Episode 280 - Breakout

Welcome

00:00:23Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 280 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. My name is Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country.

00:00:33Oliver Spake: And I am Ollie Spake and I am coming from Dharawal Country.

00:00:38Melissa Ellis: With a very croaky voice, Ollie. Haha.

00:00:40[laughter]

00:00:42Oliver Spake: Yeah, the frog's in the throat tonight, that's for sure.

00:00:47Melissa Ellis: Oh, you haven't been well, have you?

00:00:49Oliver Spake: I have not, Mel. It's my turn.

00:00:53Melissa Ellis: Oh, dear.

00:00:53Oliver Spake: Yes. I've had a rather positive week, suffice to say, and it's been rather quiet.

00:01:00Melissa Ellis: Ollie, this wasn't the memories I wanted you to bring home from Melbourne.

00:01:04Oliver Spake: No, no, nothing to do with the memories from Melbourne. Melbourne was a fantastic time, all totally worth it. Who knows where it comes from, Mel, but it felt like it was coming for some time and having managed a couple of trips recently, I feel like I've been tempting fate.

00:01:23Melissa Ellis: You did manage to have a couple of tourist opportunities, but sadly this week you had to sit on the bench.

00:01:31Oliver Spake: Not just the bench. Yeah. I wasn't even awake at parkrun time.

00:01:36Melissa Ellis: Oh, you poor thing.

00:01:38Oliver Spake: Oh, there's the backup. How'd the dog smell?

00:01:44Melissa Ellis: Yes. Bambi's just got up and left the room.

00:01:47Oliver Spake: Disgusted at me, yeah. No, that's right, Bambi. I didn't even log a nottie. That was the state I was in. And, look, I had promised myself that I would enjoy the break and I would grab a coffee and read a book in bed at parkrun time. So I was doing that whilst many a Tail Walker were still out there. So you've got to make the most and savour these opportunities for a lay-in when they actually come around.

00:02:19Melissa Ellis: We're all about glass half full, Ollie, so on the positive side, this means that you had an enforced rest for your recent injuries, so you should be all good to go once you get your energy back.

00:02:29Oliver Spake: Well, that's right. I dare say I am going to step down from marathon distance. I don't think I'm in marathon running form, but the rest for the injury has been wonderful. There's no pain whatsoever in this knee any longer.

00:02:42Melissa Ellis: Did you have a marathon planned for her I wasn't aware of?

00:02:45Oliver Spake: I was... I was planning a marathon, but after the injury and now certainly after this, that's not going to happen. It was planned for the Run Shellharbour long course edition, which was to be the 1st of May.

00:03:02Melissa Ellis: Oh, no. Oh, well, we'll just reschedule. That's all. Reschedule.

00:03:08Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. There are plenty of marathon opportunities out there. They'll come around again. But Mel, that was me. So I had no parkrun fix whatsoever. So tell me about yours, please.

00:03:22Melissa Ellis: I feel a bit guilty. Yeah.

00:03:24Oliver Spake: I don't want to tell you.

00:03:27Melissa Ellis: Well, on Saturday I was at event two of Werribee Park Mansion parkrun with 142 other parkrunners. Werribee Park Mansion is on the traditional country of the Bunurong people and is within the historic Werribee Park Estate, which also includes the Victorian State Rose Garden, the Werribee Park National Equestrian Centre and the Werribee Open Range Zoo. The historic mansion was built between 1874 and 1877 and has been the location of many film and TV series, as well as hosting two Elton John concerts in 2007. It also includes a heritage orchard dating from the 1870s, which has recently been rediscovered and Parks Victoria now looks after it in conjunction with a community group. The National Equestrian Centre is an international standard sporting facility which hosts the World Polo Championships. The park itself is a 45-minute drive southwest of Melbourne CBD or just 25 minutes along the Princes Freeway from Avalon Airport. It was a 40-minute drive for me from Meltown, basically because there is no direct route. I was joined there by fellow adventurers Helen and Steve Davis, Cheryl and Mark Smith, Errol Poole, Andrew Turner and Russ Johnson, but was also amongst many, many familiar faces from the Victorian tourist community including keen to check out Victoria's newest parkrun. As an event, I have to say I rate it highly. Entirely on trail, it starts and finishes in front of the mansion, first doing a lap of the mansion grounds before heading out... Dog in the background. Before heading out, crossing the Werribee River and doing a loop behind the golf course. This event, unfortunately, doesn't allow dogs.

00:05:20Oliver Spake: That must have been the issue. Protest.

00:05:24Melissa Ellis: But there are toilets and ample parking available, as well as coffee and cake available at the refectory, which is part of the mansion complex. Although I did travel alone this week, I enjoyed a relaxed run chat with Cheryl and afterwards enjoyed a catch up with Errol over a takeaway coffee. I really can't rate this event highly enough. It's a true jewel in the crown of Victorian parkrun events and has so much to offer the visiting tourist, be it local, interstate or international. Put it on your list. Now, Ollie, I know you're going to ask me about juniors, so I will rip that Band-Aid off right now. We had to cancel.

00:06:05Oliver Spake: Oh, no.

00:06:06Melissa Ellis: Sadly for us, we could not fill our roster, our volunteer roster, and despite all our best efforts, we fell three marshals short of our requirements. This was the first time we've cancelled for this reason, which wasn't helped by it being the first weekend of the Victorian school holidays with a couple of big running events also taking place around Melbourne and surrounds, which was the Gold Rush Trail Run and the Coburg 24 Hour. Okay. Paul and I headed down Sunday morning in case anyone turned up so we could let them know. And then we had a nice 5k run together around the forest.

