Episode 283 - Eman Vergara

Welcome

00:00:23Oliver Spake: Episode 283

00:00:24[19 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:00:43Oliver Spake: I think I'm stumbling over the starting line, Mel. I am a bit tired. I imagine you might be too. It was a big weekend, a very, very good weekend, but a big weekend. And needless to say, I have had plenty of naps. In fact, I fell asleep in so many places on Sunday afternoon. So a bit useless, but back into the swing of it.

00:01:06Melissa Ellis: Very good. That's good. What about you? Just, yeah, a little bit more sleep is required yet. Hopefully, I can catch up in time for next weekend.

00:01:17Oliver Spake: The things we do for this parkrun thing.

00:01:19Melissa Ellis: I know.

00:01:20Oliver Spake: And look, Mel, I mean, it was a fantastic combo on the pod last week. We've got another big content-rich pod coming up. So... Again, we'll do our best for our energy levels and our listeners to keep it relatively short. But needless to say, we've got to recap after a bit of a fun time at the weekend, parkrun Day just gone, but we do have another exciting interview coming up and roving reports and informant later on.

00:01:49Melissa Ellis: We do. We do. We're going to listen to Eman a little bit later on.

00:01:53Oliver Spake: Yes, but I guess we should probably elaborate on parkrun Day because I saw you.

00:02:00Melissa Ellis: You were there. I was. On Saturday, I travelled up to Picton parkrun to meet up with many fellow adventurers for a big celebration and we were both there, as we mentioned last week, to join Sam Schroder in her triple celebration as well as Picton's fourth birthday. Picton parkrun is held on Dharawal Country. Joining us were Sam and Luke Schroder, Michael Schultz, Brendan Peel and Jodie Maisie, Ingrid Botha, Bec Bailey, Michael Gentle and, of course, Team Spake with Hannah and James, Zali, Ava and Galen, which was an official frond of 15. However, by the end of the morning, housemate Lance and Roberta Winters had also joined the ranks, with Paddy Shimo donning the orange vest as the turnaround marshal. A little light drizzle before the briefing didn't dampen the spirits of the 69 participants on this very green out-and-back course that hugs the Stone Quarry Creek on a flattish concrete path. The event starts and finishes at the Picton Bowling Club and was only a little muddy navigating from the car park to the briefing point. The drizzle had cleared by the time we set off and I was very happy with my time considering my recent lack of running, wandering back out afterwards to find all the cool kids walking with Tail Walker Sam. After the event, we enjoyed a barbecue in the adjacent Botanical Gardens, which was generously supplied by Sam and expertly cooked by Luke. There was lots and lots of happy park faffing amongst adventurers and new friends with a moving speech and a little announcement to finish off the perfect morning. Yeah, it was a morning of many things. And I hope you enjoyed it and I hope the girls enjoyed it, Ollie.

00:03:50Oliver Spake: The girls... Look, I was quite surprised because I have not taken my daughters, all three of them, to a parkrun before, so I didn't know what to expect there, Mel. And slightly ominous, I think, as you said about the weather. Added to that was, I mean, it's a relatively short drive from home. We had a stop along the way to collect Hannah and James. But as we pulled up, Zali was not looking her best. Yeah. We thought we were going to have our first casualty at that point with a bit of car sickness, but miraculously she recovered and I think that clearing weather certainly helped. But I'll tell you what really helped were, well, two of the best fellow parkrunners and probably the best Tail Walker we could have wished for on the day as we did our very best to keep her out on course as long as we could so she could enjoy her milestones. Yeah, I was particularly pleased with Zali sticking through. And before the 2K mark, she decided that she was busting for the toilet. And both Zali and Ava had their gumboots off before the turnaround point as well. A little bit of barefoot walking. That's right. And that was probably just as well because you should have seen the blisters on Ava's feet.

00:05:11Melissa Ellis: Oh, dear. Bare feet in gumboots is not a good idea.

00:05:15Oliver Spake: So there we are. The first fine of the day goes to Dad for not double-checking that the kids put their socks on under their gumboots. Nonetheless, they were stoked. I'm still getting my face rubbed in the fact by Ava that she beat me by not just a small margin. She beat me by a mile. Hannah and James had a great time. Hannah's no longer working Saturdays and is just over the moon to have her parkrun day back. And as you say, a pretty spectacular celebration afterwards to boot. So what a nice morning.

00:05:47Melissa Ellis: And we did give Sam a special job to make the announcement, Ollie. We have mentioned it on the socials and Sam announced it on the day, but would you like to formalise it for the listeners that may not be across what we announced?

00:06:04Oliver Spake: I'd be delighted to.

00:06:06Melissa Ellis: Do you remember?

00:06:09Oliver Spake: I don't know how she said it. I'd like to do it in song, but it's occurred to me that I don't have the voice or the singing talent to do it. So let's just make it simple. We're going west, everyone. For Palm 2023, we are heading west.

00:06:26Melissa Ellis: Not really a big surprise for regular listeners.

00:06:30Oliver Spake: No, no, that's right. And look, I should be clear because we have had a few directional conversations before. We don't just mean west of Meltown. We mean Western Australia. And we dropped a few chestnuts along the way that might have hinted that there was a growing support to go and spend a bit of parkrun adventure time with our friends and our parkrun adventurer family over in the west that have been locked away from us as our poet friends.

00:06:58Melissa Ellis: pointed out recently yeah and not only that Ollie the last five palms have all been up and down the eastern seaboard more or less a long way away from everybody in the west to travel over to so all the eastern states have had they've had the opportunity to get to palms more so than our friends over in wa so it's time we took the party to them

00:07:20Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, that's right. And, look, Mel, I don't want to argue with you on the technicality of South Australia, but it's certainly been a long way, a long way from WA. And, look, we have to acknowledge it's a long way from some of our family in New Zealand as well. So, yeah, we'd have many palms if we could.

00:07:39Melissa Ellis: That's true, Ollie, but it's also...

00:07:41Oliver Spake: So let's keep doing this, yeah.

00:07:42Melissa Ellis: It's also the first port of call from anybody that might want to come from the UK. Or South Africa. Yes. Yeah. Just saying.

00:07:50Oliver Spake: So no date has been set. Party planning has commenced. Excitement is in, well, about third gear by now. And we look forward to sharing more news as it comes to hand. I know that there is a little bit of flight credit burning in people's pockets for those that are fortunate enough to have that. And for many of us, we've got a bit of planning to do. So, yeah, stay tuned, everyone.

00:08:15Melissa Ellis: In other news, though, Ollie, there was some news coming out of Singapore in this last week. Yes, hooray. Hooray, Singapore are returning. And from their blog, it said, we are excited to see restrictions have eased further in Singapore, allowing parkrun to reopen across the country. We can confirm that West Coast Park, East Coast Park and Bishan parkrun events will be able to reopen from Saturday the 7th of May 2022. We will look to reopen Bedok Reservoir parkrun at a later date once park works have been completed. So great news and congratulations to Singapore.

00:08:52Oliver Spake: Isn't that wonderful how Singaporean parkrun family can get their sweat back on.

00:08:57Melissa Ellis: And in other news, we had some notable milestones that we feel worth giving a shout out to before we get to Dazza's this week. Our very own Tracey in a Tutu celebrated her 250th volley.

