Episode 279 - Phil Gore

Welcome

00:00:23Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 279 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie Spake and I'm joining once again from Dharawal Country.

00:00:32Melissa Ellis: And I am Melissa Ellis and I am coming to you from Wurundjeri Country.

00:00:37Oliver Spake: How are you Mel?

00:00:39Melissa Ellis: I'm on a high still Ollie from our weekend. It was fabulous. Absolutely fabulous.

00:00:45Oliver Spake: It was a highlight of a weekend that's for sure.

00:00:48Melissa Ellis: Thank you for coming to visit me in Victoria.

00:00:50Oliver Spake: It was an absolute delight.

00:00:52Melissa Ellis: I think, Ollie, we need to start the pod off a little differently this week. So instead of telling you where I was, I've got a little bit of audio that I want to play.

Roving report Melissa Ellis — Albert Melbourne

00:01:04Melissa Ellis: Okay. Good morning, parkrun adventurers. It's Melissa here and I'm coming to you from Albert parkrun in Melbourne. It's my fifth time here at Albert and I should say we are on the grounds of the Bunurong people. Now, I'll see if I can find somebody that I can talk to. The first time this briefing is going on over here, maybe I can find... Hello. Hello, what's your name? Hi, I'm Cathy. Hi, Cathy.

00:01:31Cathy: Is this your first time to Albert Park? Yes, it is. What brings you here? Oh, down in Melbourne for the weekend with my husband. Oh. So I thought we'd give this one a go. Excellent. Yeah. Where are you from? I'm from Sydney, well, from south of Sydney.

00:01:45Melissa Ellis: OK. OK. Have you been doing anything else while you've been in town?

00:01:49Cathy: Went and saw Moulin Rouge last night, which was great, and saw a comedy show, and yeah, lots of eating and drinking. Excellent. That's about it.

00:01:56Melissa Ellis: You came all the way to Melbourne for that? We did, yes.

00:01:59Cathy: Any special occasion? No, not really, but wherever we go, we always have to do a parkrun, get dragged around for a parkrun a fair bit. Really? Okay. But you haven't done many yourself? Not many myself, no. Okay. This is actually my third parkrun. So your husband's pretty obsessed. Oh, I'm so obsessed. I hear about it all day long. Oh, that would get really annoying. It does a bit. Gets on my nerves a fair bit.

00:02:27Melissa Ellis: Is this your husband over here?

00:02:29Cathy: I think it is. Oh, hello.

00:02:31Melissa Ellis: What's your name? My name's Ollie. Welcome to Albert. Thank you, Mel. We should probably go and do a run. Yes. Okay.

00:02:44Oliver Spake: Yes, let's.

00:02:45Melissa Ellis: All right, enjoy.

00:02:46Oliver Spake: Warm up. Yes.

00:02:49Melissa Ellis: Ollie, that was a bit of fun, wasn't it? It was so lovely to meet Cathy. I had met her once before at our original Palm at the dress-up night, but just spent a bit more time with you and Cathy. I really did enjoy that at Albert parkrun.

00:03:05Oliver Spake: Yeah, look, you'd call it rare as hen's teeth to have Cathy at a parkrun. So to have her manage an interstate parkrun adventure and to have the chance to catch up with not only yourself but a few other great parkrunning friends, new friends and existing friends, it was such a high, as you say.

00:03:28Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, Cathy and I and Adrian, we got the parkrun photo of the day. Yes.

00:03:34Oliver Spake: Look, I'll go further. It's my new favourite parkrun photo.

00:03:38Melissa Ellis: I was so happy with that photo. And for those listening, we were on a section of the course that is unique to Grand Prix time when their course is interrupted by the setup for the Grand Prix, the Melbourne Grand Prix, where we had to go out onto the racetrack, which doesn't have any vehicles, it's closed to vehicles, but we had a 300 metre section of course where we ran out onto the Grand Prix track. There was a photographer lying there waiting for the runners to come along. We went into aeroplane mode and it was just the perfect photo. I'm so happy with that photo. I mean...

00:04:25Oliver Spake: Yeah, not even a flying V would have made that more appropriately spaced and coordinated. Did you discuss angles? No. It was very well set up.

00:04:38Melissa Ellis: We literally turned the bend. There was the photographer. We were running along and I yelled out, aeroplane. And Cathy and Adrian instantly in unison, their arms went up. And I was a bit worried at the time. I thought, oh, were we a bit close? Is Cathy going to be in shot? It's so hard to judge with those because the photographer had one of those big fancy cameras with the great big huge lens like the legit news people have.

00:05:07Oliver Spake: A fancy one.

00:05:08Melissa Ellis: Yeah, a real big fancy one. And I thought, oh, we might have been a bit close. Cathy might not have made it into shot. I couldn't believe it when that photo came out.

00:05:18Oliver Spake: It looked so well coordinated. I think Cathy and Adrian, they're looking at the picture now. They're virtually touching the edge of the camera, so very well timed. Even the phones were coordinated, Mel.

00:05:29Melissa Ellis: How is that? Cathy and I have matching phone cases in our hands as we run.

00:05:36Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:05:36Melissa Ellis: And to be honest, she did so well. When she was running, I couldn't keep pace. That's why I'm at the back. I couldn't keep up with her.

00:05:45Oliver Spake: Yeah. Well, look, it was... Wonderful to get to enjoy part of the course with yourselves. Sorry to not have run the vast majority with you all, but, yeah, cool that you could get out there. And, yeah, good pause. Great to meet Adrian too. Certainly after hearing his voice and hearing about Peppertree, it was nice to get to enjoy the track with him as well.

00:06:09Melissa Ellis: I got the pleasure of spending Sunday with Adrian as well. He came out and volunteered at Juniors.

00:06:16Oliver Spake: Champion, yeah. Didn't coordinate it that much, did I?

00:06:19Melissa Ellis: But who did you get to run with?

00:06:21Oliver Spake: So we were also joined by a very familiar voice to those that have been listening to the podcast for some of the earlier episodes.

00:06:32[other]

00:06:32Melissa Ellis: Ignore that. Keep going.

00:06:35Oliver Spake: That's not me typing for the record, supposed to pause Ollie that's supposed to I could edit that out now I can't oh that's right um so yes I was joined by a very familiar voice Scotty and uh yeah I I did get a little carried away after I suppose still being injured I wasn't sure if I could run the course but uh the opportunity arose and had a great run and chat with Scotty so uh thank you very much mr Scott Trickett for the run

00:07:06Melissa Ellis: It was lovely to see Scott out there at Albert on Saturday. And did you pull up okay, Ollie? Were you sore? How did you go after your run?

00:07:16Oliver Spake: Pleased to say that both Kathy and I pulled up relatively well, her in particular, because I'm not sure she has run 5K since her last parkrun, which I've done the maths, is 2,135 days prior to the Albert Melbourne parkrun. Oh, no. So glad that she pulled up well. She's a gym junkie. She's not a runner. And it's my fault.

00:07:40Melissa Ellis: She was telling me about gym. So that's really good.

00:07:43Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. No, look, she can absolutely smash me in the gym. But because she is so wonderful as an enabler for my parkrun habit, my addiction, it has been some time since, well, let's say between her second and her third parkrun.

00:08:00Melissa Ellis: Oh.

00:08:00Oliver Spake: Because this was only her third and great to see her get a PB.

00:08:03Melissa Ellis: So we had a talk about this, Ollie. We've got a plan. Zoe is of age where she could be a very good babysitter.

00:08:12Oliver Spake: Ooh. Ooh, okay. I didn't catch this.

00:08:17Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so we can arrange some adventures together and we can leave Zoe with Ava and Zali.

00:08:25Oliver Spake: Oh, perfect.

00:08:25Melissa Ellis: And we can all run. See, perfect.

