Episode 288 - Travel Tips

Welcome

00:00:23Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 288 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie Spake, and I am joining this week once again from Dharawal Country.

00:00:33Melissa Ellis: And I am Melissa Ellis, and I'm coming from Wurundjeri Country.

00:00:37Oliver Spake: And how are you, Mel?

00:00:39Melissa Ellis: Oh, couldn't be better. Magnificent Monday. That's good. That's good. How are you, Ollie?

00:00:44Oliver Spake: I am good. I am a little sore and tired, but I am good. It is a Monday, which is, of course, almost one of the most wonderful days of the week.

00:00:53Melissa Ellis: What makes you sore on this fine Monday?

00:00:56Oliver Spake: I got out running, which was nice. I mean, that's not unusual, I suppose. But I made the last-minute decision last week to go and sign up for one of our local events, the Wollongong Running Festival, and jumped in and did the half marathon. So it was a lot of fun, but the legs are a bit sore, the toenails are deciding whether they want to stick around, you know, all that fun stuff.

00:01:23Melissa Ellis: Oh, I remember those days when I could run a half marathon on a whim.

00:01:29Oliver Spake: Well, not quite a whim, but yeah.

00:01:30Melissa Ellis: This is the same Wollongong running festival that we did at Palm. Four years ago?

00:01:36Oliver Spake: I suppose it's the latest version of that. It's different organisers, but the course would be quite familiar to those that were there back at the first Palm, the Sunday event in Wollongong on Sunday morning. And yeah, different start and finish location, but a lot of common points. I distinctly remember Mr. Brendan Peel heading off the course.

00:02:00Unidentified speaker: Don't talk about the wars.

00:02:03Oliver Spake: And I was thinking that as I made that particular term, but it's a lovely course. It goes around the lighthouse and along the foreshore there at North Wollongong, but it does follow, well, all of the North Wollongong parkrun course as part of its course. So a great fun, a lot of familiar faces, well supported by parkrunners and local running groups alike.

00:02:26Melissa Ellis: I've done a freedom run of North Wollongong, I'm pretty sure.

00:02:29Oliver Spake: You have. I have. You have.

00:02:31Melissa Ellis: Yes, with Chris. That's right. When I was visiting, when I did the, what did I come and do? Windang, the Windang Bridge.

00:02:40Oliver Spake: What was it? That's right. What's the street? The Banksia Avenue, not parkrun.

00:02:44Melissa Ellis: Banksia, yes. Yes, yes.

00:02:46Oliver Spake: That's right. Back when you travelled up for the relaunch of parkrun New South Wales.

00:02:53Melissa Ellis: Yeah, let's not go back there. Let's look forward. Well, looking forward, but looking forward to last Saturday. That's not a good segue. How was your parkrun morning at the parkrun that shall not be named?

00:03:06Oliver Spake: The parkrun that shall not be named had 77 visitors. Well, 77 participants. Gosh, 77 visitors. That'd be something else. It was a sunny morning. It was a dry morning. I mean, I never thought I'd be that happy to see so much wind, Mel, it's good for drying things out when all else fails and we had a dry course almost effectively dry we had a mowed course and yeah it was just that little bit brighter which was quite exciting and added to the excitement of course as mentioned on the pod last week it was miss m scholar his birthday which is always a course for celebration at Shellharbour parkrun oh said it yep yeah and she chose to volunteer with us which was lovely

00:03:52Melissa Ellis: Now, you say a mowed course, so who got the Victa out? Was that you?

00:03:56Oliver Spake: Well, believe it or not, I did load the lawnmower in the back of the car on parkrun morning and the rake, and I was all very excited to get up there and just clear a bit of a wider path because for those unfamiliar with our course, our new course, which follows pretty much the ridgeline overlooking the bay and includes two grassy hills around our start and finish area, there are just some parts of the course that hadn't been mowed. So the whipper snipper had done the job in the last few weeks, but I thought it was time to go and widen that course. But I got there and it had been done without a grass catcher though.

00:04:31Melissa Ellis: Oh, you go above and beyond, Ollie. Listeners, can you just visualise Ollie running up and down, you know, literally running with the lawnmower on the shallow parts?

00:04:40Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:04:41Melissa Ellis: We have some video of that. Hannah, we need you to go down and get some video.

00:04:46Oliver Spake: Yeah, Hannah, come down. But, yes, no, we have a risk assessment. Lawn mowing is not in the risk assessment, needless to say. So I don't run with the lawn mower or the whipper snipper. But with the rake, yeah, unfortunately the park crew, they had been incredibly helpful but left a whole lot of dried grass hiding all those holes and protruding rocks in our path. So between myself and one of the others in the team, Ian, we successfully managed to rake I think it was a couple of hundred metres of path in the hour before parkrun. So, yeah, we invented a new role, lead rake. Wow.

00:05:25Melissa Ellis: Goodness me, all the trials and tribulations at the parkrun. Goodness.

00:05:31Oliver Spake: A whole lot of excitement. And we had an age category record, which was quite impressive. Alan, one of our visitors from the Clare Valley parkrun, actually came up and was gunning for that record and mission accomplished. So a very successful morning. Fantastic. What about yourself, Mel? How was your parkrun day?

Mel's tourism tips

00:05:49Melissa Ellis: Well, Ollie, this week's recap includes the next instalment of Mel's tourism tips.

00:05:55Oliver Spake: I'm excited.

00:06:01Melissa Ellis: And my tip this week is that when you decide to drive to an event which is in a remote area that you are not familiar with, it is wise to do your research as best you can on the route that Google Maps suggests. This includes whether the route will take you over a snow-topped mountain range and perhaps if your 2011 Holden Barina would be safer with snow chains. Sound fair?

00:06:24Oliver Spake: I don't know.

00:06:25Melissa Ellis: well you guessed it the alphabet wheel spun me up a jay and so Friday morning I packed up the car and headed for Jindabyne with all the naive blind faith that Google lady would take me there safely Jindabyne is on the land of the Ngarigo people in southeast New South Wales that overlooks Lake Jindabyne near the Snowy Mountains. It's a popular holiday destination year-round, especially in winter due to its proximity to major ski resort developments with the Kosciuszko National Park, including Thredbo, Perisher and Charlotte Pass, and has long appeared as my NENDY as the crow flies. Jindabyne parkrun first launched in September 2018 and ran 122 events before it was forced to stop due to the rising level of Lake Jindabyne, which inundated the course. On the 30th of April in 2022, this year, the community relaunched their parkrun at a new location, which is where I visited for Event 6. I stayed overnight in the Kookaburra Ski Lodge, which was another first for me, situated in the centre of town and only minutes from the parkrun course. Although the weather app informed me that the temperature was 0.7 degrees as I stood waiting for the event to start, the sun was shining and Jindabyne itself had no fallen snow to be concerned with. The course description was delivered brilliantly by EDRD Rosalie, which I asked her to repeat in the recording afterwards at the Park Cafe in town. It was the first time this year I pulled out the gloves. However, halfway up the first ascent, they were swiftly stuffed back into a pocket. I did manage to run most of the two-lap course, only briefly walking what I assumed to be the Hill of Death referred to in my roving report. The goal was to finish under 40 minutes, which I managed with a finish number of 23, which was quite proud of until I realised there was only 26 finishes. As I mentioned, I joined E.D. Rosalie as well as Timekeeper Erin for a coffee afterwards, making sure I gained local knowledge for my trip home. I did not want to return home through any more snow. Okay.

