Episode 284 - The Very Very Best Day

Welcome

00:00:23Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 284 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'm Ollie Spake and I'm joining from Dharawal Country.

00:00:38Melissa Ellis: How goes things in Dharawal Country, Ollie?

00:00:41Oliver Spake: Sunny, mostly dry, but that's about to change.

00:00:44Melissa Ellis: More rain on the horizon?

00:00:46Oliver Spake: More rain is coming, Mel. We know how much we love our rain. We waited for it for so long, but yeah, it's going to be wet again. Makes for soggy parkruns, though. It makes for soggy courses. Whether they're parkruns or not depends. And what about yourself, Mel? How are you?

00:01:06Melissa Ellis: I'm really good. I am recovering again.

00:01:09Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:01:11Melissa Ellis: Midweek is for resting, Ollie. Gathering oneself for the new weekend approaching.

00:01:19Oliver Spake: Yes, recoup, regroup, replan and restart.

00:01:24Melissa Ellis: That's exactly right.

00:01:26Oliver Spake: Not always in that order.

00:01:27Melissa Ellis: Tell me how your parkrun day was on soggy Dharawal Country.

00:01:33Oliver Spake: It was a little drier. It was quite lovely. It really stands out. I mean, I think there was a time gone by where it felt that it never rained on parkrun day, apart from one or two fantastic times where it was muddy and slippery and we had the times of our lives. How things change. Yeah. It was, yeah, quite a nice parkrun day. I was at home. I was in Shellharbour. Proud to wear that one. And I was run directing. So back in the vest, we had, again, a fairly modest turnout. Things just are still on the quiet side. We had 94 participants, a group of visitors. I didn't recognise at first any of the visitors, but nonetheless.

00:02:21Melissa Ellis: Oh. I know where you're going.

00:02:24Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. Look, it was also a highlight before I get to the visitors. It was a highlight that our volunteer crew, our roster was full once again. Mum did drive up from her place, which is an hour south, to help out. She was all ready to marshal. I said, guess what, Mum? Download the app, your barcode scanning. And yeah. Yeah, she was brilliant, helped by one of our fantastic young under-18 Barcode Scanners, Talia. But another highlight in the volunteering roster was two favourites were back in our roster that we haven't seen since late last year. Em and Brendan were back, and it was just wonderful to have them out there in Orange cheering everyone on once again. So that was a real highlight of the day.

00:03:13Melissa Ellis: That's fabulous.

00:03:15Oliver Spake: And probably the other highlight was one of the visitors that I did not recognise, Mel, did not have my ears prick when I asked where people were visiting from and I heard Wallaby Track. And it was only after, just as I like to, you know, wander around and just ask people how did they go, how did they enjoy it and which hill did they hate more, did said visitor introduce himself as the Ideas Man.

00:03:43Melissa Ellis: That's amazing. I didn't even know Bruce was going there. He kept that very quiet.

00:03:48Oliver Spake: Well, he was west of you.

00:03:51Melissa Ellis: Well, he was. Last seen in South Australia.

00:03:55Oliver Spake: That's right. So I was well and truly caught on the hop. Got a brief chance to chat with Bruce and I really am sorry that I didn't catch him at the cafe afterwards as ID duties kept me busy and I'm sure he had to head off to get back up to Sydney. But Mel, he left a very special gift that made a very special, perhaps little known to him, birthday girl very happy.

00:04:20Melissa Ellis: Was it her birthday on Saturday?

00:04:22Oliver Spake: It was, in fact, on Sunday. And this weekend is always a mega weekend. I mean, happy Mother's Day again, by the way, Mel. But it is such a celebration weekend in the household that it is Mum's and Zali's birthday on the same date. That is my mum. And it is, of course, also Mother's Day. And the very next day is also my wedding anniversary. So it's a mega weekend. Hang on.

00:04:46Melissa Ellis: The next day... That's today.

00:04:49Oliver Spake: That's today.

00:04:50Melissa Ellis: Ollie, it's your wedding anniversary.

00:04:52Oliver Spake: That's all right. All good things wait for parkrun.

00:04:56Melissa Ellis: Can I just say, listeners, he did not disclose this to me prior to recording or I would have 100% given the disclaimer that we could do this tomorrow night.

00:05:07Oliver Spake: And that's absolutely right. In your defence, Mel, I did not let you know. I did discuss it with my wife just as I did with respect to Palm. So, yeah, we have... Healthy discussion. And we had a nice lunch today as it was. And to be honest, I think after this, it's early nights for the both of us. We're exhausted after the weekend and we certainly enjoyed Zali's birthday. That probably took precedence. And as I was saying, helped by some cheetah ears because last week at Picton parkrun, after I signed her up last year, Zali finally completed her first parkrun since she joined the Dirty Cheetahs.

00:05:46Sarah Jefferson: Oh.

00:05:46Oliver Spake: And now, thanks to Bruce, thank you very much, Bruce, she has the ears to match.

00:05:51Melissa Ellis: That's great news. I did see and use the photo of yourself and Zali in the Shellharbour.

00:05:58Oliver Spake: Oh. Yes.

00:06:00Melissa Ellis: I've just got my own phone. Does it count when I say it?

00:06:04Oliver Spake: Oh, it certainly does, surely.