00:06:40Oliver Spake: That's making hay while the sun shines approach. And I hope you and Paul had a nice run together instead.

00:06:48Melissa Ellis: It was actually a beautiful morning. It wasn't as cool as the previous couple of weeks had been. It was dry and it was a lovely run. So it was nice, but yeah, a little bittersweet.

00:06:59Oliver Spake: I bet. Well, that's a pretty good record for you guys. It is obviously a big challenge to provide a juniors event week in, week out, and there's a lot of great volunteers there that put in a lot of effort. So I'm sure you guys will bounce back, but thank you for trying.

00:07:18Melissa Ellis: Hopefully this weekend's Easter Sunday.

00:07:21Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:07:22Melissa Ellis: The roster is looking pretty good. However, I think we're still looking at needing another five marshals out on course. So fingers crossed. Fingers crossed. We can pull that together and we'll be back next week. It is hard. We are only a small event so we haven't got a large pool of parents to draw from. Yep. When you're only attracting 20, 25 kids a week and you need 17 volunteers, a lot of our volunteers don't even have kids of junior parkrunner age. They're just passionate parkrunners that come down and just help out of the kindness of their heart.

00:07:58Oliver Spake: Yeah, which is wonderful. It makes it tick. And with some luck and a whole lot of that great help, I'm sure it will be fine. Easy for me to say, I know.

00:08:09Melissa Ellis: It is a stretch each week. So shout out to any adventurers out there that if you would feel so inclined and you are within reach of a Junior parkrun event, it is a great way to help the parkrun community by showing up and supporting Junior parkrun on a Sunday.

00:08:26Oliver Spake: And what an opportunity for some more park faff too.

00:08:29Melissa Ellis: Yes, two brunches in one weekend. You can't ask for better than that.

00:08:32Oliver Spake: No, no, you quite physically can't. The Werribee Mansion, I have to admit, I did look it up, Mel. I did look at the Google Maps view and the different features. You've got me sold.

00:08:46Melissa Ellis: Well, it's perfect, Ollie, because if you come down next time and stay out my way, the Werribee Park Mansion and Eynesbury Juniors double.

00:08:55Oliver Spake: Well, yeah, yeah, meant to be.

00:08:57Melissa Ellis: And you can fly into Avalon's nice and close. So it's a good package deal, I reckon.

00:09:03Oliver Spake: I think so. I think you're onto something.

00:09:04Melissa Ellis: Take the kids to the zoo.

00:09:06Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. It's still an angle I'm trying to work with Dubbo, to be honest, to get the kids out to the zoo there as well around running events. But we'll go to as many zoos as we can. We'll have a good family activity.

00:09:20Melissa Ellis: Ollie, we had some great feedback last week after Sam's interview with Phil Gore.

00:09:26Oliver Spake: We did. It wasn't a pleasure to listen to. Thank you again, Sam and Phil, and thanks to everyone that gave feedback.

00:09:32Melissa Ellis: So there's some more in the planning. So we thank Sam again for coming on board. We look forward to more in the future.

00:09:39Oliver Spake: Yes, very much so. And the goings on around the parkrun world continue and also the world outside of parkrun too, the other running world.

00:09:49Melissa Ellis: one of our very own friends. Is this where we're alluding to?

00:09:53Oliver Spake: That's where we're alluding, yeah.

00:09:56Melissa Ellis: I saw on the socials just this morning that our friend Eman has flown out and he is on his way to run the Boston Marathon.

00:10:05Oliver Spake: That's right, which he will have enjoyed a few days after this pod comes out. So we're wishing Eman all the best. He's going to absolutely, I would say, smash it, but I would say also enjoy it.

00:10:19Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I think he's pretty well prepared from the look of the runs that he has been doing leading up to his trip. The Boston Marathon is the 18th of April, which is Easter Monday, I do believe.

00:10:31Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:10:32Melissa Ellis: I will be following, hopefully can get the information to be able to follow him. It'll be next Monday, Ollie, and if it's in America, we might even be recording while he's running.

00:10:44Oliver Spake: That's right, live updates for everyone except their entire listenership.

00:10:51Melissa Ellis: Just for us, live updates to amuse ourselves.

00:10:54Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:10:55Melissa Ellis: But we do wish you well, Eman, and we know that you will do us proud because you already have just by getting there.

00:11:01Oliver Spake: Yep, well and truly. Now, speaking of getting there, another bunch that almost got there, Mel.

00:11:09Melissa Ellis: Oh, they did. Yes, Stones Corner parkrun in Queensland. They were set to relaunch last Saturday. As they say, we came, we briefed, we flooded, we cancelled. So all the feels from me to you this week at Stones Corner. Unfortunately, they had done their pre-event course check and everything was fine, but must have been some... ongoing rain or it was just taking its time to work its way down but they had an underpass that was flooded and they had to do a last minute cancellation which is a shame because they haven't had an event since the 14th of March in 2020 so that community's been waiting a while that fateful day yes it's coming guys just just a little bit longer we hope you're back next week we do fingers crossed for everybody at stone's corner

00:12:03Oliver Spake: We really do, yes. And look, they weren't alone. There were a lot of cancellations as we continued to see the weather. I think Daryl might have mentioned the weather. My local parkrun didn't miss me. It was cancelled as well. So, yeah, it stayed in bed too. But to all of you parkrunners out there waiting for your parkruns return, especially the Stones Corner crew, let's hope it's a bit sunnier next week. But... Fortunately, we have had some parkrunning in addition to your own. We have a couple of roving reports.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:12:34Oliver Spake: So why don't we have a listen to them now?

