Episode 290 - 98, 99, 100!

Welcome

00:00:23Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 290 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie Spake and I am joining this week from Dharawal Country.

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

00:00:38Oliver Spake: Wow. 290, Mel. That's getting closer to episode 300 and mathematically even closer to episode 299.

00:00:47Melissa Ellis: I know. I was thinking that, Ollie. I hope your planning's going well.

00:00:53Oliver Spake: No, but yes.

00:00:56Melissa Ellis: How are you, Mel? I am surprisingly well, considering I didn't get to parkrun this week. I don't know if we want to jump into that first before we get to your experience, but we probably should because there's not much to say on my behalf.

00:01:12Oliver Spake: I was going to say, are we ripping the Band-Aid off?

00:01:15Melissa Ellis: Oh, oh.

00:01:18Oliver Spake: How was your Saturday, formerly known as parkrun Day?

00:01:22Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I was dreading it all week. Well, probably for longer than a week, probably from the minute I knew months and months and months ago that I had to not do a parkrun.

00:01:35Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:01:35Melissa Ellis: The day was looming on the calendar. And I can't lie, I was upset. I was unhappy. I just generally was grumpy about the fact that I couldn't go to parkrun on a Saturday morning. And this was all just because I had a work training weekend that I had to attend to. But you know what the funny thing was, Ollie, being at work and being in an environment where I was with like-minded people and it was my family, it was my different family, it wasn't my parkrun family, it was my work family. We were doing training and it was a little bit different, it was a little bit fun. I enjoyed it and I kind of found a little bit guilty that I enjoyed it. I'm like, oh, my goodness, I'm enjoying something that's not parkrun.

00:02:24Oliver Spake: It's okay. parkrun doesn't mind. Thank you.

00:02:28Melissa Ellis: Can I get a note?

00:02:31Oliver Spake: parkrun is happy if you're happy. That sounds positive. There is life outside of parkrun.

00:02:37Melissa Ellis: There is, you know. Don't tell anyone.

00:02:41Oliver Spake: No, no, I think your secret's safe with us.

00:02:44Melissa Ellis: So, yeah, I didn't parkrun and I'm still coming to terms with it, but I still had a very good Saturday morning and Sunday morning because I also couldn't go to juniors, Ollie. Oh, yes. So I had to let my team attend to themselves and they did a brilliant job. They were all over it. They don't even need me.

00:03:04Oliver Spake: I think the highest honour is to just be completely useless. Yeah.

00:03:11Melissa Ellis: I know what you meant.

00:03:12Oliver Spake: Yes, that sounds really quite positive. Who would have thought a double dose of no parkrun would leave you with such a positive tone, Mel?

00:03:21Melissa Ellis: But hang on a minute. So it's not about me this week because clearly I've got nothing exciting to add. You were the one with all the excitement. Ollie, tell us about your parkrun day.

00:03:34Oliver Spake: Well, it was exciting. Thank you, Mel. And I was teetering on the edge of, well, can I go or can't I go? Less on the edge than the balance of my household and some of my other immediate family who joined the fray pretty late on Friday as well. So cut to the chase. I went to Dolls Point. I went to Dolls Point parkrun for their fifth birthday, which was having a kids' party dress-up theme. Dolls Point, for all our regular listeners, as we all know, is the home of Ingrid, one of our beloved parkrun adventurers family. And... Ingrid so kindly was extending the invitation to welcome us all to come and enjoy the beautiful parkrun located there on the shores of Botany Bay near the mouth of the Georges River there and roped the family in very late. Costumes, also Friday night exercise, but we got there. And in the end, Kathy, as well as my mother, as well as Zali, as well as Ava were all jumped in the car and we made it just in time for the first time as welcome at Dolls Point given by the one and only Tracey in a Tutu, who was also attending. It was just a pleasure, Mel, to be joined by parkrunners from near and far, some very familiar faces and some new faces, but someone pretty important was missing and we did miss Ingrid, who unfortunately could not join in the end. Yeah.

00:05:00Melissa Ellis: I'm feeling the hurt. Ingrid, I'm feeling the hurts.

00:05:03Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, yeah. Should we say this week's parkrun adventurers podcast episode is brought to you on behalf of all the people who miss a parkrun week now and then. But look, can I say, Mel, everything Ingrid says is true. I've been to Dolls Point before for Freedom Runs. I've been for a parkrun before. It is beautiful. The weather was beautiful. The birds were wonderful. There were no parrots or lorikeets. There were corellas.

00:05:30Melissa Ellis: Don't you tell me there weren't corrales.

00:05:32Oliver Spake: There were absolutely corrales. Yes, yes. And stay tuned, everyone, later in the podcast for some roving reports. Your parents too. Oh, thank you, Mel. I appreciate that. But what can I say? The volunteers were fantastic. Everyone naturally was in great spirits, as you might hear a little later on. We did take off relatively close to the back of the pack and within 10 metres we were right at the back of the pack. We made good friends with the Tail Walkers very quickly. And, yeah, look, Mel, I'm a bit torn because during the actual parkrun we had one of those moments, one of those do we force the kids to continue along this parkrun course or do we bail? And that's where I have to declare I have a wonderful wife, who rather than let me argue with her, made a pretty quick decision that she was going to be the one that bailed as both Zali and Ava just really weren't up to it. Well, they got 1K out and then turned around, waited there for mum and I to return, and then 1K back. So they did 2Ks in the end, Mel.

00:06:41Melissa Ellis: The perfect junior parkrun distance, can I just say, Ollie? Just hint, hint, hint.

00:06:47Oliver Spake: Yes, that's noted. But it was a nice opportunity to get out there, enjoy fancy dress once again, have a walk with mum, see a lot of people. And when I did finish, to have my barcode scanned by the one and only TOC. Stop, stop, stop. Okay.

00:07:03Melissa Ellis: Please explain your parkrun costume.

00:07:06Oliver Spake: Well, I just took my lead from the invitation, which was suggesting anything that works along the lines of a kid's party theme. So we had Ava with a bit of Harry Potter. We had Zali who just decided to go in her pyjama onesie. We said it was sleepover, but she really just didn't want to get dressed.

00:07:22Melissa Ellis: And Kathy was a cheater.

00:07:23Oliver Spake: Kathy was a cheater. She actually hid some of her cheater outfits too and signed up for the Dirty Cheaters that very morning. But didn't get to complete the parkrun.

00:07:34Melissa Ellis: Oh.

00:07:35Oliver Spake: But for those that may have seen Kathy, you probably haven't noticed, but she loves leopard print, so stay tuned. We'll get her out in full cheetah outfit sometime. Mum was festive and, yes, I happened to have a pirate outfit.

00:07:48Melissa Ellis: Pirate who?

00:07:50Oliver Spake: Jack Sparrow, to be more specific.

00:07:53Melissa Ellis: Of course you were.

