them. I sometimes think that we may have a slight obsession with numbers. And I think the numbers are really the least important thing in our parkrun enjoyment.

00:13:48Melissa Ellis: I absolutely agree, anyway you emailed us last week and you were very passionate about the work that goes into creating and maintaining the apps and the extensions that we all love so much and thank you it was a great reminder for us to give thanks to the people that are behind the scenes I haven't used the running achievements app as much I have to admit but you've been involved I believe behind the scenes in supporting the developers somehow is that right

00:14:15Johan Duvenhage: Yes. It's probably only happened because something went wrong and I decided to email. And I got very nice feedback from Ford and he was very open to, please, I'm open to any suggestions and I need people to help me do this. And So I'm one of the beta testers. And what I also appreciated about the fact is that anybody that gets quite involved and helps him to solve problems and he credits in the app and you don't do it for the credit, of course, but that's just his way of saying thank you. everybody that gets involved. And it's a huge undertaking for all of these apps to get their product out. It takes so many hours of work. And I'm just happy to be able to do a small, small, small little bit and do my part to make it possible.

00:15:08Melissa Ellis: Well, thank you for doing that as well. Do you want to tell us a little bit more about the Running Achievements app? I don't think it gets as much media as maybe the Chrome extension and the 5K app. I've never really understood as much about running achievements.

00:15:26Johan Duvenhage: I'm also not quite sure what the usage numbers are, but it is a little bit different in the sense that it has a different feel to it. Firstly, its approach is different. As I wrote to you previously, the app takes is much more regionalized. Although there's quite a lot of the normal challenges in it as well. And then I think a hidden in the app that many people will miss is the whole section that's dedicated to the World parkrun Tourist Group. And that's one of the big things which sets this one apart from others is the fact that it also provides a home for the World parkrun Tourist Group.

00:16:10Melissa Ellis: So I noticed you've done three countries. You've obviously your home country of South Africa. You've also been to Germany and Italy.

00:16:17Johan Duvenhage: Yes, and then in terms of the parkrun World Tourist Group, they have a slightly different definition of the number of countries. They would then also include Namibia and Eswatini as separate countries, whereas a lot of the other apps includes those countries with South Africa. Now, Eswatini and Namibia are independent countries that are just being administered by parkrun South Africa.

00:16:41Melissa Ellis: Well, thank you. That's good to have cleared up.

00:16:45Johan Duvenhage: Sorry, and maybe something interesting for you is that I am actually a born Namibian.

00:16:50Melissa Ellis: Ah, right.

00:16:51Johan Duvenhage: So I have a particular affinity for the Namibian parkruns, and I have done all of them, of course.

00:16:57Melissa Ellis: How many are there?

00:16:58Johan Duvenhage: There are currently four, and two on the coast and two inland near Windhoek.

00:17:04Melissa Ellis: Please don't try to make us say them.

00:17:08Johan Duvenhage: They actually are. Most of their names are actually quite pronounceable. Oh.

00:17:13Melissa Ellis: Well, that leads me to my next question, which is to ask you a bit more about how you came to start enjoying the pronunciation challenges before me and Ollie. And apologies to all the South Africans when we get it wrong. We actually try really hard not to, which is why we call in our resident South African correspondent here in Australia, which is Janet. Janet Reid out in South Australia at Lochiel Park. She gets a lot of last minute frantic messages from me saying, Janet, please say this because we want to get it right. We actually try really hard to get it right.

00:17:51Johan Duvenhage: And I'm surprised that even some of the UK parkrun names does seem to have a bit of a stumble.

00:17:57Melissa Ellis: Oh, I know. I know. I've just discovered Haig isn't Haig, it's Hay.

00:18:05Johan Duvenhage: Oh, well. Yeah. Well, when you opened the Adventurers Club on parkrun, that is actually, I think, when you started mentioning the parkruns that the club members are doing. And that's when I started hearing the names being mentioned. And I was so surprised when I started hearing Janet's voice popping up here and there. It was really, I thought, oh, that must be a tongue twister then for the Aussies. I won't say that I am purposefully going to unpronounceable parkruns just so that I can floor you, but it has become quite something to look forward to every week to see what is going to happen, if I'm going to hear Janet's voice or Mel and Ollie's voice.

00:18:53Melissa Ellis: Oh, dear. Well, that's a bit of fun, though, and that's what it's all about. Yes. And we very much enjoy seeing. And you were at, okay, I'm going to have a crack at it, Koster. That's how I would say it. [Afrikaans: "sexton (of a church) - the person who rings the bell"]

00:19:05Johan Duvenhage: Yes. Koster is how we pronounce it. And Koster, for your reference, is the Afrikaans word for the sexton of a church, the one that rings the bell.

00:19:16Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay. Okay, so you ran there on Saturday. How did you go? How was your parkrun day?

00:19:23Johan Duvenhage: It was fantastic. We had rain. Actually, I was very worried that the parkrun may be cancelled because as I was driving the previous evening, I went through half a metre deep of water in one of the towns just before Koster. So I thought that there's a big chance of the parkrun being cancelled. But it was fantastic. It was overcast, light rain, and it was a small group of people, but we had lots of fun at Koster.

00:19:52Melissa Ellis: Excellent. Was it a new event for you?

00:19:54Johan Duvenhage: It was a new event for me. I've now started doing the events in the Northwest province. Having finished most of the events in Namibia, Eswatini, the Northern Cape, the Free State and the Eastern Cape. So yeah, I'm ticking off the Northwest events slowly one by one.