00:06:06Melissa Ellis: Okay. Anyway, in that selfie frame, and I used it for the post for the Consolidated Club Report, which I was going to make mention of because, Ollie, that ocean in the background looks decidedly not natural. Were you standing in front of a photo of the ocean? No.

00:06:28Oliver Spake: Where were you? It was almost a perfect crime. I did say Zali went for a parkrun last week. This week she was in pyjamas until midday. So after I got home and showed her the cheetah ears and finally got her to change into some clothes, yes, we took a photo in front of the ocean picture with the selfie frame.

00:06:46Melissa Ellis: Love it. Love it. It was almost a perfect crime.

00:06:50Oliver Spake: Almost. And I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you meddling co-hosts. Now, suffice to say, if you had a selfie frame shot, it probably would have had a real life parkrun in the background. Where was it and how was it?

00:07:05Melissa Ellis: Well, Ollie, on Friday night, I took to the road with fellow adventurer Helen for an overnight trip to Coombs parkrun in ACT on Ngunnawal Country. Coombs was my sixth parkrun in ACT, leaving only Mount Ainslie to complete the set. Whilst achieving capitalist status had been my interrupted goal in 2019, I The events in our nation's capital are also among my NENDYs. It was event 163 for the third version of the Coombs course, which was visited by Marvellous Mark in episode 169 when it was a double lapper, and again in episode 222. when it moved to its current location. I had a little Garmin fail at the start, so I lost the first 1.2 kilometres, but no harm, no foul. After scanning, I went back out to reclaim the lost Garmin section, meaning in actuality I clocked up at least six kilometres for the morning. As an added bonus, adventurer Will Barlow was also there with his family and we were able to have a quick chat. Being autumn in Canberra, the morning was a little crisp. However, the sun was out making for a very comfortable run. Afterwards, Helen and I headed back to check out of our motel, stopping later that morning for brunch on our journey home. Juniors this week was, of course, on Mother's Day. Now, we actually cancelled our event last year on Mother's Day due to a local Mother's Day fun run which also uses our forest trail. But this year we decided to go ahead with our event as we could be finished and packed up before the other event began. I volunteered at both events before heading home to prepare for my own family to visit for a late lunch. So a big weekend. Yeah. I won't lie.

00:09:01Oliver Spake: And that could be an understatement. That was quite a trip. And to back it up with what must have been a fantastic atmosphere on Mother's Day morning. Well done, Mel. No, it was good.

00:09:13Melissa Ellis: I squeeze in every bit of adventuring and fun that I can into my weekends, but it does wear me out.

00:09:22Oliver Spake: It does. Yeah, I bet it does. And what a location for brunch.

00:09:27Melissa Ellis: Oh, yes, I must give a special mention to Tootsie Cafe that we discovered in the little town of Yass. Now, Yass is also home to Riverbank parkrun that I visited a few weeks ago. However, I hadn't been aware of the cafe before, at that point but it is a gem it is full of eclectic art and decor it's just a beautiful little place we had an absolute ball exploring it as we ordered our takeaway coffees and I think Helen bought yo-yo biscuits at the cafe it was a brief stop because we were keen to get on the road for our long trip home but definitely somewhere worth checking out if you are in the vicinity

00:10:13Oliver Spake: Noted. No, thank you for the tip. You're a wealth of knowledge when it comes to some of these adventures, Mel, and I look forward to putting some of it to use.

00:10:22Melissa Ellis: I'll do my best.

00:10:23Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:10:24Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, feedback from episode 283, which was last week.

00:10:31[background noise]

00:10:31Oliver Spake: Yes. And, Mel, the hesitation is because I can hear calling in the background. I can hear voices. I don't know if that's coming through in the audio. Apologies if so, but I will continue.

Fines

00:10:41Oliver Spake: If it happens to be a rather colourful podcast, yeah, that's a fine for me.

00:10:45Melissa Ellis: That's okay, Ollie. You only get fined for claps and typing.

00:10:49Oliver Spake: Oh, right, and mentions. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Well, another thing we get fined for, Mel, with feedback from Mr. Brendan Scholarly, thank you, Brendan, is punctuation. He said, Melissa, I'm calling in the punctuation police. Another $1 fine for your comment. Hashtag missing apostrophe.

00:11:12Melissa Ellis: Do you know what? I never know where to put the apostrophe, Ollie, if it's before or after the S. I know there's rules and I get so scared of doing it wrong that I leave it out altogether and hope nobody notices. But there's people out there that are noticing.

00:11:27Oliver Spake: And particularly with that one, it's that awkward mixture of plural and possessive. So I won't try and explain it. I will butcher it. But, yep, another fine.

00:11:40Melissa Ellis: I'll wear it. But we also heard from Johan. He said, loved the interview with Eman. I had goosebumps when he recounted seeing that parkrun banner nearing the end. I actually saw a picture of the banner on social media and I can just imagine the boost that gave the parkrunner participants and Johan shared a photo with the parkrun flag at Boston.

00:12:03Oliver Spake: Yeah, would have been a fantastic boost. Now, Mel, I can see that this topic of the fines isn't necessarily going away. So, Sam, Sam's going to track the fines for us. Thank you, Sam. Yeah. But am I mistaken or are there more fines from last week?

