Episode 292 - Floods, Cows & Milkshakes

Welcome

00:00:03Oliver Spake: We would like to acknowledge the Wurundjeri and Dharawal people, traditional custodians of the lands on which we record this week. We also acknowledge the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia and recognise and celebrate the diversity of Aboriginal peoples and their ongoing cultures and connections to the lands and waters around Australia.

00:00:24[25 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:00:49Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 292 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie Spake and I am joining this week from a very wet Dharawal Country.

00:01:01Melissa Ellis: And I am Melissa Ellis and I am coming to you from a very dry and fair Wurundjeri Country.

00:01:08Oliver Spake: And hello Mel. I'm somewhat envious of your weather conditions, but more importantly, how are you?

00:01:13Melissa Ellis: I'm good, thank you. Yeah, we had sunny skies today. I'm just going to throw that in there because Melbourne is traditionally rubbish for its weather and I think it's time that we stood up.

00:01:25Oliver Spake: Please stand. You've shown off this year. You really have.

00:01:30Melissa Ellis: But I've got some other news, Ollie. Yes. Just on topic and thank you for your acknowledgement of country.

00:01:37Oliver Spake: That's quite okay. Thank you for the opportunity to do one.

00:01:40Melissa Ellis: It was in the media today in Victoria that the Aboriginal flag is now going to be flown on the Westgate Bridge, and that's a new thing for us. I believe it has been flown on the Sydney Harbour Bridge for some time.

00:01:56Oliver Spake: Well, from time to time, in fact, Mel, but it is only a recent change here also in my neck of the woods. So I think that we're seeing some consistency in this change.

00:02:08Melissa Ellis: That's good, yeah. So now permanently on the Westgate Bridge, the Aboriginal flag is going to be flown. So good progress, and I do know at my work today the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags were flying as well.

00:02:21Oliver Spake: Yeah, and of course for those listeners that might not be aware – Our acknowledgement, which we do like to include, we don't do an acknowledgement every week, but we certainly like to acknowledge the lands that we are recording on. But this week in particular is, in Australia, National NAIDOC Week, and that's comprising celebrations held across Australia in the first week of July each year to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Hmm. NAIDOC Week is an opportunity for all Australians and everyone around the world, in fact, to learn about our First Nations cultures and histories and participate in celebrations of the oldest continuous living cultures on Earth.

00:03:03Melissa Ellis: And we're going to hear a little bit more later on on that topic, I think, Ollie.

00:03:09Oliver Spake: Yes, that's right. We always appreciate when our wonderful parkrun adventurer community can chip in and help us learn and celebrate that. So I look forward to that, Mel.

00:03:18Melissa Ellis: Now, Ollie, you were a little bit mysterious again last week, about where you were going to be parkrunning. And I happen to know that you had an adventure. So is it time to fess up? Are you going to tell us where you were and why you were adventuring?

00:03:35Oliver Spake: Well, as in some channels of communication, it is pointed out that you can only be so mysterious until Strava outs you. But yes, I will reveal. And slightly less mystery, more just contingency planning. And suffice to say, plan A went off, which was wonderful. But Mel, I was staying in Sydney for the weekend, staying on Friday and Saturday nights just near the rocks part of the city there. And it really wasn't the weather for it, just to carry on that theme. But very exciting for me. It meant I was within striking distance of North Sydney parkrun. North Sydney parkrun is on the land of the Cammeraygal people and located in St. Leonard's Park in North Sydney. The course itself, which I have visited at the end point for one of the previous Sydney Longest Runs, but never on a real-life parkrun day, it's a four-lapper.

00:04:32Melissa Ellis: Wow.

00:04:33Oliver Spake: Yeah, it felt like a racetrack.

00:04:36Unidentified speaker: Oh.

00:04:36Oliver Spake: It was cool. So it does start in the heart of the park there and sort of cuts a beautiful track through the park along a nice tree-lined pathway before turning left, left and left with a little, I don't know, what we call a hairpin bend in there as well. It had a real racetrack feel, but it essentially carries around the outside of about two-thirds of the park and has a combination of... well, different forms of hard surfaces. But in the rain, which did kick in during the parkrun and certainly make its presence known, it did make some of the bricks a little slippery and puddly, but it was a lot of fun.