00:20:13Melissa Ellis: How likely are we ever to see you in Australia?

00:20:16Johan Duvenhage: I am not sure, but I would love to go because I have a few friends in Australia that I'd love to see again. People that I've actually met in Kathmandu in Nepal.

00:20:27Melissa Ellis: Wow, that's great. Well, we'd love for you to come to Australia, but also it would be equally as nice to visit South Africa one day. Thank you very much for chatting today, Johan, and sharing a little bit of your own story and of South African parkruns with us. We look forward to continuing the challenge and maybe improving our efforts on some of your regular events. So I think I've got Heidedal. I think I've got that down pat now, hopefully.

00:20:55Johan Duvenhage: That sounds perfect.

00:20:57Melissa Ellis: Thank you. Thank you very much.

00:20:59Johan Duvenhage: And thank you very much for having me.

00:21:00Melissa Ellis: No problem. Thank you.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Sam Schroder — Huskisson parkrun

00:21:08Sam Schroder: Hello, Ollie and Mel. It's Sam Schroder here, calling in from the sunny south coast of New South Wales. Luke and I headed to a parkrun a little bit south of the parkrun Ollie was at. In fact, one parkrun further south than Shellharbour. We were at the beautiful Huskisson parkrun today. This was our fourth visit to Huskisson parkrun, but on the third different version of their course. So when Huskisson parkrun first started, it set off from the park right in the middle of town. Once it got a bit too popular, the organisers and the council agreed that it needed to move and they picked themselves up and moved themselves about a kilometre along the course to the park and playground right next to the creek. And then when COVID struck in 2020, they picked the course up again and moved it a little bit further so that they were starting in a bigger, more open space right near the bridge. So that helped with social distancing. We had a very tight run to get there on time this morning, got held up in quite a lot of road works. So we had a little bit of a run to warm us up, running back the opposite direction to the starting pack who had already set off. And we did a quick U-turn at the start line and ducked in just in front of the Tail Walkers to head off out. And normally Luke and I do our own thing at parkrun, but today we stayed together and we did some interval running and walking. And we finished the course with me getting a very tidy time of 44 minutes and 44 seconds, which I was pretty happy with. Luke got the next number, 44 minutes and 45 seconds, so he was not quite as happy as me. We did both pick up position and stopwatch bingo numbers, so we were very pleased about that. Huskisson is a beautiful out and back course with stunning views of the ocean and today there was a huge navy boat out on the bay which made the views even more spectacular. Now about 100 metres from the start line you'll find a playground, plenty of parking and toilets and it's a short walk to the cutest little coffee van where you can get a lovely coffee out the front of the caravan park. We highly recommend Huskisson parkrun as a beautiful place to visit. Huskisson being a very special place to us. It was the first place we ever went away for a weekend together. We were sitting on a beach in Huskisson the first time. We said I love you to each other and we had our honeymoon in Huskisson. So yeah, fourth visit to Huskisson parkrun. There'll definitely be more in the future. You guys should check it out. See ya.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Tony O'Connell — Cyril Curtin Reserve parkrun

00:23:53Tony O'Connell: Hattie parkrunners, TOC reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew. Today we've ventured down to a new event down in Williamstown called Cyril Curtain Reserve parkrun and I'm here with Bronnie who's the ED and was today's RD. Bronnie, how are you?

00:24:07Bronnie: I'm very well, thank you Tony.

00:24:09Tony O'Connell: You had a really great crowd there today, Bronnie.

00:24:12Bronnie: We did have a great crowd. It's our parkrun number three. So we've seen consistent numbers. I think we had 90 today, which was great. We had 89 last week and 80 at our launch. So we were very excited. They're good numbers, easy for us to manage. Easy, yeah, no stress at all. It was just great. And a really good vibe there today.

00:24:29Tony O'Connell: It was a good vibe and it was probably started off with that briefing. That briefing was really cool. I really enjoyed that. Oh, thank you. We hear lots of briefings around and yeah, that was a really cool one. Well done.

00:24:39Bronnie: Thank you. And it's three years in the making, that briefing. So, you know, we've had a couple of false starts with COVID, a change of course, because Our landowner permissions were all rescinded initially, so we were down at the beach initially. But I think as COVID has been the most hideous thing for a lot of people, it's actually done us a favour because we've got a beautiful course now. It really is. It's beautiful. And you saw that today.

00:25:02Tony O'Connell: You have. There's a lot of people that are not big fans of the multi-lappers, but I think that was really cool today. It was really good passing people around and encouraging and talking to seeing people out and about, and that's one of the things I love about our out-and-back courses and our lap courses is you get to see people and encourage them on the way. And in the case of your course, you run it on the seafront three times, so you've got some sensational views back towards Melbourne. You probably have a look down towards Geelong if you've actually turned...

00:25:31Bronnie: a good day that's right so Bronnie give us a course description well it's a um three loops of Cyril Curtain Reserve and different surfaces which doesn't suit a lot of people but we start on a shared pathway which is a concrete pathway and then we cut in across on grass and it's um you know there's some potholes there's and as I said in the briefing you have to dodge a lot of landmines because it's an off-leash dog park some people don't pick up after their dogs unfortunately But then it goes out onto the coastal, it's like a track. We call it a goat track. It's just, what's the surface? Is it shale? Just a gravel trail. Yeah, just a gravel trail. And then it goes back up onto the shared pathway, the concrete path. So really the three surfaces, the grass, the gravel and the concrete. Some people love it. And we haven't heard any negatives. It's all positive. It's all positive people. Everything's positive. So come out to Williamstown, to Cyril Curtain Reserve. It really is. It's wonderful. And the people sharing the space with other people. And today, so many people. Because I think people are starting to know. And people, you know, yes, they'll come next week and they're asking questions, what's going on. They're just starting to get it.