00:12:22Melissa Ellis: There are, Ollie, because when I was listening back to the audio in the car with my headset on, I discovered one that I'd missed during editing, which was a little clap that you did while you were speaking. So, yeah, there's an extra dollar for you. But we also have to issue a fine to our informant.

00:12:42Oliver Spake: Yes, out-of-date food in the fridge, not acceptable. No. We need to keep this place tidy and we have standards, Mel.

00:12:50Melissa Ellis: We do, yeah. You can't just be going and leaving your last week's leftovers in the fridge indefinitely.

00:12:56Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:12:57Melissa Ellis: So a dollar to the informant, he can suck it up. Hmm.

parkrun news bulletin

00:13:01Oliver Spake: But what's happening in the news world, Mel?

00:13:03Melissa Ellis: Well, this week we want to give a special congratulations to our friend over in the UK, Pippa White, who celebrated her 250th volunteer and her 250th parkrun on the same day at Trentham Gardens parkrun. We're going to hear a little bit more from Pippa later in Dazza's, but we wanted to give her a special shout out because that's pretty cool in our eyes.

00:13:28Oliver Spake: Huge, huge. Yeah, congratulations, Pippa, and what a spectacular support you've been for everyone else as a part of that too. So love seeing it and look forward to talking about it more.

Mel's tourism tips

00:13:42Melissa Ellis: Indeed. But, Ollie, I've got a new, I don't think you'd call it a segment, but I've got a new something that I might bring up regularly, which is Mel's tourism tips. A segment, yeah. Is it a segment?

00:13:56Oliver Spake: I think the bar on the parkrun adventurers podcast for a segment is it has to last at least one week.

00:14:01Melissa Ellis: Okay. All right. Well, let's call it that. I might even find some catchy music that's not a football theme song. My tip this week is when touring to a new event, don't rely on Google to take you to the correct point to park and find the start location. This issue was raised in a Victorian parkrun chat group this week and has also been highlighted to me by Paul's recent return to parkrun Tourism, without me, the chief researcher and navigator. On his recent trip to Werribee Mansion parkrun, Google Maps directed him to the wrong gate, which was locked, and this Saturday at Frankston he arrived not realising there were no toilets. So adventurers, to avoid these problems, the best thing to do the night before is to go to the events webpage and go to the course page. This page will detail whether dogs are allowed, whether there are toilets or drinking taps available, and importantly, the best way to find the event by road or public transport. You can also get a heads up as to whether you should be packing the trail shoes.

00:15:10Oliver Spake: Yes, I think that's a great example of some of the information that just makes the parkrun trip a little easier. So well worth the check. Noted. I will apply it for my upcoming tourism visits, Mel. But yeah, there's a few things I suppose, you know, Maybe there's a way to get a bit more access in the apps. Maybe the apps can dig up some of this information.

00:15:34Unidentified speaker: Yes.

00:15:35Oliver Spake: I mean, how good would it be to know, as you say, the course conditions? Is it pram friendly? I'm asking the impossible, but a bit of research, I think is what you're saying. Absolutely is. Yeah.

00:15:46Melissa Ellis: But we alluded the other week, Ollie, to the octogenarian meetup, and I believe it was this last weekend gone. Is that right?

00:15:54Oliver Spake: That's right. So parkrun Day, 7th of May, and 19 octogenarians attended Rhodes parkrun Day on that very date with five PBs achieved, Mel. So it looked like a very healthy turnout of the octogenarian parkrunners and of the other visiting and regular parkrunners there. Fantastic day, great weather, and well done, everyone.

00:16:16Melissa Ellis: Good to hear.

00:16:17Oliver Spake: Yeah. In fact, I was kind of chuffed, actually. One of our local parkrunners who is on 99 parkruns, Peter, at home here at the parkrun that shall not be named, did mention to me that he was thinking about going, but he came to Shellharbour and... Instead, Mel.

00:16:38Melissa Ellis: Cha-ching!

00:16:40[laughter]

00:16:40Unidentified speaker: LAUGHTER

00:16:42Oliver Spake: Well done to all the octogenarians. That's right. And, Mel, the happenings continue.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:16:49Oliver Spake: We do have a couple of fairly brief roving reports this week from Around the Traps, so I think it's time we pause and have a listen. Music

00:16:56[music]

Roving report Sarah Jefferson — Nightcliff parkrun, Northern Territory

00:17:04Sarah Jefferson: Good morning, parkrun adventurers. It's Sarah, not on the West Side, but up in the Northern Territory. That's right, I've come up for 48 hours to check out Nightcliff parkrun, ticking off my Aussie north compass point. Very, very happy to report that the dry season has arrived. So if any of you are thinking about coming up north, now is a really great time to do that. So there were 204... Participants this morning. So having a chat to the RD this morning, there are normally around 140 or 150 participants. So quite a large parkrun, I could imagine, for up in the Northern Territory. So I guess due to the dry season, the participant rate has increased, you know, by 50 or 60, which is pretty amazing. Just a reminder, if you do head up to the Northern Territory to complete any of the parkruns, they do start at 7am. Do not be caught out by rocking up at 8am.

Roving report Ingrid Botha — Dolls Point parkrun, NSW

00:18:08Ingrid Botha: Hi, this is Ingrid checking in from Dolls Point and I've got a couple of visitors here and I'd like to introduce you. Hi, I'm Dawn. I'm from Chelsea in Melbourne.