00:09:13Oliver Spake: Yes. Congratulations, Tracey. That's tremendous. What a contribution and thank you for all of your support. I believe she was at Chermside.

00:09:20Melissa Ellis: Is that correct? Quick, quick, have a look in Dazza's.

00:09:23Oliver Spake: I was just looking at it. I was just looking at it too. How could I forget that?

00:09:28Melissa Ellis: Correct. But also over in New Zealand, there was Jeff McMillan from Pegasus who also achieved his V250, thus making him the first in New Zealand for such an achievement. He has a V index of eight in over 15 different roles. So also well done, Jeff.

00:09:47Oliver Spake: That's brilliant. Thank you also, Jeff, for all of your support. What a set of milestones. I look forward to emulating that one day.

Fines

00:09:56Melissa Ellis: And we should also mention a fines update, Ollie. We introduced this last week. I am prepared to track ours during the editing process, but I think our listeners will have to have an honesty system because I can't take on any more jobs and I don't need any more spreadsheets.

00:10:14Oliver Spake: No, no, no more jobs for Mel.

00:10:17Melissa Ellis: But I think our very newest employee, Sam, may have to get a fine for being in Facebook jail. Yeah. which doesn't really help with the social media posting.

00:10:31Oliver Spake: Can I say it again, one job?

00:10:34Melissa Ellis: We're very glad that Sam is now back out of Facebook jail. And also Michael Charlton, special mention to Michael, double demerit points for you for going to a launch.

00:10:43Unidentified speaker: Oh.

00:10:46Melissa Ellis: Checking these things did cause me to realise that the events in the Consolidated Club report are actually ordered highest to lowest according to event number. I've never realised that before, even though for the last however many weeks I've been poring over the report wondering what on earth order they... use to post them because all the UK is mixed in with Australia and South Africa and there didn't seem to be any order to it and I've just figured out being that the launch was down at the bottom because it was an event one yeah the Penny dropped

00:11:21Oliver Spake: Bit of a forest for the trees kind of situation, yeah.

00:11:24Melissa Ellis: But we had some suggestions for other fines, Ollie.

00:11:27Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. So thank you, Karen Hamilton, for adding to our money spinner here, suggesting a fine for capitalising parkrun in Dazza's.

00:11:36Melissa Ellis: We'll have to enlist the help of the listeners too, or the readers if it's in Dazza's, to point these out to us just in case we miss them.

00:11:45Oliver Spake: That's right, and auto-correct is not a defence. Abby's mum wants every time, oh, who wrote this? Abby's mum wants every time Ollie mentions Shellharbour or when Mel says Meltown. Okay. Yep, that's relatively even, except I'm pretty sure I'll be more guilty there. And Chris Fraser wants the reverse parkrun flag fine raised to $5. Wow.

00:12:11Melissa Ellis: That's really a bee in his bonnet, isn't it?

00:12:13Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:12:14Melissa Ellis: But I do have to put some money in the jar this week, Ollie, well, really from last week, for my mispronunciation of a couple of parkrun events, unbeknownst to me, silent Ws and silent Hs, for Muswellbrook and Walker. Apologies to those two parkruns for the mispronunciation. There you go.

00:12:36Oliver Spake: Look, we introduced this at the right week. I don't know how I managed to escape a fine for mispronunciations of a parkrun, but it's a novel idea, learning through penalisation.

00:12:46Melissa Ellis: The night is young.

00:12:47Oliver Spake: Maybe it works. Yes. Yes.

00:12:49Melissa Ellis: But Ollie, it's time now. Let's listen to me having a chat with Eman.

Interview Eman Vergara — Run Director, South Toowoomba parkrun; 2022 Boston Marathon finisher

00:13:02Melissa Ellis: Today, I am very pleased to welcome to the pod our friend, South Toowoomba RD and Boston marathoner, Eman Vergara. Eman, we have been dying to chat to you all about your big adventure. Thank you for coming on to share your stories with us.

00:13:17Eman Vergara: Great to be here, Mel, and thanks very much for the invitation.

00:13:20Melissa Ellis: Now, I have to be honest and say that I have so many questions and I really don't know where to start. So, I'm going to let you set the pace by giving you the opportunity to choose which one we go with first, International parkrun or Iconic Marathon.

00:13:34Eman Vergara: Well, I think we could start off with the International parkrun given that was one of the first things I did. in the lead up to the big event. So a couple of weeks ago, I was very fortunate to have experienced participating in the Jamaica Pond parkrun. That's one of the two parkruns held in Boston. It's quite a picturesque course. You essentially run around a pond. You do that two times and you do a bit of a slight inclined finish, but it was a pretty fun morning. Quite interesting, obviously, coming from Queensland, parkrun starts at seven in the morning, whereas in North America, their parkrun started at nine. So it was actually quite rare for me to have a sleep in on a Saturday morning, which was quite fun.

00:14:23Melissa Ellis: Because you wouldn't have been going out doing crazy long distances before parkrun in this occasion.

00:14:28Eman Vergara: No, that's right. Yeah. So I arrived in Boston about a week before the event. And so it was really just a taper week and just doing a lot of easy runs. It's quite interesting that the marathon itself is held on a Monday, which is Patriots Day. So doing the parkrun on the Saturday and meant that I still had a couple of days just to make sure that I was well rested. But it was such a fantastic experience actually seeing the amount of diversity from the parkrun communities, especially from the UK. When I arrived about half an hour before the start, I just saw dozens and dozens of parkrunners wearing their apricot parkrun shirts. And they all had their home parkrun written on the shirt. So it was quite interesting just having a quick chat to a few of them. Most of them were from the UK. And I even found a pretty rare sighting. Someone was wearing the blue 500 milestone t-shirt. And she was obviously being swamped with other people taking photos of her. So... I had to make sure I could get a selfie with her as well. It was quite special given it's such a rare achievement in Australia at the moment. So I know there's a few parkrun adventurers that are close, you know, within one or two years. But just seeing that, you know, distinct blue shirt with the 500 at the back, you know, it's such a special thing to see in the actual parkrun course.

00:15:54Melissa Ellis: And how did you choose Jamaica Pond over the second Boston parkrun?

00:15:58Eman Vergara: Yeah, well, I think I just looked at the 5K parkrunner app. I looked at where I was staying, looked at the two events and just found that Jamaica Pond was closer to where I was staying. The good thing was I actually had some family come and support me, my brother and my two cousins. And that's one of the awesome things I was able to do was to introduce them to the world of parkrun. It was their first time experiencing the event. And I was just so shocked at how they actually wanted to run a parkrun with me. I was actually expecting me to just do it by myself and then for them to sleep in, given they're the ones that have been partying. Yeah, during the week they've been um you know watching the baseball watching the nba and I'm here just you know having early nights so it was actually pretty interesting to to have them come and join me and actually see for themselves you know why parkrun is so attractive to so many people and so yeah it was just a case of looking at the closest parkrun but certainly the next time I'm in town I'll definitely check out the other one and this was your first international parkrun I believe Yes, that's right. Obviously, pre-COVID, I actually had organised a bunch of friends from South Toowoomba to do a parkrun adventure to Singapore, but clearly COVID sort of stopped that. But it's good to be back and just getting to experience what it's like, how the event is run in a different country. I would say, as the number of conversations you've had with other international parkrunners, A lot of it is different, but a lot of it is the same. You know, you've got the briefing or the welcome at the start. You've got the flags. I mean, the vests of the volunteers are a different colour. They were green as opposed to orange in Australia. But the RD vest was the same. You know, very friendly marshals. You know, obviously the same barcodes being scanned and, you know, the typical email that you get later that morning.