00:05:19Melissa Ellis: And you had an unexpected frond, I do believe.

00:05:24Oliver Spake: Well, that's right. I suppose, suiting me and many others, we had a whole lot of visitors. It's a very well-located parkrun for visitors. So it's, yeah, it's... It's closer to a kilometre's walk up the hill from North Sydney train station, but it's close enough. But as I learned, yes, someone else had formed the good idea to visit. So much to my surprise, before the parkrun, the ideas man himself appeared in front of me at a parkrun for the second time this year. And what a wonderful treat to get to see and have a chat with Mr Bruce Purdy.

00:05:58Melissa Ellis: I did enjoy seeing the photo. That was fabulous. And Bruce did indicate that you hung around to wait for him to have a chat. So good for you, Ollie. That was a nice thing to do.

00:06:09Oliver Spake: Well, I didn't have to hang around that long. But yeah, look, I had my run and I did stick around and chat to a few of the volunteers and the Run Director. Yes, it was starting to bucket down and I would have loved to have stuck around a little bit longer, but great to chat to Bruce. But I do have to apologise just in case he's listening. Having discovered that amongst the 137 parkrun finishes on Saturday, I did not stick around and identify myself to one David Crook, the author of On Every Saturday, who happened to be parkrunning at home and I completely missed it. So sorry, David, if you do happen to be listening. I will now have to come back.

00:06:51Unidentified speaker: Hmm.

00:06:52Melissa Ellis: Sounds like a good morning.

00:06:54Oliver Spake: It was a great morning. Thank you, Mel. And nice to get back to North Sydney and wonderful to get to experience a good fun parkrun.

00:07:01Melissa Ellis: That was a new event for you, correct?

00:07:03Oliver Spake: That was a new event. That was event number 38 for me. And yeah, I'm certainly colouring in my Sydney dots.

00:07:11Melissa Ellis: Well done, Ollie. I'm very proud.

00:07:14Oliver Spake: Thank you. Thank you. Hanging out with you a lot seems to have really struck a chord with me. I believe you may have had a bit of an adventure yourself, Mel. Would you like to share that?

00:07:25Melissa Ellis: I would. Yeah, I was also a little bit mysterious last week. But on Friday, I travelled to Wollongong to catch up with my friends, Chris and Kerry Fraser. I stopped to see the brand-new signs being installed at Killalea Regional Park, hashtag I saw it first, and enjoyed revisiting the site of the inaugural palm and checking out some of the new course as well as a leisurely stroll along Mystics Beach, hashtag I'm not lost, you're lost.

00:07:55[laughter]

00:07:55Unidentified speaker: Ha, ha, ha.

00:07:56Melissa Ellis: Unbeknownst to me, a nasty storm cell also decided to visit Sydney and the Southern Highlands this weekend and the warnings were going out to prepare for rain and flash flooding. Throughout the afternoon and into the evening, the parkrun cancellations were announced one by one like silent death knells and by the time we sat down to our dinner, our plan A had fallen victim. So maps and parkrun pages were carefully scrutinised for Plan B and the possibility for C and D. We decided to head inland to Cowpasture Reserve parkrun, Camden, on Dharawal Country and away from coast and potentially the storm cell. The Camden district sits at the confluence of boundaries between Aboriginal groups, although details of the boundaries are contested. The groups include the Gundungurra to the west and south, the Dharawal to the south and east, and the Dharug to the north. The relationship of the Dharawal people with Camden Park has continued for over 200 years since the land grant to John MacArthur in 1805. They called the area Benkeni or Belgeni, meaning dry land. Oh, that's a little bit ironic. The people belonged to the land and it provided all their needs, including food, water, shelter and medicines. The vegetation along the river and surrounding areas was good for hunting, fishing and camping. Despite the loss of their land for traditional living, descendants of the local Aboriginal people continue to live in the area. The town of Camden is 65 kilometres southwest of Sydney. In 1795, the first explorers named the area Cow Pastures after a herd of missing cattle were discovered there. And in 1805, John MacArthur was gifted a 5,000-acre allotment of land, which he named Camden Park after Lord Camden, who was the Secretary of State of War and the Colonies. MacArthur, known as the pioneer of the merino wool industry, was depicted on the old $2 note before it was replaced and built a thriving wool industry... And on his death in 1834, his children subdivided the land and the first lots went on sale in 1840. We arrived at the event hopeful that as there had been no cancellation messages posted, we had made a good choice. However, despite only light drizzle, there was no sign of the event team or the familiar flags. We sat in the car nervously googling drive times to surrounding events and watching the clock moving closer and closer to start time. By 7.45, our last chance was Picton parkrun, which had declared it was running, and by this stage, I was simply keen to scan my barcode regardless of whether it was a repeat event. Then, suddenly, out of nowhere, like a flash mob, there were people, kit, flags, and two very relieved tourists. It was my Bradman event, 3-3-4, so named after Australian cricketer Sir Donald Bradman who scored his first triple century of 3-3-4 in the 1930 Ashes series.

