Episode 285 - Better together

Welcome

00:00:23Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 285 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie Spake and I'm joining from Dharawal Country.

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

00:00:36Oliver Spake: And Mel, I'd like to wish you a very happy National Volunteer Week. Thank you for all of your help and support being part of the many, many parkrun volunteers.

00:00:47Melissa Ellis: And thank you as well, Ollie, for volunteering as much as you do as an ED at the parkrun that we shall not name.

00:00:55Oliver Spake: Almost got you.

00:00:58Melissa Ellis: For Hero Fines.

00:01:00Oliver Spake: Yeah, look, it's a really exciting week. I do really enjoy seeing people stop and take a moment and share their volunteering experiences and already having seen so many volunteers People throwing it out there about the joy that they get through parkrun volunteering. It's only early in the week whilst we're recording that. So there's plenty more fun to come. So again, a big thank you to everyone for all of the effort, the time and the passion that they give to make this wonderful parkrun real for us.

00:01:33Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I agree. But also we get so much out of volunteering. It's not about... giving it's about what we get from doing it and that warm fuzzy feeling after you've had a morning at parkrun and how well it's gone I know I come home from juniors feeling pretty happy with how the morning's gone yeah seeing their happy faces that's all the reward you need

00:01:59Oliver Spake: Well and truly, well and truly. And for those who may not have heard us celebrate it last year, National Volunteer Week is in fact an Australian recognised week. So disclaimer there. We'll say thank you to all of our overseas parkrun family as well, because hey, you know, you're a big part of our lives too. But in Australia, we celebrate from, I think it's Starts the 16th, goes through the 22nd of May. So this coming parkrun day is still a part of the week. And Mel, the theme this year is better together. So clearly we see some great examples of that every week. And in the case of juniors, twice a week.

00:02:38Melissa Ellis: I'm so lucky in that respect. But, Ollie, was your parkrun day better together on Saturday?

00:02:45Oliver Spake: Very much so. There were a very healthy contingent of regular volunteers, some of the great helpers that have really kept things going since the unpause at the It's so off-putting to not be able to say the name. It's so off-putting.

00:03:04Melissa Ellis: You can say it. You just have to pay.

00:03:06Oliver Spake: Just prepare the sound effects, Mel. Because, yes, I was at home at Shellharbour and it was a pleasure to have the support, as I said, of some of our regulars. So our favourite Timekeeper of late, Patrick, jumping in and helping out there. Plenty of our Duke of Ed kids who have just become part of the woodwork. And some of them, I would say they'd make better Run Directors than me. So we've got to work on that. And we had a first-time volunteer, Mel, that unfortunately I couldn't credit because

00:03:40Unidentified speaker: Oh, I know who this is.

00:03:43Oliver Spake: And I'm going to totally steal your thunder, sorry, Karen, because Karen did pop into Dazza's and share this volunteer who joined us. Fair to say we didn't have a vest and unfortunately we couldn't register in the system, but welcome Darwin to the world of parkrun volunteering. Darwin being a rainbow lorikeet, as my girls would say. And I think Darwin brightened our day, not just in colour, but from sheer presence and enthusiasm. I think served a very adequate or more than adequate sidekick to Karen throughout. So all shapes and sizes, Mel.

00:04:18Melissa Ellis: I'm going to go out on a limb here, or maybe a wing, Ollie, and say that Darwin could potentially be the parkrun adventurers mascot. Now, this might not go down well with my dear Brett, the stuffed magpie that I did have. And not to mention Dazza, but Oh, I don't think of Dazza so much as a mascot, more as a personality. So, yeah, there's room. There's room for a feathered mascot in the parkrun adventurers family.

00:04:52Oliver Spake: That's a nice thought. Look, from the evidence I've seen, Darwin would make a fantastic mascot.

00:04:59Melissa Ellis: Does he tour?

00:05:01Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:05:02Melissa Ellis: Can you fly south?

00:05:04Oliver Spake: Karen, let us know. Wouldn't suggest flying south. I think Darwin would probably drive. But touring, hey, you know, we'll have to see. Speaking of touring.

00:05:16Melissa Ellis: I'm thinking the Budgies could share their cage, Ollie. Yeah, okay. There's room here at the Palace.

00:05:23Oliver Spake: Birds bunk.

00:05:24Melissa Ellis: I don't know.

00:05:26Oliver Spake: Just to clarify, that was with a U. I could get a tourist cage.

00:05:29Melissa Ellis: I don't know.

00:05:30Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:05:31Melissa Ellis: Please continue.

00:05:32Oliver Spake: Okay. Look, I was going to say, speaking of tourists, we had our favourite tourist back as well. Chris was back. Oh. I'd called out that the sausage rolls, well, he'd noticed actually the sausage rolls were back at the cafe. So it was good to have Chris back home to join for a bit of post-parkrun hangout and to rate a probably fair to say a very disappointing sausage roll. But lovely morning. Thank you very much, as I said, to the team, Mel.

00:05:57Melissa Ellis: Do we need a MasterChef, you know, kitchen sausage roll challenge to the adventurers? This could work. How would No, I'm making it up. We could do it live. I don't know, from zooming from our kitchens, making sausage rolls. It's just a thought. Yeah. Couldn't do worse than the current play of sausage rolls at the Voldemort parkrun.

00:06:28Oliver Spake: Well, apparently so, yeah. Haven't had the pleasure yet, but I'll give it some serious thought first. Yes. And, well, look, aside from that, Mel, the weekend was all about Eurovision and I was very, very, very happy to be sharing, well, to be asking for Eurovision tips from my fellow Shellharbour parkrunner, Jason, who even popped into Dazza's this week. Jeez, I said Shellharbour and clapped.

00:06:55Melissa Ellis: Oh, my God. Yep, coin drop. Yep.

00:06:57[sound effect]

00:07:01Oliver Spake: I'm nearly skint. We're not even 10 minutes in. But nonetheless, Jason, a fellow Eurovision fan, was giving me his favourites for Eurovision whilst out on course. So what a trooper. And Mel, it was another fantastic Eurovision year.

00:07:15Melissa Ellis: Can I just butt in?

