— open the full-size coverEpisode 277 - Stumped
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Episode 277 - Stumped · 2022-03-24
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Source: https://log.5kadventures.net/transcripts/ep277.html · The Adventurers Log · An independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by parkrun.
Welcome
Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 277 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie Spake and joining once again from Dharawal Country.
Melissa Ellis: And I am Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country. And Mel.
Oliver Spake: How was your parkrun?
Melissa Ellis: We're getting straight into it, aren't we?
Oliver Spake: We are. We are. parkrun business. It's serious stuff.
Melissa Ellis: I went to a local-ish event this week at Studley parkrun, as mentioned last week, to witness, along with 1,000-plus people, the Skywhales taking their first flight over Melbourne at dawn from a park in Fairfield. Deliberately chosen to be a full moon, the mild morning provided perfect conditions for balloon flight. With sounds of whales coming from a PA system, it was truly a multi-sensory experience, focusing on the shared experience of enjoying art outside of the gallery and in the public domain. Joining me on the morning were Eman, Christine and Juno. As the balloons lifted and floated gently away, we made the short walk across Kanes Bridge to the Studley parkrun start line. And I must say, once I crossed over, I did have a few moments of heart palpitations when there was no sign of any event team or flags. And I had a sudden panic that perhaps the event had been cancelled. And I hadn't checked the event page. However, that was not the case. I think it was more a case that the poor old event team couldn't get parking because of the thousand plus people there to see the whales.
Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah.
Melissa Ellis: It was my fourth visit to Studley and I chose to enjoy walking the course with Christine and Juno while Eman set off from the front of the crowd. There were 190 runners for event 253. Now, long-time listeners will remember that Scotty Trickett was the founding ED of Studley parkrun. That's right. It launched on the 27th of February 2016, which was probably not long after this very pod first was born. After the event, we enjoyed brunch at the Studley Park Boathouse with fellow Toolern Creek parkrunner Suzanne Aquilina and her son Stephen and and had a brief chat to Volley Allison, who was soon to be donning the RD vest for the very first time. The national tour called Sky Whales, Every Heart Sings, will next visit the Hamilton Art Gallery on the 14th of May and the Art Gallery of Ballarat on the 9th of July. So two more opportunities for Victorians if they want to catch the tour. Then it heads off to Cairns and Northern Territory in September and will finish up in Tamworth in October. All right.
Oliver Spake: So it's still got a fair while to run.
Melissa Ellis: It does. Yeah. And it was quite an experience to be there at dawn. And we were very lucky with the weather. It is in the hands of the gods, you could say, as to whether the conditions are right. You can put all the planning in, but if the conditions aren't there, the balloons can't launch. So we were very lucky.
Oliver Spake: I'll say, I'll say. Look, the pictures looked amazing. It looked like a divine morning and well done to you all managing to combine that with what looks like a very beautiful parkrun as well. Great to see Christine, Eman and Juno out on the road once again and Eman tearing it up by the sounds of it.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, he did, yes. I probably forgot to tell him it was a trail. He didn't bring his trail shoes. Whoopsie. I have apologised profusely for that.
Oliver Spake: Slow him down about two seconds.
Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, what about Shellharbour? I do believe you got the event up and running.
Oliver Spake: Yes, I was fortunate that the park team locally had managed to do a little bit of rectification, a little bit of pruning, and the rain had eased in the week to allow that. But unlike you, Mel, the weather was not a great one. The park-run weather fairies were very, very angry. And in spite of that, we did go ahead and There were a lot of cancellations in the, I guess, the Greater Sydney area and further afield, obviously with other events still feeling the effects of the recent floods and weather. But it was a very modest group in size that joined. We were very fortunate to have a number of volunteers keen to just give us a few extra eyes out on course. So a huge thank you to everyone that volunteered under Run Director Ralph. And I think... Probably the highlights of the morning, rather than me saying it, my work's been done for me by a few of our attendees at Dazza's. So I'm going to shut up and I'm just going to read their Dazza's posts because I think that speaks to the highlights of the morning. So Mel, first up, Bec Bailey. Very green and wet at Shellharbour parkrun today. Bit of a frond had also gathered. This puddle jumping Tail Walker had a fantastic morning with the lovely Sam Schroder. Embraced the wet and I picked up a position number 47 and 25th volley along the way. And housemates secured a second and fourth token finish.
Melissa Ellis: Well done, Bec. Congratulations.
Oliver Spake: Yes. So quickly following Bec's 100 milestone at Bellerive, he notches up the 25th volunteer back home at Shellharbour. It was nice of her to make an appearance for at least one of her milestones. And as mentioned there, we were joined by the wonderful Sam Schroder and her lovely Luke as well, who didn't post at Dazza's but was out tearing around the course. But Sam did post and her update was, Bec has filled you in on our puddle jumping antics. But I have to add that Luke also had a ball at Shellharbour in the wet. And then we headed back to our caravan to have hot showers and make pancakes. It was so lovely to see fellow volleys, Ollie, Galen and Patrick as well. And for those of you that haven't seen Dazza's, you'll see some of the action from the weekend. And I'm pretty sure that Bec and Sam managed to jump in every single puddle along the course and still somehow keep their feet.
Melissa Ellis: Well done.
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Melissa Ellis: Good work, Shellharbour.