00:26:41Tony O'Connell: We actually had bike riders go past us today saying, what's your name?

00:26:45Bronnie: Oh, okay. They were all yelling, it's parkrun, it's parkrun, come back. Yeah. And you would have seen even people when we were doing the briefing where the people were oblivious, running right in front of where we were. And that's it. Just come and join us is my catch cry. And people, they will. And we had people, new people. There were different people from last week. So some returned, but new people. And, you know, all your people up from Inverloch, we had some people from, oh, you know what? I can't remember. Oh, that's terrible. Sorry if anyone's listening from, oh. But they, you know, they came from all over.

00:27:15Tony O'Connell: Yeah, no, today you had quite a few visitors there today. Yeah. You also look like you've got a lot of people there that have come back a couple of times, like even last week. Yes. You had a lot of people doing their second runs. Correct. They've come back two weeks in a row. And hopefully they're back again today. And that's a really great way to start developing the parkrun, having those locals that are new to parkrun. Yeah.

00:27:33Bronnie: and they're just getting it today you had a lot of first timers there yes there were it was great and our first time is brief it's it's we've got all that space it's it's wonderful the first time is brief where we will once we pass maps around for people to have a look at well now we just put them all up on the fence so people don't have to touch anything they can just have a look and on the website we've got the loops in different colours on our maps that we we've got around the start finish but on the website it's just all one colour so people don't realise that it's cut across the park in fact there's no cutting there's no cut across the park it just looks like three big circuits like an F1 circuit or something but you know they're actual you know we're cutting around cutting through the park so It's good. And we haven't had any complaints from the, it's been an off-leash dog park forever in Williamstown. We haven't had any complaints yet. Council haven't contacted me. And that's the big thing, that we've only got a six-month trial still. So it's really important that we don't. get the local people offside like that where they put complaints in.

00:28:37Tony O'Connell: I think today went really well with the interaction with people. I'm glad. It seems to run really well.

00:28:43Bronnie: And we haven't had any... And, you know, no incidents with dogs. Because sometimes off-leash, it's tricky. It's a tricky slope where, you know, dogs do get rambunctious and they want to play. We have had on the first... trial we had where a dog actually took one of the cones and the owner brought it back later but it was so you know chewed up and dilapidated we we gave it to goodwill in the end all through in the bin she didn't want it so yeah but you know it's wonderful and I feel I feel joyful I feel joyful that it's all the work all these years three years that it's it's come to fruition I've got a great team with me behind me Joanne and Scott Watkins of course have been wonderful mentors for me and You know, I just feel lucky. I feel joyful that it's all happening.

00:29:26Tony O'Connell: Well, Bronnie, you're really bright and bubbly. What's your background in parkrunning?

00:29:30Bronnie: Well, I only started probably five years ago and I've only done... I'm not a tourist a lot, you. I haven't been adventurous to go out. I've done... Just around here, Newport Lakes and Altona. And it was actually one day when I was travelling out to Altona and I thought, oh my God, why am I doing this? Why isn't there one in Williamstown? And that was the sort of start of my journey to try and bring one to Williamstown. That was five years ago.

00:29:56Tony O'Connell: It's certainly been a long journey with the, as you said, with the pauses with COVID and, you know, the council requesting the course changes and that.

00:30:05Bronnie: Yeah, and that was density, sorry, that was density issues. So the initial course was starting and finishing at the beach and running out on that yellow brick road out towards Altona, why they call that the yellow brick road. It's a bike path. I think it's the, oh, I don't even know what it's called, but it's like a pathway, a concrete pathway. But, you know, the bikes, it's a bike path and the bikes do travel along there very fast. And then when COVID came and when everything was paused, the week we were to launch... Because it was all approved the week we were to launch, March 2020, was the week all parkruns were closed. And it's just been sort of an up and down ride from then. But, you know, we're here now.

00:30:47Tony O'Connell: I guess the good thing about the move, though, is you look at the location you're at now. You've got a location that's got really great car parking. You've got toilets and facilities right near your start line so you don't have to...

00:30:58Bronnie: to travel and all that sort of thing and yeah we're sitting up at the um the coffee place at the moment yep and uh what's the name of it this is hug a mug hug a mug um in nelson place they're looking after us it's wonderful so when you come down to um to Williamstown across the road from the police station or seaworks it's up right down the other end yellow umbrellas at the front parkrun umbrellas the yellow orange yellow it's only it's only less than a cave from the parkruns we've actually walked up we've left our car down there and walked up because it's

00:31:28Tony O'Connell: You know, it's such a beautiful day. And you had put on a stunner for us, blue skies. I try, I try.

00:31:33Bronnie: We've had three really good weeks. I mean, there's going to be a day, like we were talking about before, where there's going to be a blustery off that water and it's going to be cold and wet. But, you know, we'll just see. The Fair Dinkum parkrunners will come out in that weather.

00:31:46Tony O'Connell: All right, Bronnie, well, welcome to the parkrun family. It's really great to see Cyril Curtain up and running. Thank you. It's been on everyone's radar for a long time. It's been on the parkrun map for a long time. Yeah, yeah. And it's just sensational to see it up and running, and it's here.