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Tracey Wood — Chermside

00:12:45Tracey Wood: Good morning parkrunners, it's Tracey in a Tutu and I've checked into Chermside to chase a challenge. Now before you get excited about a new parkrun challenge, you're not going to find this challenge on a 5k app or on the Chrome extension or on a spreadsheet, flowchart or any other post-it note. No, this is a special challenge given to me by the Channel 5 News crew in order to prove my worth to become an official Channel 5 News crew member. The goal was to interview a person who has done a volley role. So far I've worked my way through about 20 people on the list and I've come to Chermside because I know they have paces. And I'm going to go find someone because it's pacing day today. So I'm going to find someone who's doing that role. I have found Rodney here. Now, Rodney has been a regular at Chermside before to do pacing duties. What's happening, Rodney?

00:13:43Rodney: Oh, well, I was supposed to be pacing today, but from my voice you can tell I'm not feeling great. So luckily I have someone backing up for me today.

00:13:50Tracey Wood: You really need to give up those smokes, Rodney.

00:13:52Rodney: Oh, yeah. No, this is just my best Barry White voice.

00:13:55Tracey Wood: Oh, very nice.

00:13:56Rodney: Very nice.

00:13:58Tracey Wood: And what's your parkrun story?

00:14:00Rodney: I've been Run Director here for about four and a half years. I've been running for about seven. So, yeah, I really enjoy it. It's a lot of fun here at Chermside.

00:14:08Tracey Wood: What's your favourite role here?

00:14:10Rodney: I would say photographer. I've done it about 18 times, but I've also been Run Director a lot and I quite enjoy that. It's just seeing people go out, having a bit of fun and coming back in and encouraging them back on, yeah excellent and did you enjoy the pacing when you did that yeah yeah I do enjoy it it really helps my running because you know the pace I try to set is the one that I've been training for for long runs so just trying to hold that condition in so today it was supposed to be 27 and a half so 5 30 pace

00:14:39Tracey Wood: So what are you doing instead today?

00:14:41Rodney: I'm just going to walk it. I'm under strict conditions not to run from my wife. So I must obey.

00:14:48Tracey Wood: You must be obeyed. I do understand. Okay. Well, you take care and thank you for talking with me.

00:14:53Rodney: Not a problem. Thank you.

00:14:54Tracey Wood: And because I'm on a roll today, I found a Funnel Manager. And this is Julie. Hi, Julie. Hey, how are you? Good. How's it all going?

00:15:02Julie: Great. So Funnel Manager, have you done this job before? I have done Funnel Manager quite a few times. I love being there at the end and seeing everyone across the line and knowing that... We're all needed, so I really enjoy getting out here and helping out. Is it your favourite role here? I quite like scanning, but I've done just about all of them except timekeeping. That's the only one that's left that I'm yet to do.

00:15:29Tracey Wood: Right, and how long have you been coming to Chermside?

00:15:32Julie: Oh so I think I've worked out I did my first run in 2015 and then for some reason I didn't come back for a year I don't know why but since then I have come every Saturday and if it's not here it'll be wherever I'm staying.

00:15:47Tracey Wood: Excellent. What's your stats like, Julie?

00:15:49Julie: Yeah, I'm doing all right. I actually, for my, yeah, when I do the comparisons of all of our timings, apparently I'm running okay for my age. Not bad for an old girl. Yeah? How many parkruns have you done? I'm up to about 189. Nice. Yeah. And volunteer roles? Yeah, well, often I'll do a couple on a day if I can. So I think I'm up to nearly 40. Ooh, so 50 shirt in sight. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's great to wear the purple shirt. Yes, awesome.

00:16:20Tracey Wood: Great. Well, thank you for volunteering today and thank you for talking with me.

00:16:23Julie: Yeah, my pleasure. Bye.

Roving report Tracey Wood — Des Connor Junior parkrun

00:16:26Tracey Wood: Okay, it's Sunday morning. I'm at Des Connor and just to continue my streak, I have found someone doing the other role and I've got Leonie. Good morning, Leonie. Hi. Now, what is the other role this morning that you're down for?

00:16:40Leonie: Oh, because it's our first birthday, I've been handing out Zooper Doopers to all the kids. Oh, gee, I bet they didn't like that at all, did they?

00:16:48Tracey Wood: I had quite a line up. I bet. Yeah, thanks for doing that this morning. That was awesome. We had lots of fun at Juniors this morning, being their first birthday. Lots of colour involved. But Leonie, can you tell me about your parkrun journey at all? I believe you've got statesmanship, is that right?

00:17:03Leonie: Yes, yes. So I've done about 280-something parkruns now, but 130-something, four, I think, different venues, all of Queensland, all of Northern Territory, half of Tasmania, a couple in New South Wales, one in New Zealand, and now I'm starting to work on getting more of the Tasmanian ones, more of the New South Wales ones. I'm heading down to Melbourne next week and I'll get Eastern Gardens, complete my name and get my East.

00:17:31Tracey Wood: Oh, wow.