Oliver Spake: A lot of fun. A lot of fun was had. And I believe, I believe Sam and Luke are hanging around for next week too. And guess what the weather forecast is, Mel? Heavy rain. Heavy rain.
Melissa Ellis: It's so ironic that Tasmania and Victoria are just having wonderful mild autumn and really, it was 29 here today.
Oliver Spake: Wow.
Melissa Ellis: It's crazy. It's unseasonably warm and mild and humid. We've got the fans and the air con on down here.
Oliver Spake: Mm-hmm.
Melissa Ellis: And there's floods in Queensland and rain in New South Wales. And we're used to getting trashed for our weather down here.
Oliver Spake: We all have our turn, don't we? Seems so. It seems so. But yeah, lovely parkrun day. Thanks, Mel. And what was the missing detail? I time kept, just for the record.
Melissa Ellis: Thank you for volunteering. Thank you. But Ollie, we need to touch on last week's pod. Yes. Now... As we've mentioned previously, we don't usually know when we record on a Monday night if we're going to have informants or not. And it turns out, turns out not last week. There seems to have been a mix up with the return to work dates and there were no shows.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah. So I guess we were right in saying we would have an informant. We just didn't understand how right we were.
Melissa Ellis: No, so we're very grateful to Abby's mum who stepped in at the last minute, busted into the office, hacked the computer and managed to bring us a stats report. And she did really well and got some really great feedback.
Oliver Spake: Oh, loved it. If I didn't have the restrictions of certain contracts, yeah, Abby's mum, you're welcome anytime. But hey, we do love our team. So I'm sure we can find you a spot.
Melissa Ellis: We do, but we should mention some of the feedback was from Sam Schroder. If there was the option of a vote, we'd vote Abby's mum for informant duties anytime you like. Laugh out loud content, absolutely loved it. So thanks for giving us feedback on that, Sam. Although Greg Garner, he didn't like the theme music.
Oliver Spake: I think I know why.
Melissa Ellis: I'm with Greg because we're both Magpie supporters. So the mortal enemy of the Magpie is the Navy Blues, which was said football theme music that Renee managed to locate for herself.
Oliver Spake: And given Greg's attire, which I failed to mention when we're talking about the parkrun adventurers Listener Meetup dress-ups, he was a pie.
Melissa Ellis: He was. And that threw me for a little while. What is he doing? He's not even a Victorian. I don't really get how he barracks for Collingwood, but anyway.
Oliver Spake: We all have our tastes. We all have our tastes. And for our overseas listeners, pie means magpie, which is the, what do we call it, the official bird or just the emblem of the Collingwood magpies? Mascot. The mascot. That's what I'm after.
Melissa Ellis: Yes, which was why I was so excited last week in the Dazza's where there was the post from the sports stadium. I think it was a hockey stadium with a giant magpie in the background.
Oliver Spake: Yes, you did appreciate that.
Melissa Ellis: I did because they are my team. So thank you again, Renee, for your help. I do believe that there has been a return to the office this week.
Oliver Spake: Okay. Well, that's exciting. It'd be good to have them back from their travels. Do you think they've gone and scouted some new parkrun locations or some new listener meetup locations, Mel?
Melissa Ellis: Hopefully, yep. If they've read their homework correctly, they've been out scouting.
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Melissa Ellis: We'll see. We'll see what they say in their report later on.
Oliver Spake: That's right. Something to look forward to.
Melissa Ellis: But, Mel, there is something else to look forward to that has been announced recently. This was a big announcement this week, Ollie. Do you want to tell us?
Oliver Spake: I would love to. Okay. Last year, we were very excited about the opportunity to take a hot lap and enjoy the Mount Panorama Punish. But sadly, it was cancelled due to COVID last year. But happily, it's been announced for this October. So the date has been announced as Sunday, October 23. So it's time to start planning, especially if we're up for a palm frond.
Melissa Ellis: It is. Put it in your diary. Keep the weekend free. Come up for Bathurst parkrun and Mount Panorama Punish. We're going camping. Are you going to camp with us, Ollie? That sounds fun. I think so. I reckon we book out the caravan park. Yep. So much fun.
Oliver Spake: That's my plan. Have you done Bathurst parkrun, Mel? Nope.
Melissa Ellis: I'm saving it. And Stephen Jackson, he's in the Adventurers Club. That's my understanding, yes. He's popping up every week, running at Bathurst.
Oliver Spake: Yep.
Melissa Ellis: So thank you, Stephen. Welcome.
Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah. We look forward to visiting our friends up there. Yeah, checking out the course.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew
Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, let's cut straight to the chase. We have Cam coming up who sent us in a roving report that came a little bit too late to include last week, coming to us from WA. What a coincidence. The lovely Applecross parkrun. So let's have a listen to Cam.
