Episode 282 - Cass Castleton

Welcome

00:00:23Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 282 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 once again from Dharawal Country. And Mel. How are you?

00:00:40Melissa Ellis: I am very good, Ollie. Thank you for asking. How are you doing?

00:00:43Oliver Spake: I'm also doing well. Thank you. Another parkrun day gone. How was yours, Mel?

00:00:48Melissa Ellis: It was very enjoyable. Lots to be happy about this weekend, Ollie. On Saturday, I was at Warrandyte River Reserve parkrun. Also on Wurundjeri Country for event number five, I was joined by fellow adventurers Brendan Peel, Jodie Maisie and Irene and Parth Bomber Canty in a field of 94 participants. The course was a double out and back along the Yarra River. And in 70th place, I was well back in the field. There were a few inclines to attack, but the pain is short-lived and obviously rewarded on the return with the downhills. This course is complicated by the fact that the trail is also a popular off-leash dog track, and at that time of the morning, there were plenty of locals out about with their pooches. I was very happy to be adventuring once again with the pool cleaner, a.k.a. Paul. Yeah. And afterwards, we enjoyed brunch in Warrandyte at Now and Not Yet Cafe in the main street. Sunday morning, I was at Eynesbury Heritage Trail juniors and excited to play host to Mossman parkrun co-ED Dorota Asenio with hubby Alex and kids Josh and Freya. I last caught up with Dorota and Alex on our Singapore parkrun in September of 2019 and and although Freya was too little to take part, Dorota volunteered as Warm-up Leader and Funnel Manager, and Josh ran the course with Dad. I was also excited to discover Abby and Hannah in attendance unexpectedly, and after a coffee at Birdie's Cafe, enjoyed a wander around Eynesbury's monthly market. As an aside, this morning being Anzac Day, Paul and I attended the local women's footy to watch and cheer Abby's mum in her game with the Point Cook Bulldogs. And, Ollie, it was my second visit of the season and I am very much enjoying the extra community involvement in the local football league.

00:02:55Oliver Spake: Oh, nice work, nice work. I hope you're a good luck charm for them, Mel.

00:03:01Melissa Ellis: Not today, let's just say. Okay.

00:03:05Oliver Spake: 50%. That's still, yeah, it's still good. Yeah.

00:03:08Melissa Ellis: They played with heart, Ollie. Yes. They played with heart.

00:03:11Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. Look, it sounds like a pretty fantastic combo of a weekend, Mel. The obstacle course of the off-leash dogs had me there. Did the dogs find their way onto the course much over there?

00:03:26Melissa Ellis: Yes. To put it bluntly, yes, because it's a trail. So to paint the picture, it's not like it's open field where the dogs are in one area and the parkrunners are running along sort of an edge. It is literally a path and runners are coming up and back because it's an out and back course. So runners are coming up one way and back one way mixed in with local walkers with their off-lead dogs that are coming along and, yeah, there's not a lot of room. So, yeah, it's a little bit tight and I did have to stop in my tracks and pivot at one point to try to get around a dog that ran across my path. So, yeah, it's a little bit tricky but not impossible and everybody's aware.

00:04:18Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's it. That's local conditions. I think it sounds like one of the highlights of the course there. Yeah. Your other parkruns with, yeah, with dog hopping. You've got your deer at some of the other fantastic well-known parkruns we know of. And I was just watching the video time lapse of the new and upcoming Jindabyne Sport and Rec parkrun.

00:04:38Melissa Ellis: With the kangaroos.

00:04:39Oliver Spake: With the kangaroos, exactly. So dog hopping, yeah, I think it fits in with a pretty decent club there.

00:04:47Melissa Ellis: It makes the courses unique. That's it. And we have to share our parks with local park users. We know that and it's just part of it. We deal with it. We're not racing for sheep stations.

00:04:59Oliver Spake: That's right, yeah. If we need exclusive space for parkruns, then we aren't going to have many parkruns. So that's quite okay. Good work, team. Sounds like a pretty successful parkrun weekend. Thanks, Ollie. Yes, what about you? Me? Yeah. Yeah, look, I was in familiar surroundings back at Shellharbour and we almost had a dry day, almost. So it was nice to be out on Friday morning enjoying the dry ground and the dried up mud, but alas, there was a bit of overnight rain and it was once again... The slip-a-thon, and fortunately, everyone stayed quite okay, but yeah, a bit of mud and a lot of fun. I was volunteering. I was timekeeping this week, actually, and I was a little taken aback when I arrived, Mel, because we had a visitor turn up who had been visiting from somewhere in the Melbourne area. He introduced his name as Steve.

00:06:00Terence Chia: What?

00:06:01Oliver Spake: He rowed. And, look, I know that I'm sure that there's more than one Steve with a bicycle from Melbourne that likes parkrun, but it had me for a moment, Mel. So, yeah, it was not Steve's bike.

00:06:17Melissa Ellis: Well, this has confused me. It wasn't Steve's bike? It was not Steve's bike. Because my understanding is Steve's bike was home in Victoria this last day gone. Although he has alluded to, as we will hear later on.

00:06:30Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:06:31Melissa Ellis: venturing further afield in the next week. So you've confused me just slightly. So it was a random guy called Steve who turned up on his bike and you got very confused. That's right.

00:06:45Oliver Spake: Yep.

00:06:46Melissa Ellis: Yep.

00:06:46Oliver Spake: I feel like I've effectively conveyed my confusion by your confusion. So yeah. But a good parkrun day.

00:06:56Melissa Ellis: That's hilarious.

00:06:57Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah.

00:06:59Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's good. What were numbers like?

00:07:01Oliver Spake: Reasonable. 18 volunteers and a couple of parkrunners. I think we had 124 finishes this parkrun day, unless that was last week. It was somewhere in that vicinity. Yeah, still very well supported and enjoying the fact that our Duke of Ed kids at Shellharbour are running the ship.

00:07:21Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's good to hear. They've got their ability to contribute back.

00:07:25Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah.

00:07:27Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, a bit of feedback from last week.

00:07:31Oliver Spake: Oh, yes.

00:07:32Melissa Ellis: In last week's Consolidated Club Report comments, Graham Wilkinson let us know that we had previously incorrectly stated Ayr parkrun was in Wales, when in fact it's in Scotland.

00:07:46Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:07:46Melissa Ellis: So whoopsie.

00:07:47Oliver Spake: Sorry, guys. That's a pretty fundamental one.

00:07:50Melissa Ellis: Graham also gave us some pronunciation tips for Roggett, which we appreciate. Always happy to get a bit of... feedback on correct pronunciation because we get that incorrect frequently.

00:08:04Unidentified speaker: Yes.

00:08:05Melissa Ellis: So thank you, Graeme. We do appreciate you letting us know and welcome to the Adventurers Club.

00:08:10Oliver Spake: Let's see. We might need some more pronunciation tips after the Consolidated Club report this week too. But yeah, please keep them coming.

00:08:18Melissa Ellis: I think Graeme's going to come in very handy.

00:08:20Oliver Spake: Yeah. This is my opportunity for education here. So yeah, thoroughly enjoy it and appreciate it. And, Mel, I understand there have been a few more goings on around the parkrun world and, in fact, a bit broader than the parkrun world, more so the Mel world. Can you tell me what's going on?

00:08:38Melissa Ellis: I would like to invite everybody to attend the Festival of Mel on the 14th of May at Toolern Creek parkrun. Probably most people would assume that this has been something that I've instigated. In fact, it isn't. In fact, I have had nothing to do with the festival at Mel at Toolern Creek parkrun. It's a happy coincidence. I was actually planning to be elsewhere on that day. I have now cancelled my plans because how could I not be at the festival of Mel in my own hometown? I had to be there. So I have also alluded to the fact that there is a lot of Mel's in Meltown and I do jest when I refer to the local council area of where I live, which is Melton, and I refer to it as Meltown because there happens to be a lot of people around this area called Mel and they're not all Melissa's like myself. There's a lot of Melanie's.

00:09:36Oliver Spake: Oh, yeah, true. Yeah.

00:09:37Melissa Ellis: But there is just a ridiculous amount of Mel's around. And so that's why I have come to jest of it being Mel Town. Not, as some might assume, just trying to name the locality after myself actually has nothing to do with it. We like to take Melfies because there's often multiple Mel's at a location. And, yeah, so this is really exciting. It's, yeah, on the 14th of May. Okay. We're going to fill the volunteer roster with as many Mel's as possible. So if you are in the western suburbs of Melbourne and you know a Mel who may or may not be interested in joining us for the Festival of Mel, let them know. Put out the word. We need to raise awareness for all Mel's.