00:32:00Bronnie: Thank you. Thanks for your support. It's been wonderful. So thanks, everybody.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Tracey Wood — Redland Bay parkrun

00:32:05Tracey Wood: Good morning parkrunners, it's Tracey in a Tutu and I'm netting out at Redland Bay parkrun this morning. Redland Bay is a coastal locality on the southeastern side of Brisbane. It took me about 45 minutes to get here from north side of Brisbane. A very pleasant drive and it looks like a very pleasant parkrun. But I've turned up here and I don't know if they were expecting me or not, but everyone else is wearing tutus. Let's go find out what's going on. And I've got Cheryl, the Run Director for today here. Cheryl, everyone's wearing tutus.

00:32:38Cheryl: What's going on? Well, any excuse, really. But next Tuesday is the 22nd of the 2nd, 22. So all the twos. So we're tutus. Tutu days. We've also got four birthdays to celebrate. And it's a gorgeous day. We're all here. So it's wonderful to be together. Wonderful. Any milestones happening today? I don't think so. Done a call, but we're just going with the birthdays. Right, right. Every Saturday's a milestone for us. Oh, I love it. And about how many people do you think we'll have here today? I'm hoping around 100. We've normally sort of been getting anywhere from about 90 to 120. So we'll see. A lot of people rock up at the last minute. As you can see, they're still streaming in. But it's a gorgeous morning. Yeah, yeah, it is. And how long have you been doing this gig for? June 2017, we launched at Redland Bay. So this is run number 207 for us. All right, 207.

00:33:25Tracey Wood: If anyone needs a prime number, I think it's a prime number. I don't know. Don't ask me about maths. Lovely. I'll let you get on with run directing. Thanks for the chat. Thank you so much and welcome to Redland Bay. Thank you. So I'm tail walking with Rachel this morning. Rachel, tell me again, why are you volunteering this morning?

00:33:41Rachel: Because I just wanted to walk rather than run today. Oh, lovely.

00:33:46Tracey Wood: It's a beautiful day out here.

00:33:47Rachel: Now, can you tell me about Redland Bay parkrun? Can you describe the course for the listeners, please? So we have an oval and we do two laps of that. Then we go onto a concrete path up to a golf course. Then we turn around and we go back to where we started. And that's pretty much our course. The view is pretty much along the, what do you call it, the ocean?

00:34:10Unidentified speaker: Yep, the bay.

00:34:11Rachel: Yeah, through the bay. And, yeah, it's just glorious.

00:34:15Tracey Wood: Now, apart from the feral scrub turkey, anything else we need to watch out for up here, like stray golf balls or anything?

00:34:23Rachel: No, no. No need to watch for the stray golf balls.

00:34:26Tracey Wood: Okay. No. Awesome. It's certainly warm out here, so I enjoy getting back and getting into a bit of shade. Okay, so it's Tracey and her tutu touring at Redland Bay parkrun this morning. I have souvenired a part of the signage for my collection. Sorry, Sarah. I have cheered on Valerie. Go Valerie! No, or is it all for Valerie? I can't remember. Never mind. Redland Bay parkrun, we'll get that one. And, okay, Tracey and her tutu signing off. Till next time, see you on the B-side. Bye.

00:35:07Melissa Ellis: And I'd like to say a big thank you to Johan for his time, which was very early on Sunday morning over there in South Africa. It was really lovely to get a new perspective, Ollie, on what it's like to do parkrun over there.

00:35:21Oliver Spake: Yes, I love hearing about the different parkruns across the globe and getting just that whole kaleidoscope of different experiences. It sounds like a nice little community one.

00:35:33Melissa Ellis: Definitely. And we also would like to thank Sam, TOC and Tracey for their contributions to roving reports. Especially nice to hear about Huskisson and Sam's recollections of it being a special place for her and Luke.

00:35:50Oliver Spake: Yeah, all the numbers were lining up. Sorry, Luke, almost lining up in your case. As if it was meant to be. And look, it's a beautiful place there. I can appreciate anyone having fond memories, but clearly extra special for the two of them.

00:36:06Melissa Ellis: I think I need to get to Huskisson.

00:36:08Oliver Spake: Oh, yes, you do. You do. I mean, next time you're in these parts, don't bother with those parkruns you've been to before. Husky is a fantastic course. And Sam is quite right to share some of the fantastic elements to the course there.

00:36:23Melissa Ellis: Good work too, Sam, for your roving report. You did well.

00:36:26Oliver Spake: Yes, very much so. And Tracey, thank you very much. Look, Tracey did call out to us herself rather than any of us being the prime number experts here. 207 is not a prime number. So adjust your plans, folks. If you are going there for it to be a prime, change course. But there's certainly no blame to apportion to Tracey because my parkrunning and maths combo skills are not fantastic. So, yeah, Tracey doing a top job there.

00:36:57Melissa Ellis: And, Ollie, we have to mention we still have a roving report to come later, so you need to stay tuned.

00:37:06Oliver Spake: That's right. We have been so lucky with our contributions this week, which makes up the time. You don't need to hear from us much, much more. Stay tuned. It's a really good one.

Dazza's

00:37:16Oliver Spake: Also changing things up this week, we're going to say thank you to everyone that popped into Dazza's and contributed at Dazza's as Dazza again brought the fun on Saturday. But because this is our abridged version, that boat's going to sail, Mel.

00:37:31Melissa Ellis: Is it sailing to Tassie?