00:17:54Melissa Ellis: And how did your cousins and brother find it? Have they gone back? Did they go back this week?

00:17:59Eman Vergara: Well, I think they want to. My brother's still in California, but he has told me that when he's back in New South Wales, because he lives in Central Coast, he'll definitely attend and bring his family to his local one, which is actually Woy Woy.

00:18:15Unidentified speaker: Oh.

00:18:16Eman Vergara: So, I'm very proud of the fact that I've now introduced every single one of my immediate family to parkrun. My parents, my other brother, my younger brother, he does Rhodes parkrun. And so, it's just a great feeling to have introduced my family to something that's so wholesome and is positive to their health and also being part of the local community. As for my two cousins, their closest one is Byxbee in California. So the next time I'm going to visit them, I'm definitely going to make sure that I do a parkrun over there with them.

00:18:49Melissa Ellis: Excellent. I was just going to say this must go to the top of your parkrun experiences if we were to rank such things.

00:18:58Eman Vergara: Absolutely. Just actually adventuring into a different country and experiencing how it's run and actually meeting people from different parts of the world that share the positivity of parkrun. It was definitely a happy morning. And to top it all off, had breakfast at a nearby diner, which was nice.

00:19:19Melissa Ellis: Ah, to get the iconic experience in the diner.

00:19:22Eman Vergara: That's right. So it was certainly an American experience in the lead up to the big event.

00:19:28Melissa Ellis: Okay, so let's turn our attention to the lead event, a Boston Marathoner, Eman. I mean, I've seen some of the interviews you've already done, but what was it like being there on the start line?

00:19:42Eman Vergara: Yeah, Mel, it was honestly a dream come true. You know, the Boston Marathon is amazing. the world's oldest and most prestigious marathon event out there. What makes it so special is participants have to qualify depending on their age and gender. So it's not impossible to qualify, but it takes a lot of dedication and work. And just being there and just soaking up the atmosphere was pretty special. This year we had about 25,000 runners start. And what was more special was the fact that they had 9,500 volunteers to actually make the event possible. And most importantly, about half a million spectators lined the streets of Boston to actually cheer on the crowds. And I was pretty glad that I've had my older brother and my cousins fly in to be my support crew. But the actual event itself was fantastic. Just being able to run the course and having a PB was a great bonus for me.

00:20:49Melissa Ellis: So what was involved in getting there? I mean, 13 years is a long time to be dedicated to the cause. Over that time, obviously, you've had to train regularly, but what does that look like?

00:21:00Eman Vergara: Yeah, so I mean, my first marathon was all the way back in 2008. And back then, I just wanted to finish a marathon. I remember quite vividly doing everything that you shouldn't be doing, training for a marathon, as in not training enough, not having the right nutrition. So I did my first one in over four hours, 16 minutes, but just wanted to tick it off. But since then, I really just wanted to get a bit better progressively. And that's about the same time as when I came across the Boston Marathon and reading up on the actual event and how special it would be to participate. I certainly knew back then that I was way off being able to qualify, but it took a number of years. And I think what helped for me was joining my local running club to give me the opportunity to have a consistent training program.

00:21:50Melissa Ellis: And just repeat for everybody what your time was for Boston. Yeah.

00:21:55Eman Vergara: Yeah, it was pretty special PB, two hours, 54 minutes and 19 seconds, which it was absolutely an amazing time for me and everything just went according to plan. I stuck to my pace, just made sure that I didn't get too excited in the first half. Because once the rolling hills started, a lot of the people that ran a bit faster than what they should have really paid for it. And so I passed at least 100 people just walking up the rolling hills. So I was glad that I was able to contain my excitement in the first hour of running and stick to my race plan.

00:22:33Melissa Ellis: So you wouldn't have had many opportunities in the past to run with that many people of that class of amateur running. So that must have been a very new experience.

00:22:44Eman Vergara: Yeah, absolutely. I've never experienced anything like it. So the pace that I was doing was four minutes and six seconds per kilometre. And throughout the whole 42 kilometres, I'd look ahead, I'd look to my left and to my right, and I would be running with hundreds of people. And even in the distance, I could see at least a thousand people. To put into perspective, I didn't even finish in the top 2000 runners. So, it really brings out the world's best and fastest amateur marathoners. And so... Looking at the faces of the other runners before the start during the event and as we finished, you can definitely tell that everyone's put in years of hard work, A, to qualify and to actually be able to run the marathon to the best of their ability.

00:23:33Melissa Ellis: We should talk about your running club. You do proudly wear the Toowoomba Road Runners Club shirt at parkrun. You wore it for the marathon too, didn't you?

00:23:41Eman Vergara: Yeah, I did. I think the best thing that's happened to me in terms of my training was joining my local running club. And I'd encourage anyone, just Google your nearest running club because it allows you to have a regimented or a training program with other people. And for me, I'm quite a social runner. I enjoy having a chat and talking to others when I'm training. Most of my running is relatively easy. Zone two, heart rate running and so that gave me the opportunity to actually build up a pretty big base which went on for a number of years to be able to get to the speed and endurance that I've achieved today but I'd also you know credit a lot of my I guess performance to the regularity of parkrun you know I do utilise parkrun as a sort of a speed session given it's a short 5k event And so parkrun and being involved with my local running club, I would credit as very helpful in my training.

00:24:45Melissa Ellis: There must have been a very excited community on the night following you at Boston. Did they have parties?

00:24:53Eman Vergara: Yeah, I think I was so surprised at the fact that, you know, a number of people stayed up late, including yourself, Mel. So I'm very appreciative of you tracking me because the race didn't start until midnight, you know, Australian time. And so I was just really blown away by the amount of texts, messages, you know, and the And the support that I received after I finished shot, I'd have to, again, thank all the parkrun adventurers, all the parkrunners that gave me so much more wishes leading up to the event. It really made it a happy experience for me. I was definitely thinking about all the positive messages as I was running through the course. And I think one of the highlights in the event was with five kilometres to go, one of the event teams at Boston, they actually planted a parkrun flag. And so when I saw that, knowing that I only had five kilometres to go, I only had a parkrun to go, it really took my mind off the fatigue that I was experiencing at the time. And so it was really just a countdown of, you know, I've got less than a parkrun to go. I've got, you know, two kilometres to go, one kilometre to go. And so that was an amazing, you know, thing to see. And it contributes to general atmosphere of the supporters out there in the course.

00:26:11Melissa Ellis: So do you have an automatic entry into next year? Will you be entering again? And if not, is there another challenge on the horizon?