00:10:31Oliver Spake: It's a remarkable event and I'm still not entirely buying it that you're not involved somehow, but nonetheless.

00:10:39Melissa Ellis: I wasn't. I promise.

00:10:41Oliver Spake: This could have come in handy a few years ago, if I'm not mistaken, Mel, as in a coordinated event to have a Mel at a parkrun. Too soon?

00:10:52Unidentified speaker: No.

00:10:53Melissa Ellis: When I needed to get a Mel and a Scotty at an event to earn my right onto the Channel 5 news crew, yeah, that burns me deep. Cuts me deep, Shrek. Cuts me deep.

00:11:06Oliver Spake: Look, it's bound to be a good day. I am sorry I won't be there, but I trust that you will enjoy it. Really?

00:11:12Melissa Ellis: You can't come? Geez, Ollie, I'm always coming to visit.

00:11:18Oliver Spake: Yeah, sorry, Mel. Sorry.

00:11:19Melissa Ellis: That's okay. Send a Scotty. Yes.

00:11:24Oliver Spake: However, maybe the segue is that you may be in the vicinity up here in August, which is when the City to Surf is. That is correct.

00:11:33Melissa Ellis: Yes. And we have now got 10 registered participants in the Adventurers Club for City to Surf. That's really exciting. And we are... spanning all the waves, Ollie, spanning all the waves. We are going to have people running up in the, I don't know what you call it, they don't even have a colour there. We've got Eman.

00:11:56Oliver Spake: Yeah, the supersonic segment.

00:11:58Melissa Ellis: He's so fast he doesn't have a colour. Yes, let's call him supersonic. All the way down to myself and I have elected to run this year in yellow predominantly because I've lost all my fitness and I think I might just enjoy the experience. I don't know that I can run 14 kilometres. So I think I might just dress up and... trot along and take photos and just enjoy the atmosphere I'm hoping the smurfs will be back and there'll be gorillas and you know all the things hopefully it's bigger and betterer betterer than last time it'll be wonderful to have it back um and I'm sure that for many of our listeners that would have taken part in the city to surf you know you've all got fond memories

00:12:48Oliver Spake: It's a spectacle and, yeah, I look forward to seeing all the Smurfs once again as well and the gorillas. Great to have some adventurers on board and I guess the question is just where are we going afterwards?

00:13:02Melissa Ellis: I don't know. We've already had a suggestion about a pre-event location for a photo at the War Memorial, which I believe is in the vicinity of the area where the City to Surf begins.

00:13:16Oliver Spake: Absolutely, yeah. So in the park there.

00:13:19Melissa Ellis: Maybe we'll just have to have a picnic on Bondi Beach. Let's just have a group jump shot on the beach or something. I don't know. We can workshop that.

00:13:27Oliver Spake: Yeah, and a swim.

00:13:28Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah. Hopefully it's a good day.

00:13:30Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, the views are spectacular throughout and the hills, the hills are great too. So, yep, get on board. Don't tell them about the hills. No, no.

00:13:39Melissa Ellis: Let's not talk about the hills.

00:13:41Oliver Spake: You've got to enjoy the hills.

00:13:42Melissa Ellis: People talk about Heartbreak Hill like it's the only hill. My experience, I've ran City to Surf five times, I believe, actually on location and the last two we've done virtually. But from the time you leave... The start point, you are running uphill until you get to Bondi Beach. Is your experience any different? That's my recollection.

00:14:05Oliver Spake: It could be a slight exaggeration in that.

00:14:07Melissa Ellis: I don't think so.

00:14:08Oliver Spake: But, yeah, there are some big stretches of uphill earlier in the course and then, of course, you get to that halfway point virtually and you head up the big hill. But even as you carry out the final half, there are a few inclines there that keep you honest.

00:14:25Melissa Ellis: So what you're basically describing is uphill, uphill, uphill, and uphill.

00:14:29Oliver Spake: And omitting the – you actually start by running downhill, several of the downhills in the first 7Ks, and then, yeah, it's one hell of a downhill to finish off.

00:14:40Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah, that's pretty short.

00:14:42Oliver Spake: Yeah, before it just takes you on that little nasty – what do we call it? It's almost like a coat hanger head. Takes you around the bend to give you that bonus distance just when you think you're coming straight into Bondi.

00:14:53Melissa Ellis: That bit when you basically run past the finish line and have to turn around and come back to it. That's right.

00:14:59Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:15:00Melissa Ellis: Gotta love that.

00:15:01Oliver Spake: Who would make someone run past the finish line and make their way back? No, just kidding. I've had that criticism lately. It'll be lots of fun. Lots of fun.

Fine systempodcast swear jar

00:15:13Melissa Ellis: I think so. But we need to raise money, Ollie. You know, we've just got no budget. We've got no budget with this podcast and I've come up with an idea. So I've got to run it past you. Okay. We need to crowdfund some petty cash.

00:15:28Oliver Spake: Excellent.

00:15:29Melissa Ellis: For next year's Palm and, you know, these kind of events, whatever we need to be able to do. We need a fine system. Okay. There you go. You just clapped. I heard you do it. Everybody heard you do it. I'm not editing that out. There you go. That is exactly what I'm talking about. You are just fined a dollar. Put it in a jar.

00:15:38[applause]

00:15:52Oliver Spake: I'm now the new sponsor. Yes, there we are.

00:15:55Melissa Ellis: So every time I talk over you, you can fine me.

00:15:57Oliver Spake: Okay, yep.

00:15:58Melissa Ellis: Every time you clap, I can fine you. What else can we fine? We can fine our listeners, Ollie.

00:16:05Oliver Spake: I'm sure they'll love that.

00:16:07Melissa Ellis: I'm sure there's something. Yes. I'm pretty sure we workshopped this. What did we come up with?

00:16:15Oliver Spake: Look, Adventurers Club membership has been a contentious issue for some time now. I'm reasonably confident with all the new members of the Adventurers Club, we've had a lot of people listen. So fining them... But, hey, it's an option.

00:16:30Melissa Ellis: So if you post in Dazza's and you haven't joined the Adventurers Club, a dollar in the swear jar. Well, it's not really a swear jar. What are we going to call it? We need a name for it.

00:16:40Oliver Spake: We'll have to workshop that now too, yeah.

00:16:42Melissa Ellis: Okay. Oh, so much work. The other thing, if you post a photo and your parkrun flag is back the front.

00:16:51Oliver Spake: Oh.

00:16:55Melissa Ellis: A dollar in the swear jar. Yes.

00:16:57Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:16:58Melissa Ellis: And if you have any other ideas about what we could use as fines, put it in the comments for the pod. Let us know what you think. Yep. If you go to a launch, Ollie, oh, double points, double demerits if you go to a launch. Is that going to put our listeners off?

00:17:17Oliver Spake: Get in touch, guys. Let us know. I'm sure we'll find a way to crowdfund some money through those measures and we'll gladly take some more suggestions. But moving swiftly along now, I've got a question.

00:17:32Melissa Ellis: Yep.

00:17:33Oliver Spake: Are you a world tourist?

00:17:34Melissa Ellis: No.

00:17:35Oliver Spake: No. No. I am not, Ollie. No. Are you? No, no, I'm a long way from it. Well, halfway, but exciting times that world tourist royalty is coming our way. So after we were so lucky to have Sam with an interview recently, she's done it again and has been able to spend a bit of time with Cass Castleton. So Mel, should we have a listen?

00:18:04[music]

Interview Cass Castleton — UK-based parkrun world tourist; founder of the parkrun world tourist group

00:18:11Sam Schroder: All right. Hello, adventurers. It's Sam Schroder here, and I'm lucky enough today to be chatting with one of, if not the most experienced participant of parkrun adventuring in the world. I've got the privilege of speaking today with Cass Castleton, who, thanks to the magic of the internet, is joining me from his home in the UK. Cass, Cass has completed 440 parkruns at 209 events across every country that parkrun happens in. I believe that's 21 countries, but we'll check with him. Can I start by saying hello Cass Castleton and welcome to the parkrun adventurers podcast. Hello. Now, Cass, having checked out your stats, I feel like I have about 1 million questions I'd like to ask you, but Mel and Ollie have given me a time limit. So, can I start by asking you to go right back to the beginning? What was your first parkrun and how did you hear about it?