00:07:18Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:07:18Melissa Ellis: So apologies, Ollie. I did not watch Eurovision. I didn't get to. I was busy. I'm really sorry. I had all the best intentions. But what I do know is Australia did not win. That's correct.

00:07:35Oliver Spake: And... That's correct. Yes.

00:07:36Melissa Ellis: I know who won.

00:07:39Oliver Spake: Who won, Mel? Would you like to share?

00:07:40Melissa Ellis: Is this a spoiler?

00:07:42Oliver Spake: Well, look, if our listeners haven't heard the results by the time they listen to this podcast, I'd suggest they're possibly not going to be bothered by the spoiler.

00:07:50Melissa Ellis: I'm going to go with the people's choice that this may have been, Ollie, but it was really nice to hear in the media that the winner of Eurovision was Ukraine.

00:08:02Oliver Spake: Yes, some fantastic performances. We get such a thrill in our household getting up for Eurovision. We've been getting up for the semifinals. We've been playing the songs for months since each one's been released, but very happy to see Ukraine. It's no consolation for what's going on, but to see that love and support and solidarity and a pretty cool song. Their song, Stefania. Yeah, I think it was pretty apt.

00:08:28Melissa Ellis: I promise I'll get on board next year, but you have to tell me this two months out when the songs start getting released, you need to start sharing some of this stuff with me. Ah, I see. So I'm, you know, get invested because I just wasn't invested enough on Sunday morning or whenever it was.

00:08:47Oliver Spake: That's understandable. There's actually no fine for that, so don't sweat.

00:08:50Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:08:51Oliver Spake: But, Mel, you were busy. You were busy festivaling yourself.

00:08:54Melissa Ellis: Hmm. I was. So how was it being a Mel? Well, on Saturday morning, as declared last week, I stayed home to run and volunteer at my home parkrun of Toolern Creek for the Festival of Mel. I was proud to be one of the six Mels on the volley roster, giving a huge shout out to Mel Oakley, who was supposed to be R.D., but was struck down with COVID only days before. So Toolern Creek ED Tracey Donald stepped up as a not-Mel. My volley role on the morning was event course check, so I decided, in my wisdom, to bicycle the three kilometres from home with gnome Floyd in the basket and flag over my shoulder. This plan wasn't really that well thought out as at 6.30am it was still pitch dark and I'm not the most astute cyclist on my urban bike. Anyway, I did manage to navigate myself safely to the Toolern Creek turnaround point where Flag and Gnome were lovingly deposited. Floyd was happy to take post with his Gnomeville friends and I set about chalking the course in the most festive way. One thing I hadn't factored in, Ollie, was the toll that the eight-kilometre pre-parkrun ride would take on me because I'm not match fit when it comes to bikes, plus the extra few kilometres afterwards to join in at the Urban 35 brunch. Yeah. There's a lot of cycling involved here.

00:10:29Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, yeah, well and truly. Okay.

00:10:32Melissa Ellis: However, as stubborn as I am, I did manage the bike, run, bike, brunch, bike home and live to tell the tale. Well, good. What I did neglect to do was collect Floyd from his gnome party. So that remains on my to-do list this week before our next adventure.

00:10:52Oliver Spake: Oh, gnome.

00:10:53Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Yeah, poor Floyd. He's still out there in the cold.

00:10:59Oliver Spake: Oh, gee. Here I was worried about the budgies.

00:11:02Melissa Ellis: Oh, no, they're fine. They're inside. They've gone to sleep. Yeah, no, Floyd is out in the never-never at the Toolern Creek turnaround point in his gnomeville with, well, I'm sure they're his friends, but also unknown strange gnomes.

00:11:14Oliver Spake: There's never been a better time for a freedom run at the creek, huh?

00:11:18Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I think that's tomorrow morning's job.

00:11:20Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:11:21Unidentified speaker: Go and rescue Floyd. Oh.

00:11:23Melissa Ellis: Yeah, no, so it was fun. We had a great morning. I dressed as, well, we wanted to be festive. Yes. So I had to come up with an idea. So my name... Melissa is Greek for honeybee, which is why I chose to dress in yellow and black and be a bee. Also, I like to go by the handle of Be Like Mel, which is a play on bee. Yes. Be like Mel.

00:11:53Oliver Spake: So fitting. It looks like it was a great time to be a Mel. That's for sure.

00:11:58Melissa Ellis: It absolutely was. We had an awesome morning. But moving on, Ollie, feedback from our episode last week, episode 284. Yes. Oh, we had audio from Sam.

00:12:12Oliver Spake: Oh, what's that for, Mel?

00:12:13Melissa Ellis: I've got a fine. I have a fine. I mispronounced the surname for Cass. I'm not going to say it again because I mispronounced it. Let's listen to Sam and what she had to say.

00:12:26Sam Schroder: Hi, Mel and Ollie. It's Sam here calling in from the comfy chair on level two with a view. Just a quick correction on the fine tally for last week. Mel, our good friend Cass is Cass Castleton. Little mistake there. You referred to him as Cass Castleton last week. So that's one more dollar in the jar. Thank you.

00:12:49Oliver Spake: Thank you, Sam, for always keeping us honest. Speaking of keeping people honest, I believe we need to keep the informant honest. An issue of fine for saying South Australia instead of South Africa in the report last week. Mel, would that be related to COVID brain fog?

00:13:05Melissa Ellis: I think so.

00:13:07Oliver Spake: What was this about the intern?

00:13:08Melissa Ellis: The intern has been sounding very grumpy, Ollie. I don't think the intern's very impressed with the task I issued her.

00:13:17Oliver Spake: Okay. Well, however, she did manage to find some glitter somewhere because a jar was spied on the informant's desk, but not sure it's going to be big enough. Okay. with the way we're going.

00:13:29Melissa Ellis: The fines are rolling in. Yeah.

00:13:33Oliver Spake: I suppose that's a good problem to have.

00:13:34Melissa Ellis: It is. The next fine might be a sensitive topic.

00:13:39Oliver Spake: Oh. Do we want to fine Abby? Oh.

00:13:45Melissa Ellis: We're going there. Abby and Summer swapping barcodes last week. I mean, it's so cute. But should they be doing that? Maybe that's a fine.