00:07:55Oliver Spake: Yes, so the eyeliner got another outing, Mel, and once again.

00:07:59Melissa Ellis: I'm getting a bit worried about you.

00:08:02Oliver Spake: Once again, when I forgot to take it off on Saturday afternoon and I was out at another local music festival, yeah, I think people were quite impressed with my dark eyes.

00:08:15Melissa Ellis: Oh, dear me. I'm going to expect it every time now, are we?

00:08:18Oliver Spake: So long as there's a party, why not?

00:08:21Melissa Ellis: Yep. Okay. palm23 is all about the eyeliner.

00:08:26Oliver Spake: Excellent. I'll have it ready. Yes. So thank you for asking, Mel. It was a fantastic parkrun day. I'm just sorry we missed you, Ingrid.

00:08:34Melissa Ellis: Well, we had some other feedback. From our previous episode 289, Ollie, Karen Hamilton helped out with the name of the cafe that you visited during Coaster Cow's longest run.

00:08:49Oliver Spake: That's right. And that excellent cafe we runner bombed in Picton was Moses Barnes. Thank you, Karen. That completely slipped me. And despite my typing last week, didn't manage to Google that one quickly enough. Highly recommend going there though. [Te Reo Maori: "Prestige, standing, spiritual power or authority — used here of the collective standing of volunteers."]

00:09:04Melissa Ellis: And also, Ollie, Faye. Faye Canberra sent us a message, and she said, Hi, Mel and Ollie. Last week, Anthony and I did the parkrun at Moora WA. Apart from a top 10 finish, there were 11 competitors, but don't tell anyone. It was the most friendly and welcoming group we have ever come across. Coffee afterwards was at a French patisserie called Jean de More. Mora is on the More River. And it was a real hidden gem. Great coffee and French pastries to die for. Definitely one for the Eastern adventurers coming over to WA. Great experience. Thanks, Mora. And Faye said, P.S., Has Informant gone on holidays? Really missed his stats the last couple of weeks. So have we, Mel. We have. And this was addressed at the end of last week's pod, if you listened all the way to the end.

00:10:03Oliver Spake: After the outro music. Yeah, there's a tip. Hmm.

00:10:07Melissa Ellis: You have to listen. It's like the special features.

00:10:11Oliver Spake: Yes. So we're just working through a couple of minor matters.

00:10:15Melissa Ellis: Yeah, just internal conflict resolution.

00:10:18Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. But rest assured, we do miss the informant and we look forward to having the stats back when the time comes.

00:10:27Melissa Ellis: We're hoping that that's going to be sooner than later.

00:10:29Oliver Spake: Yes. Now, Mel, I'm just wondering, on the topic of feedback from episode 289, Karen so thoughtfully did share a bit more information. Continuing my bird education, I've certainly found a very weak spot in my trivia knowledge here, as you've just highlighted for me.

Fines

00:10:48Oliver Spake: So if we could just get the fine counters at the ready, because there's a bit of pronunciation involved here.

00:10:53Melissa Ellis: Actually, is it double demerits this week? I heard reference to it's double demerits. Mm-hmm.

00:10:58Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. So, one of those wonderful items that on this podcast we do fine people for is mispronunciation. So, let's get counting. So, Karen did also comment when she just finished listening to the podcast. Yes, lorikeets are part of the larger parrot order Psittaciformes. Yes. Loriini is the relevant taxonomic group, brushed-tongued nectar and frugivorous parrots from Australasia. And Darwin, who was our Obi winner last week, a rainbow lorikeet, is perhaps not the finest example of an able-bodied Trichoglossus moluccanus. But he does try very hard and would like to thank you for his Obi. Congratulations, Darwin. And I'm sorry for absolutely butchering the terminology.

00:11:53Melissa Ellis: Yeah, Ollie, I think you didn't do too good with it.

00:11:57Oliver Spake: Nope.

00:11:58Melissa Ellis: Doesn't matter. Next time, we'll get Karen to read it herself and insert it in.

00:12:04Oliver Spake: That would have been wise. But thank you, Karen.

parkrun news bulletin

00:12:07Melissa Ellis: about other news Mel what's been happening oh okay well over in nz over across the ditch we had Colin thorns 98 at 98 we did talk about this a few weeks back Ollie that this was approaching And on Saturday at Whangarei, Colin was the top age graded runner at 101.36% with a time of 52.50 in his VM 95 to 99 age group. So we want to send all our best wishes and congratulations to Colin for his big event over there this week at Whangarei.

00:12:50Oliver Spake: 98, that's spectacular. Well done, Colin and everyone at the Whang.

00:12:55Melissa Ellis: Yeah, the countdown's on now for the 100th.

00:12:57Oliver Spake: Yeah, and look, it has been a big week over there in New Zealand, Mel, because as we mentioned briefly last week, as we were heading into the new week, it's actually National Volunteer Week in New Zealand. And for those that aren't aware, National Volunteer Week, otherwise known as Te Wiki Tuao a-Motu, and I apologise for mispronunciation there, honours the collective energies and mana of all volunteers in Aotearoa. They grow our people open minds, open hearts and create joy. And National Volunteer Week this year runs from June 19 to 25. So it's already underway. And certainly over in NZ, the invitation has been to share stories of volunteering and help reshape Mahi Aroha for the future. [Te Reo Maori: "National Volunteer Week (literally 'the national week of volunteering')"] [Te Reo Maori: "New Zealand (literally 'land of the long white cloud')"] [Te Reo Maori: "Volunteering — literally 'work of love', the term used for voluntary service given freely."]

00:13:46Melissa Ellis: And we will hear a little bit more from our New Zealand friends later in the roving reports.

00:13:51Oliver Spake: That's right. Now zipping back to Australia.

00:13:54Melissa Ellis: Zip, zip, definitely. Speed Week out at Sandgate parkrun with their fast runners. Ollie, did you have a look? Did you see the results that they had out there?

00:14:06Oliver Spake: I saw the results and I saw some footage with a whole lot of people casually finishing a parkrun that looked well attended. I think what you probably don't appreciate in watching some of that footage is just the pace at which everyone is consistently finishing a

00:14:21Melissa Ellis: Absolutely unbelievable. So Speed Week 2022, there were two new course records for Sandgate parkrun. The male course record went to Kieran Perkins with a time of 14.14. I don't think that's the Kieran Perkins we remember.

00:14:38Oliver Spake: Not the Australian swimmer, no.

00:14:40Melissa Ellis: No, no, no. Must be some new speedy young whippersnapper parkrunner. And also the female course record for Cara, we'll just go with Cara, with a time of 16.18. They were very fast.

00:14:55Oliver Spake: They were very fast.

00:14:59Melissa Ellis: With some other stats, there were 13 runners under 15 minutes. Yeah. There were 70 runners under 17 minutes. I believe there was 100 runners under 18 minutes and 169 runners under 20 minutes. Like, just wow.