00:19:07Cass Castleton: How did I hear about parkrun? This is a bit of a weird story. I was doing a job with a guy, and I had been told a few weeks before I had diabetes, so I was trying to get fit and run, and I was discussing how much it cost you to go and do runs in places, and he said, have you ever done parkrun? I went, what's parkrun? I run around a park. For 30 minutes, he talked to me about parkrun, and I was honestly thinking, will you shut up? It is a run around the park. I went and had a look at Brighton & Hove parkrun, and 10 years later, I've morphed into him. And if you mention to me about running, I speak to you about parkrun for 30 minutes, if not longer. And I see the reason he was so enthralled in it.

00:19:51Sam Schroder: I did look at your stats and assume that Brighton & Hove was your home parkrun. You've done 119 parkruns there. Can you tell us about Brighton & Hove as a course and as an event? Yeah.

00:20:01Cass Castleton: Brighton and Hove parkrun, it was my home parkrun, but I then changed to Hove Prom. Brighton and Hove is a two and a half lap one. Brilliant course, brilliant core team, brilliant people there. But some of them went over and started Hove Prom. Reason being, Hove Park was getting too big. Okay. Too many people. I mean, there's, I think, six now or seven in Brighton and Hove because of the amount of people. So I went across to Hove Prom to help them, and now I think I'm on 88 there as well.

00:20:31Sam Schroder: Wow.

00:20:31Cass Castleton: And that's on the flat.

00:20:32Sam Schroder: That's awesome.

00:20:34Cass Castleton: Yeah.

00:20:34Sam Schroder: And not only have you done a lot of parkruns, but you've also done a lot of volunteering. I was really impressed with your volunteering stats. According to the parkrun website, you've volunteered 302 times across 20 different roles. Can I ask you, what is your favourite volunteering role and why do you love it?

00:20:55Cass Castleton: two of them to be fair the first one is the adult parkrun it's guide running oh lovely absolutely love doing the guide running I'm a slow runner myself back in the day I was doing 24 minutes now it's 34 minutes and a taxi drive but I'm a slow runner so I tend to guide people who are new to parkrun and it's brilliant actually helping people get out there and being able to go and do running and run so that's what I love about it really do love the guide running part and juniors it's all of them really there's not one I could pick out it's just seeing the enthusiasm and the enjoyment the kids have when they complete the parkruns

00:21:34Sam Schroder: Oh, that's really lovely. In Australia, we have VI Guide, which is supporting people with vision impairments.

00:21:40Cass Castleton: That's correct, yeah.

00:21:41Sam Schroder: That's so awesome. I think that's fabulous. That's one I haven't tried yet. So, obviously, in the introduction, I talked about the fact that you've done 440 parkruns at 209 events in 21 countries. So, at some point after, you tried somewhere else. Can you tell us about the beginning of your tourism adventures?

00:22:01Cass Castleton: Well, to be fair, I didn't realise tourism was a thing. I just travelled to different parkruns. And it wasn't until I completed 40 different runs I was told about touring in different groups. And so that's what I did. I really didn't know there was actually a thing called tourism. I just did it. I just went around different parkruns and run at them. And as I said before, Brighton Hove... They started one at Preston Park, so I went there. They started one in Maidstone, and I live in Tunbridge Wells, so Maidstone was close, so I went there. Just because they were starting to give them a bit of support, because back in them days, going to the first parkrun wasn't a problem. It was supporting them.

00:22:38Sam Schroder: Yeah.

00:22:39Cass Castleton: And then I got to about 40, and someone said, have you ever actually heard of the parkrun tourist groups? I went, no, what are they? Yeah. And then when I looked on, it said you need to do 20 to join the UK one. And I suddenly thought, well, I've done over 40.

00:22:53Sam Schroder: So you're well and truly already in the game.

00:22:55Cass Castleton: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:22:57Sam Schroder: So how many different UK parkruns have you done now? That's a stat I didn't look up.

00:23:02Cass Castleton: To be fair, I don't actually know the figure to that.

00:23:05Sam Schroder: That's okay. I'll put you on the spot with that question. Lots. The answer's lots, I expect, is it?

00:23:10Cass Castleton: Yeah, lots.

00:23:11Sam Schroder: Yeah, yeah. So out of all those lots of UK parkruns that you've done, what would your top three parkruns in the UK be and why?

00:23:19Cass Castleton: Wow, the top three. That is the most hardest question to ask ever, and I don't think I can answer it. No, I can't answer it because I just believe that they're all brilliant and they're all unique in their own different way. You turn up at a parkrun and you get something different every time. So if I said this parkrun was great because of the core team there did this for me, actually that's not quite true because the core team at every parkrun does the same sort of thing. Did I like the course because it was a muddy course and we had a laugh? Well, at most parkruns I do the course and we have a bit of a laugh and a joke. So there was nothing... I can say that would make one parkrun more important to me than any other one.

00:24:01Sam Schroder: That's actually such an awesome answer. Thank you so much. I really like that answer a lot. At some point, you took yourself overseas. So I'd love to hear from you about your first overseas parkrun and whether you went overseas especially to do a parkrun or there was some other reason.

00:24:22Cass Castleton: nope my first parkrun was Malahide in Ireland and I went there specifically for the parkrun I flew across on the Saturday morning early got off the plane taxi to the parkrun run the parkrun back to the airport and flew back oh wow so that was the beginning of my well touring and going around and doing parkruns around the world

00:24:44Sam Schroder: I was going to ask you next if you could tell me about your top three countries that you visited for parkruns. But given your previous answer about parkruns in the UK, maybe it would be better to ask you, do you mostly go overseas specifically to do a parkrun and then come home again? Or have you had some trips that you've done other things while you were there?

00:25:06Cass Castleton: There's a couple of options, I'll give you that. First off, there is a couple of parkruns that have been really, really important to me when I've been across abroad. One of them is Zari. I only bring up Zari for a reason. Five years ago, I lost my son who was a parkrunner. He was 15 years of age. I'm so sorry for your loss. And he was going to come across Cesare with me to run the parkrun. I'd already done it once before, and he wanted to go there because Nneka Otanga, who's a New Zealand parkrunner, he had met in New Zealand and wanted to see her again. And when I got there, I spoke to the Run Director and said, look, I lost my son a few months ago. Is it possible... if I could scan his barcode when I finish. And he said to me, I'm really sorry, but we don't do that because we'll have the problem of other people will come up with excuses. And I understood that. I was stood on the start line and he came over to me And he said, can I have your son's barcode? I gave it to him and he run with me in my son's name. Oh, Cass, that's beautiful. So, yes, when somebody says to me, what is your favourite parkrun abroad? It has to be there. That Run Director, just unbelievable to do that for me. He run with me and then he scanned it for my son's.

00:26:23Sam Schroder: That's beautiful. That's a very special, very special experience. I totally understand why that's your favourite international parkrun. And as I said, I'm very sorry for your loss. And as a mother of two children, I can't imagine what it would be like to lose a child.

00:26:38Cassie: So you have my heartfelt sympathy. Thank you.

00:26:42Sam Schroder: I guess you must have had all sorts of unusual travel experiences and perhaps understanding each other in countries where English isn't the language spoken. So can you tell us about an unusual parkrun experience that you've had?

00:26:58Cass Castleton: Yeah, eSwatini. I booked my flights to a Swartini or Swaziland when I booked it. Right. Because it then changed to a Swartini as a country name. I flew across, got off the plane to discover that during the time I'd booked my flight to when I flew... The king or the president of the country, please, I apologise if I've got it wrong, king or the president, decided that the Royal Airport would be now the national airport and the airport that was the national airport would be the Royal Airport. So I ended up about 40 miles away from where I expected to be when I got off the plane. My hire car was there, but unfortunately, there was no Wi-Fi, and I had to beg in the airport for someone to let me log into their wi-fi just to download a map so I could find my way to where I had to go got out on the road to discover that the road that I was supposed to be on the map was shut oh no so it was all guesswork and trying to guess my way through until it kept picking it up on the map on the phone and then dropping it off the phone and coming back on the phone But eventually we made it there and did it. And then I got there and unbeknown to me, they'd arranged for the Times newspaper to come and interview me. Oh, gosh. So a Swartini Times newspaper came.

00:28:18Sam Schroder: Oh, that's cool.

00:28:20Cass Castleton: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:28:20Sam Schroder: So I suppose that's probably happened a few times to you, has it, when you've been travelling around, that you've been interviewed and people are excited to have you visit?