00:13:57Oliver Spake: Half a fine if it's cute.

00:13:59Melissa Ellis: Yeah, it kind of hurts that one, doesn't it?

00:14:02Oliver Spake: No, you've got to keep true to the system, Mel.

the Frond — Frond of eight at Bowral relaunch: Tim Robbins, Chris Horowitz, Heather Morgan, Sue Smith, Melissa Currie, Jasmine and Ingrid Botha, Richard Karching

00:14:04Melissa Ellis: I understand. But we also heard from Tracey Wood, Ollie, who came up with an acronym suggestion for FROND.

00:14:14Oliver Spake: Oh, yeah? What is it?

00:14:16Melissa Ellis: Well, her thought is Friends Reunite on Neutral Dirt.

00:14:21Oliver Spake: That's very appropriate.

00:14:23Melissa Ellis: Yeah, it was a good suggestion. We'll just pretend that's what it means now.

00:14:29Oliver Spake: I think it's great. I mean, I was about to suggest do we need another version for mud or puddles, but I'm going with Tracey's one. It's locked in. Excellent.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:14:39Oliver Spake: Yep.

00:14:39Melissa Ellis: But in other news and discussion this week, we have to wish a happy birthday. Yes. To a certain event, a certain favourite event.

00:14:51Oliver Spake: Yeah, favourite event not yet done, might I say.

00:14:54Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah, true that.

00:14:55Oliver Spake: Happy 250th, Bathurst. Now... I believe we've got a new challenge, Mel.

00:15:00Melissa Ellis: We heard that Richard proposed the Nelson Challenge to the 5K app designer and they've added it. Ollie, this is exciting. So for those who aren't aware, in cricket, 1-1-1 and multiples of 1-1-1 like 2-2-2... and 333 and so on are called a Nelson or a double Nelson or a triple Nelson.

00:15:23Oliver Spake: Uh-huh.

00:15:24Melissa Ellis: This name supposedly comes from Admiral Nelson, a man who is widely considered to be one of the greatest naval commanders to ever live. He fought in the Napoleonic Wars and the French Revolution and was claimed he had one eye, one arm, one leg, although that wasn't actually true.

00:15:41Unidentified speaker: Uh-huh.

00:15:44Melissa Ellis: It is true that 1-1-1 looks a lot like the wickets with no bails, which is a bad thing in cricket, hence it being considered bad luck. But it would be good if you attended parkrun events number 1-1-1, 2-2-2, 3-3-3, and so on because then you'd complete the brand-new Nelson Challenge. Thanks for suggesting it, Richard. That's wonderful.

00:16:08Oliver Spake: Love a new challenge. I'm going to have to look up where I'm up to because I haven't yet, but based on that research, can I make it up? Make it up? That's a very poor reference to Admiral Nelson and the false claim.

00:16:22Melissa Ellis: Oh.

00:16:23Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's okay. We can edit out the bad jokes, right? Yeah.

00:16:27Melissa Ellis: Well, I have already checked what I've got. I do have 111.

00:16:33Oliver Spake: Aha.

00:16:33Melissa Ellis: So I'm not doing so well on my Nelson Challenge, but it's exciting to know that I can have something else to achieve.

00:16:43Oliver Spake: That's right. Well done, Richard.

00:16:45Melissa Ellis: But there was a question on the Aussie tourism page this week, Ollie, asking if anyone has achieved volunteers in 100 different locations. Yes. Our friend Pippa from the UK shared information from Rory Marriott, who said, a clerk is 500 volunteer credits. A Marriott is a volunteer at 100 different events, as bestowed upon him during his With Me Now interview. Yeah.

00:17:16Oliver Spake: I did see that one too, and I was scurrying around, actually trying to check up the few people I thought might come remotely close. But look, there are some impressive volunteers out there, but I couldn't find anyone. Something to strive for.

00:17:30Melissa Ellis: No one in Australia yet has achieved 100 different locations. So obviously in the UK, they have had parkrun for a lot longer than us. So they are... Well ahead in those stakes. Yes. So we look to them for our inspiration.

00:17:48Oliver Spake: And look, someone that's kept the inspiration coming, Tracey's got another suggestion, Mel. So in addition to the frond, we've got a new term in Queensland that Tracey's suggested, the nancy, which appropriate for the conditions that poor old Queensland has had a lot of, is the nearest event not cancelled yet, referring to the recent rain and barrage of cancellations last Saturday. So very apt, but sorry you've all had to deal with it quite a bit.

00:18:20Melissa Ellis: And, Ollie, last Saturday, the New Zealand women's record fell at Millwater, with Katrina Andrew posting a blistering 16.32 to be the second finisher. And on the same day, Sally Gibbs, running in the veteran women's 55 to 59 age group, took out the age-graded record of 103, and 1.18% with 18.23 at, is it Whanganui Riverbank parkrun? That's fantastic, yes. To nab fourth position. Alison informs us that Sally only started running in her 40s and won the Rotorua Marathon age 50. So two top finishing positions this week in New Zealand for the women.

00:19:09Oliver Spake: That's brilliant. Congratulations. And I look on in absolute awe at those results. And they kept coming also across the ditch. Amazingly, Colin Thorne set a new veteran males 95 to 99 record at Whangarei parkrun. So I understand he's 98 and Whangarei is planning a 98 at 98 celebration when he runs his 98th parkrun. He's on 94 now, so it's coming very soon.

00:19:42Melissa Ellis: Oh, that will be a big day at that event, no doubt.

00:19:46Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:19:46Melissa Ellis: Well done, Colin.

00:19:47Oliver Spake: Great support there.

00:19:49Melissa Ellis: Oh. Everything was happening this last week, Ollie. But this week we are going to celebrate more of our volunteers. Sam is coming back with an interview with the fabulous Pippa White over in the UK. And we also want to wish Pippa a very happy birthday. I believe today is her birthday, Ollie.

00:20:12Oliver Spake: Happy birthday, Pippa.

00:20:14[music]

00:20:14Melissa Ellis: So let's listen to Sam and Pippa now.