00:37:32Oliver Spake: I think it is. Fingers crossed.

the Obi Award

00:37:35Oliver Spake: I'm told. But yeah, Dazza is being left in Facebook land this week and we're keeping the Obi on the shelf. I mean, we did make a joke last week in the pod about the Obis being handed out a bit too rapidly. So we're maybe just pulling back on that slightly. And we may need that Obi for next week, Mel. But a special mention to everyone proudly showing their Adventurers Club membership at Dazza's. It's almost as if they're somehow experienced in demonstrating their registration or certification or something like that.

00:38:08Melissa Ellis: Yeah, it's a handy skill to have.

00:38:11Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:38:12Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, we should update on the Adventurers Club.

Consolidated Club Report

00:38:16Melissa Ellis: I'm very excited to announce that we are up to 119 members, which is up eight from last week. We had 100 members on the Consolidated Club Report. Eight events this week in the UK, which are Southampton, Homewood, Cheadle Hulme, Haigh Woodland, Heartlands, Irchester Country Park, Roberts Park and Charlton. Two in New Zealand, which are Puarenga and Greytown Woodside Trail. Two in South Africa, Koster and Atlasville. Two in the USA, Joe Creason and Spindle Tree.

the Frond

00:38:59Melissa Ellis: And adventurers representing at 49 parkruns across Australia with five having palm fronds at both Wyndham Vale and Cyril Curtain Reserve this week. What a showing.

00:39:10Oliver Spake: I think so.

00:39:10Melissa Ellis: I hope I did okay with those pronunciations.

00:39:14Oliver Spake: Oh, look, Mel, you've done better than me. I haven't known anyone to insert an L into the word common before, but I mean, we were going to have this conversation at some point in the future, but let's have it now. I'm not sure I'm a reliable backstop when it comes to pronunciations. So apologies to the good people at Clapham Common parkrun, not Clapham Column parkrun. As I think I pronounced. At least that's how it sounded. I did. I couldn't fix that. Sorry, Ollie. That's okay. I'm unfixable. But, yeah, I'll take a stab at anyone and I will apologise profusely.

00:39:51Melissa Ellis: But we're so excited about how our Adventurers Club is going and we will continue to report on our events. And I'm wondering if people would like to have more of a rundown in social media about Because we could do that as well. We could post during the week. But, yeah, give us some feedback if you think that's something we should do.

00:40:09Oliver Spake: Yes, feedback is a big plus. And, look, I'm told everything's possible in the metaverse. So we'll see. We'll see. Looking forward, Mel. Coming up. So I suppose this is the point where we say over the next two weeks there will be but one podcast episode. of the parkrun adventurers because next week is indeed the fifth. Fifth is right, I believe. Yeah. Palm 2022, that's right, I hope. Or indeed the parkrun adventurers podcast listener meet-up and it's happening next week. So if you are listening to this on the plane... And there's a chance that this update we're about to provide you might be a tad too late, but we wanted to do our best just in case we or you have missed anything. So firstly, I'll go with the first tip, Mel. For anyone that may not have, please jump in, listen to last week's episode. If you haven't already, for all of the party planning tips from our very own Toxbert himself. Yeah.

00:41:16Melissa Ellis: And number two, mark yourself as going in the Facebook events or email us if you're not on Facebook and let us know your food orders.

00:41:25Oliver Spake: And I don't know at point of recording here as to when the food order information will be coming out, but stay tuned. Stay tuned. We don't want you to starve. Number three, bring your purple. We do ask that you have just a dash of purple or a splash or, you know, a whole big slush of purple for our podcast recording fun.

00:41:47Melissa Ellis: A slush?

00:41:47Oliver Spake: A slush. It's bigger than a splash. Right. Yes. After Bellerive parkrun. So you don't have to run in your purple. You can be parkrun fresh but still have a change of clothes. So there's a chance to run ugly, run apricot or be creative. But purple is the dress code afterwards.

00:42:07Melissa Ellis: Number four, P is for party dress-ups. So who hasn't got their costume ready? Yeah. I'm ready.

00:42:16Oliver Spake: You're ready? I think, yeah, you said you were ready last week, didn't you? Paul's ready. Yes, Paul's ready. Excellent. Yes. Are you ready? I'm getting ready.

00:42:28Melissa Ellis: I'm looking forward to yours because you went above and beyond last year. I have to say I was really impressed. You've set the bar high, Ollie.

00:42:36Oliver Spake: I was really proud of my costume last year, so much that I wore it to Shellharbour parkrun. I had to mention it. I was trying not to. That I wore it to a special dress-up. At least I assume it was, and I wasn't just wearing it. But no one got it. Just like no one got it at the surf club up at Kawana. But nonetheless.

00:42:58Melissa Ellis: Oh, I did.

00:42:59Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:43:00Melissa Ellis: That's all that matters.

00:43:01Oliver Spake: That's right. So dress-ups, yes. Number five, Ugly Christmas Singlets or shirts. I don't think we've mentioned this enough. So this is a reminder to pack ugly. Pack as ugly as you can for our Fritos or Frios. And... Yeah, like I say, there's nothing like a good costume change.

00:43:21Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so basically every Freedom Run we go to, we need a different outfit. We can't wear the same thing. Predominantly, we need to be going through all the previous versions of the Ugly Christmas Singlets.

00:43:33Oliver Spake: Yep.

00:43:34Melissa Ellis: And we'll be having group photos at every time. If you haven't been to a Palm before, there's group photos to be had. You can't be wearing the same outfit.