00:17:32Leonie: Is that overachiever much?

00:17:34Tracey Wood: It is a competition. Oh, okay. Have you got someone in your sights that you're trying to nail down or chase after?

00:17:43Leonie: No, it's less about other people and more about me, really. Just continuing to tick them off for me rather than trying to outdo someone else. Right. What is your main challenge that you're after? I definitely want Tasmanian statesmanship. That's got to happen. I'm a big fan of Tasmania. Got some awesome people down there that I like. Hi, Belle.

00:18:03Tracey Wood: Hi, Steve.

00:18:04Leonie: Yeah. That's great. So how many are left of Tasmania? I still have another eight of them. So I've got two more flights booked in. Wow. So we'll get two of those ticked off and then we'll have to wait and see. Oh. Unfortunately, my job tends to get in the way of my parkrun touring. It's very inconvenient.

00:18:24Tracey Wood: Yeah, that's so rude. Awesome. Well, thank you for helping out this morning. What do you reckon of this morning? It's a good vibe here at Des Connors, isn't it?

00:18:33Leonie: Oh, it's amazing. I love parkrun, Juniors. I love parkrun everything, but Juniors has a very special place in my heart. Excellent.

00:18:41Tracey Wood: All right, thanks again, Leonie, and thanks for talking with me. And talk to you another time. Yes, indeed. Have a good one. Okay, it's Tracey in a Tutu signing off from Des Connor Junior parkrun and taking off three volunteer roles for my Channel 5 challenge, that being pacer, Funnel Manager and the other role. Okay, see you on the B-side. Bye.

Roving report Sarah Jefferson — West Beach parkrun

00:19:06Sarah Jefferson: Good morning, parkrun adventurers. This is Sarah from Western Australia. Just kidding, I left Fortress WA. We have come to South Australia to check out West Beach parkrun, and I am here with Alita, the ED of West Beach parkrun. How did you go this morning, Alita?

00:19:21Alita: I'm so proud of myself. I didn't die. I'm not one of the fittest runners in the world, but you know what? Does it really matter?

00:19:27Sarah Jefferson: No, because it's parkrun. Well done to you, and it's a beautiful morning here. What can you tell me about West Beach parkrun?

00:19:34Alita: Totally biased here, but I think it's the best parkrun in South Australia. Possibly Australia, but controversial opinion that one. It's honestly, it's a gorgeous place to come out in the morning. It's literally that West Beach. It's along the beach. We're actually at the moment running an alternate course because our council area is doing up our pathway across the original course, which runs along the Torrens River. Again, beautiful spot. But at the moment, we're right straight along the beach on a beautiful day like today. Where else would you want to be?

00:20:03Sarah Jefferson: Yep, nowhere else. It's so beautiful here. And I think we're quite privileged to have done the alternative course. How long have you been event directing and how's that going for you?

00:20:14Alita: Because I started pre-COVID, it's kind of hard to keep track because I think we've all lost a couple of years. But I think it's nearly coming on two and a half, three years now. One of those things where... You just keep on keeping on with the event. I actually love being an ED. I love helping the course develop and helping the team develop and building. We've actually built a really fantastic run directing and event team. We've got a whole diverse range of people and we're obviously still looking for a couple of other people to come and join the ranks. At the moment got a lovely diverse group and I couldn't wish for a better team.

00:20:48Sarah Jefferson: Awesome. And I saw that you go up to the surf club. Is that right? For post parkrun coffee? Yes. Yes. Do you get many or much of a community that join you after parkrun? It sort of varies. I think we've...

00:20:59Alita: It's interesting because that particular surf club even comes due for development. So we are frequenting them a lot, but I think we might be looking for new digs for a little bit. But yeah, there's a lovely group of people who rock up. And because it's a surf club and an outdoor space, it's dog friendly. So often a lot of our park dogs end up down there as well.

00:21:18Sarah Jefferson: Nice. And obviously we're here from Western Australia to get our west compass point. Do you get many people travelling to do that? Definitely. We actually had the Wagi Bridge troll come and get their compass point too.

00:21:32Alita: So yeah, definitely excited that we're a compass point, to be around but um yeah and we get several people wanting to do that I actually myself just need the south so ironically there's a South Para parkrun so I'm definitely got to head up there and then I've got my compass point too yep nice there is a south in WA so feel free to come to South Beach Reserve and obviously ED can be you know you can be uh quite in demand or in demand I guess do you get out and adventure much and get to participate much yourself I haven't been able to adventure or tour as much as I've wanted. What we've been doing of late is trying to just cement a really good event team. And so I've been here supporting a lot of the newcomers and making sure that they feel comfortable in the roles. But that being said, one of the things that we've made as a definite point is that just because I'm the ED doesn't mean I have to be here. So we're trying to create this sort of independence and autonomy and that's working really well I think I'm at the tail end of hopefully being able to tour who knows maybe next month awesome well it's very exciting and very near um thank you for everything you do for parkrun and thanks for giving back to the community oh thanks guys can't do it without the people who do parkrun and we love our volunteers we love our parkrunners can't wait to see the next week thank you

00:22:54Melissa Ellis: Thank you very much to Tracey who came to us from Chermside and Des Connor Park Juniors and Sarah Jefferson who absconded from Western Australia and popped up to get her compass point in West Beach, South Australia.

00:23:13Oliver Spake: Yes, yes, a West Australian travelling. How nice is that to hear, Mel?