Level 2 with a view

Interview Pippa White

00:20:24Sam Schroder: Hi there, Mel and Ollie. It's Sam here from the Comfy Chair on Level 2 with a View. And I'm having a chat today with Pippa White, who's joined me from the UK. We had to do some maths to work out the time difference. But given that it's National Volunteer Week here in Australia, I'm going to be talking I thought, why not talk to someone who has a vast amount of experience in the volunteering sphere? And Pippa was kind enough to agree to have a chat with me. The theme for National Volunteer Week this year is Better Together. And I can't think of many things that are a better example of better together than volunteering at parkrun. So Pippa White, thank you very much for joining the parkrun adventurers podcast.

00:21:12Pippa White: Hey, Sam. It's really great to chat to you. We've been friends in the Streaky September group now for quite a while, and I've loved watching your journey as well. So, yay. Let's enjoy this chat.

00:21:23Sam Schroder: It's brilliant. Thank you so much. That's awesome that the first thing you mentioned is the Streaky September group because, yes, it is where I guess I'd say we met, and the Streaky September group is fantastic, an offshoot of the podcast, a fantastic initiative to get us all moving in September after here in Australia, what's usually for most of us been a bit of a sluggish winter, but is the cooling down and the nice getting into autumn weather in your part of the world. Is that right?

00:21:53Pippa White: Absolutely. And for me, it's a wonderful way to be part of a group of people. I get to see your spring posts as the nights start getting a bit darker and it gets cooler and it keeps me going through the winter. So, I love that fact that we've got this hemisphere thing that keeps me really engaged with running during the colder months.

00:22:15Sam Schroder: Lovely. And it's a real connection to the topic of volunteering, which is why we're having a chat, because my feeling is that you are a real, genuinely a giver and a supporter of other people's success. And in that Streaky September group, you are a point of difference for people participating in that group. I, for one, learnt from you to find my one kilometre point and always know that even on the worst day, I can go out and get my two kilometre walk done, even if it's late at night, you're always encouraging, you're always kind and supportive. And I can visualise what kind of a volunteer you are in parkrun from your engagement in that group. And so, obviously, I'm talking to you as a person who just celebrated 100 parkruns, 100 volunteer stints on the same day. But you've done far, far more than that, celebrating last Saturday, your 250th parkrun. and 250th volunteer stint on the same day. I thought I had dealt with a logistical nightmare. I can't even begin to imagine how you managed to line such a thing up. Tell me, was it a big deal to you to match those milestones or was it just a happy coincidence?

00:23:33Pippa White: Well, firstly, I'm going to call you out on the fact that you're only 100-100. I think what's really important, what's quite fun about parkrun is being able to chase stats. And yes, when I saw that there was a possibility I could get my 250s to coincide, I decided to go for it. But I think it's as important as we recognise, and as I write and run reports frequently, that it's the first time to parkrun people. You know, brilliant, it's your very first parkrun, do come back, we'd love to see you again. First time volunteering is equally as brilliant. And it's lovely when you see somebody who says, oh, well, I wasn't sure I could do that. And they get on with it and they find somewhere out of their comfort zone and they've done something a little bit different and they've talked to people. So, logistically, yes, 250-250 caused me sleepless nights. In context, once I realised it was possible, I managed to get COVID, which took me out for a weekend, which was great. And then I had surgery in March, which took me out for another two weeks. And When I was looking at the numbers, my 250-250 was going to end up in a girls' weekend away. So I took a week to do some timekeeping to one of my local runs so that I could actually enjoy a double celebration with friends. Because actually, there's lots of things that come with parkrun. I love having lots of friends that I've met touring, volunteering. And I picked a parkrun location where my friends from the north could come down, my friends from the south could come up, so that we'd actually got this nice central position, which was the wonderful Trentham Gardens parkrun, which is quite a new location as well for the touring people. But it caused me sleepless nights because I didn't have any spare Saturdays to miss. And I got earlier and earlier at parkruns. So generally in the UK, our parkruns start at 9 a.m. And I dragged my daughter, who's known as the tame volunteer. We'll talk about her in a moment. I dragged her down to a parkrun near Bristol. And we got there at 25 past seven, so an hour and a half before we needed to be there. And I thought that was quite early. And she did sort of make comments because she's a teenager about the earliness on a Saturday morning. But when I went to go and do the Welsh parkrun, I actually got there at 10 past seven in the morning. So, you know, almost two hours early.

00:25:54Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:25:54Pippa White: I was so worried that there was going to be car problems. I was going to miss it. Everybody had booked hotels. They'd organised time off work. But I got there really, really early to make sure I'd achieved it.

00:26:06Sam Schroder: I do understand that. Having had people come from interstate for my 100-100, I understand the stress and sleeplessness you're talking about.

00:26:15Pippa White: And then there's the fun of looking at your profile and suddenly going, ha, now it's got the numbers that match. And it gave me a huge amount of pleasure.

00:26:24Sam Schroder: I hadn't realised how much pleasure. That's wonderful. It is exciting, isn't it? Tell me about the tame volunteer. I want to know that story.

00:26:32Pippa White: We go back to my daughter's very first parkrun. And it was a really sad occasion, actually. It was a New Year's Day parkrun, which should have been joyful, only sadly, one of the parkrunners collapsed and then was given CPR, but subsequently taken to hospital, didn't survive. And following that, we fundraised at the parkrun at that point, this is back in 2015, to get a defibrillator And I think it was one of the starting points when the movement came to actually have that equipment available. But surprisingly, my youngest daughter was less enthusiastic about running after that, even though we did talk about it and say, look, with Graham, he was in the best place to actually get help. He hadn't gone out for a run by himself. He had friends around him and we did what we could. At the time, we're a military family and then we moved to a new parkrun. And I was talking one morning after parkrun about volunteering. And she said, oh, well, that sounds quite fun. I wouldn't mind doing that. She'd barcode scanned for the first time, though it was not recorded, for Darren Woods doing his 500 parkrun experience. So the first person to actually get the coveted blue top. And she thought this was really great fun. And then she started going through the different roles at this new home parkrun. And then, you know, military families, we move. And what we then started doing was a little bit more touring. And I would turn up and we'd have her on the roster doing one of the funnel roles because she was under 18. And we just became a touring partnership, having a fantastic time going around. She was at the time under 18 and chose not to be very vocal on social media with her name, which is why we just called her the Tame Volunteer.