00:28:29Cass Castleton: Yeah, people do get excited when you visit, and that means Malaysia, Harry, the guy who does parkrun over in Malaysia. He invited me over and he got me to do a speech at the beginning of the parkrun, which he hadn't told me before I got there it was going to happen. But he said, would you give a quick speech at the beginning? So threw me a little bit, but yeah.

00:28:50Sam Schroder: Good on you for getting it done, unprepared. So that trip you just told us about sounded pretty complicated, but I was going to ask you if you had any particularly eventful world tourism adventures to tell us about.

00:29:05Cass Castleton: Adventurous ones. I think Finland would maybe be one of the adventure ones. I went to Finland. It was icy, snowy, freezing cold, and I started to panic it was going to get cancelled. Luckily enough, when I got there, they realised I'd travelled away from the UK and they adjusted the course for me so that it was only about the first, I don't know, three quarters of a kilometre that was okay to run, and the rest of it was ice. And normally they would cancel, so we ended up running out back, out back, about three or four times out and back, just so we could get the 5k in, so they didn't cancel in any way, shape or form. Wow. Just because I'd travelled there, you know. Gosh, that's very kind of them. And Moscow also. I went out there and that was in 2014. They'd never seen visitors back then in parkrun. And they met me at the airport, took me to their home, put me up, even gave me someone to run the parkrun with me case I got lost because I couldn't speak the language.

00:30:07Sam Schroder: Wow.

00:30:08Cass Castleton: And then they took me on their underground and their speed train back to the airport. I'm not sure whether that was to show me the train or just to get me out of the country. Well, But no, to be fair, really lovely people. And I'm still friends with a few of them even to this day.

00:30:24Sam Schroder: Oh, that's so cool. That's lovely. So one of the reasons we're talking is because you have an upcoming trip to Australia. But before you tell us about why you're coming to Australia very soon, can you tell us a bit about previous trips you've made to Australia? Yeah.

00:30:40Cass Castleton: Yeah, previous trips, I was in 2014, I think it was. I was over at St. Peter's and then shot straight across to do New Zealand to do Lower Hutt. and complete the parkrun in each country in the world. Well, that was before they decided to add more countries back then. And it was only when I got to Lower Hutt, and again, I met Nyaka, who is a female world tourist, and we used to, at the time, compete who's doing every country in the world, to be told that Singapore had just joined the parkrun. Oh! Oh, that's good because I actually landed in Singapore on my trip out there. So I had to go back to the UK and then shoot back out again. And then in 2019, I again come over and I did Yokine and Queanbeyan. Is that how you pronounce it?

00:31:26Sam Schroder: uh I do you know what I'm not sure what the correct pronunciation of as a pretty bogan Aussie I would probably say yokine but that's probably wrong but you certainly got queen bn correct all right okay yeah yeah and um I met John story who I think is one of the ambassadors out there in his family yeah he hosted me for a day and took me around Perth lovely

00:31:48Cass Castleton: He showed me many sites and as we've mentioned plenty of times before, I'm ex-military and he took me to a site where he showed me where the Australians have got all the trees down a road and every tree's got a memorial to military people that was killed in the Second World War. Lovely. Which was brilliant, absolutely brilliant to see that sort of history and our respect for the guys that fought for the country.

00:32:11Sam Schroder: I bet, yeah. We just spent Easter in Canberra and we walked up and down Anzac Parade, which is the road that at one end is the War Memorial and at the other end is Parliament House. And if you get to Canberra, I'm going to ask you any moment about where you're going when you come to Australia, but if you get to Canberra at any point, that's a pretty amazing experience as well.

00:32:34Cass Castleton: Yeah, that looks like something that might be on my list at some time, yes.

00:32:38Sam Schroder: So as I've said several times now, you are about to come to Australia. Can you tell us about why you are coming to Australia and what you'll be doing while you're here?

00:32:46Cass Castleton: Well, I don't have any plans. That's the first thing. I don't have any plans for what I'm going to do whilst I'm in Australia besides the parkruns. Reason for that is I'm sure that most people now in Australia know and around the world that we've got a parkrun world tourist group, which I actually created myself. And there's a load of Australians over there that are part of that group that are meeting me on different days and going to take me out and show me around and point me in the right direction to what to see. Oh, wonderful. Well, I think it's better to let locals show you stuff rather than go to the visitors' places. Yes. I think you'll get to know more. But parkrun wise, I'm hopefully doing, oh, here we go. I'm going to pronounce this wrong and then get told off for it.

00:33:29Sam Schroder: You won't.

00:33:30Cass Castleton: On the 7th of May, I'm going to Yarrabilba, is it?

00:33:34Sam Schroder: Yes, that sounded all right to me.

00:33:36Cass Castleton: Yeah. On the 7th of May, I'm going to Yarrabilba to complete my fifth parkrun alphabet. Oh, wow. On the 14th of May, I'm hoping to go to Queen Elizabeth Casino. I got that one right. I'm hoping.

00:33:49Sam Schroder: Definitely. Can't really go wrong with Queen Elizabeth Casino.

00:33:51Cass Castleton: No, exactly. I would have been in trouble if I'd got that one wrong.

00:33:56Sam Schroder: Yep.

00:33:57Cass Castleton: And then on the 21st of May, I'm going to Yowie. Is it Yowie or Yowie?

00:34:01Sam Schroder: Yowie. Yeah. You need to really widen those vowels. Yowie.

00:34:07Cass Castleton: Yowie. Okay. And that is to complete my sixth parkrun alphabet.

00:34:12Sam Schroder: Wow. So you are four alphabets in and only missing your Y for fifth and sixth. And how close to seventh will you then be?

00:34:22Cass Castleton: Seventh is a bit impossible at the moment. Okay. Because obviously we've still got people closed down with COVID because I need another Y. As you said, and the other ones are very simple to get, which I'll finish. But I think I've only got about five to complete a seventh. And that is the only possible amount of alphabet, seven.

00:34:43Sam Schroder: Wow. Well, that's very impressive. I am so grateful to you for chatting with me today. I am going to wrap things up now, even though we had talked about potentially some more questions. But as usual, I've added enough chat to this to make it longer than the time limit Mel and Ollie gave for me. So I will wrap it up here. But thank you so much for having a chat with me today, Cass. And have a wonderful time when you do come to Australia. I know that some of my parkrun friends are indeed in your world tourist group and are looking forward to spending some time with you when you're here. So have a fabulous visit. Thank you so much for joining us.

00:35:27Cass Castleton: Brilliant. Thank you very much.

00:35:30[music]

00:35:37Melissa Ellis: Another great interview from Sam and Cass. Great to hear from you, Cass. We hope you enjoy your visit and very impressive stats you've got there working on your sixth and seventh alphabets.

00:35:50Oliver Spake: Yes, we can only dream. But, yeah, no, I look forward to seeing more of the adventures as you go on.

Emails

00:35:58Oliver Spake: Oh, Mel, can you believe it? Again, we've got mail. You've got mail. We do, Ollie.

00:36:05Melissa Ellis: And this week, we had an anonymous email. Can you believe?

00:36:10Oliver Spake: I can't, really. I mean, I get lots of anonymous emails, generally speaking, but not to the adventurers Box.

00:36:17Melissa Ellis: It's like spam.

00:36:19Oliver Spake: Well, no, not really. I don't think this one's like spam.

00:36:22Melissa Ellis: No, because it is a poem. And just because we can't do poetry justice, we've got somebody to read it for us, basically.

00:36:34Oliver Spake: Yes, the individual who, yeah, obviously shall remain anonymous.

00:36:40Melissa Ellis: The poet laureate themselves. So let's have a listen to that now.

00:36:44guest: Palm 2023 in WA, it must be. After being closed off for nearly two years, this makes it the perfect opportunity, it appears. New South Wales, Tasmania, South Australia and Queensland it's been. Perth must be next, even the hosts say they are keen. On the West Side and across the Nullarbor Plain, some may even venture across on the Indian Pacific train. A place where you can enjoy the glorious sunset each day with so much to do outdoors you often don't need to pay. The world's sunniest and windiest capital city, Wadjuk Noongar Land, it is ever so pretty. With 46 parkruns on offer, easily fill your challenge coffer. Some may wish to join the Peel Club, with the South near many a Freo pub, with plenty of seas if you wish to be a pirate too, or Mundy if you climb to see that city view. Explore the home of the 21 Grand Final, Optus Stadium, climb the roof or watch a game sitting on vinyl. Dine at Australia's largest, the Camfield Pub, maybe even stay in the CBD, be in the central hub. Venture over to Rottnest Island for those who would like a treat. See the quokkas and stunning beaches you are in for a real treat. From Fremantle, the Swan Valley region and Kings Park to Cottesloe Beach, the Swan River, trust me, you won't see a shark. The borders are open and it's time to visit. Pack your bags and don't think to miss it. If I could advise, book your flights early before the prices spike up and go too curly. WA is ready for Palm in 2023, parkrunners alike, it is ready for you and for me.