00:26:18Eman Vergara: Yeah, well, the thing about Boston Marathon is every year they actually have to recut and reset the qualifying times. It really depends on supply and demand. If there's a lot more demand to do the event, they really have to make sure that there's only about 30,000 participants across all the age groups to qualify. So I'm hopeful that my qualifying, the time that I did this year is enough for next year because I had to qualify with under a three-hour time. And for this year, I qualified using last year's Brisbane Marathon. So we'll see how we go. In terms of potentially doing it again next year, I'll definitely consider it once I see the new qualifying times. But fingers crossed, I can do it. But if that doesn't work out, you know, there's plenty of other international marathons out there that I can do. There's this thing called the Big Six Marathons, which, you know, the biggest events in the world. And I'd probably have my eyes set on Berlin next year if that was, you know, possible. And it's also going to give me an opportunity to do a parkrun over in Germany.

00:27:28Melissa Ellis: That sounds good to me. So what about on the local front, parkrun-wise? Have you got challenges that you want to work on, travelling and touring? I know you're very fortunate with your work that you can travel and parkrun.

00:27:39Eman Vergara: Yeah, I think it's a great situation to be able to have, you know, a role where I can travel. I think at this stage I'd like to be able to continue meeting up with other parkrun adventurers. So I've got Adelaide in my sights next. Hopefully I can meet up with Janet and check out Lochiel Park parkrun and In terms of other local races, I'd like to give back to the running community. So I'm planning to be pace runner for next month's Brisbane Marathon, as well as the pace runner for the Gold Coast Marathon. So just in the same way that I was able to get my PB by sticking to a pace group, I'd like to give the same experience to other runners. And I think in August, I'll probably get back into some serious racing with Sydney City to Surf, which is an iconic event. And I'd like to give that a good go and celebrate with other parkrun adventurers that are planning to go there.

00:28:36Melissa Ellis: We're very excited that you're on board with the parkrun adventurers for that event. I can't wait for it. It's going to be a lot of fun. And yes, we're discussing parkrun events for the set day as well. So hopefully we'll have a decision on that soon.

00:28:50Eman Vergara: Excellent. Now, that sounds good. I'm looking forward to wherever we conduct the frond. Yes.

00:28:55Melissa Ellis: Well, Eman, sadly, we have run out of time. Thanks for the chat. Say hi to Christine and Juno, and we look forward to seeing you at City to Surf, if not at a parkrun again soon.

00:29:07Eman Vergara: It's been awesome chatting to you, Mel. And again, thank you so much to all the parkrun adventurers that have given me the support. And I look forward to seeing you guys out there in a future parkrun.

00:29:24Oliver Spake: And thank you, Mel and Eman. Great to hear from Eman. Thank you for bringing that to us, Mel, a fabulous contributor to the parkrun world and a Boston marathoner.

00:29:34Melissa Ellis: Yes, we did have a little bit of technical glitches in the middle of that interview, but we overcame it, Ollie, and all's well that ends well.

00:29:43Oliver Spake: Very much so. Well done, Mel. And if I didn't say it before, well done, Eman. But Mel, in my tiredness, I forgot another feature of the weekend that it would be remiss of me not to recap on. And the mention of the marathon kind of triggered that. Just want to congratulate a few of, maybe selfishly, the local Shellharbour parkrunners. That's a fine. That's a fine. And the extended parkrun family because one of the reasons I am a little bit tired is it was a recovery half marathon for me yesterday, today being Monday, yesterday was Sunday, and it was the Run Shellharbour event. Surely that's not technically a fine. Yeah. But Mel. Yes. Paddy Shimo. Yes. He's a marathoner too. Paddy. So well done to Paddy. He clocked up marathon number one of many to come, we're sure, in the blazing sunshine. And we have thanks to Karen Hamilton for bringing us the fine, fine weather. Never a rainy run day when Karen's on the line with you. Yeah. But Paddy held out through that unseasonably warm weather to finish the marathon. And he wasn't the only one. So Karen's partner, Ralph, congratulations to Ralph on a blistering time as well and to so many others. It was lovely seeing the parkrun community, to be perfectly honest, more than I see at Shellharbour parkrun these days. There's another one. Another dollar in the jar. Wow, this is going to be expensive for you. Yeah, is Sam, our milestoner from Picton, down there for a half marathon, clocking up a first half. Luke's first 10, part of the Windang clan. Lance almost smashed the hour and a half mark for a half marathon. We had... Many, many others. Roberta stuck around after Picton and joined us, Michael as well. So, yeah, thank you, everyone. And I think I'm ready for another nap.

00:31:48Melissa Ellis: A double celebration weekend.

00:31:51Oliver Spake: Yes. So, yeah, lots of running, lots of running.

Emails

00:31:54Oliver Spake: But let's take a break, Mel, because we've got mail. You've got mail. We do, Ollie.

00:31:59Melissa Ellis: Who have we got first up?

00:32:01Oliver Spake: um we've got the ideas man Mel Bruce Bruce has gotten in touch and he has said hey I was planning to suggest the islands of New Zealand and all states and territories of Australia as a club in the 5k app I seem to remember that Tim Oberg was the first to achieve that but was it ever agreed that it should be known as the Oberg club Then I noticed this while stalking and Bruce has sent us a screenshot of Tim Oberg's parkrun app profile showing he is on 99 locations. Cowell Club pending.

00:32:38Melissa Ellis: We'll have to keep our eye on that one.

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

00:32:41Melissa Ellis: I wonder if we can get Tim to post in Dazza's when he gets his cow. That'd be a coup.

00:32:48Oliver Spake: Yes, a cow coup.

00:32:50Melissa Ellis: And then we could give him the Obi.

00:32:51Oliver Spake: Yes, yes, that's right. And name a club after him. I don't know. Can we do that? Can we agree with Bruce? Yeah, we do. Yeah, we agree.

00:33:00Melissa Ellis: Yeah, let's put it forward.

00:33:01Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:33:02Melissa Ellis: Yep. Yes, spread the word.

00:33:04Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:33:05Melissa Ellis: But we also heard this week from Johan, Ollie, because there was a special event in South Africa. Yes. They had recently changed their annual extra event from Christmas Day to their Freedom Day. Johan said, Hi Mel and Ollie. Today we were able to have our first parkrun on our new special event day, Freedom Day, and I was fortunate to spend time in Hartenbos Village parkrun. We are not called the Rainbow Nation without reason, so it was a very colourful event, as you can see from the two pics below. This is me and I, oh, see, here's where I'm tripped up, Ollie. I was so concentrating on worrying about event names. I didn't think of people names. ITA. Let's just go with ITA. This is me and ITA, the Volunteer Coordinator. And as you can see, we gave each other a run for the money in the colourful department. But I was really blown away by how important the volunteering aspect of parkrun is at this event, with 38 volunteers on the day and a roster filled weeks in advance. Wow. I also met Niels and Estelle Rath, with Niels being only one of two people worldwide that has not missed a single Not parkrun since its inception. Today, they were the Timekeepers at the event. And what would this be without some audio as well? Have a great weekend and happy parkrunning. We are so lucky to have another one in just three days' time. Best wishes, Johan. That's fantastic.

00:34:44Oliver Spake: Thank you for sharing that with us, Johan, and thank you.

00:34:47Melissa Ellis: 38 volunteers. That's amazing. It is amazing. And yes, Johan did send us some audio that we'll hear a little bit later on.

00:34:55Oliver Spake: We look forward to that on our roving reports coming up.

Dazza's

00:34:58Oliver Spake: But Mel, I suppose it's time for Dazza's. It is, Ollie.