00:18:17Greg - visiting parkrunner at Dolls Point: Greg and Carolyn from Berrinba in Brisbane.

00:18:19Ingrid Botha: How did you guys find Dolls Point today? Oh, look, it's a really pretty course. It's gorgeous. I'm running along by the water and it's flat.

00:18:27Greg - visiting parkrunner at Dolls Point: Yeah, very beautiful, pretty course.

00:18:29Ingrid Botha: Yeah. And so you guys have come down and, Carolyn, you were doing some volunteering as well. How did you find that?

00:18:36Carolyn - visiting parkrunner at Dolls Point: Yeah, it was really good. Everybody's really friendly, appreciative of this being here. So, yeah, it was great. I did barcode scanning. And I hear this helps even up the stats between you two as well. Yeah, I did an extra in Launceston a couple of years ago. So that gets us both onto 141 different events now.

00:18:54Ingrid Botha: Well, we really appreciated having you guys here. So thanks so much and we'll see you next time.

00:18:59[music]

00:18:59Carolyn - visiting parkrunner at Dolls Point: Thank you.

00:19:07Melissa Ellis: And a big thank you to Sarah and Ingrid for bringing us those two roving reports. Sarah ticking off her northern compass point up there at Nightcliff and Ingrid chatting to some tourists, Dawn, Carolyn and Greg.

00:19:21Oliver Spake: Love it. Well done, Sarah. Always nice to get a compass point. I look forward to doing that one day. But Mel...

Emails

00:19:27Oliver Spake: We've got mail. You've got mail.

00:19:29Melissa Ellis: We do. Who have we got, Ollie?

00:19:32Oliver Spake: Matt Stevens has gotten in touch, and thank you very much, Matt, for reaching out. He said, Mel, hi, parkrun adventurers. Thank you for the hard work you do to put the podcast together and promote parkrun. I have enjoyed listening to your episodes. However, I can't work out what a frond and a nottie or noddy is. I thought I knew my parkrun acronyms and challenges. Not these two. Keep up the great podcast, Matt.

00:20:01Melissa Ellis: Oh, it was great to hear from Matt. We did reply to Matt and explain. A nottie is our slang for not parkrun and a frond is what TOC used to describe a smaller adventurer gathering. It comes from a palm frond and references our palm meetups. And in case you didn't already know, palm is the acronym of parkrun adventurer listener meetups.

00:20:23Oliver Spake: I think we could do with a bit of a glossary on the Facebook page there, but there must be some others. So, yeah, send in any other questions if anyone does want to query any of the terminology because they enter our dialect and we don't realise. And to clarify, a noddy is just because I speak through my nose. And can't pronounce naughty.

00:20:48Melissa Ellis: Oh, but Matt came up with some good suggestions. He'd obviously been thinking of what frond could potentially be as in an acronym and he came up with things like free run on another day or friends run on next day. So I liked those. Which is awesome. Yes. Yeah.

00:21:09Oliver Spake: I can see that this can go to many, many more great places and acronyms. Give us time.

Hotline

00:21:15Melissa Ellis: Maybe we need to bring back the hotline, Ollie.

00:21:19Oliver Spake: Ah. An old favourite. Yeah, well, there are some old favourites from podcast weeks gone by we could borrow from there, Mel. So, yeah, I think the hotline's a good option.

00:21:30Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so Adventurers, if you have a question and you want to record it on your phone, you could send us some audio with your question.

00:21:37Oliver Spake: Yes, we look forward to hearing. Speaking of hearing, guess what I can hear, Mel? It's the rain. So apologies if that's coming through. I sound like I'm in the static.

00:21:41[background noise]

00:21:48Melissa Ellis: You get all the noises, Ollie. If it's not cicadas... Or screams...

00:21:54Oliver Spake: Then it's rain, yes.

Dazza's

00:21:56Oliver Spake: But let's move on. At Dazza's this week, Dazza has said, it's naked gardening day. We don't make the rules. Were there nice gardens at your parkrun today? Come on in and tell Dazza all about it. And fortunately, all of our guests were dressed, but... And again, because I speak through my nose, I said, and fortunately, to pronounce that hopefully a little clearer. The first guest this week joining us from across the ditch was Brett Bailey, who said, sorry, Dazza. As I was RD at Pegasus today, I didn't see many gardens or gardeners. They would have been quite brave if there were any as it was a bit chilly. Low misty cloud, not good for the low-flying ducks as today was duck shooting season opening day and we heard the sound of shotguns in the distance. Oh! many parkrunners, and 70 parkrunners, several dressed up in Star Wars costumes in recognition of May the 4th this week, home to warm up with a spa, coffee, and pastries. And Brett did share a couple of photos. One was some very cold-looking flags, I must say, and the second was of Darth Vader and Luke Tail Walker, which I loved. Thank you, Brett. Moving back across to Australia, Chris Roos, who was on the volley ranks, a bit more local, khaki-paki pacing today, absolutely not naked, looked at the Garmin about every 10 seconds. I achieved my first perfect 00 time. Only one number left for bingo. Oh, and you can find me for the photo. And Chris is referring to the photo there. which had a reverse flag featured in it.