00:38:41Melissa Ellis: So what do you think of that, Ollie? There's a pretty strong play coming from WA.

00:38:48Oliver Spake: Yes, it is, isn't it?

00:38:49Melissa Ellis: And we haven't had.

00:38:50Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:38:50Melissa Ellis: Do you want to fine me? I just talked over you again.

00:38:51[crosstalk]

00:38:52Oliver Spake: Didn't you? Yes. All right, we're even. There we are. But go ahead, Mel.

00:38:58Melissa Ellis: Oh, we haven't exactly had any bids coming in from the other states. WA seems to be the only state with a strong bid for Palm 2023.

00:39:11Oliver Spake: Yeah, and we will need to make a move on this soon, I think. There will be flights, there will be plans.

00:39:18Melissa Ellis: There's a decision imminent, let's just say.

00:39:21Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:39:22Melissa Ellis: They seem to want it over there. So, you know, you've got to go where you wanted.

00:39:26Oliver Spake: That's absolutely right. No, look, I'm going to have another listen. I've got some notes down. There's some nice ideas in there too. So I think it throws up another dilemma that if it were in WA, where? So many options.

00:39:39Melissa Ellis: Yes. Thank you, Anonymous Poet. We take that on board and we are open to suggestions.

00:39:45Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:39:46Melissa Ellis: Which is the most appropriate WA location for a potential palm? Were we to go there?

00:39:54Oliver Spake: Mm-hmm. But Mel, that's not the only mail we received.

00:39:58Melissa Ellis: It is not. You are correct.

00:40:00Oliver Spake: Who else did we hear from, Ollie? We heard from Paddy Oshimo. And yes.

00:40:06Melissa Ellis: Absolutely, we did. What did he say, Ollie? Is that another dollar in there? That's another dollar, isn't it?

00:40:12[crosstalk]

00:40:12Oliver Spake: Oh, I think I'm talking over you this time. This is getting confusing and very expensive. He said, hi, Mel and Ollie. I've got to say, I find the podcast theme music quite snappy. Where did this music come from? Is it specially written by your music department or is it from some other musician? Just curious. Regards, Patrick.

00:40:32Melissa Ellis: This was a very good question, Ollie, and one that we were not necessarily qualified to answer. This required us to go back to the source, back to our original hosts, specifically Scotty. Scotty, is he Scotty from marketing? It's very close.

00:40:51Oliver Spake: Not in this case, no.

00:40:52Melissa Ellis: In any case, Scotty let us know that the music, the intro and outro music, was actually purchased from a music website. So that's where that's come from. However, the stings, in inverted commas, are from his mates, Yeo, and a guy in Miami. Well, I don't really know who the guy in Miami is, and I didn't actually know what a sting was, but I am now educated. That's right. The stings are those short little segments of music that we play between our interviews and our roving reports.

00:41:28Oliver Spake: Yeah. So thank you, Patrick. You ask a question, we all learn. That's how this works. And thank you to the help as well, Scotty.

00:41:37Melissa Ellis: I hope I said yeo right. It's probably yow or something like that. I've probably completely got that wrong. I'll put a dollar in the jar.

00:41:45[laughter]

Dazza's

00:41:45Melissa Ellis: LAUGHTER

00:41:46Oliver Spake: But someone whose name I like to think we get right a lot of the time is Dazza. And, of course, we were back at Dazza's this week where he said, on Monday, all of Australia and New Zealand will pause to pay respect to those who served and those who paid the ultimate sacrifice ourselves, at Gallipoli in our nation's first major military action during the First World War. We also pay respect to all who have served in wars since that day. Dazza would like to pay respect to all servicemen and women who did and do serve their countries in the most noble profession. Dazza also knows that on this long weekend, a lot of parkrun adventurers will have taken the opportunity to have a bit of adventuring fun. So come on in, place your order and share your parkrun stories. And one such parkrun adventurer was Brett Bailey from New Zealand. Good morning, Dazza. Ice on the windscreen before a sunny Pegasus with Brunner. He had lots of pit stops today to check his P-mails after a week's absence while we were touristing. He gave a local cat a hurry up halfway around the lake, home for a spa and leftover hot cross buns. We will attend our local Anzac parade on Monday. And thank you, Brett, for sharing a photo with Brunner on course. Not at the point of hurrying up the couch.

00:43:07Melissa Ellis: Still got hot cross buns from Easter. Good work. We also heard from Sonja Pohlman who had the most likes this week for her tourist post. Thanks, Dazza. We were a bit excited to have a four peas at parkrun together. We enjoyed Rhodes in Sydney for the first time. Lovely welcoming course. Off to brunch and park faff now. Toodles. And there was a photo. Count them, P1, P2, P3, P4, all together. And that's pretty good to see.

00:43:40Oliver Spake: Lovely. I trust they had a great time.

00:43:43Melissa Ellis: Also having a great time, Rebecca Bailey.

00:43:46Oliver Spake: I've got the Bailey shot. Yes. At home this week, after a sunny week of work in Jindabyne, it was time for a home run today at Shellharbour for two of the three Windang clan. The third is working this weekend. I managed a fastest time this year at Shellharbour with a 26.55, securing a position token 23, but not a stopwatch time. Turns out I needed a 57. Housemate Lance... Zelt just got a PB. Again, thanks to all the volleys off to bake some Anzac biscuits this weekend. We're interested in how you'll pronounce Lance's last name. And yes, I had read that first. And sorry, Lance, that butchered it.

00:44:30Melissa Ellis: I have to apologise, Ollie. I was actually given by our team, Team Schroder, had given me a tip on the pronunciation when that post had gone up. And I'm scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll, scroll back to see if I can find it. But actually, Sam and I chat a lot and it's way, way far back and I'm not finding it.

00:44:55Oliver Spake: Oh, I have. So my other guess would have been something like Zetas.

00:45:01Melissa Ellis: Zealjust.

00:45:01Oliver Spake: Zealjust. Okay. All right.

00:45:03Melissa Ellis: Zealjust.

00:45:04Oliver Spake: That's going to take a lot of practice.

00:45:05Melissa Ellis: But like I said, Sam and I chat a lot every day. So that was way, way back on my Facebook message chain. Anyway, that's all good and well done to housemate Zealjust.

00:45:20Oliver Spake: Yes. Thank you, Bec. Thank you, Lance.

00:45:24Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, achievement and tourist this week goes to Bernadette Bennett, ran my 300th parkrun at Muswellbrook's Karoola Park parkrun's fourth event and regained my hunter regionaire status. Well done, Bernadette.

00:45:42Oliver Spake: On the tourist front, Bruce Purdy. Morning, Dazza. We have a fabulous week planned in South Australia and we'll be attending the dawn service in Victor Harbor. This morning was all about touristing and specifically alphabet touristing to claim the last but not the least V. We reckon the Goolwa bound steam train was celebrating that too. As for next weekend's South Australian parkrun, we'd love to hear some suggestions, please. And thank you to everyone that chimed in with a few ideas. The idea's flowing the other way this time.

00:46:16Melissa Ellis: Bruce showed a video of his steam train heading backwards. Yeah.

00:46:21Oliver Spake: Possibly. I had to look at that again. It did look like it was heading backwards, which I suppose is entirely normal.

00:46:28Melissa Ellis: I did see a photo that Bruce posted today of his dawn service. On the beach, looking out towards the sea, it looked like a lovely place to be for Anzac Day morning. But, Ollie, for a nottie this week, we heard from Steve Warwick. Oh, Dazza, I've got no adventures to relate this parkrun Saturday. There are no cancellations to prevent us attending, just isolation because we tested positive. So we had a cuppa and a slice of chocolate cake supplied by church friends all by ourselves without the friendly post-parkrun cheddar. While missing our parkrun family today, we were overwhelmed by the love shown to us by Luke and Sam who parkrun streaked for us at the entrance parkrun. That Luke ran a PB for me has set a high challenge for me to now try and replicate. And what a nice thing that Luke did there, Ollie. He ran a PB for Stephen. It was lovely. Yeah, it was. And well done to Luke.