00:08:37Oliver Spake: Good.

00:08:37Melissa Ellis: And if you are listening, ladies, I did make it home safely via the Kosciuszko Road and Monaro Highway. Follow me for more travel tips.

00:08:50[applause]

00:08:50Oliver Spake: That deserves a clap because I am glad you made it home safely after that, Mel. Oh, goodness. Wow. A couple of things. Firstly, that parkrun sounds fun and I am so jealous that you made it there. I do look forward to making it there myself.

00:09:07Melissa Ellis: You will so love it, Ollie. You really will. It's really a cross with, what did I tell you, Rouse Hill because I remember we did Rouse Hill as the second event on the longest run in Sydney when I came up a few years and I remember it distinctly on just grass, gravelly, not gravelly, just trail. Yeah, that's right. And this is what this is. Wait till you hear the recording of the roving report when she describes the course. It's brilliant. Yeah, and you do it twice. So a lot of elevation and it's all very, even when you're going downhill, you can't really go full speed because you've really got to watch your footing because it's very rocky.

00:09:47Oliver Spake: I'd be right at home.

00:09:48Melissa Ellis: You would.

00:09:50Oliver Spake: That's why I thought you'd like it. Oh, thank you. Thank you. And wow. So another big driving trip too. What did you do with all your time?

00:10:00Melissa Ellis: While I was driving. Yes. I had Scott and Mel on the trip with me. I listened to back episodes of the pod.

00:10:06Oliver Spake: That's a good decision.

00:10:07Melissa Ellis: It was. I really did enjoy it. It was nice to listen back. It was like having a chat with old friends. But I do have a question. And this I couldn't seem to problem solve. I'm sure there's a way around it. But, you know, when you listen to back episodes of a podcast. Yes. You want to listen in ascending order because you want to start or say, for instance, I started at episode 100 and I wanted to go up. But every time the episode finished, it wanted to go back to episode 99. I didn't want to go that direction. I wanted to go forward in time each episode.

00:10:45Oliver Spake: Is this a technical feature or function?

00:10:47Melissa Ellis: How do I fix that?

00:10:49Oliver Spake: So this, I'm assuming it's a podcast application, is taking you through the back catalogue in reverse.

00:10:57Melissa Ellis: Yeah. So first I was using the Apple podcast app on my phone. And because I decided to start at episode 100, episode 100 played and then went to episode 99. I thought, well, I don't want to go backwards. And after a while of having to actually physically, you know, stop that episode 99 and select episode 101, I thought, oh, this isn't working for me. Maybe if I go to Podbean, it will magically be smarter and go from episode 100 to episode 102. But no. They all do it. Well, the two I tried do it, which it doesn't make sense to me because you don't want to listen in reverse order.

00:11:41Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's curious. We're going to have to test all the different podcast applications. So I'd extend your question and get everyone just to suggest, you know, what is the best podcast listening application here and particularly one that doesn't need to take us in reverse through the back catalogue.

00:11:54Melissa Ellis: Somebody will tell me Spotify and then I'll be all confused. No.

00:11:58Oliver Spake: Yeah, I must admit, what am I on? Podcast addict. And my children have reliably and somewhat humorously told me that parkrun adventurers is on CastBox as well because, of course, that's what Harry Potter is on. They were very amused to see parkrun adventurers there too. Yeah. What does everyone use?

00:12:18Melissa Ellis: Would be good to know. So, yeah, that was a very pleasant company while I had mobile reception. Of course, when you're crossing mountain ranges, you don't always have great mobile reception. That does interrupt your podcast listening.

00:12:29Oliver Spake: True. Yes, we have a lot of black spots. I'm learning that in my line of work. But moving on. You mentioned a name. I did.

00:12:36Melissa Ellis: You mentioned a name, Mel. Yes. Our mate, Scotty Trickett. That's right. We wanted to give a shout out this week to Scott Trickett, who after five years as communications manager has finished up with parkrun Australia. We wish to extend our friend and pod founder, Scotty, all the best for his future. And we look forward to seeing him around at parkrun and having him back on the podcast again soon.

00:13:02Oliver Spake: Yes. Wouldn't that be lovely? Well done, Scotty, and thank you for all of your support there for all of our parkrun friends and family.

00:13:09Melissa Ellis: He's started a few parkrun events too, just quietly, hasn't he? He's founded Westerfolds. He founded Westerfold Juniors, Studley. I'm sure there was another one. He's been involved in many. So maybe, maybe there will be more in his future now.

00:13:27Oliver Spake: Let's look forward to it. Hmm. We look forward to seeing you at parkrun, Scotty. And now we've also had some feedback from last week's episode, episode 287. And I appreciate this because I've got a lot to learn and I really like actually hearing a bit of advice that helps me here. So Johan and Hendo Stu both replied, I understand, in relation to the sign translation, which I had a bit of a stab in the dark about. Not a great stab in the dark at that matter. So Johan reliably informs us that let op renners means caution runners, which makes a lot of sense. [Dutch: "Caution, runners (literally "watch out, riders/cyclists")"]

00:14:13Melissa Ellis: Yes, and Johan did also mention that the history of Afrikaans in South Africa comes from Dutch. So those who can speak Afrikaans can very often understand Dutch translation as well.

00:14:26Oliver Spake: Yes. And Hendo Stu also sending through a message. Shall I read it out, Mel? Please. He said, Hi, Ollie. Enjoyed listening to this week's pod. To answer your question on the translation of let op renners, Google translates as watch out riders, which is apt as there are lots of bikes in the Netherlands, but I think it is the equivalent of caution runners sign.

00:14:50Melissa Ellis: Oh, so both those translations, like the literal one from Google Translates and the one that both Johan and Hendo Stu believe is correct, caution runners. So is it warning the runners about bikes or warning the bikes about runners? Caution runners. So that's a sign for the bicyclists.

00:15:14Oliver Spake: Or the users of the area. Yeah, I would presume.

00:15:17Melissa Ellis: So they must have a Marshal? Because what's the point of the sign? We don't have... Well, we don't.

00:15:24Oliver Spake: But funnily enough, I had this conversation just this afternoon, chatting with a landowner around advising the public that parkrun is on. And I'm really curious how different parkruns actually communicate this. I know our public do get very used to having us there and we've heard different accounts through different interviews over time of building that relationship with the public and different ways. But I'm really curious to keep learning about this and what's used because perhaps it's the case that every Marshal has this sign. Maybe not every parkrun has four or five marshals like the parkrun that shall not be named has, but it's a good way to let the public know.

00:16:02Melissa Ellis: Yeah, there's all different ways that local events, I guess, advertise to the local community. I know Inverloch has got a sign, I'm pretty sure they do anyway from memory, at their start-finish shelter that indicates that there's a local free event at 8am every Saturday. Toolern Creek has got painting on the path at the start-finish line that also says parkrun here every Saturday 8am. So I'm sure I have seen... That multiple parkruns in my touristing time. But not all have it because it's not a requirement and it's an added thing. And I guess that's something that event teams that might have the connections or the ability or that extra council backing can get done and made.