00:23:48Melissa Ellis: And 100% we will find you for that. Thank you, Chris. We heard from Alison King who shared... New Zealand's parkrun anniversary. Hi Dazza, no gardens at our parkrun, just your usual steam. Not that I get to see much of the courses I marshalled near our finish. Still, it was an epic morning meeting overseas visitors. Ended up having a great chat at the cafe with Rochelle from Willow parkrun. We also had the Event Directors from a prospective parkrun join us. As it was parkrun New Zealand's 10th birthday, we had cake baked by RD Megan and decorated by her husband, Russell. It was delicious. And Alison shared a photo of the milestone cake, which looked fabulous.

00:24:38Oliver Spake: It did. There was a lot of parkrun excitement packed into that and happy anniversary, New Zealand. Barbara Luther, who had a bit of an achievement and a bit of tourism. Lovely morning at Sirame parkrun, celebrating my 350th parkrun and 106th location. The trail course is around Sirame Winery and had wet grass, gravel and mud. So a bit tough, but no rain and a most welcoming team to share the occasion and scenic lookout for breakfast, shared the morning with fellow adventurers, my husband Roger and Pauline Taylor and Russell Taylor. And thanks, Barbara, for sharing the photo, one of which did feature herself with the 350 on her shirt with Roger, Pauline and Russell. Puss! two correctly positioned flags in the background and a second photo with some beautifully positioned tables under some magnificent trees there.

00:25:35Melissa Ellis: And Ollie, I also noticed that I think it was Barbara's first time posting in Dazza's. So we need a little jingle for that, like first time poster.

00:25:46Oliver Spake: Yes. Welcome, Barbara.

00:25:48Melissa Ellis: In any case, we also heard from Jodie Maisie on the tourism front. Hi, Dazza. No gardens today, but we had a lovely morning at Cleveland parkrun. Stunning course, and Brendan Peel was happy there was cake and chocolates at the end. I wore my Gouda new wedding limited edition sunglasses. Very happy. And Jodie shared a photo of herself and Brendan in the selfie frame sporting her very good-looking new gooders.

00:26:17Oliver Spake: Now, with a lot to like about this post, Sonja Pohlman volleying, there was mud at the fourth birthday of Nulkaba parkrun today. It was a chilly start but warmed by a visit from Wendy and Ross. Steve goes all right too, I guess. Yeah. Thank you, Sonja, and thank you for sharing the picture of some relatively warm-looking parkrunners, some with orange and some winter woolies on. And, yes, the Pohlmans included in those photos at Nulkaba.

00:26:50Melissa Ellis: And Wendy and Ross, very avid Victorian tourists they are.

00:26:54Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:26:54Melissa Ellis: Ollie, we also heard from Cass Castleton, who had an achievement. We were very excited to see that Cass has joined the Adventurers Club. Thank you, Cass.

00:27:07Oliver Spake: That's the achievement? Oh, no. No.

00:27:11Melissa Ellis: Yarrabilba for my fifth alphabet and a few parkrun world tourists turned up to help me celebrate. Great core team who really looked after us. And Cass shared a selfie frame shot with a few too many celebrating parkrunners to fit. But we also know that parkrun adventurer Simon Mackley, our very own quiz master, was also in attendance. Yes. It was practically a frond.

00:27:37Oliver Spake: I think so. Great job. And yeah, look forward to the next one. Bring on number six, Cass. Over in South Africa, Johan was touristing awesome garden views at the post-COVID relaunch of Langenhueven parkrun at a new venue at Inibos parkrun. Good job, Ollie. Thank you, Johan. But also sharing some fantastic scenery shots from the new parkrun there with some greenery around the course. So great to see the post-COVID relaunch there at a new venue.

00:28:11Melissa Ellis: The next one's Ollie. We've got two coming to us from the same parkrun we heard from Karen Hurrell. Who said, hi, Dazza, finally dry enough to visit Cheadle Hulme, where the course through woodland and fields is notoriously muddy. Small breakfast and large cappuccino, please, Dazza. And Juliet Colville, barcode scanning at Cheadle Hulme, parkrun this morning, followed by a cappuccino and a bacon barm. Oh, and a bacon barm, which is a bacon roll.

00:28:42Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:28:43Melissa Ellis: Yeah, a bit of context there. Thank you for that, Juliet. But yes, Karen and Juliet are at the same parkrun in the UK. Another frond.

00:28:50Oliver Spake: Yes, great job. Great to see. Also great to see Steve's bike was back. Hi, Dazza.

00:28:56Ingrid Botha: A fresh...

00:28:57Oliver Spake: Morning Today greeted me for a lovely run near a former Olympic site. A brained mixture will assist my fellow adventurers identify where I went today. Happy parkrun Day. He's getting really clever with these, isn't he? I am enjoying them. This one I have not worked out.

00:29:15Melissa Ellis: And we heard from our friend Pippa White over in the UK who celebrated the milestone we alluded to earlier. Hi, Dazza. I didn't run naked in the gardens, but I did go to Trentham Gardens parkrun for my 250th parkrun and my 250th volunteer day. The very, very best day. I ate lots of cake. So a tummy calming green tea, please. Friends had come from all over. That was amazing. I'm slightly late in. Has just done a workshop at a running show. Refresher of CPR and opening an AED and using it. The tame volunteer gave me an early prezi to add to my tutunus. Hope you liked the special occasion rainbow. And Pippa shared a photo of herself in a rainbow skirt on the day celebrating her 250th.