00:47:31Oliver Spake: Yeah. Thank you for supporting each other and Sam and Luke for sharing the love. And, yeah, we do hope that Stephen and Val are doing much, much better by now. Hopefully about to get back to a parkrun. Out on the tourist front, Heather Morgan drove four hours to Melbourne, visited Cascades-on-Clyde to grab a 35 for Wilson, which bumped me up a number, and an 83 towards the Cowell Club. I love a boardwalk, and with this one, you get to go on it twice. Hurrah for smaller parkruns.

00:48:03Melissa Ellis: Another tourist having an achievement this week, Adrian Homburg. A bit late for coffee today, maybe a hot chocolate. Today was a very good day. Aurora parkrun today, 35th different event. Managed a few achievements. Prime and Wilson number 59. Another A for the namely challenge, a new bingo number, best finishing position of number four, and best of all, a PB by 45 seconds.

00:48:35Oliver Spake: Well done, Adrian. That's fantastic. Well done. Over in the UK, Phil Olson, 150th different event at Brundall. I believe that's a thing and a half.

00:48:47Melissa Ellis: I like the play on the words there. Well done, though, Phil. Yes. Good work. And in the USA, at home and volleying, Geoff Glaab. Hello, Dazza. We had 26 finishes at our fourth birthday celebration under sunny skies at Joe Creason. It was our first birthday celebration since 2019. We had tourists this morning from Charleston and Lillie parkruns and our first stroller, I think you would say pram, or buggy since before the COVID pause. Yeah, we say pram here in Australia. I ran my 50th. My daughter Charlotte was the Run Director and my wife Sarah was the Tail Walker. It's going to be very hard to top this one. And Jeff shared a photo of his team with the parkrun flag.

00:49:35Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, great to see and, yeah, fantastic effort. Congratulations on the 50th. Now, Mel, back to my confusion. Steve's bike. Dazza. I went around the parkrun course, meaning to take it easy, but went one minute faster than planned. Not wanting to be discouraged, I should be pleased. Crept past my father early. Really enjoyed our runs. Even the cool morning, ensured many a PB keeping to a promise the windmill photo will follow I'm currently heading north hopefully Ollie will have more success next week working out where I've been And very hard to convey an acrostic poem over the audio medium. So for anyone that hasn't seen that in Dazza's, go and take a look. It might make more sense there as to maybe what the clue could have been. But Steve's bike, I am now slightly more confused.

00:50:38Melissa Ellis: He's heading north.

00:50:40Oliver Spake: And a bit concerned with my name mentioned and not being at home this weekend. Oh. I don't want to miss it.

00:50:47Melissa Ellis: How far north is he going?

00:50:48Oliver Spake: I don't know. Is this the point that I say wouldn't recommend bicycles on the Shellharbour course? But, yeah, that's another matter. We will see.

00:50:58Melissa Ellis: You never know where he will pop up.

the Obi Award — Geoff Glaab

00:51:01Melissa Ellis: Well, Ollie, time to announce an Obi win. I haven't forgotten today.

00:51:08Oliver Spake: That's right. Do you have the envelope, Mel, or do I? No.

00:51:12Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay, yes. Let me have a look in my pigeonhole. Perhaps it was placed in my pigeonhole. I'm just reaching. Oh, yes, under my footy fixture there is an envelope. So let me open it up. Try not to rip it like you did last week, Ollie.

00:51:32Oliver Spake: Yeah, oops, sorry about that.

00:51:34Melissa Ellis: Okay, this week's Obi goes to... It's Geoff Glaab.

00:51:51[applause]

00:51:51Oliver Spake: I can clap for that one or if I just clocked up five bucks.

00:51:56Melissa Ellis: Well done, Jeff. Fine, fine, fine for Ollie. No, well done, Jeff. Happy birthday over there to Joe Creason. We love hearing from our friends over in the USA and especially like to celebrate our volunteers. So that was really exciting. And you had visitors from your surrounding parkruns, which is also fun.

00:52:17Oliver Spake: Yep. That's what it's all about. That was great. Well done.

00:52:20Melissa Ellis: And a red shirt.

00:52:21Oliver Spake: Yes, that will feel good. That was a fantastic Dazza's once again. Thank you, everyone, for getting in touch. I think between all the suggestions for parkruns to visit and all of the achievements out there made me feel like I'd actually been somewhere other than Shellharbour for a change. Maybe next week, Ollie. Yeah, that's right. It's coming. It's coming, Mel.

00:52:42Melissa Ellis: That's the plan.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:52:43Oliver Spake: But in the meantime, some people who have been on the roving front, our roving reporters, have chimed in. So it's time to catch up with them.

00:52:53Melissa Ellis: And our informant.

00:52:55[music]

Roving report Cameron Drake — Mundy Regional parkrun

00:53:01Cameron Drake: G'day everyone, Cam here. I'm back, I found the microphone again, hooray. And what do you know, I'm about to put my foot in it again, open up a can of worms. I don't know what happened last time, I got my ass thoroughly handed to me, but try, try, try again, I suppose. Now, what do you think makes a tough parkrun? Is it, say, a nice one kilometre section of grass right in the middle of it to sort you out? Or a lovely stretch of beach sand? Or, God forbid, an entire parkrun on beach sand? Eesh. Or... Or is it when the vertical gain of your parkrun starts looking like a running distance? Well, I'm about to have a crack at WA's entrant for Australia's Toughest parkrun and probable contender. I'm in the Perth Hills and I'm at Mundy Regional parkrun. Now, I've got a bit of a bone to pick with parkrun Australia HQ. I'd like everyone to take a look at the name of the gardens, where this particular parkrun starts. And Mel and Ollie, I think for the benefit of the listeners, you might need to put that in the show notes or something. Anyway, that whining aside... This is gonna be cracking. We are on the hills, in the hills, on the steps of the hills, and we're about to go running through them. It's gonna be fun. All right, everyone, I'm here with today's Tail Walker, Cassie. Cassie, g'day, how you doing? I'm very well, thanks, Cam. That's great to hear. Now, I was wondering what you think is the toughest parkrun that you've done and why it's tough?

00:54:47Cassie: There's a couple to choose from, to be honest. I don't know whether I would go with today's parkrun, Mundy Regional, mainly because of the elevation and the pea gravel makes it a little bit difficult.

00:54:57Cameron Drake: Elevation and pea gravel. Got to love a bit of pea gravel.

00:54:59Cassie: Oh, you know, anything that can cause you to maybe fall over and land on your bum.

00:55:03Cameron Drake: Ankle snappers, hey?

00:55:04Cassie: It makes life interesting. Otherwise, I guess Mount Clarence might be, but again, that's an elevation thing, but no pea gravel.

00:55:11Cameron Drake: But that's a downhill.

00:55:12Cassie: fastest downhill ever fastest last k you always get a PB on that last k down mount Clarence it's fantastic um otherwise no I reckon I'd have to go with Mundy just for the hills just for the hills because I'm not a hills person I like flat and yet you're here sucker for punishment hills build character absolutely absolutely and I'm doing it because you know I want to make my husband suffer because he's here too yeah

00:55:42Cameron Drake: you mean well you know what if he's going to come along I'm going to make him work hard fair enough okay thanks for the chat Cassie have a great run you too thanks Cam okay I'm here with Bradley Holland and where are you from Bradley Holland uh from Shellharbour in New South Wales Shellharbour that's right yeah okay so Shellharbour Yeah, Shellharbour. Okay, excellent. We're just trying to get the Shellharbour factor up a bit this episode because Ollie's a bit sad that it hasn't been mentioned very often. Okay, so I've been asking people what would they consider the toughest parkrun that they've done and why? So, Bradley, what do you think is your toughest parkrun?

00:56:21Bradley Holland: Well, it's got to be Shellharbour, of course. Running up the hills, down the hills, and then back up the hills to the finish line really gives your legs a good workout. Excellent. You wouldn't happen to know a man named Oliver Spake, would you? Of course, yeah. He's very well known in Shellharbour and one of our great Run Directors. And so he likes hills too? Loves them, yeah. Can't get enough of them. All right.

00:56:44Cameron Drake: Well, thanks, Bradley. And have a good one out on the track. Thank you. You too. I'm here with Ian, today's Run Director. How are you going? Yeah, very good. Thanks.