00:16:47Oliver Spake: Yeah, just to suit the environment, I assume.

00:16:49Melissa Ellis: And not all events have shelters where you can pin something. For instance, some events like when I went to Mount Ainslie the other week, they don't have any sort of shelter. They just start on a point of a track. There's no structure. There's no anything where you could make any. You can't even paint anything. There's no path. It's dirt. Yeah.

00:17:09Oliver Spake: Yeah. So it really does sound like it's been developed in certainly in our more local parkruns in this neck of the world to suit where it's required, where maybe there are a few more members of the public around at parkrun time. But yeah, always interested to learn more, but would like to thank our parkrun adventurer community once again for helping me, yeah, just increase my knowledge a tad.

parkrun news bulletin

00:17:32Melissa Ellis: And also in news this week, Ollie, the June volunteer update was out. And one thing that I took from the volunteer update was there's a new 100 club wristband for Junior parkrun. So Junior parkrun events, which are currently in Australia, Ireland and UK, are delighted to announce that 100 Junior parkrun Club milestone wristbands are now available. This is an amazing achievement for Junior parkrunners to reach that milestone and certainly worth celebrating. And there was a link in the update for the Junior events to be able to order them. So I'll be getting onto that real soon.

00:18:10Oliver Spake: That's great news. Wonderful motivation and celebration for our Junior parkrunners out there. Good work.

00:18:16Melissa Ellis: even though at Event 47 at Eynesbury it will be a little while, another year, before we can conceivably hand any out, and that will probably be Zoe because she's done the most.

00:18:26Oliver Spake: Go Zoe.

00:18:27Melissa Ellis: If I can continue to coax her along.

00:18:31Oliver Spake: Well, that's right. It's always good to have things to aim for. That's my approach anyway.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:18:35Melissa Ellis: Correct.

00:18:36Oliver Spake: And this week I believe we need to say a special 10th happy birthday to parkrun USA.

00:18:54Melissa Ellis: We hope that our mates over there at all the USA parkruns we've been connecting with over the years, we hope you all had a very, very exciting and happy anniversary.

00:19:04Oliver Spake: Yes. Carrying on the celebrations, we did note that Sweden celebrated their National Day on Monday the 6th of June, just gone. So bonus parkrun week for Sweden and anyone lucky enough to be over there. And I do believe a few people have been making the most of that, Mel.

00:19:21Melissa Ellis: Oh, yes, yes, I do have friends over there. Well, I'm hoping we're able to make it today. I'm yet to see any Facebook posts, so I'm watching eagerly. Yes. We also celebrated last week, Ollie, our second homegrown 500 clubber, Jim Collard, who ran at Kingscliff. Not this Saturday, just gone the previous one. Now, we weren't aware of this when we recorded last Monday night, so we didn't mention it in last week's pod. However, our informant did because he misses nothing.

00:19:51Oliver Spake: that's right so yes a big thank you to our informant and a huge congratulations to Jim yes yeah mighty achievement and carrying on the news Mel there's been an announcement that came out just after last week's podcast was recorded so uh Yeah, we're getting it to print this week. But on the 31st of May, parkrun Australia announced that they have joined forces with Invictus Australia to encourage more military veterans and their families to become involved in their local parkrun event as walkers, runners, volunteers and spectators. And I'd suspect that's news that you would welcome, Mel.

00:20:27Melissa Ellis: It is, Ollie. Invictus Australia is the legacy organisation of the 2018 Sydney Invictus Games and was established to harness the power of sport to benefit those who are wounded, injured and ill, along with the broader veteran community and their families. The collaboration with parkrun Australia will highlight how serving members and reservists of the Australian Defence Force... That's me! LAUGHTER and their families can benefit from parkrun at every stage of their military life, from recruitment to retirement. The term veteran refers to former and currently serving military personnel. There are in excess of 613,000 military veterans in Australia, including 60,000 who are serving in the ADF and almost 30,000 reservists. That's me. Approximately 6,000 people transition out of the Defence Force into civilian life each year as a result of recent conflicts. The age span is very broad and extends from people in their late teens. Veterans live and work in metropolitan and rural areas across Australia.

00:20:50[laughter]

00:21:32Oliver Spake: And... hundreds of veterans and their families already participate in parkruns across Australia every weekend. And this has led to the creation of the Team Veteran parkrun Group, which any veteran or family member can choose to join once they have registered with parkrun using this link. So if you do need that link, we can help you find it. But parkrunners can choose to belong to up to five parkrun groups, which range from established athletics clubs to informal parkruns. Social groups. Commenting on the partnership, Invictus Australia Chief Executive Officer Michael Hartung said, "...transitioning from military to civilian life can be challenging, parkrun events provide a perfect opportunity for people to connect with their local community, make new friends and create a network beyond defence." Evidence shows that physical activity has significant benefits for physical and mental health and is a great way to prevent issues arising later in life. parkrun is an activity everyone can get involved in regardless of your age or physical condition with no commitment.

00:22:38Melissa Ellis: That is a fabulous collaboration with parkrun Australia and Invictus Australia. Yes. So very happy to read that news, Ollie. Indeed. Wow.

00:22:49Oliver Spake: It's a big week of news, Mel.

00:22:50Melissa Ellis: It is. But we've got some stats to throw in as well, Ollie. So over the weekend in Australia and New Zealand, there were 447 events, over 35,000 walkers, joggers, and runners, 4,620 volunteers, and 1,463 first-timers.

00:23:11Oliver Spake: Well done, everyone. Big weekend. Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of a big weekend, Mel.

00:23:15Melissa Ellis: Yes. That's me. So I had a big weekend, obviously, as I have already said. So I recorded a few words at the cafe after parkrun. So let's have a listen to those now.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Melissa Ellis — Jindabyne Sports and Recreation parkrun

00:23:39Melissa Ellis: morning adventurers it's Melissa here and I'm coming to you from Jindabyne Sport and Recreation parkrun in the little town of Jindabyne um we're back at the cafe now and I'm sitting with Rosalie and Erin Rosalie was today's Run Director good morning ladies good morning good morning now Rosalie I was very impressed with your description of your course so if you wouldn't mind would you go through that again for me

00:24:04Rosalie: All right, no problem. So at Jindabyne Sport and Rec, we have a two-lap course. We start on the tarmac of a running track and do a full circuit of it before we head out onto trails. We do live in Australia, so it's very important in our parkrun that you do keep to the left when you hit the trails. And then we run on a combination of mountain bike tracks, fire road and just mowed lanes through some field areas with some great view. We run around the corner. We head through the mountain bike skill park at Sport and Rec. Our Marshal there, who's amazing, sends you up the hill a little bit towards the archery around the frog pond. And then we head up the hill of death is what Erin likes to call it, around the top of the hill, back down, and then we follow the fence line back towards the track. We run, do another lap of the running track and do it all again. It's a lot for people to remember, so my advice to them always is, if you can't remember anything else that I've told you today, just remember, don't run through the cones. That seems to be difficult.