00:30:06Oliver Spake: Yes, well done, Pippa.

00:30:08Melissa Ellis: Wow. Dazza's was going off again this week, Ollie.

00:30:12Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, and thank you to everyone who popped past for being clothed and for sharing your parkrun experiences with us.

00:30:20Melissa Ellis: And before we get the envelope, Ollie, you might want to look for it while I mention this, but I wanted to give a special shout-out to Monty Slade, who regularly tours in the UK and posts his videos thumbs-up photo with the UK pop-up sign thingy and his adventurers buff. He was at Fell Foot parkrun this week. But, Ollie, why don't we have those pop-up sign thingies here in Australia?

00:30:44Oliver Spake: Well, looking at the pop-up signs, I think it would go a long way to reducing the fines. And so that's probably the reason is we need to reserve some opportunities to raise money.

00:30:56Melissa Ellis: Right.

00:30:56Oliver Spake: Because I don't see how you can get them around the wrong way.

00:30:58Melissa Ellis: No, you couldn't. That's right. Well, if you're special.

00:31:04Oliver Spake: But, yeah, we do like the photos. Love the buff. Big thumbs up to Monty.

00:31:08Melissa Ellis: Yes, absolutely. We look forward to seeing where you are next week.

the Obi Award — Pippa White

00:31:12Oliver Spake: Yep.

00:31:12Melissa Ellis: Time to announce our winner. Do you have the envelope? I do.

00:31:17[music]

00:31:17Oliver Spake: I have the envelope right here. Mel, the Obi this week goes to... The very, very best day, Pippa.

00:31:34Ingrid Botha: Congratulations, Pippa.

00:31:41Melissa Ellis: Well done, Pip. That's her second Obi.

00:31:44Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:31:45Melissa Ellis: She's the second person to get two Obi awards.

00:31:48Oliver Spake: And, look, we did enjoy a lot of milestone and achievement celebration this week, as we do. But, yeah, look, it's great to relish these moments. And, yeah, well done, Pippa. Nice to see the rainbow be a touch of it too. One day. One day, Mel. I'm going to have to get myself a rainbow tutu.

00:32:09Melissa Ellis: Oh, I thought you were wanting to win an Obi. You just need to get ears, Ollie. Gee whiz.

00:32:15Oliver Spake: Ears. Yeah, that's true. Or perhaps do some adventuring. Ah, Mel. Well, thank you again, everyone. Thank you, Dazza.

00:32:24[music]

the Informant

00:32:24Oliver Spake: And thank you in advance because it's time to listen to our wonderful informant.

00:32:37The 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 446 runs held down under, which is up one on last week and another post-COVID record. 409 of these were in Australia and 37 in New Zealand. We were also joined by a freshly returned three Singaporean events, making up 1,757 worldwide, which is up 36 and also a post-COVID record. Aussie New Zealand attendance was almost identical to last week, down just 45 to 38,186. Worldwide attendance was also very similar, 207,000-ish.

00:33:23[12 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:33:35The Informant: There were five launches, Elliott's Head Beach in Queensland, along with single launches in Germany, South Australia, United Kingdom, and the United States. Down under we had 5,110 PBs, while 1,594 people participated for the first time. 81 juniors reached their Junior 10 milestone, 184 people reached their 50 milestone, 113 reached their 100 milestone, and a record 32 people reached their 250 milestone. 27 people called bingo. Chris Williams was quickest with 141 runs, while Jeff Buchan was slowest on 299 runs. There were a bunch of new statespeople. Five in the ACT, Mary Craig, Debbie O'Donoghue, Matt Robbie, Jenny Tsar, and Imogen Taylor. There were three in the Northern Territory, Mitch Martin, Anne Marie and Nathan McDonald. Two in South Australia, Jane Hassel and Troy Helbers. And one in Victoria, Sarah Gee. In the top 20 most Aussie New Zealand events list, Neil Scott moves up one to rank equal 16 after running his 158th location at Ginninderra. Kathleen Wellington moves to equal 11 after running her 169th location at Chelsea Bicentennial. Overall on the biggest movers list, Paul Graham moved up 10 rankings to 240. 176 people... Hey, what have you got in the way of stationery? Excuse me, I'm busy.

00:35:26Unidentified speaker: Come on, hand it over.

00:35:29The Informant: Will you get out?

00:35:30Unidentified speaker: Come on, I know you keep a stash of it.

00:35:34The Informant: anything to get you out of here. What do you want?

00:35:37Unidentified speaker: Oh, I don't know. Mel wants me to decorate this jar.

00:35:40The Informant: What for?

00:35:42Unidentified speaker: Mel's got a bee in her bonnet and she's been banging on, nagging me to make a fine jar. So hand it over so I can get her off my back. Cardboard, glitter, ribbons.

00:35:52The Informant: As if I have that rubbish. I've got whiteboard markers, rubber bands. Oh, Mars bar. How long's that been there? Oh, and some tape. That's all.

00:36:03Unidentified speaker: Oh, what am I supposed to do with that?