00:08:27Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:08:28Melissa Ellis: We've got it all figured out.

00:08:30Oliver Spake: I'm hoping now she's hooked once again because, you know, that was, of course, part of the plan. Granted, the parkrun and the catch-up was not the sole reason for visiting Melbourne, I suppose. No, no, no, no, no.

00:08:41Melissa Ellis: Now let's go into this, Ollie, because I didn't manage to draw this out of Cathy with the audio that I recorded, which had been part of my intent. There was a reason behind your recent trip to Melbourne, was there not?

00:08:58Oliver Spake: There was indeed. It was a belated birthday trip. So Cathy and I had taken the opportunity to go away together and were fortunate to have the kids babysat for a few nights. We've always wanted to go to Melbourne together, never been together. And it's also because maybe I was somewhere else on her birthday and

00:09:19Melissa Ellis: Where were we on Kathy's birthday, Ollie? Were we not recording a live broadcast from Tasmania?

00:09:26Oliver Spake: We may have been at Bellerive parkrun. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Kathy's birthday does have a bit of a tradition of falling on palm or you could say the other way around.

00:09:36Melissa Ellis: So what was the other palm that was also Kathy's birthday? The original?

00:09:42Oliver Spake: No, no. The other palm was the, it was right around the Mount Barker palm, so palm20. Now, I could be mistaken because I think it may have just been in and around. It wasn't the exact date for that one, but yes. It absolutely has a habit of falling around the same time. So this was the way of balancing the ledger with a bit of extra parkrun thrown in.

00:10:09Melissa Ellis: So my understanding is Sam Schroder has made a declaration on Cathy's behalf that there will not be another palm that occurs on that.

00:10:19Oliver Spake: First weekend in March.

00:10:20Melissa Ellis: That first weekend in March. Initially, I was like, hang on a minute, Sam, what are you going like? You can't make these declarations. Oh, okay. Now I understand. I was not actually aware of this, Ollie, previously. So I'm 100% behind that. Cathy, we will not make it the first weekend of March again, I promise.

00:10:42Oliver Spake: Hand on heart.

00:10:43Melissa Ellis: When we go to WA. Did I say that out loud?

00:10:51Oliver Spake: It must be the first time you've said that out loud now. No, look, Cathy's a very understanding person. I don't wish to play with fire, but we can always look at the circumstances. And, look, we had three nights in Melbourne as a result. Win-win. Win-win. That's what we like to call win-win.

00:11:12Melissa Ellis: Would she like a palm dress-up party in her honour for her birthday? Like this could work.

00:11:19Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, that could totally work.

00:11:22Melissa Ellis: Could we be all Eurovision themed?

00:11:24Oliver Spake: Well, that adds to the value in our books, that's for sure.

00:11:27Melissa Ellis: When's Eurovision, Ollie? Is it coming up?

00:11:29Oliver Spake: It's coming up in mid-May, yes. Yeah, yeah, we are getting slightly excited. We have listened to the tracks in advance several hundred times.

00:11:40Melissa Ellis: Can you give me a heads up because I need to get on board with this.

00:11:44Oliver Spake: Oh, absolutely. How long have you got?

00:11:48Melissa Ellis: Enough time for Daryl to get in costume too.

00:11:51Oliver Spake: Oh, good, good, good, good. We don't want Daryl to miss out on the fun. No, no, no. And I suppose it would be remiss of me to talk about the parkrun weekend in Melbourne without mentioning brunch. Thank you also for, yeah, for taking us to brunch and thank you to the event team for having us there as well.

00:12:12Melissa Ellis: We had a very nice brunch joined by Scott Watkins amongst other event team from Albert Melbourne. Yes. But it was nice to spend a bit of time with Scott as well. Well known to the podcast for his previous efforts in co-hosting with Melissa Erbacher.

00:12:28Oliver Spake: Well worth a listen. If you haven't listened back, go back to the back catalogue. But, yeah, an absolute pleasure and exciting to see some Run Directors in training there as well.

00:12:37Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:12:37Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:12:38Melissa Ellis: He's doing a great job and they are very passionate parkrun EDs who have been involved from very early days with Albert Melbourne.

00:12:47mini adventurer: Yeah, great supporters.

00:12:50Oliver Spake: But, Mel, you, of course, you did mention juniors as well. How was juniors? Yeah.

00:12:55Melissa Ellis: We had a bit of a drizzly morning at Eynesbury. It's actually the first event we've ever had. It was event 39 and our first one that was actually wet.

00:13:06Oliver Spake: Really?

00:13:07Melissa Ellis: Yeah, yeah. We've had puddles before. You have? We've had wet courses, but we've never actually had one where it's been raining.

00:13:13Unidentified speaker: Mm-hmm.

00:13:14Melissa Ellis: And we still had kids turn up. So we were very happy about that. And we had a lot of fun as we always do. Zoe ran a PB.

00:13:24Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:13:25Melissa Ellis: I was very excited. Paul and I were both there. Paul was the Timekeeper. I was the RD for the day. And Zoe went out as she usually does. And we just expected as normal that she would walk the course. So we were very surprised when she came running in. It took us both by surprise. I still don't actually know why she decided that day to run. Perhaps she wanted to not get wet. I'm not really sure.

00:13:54Oliver Spake: Yep.

00:13:54Melissa Ellis: But she ran an Eynesbury PB, so that was nice.

00:13:58Oliver Spake: That's outstanding. Well done, Zoe, and I trust that was all above board, given the Timekeeper there.

00:14:04Unidentified speaker: No.

00:14:06Melissa Ellis: Yes. Yes. All time results were correct.

00:14:11Oliver Spake: Of course. Great work and always respect the ones that go out in the rain. It's a lot of fun.

00:14:18Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and we had a lovely brunch afterwards because at Juniors we're very blessed to have the Golf Pro Shop at Eynesbury that is only 100 or so metres from our event. So we can just wander down there afterwards. parkrun's completed and we sit around and we have a chit-chat. We had, as I said, Adrian was there, as was Kevin Green, who is another Wyndham Vale parkrunner, and Bruce. Bruce came all the way from Ballarat to volunteer for us.

00:14:50Oliver Spake: Oh, wonderful support from everyone there. And I, again, really feel like I messed up the planning in being able to, you know, come and attend and support. So I look forward to it now.

00:15:03Melissa Ellis: Ollie, you come back with your girls one day. Yes.

00:15:05Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right.

00:15:07Melissa Ellis: This was about your wife this weekend and your make-up birthday weekend. That's right. So there's no grudges held. But, no, we had a lovely brunch and we had a bit of a chit-chat. There was a bit of discussion about future palms, which is alluded to later perhaps in our emails.

00:15:29Oliver Spake: All right. Noted. I suppose on that note, we should look up and look at what's coming up. We have an interview this week, Mel.

00:15:37Melissa Ellis: And we need to address the end of last week's pod with the new person in the office, Ollie.

00:15:43Oliver Spake: The preceptor.

00:15:44Melissa Ellis: Yes. Not sure that everybody would have recognised her voice. Many would. Many who know her would know her voice. But the preceptor is our very own Sam Schroder.

00:15:59Oliver Spake: Yes. How good is it to have another person in the office, Mel?

00:16:02Melissa Ellis: Absolutely fabulous. So Sam has very graciously agreed to come on board and give us a bit of a hand with some of our social media.

00:16:12Oliver Spake: And has gone above and beyond this week in the pod.

00:16:16Melissa Ellis: Oh, absolutely. Not only has she taken on the role with the social media, but she's also recorded an interview for us.