00:10:59Oliver Spake: That's a good achievement, Mel.

00:11:00Melissa Ellis: Well, yes, following in good footsteps, but I digress. 14 people attended event 126. Cowpasture Reserve is an out-and-back course on a slightly undulating concrete path which follows the Nepean River. The path is also part of the Nepean River Cycleway, commonly called the Camden Bike Track. The event starts and finishes at the Wetlands Reserve with ample parking and toilets close by. We walked the course in very light drizzle and there were a few puddles. Afterwards, we enjoyed brunch at the Recommended Jellies, which is only a short walk away. We did also drop by Sandon Point parkrun, but the heavy rain and surf was not conducive to the frond.

00:11:41Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:11:41Melissa Ellis: So after that, I bid my friends farewell and began my return journey via bus to Sydney for my flight home.

00:11:49Oliver Spake: Wow.

00:11:49Melissa Ellis: So...

00:11:53Oliver Spake: I mean, it would have been slightly more fitting for you to achieve your Bradman event at another nearby location.

00:12:00Melissa Ellis: Which one? Where should I have been?

00:12:02Oliver Spake: Well, what was plan A, Mel? Southern Highlands. And what's the name of the town that Southern Highlands?

00:12:10Melissa Ellis: Bowral. Oh. Okay, yes. Yeah, uh-huh.

00:12:16Oliver Spake: Yeah, there certainly is an affiliation between Sir Donald Bradman and Bowral.

00:12:22Melissa Ellis: Well, the parkrun gods were against me this weekend then, weren't they?

00:12:27Oliver Spake: It's just nice to scan the barcode sometimes, isn't it, Mel? And remarkably lucky now that we see what's happened to the poor people of Camden and many others.

00:12:35Melissa Ellis: Yes, Camden has succumbed to flooding for the fourth time this year. So our hearts go out to that community, which has gone under again since I was there on Saturday.

00:12:47Oliver Spake: Yeah, can't win a trick, that's for sure. And we hope everyone is safe and well. Gosh, you must be tired, Mel.

00:12:54Melissa Ellis: I am a little bit. I had a 9pm flight out of Sydney Airport, which was delayed to 9.40, so I was sweating a little bit, knowing that Sydney Airport has a 10pm curfew, I do believe. Ollie, we were taxiing on the runway at 9.58.

00:13:10Oliver Spake: Heaps of time, Mel.

00:13:14Melissa Ellis: I had sent messages out to my Run Director and Paul because... I had the kit, Ollie, for juniors.

00:13:24Oliver Spake: Yes, yes.

00:13:26Melissa Ellis: I had had the presence of mind on my early departure from home on Friday morning when I was jumping in the car and I looked at the kit in my back seat and I thought, I might just take this out of the car and put it in the garage just in case anything goes wrong. I also had poles and flags in the back of my car, but I thought, oh, no, look, I'll just take the bag out that includes the volley vests and the defib and the tokens, you know, because worst comes to worst, that's enough, I reckon. You know, like I'm pretty sure they could do without flags and a finish funnel and they could just work it out.

00:14:02Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah.

00:14:03Melissa Ellis: Yeah. So, yeah, I was messaging Paul from the airport terminal saying, if I don't get back, can you please go down to Junior's in the morning with the kit and can you fill in for me as Marshal 8?

00:14:18Oliver Spake: And tune in next week to find out whether Mel made it back for Junior's.

00:14:23Melissa Ellis: I did make it back. Spoiler. That's good.