00:25:14Melissa Ellis: Well, I was a little bit concerned when I... when I heard that and I was trying desperately to keep up with the lady in front of me. But I did fine, actually, after that first lap. It was very well marked, so well done for that. Now, I also checked out your old course last night when I arrived in town and it is slowly emerging from the water I saw. So what will you do? Will you stay on your new course or will you look to go back if the other one is usable again? MUSIC

00:25:42[music]

00:25:44Rosalie: Well, look, our original course was chosen. It is definitely a more family-friendly course. Our current course, our runners love it. It's an amazing trail run, but it is very uneven and it is much harder than what our normal course would be. So, you know, our families that have prams and young children and some of our older people that came and walked aren't able to do our current course. So there's a good chance that the goal is to move back to that course one day, but it is worth noting that there's still a good portion of it that's underwater, and even when or if that water goes down far enough, there's been a huge amount of damage done, not only to the path, but particularly to our start area, which is just all mud and dead grass and stuff. So we don't foresee moving back to that track kind of any time soon. Well, it's lucky that you've got a lovely new location.

00:26:37Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Which is quite different to your first one. And you've got some families there, by the looks of it, that come regularly and are part of your sort of core, I guess, parkrunner, what would you call it?

00:26:51Rosalie: Yeah, our parkrun community. Participants. Yeah, it's really made up of a number of local running families and running groups who are all loving the new course. So that's really good.

00:27:04Melissa Ellis: I got passed by a little boy running in his clogs with his dog. I'm guessing he's from one of those lovely families. Yeah, absolutely. And we're back here at the lovely Park Cafe, which is at the information centre by the Lake Jindabyne in town. So very nice coffee here, a nice little warm environment. One thing I was struck by, though, although the... Temperature told me this morning it was point, I don't know, 0.2 degrees at the track. It wasn't cold.

00:27:37Rosalie: No, actually this morning we were all a bit thrown. We were expecting it to be much, much colder and we were all dressed in preparation for that. And it was balmy. I mean, that's probably a stretch, but I thought it was balmy.

00:27:50Melissa Ellis: No, with the sun out, I discovered I had way, way too many layers on, but I wasn't about to stop mid-run and try and strip any off.

00:27:57Rosalie: We do have what we like to call the coat room. So as people come past for their second lap, they toss jumpers and jackets and layers at our volunteers as they run past and they get placed in the coat room.

00:28:13Melissa Ellis: So note that you start and finish on the athletics track. So my home parkrun of Toolern Creek also starts and finishes adjacent to an athletics track. So it was a little bit of... feeling like being at home for me, which was nice. You might have to develop a sister parkrun relationship with Toolern Creek down in Melbourne's west. And Erin, you're one of the EDs. Are you co-EDs?

00:28:38Rosalie: I keep trying to convince her to be ED because she does all of the work, but she's quite happy with the current figurehead that we have going on at the moment. So Rosalie, you're the... Yeah, so Rosalie's the figurehead and Erin makes everything happen. She's phenomenal.

00:28:58Melissa Ellis: That's a pretty good partnership though. And Erin have you been parkrunning long?

00:29:02Erin: I started doing parkrun when Jindabyne's parkrun started up which was on the June long weekend in 2018 which seems like a very long time ago. So since then I have only managed to do I think seven actual parkruns but I have volunteered now a hundred and this must be my 103rd parkrun volunteer.

00:29:27Melissa Ellis: Congratulations. I noticed you had another parkrunner that did their 100 volunteer today as well.

00:29:31Rosalie: Oh, no, no. That was just me telling everybody how wonderful Erin was because she recently did her 100.

00:29:37Melissa Ellis: I beg your pardon. Sorry about that. So with the two locations locally, does it get a bit confusing for your anniversaries? Because June long weekend, well, that's next weekend. So technically there's been parkrunning in Jindabyne for four years. Oh.

00:29:51Erin: Yeah, so it is a little bit tricky this year. Yeah, it's actually only our second anniversary, third anniversary.

00:29:58Rosalie: Yeah, because of COVID.

00:30:00Erin: Yeah, we're not really sure which anniversary we're having this year because of COVID and bushfires and all sorts of things. So, yeah, we're just rolling with it. Because it's 2022, we're going to go with it's our second birthday and we're going to wear tutus to our second birthday in 2022. Fabulous. Yeah.

00:30:18Melissa Ellis: And, Rosalie, you said you started parkrunning in Tuggeranong in the ACT.

00:30:24Rosalie: Yeah, that's correct. Tuggeranong was my home parkrun when me and my husband lived there. And then when we moved to Jindabyne, obviously there wasn't one here, and at first we couldn't really do anything about it, but as soon as we were able to, we were keen to try and see if something could get started up locally. It's always going to be a bit hard because, you know, mountain biking, it's a tourist destination, so a lot of the local community...

00:30:48Melissa Ellis: they work weekends so they're not necessarily available but it is a big tourist destination and our numbers fluctuate to prove that I guess well I've thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Jindabyne and I've never been here before so parkrun's brought me here and I've had a lovely whirlwind visit and loved your parkrun so thank you very much for speaking to me this morning ladies and all the best for the future in Jindabyne thank you so much thank you so much

00:31:23Oliver Spake: And thank you, Mel, for that roving report. And suffice to say, I've got the heater on, Mel. Thank you.

00:31:30Melissa Ellis: Did I make you cold?

00:31:32Oliver Spake: Just a tad. I'm in shorts and a T-shirt. Not what I should be wearing to talk about Jindabyne Sport and Recreation parkrun, but it sounds like it was a fantastic adventure.

00:31:42Melissa Ellis: Yeah, yeah. It'll tide me over for a few more weeks, that one.

00:31:45Oliver Spake: Yeah.

Emails

00:31:47Melissa Ellis: We have – we've got mail.

00:31:49Oliver Spake: You've got mail. Yes, we have mail from Tracy. Tracey Wood, who has written to us. And Tracy has said, good morning, Mel and Ollie. Would you please let the listeners know that the longest run Brisbane North is on 12th of June and the longest run Sunshine Coast is on the 19th of June. Cheers, Tracy.

00:32:11Melissa Ellis: I was just going to say she included some links there too, Ollie, which I assume go to the said events.

00:32:16Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. And look, thank you, Tracey. That's a very timely reminder. So if anyone is listening and it's not Sunday yet, specifically Sunday the 12th of June, jump on to those Longest Run links or check out the Longest Run Australia Facebook page, which you can find there, for any of the other events that I did have a note because we announced a few episodes back as well, but I believe still running this Sunday, the 12th of June, we've got, as Tracy has pointed out, North Brisbane. We also have a glut, of Victorian longest runs, Gippsland, Melbourne North, Melbourne West, if I'm not mistaken, and Sydney as well, making a bit of representation, sailing the seven seas through Sydney, as well as the coast to country, South Coast and Southern Highlands longest run. So yeah, get the shoes ready and the changes of clothes.

00:33:13Melissa Ellis: You forgot the most important one. What's the most important one? The Renee and Mel Rebel Tour longest run.

00:33:19Oliver Spake: Ah, right, right, right, right. Of course. Yes, yes. If anyone hasn't heard that, I would struggle to remember which episode we covered that in, Mel, but that was quite the adventure.

00:33:32Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:33:33Oliver Spake: And there are more longest runs coming in the following week as well. So jump onto the Facebook page and check it out. And thank you, Tracy, for the reminder.