00:28:18Sam Schroder: Right.

00:28:19Pippa White: But we've had some great times. And until she went off to university, I still can't believe my touring buddy left me. We would do a lot of weekends away and we'd have to plan maybe three or four weeks in advance so she could get a funnel role being as she was under 18. And that was what was needed to do.

00:28:35Sam Schroder: Right.

00:28:35Pippa White: And then, you know, we even managed a road trip in the summer of 2019. She was coming up to her 100th day of volunteering and she wanted to have completed her UK alphabet, to have become a pirate and to have become a world tourist and visited and volunteered in four countries.

00:28:54Unidentified speaker: Wow.

00:28:54Pippa White: So for her, she was doing some of these running challenges, but as a volunteer, which was super fun. And that was an even more logistical nightmare on the spreadsheet. At least with my 250-250, I was only dealing with me. But I had an under 18 volunteer to get to the right place. So, yeah, she's volunteered in France, Italy and Germany, and then subsequently in the Netherlands.

00:29:17Sam Schroder: Wow.

00:29:17Pippa White: Pretty impressed with her. She's great. She has settled down to a new home parkrun at university. She picked her university, so it was close to a parkrun. What a girl. It was during the pause, so we were a little bit nervous it wouldn't happen. But it was actually seeing what she also got out of volunteering that's kept me writing some run reports, helping out with the barcode scanning, tail walking, run report writing. And because we were doing it together, she kept encouraging me and I kept encouraging her. And even when injured, she was very clear to remind me that I could have all the fun of parkrun and volunteer with her. So that was super.

00:29:59Sam Schroder: That's so lovely. It's interesting for me, when my home parkrun first started up in 2018, I I really happily did parkrun a couple of times a month and volunteered a couple of times a month as a Barcode Scanner or a Timekeeper. And then when I got the opportunity to be communications person, which I did for a little over a year, I felt a little bit guilty. I felt like I was cheating because I was going all over the place, doing all this lovely tourism, participating in parkruns and still getting a volunteer credit each week. And I said it like that to our Event Director one day and she said to me, Do you know how much stress you've removed from my life because you take care of the Facebook posts and the Facebook messages and all of those things? It's not cheating. You're doing something really worthwhile and valuable. You're contributing to parkrun. So I had to realise that it was, you know, it wasn't something to feel guilty about. It was okay to be having my cake and eating it too. And you used an expression before we started recording the interview, being able to do parkrun and volunteer is a gateway into volunteering. Can you elaborate on that a little bit for the podcast listeners for me?

00:31:19Pippa White: Absolutely. And I hear what you say about feeling a little bit guilty about me, you know, am I having my cake and eating it? Because actually a parkrun does need two Timekeepers, it needs somebody to hand out tokens, and it needs a Tail Walker and a Run Director. And I'm going to be very, very clear about those particular roles. So I think, you know, that's five or six absolutely have to be there. And then depending on course, there needs to be some Marshals. And then there's the other person with the tokens, there's Barcode Scanners, and then all the little bits of jobs to make sure parkrun happens. So I do try to do a few of those ones that absolutely have to be are essential. But what I found that by... maybe doing a run and a barcode scan and telling friends about it or running and Token Sorting or writing run reports, is that running friends of mine new to parkrun then get involved because they think, oh, well, you know, I can do that and still have my run. Oh, they're a great bunch of people. They're good fun to talk to. And it is a little bit of a gateway into volunteering. I mean, we know that it's only three or four times a year that we'd like all of our parkrunners to consider whether or not they could actually volunteer to actually keep those teams full. Absolutely, there are no strict rules about how often you have to do it. And I wouldn't like that either. But it's given friends the opportunity to say, I can do a little bit. And if everybody does a little bit, then suddenly magic happens.

00:32:52Sam Schroder: Yeah, that's so true. Now, we are going to have to wrap this up. But I wonder if before we go, could you share with us your 250 volunteer stints? How many different parkruns have you volunteered at? How many different roles have you done? And what's your favourite volunteering role?

00:33:13Pippa White: Oh, gosh. Well, so I've done 250 days of volunteering, which is over 92 different 5K events and six junior events. So that's now 98 different locations. So almost at my Flake volunteer location. And that's over four countries as well. I've done the alphabet as run reports and I'm working on my second one. I probably love the report writing. I know it's run report, report writing now. I think that's super fun. But I also love tail walking and I love that encouragement of people getting back into or getting into running or walking, feeling very nervous about being part of it. What has been a revelation in the last year since juniors came back in the UK in April 2021 was getting to be part of a junior team. And I absolutely love watching the kids on a Sunday morning doing their 2K. So I'd say that of all the fun I have at 5K events, writing about it and trying to be encouraging in those reports, I absolutely adore juniors.

00:34:19Sam Schroder: That's so lovely. I'm very excited to tell you that this week I got my Working with Children check number for Victoria and in June I'll be travelling down to Victoria to volunteer at Mel's Junior parkrun and I cannot wait. I am beyond excited to do that. How many different volunteering roles have you done?

00:34:40Pippa White: It's either 18 or 19. I challenged myself to do the 17 different roles for parkrun's 17th birthday. And I think I've added a couple since. I've got a V index of 10 or 11 or something like that because it becomes a bit of a game just to see what it is. I mean, parkrun is quite a lot about the numbers, which is why, you know, your 100-100 was quite so much fun and my 250-250 was so much fun. It's nice to play the other games as well.

00:35:12Sam Schroder: Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. And as the Volunteer Week theme says, better together, it's certainly true that parkrun is all about being together with our communities of volunteers and participants. Can I say thank you so much for joining me for this chat? And more importantly, Pippa White, thank you for volunteering.

00:35:36[music]

00:35:36Pippa White: Sam, it's been brilliant to talk to you and thank you for volunteering.

00:35:47Oliver Spake: And thank you, Pippa. Congratulations once again on a fantastic milestone. Thank you also to Sam for being an excellent interviewer. Great to hear the both of you chat.