00:56:52Ian: Always good to get some new people along to parkrun and enjoy our slightly different course. Slightly different. Yes. So tell me about Mundy Regional parkrun. Mundy Regional parkrun started, well, just pre-Covid really, probably three or four months before that. We're up to event number 90 now. It was born by Jeff, our Event Director. Abdul had a lot to do with making the course as well. It was difficult to get a course set up that was going to be okay for parkrun without downhill starts and basically as safe as we could make it, but also as hard as we could make it. which is what we've come up with.

00:57:31Cameron Drake: I think you've excelled in the hard aspect. So what made you choose these particular hills here?

00:57:38Ian: Basically, the way it was originally set up, it was going to be off the waterfall. Unfortunately, with the Shire, there's been a lot of work over there and those footpaths are basically used every single week. So for us to have a weekly event there, probably wasn't going to be a good go. Whereas Mundy Regional Park has been, we were pretty much allowed to go wherever we liked.

00:57:58Unidentified speaker: I know, I know.

00:57:59Ian: and the shire organised the car park for us so it was kind of a no-brainer really and it was Jeff and Abdul that pretty much picked the route I think it was reverse first and then the last hill was seen as probably too dangerous yeah going down that downhill would have been very interesting so some people find it easy some people yeah the faster you go the safer it is basically you reckon yeah that's true I've got serious escalator vibes from that thing Yeah, it's a very similar vibe. But again, the escalator is the same thing. If you go down it quickly, it's actually much safer. Didn't feel like that when I did it.

00:58:35Cameron Drake: Well, thanks for putting on a great event today, Ian, and hopefully see you around. Yeah, certainly will. Thanks again, Cameron. Cheers.

Roving report Sarah Jefferson — Lake Claremont parkrun

00:58:42Sarah Jefferson: Good morning parkrun adventurers. It's Sarah on the West Side and I'm checking out Lake Claremont parkrun. And this morning I'm here with Cameron Storey who is achieving his 400th parkrun. Congratulations Cameron.

00:58:55Cameron Storey: Thank you.

00:58:55Sarah Jefferson: Very big achievement. Can I just ask how old you are?

00:59:00Cameron Storey: I am 18.

00:59:01Sarah Jefferson: That is very impressive. So how old were you when you started parkrun?

00:59:04Cameron Storey: I ran my first parkrun when I was seven, I think, in 2011 over in the UK.

00:59:09Sarah Jefferson: Wow. Awesome. So obviously you must have completed, that's right, some different parkruns in different countries. Could you tell me a little bit about that?

00:59:18Cameron Storey: So I think off the top of my head I've done I think over 70 different parkrun courses in many countries including the UK, Australia, USA, Denmark, Sweden and Singapore.

00:59:31Sarah Jefferson: Wow that is very very impressive and yes you've still got many years ahead of you. How did you get into parkrun?

00:59:38Cameron Storey: When we were living in the UK dad decided to take up parkrun as I'm pretty sure he just started running as a a challenge from his work friends or something like that. Eventually he started doing parkruns from that. I was playing football at the time and I just asked if I could come along. So I started off small, training, running along the canal and then doing half laps at multiple lap parkruns. And then, yep, in October of 2011, I did my first parkrun at Bramhall.

01:00:09Sarah Jefferson: Awesome. I'm sure at that age, if my dad had have said to do something, I would have done the opposite. So amazing work. I know this is going to be a tricky question, but could you tell me maybe some of your top parkruns or something that's maybe stood out on your parkrun journey?

01:00:26Cameron Storey: Some of my favourite ones, I've got to be biased, I've got to say Bramhall is one of my first parkruns, just a beautiful course in the UK. Perry Lakes, one I'm current Run Director of and my current local parkrun, brilliant course. And two of my favourites here on trail, Mundy Regional parkrun and Margaret River.

01:00:45Sarah Jefferson: parkrun awesome well Mundy's a 215 metre climb so that's quite impressive or elevation quite impressive um I was going to ask you if you would like to be or you're going to step up and do Run Director soon but you're already doing that so in the future Cameron do you think that maybe ed could be for you I am actually currently co-ed of a parkrun about to be set up at uwa So a new parkrun in Western Australia coming sometime in the future?

01:01:11Cameron Storey: Hopefully sometime this year.

01:01:12Sarah Jefferson: And does that mean we'll have a U in Western Australia?

01:01:15Cameron Storey: Maybe.

01:01:16Sarah Jefferson: Very exciting. Congratulations on your 400 parkruns and I can't wait to see what happens in the future with you.

01:01:22Cameron Storey: Thank you very much.

01:01:24Sarah Jefferson: So I'm here with Terence Chia, who today has achieved his 25th volunteer. Congratulations on this achievement, Terence.

01:01:32Terence Chia: Thank you, Sarah. Thank you for letting me have the opportunity to share my parkrun journey and also my volunteering side of the parkrun. So, yes, I always... have been getting so much out of parkrun. So for me, volunteering is one way that I can give back. So I always believe in this philosophy, you know, give and take. So I've got so much benefits from parkrun. I think volunteering is just an awesome way to give back.

01:01:57Sarah Jefferson: So congratulations on the 25 again. So which would be your favourite volunteer role, do you think?

01:02:05Terence Chia: It's a bit of a mix. So I tried photographer once. I think that's quite exciting because you get to brighten people's run and when they see your lens, they will actually, you know, give you a smile when they are grimacing and going through that run, you go like, come on, smile for the camera. You actually can quite live the game for them. So I think photographer is one of my favourites, but I've only done it once.

01:02:29Sarah Jefferson: And what about the volunteer role that you've probably completed the most?

01:02:33Terence Chia: I think I'm still trying to balance them, trying to do the V index. So I'm a bit of a numbers person. So I have a bit of a four, five. I think one that I've done the most, a few of them would be the scanning, the timer, tail walking.

01:02:48Sarah Jefferson: And so do you think when you're volunteering, you're not missing out, right? You're getting or gaining just as much as if you're participating yourself?

01:02:55Terence Chia: Yes, I think that's one thing about parkrun. People really just always want to get on the course, you know, participating. I think one way to look at it is, you know, if you don't volunteer, there's no parkrun. So I think that's the basic premise of it. But, you know, rather than being transactional or looking at it in a negative way, I think... One of the ways to reframe things would be to actually say, hey, you know, you might have a busy week or you're doing other sports. So, you know, a volunteer gig would just be a chance for you to rest and also still belong and be part of the parkrun family and giving back and also putting smiles on people's faces. And people do appreciate the work that volunteers go through. So, yeah, I would say once in a while, you know, things would get really tiring. Put your name down for a volunteer as well.

01:03:44Sarah Jefferson: Awesome. Well, thanks for all of the volunteering that you do for parkrun to keep it running. And I know that some of the parkruns are struggling with volunteers at the moment. So it sounds like you've just sold it to us and how important it is. And you're actually still feeling worthwhile and like you're giving back. So thanks for all that you do and enjoy wearing the purple shirt.

01:04:05[music]

the Informant

01:04:12The Informant: This is the informant. These are unofficial stats. They are only current at the time they are collected and may differ from the stats you read elsewhere. Fan mail this week from Bruce Purdy. Bruce writes, Good morning. Now before we start, when is it ever good morning? There are two types of morning people. Those who bite your head off because you dared to greet them before they had their morning coffee. And those that wake up with sickening chipper as though they have just eaten the whole box of Krispy Kremes. Obviously, I am the exception to the rule and moderate equilibrium. Anyway, Bruce asks, Which state or territory would have the greatest number of alphabeteers? And is it based upon the numbers of letters available in your state, or the distance and frequency of travel? As much as I try to avoid the alphabeteers, on account of the relentless missing X discussions being more boring than an adventurers Podcast staff meeting, I feel I need to keep my one fan happy. 358 runners have completed the alphabet. Queensland 212, Victoria 61, New South Wales 58, ACT 9, South Australia 8, Tasmania 4, Northern Territory 3, West Australia 3. There are six parkrunners we can say were the first to get the alphabet. Greg McLaughlin, Russell Johnson, Carolyn McLaughlin, Samuel Hardy, Aaron Hardy, and Michael Schultz, who were all on hand to collect it at the launch of Zillmere. Neil Barnett was there the week after, and Brendan Peel the week after that. Nobody has ever got the alphabet in the minimum 25 runs, and nobody has got them all in the alphabetical order. So there's a couple of challenges up for grabs. The quickest anyone has got the alphabet is 27 runs. That honour goes to two Victorian parkrunners, Eric and Christina De Silva. I think that covers part one of the question. I suspect part two is a question more of geography than mathematics, in that the only Zed parkrun is in Brisbane. But maybe we'll leave it up to the punters to answer. Why are Queenslanders three to four times more likely than New South Wales and Victorians to have their alphabet? Can't be just distance to Zillmere. If you want to see the stats in full, you can find them at theinformant.me. That's www.theinformant.me. Or look for The Informant on Facebook. This has been The Informant, and my spreadsheet is bigger than yours.