00:43:41Oliver Spake: Yes, that's right. And look, I guess we'll do a head count as to who's been to every Palm or how many Palms different adventurers have been to when we're at Palm. But I believe we're lucky enough to have many first-time Palmers. So, yes, pack ugly.

00:43:57Melissa Ellis: We hope we've got lots of first-time palmers. How many repeat palmers we have? I think there would be you and me and TOC and Brendan.

00:44:06Oliver Spake: Are we talking every palm?

00:44:07Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:44:09Oliver Spake: Chris? And there are a few others of names that I have seen there. So at least one other I can think of. So looking forward to that. And question, Mel, are we calling ourselves palmers or are we palmies?

00:44:23Melissa Ellis: had time to think of this.

00:44:25Oliver Spake: Okay.

00:44:26Melissa Ellis: Don't spring that on me.

00:44:26Oliver Spake: All right. Well, that might be the segue to the last tip we've listed here.

00:44:32Melissa Ellis: Ah, yes. And we want to know your ideas, questions, and even pronunciation control. Correct. It's ironic and even pronunciation corrections for the pod. A live perlustration almost. So have a think and let us know because we are going to be asking for some feedback.

00:44:54Oliver Spake: Yes. Can't emphasise it. I think we've emphasised it well. I'm pretty sure that the two times we've mentioned the word pronunciation in this pod, the next word we've messed up.

00:45:06Melissa Ellis: Yes. We are not professionals. We do not get paid to do this.

00:45:11Oliver Spake: Yes, next week is when the secrets come out.

00:45:14Melissa Ellis: Have we missed anything, Ollie?

00:45:16Oliver Spake: That is a very good question, Mel. You know, it's kind of like there's always a gift shop where you're going or something. We can work it out when we get there.

00:45:28Melissa Ellis: Oh, gosh. And, look, it's going to be fun no matter what happens. There might be things might go wrong. Who knows? The most important thing is that we all get together, we run a few parkruns and we do a lot of park faff and we have fun and that's all that matters.

00:45:44Oliver Spake: That's quite right. And look, we'll miss everyone else that's out there enjoying parkrun land in their own vicinity, but... We hope that we can share some of the enjoyment of Palm with you. And in case I didn't say it clearly enough before, that means that the next episode after this podcast will in fact be Palm 2022 as logistics get the better of us.

00:46:07Melissa Ellis: We intend to record it as best we can. That is the intention. We may even be able to do a bit of a Facebook Live or offer something live on the day. But, yeah, no promises.

00:46:24Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. At worst, we can record it as a roving report. We'll work it out somehow and we look forward to sharing that with you all. And we also look forward to sharing with you the rest of the pod because, as we promised, we do have more roving reports. So we also still have Lyndell at Wondai parkrun. And, of course, our very special informant. So we'll throw to them shortly. But, Mel, yes, we are looking forward to seeing everyone at Palm 2022. I can't get that right, down in Bellerive. But we've got to run. You've got that boat to catch and I'd better get myself packed. I do.

00:47:03Melissa Ellis: I've got to get my vaccination status ready. I've got to get the dogs to the dog sitter. I've got to organise Zoe. I've got to get on the boat. There's too much going on. There's costumes to pack. Oh, my goodness, Ollie. I've got to go. I've got to go. Bye, Ollie.

00:47:21Oliver Spake: I'll see you there. I'll see you there, Mel.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Lyndell Murray — Wondai parkrun

00:47:29Lyndell Murray: G'day parkrun adventurers, it's Lyndell and today I'm coming to you from the lands of the Wakka Wakka people. I'm in Wondai to tackle a parkrun on a rail trail which should be fabulous. I've just pulled up, it's been a bit of a drive to get here so I'm gonna jump out of the car and check out the first timers briefing and the race briefing and I'll be back with you after the run.

00:47:55Cheryl: Okay, now I have tracked down Claire.

00:47:57Lyndell Murray: Now, Claire, you are an event ambassador for parkrun.

00:48:01Claire: Yes, I am, as of about a month ago.

00:48:03Lyndell Murray: Oh, so it's new. Oh, very new. Yeah, very new.

00:48:07Claire: So how's it going? So far, so good. I went to visit Kilcoy a couple of weeks ago for their third birthday. Oh, did the yowie come out? I didn't see the yowie. Damn it. But it's so cool to go and do a parkrun at Yowie parkrun. Yeah, I know. I mean, that's great. So I've still got a few others that I have to go and visit yet. And I know Gayndah was their event number 50 today. So I would have liked to have been there, but I wanted to catch up with friends here at Wondai today. So back at home.

00:48:35Lyndell Murray: So this is your home parkrun?

00:48:36Claire: This is my home parkrun. So I've been here since it started. My friend Roz, who's the Event Director here, probably a bit over five years ago, getting on to six years ago, rang me one day and said, would you like to be involved in setting up a parkrun? And I said, yeah, sure. What's parkrun? What's parkrun? I'd never heard of it. And my husband, Craig, had read about it in a running magazine. So that's how much I knew about parkrun. So I've been a Run Director here since the start. And I guess the weird thing for me, our very first parkrun we did was actually in Western Australia. We went to visit our daughter the week before Wondai started. So I was a Run Director who had never done a parkrun and did my first one in Western Australia. So that's just a little bit of interesting information, I guess.

00:49:28Lyndell Murray: And so how have you found your parkrun journey? What's been the best thing about being in Wondai?