00:16:24Oliver Spake: Yes. So stay tuned. That's coming up. We also did have some feedback from last week's pod, Mel. So Johan got in touch and just commenting on the pod post from last week, because we did talk about some of the events that have been disrupted. And Johan said that The issue of events returning, mothballed, cancelled is so heartbreaking in South Africa. We were particularly hard hit by this with 18 events still waiting to return or close and 43 already axed. But the hope remains that some may return in future. The other noticeable issue is the total participation numbers, which remains relatively low compared to pre-lockdown. South Africa currently runs at about a third of previous numbers. Thanks, Johan, for the context and the update because I know it's a part of many discussions that I have around the step change in participation numbers, but you guys are obviously feeling it so much over there with everything that you've been through.

00:17:26Melissa Ellis: And, Ollie, we also heard from Val Warwick who said, so glad that Chris and Karen wrote to you about Phil Gore's incredible feat. Phil and Gemma Gore are the EDs of Shipwreck parkrun in Perth's southern suburbs. It's an interesting course that they've managed to create in this park with a fabulous playground where I know my grandchildren love playing. But even better, as per so many parkruns, is the post-parkrun coffee time. We've made friends for life with so many West Australians at various parkruns there and are really looking forward to getting back there and participating in the new Jarrahdale Heritage parkrun where Raoul Tem is ED, a friend we've made at Shipwreck. Don't you just love parkrun adventuring? By the way, Ollie, there's a new backyard ultra happening in Tassie over the New Year weekend at Peter Murrell Reserve in Kingston. Steve is ultra excited.

00:18:30Oliver Spake: I bet. That's very exciting. Going to have to start training for these sorts of things. Thank you, Val.

00:18:36Melissa Ellis: There's more to come on that in the interview.

00:18:39Oliver Spake: So stay tuned.

parkrun news bulletin

00:18:41Oliver Spake: Mel, we've also got some news.

00:18:43Melissa Ellis: We do. So I thought we should touch on the renaming of the first-timers briefing, Ollie, which has officially clocked over to the First Timers Welcome in the future roster, I guess it's been renamed officially.

00:19:00Oliver Spake: It has. And in line with some of the recent comms and some of the great videos put out through different social channels I've seen from parkrun Australia. I don't know to what extent those videos or those like it have been shared internationally, but yeah, it really speaks to a moment that becomes a spark for so many parkrunners, doesn't it? That arrival.

00:19:22Melissa Ellis: I think definitely parkrun has said that they have surveyed the barriers for people coming to their very first parkrun after they've signed up and what might stop people from attending that first one. And a lot of it came down to that concern as to what to do when they arrive and not knowing anybody when they get there. So the fact now that it's very clear that when they arrive, There's somebody to welcome them. There's something official where they can turn up and know they're going to get direction. And the feedback is that that has been a very positive move and that's making a difference in people's confidence in turning up to their first parkrun. It's brilliant. And it just shows that we are continually evolving and finding better ways to in which to engage people and make them feel comfortable to come to parkrun.

00:20:18Oliver Spake: Yeah, and different event teams have done it differently over the years. There have been some fantastic and welcoming and, you know, colourful ways that they've, you know, found to do that. But, yeah, I agree, Mel. It's a good example of how, you know, we see that change that just continues to focus on the positives that parkrun can bring and making it resonate positively

00:20:40Melissa Ellis: And something else that we need to address, Ollie, so this last Saturday gone was also the very first week that introduced the new rule for dogs at parkrun. Now, we haven't addressed this to date. We haven't. No. It's been a contentious issue and there's no getting around that. Right. we have deliberately chosen not to get involved in that discussion. However, we felt that this week was a good time to discuss and appeal to parkrunners with this new rule.

00:21:14Oliver Spake: Yeah. And specifically, of course, many of our parkrunner venture community would be across this change. I'm sure almost everyone, if not everyone's come across it at some point, but Different people take in their information in different ways. So my understanding is that the rule is now one dog on a short handheld, not extendable lead by the side of the participant is what's allowed and within reach at all times and that that emphasises care around avoiding tripping other parkrunners.

00:21:44Melissa Ellis: But what we would like to appeal to everybody who is listening is is that not all parkrunners follow social media and not all parkrunners subscribe to the emails. So there's going to be a large proportion of dog owners out there that actually aren't aware of the new rule yet. And they may not be aware until they front up to a parkrun and they hear it in the brief, or they are actually approached by somebody from the event team to tell them in the most polite way that you aren't actually allowed to wear a waste harness anymore. So what we want to appeal to our listeners is to say, please be mindful of that. Don't approach other dog owners yourself. Leave that to the event team and just be mindful that not everybody has the knowledge that some of us who follow social media are a lot closer have. And just to be a bit, I guess, caring and we don't want to alienate other parkrunners or participants who genuinely don't know of the change.

00:22:54Oliver Spake: Yeah. No, I think that you're quite right in emphasising that way to positively approach it. I'm sure everyone can be respectful and understanding. We all have our, as you say, different ways of how we collect information and different expectations of people's approach to parkrun. But yeah, when it comes to this change, it will take time and it will certainly see a few more occasions where people do come along and they've missed that. Can't speak from experience. I've not...

00:23:28mini adventurer: coordinated a parkrun where dogs are allowed.

00:23:30Oliver Spake: But funnily enough, I have actually had to turn people with dogs away. So yeah, I suppose there's a parallel I can draw there. But it'll only help the event team. So I think if we can just continue to raise that and eventually it will become a well-known parkrun requirement.

00:23:45Melissa Ellis: Yep. As a community, we can all navigate this new change the best way possible. But Ollie, it's time to listen to our interview and our wonderful new interviewer, Sam Schroder.

Interview Phil Gore — Co-Event Director (with his wife Gemma), Shipwreck parkrun, Western Australia;…

00:24:09Sam Schroder: All right. Hello, adventurers. It's Sam Schroder here. And today I have the absolute pleasure of talking with my good friend, Phil Gore, who is co-ED with his wife, Gemma, at Shipwreck parkrun in Western Australia. Phil quite likes a run, especially a parkrun or a run of a pretty similar distance. And sometimes he likes to run that distance over and over again until everyone else he's been running that distance with decides to quit. That is just about the gist of Backyard Ultra, isn't it, Phil? Can you tell us a bit about the concept?

00:24:43Phil Gore: Yeah, so that's about right. So it's a 6.7K loop and you start it on the hour every hour. So it started with 200 and something people and as each lap goes on, there's people that won't make that lap within the cutoff. So they drop off and the race just keeps going until there's only one person left. So that last person has to do one lap on their own to be declared the winner.

00:25:06Sam Schroder: So it's a last man standing kind of a model.

00:25:10Phil Gore: Yep, yep, that's it, last person standing.

00:25:13Sam Schroder: So last week listeners would have heard Mel reading an email from your lovely parents who wrote in to tell everyone about your success at Herdy's, which was the – I was going to tell you the dates of Herdy's. You probably know what dates you ran Herdy's.

00:25:30Phil Gore: Oh, those dates are a bit of a blur, but I think it started on the 18th.

00:25:34Sam Schroder: um or two Fridays ago so from the 18th and actually was it still only the 19th when you finished or was it the 20th so we started on Friday at 4 p.m right and finished on Sunday at 6 p.m so it's 50 hours crazy town now 50 hours is a long long time to be yes essentially running around in circles but you've run for longer haven't you

00:25:58Phil Gore: Yeah, so at Herdy's last year, I got the Australian record, which was 51 hours. That's amazing. So I was just a little bit shy of that this time. But the way that the concept works is it only goes until the second last person drops out. So once that second last person drops out, the last person just does one more lap and So that last person is really limited by how far that second person can push.

00:26:23Sam Schroder: Yeah. So was it the first time you'd run this kind of ultra, a backyard ultra, where you were that person, where you were the assist?

00:26:32Phil Gore: Yeah. So in 2020, when I did Herdy's Backyard, I was the assist. I got to 39 hours and, yeah, the winner went on to do 40 hours. And yeah, pretty much since that event, I've just like had this hunger for it to keep trying to be better and to try and win these events.