Dazza's

00:33:42Melissa Ellis: Yes, but Ollie, at Dazza's this week, Dazza has said, June is Pride Month. As parkrun adventurers, we know that parkrun is a place of welcome, community and kindness. Where did you parkrun today? Come on in and tell us.

00:33:58Oliver Spake: And someone that did come on in and puzzle me again was Steve Spike, who said, good morning, Dazza. This morning, I'm going to a parkrun at a location of very respectful, loving and caring people. One could say, good times never seem so good. Where is Neil? Happy parkrun day all.

00:34:20Melissa Ellis: You must have got that one.

00:34:22Oliver Spake: I don't have a clue.

00:34:23Melissa Ellis: Oh, really? You're not old enough. You're too young. Are you actually the youngest parkrun podcast host? I think you might be. Well, I don't know, see. I don't know if it's probably out of you and Nicola.

00:34:39Oliver Spake: I just sound young.

00:34:42Melissa Ellis: Are you growing the beard to try to look older?

00:34:44Oliver Spake: Well, it's got plenty of grey. My kids tell me it works.

00:34:48Melissa Ellis: I think I'm the oldest. I definitely would be the oldest because I know the others aren't 50. So that makes me, oh, that's sad, isn't it?

00:34:56Oliver Spake: Oh, look, if we've got the records, Mel, I'm stoked. There's nothing like a PB.

00:35:02Melissa Ellis: We'll take that niche.

00:35:03Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right.

00:35:05Melissa Ellis: Back on track, we heard from Greg Garner. First parkrun in six weeks due to closures and other things getting in the way. Worth getting up for this beautiful sunrise I got to see on my way to Golden Beach parkrun this morning. And Greg shared the beautiful early light shot with the sunrise over the water. If you haven't seen it, go and check it out in Monday night's photo album.

00:35:26Oliver Spake: Yes, loved that one. Thank you, Greg. And welcome back to parkrun. Mel, we also heard from Irene Bommakanti, who, reporting in on a bit of volunteering, reported from Lewis Reserve parkrun, where Parth reached the awesome achievement of 100 volunteers. I'm fining for that because that's a fantastic achievement. And Irene shared the photo of Parth with the Run Director and a hundred volley shirt to mark the milestone. And thank you for all of your support, Parth.

00:35:46[applause]

00:35:59Melissa Ellis: Ollie, you don't get fined for claps that are in context. It's only when you randomly clap while you are talking that you get fined.

00:36:06Oliver Spake: Oh, great. Excellent. I can afford coffee tomorrow now.

00:36:10Melissa Ellis: We heard from Chloe Bravos. Bravos? Bravos. Adventuring for Fibonacci 34 at Homestead parkrun on this chilly but beautiful morning. PB for me too. And Chloe shared a selfie frame shot with two very well positioned flags.

00:36:28Oliver Spake: And well done. That's quite an achievement of a morning. And not just the flags.

00:36:35Melissa Ellis: They're not easy to get to when they're just naturally wanting to lean in one direction, which isn't the direction of which you want the photo. It's very difficult unless you physically hold the flag. Otherwise, you've got the toilet block in the background and there's nothing you can do about it.

00:36:52Oliver Spake: That's it. When pitching the flag on Saturday morning, I did actually pull it out twice before I resolved the right angle to pitch it in because it was windy as well. So, yes, yeah, I was trying to get it right. What's the trick?

00:37:06Melissa Ellis: Is there a trick? Do you have to put that stabby thing in on an angle? Like, I don't know.

00:37:11Oliver Spake: Well, that was my attempt, yes. Right. Yes, that's right. Anyway.

00:37:16Melissa Ellis: Follow us for more tips.

00:37:19Oliver Spake: Back on track, Richard reported in with a bit of volunteerism, Tail Walker at Galston parkrun for my 34th event. On the theme of Pride Month, as the father of a gay daughter, it's great that she lives in an age where she can be her true self. And Richard did share the photo of a couple of special cows by the selfie frame.

00:37:42Melissa Ellis: Moo Moo and Milkshake.

00:37:43Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:37:44Melissa Ellis: We also heard from a familiar named Hannah Newton. No parkrun for us today. Instead, spending the day walking around and exploring the city. So we're putting this one down to being a nottie, which I think is a stretch, Ollie. But we also had a lovely photo of Hannah and James in the city.

00:38:06Oliver Spake: See, this is in here. It's a bit of bias. Let me admit it. But this is... Hannah, if you're listening, now you have to come to parkrun.

00:38:15Unidentified speaker: Okay?

00:38:17Oliver Spake: You've been included. You need to come to parkrun. Do as you're told. But yes, that was Hannah and James out enjoying the lights of Vivid the weekend in Sydney. Yes. And Mel, another tourism report came in from Leanne Reynolds, who was parkrun touristing Seacliff Esplanade parkrun. And Leanne did share a photo with a flag that was backwards.

00:38:43Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's awkward. Oh, welcome to Dazza's, Leanne. Your first time, we believe. If you're not aware, you've just incurred a $1 fine for having your flag backwards in your photo. We're really sorry. Don't hate us.

00:38:57Oliver Spake: Which is completely optional in the spirit of supporting the parkrun adventurers with fun. But it looks like it was a great morning.

00:39:07Melissa Ellis: I don't think you need to worry about the debt collectors coming to the door.

00:39:09Oliver Spake: Let's just put it that way. Yes.

00:39:11Melissa Ellis: And we heard from Helen Davis. Who was touristing overseas? I'm still waiting. Been up since 5.30 and it doesn't start until 9 and we only have a three kilometre walk to get there. And so Helen was over in Denmark. She shared later in the day when she did get to parkrun a selfie frame shot with Steve and the world tourist teddy bear. I'm not sure what the World Tourist Teddy Bear's name is. No. And a selfie with some other weird guy. I don't know who he is. Do you know who he is? No, I don't think I know.

00:39:48Oliver Spake: I think I might know. I think he also travelled to visit that parkrun.

00:39:52Melissa Ellis: Yeah. He looks familiar. Might know him from somewhere. We are, of course, joking. It was Mr Danny Norman. And thank you for the video, Danny. Appreciated that.

00:40:02Oliver Spake: Yeah. And we heard from Chris Seymour. Frosty one degree fun at Queenstown. And Chris had the photo evidence to prove running in his gloves and beanie. That looked fresh.

00:40:16Melissa Ellis: He was also a newbie to Dazza's.

00:40:18Oliver Spake: Yes. Welcome, Chris. Warm up by the fire.

00:40:21Melissa Ellis: Now we heard from Luke Schroder. Ollie, why would we be hearing from Luke Schroder this week?

00:40:26Oliver Spake: Because Luke's got an achievement to report now.

00:40:28Marie: Yeah, but isn't there another reason?

00:40:30Oliver Spake: Oh, he's just happy to celebrate the achievement.

00:40:32Melissa Ellis: I think there's another reason.

00:40:33Oliver Spake: No, I'm pretty sure it's the achievement.

00:40:36Melissa Ellis: Luke said, Arr, a jolly good evening to ye Dazza. Today me hearties Sam, Patrick and meself became pirates. Having sailed our seven seas, we met up at Rooty Hill for an arrr. That's not easy to do, is it?

00:40:51Oliver Spake: No.