00:35:01Melissa Ellis: This week, Dazza has said, it's International Honesty Day and Dazza honestly loves seeing you all each weekend. The truth is he likes Saturdays more than any other day of the week. Come on in and tell us the truth. Did you have fun at parkrun today?

00:35:19Oliver Spake: And first up was Maria Tams, who had a bit of tourism and I guess we might call them a celebrity. She said, best parkrun yet, or close to. Met parkrun founder, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, while running Bushy parkrun UK. He actually hardly runs it anymore, so I was very lucky. And we got the photo.

00:35:43Melissa Ellis: We did. How lucky was Maria to nab a selfie today? with PSH himself. We also heard from Renee Jackson, who had the most likes this week with her post. In the spirit of honesty, I was questioning my life choices as my stupid o'clock alarm went off this morning after playing footy last night. Totes worth it with a visit to the lovely Benalla Botanic Gardens parkrun. Great course, an excellent toasty and coffee post-run with very lovely locals. And we had a photo of Renee in the selfie frame at Benalla.

00:36:19Oliver Spake: Yep, good decision. And we heard from Tim Robbins. with a bit of an anniversary. Morning, Dazza. Ian and Skeletor, that's me, celebrated Ginninderra's 10th birthday today. So a slice of cake, please. And we did see said photo with Ian and Skeletor in the selfie frame. Happy birthday, Ginninderra.

00:36:43Melissa Ellis: And Emniko was celebrating at home this week. Today was the Emancipation parkrun for my middle child. Always a momentous occasion when your child turns 11 in the parkrun world. No more working out. Who's going to run with him? Two down, one to go. And we had a lovely photo there of Em and the family.

00:37:04Oliver Spake: Nice, nice. And from the adventurer catch-up itself, Mel, Paddy Shimo. Hi, Dazza. A couple of firsts today. My first role of volunteerism, and I brought my daughter and her dog for their very first parkrun slash bark run ever. We visited Picton parkrun, of course, to celebrate Sam's 100th as well as Picton's fourth birthday. Those milestones aside, I've got to say I really love Picton's parkrun. It's alongside a babbling brook through their botanical garden and run by top-notch people. In the spirit of honesty, Dazza, I should add that I walked leisurely to the turning point as I was a Marshal, but I lost my way. Such a ridiculous thing, given that I've run the course before. Anyway, a call to the RD set me right and I picked up the pace to ensure I was ready for the head of the pack. All's well that ends well. And he still backed up for a marathon, even with bonus Ks.

00:38:06Melissa Ellis: And he posted his Strava map showing the bonus distance. Yes. This week's milestone goes to Leah Skye. Family activity today. Nathan's first time not as an under 10, so was proud to complete it by himself. He also got his 25th volunteer and his 25th parkrun. I was RD and daughter and husband ran together. Well done, Leah.

00:38:32Oliver Spake: Yeah. And from South Africa, Peter Leroux, great walk with my 18-month-old daughter in her papoose at my NENDY Bapsfontein Hotel parkrun. The ED said, we might not be the biggest parkrun, but we try to be the friendliest. And they were. And we had a photo there of Peter and his companion in the backpack there.

00:38:54Melissa Ellis: And we heard from Tony Everington who said, Hi, Dazza, I completed my own nottie very early parkrun, if that's what you can call it, at Redland Bay. It did free me up to volunteer today, handing tokens to an awesome bunch of runners. And Tony sent a very lovely photo almost pre-light shot over the bay.

00:39:15Oliver Spake: A bit of tourism by a certain two-wheeled personality. Steve's Bike. Hi, Dazza. Happy parkrun Day. Ventured north into another state, a former home state. I thought it was time that Ollie and other adventurers from his state received a clue. Today, we went to a parkrun in a location I once called home. This was my 23rd time at this location on the fourth iteration of the course. Still green, still pretty. I got very wet mid-run, but enjoyable as always. Have a great run, walk, jog, volunteer, all. Yeah, that one got my attention. Thank you, Steve's Bike.

00:40:00Melissa Ellis: Joining us in New South Wales this week, he was...

00:40:03Oliver Spake: Yes. So close, perhaps.

00:40:05Melissa Ellis: Have you figured it out at home? More clues. But coming to us from the UK this week, Graham Wilkinson. Hi, Dazza. I had an early start to drive to Bower Park to run my first five-lap parkrun around the rugby pitches there. Proof you can start a parkrun anywhere if you have the will and the team, very friendly people in Aspatria. Aspatria? Aspatria. Unfortunately, couldn't hang around for a chat afterwards or a bacon roll and latte. So if you could sort me out, please, I'm starving.

00:40:40Oliver Spake: Oh, and look, thank you everyone for joining us in Dazza's. I have to say, Mel, there were a lot of likes this week and a lot to like. So honesty was clearly the, was the nice touch.

00:40:53Melissa Ellis: But going back to Tony, I forgot to mention, he capitalised his parkrun, so that's a fine. That's $1 in the jar for you, Tony.

00:41:01Oliver Spake: Well, we have to be honest, yes.

the Obi Award — Maria Tams

00:41:04Oliver Spake: Mel, I've found an envelope, and it's actually on my desk this week.

00:41:09Melissa Ellis: Ah, okay. All righty. Well, would you like to open the envelope?

00:41:15Oliver Spake: I would love to. I would love to. Didn't tear it. This week the Obi goes to... Maria! So congratulations, Maria. I think that's well and truly because Maria had a bit of tourism, a bit of celebrity and managed to get a great photo of said celebrity. So thank you for sharing and we hope you enjoyed your visit to Bushy.

00:41:23[music]

00:41:53Melissa Ellis: And shout out to PSH if he's listening.

00:41:55Oliver Spake: Yes, yes, that's right, yes.

00:41:59Melissa Ellis: Great, another fun-filled day at Dazza's. And also you may have noticed in the last couple of weeks, Sam's been sharing albums of the photos from Dazza's in a midweek post for everybody to enjoy just if you hadn't caught those photos. So it seems to be popular.

00:42:16Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah.

00:42:17Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, now... Time to move on and have a listen to our roving reports this week and the informant.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Lyndell Murray — Bunyaville

00:42:33Lyndell Murray: G'day parkrun adventurers. I've got a parkrun podcast roving report light today. I'm just going to have a quick couple of words to Bruce Willis. No, not that Bruce Willis, our Bruce Willis here at Bunyaville. He's our Event Director. How are you going today, Bruce?

00:42:48Bruce Willis: Very well, thanks, Lyndell. It's been a great day and it's been really good to be able to recommence our parkrun after a couple of months hiatus.

00:42:56Lyndell Murray: Yeah, so we've been on a hiatus here after the flooding event that happened in Brisbane. Could you just give us a bit of an idea of the process that you've been through to get back up and running?

00:43:07Bruce Willis: Well, because our event takes place through a number of jurisdictions, there were a couple of different local authorities whom we had to contact to establish repairs and get the course up and going again.

00:43:21Lyndell Murray: Yeah, and that took time, obviously. And some of those authorities were obviously doing other work in the community as well.

00:43:28Bruce Willis: Queensland Parks and Wildlife were really great. They were very responsive to start with and they made no promises initially but came through very quickly and got repairs done as quickly as they could. Similarly, Moreton Bay Regional Council had a lot of other stuff that they had to deal with but they came on board and did some massive repairs to the track work and enabled us to get going again.