00:26:50Sam Schroder: And is it true that you actually plan for some ridiculous number of hours, like 90 hours or something?

00:26:58Phil Gore: Yeah. So I don't want to set goals or limits in my head because what can happen is if you say, right, I want to get to 48 hours, you're right, you're planning for 48 hours. When you get there, you kind of mentally clock out at that point. So I kind of want to go well beyond what I think I can do. So my plan used to go up to 96 hours. So I think 48 hours was a reasonable thing I would be able to get to and then I just double it. So I went to 96 hours. But my plan this time actually went up to 120 hours. Phil. Phil.

00:27:31Sam Schroder: Wow. One of the things that really interests me, the first thing I want to say is that I can kind of understand the hunger you just referenced for it, having witnessed you try to go out for that 40th hour at Herdy's that first time. And it was just so obvious how spent you were. Yeah. But also I think to me it was obvious you were a bit disappointed even at that moment that you knew you couldn't go on. So I don't know how you do it, but you're obviously a person who's very driven.

00:28:04Phil Gore: Yeah.

00:28:04Sam Schroder: What was it like at Hysterical Carnage? when your assist was done so early? Um, so that one was so early. I shouldn't say so early. How many hours did you run? That was 38.

00:28:18Phil Gore: So that one, that one was actually my, my shortest one at 38 hours. Yeah. Um, I, Wasn't really that disappointed that it finished that early. I was happy to come away with the win. My goal was Herdy's. Herdy's is a lot. For me, I think it's a lot better course because it's a lot flatter, whereas Hysterical is very hilly. Okay. So I think if I want to go the long distance, it's going to be done at Herdy's. Okay. So for me, Hysterical, it was just about getting that win. And I thought that trying to get the record there would be a long shot and I'd be... pushing my body and breaking my body for something that might not happen. So, I mean, 38 hours, it's still a very good result. I'm still happy with that. Absolutely. And I was still out running okay the next day, so I got to save my body and just sort of roll that training on into Herdy's.

00:29:06Sam Schroder: Yeah, one of the drafts that I wrote for the intro for this interview was a bit of a joke about how slow you ran parkrun last Saturday, but the fact is you've maintained your running streak, haven't you?

00:29:20Phil Gore: Yeah, so I do 5Ks a day. I have had to stop a few times from some of the big ultras I've done, but this time I was quite happy that I was able to get out the next day and get my 5Ks done. So the streak lives on for now.

00:29:35Sam Schroder: Honestly, that is absolutely amazing. And the fact that you ran, do you remember what your time was last Saturday at Shipwreck? I was 18 minutes something. Yeah, slow one for you.

00:29:46Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:29:48Sam Schroder: So I think I'm right in saying that they've recently announced that there'll be a Backyard Ultra in Tasmania. Is that right?

00:29:57Phil Gore: Yes, that's correct. So end of December this year, it's called the Devil's Lair. And yeah, the same format. So 6.7 Ks on the hour, every hour. And silly question, do you plan to go? I'd like to go. I've just got to sort out my race calendar and sort out stuff with work. But it's definitely one I want to get down and see.

00:30:16Sam Schroder: Yeah, because certainly regular listeners, Val and Steve Warwick, I'm sure would love to come and cheer you on if you can get down there.

00:30:22Phil Gore: Yep, yep. I already saw a comment on Facebook that they'd be happy to jump in, jump on and help me crew once Steve has done his run.

00:30:30Sam Schroder: Yeah, that sounds pretty cool. So what does the future of Australian backyard ultra running look like for you when we know that Michael Hooker wasn't able to take part in Herdy's and Big Kev is always there? And then we saw some pretty serious competition from Chetan as the assist at Herdy's. What do you think the future of Australian ultra backyard running

00:30:56Phil Gore: running looks like. It's definitely gaining a lot more popularity and as people are learning about it and coming up with their own techniques and getting their own experience in it they're getting further and further so one of the guys I ran with for a bit my mate Chris Martin ran I think it was 26 hours at Herdy's last year and then I've been doing some training together with him and this year he got up to 39 hours so that was a huge improvement from him Chetan coming from 36 hours at hysterical to then doing 49 at So, yeah, it just shows there is that growth there and people are getting that experience. And there's definitely the calibre of athletes in Australia that can push those distances. And it's just about getting them all in the same race and pushing each other because it is a team sort of event. You do need those other people around you to push the distance.

00:31:49Sam Schroder: Absolutely. And that was going to be the next question was can you tell us a little bit about what what is involved for Gemma and the rest of your crew in order for you or, you know, what does the support system look like for you on race days?

00:32:05Phil Gore: Yeah, so I have a good number of crew with me. So this year I had six main people, but they take it in shifts because if I'm going 50 hours without sleep, at least they can get some sleep. They'll go away for having eight hours sleep and come back and tag in and out. So at any one time, I'll probably have two people, maybe a few more towards the end. And then it's pretty much, I've got my whole plan written out. So before I go out on my run, we'll discuss what needs to happen in the next break, whether it's clothes I need to have ready, stuff for my shower I need to have ready, stuff for bed or things like that, what food I want. And then so as I'm out there for my 45 minutes or so doing my run, yeah, cooking up that food or getting that stuff together. So when I come in, they're waiting for me at the finish line. They can pass over what I need, take from me what I don't need, and, yeah, just spend that 15 minutes with me to get me ready to get to that start line again.

00:33:02Sam Schroder: Yeah, that's so cool. Certainly I noticed watching the lives at Herdy's that it looked like you've really refined that system down to, you know, you're met at the finish line and you're just dropping your stuff in a basket and everybody knows their role and what their job is for you. Do you kind of lose some ability to kind of mentally manage all of that like is that part of why you plan so much because you need them to kind of direct you a little bit as the hours go by as well yeah yeah that's exactly it so I think it probably would have been just after the 24 hour mark this year and they'll ask me what I needed

00:33:44Phil Gore: and I distinctly remember saying, I don't know what I need anymore. You guys think for me.

00:33:48Sam Schroder: Wow.

00:33:48Phil Gore: So then I'd come in and then I've still got my plan there. So it's got like a rough idea of, of what I'm going to sort of be expecting around the hour, but they'll have something ready for me. And they'll say, right, you need to eat this or you need to do this. And so I would just, yeah, they're, they're pretty good at it. And now they've, they've crewed for me at a few different of these events. So they kind of know what I need and, are good at getting that to me and sorting me out.

00:34:12Sam Schroder: That's very cool. So we talked about, you know, possibly Tasmania and obviously you'll keep entering these other events as they occur, but what's the international Phil Gore running future look like?

00:34:27Phil Gore: So I'd love to get into Big's Backyard, which is like the international championship for this event. So the guy that came up with the concept, a guy called Laz, who also does the Barkley Marathons, it's once every two years he'll run this event at his property in Tennessee. And it's basically all your top backyard runners from around the world meeting at this place. So they will have about 75 runners there. Last year, it was down a bit due to COVID, but they still had the caliber of athletes there to push a new world record. And they got 85 laps there. So that's where I want to be. I want to be running with those people and not necessarily winning it, but just finding out what my limit is.

00:35:08Sam Schroder: Yeah, wow.

00:35:10Phil Gore: Because there will just be those people there that can push me to bigger limits.

00:35:14Sam Schroder: Yeah, well, fingers crossed. That sounds like an amazing experience. So when would the next one of those be?

00:35:20Phil Gore: So the next one's in 2023.

00:35:22Sam Schroder: Very cool. Fingers crossed. But as you know, Phil, this is actually a parkrun podcast. So I don't want to let you go without talking to you about your parkrun experiences. Listeners might recall that back in episode 254, you spoke briefly with Cam when he caught up with you at Tamworth Wetlands parkrun. I think maybe that day you broke their course record. Is that right?