00:35:58Melissa Ellis: It was, Ollie. She's got the comfy chair.

00:36:00Oliver Spake: Yes. Apparently. Yep, yep, yep. She's earned it, well and truly.

Emails

00:36:05Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, we've got mail.

00:36:07Oliver Spake: You've got mail.

00:36:08Melissa Ellis: We have. What have we got, Mel? This week we had an email from Patty Shimo. He said, Hi, Mel, Ollie and all the podcast team. Listening to your podcast, I heard Ollie say it would be great if an app could provide details about how to get a course doing a better job than a standard navigation system. I looked this up and you could do this with the 5k app. You can search parkruns, select one and it will take you to the same info you get when you visit the website, which we know gives directions written by the locals. Hope this helps. Keep up the excellent work. Regards, Patrick.

00:36:50Oliver Spake: Now, that's some good help. Thank you. And look, I might add, probably should have worked that out myself, but this is what a community is all about. And thank you, Patrick, for helping me along. So I have looked this up. I've taken the assistance and I've gone and looked up the details for, yeah, my next parkrun tourism. So thank you, Patrick.

00:37:15Melissa Ellis: Is that very far away, Ollie? A little further away than my last one.

00:37:19Oliver Spake: Oh.

00:37:20Melissa Ellis: You're so mysterious. We'll call you Mysterio soon.

00:37:26Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. But thank you very much, Patrick, for the email.

Dazza's

00:37:30Oliver Spake: Some people we also need to thank are our visitors, visitors, I should say, to Dazza's, where Dazza this week was all about volunteering. This week he said, thanks for volunteering. National Volunteer Week is the 16th to 22nd of May, and this year's theme is Better Together. Dazza loves how the team effort of volunteering together is so central to the parkrun experience. Come on in, place your order, share your parkrun experience. Did you run, walk, or volunteer? If you ran or walked, did you meet some cool volunteers?

00:38:05Melissa Ellis: He said a lot this week, Dazza, didn't he?

00:38:08Oliver Spake: He did. He's all about starting conversation.

00:38:11Melissa Ellis: He was very wordy.

00:38:12Oliver Spake: And it worked. It worked. Thank you, everyone, for joining us, one of whom was Andrew Johnston, joining in with, we could say it's a bit of a frond, a bit of a visit. And he said, Martin Barrett and I had a melveless morning with all the mels at Toolern Creek's Festival of Mel. Two caramel milkshakes. Thanks, Dazza.

00:38:33Melissa Ellis: Wow. I didn't even know Andrew and Martine were there and I feel terrible that I didn't get to chat to them or get a Melfi. So notes to anybody else, please come up and say hello to us so that we can interact with you.

00:38:52Oliver Spake: I feel rude that they visited my parkrun and I didn't talk to them. Well, maybe they said hello and it was lost in the melts.

00:39:00Melissa Ellis: Well, to be fair, everybody was saying, hi, Mel, hi, Mel, hi, Mel. But that's just because it was the Festival of Mel, so it was hard to distinguish.

00:39:10Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:39:11Melissa Ellis: Ollie, we also heard from Alison King who said, tail walk today at Paringa with Chrissie. She celebrated her V100 while I celebrated my first parkrun since January, walked 67 minutes and received token 67. So good to get scanned again. Back to volunteering next week. And Alison shared a photo of herself and Christy in the volley vests. But, Alison, we're so glad that your ankle has healed enough for you to complete your very first parkrun since your accident.

00:39:46Oliver Spake: Wonderful news. And Mel. Next up visiting was Michael Charlton, who threw a bit of volunteering on top of tourism and achieved a certain milestone. He said, volunteer number 50 at Nathalia Showgrounds parkrun as Tail Walker and shared a fabulous photo of Michael in wonderful volunteer orange in the selfie frame there. So that's a pretty decent combo.

00:40:14Melissa Ellis: It is, and Michael backed it up the next day at Eynesbury Juniors, volunteering as a Marshal.

00:40:21Oliver Spake: Way to go. Thank you for your help, Michael.

00:40:23Melissa Ellis: We also heard Ollie from Carrow Voss at home volunteering. Got to walk a guide dog, Ebony, today during Woy Woy parkrun, and Carrow shared a photo of herself with the friendly dog.

00:40:39Oliver Spake: Now, a very liked photo and post this week came from Sonja Pohlman, who said, spectacular morning to be able to RD at beaches. And the photo in question was a great light shot of the parkrunners on the beach and the flag there. Not going to go into detail on the flag, but I will say also it does is please check out Michael Sharp's lovely version of a beach flag shot as well. In fact, he had two with a gorgeous light filter. No, no, no. So I was really enjoying that. Now let's move on.

00:41:11Melissa Ellis: You can't. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You can't avoid. No, that's a fine. I'm sorry. It's a dollar. Like it's not big bucks.

00:41:21Unidentified speaker: No.

00:41:21Unidentified speaker: Okay.

00:41:22Melissa Ellis: But also Judith Baibo, who had a milestone as well as being a first-time poster. First-time poster. And Judith said, volunteering at Batemans Bay. Tail Walker and my 100th time volunteering. Way to go. Thank you for joining us, Judith.

00:41:45Oliver Spake: Yeah, congratulations on a great milestone there. And Mel, Ingrid Botha, with a bit of tourism, somewhat of a frond, who said, met some cows, dragged a surprisingly cooperative preteen and puppy to our only ever inaugural, we promise. And Ingrid did share a photo of Paris with the cows.

00:42:11[sound effect]

00:42:11Melissa Ellis: So there's the sound effect of the... Fine. We will forgive you, Ingrid, this time for getting your one and only event number one, but that doesn't preclude you from the fine. Oh, you've got the next one too, Ollie.

00:42:29Oliver Spake: Oh, so I do. And then we also heard from Melanie McGregor coming into us from New Zealand saying, Dion and I did some parkrun tourism to Otaki River parkrun. And we got a photo there shared by Melanie of her and Dion by the flag.

00:42:47Melissa Ellis: Was it the right way around?

00:42:48Oliver Spake: I believe it was.