00:43:53Lyndell Murray: Excellent. And there was a working bee here as well. Tell us about that. Who got involved there?

00:43:59Bruce Willis: Queensland Parks and Wildlife connected us with the local Trailcare Alliance, and the Trailcare Alliance look after a lot of the bike tracks in the area. And their coordinator came down, helped supply gear and equipment for a small working bee, as well as supplying his knowledge on how to properly rebuild one of the tracks. Two hour working bee with half a dozen people, we got a new track built.

00:44:26Lyndell Murray: That's fantastic. That sounds like you had all the support from all the people that you've needed. It's just taken a little bit of time. And I imagine that's been lots of phone calls and emails from yourself and the other Run Directors here as well.

00:44:39Bruce Willis: Yeah, I've been contacting people, but a lot of credit goes to various other people within the parkrun community who've also contacted authorities and helped petition and help encourage them and convince them that the parkrun is a key part of the community and it's a time for the community to get together and become a community.

00:45:00Lyndell Murray: Yeah. Thank you so much, Bruce, for all the work that you've done. All of us that run here at Bunyaville love it. I talk about it every opportunity that I can. And it's just so nice to be back. So is there anything else that you would like the listeners of the podcast to know about Bunyaville or about what it's been like to be on pause?

00:45:20Bruce Willis: Being on pause, it's been great to get to other parkruns, see how other parkruns do things, pick up tips and tricks from them. But it's always great to come home and people are always welcome to come and enjoy the track and enjoy the nature that we get to experience every week.

00:45:36Lyndell Murray: All right, I'm going to put you on the spot here now. I know you're a runner. You're a very avid tourister as well, Bruce. Can you give me a top three parkruns, not including our home here at Bunyaville?

00:45:49Bruce Willis: Oh, no, no, I can't. Different parkruns have different traits that are good and they're all individual and really what makes a parkrun is not the run itself. It's the people who run the event and the participants.

00:46:04Lyndell Murray: Well said, Bruce. Thank you very much and thank you also for your good grace in that bad Bruce Willis joke. I'm sure it's not the first time you've heard that joke.

00:46:14Bruce Willis: All good, Lyndell. Thanks very much.

00:46:16Lyndell Murray: Thanks, Bruce.

Roving report Pippa — Hafan Pwllheli

00:46:19Pippa: Hello parkrun adventurers, it's Pippa here and I'm on a beach in Wales and my parkrun today, I'm here with Louise who's Run Director today.

00:46:28Louise: Bore da parkrunners! Louise, dwi, I'm Louise and croeso I parkrun Hafan Pwllheli, parkrun Hafan Pwllheli, sorry, I made a mess of that answer. [Welsh: "Good morning parkrunners! ... welcome to parkrun Hafan Pwllheli"] [Welsh: ""Louise dwi" = "I'm Louise" - she begins the answer in Welsh and then immediately repeats it in English ("I'm Louise")."]

00:46:41Pippa: No, no, that's brilliant. That's absolutely fantastic. Briefly, tell us about your parkrun. I have loved it this morning. Well, it's a tough one.

00:46:49Louise: Beautifully brutal, I suppose, is the best way to describe it. It starts on the beach at Hafan Pwllheli and we run out to Abererch Sands and back on the beach. It was high tide this morning, with a little bit of mist over the mountains so we're not able to see Uyghur and all the Eryri mountains in their full glory and everybody's come back moaning at the finish but it is beautiful. It's always tough on the sand, the sand shifts, sometimes it can be soft, sometimes it can be hard but the sun was shining and there was no headwind so I think they've got off quite lightly this morning.

00:47:29Pippa: It was brilliant. No, there was no wind. There was no rain. It wasn't too hot. It was perfect. Thank you very much. It's been lovely to have my parkrun here. Thank you.

00:47:38Louise: You're welcome.

Roving report Johan Duvenhage — Hartenbos Village

00:47:41Johan Duvenhage: Good morning. It's Johan checking in from the coastal resort town of Hartenbos in the Western Cape province of South Africa. I'm thrilled to be in the Garden Route at long last, and I'm visiting Hartenbos Village parkrun. I will also be barcode scanning afterwards. Now, today is a very special day as we have an official parkrun on a Wednesday. And that means also two parkruns in one week. Three years ago, a decision was taken that South Africa will change its special event day from Christmas and to hold it on Freedom Day, the 27th of April. Freedom Day is the commemoration of the first democratic elections held in South Africa on 27 April 1994. That's 28 years ago. These were the first post-apartheid national elections to be held in South Africa where anybody could vote regardless of their race. But I think for us as parkrunners, what makes today even more special is that it will be the first time that we are actually able to have our parkrun on our special day since the change. Two years ago when the first event was to happen we were not even allowed to leave our houses except for emergencies. I don't have to remind you why that was. Thankfully now we are free to get together again as a community and do what we love and that's having fun at parkrun. So the volunteer team at Hart & Bosch Village parkrun have decided that the theme for today's parkrun should be fun, funky, fabulous and free. Free to be different, free to have fun and free to parkrun again with the request to dress up in your funkiest gear. Well, it's time for me to join the volunteer briefing before the run and I hope to catch up with some of the volunteers and runners after the event. From what I can see, the team has indeed brought out their boldest outfits. I'm here with two very special people. That is Niels and Estelle Rath. Now, apart from being very avid parkrunners, they are also well known in the (not)parkrun circles. Niels being one of, I think, two people worldwide that hasn't missed a single parkrun since its inception, putting him on 680 odd not parkruns. So I just wanted to hear from Niels. So what makes you do that every single day?

00:50:09Niels Rath: I do it with my lovely wife, Estelle, and she motivates me to keep on going. Once we hit the 365, we decided to go on and we said, okay, next milestone will be 500. So when 500 came and gone, we decided to go on. Unfortunately, she had a spill and she could not maintain the clean record as I did. She motivated me to go on and do it daily.

00:50:45Johan Duvenhage: So Estelle, you are his motivation for keeping going. But do you enjoy walking that much every day?

00:50:52Estelle Rath: Yes, we do. We retired and we started walking, you know, with COVID first around the house. And then it makes us feel very healthy.

00:51:05Johan Duvenhage: Yeah. Well, congratulations and keep up the good work. We hope to keep you on the first position of Not parkrun for a little bit longer. Thanks very much. Thank you. Adventurers, I'm here with Roland Dix. He's the Event Director of Hart & Bosch Village parkrun and I wanted to just check in with him about the new venue. Today is event number 18 at Hart & Bosch Village. Roland, from what I understand Hart & Bosch Village is not, whilst it's only your 18th event here, it's not the 18th event in this area. You've had several other courses around the same area?