00:35:47Phil Gore: Or have I got that wrong? No, I don't think I did. No, I don't think I've got their record. He spoke to me about, it must have been Herdy's. He must have talked to me about the Herdy's run that I'd done. Yeah, I think that's right. And maybe that was the record, the Australian record that I broke there.

00:36:01Sam Schroder: Yeah, perhaps. But you do have a few parkrun course records, don't you?

00:36:06Phil Gore: I do. I've got a few less now than what I used to because people keep coming in. And breaking him. Bit rude. I did go on a trip through South Australia and I did seven courses there and got six records. But now people keep beating him and I can't get back there to take him back. Yeah.

00:36:24Sam Schroder: Yes, well, I think you still hold three of those South Australian records, Jubilee Way, Meningie and Yeldulknie Weir. And, of course, you hold the course record at your home parkrun shipwreck as well. I thought I'd set you a little challenge, actually. I did some research today and Aidan Hobbs, whoever he is, has 20 course records in Queensland. So I think that's probably a goal you could set yourself is to try and have more course records than Aidan. Yeah. probably that's not really reasonable. You stick to your backyard ultras, that's okay.

00:36:57Phil Gore: Yeah, I was going to say the further I run, the less course records I end up getting.

00:37:02Sam Schroder: Seems reasonable. So according to my research, you've run 286 parkruns at 51 different locations. And in fact, you and I met when you were on that trip in South Australia with your family and Luke and I were on our big road trip. I think maybe Phil, you and I used the same map for our holiday planning. Was the parkrun map was the one we used?

00:37:25Phil Gore: We might have been like a week out or something. But we were at, because when we got stuck there because the fires closed the Eyre Highway, we were together at Port Augusta but we didn't actually bump in and talk to each other.

00:37:38Sam Schroder: True.

00:37:38Phil Gore: And then, yeah, the following week we were at Port Lincoln. So those two weren't actually on our original itinerary. It's only because we got stuck there.

00:37:44Sam Schroder: Oh, well, I was lucky then that it turned out that way.

00:37:47Phil Gore: Otherwise, I think we were a week behind you or you were a week behind us.

00:37:50Sam Schroder: Well, serendipity. We were meant to meet. Yes. In fact, I have a distinct memory of pointing you out to Luke and saying, that guy's going to come in first. No questions. And I was right by several minutes, I think, at Port Augusta.

00:38:05Phil Gore: The person in second place was behind me. Mind you. Because I've got the record there as well. Yeah.

00:38:08Sam Schroder: So, out of the 51 different locations that you've been to, not counting home because that's cheating, what are the three top parkruns you've run at and why?

00:38:20Phil Gore: Well, a lot of different ones for different reasons. Okay. Okay. So... Champion Lakes is another one that's close by me and I like that if I want to go for like a fast time. If you get the wind on the right day, it's just a very flat course with no sort of sharp corners. So if I want to go for a fast time, that's the course to go to. What other ones do I like? So Mundy, if you want something a bit different, Mundy is... a trail parkrun, and it's, I don't know if it's the most elevation in Australia, but it's definitely up there. It's definitely the most elevation in WA. So my time on that I think is about 21 minutes and you compare that to, you know, my quicker ones are under 16 minutes. So it just shows you how much harder that course is.

00:39:05Sam Schroder: Yeah.

00:39:05Phil Gore: So that's a good one. It's not a good one to do every week. No. Well, not for me anyway, but it's just if you want that bit more of a challenge.

00:39:12Sam Schroder: Sounds cool.

00:39:13Phil Gore: yeah that's a good one to go to what was your favourite one in South Australia then? I really liked Goolwa, probably because I got my all-time PB there okay um that was a nice flat fast course but I just also liked um that area like that town yeah and between that one and Victor Harbor, because we stayed down that way and this was around new years I think was there and it was just like a really nice holiday town to go to nice yeah I'd have to say Goolwa

00:39:40Sam Schroder: So your parkrun birthday is the 20th of September 2014. Can you tell us briefly how you found out about parkrun and what your first parkrun experience was like?

00:39:51Phil Gore: So I'd just finished, I think it was a city to surf 12K, and I really enjoyed it. It wasn't the first time I'd done it. Like I've done it most years. But I'd just finished it and I'm like, oh, where's the next run? I want to sign up for another run. And so I'm looking online trying to find a race somewhere. And this parkrun thing keeps coming up. I'm like, I don't know if that's really what I'm looking for. But, you know, I just kind of keep looking around. I can't find any other runs. And so I keep coming back to this parkrun. And I'm like, oh, yeah, you know, this is a free thing. You know, I'll go along. I'll try it out. But, yeah, I printed out my barcode. And I actually had two parkruns close to me. And one of them was Canning River and the other one was Pioneer. And I thought I'll go and check out the courses first and see which one I'm going to like. And I went to Pioneer first. And I don't know if you've heard about Pioneer or ever done Pioneer, but it's three loops. The first week's a little bit different, but it goes over and under. There's like boardwalks and bits through the trail and it's very confusing. And so I was out there like looking at the map and I'm trying to read the course notes and I couldn't even figure out how to get past the first kilometre. So I'm just like, no, not doing that one. I'll go to Canning River. That was like a nice, easy loop. Fair enough. And, yeah, I was always the type of person that would, yeah, just go to the parkrun. I'd sit in my car until like five minutes before and then come out, do my little warm-up and stretches and then do my run, get my barcode scan and go home. It probably wasn't until I'd done about 50 runs that I started to get a bit more involved with the volunteering side of it and just the hanging around afterwards and chatting with people and stuff. and things like that.

00:41:27Sam Schroder: Yeah. And obviously, you're now co-ED with Gemma with Shipwreck parkrun. Also, with my sticky beaking at your stats, I discovered that your last volunteer role was your 49th, which means the next time you volunteer you'll be earning your volunteer red shirt. Congratulations in advance for 50 volunteer stints when that does happen. What led to you and Gemma establishing Shipwreck?

00:41:53Phil Gore: So it was put up in our local parkrun website, our parkrun wa forum that they were thinking of starting a parkrun in this new residential estate so the estate had actually come to parkrun and said we want you guys to put a parkrun in here and then so yeah someone from parkrun put it up in our group and I'm like well that's just down the road from us like and I wasn't really keen on eding at that point but I'm like well if there's going to be a course there I want to ed it like I don't want someone else to come and do it in my area So we put our hands up and we had a few other people interested as well. So we made like a really good team.

00:42:33Sam Schroder: Awesome.

00:42:33Phil Gore: And yes, I got to go there and set up the course. And yeah, I've just been doing that ever since.

00:42:39Sam Schroder: That's very cool. Very cool. Well, thank you to you and to Gemma for what you give back to parkrun. It's obviously listeners of the podcast who are all pretty passionate volunteers as well as tourists and participants. So we appreciate how much you and Gemma have given back to parkrun. Speaking of the listeners, a few weeks ago, quite a few of us headed to Tasmania for palm22, which is the parkrun adventurers Listener Meetup. And the hot topic now is where palm23 should be held. As it happens, I'm on Team WA for next year's listener meetup. Can you tell the listeners, apart from your obvious bias towards your home course at Shipwreck, what are the gold standard parkrun courses kind of convenient to Perth Airport? And why should I be trying to convince the planning committee to choose WA for palm23?

00:43:33Phil Gore: Okay, so one that's central, the oldest parkrun that we've got in WA would be Claisebrook Cove. So that's a really nice course along the river. You sometimes even get dolphins there. Yeah, so that's a really nice one. And then just across on the other side of the river, you've got Burswood Peninsula. So you could even do one of them and then go and do the other one as a freedom run. Nice. So you could knock out two in one day.

00:43:56Sam Schroder: Very cool.