Roving report Cameron Drake — Applecross parkrun
Cameron Drake: G'day everyone, Cam here reporting in from beautiful Applecross parkrun. We are right on the river, forget which one of course. We've got beautiful views of our magnificent city and a lovely green parkland. It is a crisp morning, not too hot, not too cold, just right. And I've turned up completely unprepared, no idea what I'm gonna ask people. Let's see what comes out my mouth. Okay everyone, I'm here with Peter. Now Peter, you've got a certain bounce in your step. What's gotten into you today? Oh, I just love doing parkruns. I get excited every time I do them. And why's that? I don't know. It just makes you feel good. It really does. And you meet a lot of great people too. I'm sure there are a lot of great people. You've got two ladies here sort of giving us looks and sort of giggling at us. Two ladies, yes. Why are they laughing at us? I'm not sure why they're laughing at us, but they're probably just as excited as we are. 25th run yay well done congratulations to me well done you we'll give you a shout out at the pre-run all right thank you great talking to you Peter okay thanks Cameron okay now I'm here with an interestingly attired group of ladies in pink with a certain creature on front would anyone like to explain what's on their front of their top
[laughter]
guest: Okay, so the front of our top is a llama. We're a loosely aligned running group called the No Drama Llamas, a group of more mature women who like to get out and run, but actually like coffee and cake afterwards more.
Cameron Drake: Coffee drinkers with a running problem.
guest: That's it.
Cameron Drake: Oh, that's par for course for parkrun. So, got to know, where's the best coffee around here? Anyone? we're visitors to this parkrun today we're rocking from Rockingham parkrun oh no I've been there a few times okay so basically I'm on my own for coffee duties right thanks really appreciate that when you find a good spot let us know and we'll come and join you I know I might follow all the cyclists my god there's more bikes than cars around here sure did up there
guest: couple of cafes there. There's one called Chocolato or something like that. They do really good muffin. Cool.
Unidentified speaker: There you go. That's important.
Cameron Drake: Alright. Well thank you very much ladies and I hope you have a great run.
Unidentified speaker: Thank you.
Cameron Drake: I'm here with today's Run Director, Paul. Paul, how's it going today? Yeah, it's going really well. How was today's event? Very, very humid.
Paul: Oh, let me tell you, yeah, it's humid as. Is that normal? No, not at all. It's normally sunny here. The only complaint I ever get about this course is, well, I get two complaints, one of which is we make people run past the start line and do a little 1K leg, and lots of people don't like that. Aww. It's character building. But yeah, the other one is we don't have a huge amount of shade. We've got fantastic views, but we don't have a huge amount of shade. So on sunny days, it's quite warm. But apart from that, it's never this humid. And how about numbers? Is this representative of typical numbers at Applecross? Yeah, I think so. I think, yeah, we're just over 100, I would guess today.
Cameron Drake: So I think that's pretty much typical. Oh, I reckon it might be a little more than that, maybe tipping towards 125, 130? Yeah, we'll see what the final count is. We got 130 last week, so it feels about the same, so yeah. Okay, so can you tell me a little bit about the history of Applecross parkrun? I'll put you on the spot, haven't I?
Paul: Yeah, yeah. I haven't really thought about that question. Yeah, so we've been running for about five years, pretty much uninterrupted, apart from we had a bit of path work for a while and, of course, the interruptions everyone's had. We've more or less got... I'd say the event team has been pretty stable. So we've got almost the same, no, about half the people on the event team are the same people that started, which is good. That's good to see. Yeah. So I'm actually the Event Director now, but we had a different Event Director for the first year. But yeah, other than that, it's a really nice event. It runs itself. It has a really nice community built around it now. Now, we've got quite a few people who are tourists, but we also have like a core of people who just run here, which is really nice. It's good having regulars, isn't it? Yeah, yeah. And, yeah, you see the same faces week after week. Being reasonably central, one of the things I'm looking forward to is starting to get more international visitors again. That's something that... Last week we had someone from London and it's our first international visitor for so long and it makes you realise it's really nice when you call out and say, is anyone from anywhere? And they say somewhere weird like Iceland or... I don't know. And, yeah, have missed that. That'll be one of the things that'll be really nice now we're opening up again.
Cameron Drake: Yeah, we've been getting excited just for interstate visitors. But London, that was pretty cool.
Paul: Yeah, yeah, it was. Yes. They must have really been on the first plane in, I think.
Cameron Drake: Oh, I reckon. Midnight red-eye.
Paul: Yeah. All right, Paul, it's been great chatting to you. And thanks for putting on a great event today.
Cameron Drake: And I hope to see you again someday later. Yep, yep. I'll come and visit you at Tamworth next time I'm travelling. Fantastic. Get your tea.
Paul: Thank you.
Oliver Spake: And thank you, Cam, for that roving report from what looks like a pretty stunning parkrun location, Mel. Have you seen Applecross parkrun before?
Melissa Ellis: I have not, Ollie, but I did like the description.
Oliver Spake: Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Sounds like a good location to me. Yeah.
Oliver Spake: Sounds very Bellerive-esque. Looking across the river, it is flat. Mel, I've done my research. It is flat.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, I don't know about your version of flat, Ollie. I looked back on the Strava segment of Bellerive, and apart from the great big mountain in the middle, it was quite flat.
Oliver Spake: Well, Applecross appears to have 12 metres difference in elevation. Right, okay. So that one looks fairly safe. Yeah. But, yeah, lovely to hear from Cam. Thank you. And apologies for the one-week delay in being able to hear from you over there, Cam. We'll call it the time difference. But, Mel, I'm not sure we have mail. No. No. No mail.
Melissa Ellis: No mail. What a shame. I'd like inserting my little sound effect. Oh, well. Never mind.
Oliver Spake: You have to insert a little haven't in between the sound effect. Yeah.