00:51:44Roland Dix: That's correct. We originally started down by the sea in Hartenbos, where we had a little track around the sea, around the caravan parks and that. And then the people started complaining. They said we were disturbing them when they're sleeping and when they're on holidays and that. And then we moved up to Kleingeluk, that's just outside of town there, just outside of Hartenbos. And there we were for about four years. And a very nice venue running through like a grape farm and a small little section by a little mountain. And then Thierry, the owner of the farm, he got sick. He picked up cancer. And then his wife asked us to look for another venue because we're disturbing his peace and everything, being so sick. And he liked the rest early in the morning. And then we went over to Outeniquasbosch. And we were there for just over a year, then COVID started. But also with Outeniquasbosch, the people, the owners of the place, they started bullying and they started complaining. They said the homeowners, they said they were trampling the grass, killing the grass and making the animals wild and stuff like that. And then Milani spoke to us from Outeniquasbosch village. And they said, but she's got this lovely place up here. We can use the quad bike track and everything. Why don't we come here? So I said, no, sure. So we gave it a go and we're using a quad bike track. But now they're busy with a fire break, which they have to do around their property. It's actually five stands for Hart & Bosch Village, which are incorporated into one. And now they're making a fire break around the perimeter of the place. And that perimeter should be finished by the 25th of May. Then we will be using the perimeter on the fire break for our parkrun instead of the quad bike route. And that's how we ended up in Hart & Bosch Village.

00:53:32Johan Duvenhage: Okay, and from what I understand that will also make the route a little bit easier to run because you won't be having to run through the muddy bits that the quad bikes are causing.

00:53:41Roland Dix: That's correct. So we're going to be completely away from the quad bike, all those ruts and everything, except next to the river. There we will still run a small section where the quad bikes also can use. but they don't churn up the mud so much as what they do on their course because they want mud and we don't want all that mud. But now just with the fire break, they're just busy cleaning up and taking out little stumps and that so we're not going to fall. But the big stumps we'll just paint white and make it much easier.

00:54:11Johan Duvenhage: So how are the attendants at Hart & Bosch Village? Are they happy with that?

00:54:17Roland Dix: Yes, we're very, very happy. We started off the first couple of times that we were here, we started with just under 100. And we picked up just about 200 about two weeks ago, just over 200. And today, being on a holiday and that, we didn't expect to be so many people. We're about 140 people today. So we're very chuffed with the attendance coming up and it's picking up very, very nicely.

00:54:40Johan Duvenhage: So, thank you very much for having me here at Hart & Bosch Village on Freedom Day, the first special event day since we changed from Christmas. I really enjoyed it and all the best for Hart & Bosch Village.

00:54:51Roland Dix: Thanks very much. It was a pleasure hosting you today and it was a pleasure meeting you as well. We enjoyed it. I hope you come again. Thank you very much.

00:54:59Johan Duvenhage: Adventurers, I'm here with Ita Janse van Rensburg, somewhat of a parkrun legend in South Africa. Ita today has done her 280th volunteer instance. And I think what makes that a little bit different is that Ita has never done a physical parkrun. So I wanted to speak to Ita and just find out what she loves so much about volunteering and how the process at Hart & Bosch Village goes every week. Ita, it's so nice to be here at Hart & Bosch Village. I've been trying to get here in your previous iterations, so I'm so glad that I finally made it and experienced the Hart & Bosch village and Hartenbos area hospitality.

00:55:47Ita Janse van Rensburg: Johan, you're also a legend in your own right. So for me, it was just a very big thing when you said that you are coming today. At long last, we could meet.

00:56:00Johan Duvenhage: Thank you so much. I'm not sure about the legend bit, but anyways... Ita, one thing that I noticed is that you have an incredibly large roster. Today we had 38 volunteers. That must be quite a feat to get the roster full every week.

00:56:17Ita Janse van Rensburg: Yes, it is not easy, but we are wonderful people here. And I think that it's maybe also we have quite a few pensioners. And, you know, people feel, many people when they retire, they feel that they don't really contribute so much anymore. And then they come to parkrun and they volunteer and it makes them feel valued again. So it is not easy, but with the wonderful people like we have, it is possible.

00:57:02Johan Duvenhage: That's absolutely amazing. I really appreciate the fact that people feel valued by volunteering. It really underscores the value of volunteering at parkrun events. And parkrun adventurers, I must tell you, if you go look at the future roster for this event, it is fully booked almost for two, three, four weeks in advance. It's absolutely amazing. I am so thrilled to be here and speaking with Ita today, and I wish you all of the best for the future Hart & Bosch Village parkruns.

00:57:34Ita Janse van Rensburg: Thank you, Johan, and all of the best for you and all your adventures as well.

00:57:40Johan Duvenhage: Well, it was an absolutely fun Freedom Day and special parkrun event. Today we had 151 participants at Hart & Bosch Village, and it was a lovely surprise to also meet some other parkrun tourists whom I've not crossed paths with before. The bumper volunteer team worked together like a well-oiled machine under the watchful eye of Run Director Gerrie Bester and Ita, whose trademark, whoop whoop, could be heard quite frequently. The smiling faces and the freedom to today celebrate this special public holiday with hardly any restrictions really gives us hope that tomorrow will indeed be a brighter day. And we have another parkrun day in just three days. So until next time, mooi loop and happy parkrunning.

the Informant

00:58:30The Informant: This is the informant. These are unofficial stats. They are only current at the time they are collected and may differ from the stats you read elsewhere. There were 445 runs held down under, which is up 7 on last week, and another post-COVID record beating 438 from last week. 408 of these were in Australia and 37 in New Zealand. This was out of 1,721 worldwide. Aussie New Zealand attendance is down by more than 9,000 to 38,186. 207,000 ran worldwide. There were two launches, one at Jindabyne Sport and Rec in New South Wales, and one in the United States. Down under we had 4,512 PBs, while 1,591 people participated for the first time. 98 juniors reached their Junior 10 milestone, 161 people reached their 50 milestone, 103 reached their 100 milestone, and 30 people reached their 250 milestone. 24 people called bingo. Joanna Jensen was quickest with 188 runs, while George Papademos was slowest on 322 runs. There were three new statespeople. Debbie Collins in the Northern Territory, while Trevor Carpenter and Robin Wishworth bagged South Australia. In the top 20 most Aussie New Zealand events, absolutely nothing much happened. All I can see is Melissa Ellis making a debut at equal 20th. Overall on the biggest movers list, Ian Crawford moved up 9 rankings to 240. 267 people lifted their Wilson Index this week. This week's biggest mover is Joanne Dan, who moves up 15 to 38, and Julie Reynolds moves up 10 for an index of 20 and an entry into the top 10 Victorians. In the Adventure Challenges, Lynette Pritchard scored her Cowell Club, and Wendy Pike scored the Peel Club. Enough excitement for one day. If you want to see these stats in full, you can find them at theinformant.me. That's www.theinformant.me. And thank you to our roving reporters this week. Lyndell at Bunyaville, Pippa at...

01:01:30Oliver Spake: Oh, I should have paid attention to that pronunciation. The Welsh parkrun. The Welsh parkrun. I'm sorry, Pippa, and I'm sorry, Louise and Johan. Actually, no, pause there because I neglected to mention Lyndell obviously speaking with the ED at Bunyaville, Bruce Willis, Pippa catching up with Louise, the RD, and Johan at, was it, Hartenbos with the wonderful day there.

01:01:57Melissa Ellis: And our informant.

01:01:58Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:01:58Melissa Ellis: Back to a very beige and very plain report this week. Did you see the Bulldog's footy scarf hanging on the back of the door in the tea room?

01:02:09Oliver Spake: You think that's maybe why the informant's been off his game a little bit?