00:43:57Phil Gore: But yeah, Burswood. So that's sort of, yeah, that's along the other side of the river. That course is a little bit more confusing, but it's really nice. You've got the Optus Stadium in there. You can run past that. So yeah, that's probably your best bet for something central.

00:44:09Sam Schroder: That sounds good to me. Well, we have chatted at length, Phil, and I'm extremely grateful to you for making this time. Congratulations on your incredible record-breaking achievements in ultra running. The very best of luck for your future events. And most importantly, thank you for your contributions to the parkrun community. Make sure you give my love to Gemma and hopefully we'll see you soon. Yep, there is. Thank you. Thanks, Phil.

00:44:44Oliver Spake: And thank you, Sam and Phil. Great to hear and, yeah, wishing you all the best, Phil, for the next challenges.

00:44:51Melissa Ellis: Sounds like there's some good options coming up, Ollie, including one in Tasmania. You might not get there this year.

00:44:58Oliver Spake: No, I don't think so.

00:44:59Melissa Ellis: You've got another plan to run up a mountain this year.

00:45:02Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, I've got plenty of plans. Nothing quite like Phil's, but all the same.

00:45:07Melissa Ellis: Something to work towards, Ollie. I think we could all crew you for something like that. I'm on team Ollie for that.

00:45:14Oliver Spake: Look, let me work my way up and join the crew first, honestly. A lot of admiration. I'm nowhere near even standing in the same room as individuals like that. Yeah, it's a great inspiration.

00:45:28Melissa Ellis: But thank you to Sam for stepping up and doing that interview. She did a great job. She did.

00:45:35Oliver Spake: We just might need to ask her to do another one, I think.

00:45:38Melissa Ellis: I think so, yes. We appreciate Sam coming on board and all the help that she's offering us as part of the team.

Emails

00:45:46Oliver Spake: Yes. Speaking of help, we've got some in the inbox, Mel. We've got mail. You've got mail.

00:45:52Melissa Ellis: We do, Ollie. We heard this week from Bruce Purdy who said... G'day adventurers. Just a selfish question from Bruce and Donna. Can you give us a clue on where palm23 might be? We have a few flight credits left after plans were dashed multiple times in the last two years and we're wondering which exotic location we should be looking at. Our credits will get us as far as WA or Northern Territory if those were under consideration. Maybe you could ask for expressions of interests from any state teams interested in hosting a palm. Then a round of Olympic or Eurovision style voting to select the destination. Anyway, keep potting. Cheers, Bruce.

00:46:41Oliver Spake: Thank you, Bruce. I think there are some good ideas there, Mel. Absolutely. And certainly understand the need. There are a few of us with said flight credit and some timelines to book flight credit, aren't there? So, yeah, we hear you, gang. I think we'll need to give some thought. And, hey, I'm all for decision-making processes.

00:47:04Melissa Ellis: There was no mention of World Cup decision-making.

00:47:07Oliver Spake: No, but I do like the Eurovision one. Yeah.

00:47:10Melissa Ellis: I understand the Olympic bid aspect.

00:47:14Oliver Spake: Yep.

00:47:14Melissa Ellis: Not so much the Eurovision. Like, that's your domain.

00:47:19Oliver Spake: Well, a domain I happily share with other Eurovision passionistas, but I think the general approach with Eurovision-style voting would be to share the voting or the votes between a judging jury or judging panel and the public vote. So that way we have both weighing into the preferences. And then the winner overall, once you've counted up both systems, is the successful location of palm23.

00:47:48Melissa Ellis: Okay, so the general concept is we need some bids to come in. We need some event teams from some different states to give us a perspective.

00:48:00Oliver Spake: Some options, that's right.

00:48:02Melissa Ellis: Yeah, give us a pitch.

00:48:04Oliver Spake: Yep.

00:48:04Melissa Ellis: And then we will let you know who's on our judging panel. Oh, this feels like Dancing with the Stars.

00:48:11Oliver Spake: Well, there you go, yeah. But it does mean committing to a process, Mel.

00:48:15Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay. Can't we just like pretend we're going through the process and then I just choose the one I want?

00:48:22Oliver Spake: You mean the Olympic system?

00:48:25Melissa Ellis: Well, that's what Bruce said. He said that. He said a round of Olympic style voting. Kickbacks, Ollie, kickbacks.

00:48:36Oliver Spake: Well, that's the World Cup selection process. Yeah.

00:48:41Melissa Ellis: How we get our gifts for next year's.

00:48:44Oliver Spake: Needless to say, I think it's a great idea to start with some bids and some ideas. Where do we want it to be? Let's start building these ideas because I know that a lot of those and a lot of us with flight credit have some deadlines approaching and not too many months away. So if we can give any idea, we hear you. Let's start the conversation. Restart the conversation. Yeah.

00:49:09Melissa Ellis: Get your bids in quickly because we've got to make a choice soon. Yes. Is I think what we're taking away from this. But Ollie, what are we thinking of that? And I did just touch on the fact that we needed prizes for next year's Palm. And I have to say, I've already secured some.

00:49:26Oliver Spake: Oh, oh, that's exciting.

00:49:29Melissa Ellis: Just in this last week. So I approached the lovely team at goodr Australia and to ask if they would be interested in supporting us and they have come through with the goodrs.

00:49:43Oliver Spake: Very nice. Do you like how I... I'm so clever.

00:49:50Melissa Ellis: But anyway, I have got two pairs of goodrs secured already as next year's prizes. So we're very excited about that because we loved our goodrs last year. A lot of us purchased goodrs and we had the Matchy Matchy out at Palm, all looking spiffy. And yeah, we're very happy to have them on board. So we thank them very much for their support.

00:50:14Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, no, great to have that support. They'll be wonderful as prizes next year and I just realised what you meant there. Great joke. Sorry, I got there eventually. Good for you, Ollie. Thank you, thank you.

00:50:31[applause]

Dazza's

00:50:31Oliver Spake: But Dazza's, to Dazza's.

00:50:33Melissa Ellis: Don't clap.

00:50:35Oliver Spake: Sorry, yes.

00:50:36Melissa Ellis: You can't edit that out.

00:50:40Oliver Spake: No. It was one clap, one clap. At Dazza's this week, he had to say, Shakespeare told us, it's better to be a witty fool than a foolish wit. Yesterday was April Fool's Day. Dazza believed us when we told him he could have the day off today. Silly Dazza. Come on in, share your parkrun stories and your best April Fool's Day pranks as well. And from New Zealand, Tanya Bailey did. She said, "'Morning, Dazza. "'Had a great run-walk this morning "'after delivering the first-timers briefing. "'Lovely morning with a big group of first-timers. "'Home for a brunch, cooked by Brett, "'stayed home for April Fool's, "'so I couldn't get into trouble.'"

00:51:22Melissa Ellis: That's always a good idea, Tanya. I follow that theory. We also heard from Tim Robbins, who was a tourist and also part of a frond. He said, Morning Dazza, the prank was on me yesterday when I found a stowaway on my way to Sydney. After a selfie, Tracy the Troll said, scarpered when she recognised Stephen and Jen from Bathurst last year. Large flat white and a bacon and egg roll please for the drive home. Over and out from Willoughby. And there was an image in the selfie frame with Stephen and Jen, in their Panorama Punish gear, plus the troll.

00:52:06Oliver Spake: Alison King, with a lot of likes, this parkrun day just gone, said, This morning, there was lots of cake at Puarenga parkrun as I celebrated my volunteer 100 by being Timekeeper. We had cupcakes. I ordered 100, one for each volunteer occasion, but we only had 55 finishes. Gave a box to one of our docs to give his ICU colleagues since they are working so much harder these days. Pick is me timekeeping with Toby who refuses to parkrun. And it was a beautiful light shot in that photo as well. Congratulations, Alison, we should say.