00:40:53Melissa Ellis: It's a very flat course which saw Patrick run a PB and Sam run her fastest time since 2019 when she was running from sharks after walking me plank. After parkrun, we stayed and cooked a barbecue breakfast and talked about what our next challenge might be. And Luke, aka Sam, shared a photo of the group in the selfie frame.

00:41:19Oliver Spake: That's right. Thank you, Luke, for sharing that.

00:41:22Melissa Ellis: And that's a dollar for Sam for being back in Facebook jail.

00:41:27Oliver Spake: That was a nice transition there out of pirate speak, Mel. Now, we also heard, I'm just going to apologise for the pronunciation in advance. I do ask that someone help me retrospectively with this one. Helen, Helen Rutty, went to Amsterdamse Bos to get a new flag, but we love a pride flag too as a pride mum and dad. Had croissant and coffee after, then had to dash to the airport. And Helen did share a photo of her at the start sign.

00:41:59Melissa Ellis: Moving on to another overseas visitor, Calum Burrell from the UK. Celebrating the Jubilee over there, Ollie, for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee in Old Blighty. It had to be one place. Jubilee parkrun. I also got to run with Her Royal Highness too. And Callum had a photo of himself in costume. Well, you wouldn't say costume, dressed up, in the Union Jack hat, followed by, surely, not the Queen herself.

00:42:30Oliver Spake: Nice celebration, that one. And thank you, everyone, for sharing your celebrations, your achievements, your tourism, and your volunteering support, and your walks around vivid as well.

the Obi Award — Matthew Billington

00:42:42Oliver Spake: At Dazza's this week...

00:42:44Melissa Ellis: Okay, Ollie, you must have the envelope. I don't see it on my desk, so I'm guessing it's on yours. Maybe it's sticky-noted somewhere.

00:42:52Oliver Spake: Funny you say that. It's actually stuck with Blu-Tack to the wall next to my desk, so let me just take it off without wrecking the paint. All right, I have the envelope. Okay, and the Obi this week goes to... You might have to check this, Mel. Matthew Billington. APPLAUSE Wait, he wasn't at Dazza's. Was he at Dazza's? Well, he did pop into Dazza's, but we didn't read his report out from Dazza's. Perhaps there's another reason.

00:43:19[applause]

00:43:34Melissa Ellis: Yes. Well, funnily enough, Ollie, we did receive a very stellar roving report from Matthew, which we're going to listen to now. MUSIC

00:43:42[music]

Roving report Matthew Billington — Leeton Sport and Recreation Precinct parkrun

00:43:50Matthew Billington: Hi there, parkrun adventurers. Billo here, long-time listener, third-time reporter. The last time I posted a report would have been way back, so it's been a long time between drinks, in August 2019. And that was after completing a 365-day streak at the West Beach parkrun event. Now fast forward to the 4th of June 2022. I have relocated to southern New South Wales on the border of being Albury-Wodonga. What brings this report to you today is... As us adventurers do, we often leave it to the 11th hour and we make a crazy decision to get up at the crazy hours of the morning, jump in the car and then drive to our next NENDY location. Now for me, I'm actually in my second NENDY location and I do know that one of your hosts is actually coming from my other NENDY being Jindabyne this morning. I'm actually just under shy of 200 kilometres northwest of Albury-Wodonga at the Leeton Sport and Recreation Precinct parkrun. So I'm about to start it, go and meet the event team, and then we will come back and give you a further update. And we're back. I'm now with Andrew Watson, and Andrew is the Event Director for Leeton Recreational Sports Precinct parkrun, and he's also the Run Director today.

00:45:23Andrew Watson: Thank you. Yes, I am. On a wet day in Leeton.

00:45:26Matthew Billington: I tell you what, it started off a bit fresh with a bit of rain. It's not too good when the forecast is only going to be 5% chance, but anyway, we should go and get a lotto ticket. So just describe your course for us, Andrew.

00:45:39Andrew Watson: Well, it's not an out-and-back course like many are. It's got little bits, but the little bits are quite good, especially this time of the year. We run about 700 metres up to the pool and back, and you can peel off your jumpers or things like that if you've got them. You can throw them on the tables on a normal day that's not raining, of course. And then we go back around to an oval, and we go around Mark Taylor Oval once. And then we're back to the start, finish area, and then we back up to the pool and back again.

00:46:12Matthew Billington: So it's pretty much like a big U. Yeah, it is. With a big circle around Tubby's Oval. So he'd obviously be the famous person who's born here. That's right. So the thing I do like about your course, and I'm going to say this, is it's flat. Exactly. So the people that don't like the hilly ones, this is definitely a must to come to location.

00:46:33Andrew Watson: So what made you start it? My daughter moved to Airlie Beach and she started doing the parkruns there and I did some with her as well. So I could see the advantages of it for a town and thought, oh, Leeton would be good. I retired and I thought my project now would be to get a parkrun going.

00:46:53Matthew Billington: Awesome. And you've obviously got the support from the local council. They've been supportive of it.

00:46:58Andrew Watson: The council's been very good and the local community has been fantastic. You know, we've had... We've got lots of volunteers, which has been great. So we've been doing really well and look at a day like today and we've got a full, you know, number of volunteers and we're getting a reasonable number

00:47:15Matthew Billington: people running walking or jogging yeah no that's good and it's definitely a mixture of ages too I know definitely yes which is good and I've got to say the thing I did notice about your event is your team is very friendly when I first obviously got here obviously yourself said good day and yes where are you from yeah obviously doing the detective stuff um so yeah it was it's actually great to come to an event where you feel really welcome so I definitely would suggest anyone that's sort of uh look even if you're not travelling through this area look Leeton is definitely a must do yes event and uh so what's the uh what's it like after the event because as you know big part of parkrun it's more about the coffee and the chat after it's

00:47:57Andrew Watson: true and we're sort of we're getting to that point because we've had stopped we've started stopped with COVID and things like that it's been hard to get a one coffee shop at this point yeah but sort of in the next few weeks or months we'll start allocating a coffee shop that we're going to go to and have coffee afterwards excellent so is there a go-to today uh we go to the coffee tree today right yeah so some of us will go to the coffee I think I'll definitely be there and hopefully we can chat with a few others that's right definitely some go to the coffee tree and uh yeah we just sort of didn't want to make it one coffee shop but I can see the advantages of the coffee afterwards yeah because we get a lot of visitors that say where do you have coffee afterwards well done good job a little bit And I can see the advantages of it. We always did, but it was with COVID and things like that, you know, we couldn't go.

00:48:51Matthew Billington: Yeah, it's very challenging. Very challenging for all events around Australia, obviously. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, so it's good too, obviously, now that the lockdown is such as almost non-existent, that you're obviously getting a lot of tourists here. Because I noticed today you had some from Western Australia. Yes. I was speaking to a lady before, obviously not far from Griffiths, but she's obviously got a friend that she's run with that's come from Marmerdale.

00:49:15Andrew Watson: Yeah, exactly.

00:49:16Matthew Billington: So it's good to see people are starting to get out again. So, Andrew, thank you for your time.

00:49:19Andrew Watson: That's fine.