00:15:16Oliver Spake: Yeah, when your 200th finisher is scoring a new PB at 21.09, well done, Brad Carr, by the way, you know it's a fast week.

00:15:26Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. How often do they do this? Is it a one-off once-a-year thing, Ollie? Because Speedy Week 2022 says to me it's an annual thing.

00:15:35Oliver Spake: That says to me also. And while I haven't done the background research there, I do recall it previously at approximately that pace. So look, one to watch out for next year.

00:15:46Melissa Ellis: Yeah. And if you're going to go to Sandgate, don't go that week. Just go the week after.

00:15:51Oliver Spake: Or do if you're after a particularly high finished token number.

00:15:55Melissa Ellis: Yeah, but it must have been a busy week there.

00:15:58Oliver Spake: Well and truly.

00:15:58Melissa Ellis: The stats this week. In the absence of the informants and the industrial action that is ensuing, over the weekend in Australia and New Zealand, there were 455 events. 39,895 walkers, joggers and volunteers enjoyed parkrun on the last Saturday. 1,293 parkrunners joined us for the very first time.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:16:25Melissa Ellis: And there were no launches in Australia or New Zealand. Quiet on one front, but a pretty big week. We're still pushing that 40,000.

00:16:34Oliver Spake: What's that, if you and 104 other parkrunners had have made it, Mel? Oh, geez, Ollie.

00:16:41Melissa Ellis: Really? Ouch. Cut me deep, Shrek. Cut me real deep.

00:16:47Oliver Spake: That was pretty heartless. Sorry, Mel.

00:16:51Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, okay.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:16:52Melissa Ellis: But now we've got some roving reports this week. We have three roving reports coming to us from some events that we have already mentioned, but some voices that we haven't heard for a while. So let's have a listen.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Tony O'Connell — Dolls Point

00:17:16Tony O'Connell: Howdy, parkrunners. Toc reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew.

00:17:20[crosstalk]

Roving report Tracey Wood — Dolls Point

00:17:20Tracey Wood: Toc, Toc, Toc. Hey, Toc. It's Tracey here too.

00:17:23Tony O'Connell: I'm doing a podcast here.

00:17:24Tracey Wood: You forgot me. Toc, I'm here too. It's Tracey. Hi. Good morning, parkrunners. It's Tracey. Sorry, Toc.

00:17:30Tony O'Connell: Hi, Trace. Thank you. I'll keep going, shall I?

00:17:32Tracey Wood: Oh, if you can.

00:17:33Tony O'Connell: OK. We're here at the beautiful Dolls Point and we've got a frond going on today and we reckon we're going to get the biggest numbers out.

00:17:40Tracey Wood: I think so. I've invited even some Queenslanders to come. Yay!

00:17:45Tony O'Connell: And we've got some ACT people and some Victorians. Oh, them too. Oh, we count. I mean, we've made the effort as well.

00:17:52Tracey Wood: Well, okay, okay, fair enough. All right, keep going.

00:17:54Tony O'Connell: So we're at Dolls Point. Dolls Point is an absolutely stunning parkrun. Ingrid is right. This place is gorgeous.

00:18:01Tracey Wood: Unquestionably. Very nice, Ingrid. Thank you for the recommendation.

00:18:06Tony O'Connell: Dolls Point parkrun course is an out-and-back course. You run basically along the edge of Botany Bay, and Botany Bay, this area apparently has the whitest sand in the whole of Sydney.

00:18:16Tracey Wood: I didn't see any whales, Toc. Were there whales?

00:18:19Tony O'Connell: No, no, no. I'm trying to record here, Trace. OK. I'll keep going, shall I?

00:18:23Tracey Wood: I'm looking for whales. Toc.

00:18:24Tony O'Connell: Yeah, no, look, if you look at the aeroplanes, I'll keep talking.

00:18:26Tracey Wood: Oh, planes.

00:18:28Tony O'Connell: So Botany Bay, you run along with it on one side and this park lands the entire course on your other side. So it's a beautiful course.

00:18:35Tracey Wood: It's very pretty, Toc. Have you told them that?

00:18:37Tony O'Connell: Yeah, I think so, Trace. I think I'm trying to record, Trace. Okay. Yeah. So, no, look, we're out. We've had a bit of a recording. We've had our run. It's absolutely stunning. It's Dolls Point Fifth parkrun birthday.

00:18:47Tracey Wood: Oh, there's cupcakes and there's lollies. I've had lollies. They were good. And cupcakes. They were very good too.

00:18:52Tony O'Connell: I think you've had sugar, haven't you?

00:18:54Tracey Wood: Just a little bit.

00:18:56Tony O'Connell: Yes, we've had sugar. Okay. Okay, so it's her fifth birthday. Lots of people hanging around. In costumes.

00:19:02Tracey Wood: It's fun. It's my favourite thing.

00:19:04Tony O'Connell: All right, I think I'm going to draw a line there. I think I'm going to go and interview someone a bit more sensible that hasn't had so much sugar, Trace.

00:19:11Tracey Wood: Oh, Tom. Don't go. Tom. Tom. Okay. Bye.

00:19:18Tony O'Connell: G'day parkrunners, we're just at the end of the finish line. We're with the Barcode Scanners here and I'm with Sharon. Sharon, you've been very bright and bubbly today.

00:19:26Sharon: Oh yes, thank you.

00:19:28Tony O'Connell: So you're enjoying the birthday for Dolls Point?

00:19:30Sharon: I am. It's a great birthday celebration. Love the cake and the lollies.

00:19:35Tony O'Connell: And you've got lots of people in costume, and what are we, we're nearly an hour into parkrun, and there's probably still 100 people gathered around, so that's always a good thing.

00:19:44Sharon: It is, it's always a good thing, yes. So many people coming to visit, it's so nice, yeah.

00:19:48Tony O'Connell: And what's your background with the local Dolls Point parkrun?

00:19:53Sharon: Well, I started doing Dolls Point parkrun, this was my first one, and I've been coming since, and I got into volunteering, which is really good, yeah.

00:20:03Tony O'Connell: Yep, and have you done many of the other parkruns around?

00:20:06Sharon: I've been to a few around, yeah, but I do love Dolls Point because it's just on the water and it's just the best flat parkrun. The best parkrun in Sydney, I think.

00:20:15Tony O'Connell: I think we've heard that so many times from Ingrid before. Yes. And just quietly, I think she might be right. Yep, yep. And we've just had people come in saying there's a couple of big pods of dolphins today off the course. There's not many courses where you see dolphins.

00:20:30Sharon: No, there isn't. See, we are the best in Sydney.

00:20:34Tony O'Connell: No, look, it's a lovely course. I really love having the bay on the one side of you, the parkland on the other side. It's just a gorgeous course you've got here.