01:02:12Melissa Ellis: Well, I don't know. Is he distracted? But moving along.

Consolidated Club Report

01:02:19Melissa Ellis: Would you like to hear the club report this week, Ollie?

01:02:22Oliver Spake: Yes, absolutely, yes.

01:02:26Melissa Ellis: Well, of a total of 178 members, 149 took part on the 30th of April at 91 different locations. There was a drop in locations this week from the previous two weeks, probably because there was a big portion of us all at the same event. Yeah.

01:02:44Oliver Spake: Just imagine if we'd just gotten one more member to sign up beforehand. We could have hit 150.

01:02:50Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

01:02:52Oliver Spake: Oh, well.

01:02:52Melissa Ellis: Next week, we're inching closer to that 210.

01:02:56Oliver Spake: It looks very achievable.

01:02:57Melissa Ellis: And it's not even halfway through the year yet.

01:03:00Oliver Spake: That's right.

01:03:00Melissa Ellis: We can raise our expectations.

01:03:04Oliver Spake: Step by step.

01:03:04Melissa Ellis: But in the UK, we had 15 events, which were Pontefract, Lloyd Croydon, Hilly Fields, Delamere, Newent Forest of Dean, Cheadle Hulme, Crewe, Pocket, That Welsh One, Tetbury Goods Shed, Irchester Country, Church Mead, Bower Park, Bartley Park and Marine Parade. In South Africa, there were three events, George, Bapsfontein Hotel and The Venue. In the USA, there were two, Roosevelt Island DC and Joe Creason. Locally, there were adventurers at... 20 events in Victoria, 18 events in Queensland, 14 events in New South Wales, six events in South Australia, six events in Western Australia, two events in the ACT, one event in Tassie, one event in Northern Territory, two events in New Zealand's North Island and one event in New Zealand's South Island. Now, Ollie, this was the first weekend that all of the New Zealand events were back since the 14th of August in 2021.

01:04:23Oliver Spake: Happy days. Welcome back, everyone.

01:04:25Melissa Ellis: So, referring to Bruce's comment about... the islands of New Zealand and all the states and territories of Australia as a single club, I thought. Because our cousins across the ditch are so close, I will now include them as locals. Yeah.

01:04:44Oliver Spake: Welcome to the family.

01:04:45Melissa Ellis: I hope they don't mind.

01:04:47Oliver Spake: They don't get a choice. You don't pick your family, Mel. I have the power.

01:04:51Melissa Ellis: Yep. Yeah. So that was the Consolidated Club Report.

01:04:55Oliver Spake: And quite a balance between Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales in particular.

01:05:00Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Victoria was down this week.

01:05:02Oliver Spake: You must have all gone interstate, hey?

01:05:06Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Well, no, there were Wasn't I the only Victorian? Oh no, me and Steve.

01:05:12Oliver Spake: There were more. Yeah, I believe a certain other pair of Victorians showed up too.

01:05:16Melissa Ellis: Oh, of course. Brendan and Jodie. Whoops.

01:05:18Oliver Spake: Yes. Some great representation again. I think once again, the largest number of adventurers out there completing a parkrun and of course, all of the unmentioned ones volunteering as well. So, Thanks, everyone, and thanks to everyone that's jumped onto the Consolidated Club Report post and shared a bit of the volunteering joy and love as well.

01:05:42Melissa Ellis: Oh, I should also say.

01:05:43Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:05:45Melissa Ellis: Christine Imbert just snuck into the report. I actually amended it to include her in the results because she ventured over to South Africa for the Freedom Day, I believe. Yes. To take advantage of that, I think she said she has family over there, but the results weren't uploaded in time for her to make the official parkrun Consolidated Club report, but because she let us know in the post, I updated the results so that it was included.

01:06:13Oliver Spake: So thank you, Christine, and sounds like some good adventuring.

Sign-off

01:06:17Melissa Ellis: What have we got to look forward to, Ollie? What is coming up next week? I have not decided yet where I will be on Saturday. Ooh, mystery. Yes, yes. I can't let you know all the secrets every week.

01:06:31Oliver Spake: Should we put a poll up and everyone can decide for you, Mel?

01:06:33Unidentified speaker: Oh.

01:06:38Melissa Ellis: I know that Paul's going to head to Frankston.

01:06:41Oliver Spake: Okay. Yep. He's closing in.

01:06:43Melissa Ellis: Yeah, he's picking him up. He's picked up two events in the last two weeks to peg back his statesmanship, so he's doing well.

01:06:51Oliver Spake: Well done, Paul.

01:06:51Melissa Ellis: What about yourself, Ollie? Where are you going to be?

01:06:54Oliver Spake: I'm keeping my dollar in my pocket, but I'm going to be somewhere quite predictable, doing something quite predictable and having a predictable amount of fun. Hopefully without rain this time, but after all the excitement, I don't know if we even mentioned it was Picton's fourth birthday. I think you did, but... Yeah, I'll be donning the jacket that the wonderful Peter did at Picton last week at my home event and thoroughly looking forward to it on one of the busiest weekends of the year, which is, of course, Mother's Day, together with my daughter and Mother's birthday and my wedding anniversary. So I'm going to be overflowing with joy and parkrun is a big part of that, of course.

01:07:34Melissa Ellis: Is that all on Sunday?

01:07:35Eman Vergara: No, no, Sunday and around then, yes.

01:07:41Melissa Ellis: Okay.

01:07:41Oliver Spake: But we're also looking forward to some other events. As we mentioned before, Singapore is coming back, so welcome back, Singapore. And what's this?

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

01:07:50Oliver Spake: A 10th anniversary.

01:07:52Melissa Ellis: Indeed, Lower Hutt in New Zealand. And thank you to Alison for, as always, giving us all the tips so that we don't miss these momentous occasions. But yes, Lower Hutt is celebrating their 10th anniversary, which also means... It's the 10th anniversary of parkrun in New Zealand. Wow, that's fantastic.

01:08:13Oliver Spake: Happy anniversary, New Zealand.

01:08:14Melissa Ellis: Yes, have fun, have cake, enjoy.

01:08:17Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, we want to hear all about it. We do. Yes.

01:08:21Melissa Ellis: Let's get some more New Zealanders posting in Dazza's.

01:08:25Oliver Spake: Yeah, we'll take photos, we'll take reports, we'll take Dazza's posts and anything else.

01:08:31Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's probably about it. You're getting more and more cryptic. This fine system's just making you cryptic. It's turning you into Steve's bike.

01:08:38Oliver Spake: Yeah, it's all those Steve's bike posts. Yep, that's right. Thanks for the inspiration.

01:08:43Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

01:08:44Oliver Spake: My two-wheeled friend.

01:08:45Melissa Ellis: Well, I wish you a very happy Mother's Day with your family, Ollie, with your dear wife. And yes, I hope that Cathy has a very happy Mother's Day and Galen.

01:08:55Oliver Spake: Thank you, and I wish you a happy Mother's Day also, Mel, with your family. Thank you.

01:09:01Melissa Ellis: But as always, you can contact us via Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. But, Ollie, that's it for another week. We'll see you all next week for more adventures.

01:10:24Ava: Hello adventurers, this is Ava. Today I did parkrun with my dad. I even got to have doughnuts. Bye everybody, stay safe.