Dazza's
Melissa Ellis: So Dazza's. Yes. Straight on to Dazza's. Dazza's this week. It was reflecting on the St. Patrick's Day theme that had occurred on the 17th. That's the right date, isn't it, the 17th?
Oliver Spake: That's right.
Melissa Ellis: And Dazza said, to be sure, to be sure. Dazza is open and although a few days late, happily accepting orders for all things Irish for this week's St Patrick's Day. We've changed the menu this week, so please enjoy Guinness chocolate puddings, soda bread and slow cooked Irish stew with colcanon. I hope that's how you say it. Or just do what others like to do and turn everything green. Come in and tell us all about your parkrun day.
Oliver Spake: You've just reminded me that I forgot to have a coffee with Irish cream.
Melissa Ellis: Oh.
Oliver Spake: Never mind.
Melissa Ellis: But in two does's we had first up as our tourist for the week, Bernadette Bennett. Lots of green to see at Northparkes Oval parkrun, but alas, no leprechauns. Bernadette shared a photo looking down the grassy hill towards the Oval. That is the parkrun that I want to get to, Ollie. That's where I was supposed to be going for Easter, and I'm not sure it's going to happen.
Oliver Spake: Oh, oh, that's changed. Oh, it's a long story for another day. Okay. Okay, next week's pod. Well, Mel, hopefully a bit of tourism from someone else will inspire you. Chris Fraser.
Melissa Ellis: Oh. I see what you did there.
Oliver Spake: In a very well-liked posting, I was blessed to have a private chauffeur take me to the sunniest parkrun, followed by not one but two four-star sausage rolls. And Chris did share a photo, a pretty impressive photo on the stump, the stump with this selfie frame and the Chris Fraser. And then also a separate photo of said four-star sausage roll. That looked like a good morning.
Melissa Ellis: He did have a good morning, didn't he? Two four-star sausage rolls. That's eight stars. That's high praise because he's a harsh critic. Yes. They must have been decent size, not like the Bellerive one.
Oliver Spake: Oh, yeah.
Melissa Ellis: And we heard from across the ditch from our favourite New Zealander, Alison King, I walked 130 metres from the finish line to the start at Puarenga parkrun today. The last few weeks... Another volunteer has started the timing app for me, but I did it all by myself today. And my new apricot cap arrived yesterday, so it got its first outing. Finished off with extended coffee and chat with some Auckland refugees. At the moment, Puarenga parkrun is New Zealand's most northerly event. Alison shared a photo with the crutches making the walk.
Oliver Spake: Well done, Alison.
Melissa Ellis: Yes, the cast is off, I believe.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, very exciting and still providing such support. Speaking of volunteers, Mel, we heard of another volunteer this week, and Val Warwick reported. Good morning, Dazza, from beautiful sunny northwest Tassie, where I should have had a strong coffee before my volley roll. I gave out tokens correctly, but I forgot to video Steve's first time as RD briefing. Sure enjoyed my coffee afterwards, though, especially as we shared it with another adventurer, Nathan from Inverloch. And Val did share a photo at cafe time with Steve enjoying his well-earned coffee afterwards. Also joined by Val and Nathan in the photo. Well done, Steve. Yes, congratulations.
Melissa Ellis: It's a big thing to step up as an RD.
Oliver Spake: It is. I personally find it a really fun role. It can be challenging and we would love to hear more about Steve's experience. He shared a bit of it. Hopefully the first of many wonderful parkrun mornings in that vest though.
Melissa Ellis: And our parkrunner this week enjoying parkrun at his home course was Michael Scott. Morning, Dazza, or should I call you Daryl? Caught up with a bit of volunteering this week in the rain at my home run at Lakeview in Newcastle. Large hot chocolate, please, and maybe a piece of cake to celebrate Pete Bartlett's 100th run this morning. Thanks for checking in, Michael.
Oliver Spake: And happy 100th to Pete. Now... A little bit of a frond, Greg Garner. With my home parkrun still on hold, volunteered at Noosa parkrun as the Tail Walker today and was able to catch up with Brendan Peel, who was in the Sunshine State for the weekend. And Greg shared a photo of some of the mini frond with Greg and Brendan.
Melissa Ellis: And our mate, Jeff Garner. Geoff Glaab coming from the US of A. Hello, Dazza. Pepper and I drove 280 miles to visit Mansfield, Ohio, parkrun and got a parkrun PB in some windy and rainy conditions. It was my fifth different event and Pepper's third. We'd like two sausage rolls, please. And Jeff shared a photo of himself with... We think Pepper, he's a bark runner on course in the woods in Ohio.
Oliver Spake: Yes, that's tourism at another scale.
Melissa Ellis: 280 miles. How many kilometres is that? Is that like...
Oliver Spake: Speaking from my own perspective, at least.
Melissa Ellis: No, no. It's valid. Miles are longer than kilometres, aren't they?
Oliver Spake: That's right.
Melissa Ellis: Is it like two and a half or something like that?
Oliver Spake: I can't remember the ratio. It's between, what is it, one and a half and two, isn't it? But 280 miles, quick conversion, 451 kilometres.