00:36:05The Informant: I don't know. That's all I've got. Now just take it and leave me finish the report. Huh? 176 people lifted their Wilson Index this week. This week's biggest mover is Meg Littler, who moves up 28 to 64. And Cindy Robins makes her debut on the Victorian Top 10 list, moving up 22 to an index of 71 and a ranking of 9. In the adventurer Challenges, Nicole and Andrew Hay joined the Peel Club. There were three Cowell clubbers, Kopo Kopkikas, Graham Totty and John Newton. There were also two half Freynes and 15 half Cowells. If you want to see these 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.

00:37:13Melissa Ellis: Thanks again to our informants. And, Ollie, I gave our cheeky informant a little task this week, so I'll be interested to see how that pans out.

00:37:22Oliver Spake: Yes, good help is always appreciated.

00:37:24Melissa Ellis: Got to set the team to work.

00:37:26Oliver Spake: That's right. Yeah, especially since some of the standards have been slipping.

00:37:31Melissa Ellis: the hygiene in the office.

00:37:33Oliver Spake: That's right.

Consolidated Club Report

00:37:33Oliver Spake: That's right. But Mel, what hasn't been slipping is the Adventurers Club. How are we doing?

00:37:39Melissa Ellis: Ollie, this week, out of a total of 187 members, 160 members took part at 104 different locations. We broke the hundred. Broke the hundy. Yes. Wow. Yes. So in the UK, we had 15 events.

00:37:58William Boughton: Gateshead, Chippenham, Canons Park. Rising Sun, Cheadle Hulme, Fell Foot, Tooting Common, Sirencester, Bedworth, Brooklands, Irchester Country, Bartley Park, Tolkien Town Country Park, Ancombe Valley Way and Trentham Gardens.

00:38:19Johan Duvenhage: In South Africa, we had two events. Hi Mel, your two South African parkruns for this week are Ethel parkrun and Inibos parkrun.

00:38:29Melissa Ellis: And in Germany, we had one event at Fulda-Aue. Locally, there were adventurers at 33 events in Victoria, 19 events in Queensland, 18 events in New South Wales, five events in South Australia, three in Tasmania, two in WA, two in ACT, and one in Northern Territory, plus two in the North Island region, of New Zealand and one in the South Island, Ollie. Got the set. We did. Got the set again. But to comment on the Consolidated Club report, we have to issue some fines.

00:39:10Oliver Spake: Ah, okay.

00:39:12Melissa Ellis: Yep. Johan and William Boughton? Boughton? Broughton? How do I say that?

00:39:20Oliver Spake: It's a fine if you've pronounced it incorrectly, Mel.

00:39:23Unidentified speaker: No.

00:39:26Melissa Ellis: Anyway.

00:39:27Oliver Spake: They went to an inaugural dollar in the jar. Yep. That's okay.

00:39:31Melissa Ellis: It's all a bit of fun.

the Frond — Five adventurers at Werribee Mansion parkrun

00:39:32Melissa Ellis: Yes. And our biggest frond this week was five adventurers at Werribee Mansion parkrun. The mansion. The mansion. Excellent. So, yes, lots going on, lots of adventuring happening, and we're growing week by week. Ollie, our goal of 210 is getting closer and closer.

00:39:52Oliver Spake: It's starting to look realistic.

00:39:54Melissa Ellis: It is.

Sign-off

00:39:54Melissa Ellis: Yes.

00:39:55Oliver Spake: But what have we got to look forward to this week, Ollie?

00:39:59Melissa Ellis: The Festival of Mel is happening.

00:40:02Oliver Spake: Wow. Are you ready for it?

00:40:05Melissa Ellis: I'm so ready. I'm very ready, and so is Floyd. We're very excited. Oh, good, good, good. Yep. The volley roster at Toolern Creek is nearly 100% full of Mels. Last check, there was one not Mel.

00:40:19Oliver Spake: Oh, right. Yep.

00:40:20Melissa Ellis: But the Mels have come on board. They have risen to the challenge en masse.

00:40:26Oliver Spake: They certainly sound like they have. Yes.

00:40:29Melissa Ellis: So I'm looking forward to that. And a rest, Ollie. Yes.

00:40:34Oliver Spake: Not whilst volunteering, I hope, but yeah.

00:40:37Melissa Ellis: No, no, no. Yeah. I take my volunteering very seriously.

00:40:40Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right.

00:40:41Melissa Ellis: But what about yourself? I'm adventuring.

00:40:44Oliver Spake: Oh, what? No, no, just kidding. What? I'm volunteering. I am volunteering. I'm back in the vest, back home. Not going to say it again. You know where. But I'm also looking forward to Eurovision. Very, very much looking forward to Eurovision, which will be halfway done by the time this podcast is out. But it's a big week in our household.

00:41:05Melissa Ellis: Well, is there dress-ups involved? Have you been planning? Hang on, this is snuck up.

00:41:12Oliver Spake: It has snuck up. And look, with all the chaos, we haven't prepared any dress-ups. So we're going to have to find some intricate masks. So, yeah, you've got to go and research this year's Eurovision if you want the context. Off the top of my head, I can't think of too many of the fantastic costumes, but rest assured that in this household we've been listening to the songs now for a good, I think, close to two months. So just preparing myself to console the girls that their favourite songs won't win.

00:41:39Melissa Ellis: Well, I was listening to Talkback Radio today and they were saying about the Eurovision final being the same night as the Australian federal election. Is that right?