00:20:43Sharon: It is. It's a gorgeous course, gorgeous community. We just love the parkrun community at Dolls Point. It's really good.

00:20:49Tony O'Connell: Dolls Point sort of almost to me looks like a little tucked away heaven part of Sydney. Like you're tucked away out, you're off the main road. It's just a little beautiful area.

00:21:00Sharon: It is, yep. If you're ever in Sydney, wander down to Dolls Point. You'll never regret it.

00:21:06Tony O'Connell: You might not want to leave.

00:21:07Sharon: Exactly, yep. So you're staying? Well, till tomorrow anyway.

00:21:14Tony O'Connell: No, look, it's been an absolutely gorgeous course to come and do. Great community, lots of chatter out on the course. And it's just great to see so many people engage with parkrun.

00:21:24Sharon: It is. It's great. We love volunteering here. We love running here.

00:21:29Tony O'Connell: Well done. It's a great community. Well done.

00:21:31Tracey Wood: Thank you. Hello again, parkrunners. And I have found Ali here at Dolls Point. Now, Ali, what is your job here today? My job today is to do the run report. Ali is the run Report Writer. How about that? I haven't interviewed anyone for that job before. Ali, what does a run Report Writer do?

00:21:51Unidentified speaker: Well, generally what we do is we write up all of the stats from the day's event, how many people ran, maybe where some of the tourists were from, how many people got... personal best and how many first timers we got but I like to do a particular twist to it which is I like to find some theme from the day whether or not it was we had lots of dogs or today we had dolphins out on the bay no way and I try to throw in as many puns as possible about that theme

00:22:22Tracey Wood: Excellent. I'm looking forward to it already. Now, Ali, have you been a participant here at Dolls Point for a while?

00:22:28Unidentified speaker: Dolls Point is my home run. I joined in 2019, I think. So not terribly long before the pandemic hit, but all of the Dolls Point community actually kept me pretty sane in the first lockdown as well. Oh, okay.

00:22:43Tracey Wood: Why do you love this community so much?

00:22:45Unidentified speaker: Oh, I just love that there is a group of people that show up every Saturday to be out in the environment, doing something healthy for themselves and cheering each other on while they're doing it.

00:22:55Tracey Wood: Oh, awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you for talking with me. I'll let you go eat your very cute cupcake. Happy birthday, Dolls Point, and see you another time. See you soon. Bye.

00:23:06Tony O'Connell: Righty-o, Trace, I think it's time to do a sign-off. I don't know about you, what do you think? Do we agree with Ingrid? Is this the prettiest parkrun in Sydney?

00:23:16Tracey Wood: Well, let me count the number of parkruns in New South Wales I've done. Two, the other one being St Peter's. So, yes, I'd have to say, yes, it's the prettiest parkrun in Sydney and no offence to St Peter's.

00:23:28Tony O'Connell: It's been a pretty awesome day, hasn't it? There's a great crew here. We're probably 20 minutes after parkrun's finished. There's still a few people standing around chatting. The coffee shop looks like it's getting hammered. There's so many people walking over to it, which is a good thing, but it might mean Our Park bath goes for a while today.

00:23:45Tracey Wood: Oh, quite possibly.

00:23:46Tony O'Connell: What time's your flight? One o'clock. Well, you've got plenty of time to have coffee.

00:23:51Tracey Wood: Ooh. Coffee! Coffee! I like coffee. Coffee's good.

00:23:54Tony O'Connell: Coffee's good. Coffee and more sugar. More sugar.

00:23:56Tracey Wood: Yes! It's fine. But yes, Toc, it's a great vibe here this morning. It's been lots of fun. Lots of really lovely people I've spoken to out on the course afterwards. I loved all the chalk drawings on the path. Someone went to an awful lot of trouble with those.

00:24:11Tony O'Connell: There's an incredible amount of chalk on the path. That's something I noticed as I came in today. There's just chalk, not the whole length, but... right up the far end at the turnaround. But around where you first get onto the path, it's every couple of metres. They've done a sensational job and it's really great, interesting to read. I had to slow down to read it.

00:24:31Tracey Wood: Yeah, someone who's very clever with their chalk work. Very clever.

00:24:35Tony O'Connell: I think we'll sign off there, Trace. It's been an awesome day. I think so too. Great parkrun. Dolls Point is beautiful, Ingrid. Wish you had have been here.

00:24:42Tracey Wood: Yeah, miss you, Ingrid. Bye. Bye, parkrunners.

Roving report Sarah Jefferson — Cottesloe

00:24:48Sarah Jefferson: Good morning parkrun adventurers, it's Sarah here on the West Side and I am here with Brett Suwan this morning. So Brett is one of the newest RDs on the block here at Cottesloe parkrun and I thought I would have a quick chat to him about this role. So firstly thanks Brett for all that you do for the parkrun community and for Cottesloe parkrun. Can you tell us a little bit about how this morning's event panned out?

00:25:10Brett Suwan: Well, it was a very windy morning this morning. We had about 35 knots apparently, but it looks like about 50 knots out there to me. So we nearly all got blown away. I thought we were going to struggle for volunteers, but we had a complete full deck of volunteers and not a huge number of runners. But it all worked out OK in the end.

00:25:30Sarah Jefferson: Awesome. So in kilometres, that would be?

00:25:33Brett Suwan: About 60 kilometres an hour.

00:25:35Sarah Jefferson: Yes, it was pretty nasty out there. Can you please tell the listeners a little bit about your parkrun journey so far?

00:25:41Brett Suwan: So I actually started running in Singapore. I'd met a friend at a bar who said that's what they were doing the next morning. So I went with him and... I ran there. Very different conditions up there, of course. A lot hotter. We started a bit earlier and not windy at all and completely flat. So when I came back to Perth, when I moved back to Perth, I thought I've looked up my closest parkrun and Cottesloe was it. So pretty unique parkrun down on the beach. And so I've been running here ever since.

00:26:13Sarah Jefferson: Very interesting. Normally, if I talk to someone at a bar before parkrun, I generally don't get to parkrun. So can you tell us a little bit about how you actually got into becoming a Run Director?

00:26:24Brett Suwan: I got roped in. I looked like a responsible adult and I got roped in.

00:26:30Sarah Jefferson: And aren't we thankful for that? Well, I do have a few good ideas. So obviously there are some challenges and there are lots of positives that come with parkrun directing. So could you share a couple of positive experiences you've had so far?

00:26:46Brett Suwan: Yeah, look, it's a great little community and the regular volunteers are really nice people who don't have a lot to get out of it, but they just enjoy giving into it. And yeah, I think within the runners themselves as well, we get a pretty good, people will generally volunteer pretty well. So yeah, no, it's just a nice sense of community.

00:27:05Sarah Jefferson: And they are definitely thankful as well.

00:27:07Brett Suwan: Yeah, people are definitely very appreciative of it.