Melissa Ellis: Right. Nice effort, Jeff.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Good work. Now- On the nottie front, we've got a couple of notties here, Mel. Lee Cabarita, hey Dazza, Sally, Bianca and I thought we'd knock off our NENDY chasing Ray Ferrer and drove out to Panania. Lucky we got there with 30 minutes to spare as a super nice volunteer approached us and told us It was just cancelled due to the recent rain. But if we leave now, we could make Menai. With a gracious heart, we headed to Menai. No one in sight. Check the Facebook page to find it cancelled too. So with no time left to make another, before eight, we headed to the cafe, defeated. Can't say we didn't try.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, worst nightmare.
Oliver Spake: I suppose, yeah. That's the flip side of your experience there, Mel. No one in the car park this time. Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Sorry, Lee. Did you notice how I've just changed all the text to bigger text, Ollie? I couldn't read that tiny little writing.
Oliver Spake: That's what I use Zoom for, Mel.
Melissa Ellis: And our second nottie from Brett Bailey. We did a special St Patrick's Day nottie freedom run on Thursday at Pegasus with a small group of Pega runners, including the Jeffricorn in full attire. Today I did a nottie on the coastal trails of Timaru. No parkrun here, but would be an awesome place to have one. No Irish breakfast, but a great eggs benny and a flat white. And Brett shared us a photo of his eggs, Benny, but no photo of the Jeffricorn, which is what I would have liked a photo of.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah, we need to see the Jeffricorn, please, Brett, if it's not too late. And we also heard from Bruce Purdy, also getting into the tourist side of things.
Melissa Ellis: Hey, Dazza.
Oliver Spake: Does green pesto and avocado count for a wee touch of green? We had a fabulous morning visiting the Mullum Mullum parkrun. Great volleys and such a scenic course. Then it was Donna's choice to visit Lil' Nonna's in Baldwin for our post-parkrun breakfast. And I was taken by the photo there. The breakfast looked very colourful and looked divine.
Melissa Ellis: Bruce is definitely getting around and clocking up the tourism.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Well done, Bruce. Good job. Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Now, our UK tourist this week is Helen Rudder. Morning, Dazza. Corn sausage butty, please. Had a lovely sunny run at Ollie.
Oliver Spake: My pronunciation is going to be terrible, but is it Ann Colm?
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, but I put in the phonetic thing. Where's it gone? I don't know. What happened to it? I mustn't have pressed save. Oh, man. Ancom had a lovely sunny runner. And a lovely sunny run at Ancholme Valley Way parkrun in Brigg was beautiful running by water. Helen, next week, can you please put the pronunciation, phonetic pronunciation in for me? But anyway, Helen sent a nice photo looking through the trees, across the water, down the path on a very clear morning. And I've done my homework, Ollie. I do know what a corn sausage buddy is, just in case you wondered.
Oliver Spake: Oh, yeah, I'm curious. Yeah, I was wondering this.
Melissa Ellis: So a corn sausage, corn as in Q-U-O-R-N, it's a meatless sausage.
Oliver Spake: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
Melissa Ellis: And a butty is an open sandwich.
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Melissa Ellis: So it's a fake sausage in a piece of bread. So that's just like a butting snag, Ollie. Oh, except it's not really a snag.
Oliver Spake: It's a different kind of snag.
Melissa Ellis: I wonder if they have onion above or below.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. It's important where it's placed. It's a safety thing, isn't it? Or sauce. Yeah. Well, you didn't Google that too?
Melissa Ellis: I don't know. Well, no. No. It wasn't mentioned.
Oliver Spake: Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Actually, corn sausage buddy didn't come up in there. I had to Google everything separately.
Oliver Spake: Ah, right. Yes. Yes.
Melissa Ellis: Anyway, thank you, Helen. I hope you had a good morning.
Oliver Spake: It's one I want to try. Yes. And yes, thank you, Helen. And rounding us out, Patty O'Shymitzek. Yes. Also at home, and we may have heard about this parkrun, so apologies for the repetition, but top of the evening to you, Dazza. While it might be a bit late to place an order, I can report that I had some grapes and lime cordial on the 17th. parkrun day was spent at home. With all the rain about, we had lots of green growth all over. The numbers were down, but the enthusiasm was high. As token giver, I counted just 48 parkrunners, but they were all very enthusiastic, some even aiming for the puddles. Tourists were abundant from far and wide, including celebrity tourists Sam and Luke Schroder from Patrick O'Shymitzek.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, well done, Paddy. That's his new nickname, I think. What was the other one? Shimizu.
Oliver Spake: I was thinking Shimo, but yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Shimo, that's right. That's what it was. Yeah. Paddy's even easier. I reckon we go with that now. And what was I going to say? I think he missed an opportunity there. He's quite well known for his Strava art. I really think that, what are they? It's not a clover. What's the other name for it?
Oliver Spake: Well, I would say a four-leaf clover. No, no, no. There is a name for it.
Melissa Ellis: It's three-leafed and it's got something else.
Oliver Spake: Yes, yes.
Melissa Ellis: Damn it, it's left my mind. It's what our art department did a really poor imitation of on Dazza's post this week when I requested some St Patrick's Day-themed artwork. Did you see that?
Oliver Spake: I'm not sure who signed off that invoice. Did you see the cost of that artwork? No. But I believe what we're referring to here is the shamrock.
Melissa Ellis: That's it.
Oliver Spake: Thank you, Google.
Melissa Ellis: That's it. That's exactly it. Oh, you're so good on the Google, Ollie.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, I should have remembered that. Talked about that just three days ago. I'd already forgotten.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and the shamrock's got three leaves. It's not like the four-leaf clover.