00:49:20Matthew Billington: Thanks for joining us today. Great parkrun. I'm now with Rachel. Rachel is one of the volunteers at Leeton today. She's on the important job of Timekeeper.

00:49:30Unidentified speaker: Yes.

00:49:31Matthew Billington: Thank you for the warm welcome when I got here, Rachel. It's a good time. So what made you get into parkrun?

00:49:37Rachel: um my dog your dog okay my dog and some friends like as far as it's just a really good atmosphere as far as being a friendly friendly place to come and um so my son likes riding his bike so he comes down and rides his bike and I do my parkrun and yeah it's a good place to be

00:49:54Matthew Billington: And a good thing about it, it's right next door to the skate park there, so if your son gets bored, he hangs out there, doesn't he? Yeah, exactly. Excellent. So apart from your dog, what would you say to people to encourage them to get involved in their local community parkrun?

00:50:09Rachel: No one ever comes last, so it's a really good way to actually build your fitness, build your time. I literally used to walk. I then challenged myself to, we have a little oval section, so my first challenge was to run or jog the oval section, then to jog the first K, and now I sort of jog the K, and then the oval section, and now the last K, and just building up. That's good. You've built it up. You've built it up.

00:50:32Matthew Billington: I've got to say, probably the oval is probably the most challenging bit with the grass, particularly if it gets wet.

00:50:37Rachel: Yeah, at first I thought that running on the grass was better than running on the concrete, but then other running people told me, oh, no, you should do it the other way around. I'm like, oh, well, I started with the oval because it was a distance I could see as being, okay, this is my challenge to do this circle.

00:50:53Matthew Billington: Excellent. And how many times have you volunteered? So you're actively involved and you like volunteering?

00:50:59Rachel: Yeah, I'm also the guide leader in town. I was just one of those people that when people are like, oh, we really, really, really need someone, I'm not very good at the no word. So I'm like, okay.

00:51:07Matthew Billington: It's funny how local communities have those sort of people that always put their hands up. So well done, Rachel. That's great. Thank you. So timekeeping, one of your favourite jobs?

00:51:14Rachel: Oh, no, it's actually the first time I've ever done timekeeping. I normally, to be honest, either do the trail walking, so that's what I said, but no one ever comes last. So that's always a great chance to have a chat to different people because there's always someone else to talk to. Or I volunteer over at one of the Marshal bits because my dog and I do... half the walk, stop, cheer everyone on, then we do the other half, and so she still gets her exercise. Today is the first time I've actually done the timekeeping.

00:51:39Matthew Billington: Oh, that's good. Well done. And you're finding the app very easy to use, obviously?

00:51:43Rachel: Oh, yeah. It's really simple. Like, I literally downloaded it when I got here, and the only problem in the rain is that we have one extra position because the rain stopped it once. That's all right. We'll fix that up.

00:51:53Matthew Billington: Oh, the good thing about you can edit that out, so that's excellent. It's always hard to obviously start out in the rain, but I've got to say it's a really good feel for the community that has turned up today. And talking to Andrew before, he was actually surprised by the number that have turned up today, so that's excellent.

00:52:08Rachel: Yeah, it's the first time we've, I mean, rain. We live in a semi-arid desert region in Leeton, so rain is not normally one of our problems, just unfortunately. The last, well, this last season, it has been a huge problem for our whole community. So rain is a little bit of a curse at the moment, but other times of the year, it's an absolute blessing. It's just one of those pros and cons.

00:52:29Matthew Billington: That's good. And the course itself, only a very small part of it is on grass. And I was actually surprised. I thought it would have been a little bit more boggy than what it was. And it was quite, it drained quite well. So really good course for, I think, anything. Yeah.

00:52:43Rachel: The former Australian cricket captain came from Leeton, so that was in his honour.

00:52:47Matthew Billington: Yeah, that's excellent. Now, I did do research on Tubby, so it's good to see that he's the man that's put Leeton on the map, so it's fantastic. Rachel, thanks for your time. No, you're welcome. So now I'm at the famous After parkrun Coffee, and I'm talking now with Marie and Sylvia. Hello, ladies. Hello. Hello. So these ladies were very welcoming and after we finished parkrun, I've got to say, Sylvia actually kept me on my toes today, so thank you for that.

00:53:15Unidentified speaker: You're welcome.

00:53:16Matthew Billington: So these ladies are locals and obviously I can see by their whole feel and attitude that they absolutely love parkrun.

00:53:25Sylvia: Yeah, we do.

00:53:26Matthew Billington: Yeah, every Saturday.

00:53:27Sylvia: Yep.

00:53:28Matthew Billington: So what made you ladies get into it?

00:53:30Sylvia: Well, Andrew, one of the Run Directors, was a guy that I used to work with and he'd been talking about it for, I'm going to say, at least a year or so before it actually got up and running. So I've known about it before its inception and then basically just wanted to support him when he got it up and running.

00:53:50Matthew Billington: Excellent. And what about you, Marie?

00:53:51Marie: Well, I was doing the gym and we had a bit of a running program. And then when I heard about the parkrun, I thought, oh, I might just sign up and see how it goes. So, yeah, so I've got the wristbands and everything now.

00:54:02Matthew Billington: So you've got the merch happening? I've noticed you've got the hat there happening. Oh, in the 25.

00:54:07Sylvia: Oh, yeah, we've got a bit of merch.

00:54:10Matthew Billington: And I did hear a whisper that you've got a milestone next week. Next week. So don't go full live and break any bones or anything like that.

00:54:17Marie: I want a T-shirt.

00:54:18Unidentified speaker: All right.

00:54:20Matthew Billington: So well done on your up-and-coming achievement.

00:54:23Marie: Thank you.

00:54:24Matthew Billington: Thanks. So thanks for your welcome today, ladies, and it's been an absolute pleasure sitting down having coffee and breakfast with you.

00:54:30Marie: Oh, lovely. Same to you. Thank you.

00:54:33Matthew Billington: Well, that's it from me signing off from Leeton. What an awesome event. So if you're ever in the sort of central southern New South Wales area between Griffith and Wagga, make sure you check out Leeton Sports and Recreational Precinct parkrun. Back over to you, Mel and Ollie.

00:55:00Oliver Spake: And thank you, Matthew, for the roving report and congratulations once again on your Obi.

Consolidated Club Report

00:55:07Oliver Spake: Mel, is it time to catch up on the Adventurers Club?

00:55:11Melissa Ellis: We're going from strength to strength, Ollie. The adventurers Consolidated Club report for Saturday, the 4th of June 2022, had a total of 212 members, 166 of which took part on this date at 102 different locations. Where are they, Mel? Oh, glad you asked, Ollie. Yes. In the UK, we had 12 events at Moors Valley, Fell Foot, Heslington, Tewkesbury, Weber, Severn Valley Country, Mallards Pike, Jubilee, Irchester Country, Penryn Campus, Sutcliffe Park and Tidworth. And in Denmark, we had two events, Ollie.

00:55:56Oliver Spake: All right, get the fines ready. Amager Fallet and Amager Strandpark. I don't know how to pronounce these, so I sincerely apologise. I'm butchering them. And two events in Sweden, Skartash and Balaxkogen. That's where my in-laws will be skinning me alive if they hear this. Shall I keep going? Oh, please do. One event in Germany in Hockgraben.