00:23:18Melissa Ellis: It is. It's funny that the West Australian had to travel to South Australia to get the West compass point. That was like, what?

00:23:24Oliver Spake: Poetic. Yeah.

00:23:26Melissa Ellis: And she seemed quite happy about it too. But she spoke to E.D. Alita and was also very excited about the prospect of a Palm in WA.

00:23:36Oliver Spake: Yeah, that would be an exciting prospect for sure.

00:23:39Melissa Ellis: And Tracey was speaking to a few volunteers over at Chermside and Des Connor Park.

00:23:46Oliver Spake: Yes. Tracey is an absolute phenomenon when it comes to speaking to our volleys. And thank you again, Tracey, for adding to the collection there. Some great helpers.

00:23:58Melissa Ellis: And good to hear from Leonie, who we met at Palm.

00:24:01Oliver Spake: It was. I remember at Palm, a great chat with Leonie out on one of the Freedom Runs. So keep up the good work.

00:24:07Melissa Ellis: And Ollie, there's another issue that we need to address. Now, Sarah's been sending us reports from WA for a little while now. It's possibly time that she steps up. What do you think?

00:24:21Oliver Spake: Always a great opportunity to add more talent to the team. I think it could be time.

00:24:27Melissa Ellis: So we will start mulling over a challenge for Sarah if she wishes to accept it to join the Channel 5 News crew because I think she's proven her worth over there.

00:24:39Oliver Spake: Yeah, well, that's right. So we love hearing from the West, but the South now apparently too. Which we also love hearing from. But yeah, let's put our collective thinking caps on. I'm sure we can come up with a good one.

00:24:52Melissa Ellis: I think so.

00:24:53Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:24:53Melissa Ellis: Or something that suits us. That's right. Just plan a palm, Sarah. That's all you need. No, no, no, no. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.

00:25:04Oliver Spake: Take those cards off the table, Mel. Okay. Yes.

Emails

00:25:10Oliver Spake: So we have no mail. No. No, we have no mail.

00:25:14Melissa Ellis: The roving reports were mail, but, yeah, other than that.

00:25:17Oliver Spake: That's right, yes.

00:25:18Melissa Ellis: No fan mail.

00:25:19Oliver Spake: No, that's okay. We know in our hearts.

Dazza's

00:25:22Oliver Spake: But we do have Dazza's. And at Dazza's this week, he did say that our New South Wales listeners have faced another week of relentless rain and countless parkrun cancellations. How's the weather at your place? Come on in and tell Dazza all about your morning. And someone that did come in and share, once again, was Steve's bike, Mel. So in the report, Steve's bike's message was, or clue as it were, thinking of our New South Wales friends and family, Dazza. It is oddly warm for April, so I am doubting whether West is actually best. Photo to come, happy parkrun day all. And a photo did come, I should add, with what appeared to be Steve's bike on course.

00:26:10Melissa Ellis: Might have had a little help with that photo. Might have been Photoshopped. And we had for our most likes, which was a bit contentious because I was in the running for the most likes and I got pipped at the post by Mr Chris Fraser saying Stan thought parkrun today. Last time I was here it was a different scene. It seems one tree didn't survive the big dry. And Chris's photo had starkly different images from October 2019 with dry dead grass and April 2022 where it was all lush and green.

00:26:50Oliver Spake: Yes, what a change. It was. Well done, Chris, and thank you. Another Chris, though, Chris Royce. And I hope I've pronounced that right. Sorry, Chris. On the tourism front. We had a mini adventure to Frog Hollow today. Bumped into some wonderful khaki-paki regulars. Perfect morning. Time for a long quack. Thanks. And Chris shared a photo in the selfie frame.

00:27:14Melissa Ellis: I think I've asked Chris how he pronounces his name before. We really need to figure that out. I say rise as in guys.

00:27:22Oliver Spake: Sorry, Chris.

00:27:23Melissa Ellis: Well, no, you might be right, Ollie. It doesn't mean I'm right. It might be a pronunciation all of its own. We really need to find that out.

00:27:32Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. Can you type your name phonetically, Chris?

the Frond

00:27:37Melissa Ellis: But on the frond front this week, we heard from Ingrid Botha. Lovely morning at St Peter's parkrun with Bec Bailey. Paris ran a lot more of the course than usual and was a delight to carry with her wet and muddy tummy and legs. I do think the chalking at St Peter's is brilliant. And there was a photo of the chalk drawing on course, walk like an Egyptian, a reference relevant for Ingrid.

00:28:05Oliver Spake: That's right. That's a tip of the hat to Ingrid's palm costume. Now, another frond, as we've heard, Mel. Mm-hmm, had Andrew Turner reporting in saying, great to meet Melissa Ellis at Werribee Park Mansion this morning. A great new course with some lovely weather. I also doubled my Wilson index to two and got a stopwatch bingo number. And Andrew shared some photos with Mel, the mansion and the flag. Some great shots.