Oliver Spake: That's right.
Melissa Ellis: I did do some homework through the week, even if I couldn't remember what it was called.
[laughter]
Unidentified speaker: Ha, ha, ha.
Oliver Spake: But, look, thank you to the art department. I think Dazza looked splendid as always. Oh, that's a stretch.
Melissa Ellis: The art department was too busy going away for the weekend to really give a lot of care, and we got a very last-minute, this will do, to our request. Never mind. It's all mates' rates.
Oliver Spake: That's right. I suppose, speaking of mates' rates.
Melissa Ellis: Okay.
Oliver Spake: Oh.
the Obi Award — Chris Fraser
Oliver Spake: Oh, an Obi? I think it's time to award the Obi.
Melissa Ellis: Have you got the envelope?
Oliver Spake: I've just realised I don't have it in front of me. Hang on. Hang on. Got it. Okay. Okay. I have the envelope. Okay. Mel, this week's Obi goes to Chris Fraser. It was very hard to say that with a straight face.
[laughter]
Melissa Ellis: Did he vote?
Oliver Spake: Who actually works this out? I'm not sure who it is in the office that... Who prepares the envelope? Well... I just went looking on the shelf and that's why I had to rustle around a bit because I couldn't find it. Whoever prepared it just wasn't around this afternoon or this evening to hand me the envelope, so I had to find it. So... I don't know. I mean, I'm not sure we've got a dispute procedure for the Obis. So once it's awarded, it's kind of awarded.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. No.
Oliver Spake: And it's well-deserved because I think by extension, this goes not just to Chris Fraser, but to his support crew, his chauffeur. Absolutely.
Melissa Ellis: Mr. Tony O'Connell.
Oliver Spake: That's right. And I did see a lovely photo also with Jacqui, Tony and Chris around that stump. Yes, with a lot of sunshine. But it was a well-deserved win, not for the lack of trying from many of our other Dazza attendees. And thank you to everyone else that popped in and shared their experience with us, whether it was parkrun or not parkrun related. We loved it. And, yeah, we look forward to hearing from you all again next week.
Melissa Ellis: He's the first multiple Obi winner.
Oliver Spake: There's always got to be a first.
Melissa Ellis: He won the week where he kidnapped you and took you to –
Oliver Spake: Let me just put this on record. I have not been coerced.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, there's a point.
Oliver Spake: There is nothing poking into the back of my neck right now.
Melissa Ellis: Good grief. Oh, well, there we go. That is Dazza's for another week, Ollie.
Oliver Spake: That is.
[music]
Melissa Ellis: So for something different, let's see what our informants are up to this week.
the Informant
The Informant: This is the informant. These are unofficial stats. They are only current at the time they are collected, and may differ from the stats you read elsewhere. There were 396 runs held down under, which is a... You're not going to comment on why we missed last week? What do you mean, we?
The Informant: Well, you weren't here either.
The Informant: I don't do recordings anymore. Too many complaints about my diction.
The Informant: You can't say that.
The Informant: What?
The Informant: What you just said.
The Informant: Diction?
The Informant: Oh, my God.
The Informant: Oh, you're a dimwit. So where were you?
The Informant: On leave. Ollie signed the form, but my fault he didn't check the dates properly.
The Informant: Hmm. Accountability isn't your thing, is it?
The Informant: Not when I can trace everything back to your lack of quality supervision. Last week there were three junior parkruns. 263 juniors participated and 50 of those were first timers. 40 got a PB. Benjamin Norlander, Chloe Miller, Flynn Barrett, Mead Lingard and Nicholas Gibbs scored their half marathon wristband for 11 runs. Brooke Jones, Joel Torpey, Nathaniel Still, Samuel Wang scored marathon wristbands for 21 runs. Hannah Sell and Zoe Ellis scored ultra wristbands for 50 runs. The good on yous. Now you do the 5k events.
The Informant: I know, you might as well go all the way now.
The Informant: Oh, you're such a sook. There were 396 runs held down under, which is up 29 on last week. 382 of these were in Australia and 14 in New Zealand. This was out of 1,638 worldwide. Aussie New Zealand attendance is down about 300 to 35,706. 197,852 ran worldwide. There were two launches, Pambula Wetlands in New South Wales and Durlston Country Park in the UK. Down under we had 4,582 PBs, while 1,400 people participated for the first time. 98 juniors reached their Junior 10 milestone, 141 people reached their 50 milestone, 89 people reached their 100 milestone, and 17 people reached their 250 milestone. 18 people called bingo. John McShane was the quickest with 180 runs, while Ragua Ullman was slowest on 302 runs. There were 10 new statespeople. Joshua Thompson, Jason Kirkpatrick, Andrew Walker, Mara Jumancik, Andrew Thompson, and Leah Whedon in the ACT. Nathan Langridge in the Northern Territory, Angela and Stephen Trott in Victoria. In the top 20 most Aussie New Zealand events, Robin Wishworth moved up to equal fifth with Errol Poole on 186 different parkruns. On the overall list, the biggest movers were five people who moved up eight in the rankings. Elisa Chapman, Michael Blain, Reece Eberhardt, Helen and Steven Davis. 80 people lifted their Windex this week. The biggest mover was Cindy Wu. Cindy jumps from 7 all the way to 34, up 27. In the Adventurer Clubs, we had one person join the Cowell Club. Matt Rashke.