00:56:24Melissa Ellis: Yes, I can take over from here, Ollie.

00:56:26Oliver Spake: Oh, how kind of you.

00:56:28Melissa Ellis: One event in the USA, Joe Creason. One event in South Africa at Atlasville. And one event in the Netherlands, Ollie.

00:56:36Oliver Spake: In Amsterdamse Bos.

00:56:39Melissa Ellis: Locally, we had adventurers at 31 events in Victoria, the greatest state, 19 events in New South Wales, 17 events in Queensland, six events in WA, three in South Australia, one in Tassie, none in ACT, none in the Northern Territory. So the territories, goodness me, this week. Anyway, over the ditch, we had four events on the North Island and one event in the South Island.

00:57:09Oliver Spake: Well, a good performance nonetheless, and I suppose I feel like I should apologise to the good parkrun adventurer community of New South Wales for not sticking up for you every time that... Mel Ellis here calls Victoria the greatest state. Look, Victoria has a long history of being recognised as the greatest or claimed as the greatest state.

00:57:29Melissa Ellis: It was adventurers at 31 different events and I wasn't even in town. Neither was Brendan Peel.

00:57:35Oliver Spake: There's our motivation, people. Let's get out there.

00:57:38Melissa Ellis: You had 19 events. So there's the writing on the wall. And so that means that the majority of listeners are going to agree with me.

00:57:45Oliver Spake: We're the adventuring ones anyway.

the Frond — Lewis Park Reserve parkrun (Bram Cassidy, Irene and Parth Bommakanti, Dawn Branton, Cheryl Smit)

00:57:49Melissa Ellis: But the largest frond this week, Ollie, was at Lewis Reserve who had five adventurers, Bram Cassidy, Irene and Parth Bommakanti, Dawn Branton and Cheryl Smit. And there would have been six if Mark Smit would just come on board.

Sign-off

00:58:06Oliver Spake: Well. A big week for adventuring once again. Thank you for some of those great parkrun locations for taking us out there. Mel, which great parkrun location are you headed to next parkrun day?

00:58:20Melissa Ellis: I've got visitors this week, Ollie. Yes. I'm very excited. Yes. I'm staying home. So after three weeks of ridiculous travels, which I did push myself to do knowing I had a couple of weeks where I was going to be at home. I am going to welcome Luke and Sam Schroder to Ellis Palace and we are going to adventure on Saturday to Altona Beach parkrun. So if you are listening and you are in Victoria and you have not done Altona Beach parkrun and you would like to join the coolest frond going rounds this week, please come and join us at Altona Beach parkrun. You'll be very welcome. On top of that, if you want to come and visit Eynesbury Heritage Trail junior parkrun, said Schroders are also volunteering. So we are also having a Junior Frond at Eynesbury on Sunday. Happy days. Big weekend. Huge weekend.

00:59:14Oliver Spake: I wish you all a very, very happy big parkrun weekend.

00:59:17Melissa Ellis: Thank you. And what's happening in your part of the woods this week, Ollie? Something, I don't think there's much going on locally for you.

00:59:29Oliver Spake: No, Mel, you would be wrong. It is, of course, the eighth birthday, the eighth anniversary of Shellharbour parkrun. So I'm looking forward to being at home and joining the 80s bandwagon. I think there have been some fantastic 80s celebrations. I have seen the Ponds decking their 80s gear. And a special mention to the video that Mount Barker turned out a little while back for their 80s celebration. So no videography coming from us, but there will be some 80s celebrations and a parkrun.

01:00:03Melissa Ellis: Oh. Yes. So just a small little thing. A small little thing, yeah. Probably nobody will come.

01:00:09Unidentified speaker: Oh, yeah.

01:00:13Melissa Ellis: I haven't seen it on social media. Nobody will have listened to the pod by then.

01:00:18Oliver Spake: No, that's true. That's true. That's all right. I'll sit there in my fluoros and eat muffins by myself.

01:00:26Melissa Ellis: Looking forward to seeing your costume. Make sure you get yourself lots of photos.

01:00:31Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:00:31Melissa Ellis: We need lots of selfies. Splash that all over.

01:00:34Oliver Spake: We will do our best, yes. And I have been promised some of the fantastic baking. Our resident baker, Bec Bailey the baker, who baked us some goods for our last parkrun birthday at Shellharbour, which she didn't even attend, is coming this time. So, yeah.

01:00:50Melissa Ellis: Fantastic. Baked goods.

01:00:53Oliver Spake: Yes, we will share the pictures.

01:00:55Melissa Ellis: We shall definitely see those in Dazza's.

01:00:58Oliver Spake: That's right.

01:00:59Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, okay. So it's Battle of the Fronds next week.

01:01:04Oliver Spake: I think we've established it misses the volunteers, Mel.

01:01:10Melissa Ellis: Oh. We win, we win. Oh, we'll see.

01:01:14Oliver Spake: We'll see. We'll see. We do have a volunteerist coming along as well, so very excited for one of our adventurers to come and join us at Shellharbour.

01:01:23Melissa Ellis: Wow. You've racked up a few today.

01:01:25Oliver Spake: Oh, it's an expensive day.

01:01:28Melissa Ellis: Well, it was fun, Ollie. Thank you again for joining me today. Thank you, Mel. For another episode. 288. We're edging closer to the 300, even though it's arbitrary. We're edging closer. But what about 299? Hang on. Yeah, I was going to bring this up with you. Oh, okay. Scotty sang in German on episode 99. How's your Finnish?

01:01:53Oliver Spake: Oh, dear.

01:01:55Melissa Ellis: You watch all those Eurovision things. You must be able to sing in foreign languages.

01:01:59Oliver Spake: Start preparing. Have you seen Finland at Eurovision lately? It's always heavy rock.

01:02:05Melissa Ellis: You've got the wig. I know it. Oh, the wig's gone missing.

01:02:08Oliver Spake: What? The wig's gone missing. That was going to be part of my costume, but I'm having to seek other arrangements with my hair.

01:02:15Melissa Ellis: See, you shouldn't have had that haircut, Ollie.

01:02:20Oliver Spake: It would have taken a while to get to that. Oh, dear. Yes, okay.

01:02:24Melissa Ellis: No, but you're on notice. You've got 11 episodes to come up with a Finnish song because, you know, you can't let Scotty out, do you? You know, we've been doing this for a while now, Ollie. We've got to step up.

01:02:37Oliver Spake: We could just get Scotty back.

01:02:40Melissa Ellis: No, he'll never do that again.

01:02:41Oliver Spake: Oh, dear.

01:02:42Melissa Ellis: I don't think he'll ever do that again.

01:02:44Oliver Spake: Well, you're really making a great case for me to take it on, man. Thank you.

01:02:49Melissa Ellis: Okay, listeners, please write in and show your support to Ollie having a little sing-along at the end of Episode 299. Thank you. That's it from us this week. As always, you can contact us via Facebook or on our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. We'll see you all next week for more adventures.

01:04:21Unidentified speaker: Hello adventurers. Today I was talking to the bike about where we'd go to tour this week. And the bike said, a beach. We should go to a beach. It might even be a frond. I started scratching my head and the bike started mumbling something about feeling abandoned like a Toyota. Even I'm going to have to solve this one.