00:42:49Melissa Ellis: Good work, Melanie. Over in South Africa, we heard from our mate Johan. I went to Sasolburg parkrun in the heartland of the South African chemical industry to re-complete the Free State Province for the umpteenth time. There were a larger than usual number of participants due to an influx of tourists, but the small team of volunteers did well. This event is a replacement for Heron Banks parkrun that lost landowner permission during the pandemic. I assisted with barcode scanning and closed down, and Johan shared another great landscape photo. Thanks, Johan.

00:43:32Oliver Spake: Yes, great job. Now, I'm sorry to interject here, but apologies, Melanie, because if I don't pick it up, someone else is going to. What? I was wrong. The flag. It's the other way.

00:43:45Melissa Ellis: No, Johan, you've got to find another one.

00:43:48Oliver Spake: No, no, no, no, no. Melanie, not Johan. Oh. I'm going back one. I had to fact check and I can confirm that that flag is reversed.

00:43:57Melissa Ellis: Okay.

00:43:58Oliver Spake: Moving along. Claire Winojic over in the UK joined us from a bit of a celebration. It was Bramley Cowfest. And Claire's message was Bramley Cowfest and now only five bingo numbers left to get. And Claire actually shared a video of a bit of the fun at Bramley, but there were a couple of pictures there, so there was a bit of a frond there, Mel.

00:44:19Melissa Ellis: There was. And comes to mind, Ollie, our friends at With Me Now, I have heard the reference, Bramley is family now.

00:44:28Oliver Spake: It looks like a lot of fun. I would certainly like to go there. It's one for the list, but it's a very long list, I'm afraid.

00:44:35Melissa Ellis: We also heard from Belinda Taylor. Volleying and touristing. A very soggy walk at Southbank parkrun yesterday, one of a few that wasn't cancelled in Brisbane due to the rain and floods. I had to chase the flag around to make sure it wasn't backwards for my photo. LAUGHTER Today was volunteering at Juniors at Bellevue Park. Disc corner parkrun Juniors was cancelled. I was barcode scanning with Claire but quickly became the sticker hand router as there was only 20 kids who braved the weather and mud. A new job for the other role perhaps. And Belinda shared a collage of photos and some very wet, course areas.

00:44:53[laughter]

00:45:17Oliver Spake: But the flag, she did manage to have it the right way around.

00:45:22Melissa Ellis: So she did avoid a fine.

00:45:24Oliver Spake: Yes. Which is good. And thank you for volunteering. It's been good to see yourself and a number of other Queenslanders safe in those conditions. What a weekend.

the Obi Award — Michael Charlton

00:45:34Melissa Ellis: And time to announce the winner of the Obi.

00:45:40Oliver Spake: Okay.

00:45:41Melissa Ellis: I'm not sure with the informant, well, the informant's away. The office is on skeleton staff. Did we get an envelope, Ollie?

00:45:51Oliver Spake: I'm just going to go and have a look. I see something sitting on the comfortable chair over there.

00:45:56Melissa Ellis: Oh.

00:45:59Oliver Spake: Good news, Mel. I have the envelope. Excellent. Okay. So the Obi this week goes to... Volunteer extraordinaire, Michael Charlton.

00:46:06[music]

00:46:22Melissa Ellis: Congratulations, Michael. Doubling up this week with volunteering on Saturday and Sunday. So well earned, Ollie.

00:46:33Oliver Spake: Very well earned. Thank you to all of our parkrunners and particularly all of our volunteers joining us this week at Dazza's. It was wonderful to see so much excitement and so much of our community getting out there. This parkrun day just gone.

00:46:48Melissa Ellis: It was. So, Ollie, normally at this point in the podcast, we would throw to our informant. But we have to announce that sadly this week our informant has come down with COVID.

00:47:02Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:47:03Melissa Ellis: And our intern, well, our intern has to isolate. So we have no informant this week, which is a shame. It's a bit quiet. It is. This is awkward. Let's just play some music.

00:47:18[music]

00:47:20[the recording continues here — the words are not reproduced]

Consolidated Club Report

00:47:29Oliver Spake: We have, however, had the stats come in for the consolidated club report. So would you like to give us an update?

00:47:37Melissa Ellis: Well, our adventurers Consolidated Club report for Saturday the 14th of May 2022 was of a total of 192 members, 146 members took part on this date at 90 different locations. So we were down 10 locations from last week, or 12 maybe. In the UK, we had 15 events. Thank you, Alison.

00:48:04Unidentified speaker: Gorleston Cliffs, Bedfont Lakes, Southampton, Oldham, Dulwich, Orpington, Goole, Newent Forest of Dean, Ganavan Sands, Woking, Bramley, Sherwood Pines, Cirencester, Somerdale Pavilion and Woolacombe Dunes. In South Africa, we had one event. Thank you, Janet. Hi, Mel. This week's parkruns in South Africa are Sasolburg parkrun or Sasolburg parkrun.

00:48:37Melissa Ellis: And in the USA, we also had one event, but I can say this one, it was joke reason. Locally, there were adventurers at 28 events in Victoria, 16 events in New South Wales, 14 events in Queensland, four in South Australia, four in Western Australia, two in Tasmania, one in ACT, Oh, none in Northern Territory. But three events in the North Island of New Zealand and one on the South Island. So that concludes our Consolidated Club Report. Ollie, to note, there were a frond of eight at Bowral relaunch. Yes. Which included Tim Robbins, Chris Horowitz, Heather Morgan, Sue Smith, Melissa Currie, Jasmine and Ingrid Botha and Richard Karching.

00:49:38Unidentified speaker: Yes.

00:49:41Melissa Ellis: And we also need to report Jeff Glarb. He commented, I had really hoped to travel this week, but we had to cancel our plans last minute. Here's me lamenting that I can't keep the flag from spinning backwards. Now, a fine was proposed for poor old Jeff with his spinning flag, but Chris Fraser suggested that Jeff dispute that fine as it's a side-on flag rather than a reversed flag. Huh. Geoff does say that the US dollar is trading very favourably with the Aussie dollar right now and that we must please take his money. We won't argue with that.