The Informant: So do the sign-off.
The Informant: I don't want to do the sign-off.
The Informant: Just do it.
The Informant: It's stupid.
The Informant: Just do the sign-off.
The Informant: Okay, alright.
The Informant: No.
The Informant: Far out. Talk about cranky high pants, tantrum trucker. If you want to see these stats in full, download them from the blog at www.theinformant.me or look for The Informant on Facebook. This has been The Informant and our spreadsheet. Well, it's pretty big.
Oliver Spake: And thank you to our informant, who I believe is not Abby's mum. So we believe. And moving swiftly on. Moving swiftly on. Mel, where are we up to with the Adventurers Club?
Melissa Ellis: It's increased a little, Ollie. Just today, since I prepped our notes, we are up to 147 members. We're doing really well.
Oliver Spake: That's great to have so many people on board getting out there and being a part of it. Thank you, everyone.
Consolidated Club Report
Oliver Spake: Wow.
Melissa Ellis: And on this last Saturday, we had 110 members on our Consolidated Club Report at 71 different events. That included nine events in the UK, Worsley Woods, Burnage, Haigh Woodland, Tooting Common, Blackpool, Mallards Pike, Cusworth Hall, Alton Water, Ancholme Valley Way... Oh, Ollie, that's where the reference was.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, it makes sense. Yes.
Melissa Ellis: We had one in New Zealand at Hamilton Park, one in South Africa at Brandkop, two in the USA, Roosevelt Island, D.C., and Mansfield, Ohio, and one in France, parkrun du Bois de Boulogne, Paris. Did I get that right?
Oliver Spake: I'm probably not the authority on that, but it sounded good.
Melissa Ellis: Anyway, locally, there were adventurers at 25 events in Victoria, 10 events in New South Wales, 12 in Queensland, five in WA, two in South Australia, two this week in the ACT and one in Tasmania. Although we did have our Warwick's at a second event volunteering.
Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. And there was a good call out, wasn't there, Mel? We understand that there are technical limitations in the parkrun website currently preventing us from being able to celebrate in the same way the volunteering from our Adventurers Club volunteers.
Melissa Ellis: That's right, Ollie. So the fronds that I did note this week was Inverloch had three adventurers. We had three at Birdsland Reserve, three at Benalla Botanic Gardens, and three listed at Shellharbour. Although it was pointed out to us that there were more adventurers at Shellharbour in a volunteering capacity, but... As you correctly point out, we can't get those stats. The Consolidated Club Report only covers runners at events and not volunteers, which I think hopefully in the future might be something that parkrun look at as they are very supportive and proud of volunteers and interested in promoting the volunteering side of parkrun. So perhaps that would going forward be something that they would be looking at including in the Consolidated Club Report.
Oliver Spake: And we look forward to celebrating that when it happens. But in the meantime, please keep adding your volunteer experiences to the Consolidated Club Report posting when we share it. It doesn't matter if you've checked into Dazza's, we want to hear, especially if you volunteer.
Melissa Ellis: I have another apology from last week, Ollie.
Oliver Spake: Oh, yes.
Melissa Ellis: Well, when I mentioned our resident ACT adventurers, I did reference Marvellous Mark and our friend Will. Didn't mention our very special adventurer friend in Michael Charlton, who was still down in Tassie.
Oliver Spake: He was.
Melissa Ellis: Holding the torch in the dark when all the other adventurers had left and turned the lights out. So we haven't forgotten about you, Michael.
Oliver Spake: That's right. Our very own Pac-Man. You are our very special ACT representative. Mel, there's some good representation around the country. We've still got a territory missing out there, but fantastic to see so many there. I look forward to next week.
Melissa Ellis: You never know, Ollie. Maybe next week will be the week when the Northern Territory pops up. I live in hope.
Oliver Spake: Do we call bingo when we have them all?
Melissa Ellis: Oh, good point. But, yeah, and exciting for France to pop up there. That was Christine Imbert who had a bit of a UK tourism trip across Europe. What do they call their body of water across from? Across the channel.
Sign-off
Oliver Spake: The channel. Great work, Christine. I trust it was a fantastic time. Very envious. Yeah. But what are you looking forward to, Mel?
Melissa Ellis: Me? Well, Ollie, thank you for asking. This coming Saturday, I'm going to work on the Peel Ellis Cup. Are you familiar with this challenge? Have I mentioned it before?
Oliver Spake: It may have been mentioned to me before. I can't say who's mentioned it, but I think I have heard of it, yes.
Melissa Ellis: So the challenge has been laid down to me by Sir Brendan Peel. And the challenge is between the two of us, the first one to achieve 100 events at their home parkrun.
Oliver Spake: Okay.
Melissa Ellis: So Brendan has a slight advantage at the moment.
Oliver Spake: Yep.
Melissa Ellis: He's sitting on, I think, about 68 events at... The wonderful Albert Park. Oh. I shouldn't say Albert Park. Albert Melbourne parkrun. I know that one. You do. And I am considerably lower with my events at Toolern Creek. And apparently I'm not allowed to add my previous parkruns at my previous home parkrun at Berwick Springs. I'm not allowed to add that to my total. So, man, I feel like I'm at a bit of a disadvantage having moved.