01:07:04Melissa Ellis: Ollie, two great reports coming to us from over in the WA and our informant. But hang on a minute, an alphabet-only report? What? Where was the rest of it? Is that all there is?

01:07:21Oliver Spake: Yeah, can you check if there's another file?

01:07:23Melissa Ellis: Okay, I'll go and have a look. No. No. That seems to be it. So what's going on? We've had half-arsed art and now we've got a half-arsed stat report.

01:07:41Oliver Spake: Yeah, it's across the office. Well, not across the office, but... Yeah, certainly in a few spots. He's off his game. We all have bad days.

01:07:51Melissa Ellis: Maybe we better check in.

01:07:52Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:07:53Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

01:07:53Oliver Spake: Yeah.

01:07:54Melissa Ellis: Make sure everything's going okay. Might be something going on there behind the scenes. In any case, roving reports were good.

01:08:00Oliver Spake: Yeah, some highlights, but there was a bit of a bone to pick there about Mundy. Does Cam have a point about Xantharia Trail?

01:08:10Melissa Ellis: I think he does.

01:08:11Oliver Spake: Being the starting location.

01:08:13Melissa Ellis: Not only that, Ollie, but the claim of Mundy being the hardest parkrun with the vert, I think it is widely accepted that it is. Cam, we're giving you that one. Oh. We take on board your dismay at your previous claims that were shot down and We're sorry about that. Remember when Cam was claiming that it was hardest to be a statesman in WA and we kind of went, no, no, no, no, no.

01:08:45Oliver Spake: Yeah, I do recall that. But I think as Cam has highlighted, there are absolutely some real challenges over there in WA. Mundy has got to take the cake.

01:08:57Melissa Ellis: Yes, no, we're giving that. We're paying that. Absolutely.

01:09:00Oliver Spake: I, of course, would like to go and sample it to be sure, but yep.

01:09:04Melissa Ellis: Did I get another fine?

01:09:07Oliver Spake: That's okay, Mel. I'll get plenty. I'll catch up. Yes.

01:09:12Melissa Ellis: I was going to say we also had some help out there upping the SPF this week from Mundy.

01:09:21Oliver Spake: Good job, Cam. Thank you.

01:09:23Melissa Ellis: The call out from Brad.

01:09:25Oliver Spake: Yes, and good job, Brad. Look, yeah, it was a surprise to see a name and hear a voice that's very familiar. And, look, he's certainly a fast parkrunner. So well done, firstly, on the first place finish at Mundy. Gee. But Mel, just a quick bit of context. He's obviously often a first finisher back at Shellharbour. He comes from a family full of athletic and volunteering prowess. Yeah, his siblings and his parents have been wonderful parts of our family over in the Shellharbour community for years. He was actually one of the Shellharbour parkrunners who inspired me into parkrun volunteering. Brad was the Timekeeper at my very own first parkrun. And whilst injured... He completed his first 25 parkruns just as a volunteer, which I shouldn't have put the just in there, but having never parkrun, right from launch day. And it was about, I think, seven months before he finally recorded his own first parkrun. So, yeah, well done, Brad. Thank you, Brad. Yeah, in fact, he got his volunteer 25 club membership before he ran his first parkrun.

01:10:32Melissa Ellis: That is amazing. But we also had another great report coming from Sarah from the West Side. Yes. Yeah, we're loving your report, Sarah. Thank you very much.

01:10:42Oliver Spake: Yes, a very strong WA representation, I think, as we've seen.

Consolidated Club Report

01:10:46Melissa Ellis: Moving along, Ollie, it's time to get some stats from our adventurers Consolidated Club report for this last Saturday, the 23rd of April. So from a total of 172 members, we had 141 members who took part at 96 different locations. 14 events in the UK being Southampton, Halifax, Market Harborough, Long Eaton, Upton House, Reigate Priory. Does that sound right? We think. We think. Rushmore, Druridge Bay, Brundall, Tooting Common, Ludlow, Frickley Country, Peel and Henlow Bridge Lakes. In New Zealand, we had four events at Lower Hutt, Millwater, Pegasus and Cambridge, New Zealand. South Africa, we had two, Roses and Stilbaai West Beach. And in the USA, there was Roosevelt Island, D.C. and Joe Creason. Locally, there were adventurers at... 31 in Victoria, 17 in New South Wales, 13 in Queensland, 5 in South Australia, 2 in Tasmania, 1 in the ACT, and 1 in the Northern Territory. So another clean strike coming from Australia, but also, Ollie, both islands in New Zealand. Yep.

01:12:26Oliver Spake: What representation. It really is some strong adventuring coming. 96 different locations, two weeks running, I think.

01:12:34Melissa Ellis: It is, yes. We didn't grow this week, sadly, but high hopes for next week.

Sign-off

01:12:39Oliver Spake: Well, next week, are we going to boost the numbers? Are we going to boost the number of parkruns that Adventurers Club members are at, Mel?

the Frond

01:12:47Melissa Ellis: Well, what I probably didn't actually add, Ollie, was the highest frond this last week was at Warrandyte River Reserve where I was with six adventurers.

01:12:57Oliver Spake: Well done.

01:12:58Melissa Ellis: But perhaps next week we might top that, Ollie. I am adventuring. I am heading your way to Picton.

01:13:06Oliver Spake: Yes. I do believe there's a bit of a shindig going on.

01:13:09Melissa Ellis: I think there is a shindig. Is that an Australian saying, a shindig, or is that a British terminology? I'm not sure of the origins. But in any case, let's shindig on at Picton with our very own Sam Schroder who has a triple milestone to celebrate that we are both adventuring to celebrate. That's right. Celebrate with her even. Yeah.

01:13:33Oliver Spake: Yep, and she has magnificently managed to line that up with Picton's birthday celebrations as well.

01:13:40Melissa Ellis: I have no idea how she's managed this, Ollie. Let's go through it. She's running her 100th parkrun. She is managing her 100th volunteer. It is also her 100th... time of being at Picton in either a volunteer or a running capacity yeah all happening on picton's fourth birthday yep is it fourth it's the fourth like kudos who can arrange those milestones to line up I I'm not smart enough to do that no that that's got to have been some spreadsheeting or um very detailed planning nonetheless very strange stroke of luck

01:14:21Oliver Spake: Maybe there's luck in there. I think it's got to be coordination. But look, thank you. And thank you, Sam. Picton's my NENDY. So looking forward to ticking that off too.

01:14:32Melissa Ellis: So we'll be back together again next Saturday morning, Ollie. Hopefully there will be a lot of adventures. I believe there will be. Looks like we will probably blast the numbers for the Consolidated Club Report frond off the table.

01:14:47Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:14:48Melissa Ellis: Time will tell.

01:14:49Oliver Spake: That's right.

01:14:49Melissa Ellis: But I am aware of quite a few adventurers that are going to be

01:14:53Oliver Spake: coming along so that's exciting can't wait for that very exciting but Mel I suppose that's it it's um time to wrap up so that you can get on a plane before too long and uh next parkrun day is just around the corner so look as as always everyone you can contact us via Facebook or our email which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com but that is it for another week and we'll see you all next week for more adventures

01:16:27Unidentified speaker: Hi Mel and Ollie. Hi Abby. It was great to see you this morning. I didn't expect to see you at juniors. It's because mum wasn't here so I thought I'd come. Oh, excellent. What position did you come today? I came number 20.

01:16:44Melissa Ellis: We had lots of kids today at juniors. Yes. What was your favourite thing? Um, running with Summer. Ah.

01:16:52Unidentified speaker: And I kept on, when my friend Summer founded this stick, I kept on freezing people.

01:16:58Melissa Ellis: Oh, with the stick. Is it magic stick? Freeze.

01:17:02Unidentified speaker: Smells are now frozen. Unfreeze. Done. Thank you. OK, now what do you want to say? Bye, everybody. Stay safe. Thanks, Abby.