00:50:23Oliver Spake: No. And Mel, Belinda Taylor also pointed out that Queen Elizabeth is in New South Wales, not Queensland. If it was in Queensland, it probably would have been cancelled this week with a lot of other South East Queensland events. Chris Fraser has called it a crime against geography. So that's another one for Mel.

00:50:49Melissa Ellis: I'm getting so many mistakes. I don't know why I thought Queen Elizabeth was in Queensland. I had it in my mind that Cass was going to Queensland.

00:50:58Oliver Spake: Ah, I see.

00:50:59Melissa Ellis: That's my defence.

00:51:01Oliver Spake: Easy done, Mel. I know what it's like.

International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day

00:51:04Oliver Spake: But looking forward, we do have something wonderfully festive to look forward to that we have to give you all an update about, Mel. So could I please, could I please, please, please give everyone an update on Ugly Christmas in July?

00:51:20Melissa Ellis: It's that time of year. This is so exciting. I love Christmas in July, Ollie. Please tell us all about it.

00:51:28Oliver Spake: I shall. So, look, everyone, be happy because Ugly Christmas in July is coming. This year it will be held on Saturday the 23rd of July. So to celebrate and add to the range of ugly festive buffs available, Santa's Little Helpers have been knitting up an ugly storm and will very soon be releasing the design for the newest addition to the range of ugly Christmas buffs, or as some know them, neck warmers. As was the case last year, the new Ugly Christmas Buff will be based on the Ugly Christmas Singlets and shirts from 2021. And not only will the buffs be spreading warmth and ugly joy wherever they're worn, they will also be helping others as $1 from the sale of every buff will be donated to Beyond Blue to support the work they do in improving the lives of all people in Australia affected by mental health conditions. Orders open very soon. And that's just quietly likely the end of this week or early next week. So stay tuned. Keep your eyes open. We'll be sure to shout it from the rooftops in case you miss it. And we'll close on Wednesday the 1st of June. So that's not long.

00:52:39Melissa Ellis: No.

00:52:40Oliver Spake: Act quickly. It may seem early, however, closing orders at the beginning of June will mean there's plenty of time for people both nationwide and overseas to receive delivery of their goodies in time for Ugly Christmas in July. The Ugly Christmas buffs will be available via the usual Adventurers online portal with supplier Ventu. Head over and like the International Ugly Christmas Singlet or Shirt Day Facebook page for the link and all the other ugly details. And, Mel, and everyone, even if you don't fancy an ugly buff, save the date, Saturday the 23rd of July. It's going to be a bunch of ugly fun.

00:53:19Melissa Ellis: It is. Yay. I can't wait.

00:53:22Oliver Spake: Yes, I look forward to seeing the design. I mean, I hear, yep, it's going to be quite familiar, but nice to add it to the kit.

00:53:30Melissa Ellis: Yeah, same, same, but different.

00:53:31Oliver Spake: And if you don't have one, a neck warmer never goes astray.

00:53:35Melissa Ellis: No, and especially with the cold weather coming in the Southern Hemisphere.

Sign-off

00:53:40Oliver Spake: I'm not sure I can segue through cold weather in Southern Hemisphere except to say that you're in the Southern Hemisphere, Mel. Where in the Southern Hemisphere are you parkrunning next week?

00:53:51Melissa Ellis: Ollie, I'm going to spin the alphabet wheel this week.

00:53:56Oliver Spake: Oh.

00:54:01Melissa Ellis: What? I've got no idea.

00:54:04Oliver Spake: We'll just check on that wheel later, yes.

00:54:07Melissa Ellis: We might come back to that. But I actually don't know, Ollie. I have not made up my mind. This is not a ruse in any way, shape or form. I have multiple events in my radius.

00:54:22Unidentified speaker: Mm-hmm.

00:54:23Melissa Ellis: to choose from and I haven't got a clue which one I'm going to pick at this point in time. Well, that's exciting. So it really is a spin of the wheel, hence the analogy. What about yourself, Ollie? Are you at shell?

00:54:39Oliver Spake: Didn't finish. That's a half fine. 50 cents. Yeah. Look, I have been hoping for a little bit of tourism. There are a couple of events that I've been desperately wanting to try and my hope is to make it there. I have been known to pop up at home plenty though, so we'll just have to see, Mel.

00:55:00Melissa Ellis: It's not even a really good clue.

00:55:03Oliver Spake: No. Look, some of my goals, you know, I've done a couple of events, you know, just when I usually go away toward the end of the summer, we go on a family holiday down the coast. So, I've done a few events to the south of me. I haven't done them all. So, hoping that I can knock off another one down there.

00:55:22Melissa Ellis: Okay. So, the clue there is southern New South Wales. Okay.

00:55:26Oliver Spake: Yeah, look, hoping to head in that direction. Could go inland, could go in a completely other direction. I'm just making things up.

00:55:33Melissa Ellis: What about, can we pin you down to making an announcement Friday night in the socials if you're going somewhere?

00:55:41Oliver Spake: No, look. No. I'm going to leave it to chance. I'm going to leave it as a mystery. I get very few surprises.

00:55:49Melissa Ellis: Are you going to wake up Saturday morning and just think, oh, I've got a couple of hours before parkrun. I might go here.

00:55:56Oliver Spake: Look, chance isn't exactly the right word. See, this is the upcoming federal election. I'm doing my best politician attempt at avoiding the question.

00:56:06Melissa Ellis: I'm being the reporter. I'm trying to screw you down.

00:56:09Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:56:10Melissa Ellis: To give us an answer. And you're standing fast, Ollie.

00:56:15Oliver Spake: Good politics. The plan is I hope to head south. I hope to do a new event. And I have locked it in.

00:56:24Melissa Ellis: All right, well, we'll have to be happy with that. And I think that's it. Singers, we can't get any more information out of you. That's it for another week. As always, you can contact us via Facebook or on our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. We will see you all next week for more adventures. Ooh, looks like it's a pea.

00:56:53[music]

00:58:05the Oracle: This is the Oracle. East Coast parkrun in Singapore is where I scanned my machine-readable representation of numerals and characters. Fried my solid state drive. I did. 104 others used the method of terrestrial locomotion to move rapidly on foot. 5 kilometres, a long way for a fully scalable relational database architecture. Safe. I trust you will stay.