00:49:33Claire: The people, the friends, the people. I would not start a Saturday without this. And I mean, I love coming here. I've met so many different people that I wouldn't have met, locals that I wouldn't have met if it wasn't for parkrun. And we have from kids through to 80 plus year olds who all come and run a walk, and sit around and have a coffee afterwards and chat and it's just the best way to start the weekend and I know it is a bit like a little cult isn't it but you go somewhere and you see someone with the parkrun token on their shoe and you know that they're one of your people and I've met some wonderful people just you know going to a different parkrun and chat to someone and and now we're friends and you know it's just wonderful and I don't know where I'd be without it I really don't

00:50:22Lyndell Murray: It is one of those things in it. It's a real phenomenon. I like to tourist and I never feel uncomfortable going up and talking to people. It's like a family regardless of where you are.

00:50:32Claire: You know you've got at least one thing in common. That is exactly it. You've always got something to talk about. And for me, I always say I'm a social runner. I run for coffee and a chat. And I hate being out there on my own running. I know running is a sport that is a solitude sport, but it's not for me. It's a social sport. So I run with friends. I love having someone to chat with while I'm running, because I forget that I'm running if I'm talking. So if I go to a parkrun, I will find someone. My kids are terribly embarrassed by it. They're all grown up now. But they go, how can you do that, Mum? How can you just talk to a stranger? Well, I've got to do something. So it doesn't matter whether it's a parkrun, a 10K, a half marathon, you find someone to have a chat to and find out where they're from and their story. And, yeah, that's just how it is.

00:51:25Lyndell Murray: All right. Now, Claire, what would you like the people listening to this podcast who are adventurers and love to travel to parkrun, what would you like them to know about Wondai parkrun?

00:51:36Claire: Wondai is a really friendly parkrun and the South Burnett is such a wonderful place to come and visit. So if you do come to the South Burnett, you have a choice of three parkruns now. So Wondai here at home, and I am a bit biased, so, you know, come here. But we do have Nanango as well. That's Ros Gregor, and Proston, which is Railway Park. And they're spread across the South Burnett. So no matter where you're staying in our region, there's somewhere close by that you can do a parkrun or come and stay for several weeks and do all three. And just a little heads up, anyone who's into the tourism and the Fibonacci Challenge, next week is our event number 233. So we are really hoping that we might get a few visitors seeking that magic 233 turn up at Wondai next week. So we'll see how it goes.

00:52:25Lyndell Murray: See how it goes. That is not one that I'm chasing. And that is why Winston said that at the briefing next week is 233. He is a man of many knowledges and talents, isn't he?

00:52:37Claire: Winston is absolutely wonderful. I do believe he has done the course at least once, but he loves volunteering and he loves being a part of the community. And last week he took the photos and he doesn't like to do the tech side of things. So it's sort of like, you know, here, Claire, can you put these up on Facebook? But he said to me, you know, this is just such a great bunch of people. And it is. And two hours after parkrun, I'll be finished. there'll still be little groups sitting here in the park still chatting and that's what you love and you know you talk to different people every week

00:53:13Lyndell Murray: Great. Well, thank you. Thank you for your contribution to parkrun here in the South Burnett and further afield now as an event ambassador. And thank you for talking to me today, Claire. It's been a pleasure. And thank you for coming.

00:53:26Claire: We love having visitors. So I hope you stay here, you know, a little bit longer and have a look around the region because there really is so much to do here. So thank you for coming.

00:53:36Lyndell Murray: You're welcome. All right, I have tracked down Winston, and he is the Run Director today. How are you going today?

00:53:44Winston: Very well, thanks, Lyndell. Very well.

00:53:46Lyndell Murray: That's great. Thanks for having me at Wondai today.

00:53:48Winston: Yeah, pleasure to have anyone at Wondai. It was great today. We've got over 50 here, but I'll tell you very shortly how many we've got actually on today's run.

00:53:59Lyndell Murray: Yep, the last few are coming through and you are taking photos while I'm interviewing you, so thank you for multitasking. Now, Wondai parkrun, I have it on good authority that you're like the heart and soul of this parkrun. Tell me about your involvement with Wondai parkrun.

00:54:14Winston: Originally, well not originally, I lived just over the road from the parkrun starting and always had an interest in the rail trail which has been developed into the parkrun and because I used to see all the steam trains come in and I worked in the BP depot down the road here and we used to work on the line with the trains to get our rail tank cars unloaded there. So that was how I sort of got involved in the actual rail trail itself. And then when the train stopped, they had this developed with the council and made it into the parkrun. And I've just taken an interest in it and being handy to it, just being across the road from it. I look after all the flags and the gear and everything for the morning, bring it over. And because I've got to come over, I think, oh, well, I might as well do a job while I'm here.

00:55:19Lyndell Murray: It might as well be useful.

00:55:21Winston: Yeah, that's correct, yes.

00:55:23Lyndell Murray: Great. So how long have you been volunteering at Wondai?

00:55:27Winston: I've been volunteering now. This is my 106th volunteer day.

00:55:34Lyndell Murray: Congratulations. That is a big effort. Well done. And so your interest obviously stemmed from the rail trail, but now it's parkrun.

00:55:45Winston: It is. It's parkrun now every Saturday morning at 7am. It's got to be a parkrun.

00:55:51Lyndell Murray: Yeah.

00:55:52Winston: And I use parkrun. I usually do the RD pretty frequently.