00:28:35Melissa Ellis: Yes, it was lovely to meet Andrew. He came up and said hi to me, which I really appreciated. And I grabbed a selfie with him. We had beautiful blue skies. So the week before for the launch, they had very grey skies. So we got the better weather, which was very lucky. Okay, so tourist and achiever this week was Karen Hamilton. Escaped the relentless downpour at Shellharbour parkrun this week. It's Canberra Marathon weekend, so we washed up at Mount Ainslie parkrun for the first dry trail I've run in weeks. This was the last run needed for ACT Territorian status, and I think will be my favourite ACT course. But I'm a sucker for a pretty off-roader, think there's a photo of Karen on a dry course is that correct jolly I'm trying to interpretate interpretate interpretate the notes that's right it was a dry course and well done Karen territorial I still have to do Mount Ainslie as well and I'm leaving that one to last I think that might be the one I also do for territorial status okay well I have a I have many to go

00:29:49Oliver Spake: I have two ACT events under my belt.

00:29:52Melissa Ellis: The world is your oyster.

00:29:54Oliver Spake: That's right. So much opportunity. It's wonderful. Heather Hunter on the tourism front. We had sun, then rain, then sun at Forster parkrun today. And Heather shared a wonderful photo out on course in some fine weather.

00:30:10Melissa Ellis: It's good. It's good. Some good weather out there by all accounts. But home this week and volleying. We heard from Matthew Billington, volunteering as Timekeeper at my home parkrun. Next volunteer gig on the 30th of April will see me tick off 50 volunteer milestone. And Matthew shared a photo of, I assume, himself. Well, actually, I do know himself with the volleys at the finish line there with the flags.

00:30:39Oliver Spake: That's right. Thank you for volunteering, Matthew. Over across the ditch in New Zealand, Brett Bailey said, Hi Dazza, 82 parkrunners and a lot of bark runners at a fine and sunny Pegasus today. We had our first frost yesterday, so it won't be long until the winter running kit comes out, started Brunner off and handed him over to Tanya at about the 750 metre mark then had a nice unimpeded run hope the sun shines soon for all of you over the ditch touristing to Wanaka next weekend tickets all booked for New South Wales in October might need to put in some hill training for Mount Panorama I'm doing a little clap why are you allowed to clap Mel oh

00:31:26Melissa Ellis: Because mine is actually clapping Brett. It's not like just a, you know, a one-off like out of the ordinary, just your, I don't know.

00:31:36Oliver Spake: Spontaneous outbursts. Yes, yeah, that's right. No, Brett had certainly earned that one. We look forward to seeing the Bailey shot at Mount Panorama.

00:31:46Melissa Ellis: And back in South Africa this week, we heard from Johan Duvenhage with his achievement, and he said, Ahoy me mateys, I'm a pirate, 7th sea done at Century City in Cape Town, assisted with pre-event course check and barcode scanning after my run. Just under 600 runners, largest event I have been to since lockdown. And there was a photo, well, there was a couple of photos. One was a lovely morning light photo of Table Mountain, is it? Yeah, Table Mountain, isn't it, at the Cape? And the other one was a seagull.

00:32:25Oliver Spake: Yes, a lovely seagull.

00:32:26Melissa Ellis: Proving that he was actually at the seaside.

00:32:29Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:32:30Melissa Ellis: And apparently the seagulls like hot chips over there.

00:32:33Oliver Spake: It's universal.

00:32:33Melissa Ellis: Just like they do here.

00:32:35Oliver Spake: Yeah, so well done, Johan.

00:32:39Melissa Ellis: Yes, you're allowed those claps. Yeah.

00:32:42Oliver Spake: I'll enjoy every one of them. That's a fine achievement. And I did love the sky in that shot. Not the one with the seagull, the other one. Yes. But moving around the globe, Helen Rutter over in the UK. Very cold but sunny at Chopwell Wood. Such a gorgeous location but hilly. Pleased with my time considering the hills. I have to give up dairy for four weeks. So I had toast with jam at the local cafe, saw some friends there too, including Claire Wintersick. And I apologise, Claire, for that pronunciation, who came specially to meet us. And whilst Helen didn't share a photo, Claire did with everyone there on course. So thank you, Helen and team.

00:33:29Melissa Ellis: And thank you, Ollie, for taking that pronunciation for me. Lastly, we heard from Dawn Branton, who was touristing. Uber touristing, you could say. My eight-hour road trip to Cowra was definitely worth the effort. Great parkrun in the POW camp area with beautiful views across the countryside, and Cowra is just an all-round interesting place to adventure to. The POW camp is fascinating to walk around, and there is a beautiful Japanese garden to visit. And Dawn shared a... Lovely photo of herself in the selfie frame at Cowra.

00:34:05Oliver Spake: Yes, that's some trip, Dawn. Well done.

00:34:07Melissa Ellis: Yeah, she goes off on her own too, 800 kilometres.

00:34:11Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:34:12Melissa Ellis: That's a fair drive. So well done, Dawny.

00:34:14Oliver Spake: Yes, and well done to everyone. Thank you, everyone, for joining at Dazza's.

00:34:18Melissa Ellis: Yes, thanks for everybody who contributed. And obviously we haven't read them all out. Ollie, that was just a sample.

00:34:24Oliver Spake: That's right. Get in and enjoy a dose of Dazza's next week and you'll get the full lot. But Mel.

the Obi Award — Dawn Branton

00:34:31Melissa Ellis: Yes, an Obi winner, Ollie.

00:34:32Oliver Spake: An Obi winner.

00:34:33Melissa Ellis: An envelope.

00:34:35Oliver Spake: Oh, an envelope. Yes. Here we are. I have an envelope. Oh, some excitement in the background. I don't know if you heard that shriek.

00:34:43[other]

00:34:48Melissa Ellis: Anticipation for the winner.