00:27:11Sarah Jefferson: What's one of the things that you find tricky, I guess, during the week managing or on the day? One of the hardest things.

00:27:16Brett Suwan: Well, the hardest thing is making sure you've got enough volunteers, of course. And, you know, getting to the middle of the week and not having enough is always a bit scary. But, you know, they tend to come out of the woodwork. We've never struggled to, well, we've struggled, but we've never not had enough volunteers to make the thing go in the end. So that can be a bit hair-raising towards Thursday night or Friday morning, but generally we get there.

00:27:37Sarah Jefferson: The power of community. That's right. It all comes together. So if there are any listeners out there thinking, oh, maybe I would like to wear that run directing vest one day or they might have heard a call out from their local event and they require new Run Directors, what would you say to them?

00:27:53Brett Suwan: I'd say, look, it's not a huge amount of work and it's a huge amount of fun.

00:27:57Sarah Jefferson: Good advice. Good advice. So, Brett, is there an interesting parkrun story you'd like to share with the listeners this morning? I know that every person has at least one interesting parkrun story.

00:28:08Brett Suwan: Perhaps my most serendipitous parkrun story occurred in London in the winter of 2018. So we were there on holiday and I decided to do the Wormwood Scrubs parkrun. So I pitched up on a Boris bike, which caused a bit of discussion with a bloke called Peter Beverley. Anyway, after we'd done the parkrun, which was a bit like doing three laps of a peak bog, we decided that we'd take our respective daughters, because he had daughters about the same age, and go for a beer that evening. Anyway, turns out that his daughters are super famous in the UK. One's called Grace Beverley, and the other one, her Instagram handle is foodfitnessflora. You can look them up. But Grace Beverly has over a million followers and Flora has about 100,000 or so. We didn't meet Grace, but we did meet Flora and we struck up a great conversation with her before we all went on our evening that evening. So there you go. It's the famous people you meet in a podcast.

00:29:07Sarah Jefferson: Well, thank you again for all that you do for the Cottesloe parkrun community. We are very thankful. After parkrun this morning, I thought I might just go for a little stroll along the waterfront at the beach here to see if I can see anything washed up. But I haven't seen anything except for huge mounds of seaweed. Hmm. I wonder if I would ever find any treasure washed up on the beach. Hmm. Not here today.

Roving report Tania — Pegasus

00:29:31Tania: Morning parkrun adventurers, this is Tania from Pegasus parkrun which is about 30km north of Christchurch in the lovely South Island of New Zealand. We're about a chilly 2 degrees this morning and the sunrise is just coming up over the lake. Pegasus is celebrating their sixth birthday this week and we've got a rainbow theme going on with lots of amazing costumes so far this morning. It's only early so I'm sure we'll see a few more as the morning goes on. I'll see if I can hunt down Geoff, our founder of Pegasus parkrun and we'll get a few words from him. Hold fire. Right, I'm with Geoff now, and we'll just ask him this morning how this whole parkrun thing came about. Morning, Geoff.

00:30:20Geoff: Good morning, Tania. How are you? Yeah, I'm well, and you? Yeah, good, good. Well, to begin with, we're here at Pegasus parkrun's sixth birthday. There's a hell of a lot of us that are crazily dressed up. But let's go back six years and a little bit more and why Pegasus parkrun came about. I had had a fairly major heart attack and I had decided some time beforehand that I wanted to get back into some form of running. I had done a couple of duathlons beforehand and so I looked into Google for 5k runs because that was the general distance involved in the duathlons I was doing. It's bloody disturbing look at my face in this phone again. Ah, it's gorgeous. So the first thing that popped up in actual fact was Hagley parkrun and I had a look at it and I thought, hmm, I'll give that a crack. So I went along and the first time I went to their parkrun was their 10th parkrun so I was relatively early in it, thought this isn't bad, did a couple of runs and then started talking to the Run Director and others in the core group. Decided that it was relatively easy to put a parkrun together at that stage and so began scouting out a course. Now this course here had actually been used for duathlon and triathlon at the time, and it was a 5K course, so it wasn't really all that hard to make the decision. And that was the birth of it.

00:31:53Tania: And the great thing about this parkrun is that we get people from all abilities, and, you know, you don't have to be a parkrunner. You can be a parkwalker. You can be a dog.

00:32:07Geoff: Or as we call them, a barkrunner.

00:32:08Tania: Yeah. But yeah, it's an awesome event and I've been loving the whole couple of years that I've been involved in it.

00:32:16Unidentified speaker: So yeah, thanks Geoff for your initiation of this event.

00:32:21Tania: Okay, so I've got another parkrunner here who obviously I know really well. So I've got Brett with me now who has completed his 100th parkrun today. Hey Brett, how are you going?

00:32:32Brett Bailey: Yeah, good. Thanks, Tania. So today was my 100th parkrun. It's taken a while to get over the line because we've had lots of delays with COVID and isolations and lockdowns. But my first parkrun was in Huskisson on 15th December 2018. And Our daughter Rebecca, aka Bec, is pretty much to blame for that. She took us to Husky and we got hooked from then on. I've done 92 at Pegasus and also Mackay, Vastie Lakes, Parramatta, Blenheim in New Zealand, Hagley, Lower Hutt and Wanaka. We just love doing parkrun. I mostly have Brunner our dog with us and he's pretty well known at Pegasus. He gets pretty excited during the welcome and he tows me round and usually I swap him over to Tony on the way round. So we're coming over the ditch in October to do Shellharbour, and Bathurst, and we're going to be doing the Mount Panorama Punisher. And then we're also booked to come over to WA for palm23. So we're really looking forward to meeting everybody who we've been listening to on the podcast, which we listen to every week. So just love doing parkrun and love to be involved. So thanks.

00:33:51Tania: Cool, thanks for that. We're all done for the day, so we've had 83 participants today, and also we had cookies and lollies for the 100th, and then we went to the cafe, the flat white at Pegasus baked us a birthday cake, rainbow themed of course, and enjoyed that, and we always do the weekly quiz when we get to the cafe. So that's us for the morning. It's a great way to start our weekend and we always look forward to it week after week, as mad as we are. So thanks adventurers and we'll talk to you again soon. Bye.

00:34:35Oliver Spake: And thank you to our handful of roving reporters this week, Tracey and TOC. Wonderful to see you both and to hear from you from the frond at Dolls Point, chatting with a couple of the team there and a new volunteer role for Tracey Mel.

00:34:49Melissa Ellis: Yes, I do believe so. She interviewed Ellie who writes the Run Report, so she's ticked that one off her list as well.

00:34:57Oliver Spake: That's right. And Sarah over at Cottesloe with a new RD, Brett. So good work, Brett. Lovely to hear a bit of Brett's experience so far. With a whole lot of festivities, I have to say a big thank you to Tania for the marvellous report from Pegasus' rainbow-themed day and a snapshot of all the fun. And well done, Brett. Congratulations on finally making that milestone. We look forward to seeing you both later this year.