00:55:57Lyndell Murray: Great, now I'll just let you take a photo of one of our finishers as he comes in. I wouldn't want to interfere with that. How did you go? No, missed him. No, missed him, okay.

00:56:08Winston: You can just come in, young fella, and I'll take your photo.

00:56:11Lyndell Murray: Take your photo? I need to do a redo. See, look at you go.

00:56:15Winston: Just so you can have a rerun.

00:56:17Lyndell Murray: He's making him redo his finish so he can get a photo. Takes his job seriously, Winston does. Thanks, mate. I'm sorry. That's my fault. I'm sorry about that. And thank you. Okay. And now what would you like? So this podcast is for people who like to travel to parkrun. What would you like people to know about Wondai?

00:56:38Winston: Wondai is a very, very lovely little town. I've lived here all my life and it's a very friendly town and we find that and as you'll probably notice here this morning, how people are chatting behind us and this is always a light-hearted and at the same time you're able to get fitter.

00:57:05Unidentified speaker: Yep.

00:57:05Winston: And I can remember when we first started, you might only had one or two or three. Just a moment. Just a moment.

00:57:13Lyndell Murray: Another photo of our next couple of finishes. Don't miss this one, Winston. And so it sounds like it's really about the community at Wondai.

00:57:24Winston: It is about the community. And it's just such a happy family, actually. And we have new people here every day, every Saturday morning, of course. We've only missed once, and that was just through a flood a few weeks back. Yeah. Well, a few months back now, actually. Time flies when you're having fun. Yeah. And the rail trail got damaged just the other side of the bridge. All right.

00:57:54Lyndell Murray: Well, I will let you go. We've got another finisher coming in. Thank you so much for everything that you do for Wondai parkrun and thank you for talking to me today.

00:58:03Winston: It's a pleasure. Thanks. Thank you.

00:58:06Lyndell Murray: All righty, parkrun adventurers. I think that is a wrap from Wondai parkrun in the beautiful South Burnett of Queensland. So a few vital stats. Wondai is about three, three and a half hours northwest of Brisbane, as I said, in the South Burnett. Yeah, so it's a lovely little place. There's a rail trail, lots of bike and running tourism activities. out here around the rail trail and a beautiful little country town. I am off to find the best bakery. This is the other good thing about coming to a country town. The bakeries are usually bonzer. So that is it for me, Lyndell, signing out for the Channel 5 News Crew.

the Informant

00:58:50The Informant: This is The Informant, coming to you live from Level 2 with a view. The view this week is... Well, I think I've died and gone to heaven. Everyone else has cleared out early, so I'm home alone. It's only been like a few hours so far, but already this is like the best week of my life. So strap yourself in, because it's going to be a heck of a ride. Last week in the Junior parkrun world, there were 5 events. 319 juniors participated, up 12, and there were a whopping 64 first-timers. 62 got a PB, exactly the same as last week. Alex Mulvihill, Hashi Houlihan, Dominic Evagi, Harper Mai, Jonah Mai, and Kia Nairn scored their half-marathon wristband for 11 runs. Hunter O'Donnell, Jack McGuigan, Kelsey Rolfe and Piper Hurley scored marathon wristbands for 21 runs. So good on yous. On to the 5k events. There were 423 runs held down under which is up 1 on last week. 411 of these were in Australia and 12 in New Zealand. This was out of 1,405 worldwide, down around 700. Aussie New Zealand attendance is down about 50 to 43,288. Only 155,000 ran worldwide, which is down 58,000. There were two launches, both of them in South Africa. Down under we had 5,674 PBs, while 2,048 people participated for the first time. 98 juniors reached their Junior 10 milestone, 180 people reached their 50 milestone, 127 reached their 100 milestone, and 24 people reached their 250 milestone. 26 people called bingo. Steve Warwick was the quickest with 181 runs, while Ralph Fincher was the slowest on 335 runs. There were five new statespeople. Colin Haywood and Natalie Collings in the Northern Territory. Virgil Dollar, Michael Herman and Brad Hoff completed the ACT. Brad Hoff? Is that the old guy from the old Baywatch show? Hmm. In the top 20 most Aussie New Zealand events list, nothing much happened. Nobody lifted their ranking. But on the overall list, it was busy with 7 people jumping up rankings 9 places. Melvin Cox, Russell Waugh, Robert and Lance Plann moved to 204, while Kevin Rogers, Reece Eberhardt and Vivian Henderson moved to 233. 107 people lifted their windex this week. The biggest mover this week was Peter Sutton. Peter jumps from 18 all the way up to 40, up 22 and into second place on the ACT leaderboard. Hey hey it's Adventurer Clubs. We had two people join the Cowell Club, Anthony Patterson and Mark Hubbard. We also had two half Freynes and eight half Cowells. You can check them out on the spreadsheet. Now I'm very distressed Parkies. One week I was hot with heaps of interaction, next week it's frosty with only a couple of nibbles. But a competition is a competition. Last week's quiz question, how many people have ran in every state and territory in Australia to gain membership of the Peel Club? Well Parkies, the answer was 132. Bruce Purdy wins the year's supply of parkruns for his guess of 150. This week's question, how many of those Peel Parkies have also completed a run in both the North and South Island of New Zealand? Anyway, it's getting late and I've got to do the whole sign-off thing tonight. You'll know about downloading the spreadsheet and connecting with the informant on Facebook. So the script goes a little something like this. As always, you can contact us on Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week. And we'll see you all next week for more adventures. Bye!

Sign-off

01:04:01Unidentified speaker: Oh.