00:34:50Oliver Spake: That's right. It's, yeah, the tension is palpable in the office tonight. There's a live audience. That's right. Not advisable when you're in quarantine. They're watching through the window. So the winner this week of the Obi is Dawn. Dawn.

00:35:20Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's good. Wonderful. Congratulations, Dawn, and well done on your big tourist trip, and I hope I cross paths with you very soon.

00:35:26Oliver Spake: Yes, that's right. All righty. A lot of excitement that I think makes up for a lack of a parkrun day for me, so thank you, everyone. Someone else that helps make up for a lack of a parkrun day is our informant, Mel, so I'd love to have a listen. Would you? Yes, please.

00:35:41[15 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

the Informant

00:35:56The Informant: This is The Informant, coming to you live from Level 2 with a view. This week's view is... Well, it's not a view, but I can tell you a story. The new lady in the office brought in some chocolate for Easter. And not the cheap stuff we usually get. We're talking Lindt balls and golden bunnies. Hey, as an aside, did you know you can buy those balls online by the kilo? Well, you can, but I digress. Anyway, with Ollie off sick, the beige man decided he would help himself to get a double dose of chocolate by re-gifting to himself. And now I'm calling shenanigans by re-re-gifting to myself. By the time he hears this pod confession, that chocolate is long gone, sucker! Anyway, on with the report. Last week, there were four junior parkruns. 333 juniors participated, which is down 26. 63 of those were first-timers, and 76 got a PB. A huge 10 parkies got half-marathon wristband for 11 runs. Connor Hendry, LJ Slater, Isla Hendry, Jessica Lai, Lawrence O'Neill, Maeve Tilson, Ruth Hopkinson, Sherelle Flight, Sylvia McDonald, and Zachary Saunders. Three parkies scored a marathon wristband for 21 runs. Lachlan Mitchell, Sophie Mitchell and Sophie Smith. The good onions! In the 5k events, there were 421 runs held down under, which is up 8 on last week. 385 of those were in Australia and 36 in New Zealand. This was out of 1,670 worldwide. Aussie New Zealand attendees up around 1,000 to 39,801. 186,473 ran worldwide. There were five launches. Chaffey Park in New South Wales, Myponga Reservoir in South Australia and Russell Park in New Zealand. They were joined by one in South Africa and one in the United Kingdom. Down under we had 4,630 PBs, while 1,868 people participated for the first time. 80 juniors reached their Junior 10 milestone, 177 people reached their 50 milestone, 108 people reached their 100 milestone, and 22 people reached their 250 milestone. 28 people called bingo. Karen Potter was quickest with 146 runs, while Alan Field was slowest on 439 runs, which is a record for Australia. There were five New States people. Rebecca Gordon, Karen Hamilton and Ralph Matheson in the ACT. In the Northern Territory, we welcomed Carl Ambrose. And in South Australia, we have Chris Nettle. In the top 20 most Aussie New Zealand events, Kevin Muller moves up 1 to equal 15 after running at Northparkes Oval. Overall, on the biggest movers list, Tom Gallagher, Tim Bowden, Steve Amor, Martin Hawkins and Janice Whittle all moved up 7 in the rankings. 195 people lifted their windex this week. And this week's biggest mover is Geoff Wiffen, who moves up 68 to 176. And that also bumps him up to the top of the Victorian rankings. The Adventurer Clubs have 12 people listed. We have Joe DiGabrielle and Yunhee Lee join the Peel Club. Nathan Curry and Lynn Wright joined the Cowell Club. And eight others joined the Half Cowells. 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? Well, it's not as beige as some.

00:39:46Melissa Ellis: And it's always fun to find out what's been happening with our informants in Level 2 with a View, Ollie. They always amuse me. I don't know about you.

00:39:56Oliver Spake: Yes, I always appreciate their insights and their helpful remarks.

00:40:02Melissa Ellis: The whiteboard's getting a workout lately, I did notice. It's very busy and full and lots of different coloured markers.

00:40:10Oliver Spake: Yeah, I suppose I never really considered that there was another way to throw notes on the wall like that.

00:40:19Melissa Ellis: Anyway, it's good that an extra person in the office and different things are being used, so very happy with that.

00:40:26Oliver Spake: Not much for us to do now, Mel.

00:40:28Melissa Ellis: No. We can concentrate on other things. Like the Adventurers Club. Yes.

Consolidated Club Report

00:40:35Melissa Ellis: Our Consolidated Club Report, Ollie, for Saturday the 9th of April. Yes. We have a total of 157 members with 126 members taking part on this date at 75 different locations. In the UK, we had 11 events at Southampton, Guildford, Riddlesdown, Kettering, Watergrove parkrun, Rochdale, Widnes, Tooting Common, Berkeley Green, Bowling Park, Peel and Chopwell Wood. In New Zealand, there were four events at Pegasus, Greytown Woodside Trail, Hobsonville Point and Owairaka. In South Africa, one event at Century City and no events in the USA, because Geoff was volunteering.

00:41:32Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:41:33Melissa Ellis: Locally, there were adventurers at 23 events in Victoria, 14 in Queensland. New South Wales was down to 12, possibly because of the rain-infected cancellations. I did notice that Forster had their Richie Benaud event, Ollie. Yeah.

00:41:55Oliver Spake: Choo-choo-choo.