00:35:22Melissa Ellis: And Brett's first parkrun, was it Husky Ollie?

00:35:26Oliver Spake: Yes, just down the road from me.

00:35:28Melissa Ellis: I know. That's really close to home for you.

00:35:31Oliver Spake: It sure is a pretty good spot to start, I must say.

00:35:35Melissa Ellis: Ollie, going back to Sarah. Yes. She hasn't found the bottle yet.

00:35:38Oliver Spake: No.

00:35:39Melissa Ellis: I threw it in the ocean. I promise I did.

00:35:41Oliver Spake: It was a big throw. It was. It was a big throw. Yeah. I heard the boom from here.

00:35:46Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, it should turn up soon, Sarah. Yes. You can't tell with these currents how long it's going to take.

00:35:53Oliver Spake: If it doesn't show up, we'll have to use the, I was going to say old-fashioned, but I suppose the new-fashioned version, email Mel. How's that for a segue? Okay.

00:36:02Melissa Ellis: I like your segue, Ollie, but I'm committed to old school. I really want Sarah to find our bottle.

Emails

00:36:08Melissa Ellis: But yes, Ollie, we've got mail.

00:36:10Oliver Spake: You've got mail. We do. What have we got, Mel?

00:36:13Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, our friend, our old mate, Bruce Purdy, the ideas man. He's got more ideas, Ollie. You're going to love him.

00:36:22Oliver Spake: I love Bruce's idea.

00:36:23Melissa Ellis: He's got another suggestion for your song for episode 299, Ollie. Plastic Bertrand, Ca plane pour moi. Are you familiar with this?

00:36:34Oliver Spake: Song?

00:36:34Melissa Ellis: Well, yes, Ollie. Eurovision was the word I was looking for.

00:36:39Oliver Spake: Well, I know it's European. I'm not sure of its origins, but I will say oui. Oui? Oui.

00:36:45[laughter]

00:36:49Melissa Ellis: Oh, you're so funny. Okay. Okay, well, you better start practicing then. Because you just said yes, you're on board.

00:36:56Oliver Spake: That was yes to being familiar, but okay. Thank you for the suggestion, Bruce. That's a great suggestion. I've never taken French, but we've all got to start somewhere, I suppose.

00:37:06Melissa Ellis: What's your language of preference, Ollie? Bruce might like to know with his searching skills.

00:37:13Oliver Spake: Well, I mean, my language education that is foreign language education has been fairly brief, limited to primary school and high school. I did two years of Indonesian.

00:37:23Melissa Ellis: No, I'm thinking Finnish. I just get the Finnish vibe.

00:37:26Oliver Spake: Swedish, Swedish. Oh, see?

00:37:29Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I prompt you a little bit and out it comes.

00:37:32Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. I can't speak Swedish, but at least I've got a support crew here.

00:37:37Melissa Ellis: Okay, so don't give up, Bruce. Keep trying. We're looking forward to next week's suggestion.

00:37:43Oliver Spake: Well, and, you know, is this where I say ABBA sing in English quite frequently?

00:37:48Melissa Ellis: No, no, no, no, no. Scotty didn't sing in English. That's very true.

00:37:55Oliver Spake: Moving right along, I believe we also heard from Ian Shaw. Shall I read out Ian's email, Mel?

00:38:02Melissa Ellis: Okay, seeing as we're changing the subject.

00:38:04Oliver Spake: Ian said, great to see Ollie and the gang out at Dolls Point parkrun this morning and to meet Tracey Wood in a tutu in person too. Mm-hmm.

00:38:12[22 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:38:34Oliver Spake: On the topic of fines, I believe Tony O'Connell, Toc, generated his own reason to be fined. It just is not right to finish a parkrun ahead of yours truly wearing a Po Teletubby outfit. There I was in my running kit, noticed Toc was there who runs at a somewhat similar pace to me, although I'm still struggling to recapture desirable pace after 18 plus months worth of injury rehab. Seeing his fancy dress this morning, along with Ollie's pirate attire, I thought, woohoo, there's two adventurers that will finish behind me today. But no, Toc, Po Dressup and all decided to wait until the fifth kilometre to just casually stroll past me. That is not right. It's showing off and it's fine worthy. Evidence of fine worthiness. You just don't run a good parkrun time wearing that. And Ian sent us a photo of himself with Toc and Jack wearing the Teletubby suit.

00:39:31Melissa Ellis: Oh. I just want to say, though, to Ian, you're not gatecrashing. You're part of it. parkrun adventurers. You're one of us. One of us. One of us. So welcome, Ian, and if you would like to add the parkrun adventurers to one of your five parkrun groups on your parkrun profile, you'd be more than welcome.

00:39:56Oliver Spake: You're welcome anyway.

00:39:57Melissa Ellis: Absolutely.

00:39:58Oliver Spake: But I look forward to number three and I'll gladly wear a fine if I catch up with you at number three too, Ian.

00:40:05Melissa Ellis: It's a bit rude, Ollie. Did you run past him?

00:40:08Oliver Spake: Oh, no, I did not run. I was third last, so I didn't run past him. I certainly didn't.

00:40:13Melissa Ellis: You were swaggering at the end in your Captain Sparrow attire.

Dazza's

00:40:17Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:40:18Melissa Ellis: We're up to Dazza's Ollie, and this week Dazza has said, one of Dazza's favourite things on Saturday is hearing about all the friendships that you have made thanks to parkrun, whether it's here on social media or in real life. Like Mel and Sam last weekend, who are your parkrun friends and how did you spend your parkrun morning? Come on in and tell us.

00:40:41Oliver Spake: And that was a particularly nice theme. I just have to shout out. I mean, we can't read out everyone's sharing on this week's pod, but it's worth checking out. If you haven't been to Dazza's, some of the lovely, lovely friendship stories sitting in there. But Mel, the mysterious one that always gets me, Steve Spike, welcome back, popped in and did post saying, Morning Dazza. As the captain joined the valley, they yelled, Beam me up, Scotty. As this will be the arbitrary 50th different parkrun for me this weekend, I'll be joined by a number of my relatives on both sides of my family. Happy parkrun Day all.

00:41:20Melissa Ellis: That was brilliant. And big congratulations to Steve Spike for his half Cowell. Yes. His Cowell. Well done. And I didn't understand. I'm not very good with cryptic clues. I couldn't do cryptic crosswords. And I took the easy option because I am friends with Steve Spike. So I cheated and And looked up where he ran and then I went, oh, and understood the cryptic reference.

00:41:53Oliver Spake: I don't have a clue.

00:41:55Melissa Ellis: You'll have to meet Steve Spike then and then you can get the inside info, Ollie.