Oliver Spake: Well, that sounds like a challenge. I mean, are we talking equivalent timeframes? Have you had the same amount of time to establish this, you know, this current standing compared to Brendan? I think not. Okay.
Melissa Ellis: Pretty sure Brendan has recently clocked up 10 years off parkrunning. Or with Albert as the... Yes, I'm a couple of years behind him. Okay. But I'm not one to shy from a challenge, Ollie.
Oliver Spake: Well, that's the fun of it, right?
Melissa Ellis: I'm going to give it a red hot crack. Yeah. So this week, this week I'm at Toolern Creek.
Oliver Spake: Very good. Does that mean I should be coming to Toolern Creek?
Melissa Ellis: Well, I don't think your timeframe is going to allow you to get out to the creek, unfortunately. Unfortunately, yeah. Not if your lovely wife wants to experience shopping in St Kilda. I don't think downtown Meltown will have the same shopping experience, just saying.
Oliver Spake: I hear they have a fantastic fancy dress store.
Melissa Ellis: And they have an award-winning pie shop too. They do. A bakery. Yes. Buddy's Bakery in Meltown is quite well known.
Oliver Spake: You make a good sell there.
Melissa Ellis: But it's a little bit further down the train line.
Oliver Spake: Yeah. So needless to say, you're working on your Peel Ellis Cup standings next week.
Melissa Ellis: I am. And what about you, Ollie? Back at Shellharbour again?
Oliver Spake: Where else? It's raining. I'll be there. I'm in the vest this weekend and looking forward to it, Mel. Excellent.
Melissa Ellis: But I wonder, Ollie, I wonder where Steve's bike is going to turn up this week.
Oliver Spake: Well, yes, yes, I did notice the clue at Dazza's. We didn't read it out, but there was a clue in there, a cryptic clue. I'm not sure if anyone's managed to work it out of the week just gone.
Melissa Ellis: But yeah, where do you think? They are very good, those clues. I'm enjoying trying to work them out every week. It's a little bit of a step up from my usual perusing of Strava and looking at my friend's Strava maps and guessing at the events without knowing where they've ran. Do you do that? Because I'm really familiar with all the Victorian courses, so I kind of can just look at them and go, oh, yep, yep, that's Point Cook. I know that squiggle.
Oliver Spake: Okay.
Melissa Ellis: I know the Shellharbour squiggle. I know the new course squiggle now too.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah. Oh, that's impressive, Mel. We tried to make it as much like an S as possible, but I got the bottom bit wrong. One job. One job. So yes. Well, I must admit my parkrun course knowledge is far inferior to your own. So that's not a quiz I'm going to win anytime soon. Okay. But, ooh, yes. Are we thinking the same thing? Are you thinking what I'm thinking, B1?
Melissa Ellis: I don't know.
Oliver Spake: I've got no idea. It was a great thought. It has to be in person. Next year's Palm. I think we should have course picture trivia.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, that's kind of the way I was going. I was thinking we needed to have some sort of competition where we post the maps, the course maps, and I think they might do this periodically on the Aussie tourism page where somebody will post a few course maps and you've got to guess the courses.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah. I knew I was ripping off someone's idea there.
Melissa Ellis: We could do that. We could add a new level to our dinners where we have a little bit of trivia happening.
Oliver Spake: I think so.
Melissa Ellis: We'll get the event team onto that.
Oliver Spake: We will. We will. That's going to be a long wait.
Melissa Ellis: I know.
Oliver Spake: Plenty of time to plan.
Melissa Ellis: We'll have to make do with our camping trip. Yes. Our Bathurst camping trip.
Oliver Spake: So that's right, everyone. Start planning. Keep your eyes peeled for if, well, actually, have a look because I believe registrations will have opened by the time this podcast is out.
Melissa Ellis: Yes. And it's capped at 1200. So we have to be prompt.
Oliver Spake: That's right. So jump straight onto that. And we hope to see a few of you in Bathurst. And you know what else is exciting?
Melissa Ellis: What's that? Paul bought runners today. Very nice. What do they like? Well, it's not just exciting that he's got new runners. It's exciting that he's getting back into running because he hasn't ran since before the pandemic.
Oliver Spake: That's fantastic. Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: If you cast your mind back to all the events at Palm, Paul walked around in his Oofos.
Oliver Spake: He was in the Oofos. They looked very comfy. Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: But he's keen to get back into running and he went out and he bought runners today.
Oliver Spake: So maybe, maybe he'll come run Bathurst with me. I think the Ellis family is certainly achieving some, yeah.
Melissa Ellis: We're moving forward. Let's say that.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's it.
Melissa Ellis: I think that's it, Ollie. I think we've covered everything that we needed to cover today. A shorter pod, me thinks.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, a bit of balance. So everyone, if you're out for a run or a drive, is the time to switch over. Thank you, everyone, for your company. Thank you, Mel, for your company. Good to catch up as always ahead of a weekend at home for both of us. But as always, everyone, you can contact us via Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. But that is it for another week, and we will see you all next week for more adventures.
Abby's report
Hannah: Hi adventurers, my name is Hannah and I am Abby's big sister. Today I will be reporting in instead of Abby. We have been busy practising for School Fun Run. Woohoo! We can't wait to run! Bye adventurers, keep running!