00:41:56Melissa Ellis: Choo-choo-choo. There were three events in South Australia, three in Tasmania, two in WA and two in the ACT. The largest fronds occurred at Werribee Park Mansion with seven adventurers present and eight out at Warrandyte River Reserve, our two newest events showing that the adventuring community is still filtering through, catching up those two events. Wow. Wow.

00:42:28Oliver Spake: Everyone was busy.

00:42:29Melissa Ellis: They were very busy. And a few new names popping up over there in the UK, which is good to see. Some challenging the pronunciation efforts. And good to see Johan back as well after a few weeks off.

00:42:49Oliver Spake: Yeah, no, look, I do enjoy seeing the different parkruns popping up, giving a bit of inspiration. It was actually not in the show notes, Mel, but it was... in this lockdown environment, got back to dreaming with Cathy and the kids around where would we go, what would we do, and we've started hatching a plan. And I think three to four years' time, no, two to three years' time maybe, we'll see, to try and get over to the UK and Finland. Wow. And I'd have to go to Southampton. But discovering that there's a Kettering Park, right, because I grew up in Kettering in Tasmania. So there we go.

00:43:27Melissa Ellis: Oh. Wow. Who was at Kettering this week? Oh, I didn't see who was at Kettering. You put me on the spot there. Scroll, scroll, scroll. Scroll, scroll, scroll. Fill for me for a minute, Ollie. Oh, Phil was there. No. Was he?

00:43:45Tracey Wood: Oh, Phil. No.

00:43:46Melissa Ellis: No, I said Phil. Talk while I look.

00:43:55Oliver Spake: I got nothing, Mel.

00:43:56Melissa Ellis: You're not very good at ad-libbing, are you, Ollie?

00:43:58Oliver Spake: No, no.

00:44:02Melissa Ellis: Ah, Pippa. Pippa and Christine, of course. Yes.

00:44:09Oliver Spake: That was in the... That was at Dazza's. That was at Dazza's. Okay. Oh, Pippa. I was just reading your post today too. That's right. So thank you for the inspiration there, Pippa and Christine.

Sign-off

00:44:22Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, maybe not... an event for next week, but are you going to be well enough to emerge from isolation and attainment?

00:44:35Oliver Spake: Do I feel lucky? Do I feel lucky, punk? We will see. I'm optimistic. I should be well and truly recovered or, yes, able to be social once again and not distanced in the confined sense at least. So I do look forward to the prospect, the prospect that we actually have a Shellharbour parkrun because we've had a lot of cancellations lately and it would be nice to have a local parkrun once again.

00:45:07Melissa Ellis: And it's not washed away completely.

00:45:10Oliver Spake: Yes, I do need to get back out there and see if there's still, in fact, any course, any track. There has been some erosion and I'm a bit scared to go and find what's not there.

00:45:21Melissa Ellis: It'll be like a brand new course. Yes.

00:45:24Oliver Spake: We could do with one of those. Yeah. Thank you. Nonetheless, if it is dry enough, we look forward to going ahead. Our risk profile has changed a tad and it will be, I think, a welcome return for the Easter long weekend. But what about you, Mel? Have you got any more tourism planned?

00:45:46Melissa Ellis: I do. I do. I'm not going to show my hand. All I'm going to say is I'm headed north and insert some mysterious music.

00:45:50[music]

00:46:05Oliver Spake: I'm intrigued.

00:46:06Melissa Ellis: Yeah. That's all I'm going to say about that. You can hear all about it next week.

00:46:12Oliver Spake: I look forward to it.

00:46:12Melissa Ellis: But, yes, it is Easter Saturday, of course. I'm only going to do an overnighter, so I'm back for Junior parkrun, help out the team because goodness knows we need every single volunteer we can muster at the moment. Yeah.

00:46:27Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:46:28Melissa Ellis: I've got my rabbit onesie that I've pre-purchased. Zoe and I have matching, matchy-matchy rabbit onesies to wear.

00:46:35Oliver Spake: Yep.

00:46:36Melissa Ellis: At Juniors on Sunday. So, yeah, looking forward to that.

00:46:40Oliver Spake: Oh, that's exciting.

00:46:41Melissa Ellis: Yes, the Easter bunny.

00:46:42Oliver Spake: coming yeah yeah very excited about that I think my kids are rather excited especially after I cancelled their Easter hat parade by forcing everyone into lockdown uh so we look forward to celebrating that too although I don't have an Easter bunny onesie I feel like I've let the side down Mel oh well you've still got a week that's true it's not too late Ollie no pressure go to best and less just saying okay all right noted

00:47:09Melissa Ellis: But probably a shorter one for us this week, bearing in mind that you aren't at the top of your game with you being under the weather. No criticism intended with your performance. No, not at all.

00:47:23Oliver Spake: I mean, it's a low bar anyway, let's be honest. But, yes, I have appreciated a brief catch-up. Look forward to a bit more parkrun chat next week, hopefully, Mel. But thank you for the consideration. I hope everyone out there stays well and gets their parkruns back, incidentally. But as always, everyone, you can contact us at via Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week. Go Eman, and we'll see you all next week for more adventures.

00:48:59Unidentified speaker: Hi Mel and Ollie, this week I didn't do Junior parkrun, instead I went to my cousin's birthday. He turned one. But I was so happy to see you, Mel, at my mum's footy. Mummy's team won the game. Go point Cook Doggies. And I got to play with Zoe.

00:49:28Oliver Spake: Bye, everybody.

00:49:29Unidentified speaker: Stay safe.