00:42:00Oliver Spake: Yep, I believe so.

00:42:01Melissa Ellis: But we also heard from Ingrid Botha. I'll be spending Dolls Point's fifth birthday doing a nottie around my house on the third day of ISO. Could always be worse. And me and Ingrid, we were vibing because we were both missing out on parkrun. I wasn't in the same situation as Ingrid, but I felt her pain.

00:42:26Oliver Spake: Yes. So it was very nice to have you join us at Dazza's Ingrid, and we look forward to seeing you back at a parkrun very soon. Probably Dolls Point.

00:42:36Melissa Ellis: I might see her sooner.

00:42:38Oliver Spake: Okay. All right. Moving along to a very well-liked post from Sam Schroder who said, I could write for hours about the beautiful friends I've made thanks to parkrun. But clicking with Mel and realising how similar our lives have been has been such a gift for me. I love this Dazza's post pic of us and what it represents about our friendship, thanks to parkrun and this pod. Today, we saw our lovely friends, Karen and Ralph, at Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens parkrun. And we also saw the lovely Natalie and her son Matthew. Isn't it true that parkrun, friendship and community are synonymous?

00:43:19Melissa Ellis: I think it's very true.

00:43:21Oliver Spake: It certainly is. Thank you, Sam. Well said. And Sam did share a photo there of her taking the selfie with some of the gang in the selfie frame behind.

00:43:31Melissa Ellis: We also heard from Brett Bailey over in New Zealand. He said, Hi, Dazza. Today I finally got to complete my 100th parkrun. There have been delays with COVID, pauses, isolation and lockdowns, but it's nice to get over the line. Tail walked with Brunner for our Pegasus sixth birthday and rainbow theme with 83 parkrunners in a brisk two degrees and overcast conditions. Cookies and lollies then down to the flat white for coffee, scone and celebration cake. And Brett shared a photo of himself in the 100 shirt with the selfie frame plus an early flag light shot well done and I do like that cafe name by the way Mel the flat white yes yes synonymous with Pegasus that's right now

00:44:20Oliver Spake: Coming to us from a home parkrun was Michael Gentle, who said, Hi Dazza, this morning I was honoured to be a part of a special encore performance of the world's greatest frond at Shellharbour parkrun. We had Uber adventurer Chris Fraser handing out free finish tokens to anyone who crossed the finish line, with me rounding these people up and confiscating the tokens straight after. Over the course of my parkrun journey, I have met so many wonderful people and made some great friends. Together, we have shared adventuring road trips and countless parkrun day coffees. The community spirit of parkrunners everywhere is one of support, encouragement and mateship with a shared passion each Saturday. Thank you to each and every parkrunner. Together, you all help put a smile on my face every week.

00:45:11Melissa Ellis: Well, Ollie, that was a great post from Michael. And just personally, I'm going to offer Michael amnesty for his reference to that parkrun that shall not be named. You're not getting fined, Michael. Sorry, Ollie, I'm making that call this week. And I really like this post. Thank you. That's fair.

00:45:31Oliver Spake: Now, skipping along.

00:45:33Melissa Ellis: Hang on. How come you got the next one? Where's my turn?

00:45:37Oliver Spake: Yeah, sorry, Mel. That's all right. Okay. We also heard from Jacqui O'Connell, who was at a frond, who said, Hi, Dazza. I have made so many friends through parkrun in every state and territory in Australia, as well as overseas. Today's adventure was to Dolls Point for their fifth anniversary. And Jackie did share a bit of a selfie, a friendly selfie with a Teletubby. Thanks, Jack.

00:46:02Melissa Ellis: Beautiful. Okay. And we heard from Paris Lawrence who had an achievement, an arbitrary achievement, but an achievement nonetheless. My 200th parkrun and Paris shared a photo of herself and a star balloon in the selfie frame, at Avondale University College parkrun. Thanks for checking into Dazza's Paris.

00:46:26Oliver Spake: Keep up the good work, yes. Now, over in South Africa, Johan checked in on my way to Namibia with what we call a Kaapse draai, significant detour, to do my flake event at Langebaan parkrun, Weather was a bit dodgy, but all well in the end with a bit of slip and slides. And Johan shared a very nice landscape shot with the water and town in the distance over the land. Plus, Mel, a 99 ice cream photo. [Afrikaans: "'Cape turn' — a long, roundabout detour taken to reach somewhere. Johan glosses it himself in the next breath as "significant detour"."] [translation uncertain]

00:46:56Melissa Ellis: I know, we're learning all about this now. Who knew that this was such a thing?

00:47:00Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:47:01Melissa Ellis: Well done, Johan, and I believe Johan can't do any more adventures for a while now, so I'm feeling your pain, Johan. But we also heard Ollie from my friend, Abby's mum. You know her as Renee Jackson, who was volleying this last week. Happy birthday, Renee, as well. It was her birthday this last weekend.

00:47:24Oliver Spake: Yes, happy birthday.

00:47:25Melissa Ellis: A great morning for the Jackson girls, giving mum a birthday gift of parkrun volunteering at Werribee Mansion, followed by coffee with friends. We've been so very lucky to have made some really great friends through parkrun. Hang on, Ollie, why did you give me this one, Jeremy?

00:47:42Unidentified speaker: read.

00:47:44Melissa Ellis: I continue. Some didn't give me much choice. Melissa Ellis springs to mind with her mad stalking skills and I wouldn't change a thing. So grateful. And Renee shared a photo of herself with her beautiful girls, Abigail and Hannah in front of the Werribee Mansion. And wow, I am known to have stalked Renee in times past, but we do happen to be good friends and it's all a lot of good fun.

00:48:17Oliver Spake: Absolutely. Now, we also heard from Tracy May, who shared with us, Local adventuring to our NENDY today at Huntington parkrun before heading back to Irchester country for the next couple of weeks to spend time with friends we have made at our home parkrun. And Tracy shared the photo as a selfie with the Huntington sign.

00:48:37Melissa Ellis: We love to hear from our friends in the UK and we also heard from Helen Davis with her European vacation who said, well, I met up with Christine Imbert this morning at Hastings in the UK for the first time ever. I have known her for quite a long time through the World Tourist Group and then became Facebook friends more recently through the adventurers Group. I also recently met some wonderful people from Germany and the UK in Sweden and look forward to catching up with many of them just as soon as possible. I love parkrun and the friends I've made through it. And Helen shared a lovely photo of herself and Christine in front of the Hastings sign.

00:49:20Oliver Spake: I think some great reflections this week, Mel. So, yeah, as I said before, thank you, everyone. It really is lovely to see the connections that people make through parkrun and just how far that can really grow.

00:49:34Melissa Ellis: Yes. Before we get to the Obi winner, Ollie, can I just step in and say that my post wasn't read out because I wasn't at parkrun and I wasn't the most liked person. So I didn't have my post read. But one thing that I want to articulate is that I've got friends I've not made yet, which I love, have termed my FINMIs. Do you like that acronym? I like it.