00:52:46Melissa Ellis: And our volley this week is Bruce Purdy, who said, my favourite April Fool's joke was about the renaming of the hashtag Ballarat parkrun to its location name of Victoria Park. Many an alphabeteer took the bait. My parkrun morning was spent as a pacer at the hashtag Victoria parkrun with just a little uplift from the propeller hat. And Bruce posted a photo of his pacer vest, 35 minute bib and said propeller hat.

the Frond

00:53:22Oliver Spake: Now, Mel, another frond was taking place. There were a lot of fronds. It's always lovely to see. And Bec Bailey reported in. Windang Clan had a morning adventure to tourist up to Greenway this morning. Met up with the mini frond of Ingrid, Helen, Stephen and Chantel. I tested out the new 100 shirt, collected another stopwatch bingo number, a second G for staying alive and a fastest time for 2022. Thanks, Stephen, for the four kilometre tow along. Will then enjoyed a nice brunch before parting ways. And Bec did add that she's yet to convince the boys from the Windang clan to become parkrun adventurers, or sorry, Adventurer Club members. It'll happen soon, I'm sure, she said. They have some good adventure stats. And thank you, Bec, for sharing the photo of, yeah, quite a frond in the frame there and another one of our Adventurer Club members in waiting.

00:54:14Melissa Ellis: Another volley this week was Isaac Hill. Really happy to finally be able to volunteer at the inaugural for Karoola Park. The rain went away and the sun came out. It's been two years in the making and we had a good field of 100 runners join us for a slightly undulating three-lap trail course. Looking forward to volunteering more at my new home, parkrun. And Isaac shared a photo of himself in the selfie frame at the launch.

00:54:46Oliver Spake: Yes, welcome to the parkrun family, Karoola Park. And Mel, we had a bit of an international tourist, Juliet Colville, enjoyed visiting my 25th different event and adding a new country flag, and she added in brackets, visiting from the UK at a windy Ballarat parkrun this morning, followed up by a cappuccino and egg and bacon toasty.

00:55:09Melissa Ellis: That's fabulous, Juliet, was there with Bruce.

00:55:12Oliver Spake: Yes, yes, not far behind.

00:55:15Melissa Ellis: We hear this week from Steve Spike who says, Apologies for the very late check-in, Dazza. I can't even blame a sleep-in. Heidi told me yesterday I was at the tip of the iceberg. Confused? A possum may help. Happy Junior parkrun Day all.

00:55:36Oliver Spake: Very confused, thank you, and a possum's not going to help me. Thank you, Steve Spike.

00:55:42Melissa Ellis: I love Steve Spike's little clues. They're fun.

00:55:46Oliver Spake: Yes. No clearer, but thank you. And Christine Imbert reporting in from somewhere else in Europe this time. Sorry for being so late. I was in Vienna for the weekend with some touring buddies. We did Donaupark parkrun, ate apple strudel, visited St Stephen's Cathedral and Schonbrunn Palace. And I went to the opera, Carmen. And Christine did share a photo there of her and the buddies looking reasonably warm on what looked like a rather cool Vienna morning.

00:56:20Melissa Ellis: Well done for owning those pronunciations, Ollie. You did well.

00:56:23Oliver Spake: Well, I was excited because I've been to Schönbrunn too. So yeah, I've really enjoyed it there.

00:56:29Melissa Ellis: So you knew how to say it.

00:56:30Oliver Spake: Well, I'm pretty sure I used to insert an L into it. So not really. So thank you, Christine, for re-educating me.

00:56:38Melissa Ellis: And we heard from another tourist from the UK, our very own Pippa White. And welcome back to parkrun, Pippa, who's recently had a little operation that's put her out of action. But Pippa said, I'm later even than Christine Imbert. I've been fixing my squares, 5x5, 6x6, 7x7, 8x8, etc. I have to check how far up the list I've got. But this week was my 6th. Six-letter parkrun, Oxford. I took a friend, met a friend unexpectedly, and another friend ran from another parkrun to say hi at the end. No spectacular April Fools, just so very happy to have completed a parkrun. And I took a leaf out of Pippa's book today and I sat down to work out my L index. So I'm going to call this the L index because as far as I can tell, there's no... Well, unless I'm a bit clueless, which is completely possible, but there's no name for this particular challenge, which is how many letters of a parkrun you have completed so many times. Yeah. So I can't take credit. It was actually Paul who said it should be the L index, as in letter index.

00:57:57Oliver Spake: Ah, yes. I see where you're going with that. Yes. Yeah.

00:58:01Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so I sat down to work mine out, which I didn't get very far with because four by four, I've only got two out of the four. So I stopped pretty quickly with that. However, I did work out if I can manage to get to Newy and Lota and thus giving me four by four, I then jumped to 11. So I think that's a bit impressive. That is.

00:58:30Oliver Spake: I'm going to have to, well, yeah, I would clearly be a long way behind, but I'm going to have to work that out.

00:58:37Melissa Ellis: So it took me a while because I literally had to go to my spreadsheet. I had to put all the events in. And I counted them manually because I'm not clever enough to do the Excel formula that was suggested to me, which is the best way to sort. It all just looked too confusing because Excel wants to count the spaces between words as digits and then you have to allow for that. And I was like, oh, I'll just count them.

00:59:08Oliver Spake: Yes. Sometimes just counting helps. As great as a spreadsheet is.

00:59:14Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:59:15Oliver Spake: Easy to count with post-its too.

00:59:16Melissa Ellis: That's it. Post-it notes. Oh, my God. Let's not go there. You got outed. You got outed with your messy desk last week.

the Obi Award — Juliet Colville

00:59:26Oliver Spake: But, Mel, I suppose we need an Obi winner.

00:59:30Melissa Ellis: We do. I don't have the envelope this week. Where is it? And did we even work out who... Is it Sam that puts it together?

00:59:38Oliver Spake: Oh, look, whether it's the same person every week, we don't know. I mean, yeah, what criteria are they using?

00:59:44Melissa Ellis: Are we asking the listeners to expect that some mystery person crawls into the office every week and fills our envelope?

00:59:51Oliver Spake: Stranger things have happened.

00:59:53Melissa Ellis: Okay. Okay. I'll leave it to you.

00:59:56Oliver Spake: Okay. I have the envelope here this week. So... Okay, and this week's Obi winner is... ..Juliet. Juliet Colville. APPLAUSE So congratulations, Juliet. And I'm not sure if we said it before, but 25 events as part of that. So, yeah, celebration all round.

01:00:11[applause]

01:00:26Melissa Ellis: And welcome to Australia and welcome to a windy Ballarat.

01:00:32Oliver Spake: Yeah. I mean, that propeller hat must have been going gangbusters on Bruce's head there. But if you saw it, Juliet, I hope you got a chance to say hello. Needless to say, keep us posted on your adventures in Australia.

01:00:46Melissa Ellis: And, Juliet, are you still in Australia? Where are you going next week? Inbox me. We might be able to meet up.

01:00:52Oliver Spake: Yeah, but thank you, everyone, for joining. I did enjoy all of the April Fool's references in there and all of the fun it does us.