00:41:50Oliver Spake: No.

00:41:51Melissa Ellis: Oh.

00:41:52Oliver Spake: Yeah. Okay.

00:41:53Melissa Ellis: So the finals this weekend?

00:41:55Oliver Spake: The finals this Sunday morning, 5 a.m. Eastern time.

00:42:00Melissa Ellis: Do we have to set the alarm? Is this Eman all over again?

00:42:03Oliver Spake: It is a slightly more civilized 5 a.m. I do. Like listening back to the chat last week, it was lovely to hear yourself and Eman chatting, but yeah. Wish I'd been able to stay up for that one. I was a bit unwell at that time. But nonetheless, back to Eurovision, 5am, very doable.

00:42:24Melissa Ellis: Okay. Can I get the full experience if I only watch the final?

00:42:28Oliver Spake: I think it's still a great experience if you only watch the final. Absolutely.

00:42:31Melissa Ellis: I don't even know where to look for it. It's on pay TV or something? It's on SBS. Okay.

00:42:36Oliver Spake: Yeah, with a repeat in the evening too. So if you fancy just keeping yourself fresh for juniors. No spoilers. That's exactly right. But perhaps even more exciting, Mel, coming up the 16th of May is the start of Australia's National Volunteer Week, which we love. We absolutely love.

00:42:57Melissa Ellis: We do. We love our volleys and we love to celebrate our volleys. So next week, no doubt, we'll bring you lots of volunteering stories to the pod.

00:43:07Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:43:08Melissa Ellis: But what also is coming up that we need to mention, the Longest Run events are starting to be posted.

00:43:15Oliver Spake: They are. They're popping up. Now, I don't know if I've caught every single one of them. So please keep me honest if you've seen another that I haven't, Mel. But So far, I've seen longest run dates pop up on the Longest Run Australia Facebook page for the 12th of June and the 19th of June. And on the 12th, we've got a very decent spread. So Gippsland, Melbourne North, Melbourne West, so two in Melbourne, plus out in the east there. And then also in Sydney, we have two longest runs on the same day. In the city, they'll be sailing the seven seas, whilst the Sydney Coast to Country heads up from Myla Cull, up to join up and link up for the last two events, hopefully, in the southwest of the city. And we also have North Brisbane. So that's a big day. It is. And then on the 19th, that's followed up. Perth having theirs. South Australia, which I should have double-checked, I think is very much... Adelaide and the Sunshine Coast. And they always manage to squeeze in just that little bit more because they're good like that.

00:44:25Melissa Ellis: Excellent. That's very exciting. I don't think I'm going to have the opportunity to take part in the longest run en masse this year, Ollie, which is a first for me because I usually always...

00:44:38William Boughton: That's not good English.

00:44:40Melissa Ellis: In the past, I have always attended the longest run and over the pauses, I've created my own longest run with my friends. But this year, the dates are not in my favour and I am going to have other things to do. Plus juniors, being a Sunday, juniors is going to be a factor. But watch this space. There may be a unique... Melton, I'll wear that fine. Longest run.

00:45:11Oliver Spake: Look forward to it. Now, what else have we got to look forward to, Mel?

00:45:15Melissa Ellis: Oh, big drumroll here. We have some news. That wasn't typing. We have some news, Ollie.

00:45:18[sound effect]

00:45:23Oliver Spake: We do. Would you like to share?

00:45:25Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. So the party planner has been busy in the background looking at all the possibilities for Palm 2023, and we're going to bring you a date. We are going to announce a weekend date, next year where we are going to travel out west to Western Australia for Palm 2023. And that weekend, Ollie, is... The 15th of April.

00:45:49[music]

00:46:02Oliver Spake: That it is. That it is. So we have a date. We have a broad destination. I think it's fair to say when we say Western Australia, we're talking Perth, Western Australia, or the Perth area. So no one needs to go and book tickets to Broome is probably what I'm suggesting here.

00:46:21Melissa Ellis: Yeah, no, don't go there. You'll be there by yourself.

00:46:23Oliver Spake: Yeah. But 15th of April, I'm looking forward to it.

00:46:28Melissa Ellis: This is exciting. And I must say, well, we should declare it is actually school holiday time for both Victoria and New South Wales. It is the weekend after Easter. So we hope that that is accessible to most of the adventurers if they so wish to come. And yeah, more planning to follow. Yeah.

00:46:53Oliver Spake: Yeah, plenty more announcements. But now we have the date, we can start hatching those plans that we do all, or many of us at least, tend to enjoy forming. I look forward to it, Mel.

00:47:06Melissa Ellis: So much to look forward to, Ollie.

00:47:08Oliver Spake: Yeah. But I think as we said earlier in the pod, it's probably also wise to look forward to a bit of a rest. So let's have a rest. As always, everyone, you can contact us via Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. Thank you, Mel, once again. That's it for another week, and we'll see you all next week for more adventures.

00:47:29[music]

00:48:41Unidentified speaker: Hi Mel and Ollie. Today at Juniors, it was so funny. Me and my friend Summer, we swapped barcodes and we swapped jumpers and beanies. It was so funny. Me and my friends want to say something. Happy Mother's Day, Adventure Moms and Special People. Bye, everyone. Stay safe.