00:50:06Oliver Spake: It's apt.

00:50:06Melissa Ellis: One of my goals is to get around to meet all those FINMIs in real life.

00:50:13Oliver Spake: Because we wind up with a lot of them, don't we, Mel? We do. There are a lot of forums, a lot of connections, certainly a couple of podcasts as well where we all get to get a bit of a sense of who's out there and who's on our level or who's on another level. That's pretty cool as well. And it's kind of special to get to meet them in person.

00:50:33Melissa Ellis: It absolutely is. And it just reinforces the bonds that we've made through parkrun when we do connect with those people in real life.

the Obi Award — Brett Bailey

00:50:42Melissa Ellis: But I digress and let's move on to the Obi winner. Do you have the envelope?

00:50:49Oliver Spake: I do have the envelope.

00:50:51Melissa Ellis: Fantastic. So drum roll.

00:50:55[music]

00:50:55Oliver Spake: Okay. And Mel, the Obi this week goes to... Brett Bailey. Congratulations, Brett. Across the ditch. That's right. That's right. With some great festivities, a long-awaited milestone, and I'd say a touch of fin-mise. Mel? Absolutely.

00:51:25Melissa Ellis: I agree.

00:51:25Oliver Spake: So congratulations.

00:51:27Melissa Ellis: Congratulations, Brett. Thank you.

Consolidated Club Report

00:51:37Oliver Spake: So Mel, what are we up to in the Adventurers Club in the Consolidated Club Report?

00:51:44Melissa Ellis: So this week, Ollie, the adventurers Consolidated Club report for Saturday the 18th of June 2022, we had a total of 224 members. 170 members took part on this date at 95 different locations. In the UK, there were 20 events at Southampton, Margate, Rushmoor, Hastings, Lydiard, Lydiard, Bath Skyline, Cirencester, Pontefract, Stonehaven, Walsall Arboretum, Kings Lynn, Huntington, Henlow Bridge Lakes, Halston Magpies, Crosby, Macclesfield, Tooting Common, Sutcliffe, Severn Bridge and Jesmond Dene. In South Africa, we had two events at Langebaan and Atlasville and one event in the Netherlands at Maxima and one event in Germany at Friedrichsau. Locally, there were adventurers at 26 events in Victoria, 18 events in Queensland, 12 events in New South Wales, five in WA, two in Tassie, Four in South Australia, none in Northern Territory or the ACT this week, but three on the North Island of New Zealand and one on the South Island.

00:53:15Oliver Spake: And we know where that was.

the Frond

00:53:16Melissa Ellis: Ah, so that means that our largest frond was 11 at Dolls Point, where we had Eman and Kristine Vergara, Toc and Jacqui O'Connell, Nicole Robinson, Patrick Peacock, Patty Oshimo, Tracey Wood, Caro Vos, Gaillyn Cooper, and some random guy dressed as Jack Sparrow.

00:53:41Oliver Spake: And not three others, unfortunately.

00:53:44Melissa Ellis: Oh.

00:53:45Oliver Spake: Yes. And what about the fronds, Mel?

00:53:48Melissa Ellis: The fronds. We know that there were four at Werribee Mansion who were Renee, Hannah and Abigail Jackson and Robin Rishworth and four at the parkrun that shall not be named, which were Gordon and Julie Turner, Michael Gentle and Chris Fraser. Wow. If you know of other volunteer fronds that we haven't mentioned, Well, we apologise. Next week, let us know and we will mention them.

00:54:18Oliver Spake: That's right. Great work, everyone. Another big week, lots of locations and, yeah, a lot of new parkruns that I want to go and visit. So thank you for the inspiration.

00:54:29Melissa Ellis: It's getting bigger and bigger every week, Ollie. This week, again, the UK was our second biggest locality. Yeah.

00:54:39Oliver Spake: Yes, it is.

00:54:40Melissa Ellis: After Victoria, because Victoria's still one.

Sign-off

00:54:42Melissa Ellis: Just saying.

00:54:43Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. Look, there are some pretty amazing locations in there. A lot of diversity. And yeah, look, in some areas, people seem to be congregating quite a lot. But... But... Mel, I want to know, are you back at parkrun next week?

00:55:01Melissa Ellis: I've got an adventure.

00:55:04Oliver Spake: Oh, okay.

00:55:05Melissa Ellis: I'm very excited. I knew that I was going to be really grumpy after missing a parkrun, so I deliberately planned a very exciting week for the week following my non-event. Yes. I'm going to New Farm. Well, I hope I'm going to. I'm going to Queensland, Ollie. And I hope it's New Farm. I'm hoping, hoping, hoping. Okay.

00:55:30Oliver Spake: Well, that's pretty exciting.

00:55:32Melissa Ellis: And I'm going to catch up with Tracey in a Tutu.

00:55:35Oliver Spake: Ah, very good. Wow.

00:55:37Melissa Ellis: So you saw her last week and I'm seeing her this week. She's all spoilt for podcast hosts.

00:55:43Oliver Spake: Yes, that's right. That's a very busy time. Gmail. Yeah.

00:55:48Melissa Ellis: Just flying up for the night. Ollie, you've got to be back for juniors because on Sunday – Eynesbury Heritage Trail Junior parkrun is celebrating their 50th event.

00:56:00Oliver Spake: Oh, happy 50th, Eynesbury. Do I look forward to hearing more about that next week then, Mel?

00:56:05Melissa Ellis: Yes, a little red milestone for us. But, Ollie, where will you be on set day?

00:56:11Oliver Spake: I will be somewhere much, much closer to home, Mel. I'm throwing back on a volunteer vest, looking forward, if we can get organised, to shadowing hopefully a Run Director of the future. But I'll be helping out there somewhere and enjoying being home. Excellent. Yes.

00:56:31Melissa Ellis: Let's hope we are both active and parkrunning again on Saturday. That's my hope anyway.

00:56:38Oliver Spake: Mine too.

00:56:39Melissa Ellis: Thank you, Ollie. Thank you for your company again tonight.

00:56:42Oliver Spake: No, thank you, Mel. It's been a pleasure and a surprising amount of parkrunning discussion despite a whole weekend missing it. So thank you very much, Mel, and everyone.

00:56:54Melissa Ellis: But as always, you can contact us on Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week, and we'll see you all next week for more adventures.

00:57:01[music]

00:58:14Abigail Jackson: Hi, Mel and Ollie. This weekend I volunteered at Werribee Mansion parkrun for my mum's birthday. I did barcode scanning, which I like because I get to use my iPad. Then on Sunday we went to Juniors and I came number 19th. After Juniors, we went swimming for my sister Hannah's birthday. It was so fun. Bye, adventurers. Stay safe.