01:01:01Melissa Ellis: Absolutely, we did. And now, where are we up to, Ollie? It's time to throw to our informant and hear all the latest wrap-up for the week.

the Informant

01:01:22The Informant: This is The Informant, coming to you live from Level 2 with a view. This week's view is inside the office. It's like a little hive of activity. New lady ducking in and out of everywhere, constantly updating her whiteboard with Insta and Facebook likes. It seems none of the oldies around here have heard that it's 2022 and they should be pushing for TikTok followers. Anyway, on with the report. Last week there were three junior parkruns. 359 juniors participated, which is up around 130. 72 of those were first timers and 74 got a PB. Callum Turbett, Charlotte Davies, Lachlan Kelly and Tessa Billen scored their half marathon wristband for 11 runs. Atticus Caesar scored a marathon wristband for 21 runs. So good on yous! In the 5K events, there were 413 runs held down under, which is down 10 on last week. 381 of these were in Australia, and 32 in New Zealand. This was out of 1,673 worldwide. Aussie New Zealand attendance is up around 1,500 to 37,882. 184,036 people ran worldwide. There were seven launches. Charters Towers Airport in Queensland, Karoola Park in New South Wales, and Werribee Park Mansion in Victoria. They were joined by two in South Africa, one in Sweden, and one in the United States. Down under we had 4,973 PBs, while 1,640 people participated for the first time. 105 juniors reached their Junior 10 milestone, 152 people reached their 50 milestone, 112 reached their 100 milestone, and 30 people reached their 250 milestone. 19 people called bingo. Martin Fleming was the quickest with 153 runs, while Nigel Kleinschmidt was slowest on 313 runs. There were five new statespeople. Mark Fyander in the ACT, and in South Australia we have Trevor Carpenter, Evelyn Astin, Thomas Pamminger, and Peter Hines. In the top 20 most Aussie New Zealand events, there's not much to talk about. But on the overall list, Bevan Webber, Chris Thompson, Gary Light and Joanne Blackburn all move up seven in the rankings. 162 people lifted their windex this week. And this week's biggest mover is Cindy Wu, who moves up 20 to 54th. What's that you say? You've heard that name before? Yes, you have. Cindy was the biggest mover just two weeks ago. And Parkies, the adventurers stats are back. Yeah, fixed it. We have Mark Lawton who joined the Peel Club and Gillian Light joins the Cowell Club. Now, if you want to see these stats in full, you can find them at theinformant.me or you can follow the informant on Facebook. That's a wrap, Parkies. This has been the informant and my spreadsheet is fully restored.

01:04:40Oliver Spake: Thanks, Informant. A bit more information there. Mel, I believe you picked up a few of the recent achievements as well.

01:04:48Melissa Ellis: I did. Our friend Supercell, Sally Heppleston, who achieved her bingo this week. So we just want to congratulate Sally on that. And also a friend of mine, Jill Light, who picked up her Cowell. Congratulations. Great achievements. Yes.

01:05:04Oliver Spake: Well done, both of you. Yes.

Consolidated Club Report

01:05:06Oliver Spake: And another strong showing in the Adventurers Club, Mel.

01:05:09Melissa Ellis: It was, Ollie. So for our adventurers Consolidated Club report this last Saturday, the 2nd of April 2022, we had a total of 151 members and 125 members took part at 74 different locations. Of that, we had 10 events in the UK, which were Grovelands Enfield, Southampton, Oxford, Nonsuch, Gladstone, Rushmore, Selby, Swanley, Hamsterley Forest, and Alton Water. In New Zealand, we had four events at Pegasus, Greytown Woodside Trail, Owairaka, and Trentham Memorial. And, Ollie, in Austria we had, who did we have, Ollie? We had Christine at Donaupark. Thank you. Thank you very much for that. And I wanted to mention that there are only two events in Austria, and probably Austria took me by surprise. They launched last year. But I don't think it really registered with me amongst all the pandemic things going on. And we probably did mention it at the time. Donaupark has had 19 events and launched on the 30th of October in 21. And Hellbrunn has had 30 events and launched the 14th of August in 21. So going ahead nicely in Austria.

01:06:38Oliver Spake: Yep. There'll be some good ones to visit.

01:06:40Melissa Ellis: Locally, there were adventures at Victoria. We had 22 events there, in New South Wales at 14 events, Queensland at 14 events, WA at four events, South Australia at three events, and two events in Tasmania. Still waiting on Northern Territory. If anybody knows anybody in Northern Territory, can you jump on board? We've got to get some engagement there. But also missing this week, Ollie was ACT.

01:07:12Oliver Spake: Yeah, obviously we had some in the ranks and the volunteers, but, yeah, we look forward to seeing ACT make an appearance when some of you get to parkrun again. True that.

01:07:22Melissa Ellis: True that. We're still waiting for parkrun to include volunteer stats in their club report.

01:07:29Oliver Spake: That's right. And I think, you know, it's something we all look forward to.

01:07:33Melissa Ellis: Yeah, we do.

01:07:33Oliver Spake: Because, yeah, we like celebrating it.

01:07:36Melissa Ellis: When they get around to it, when they've got time, no rush.

01:07:39Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right.

01:07:40Melissa Ellis: Just when you can. No pressure.

01:07:42Oliver Spake: No, no, we love your work. Keep it up.

Sign-off

01:07:44Melissa Ellis: Exactly.

01:07:44Oliver Spake: Yeah. And, Mel, I will not be back in Victoria this weekend, will you?

01:07:53Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's a shame, isn't it? I enjoyed having you down here visiting.

01:07:57Oliver Spake: It was a lot of fun, as we said, but, look, another time.

01:08:02Melissa Ellis: Okay. I may be back your way before you're back my way.

01:08:06Oliver Spake: Ah, okay. Just saying. Yeah, yeah.

01:08:09Melissa Ellis: More of that for another day. But this week, Ollie, I am going to be at week two of Werribee Park Mansion. I am super excited about this event.

01:08:20Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:08:21Melissa Ellis: I really am. It is local to me. So one could say I would have been well within my rights to attend last week, but it's not what we do. When we're adventurers, we don't go to launches anymore. So I'm going to go this week. And Werribee Park Mansion is an absolutely gorgeous location. I was down there just the other week with Abby's mum, just having a walk around and exploring the area. I was there for... What was it I was there for, Ollie? One of those music festival things.

01:08:55Oliver Spake: Oh, that's right. Festival week. Yes.

01:08:57Melissa Ellis: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That week we both went to them.

01:08:59Oliver Spake: Yep.

01:08:59Melissa Ellis: That was at Werribee Park Mansion. It's just absolutely stunning grounds. And I'm very excited about this event. I can't wait to go next week. Sadly, Paul won't be with me. He's still working on Saturday. But I do believe I will have the opportunity to meet up with a few other adventurers. So I'm yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. What about you?

01:09:20Oliver Spake: It remains to be seen. Yes, we have some more rain forecast. And again, we haven't copped the worst of it, but we've copped enough. So after another cancellation at Shellharbour, I'll have to wait and see how far I get down my flow chart of decision making.

01:09:37Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay. But there's the potential, Ollie, that you could tourist.

01:09:41Oliver Spake: There is that potential.

01:09:42Melissa Ellis: Okay, we'll cling to that hope. Well, firstly and foremostly, we would like to see Shellharbour be able to continue.

01:09:51Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:09:51Melissa Ellis: But if not, then we do hope to see you make a new event.

01:09:56Oliver Spake: Yeah.

01:09:56Melissa Ellis: That would be exciting.

01:09:57Oliver Spake: It would be a great opportunity. So, yeah, look forward to that possibility, whether it's this week or another.

01:10:04Melissa Ellis: Thank you for catching up with me again this week, Ollie. It's been fun. It was even nicer to see you in person and have that experience at Albert.

01:10:13Oliver Spake: Absolutely was. And so soon after Palm as well.

01:10:16Melissa Ellis: I know.

01:10:17Oliver Spake: I feel very lucky to have had that opportunity.

01:10:19Melissa Ellis: But as always, you can contact us via Facebook or on our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week. So we will see you all next week for more adventures.

01:11:28Unidentified speaker: Bye.

Mini adventurer sign-off

01:11:40mini adventurer: Hi Mel and Ollie, my sister and I had a great time at the fun run. I came third place for my age and Hannah came second place. We also had lots of fun at parkrun this week. Wyndham Vale was taken over by kids. It was so fun and our friend Charlotte was Run Director. Bye everyone, stay safe.