00:14:26Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:14:26Melissa Ellis: So all was well. Yes. But these are the things that one considers.

00:14:31Oliver Spake: Well, when one's parkrun is going ahead. So, yeah, I have not had reason to go and see the new signs that you mentioned a little earlier in the pod. Ours was indeed one of the cancellations, but I'm glad you are able to visit the home of a certain parkrun.

00:14:47Melissa Ellis: Did I mention it by name? I think I said Voldemort, didn't I?

00:14:51Oliver Spake: I think you very, very elusively covered it, Mel.

00:14:55Melissa Ellis: I try. I try my best.

00:14:57Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:14:57Melissa Ellis: We don't need any more fines. We don't need to be paying any more fines, Ollie.

00:15:02Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. Well, hey, the park's been renamed, so moving right along. We've got some news from the parkrun world, just a little bit of news and close to something we've been following in recent weeks, Mel.

00:15:16Melissa Ellis: We have, yes, Colin Thorne over at Whangarei, the funnel. He became the oldest parkrunner in history to join the 100 Club, Ollie.

00:15:27Oliver Spake: Yes, and what an achievement. Thank you for sharing the YouTube clip with me, Mel, so that I could take a bit of that in. It looked like a fantastic morning.

00:15:36Melissa Ellis: It did. It looked like he had a contingent of his family there to celebrate the occasion as well.

00:15:42Oliver Spake: Yeah, a special day and it's been a couple of special weeks out there. So well done to Colin and everyone over at the Fung for really savouring an incredible achievement.

00:15:53Melissa Ellis: That's right. But we also had some other things to celebrate. This last parkrun week, Ollie, because Canada were celebrating their, what do you call it, their extra event. Yes. Well, anyway, it was Canada Day on Friday and they had an extra parkrun day.

00:16:13Oliver Spake: So happy Canada Day, guys, but more so, hope you enjoyed your extra parkrun. We know some of you did.

00:16:19Melissa Ellis: We do. And I didn't actually realise that I could access a Consolidated Club report for Canada Day, but I do thank those that pointed that out to me. Helen Rudder, I think it was, made reference and Calum Burrell provided me a link in to find said stats, which I have noted later on after our consolidated club report. But yes, they are able to be accessed as well, which was good to know.

00:16:51Oliver Spake: Yeah. Thank you, team.

00:16:52Melissa Ellis: Hmm. But, yep, pretty brief this week. I don't think we've got a lot of other news or discussion, Ollie, so it might be time for us to move on and hear one of our roving reports. This week we heard from Johan, who was at Squappamund. Is that how you say it?

00:17:12Oliver Spake: I don't know. Squappamund. Swakopmund.

00:17:17Melissa Ellis: Yeah, yeah. That sounds better. Let's go with that.

00:17:20Oliver Spake: Johan will tell us.

00:17:21Melissa Ellis: He will, yeah.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:17:22Melissa Ellis: So let's hear from Johan now.

Roving report Johan Duvenhage — Swakopmund parkrun

00:17:31Johan Duvenhage: Good morning, goeiemorgen, guten morgen, walaupo, parkrun adventurers. Today I'm checking in from Swakopmund in Namibia. It's the fourth largest city in the country in the Namib Desert on the Skeleton Coast and it's a beautiful morning after we had a week of particularly rough east weather that brought gale force winds with tons of sand and dust from the Namib Desert and deposited that into every single nook and cranny. The town was founded in 1892 by Germany as the main harbour for the then German West Africa and whilst it's no longer really a harbour town, to this day many German influences remain visible in the architecture, the street names, there's a German daily newspaper and German is still spoken quite widely. A while ago, the desert outside town was used to film Mad Max Fury Road after the rain and the Australian outback transformed the outback there at Broken Hill into a flower paradise. But of course, it also hosts one of the three Namibian parkruns, today being event 201 at Swakopmund, which is of course why I'm here this morning. The course recently had a route change and it's now an out and back on the slightly undulating paved beach walk along the seafront, starting just north of the tourist waterfront with a turning point just shy of the Platz am Meer shopping centre. I have done the course a few times during the past week in the windy weather and I can tell you it's a tough one if you have to run into that hot and dusty Namib East from the front. So today's cooler and light breezy conditions are a welcome change. However, Swakopmund parkrun more often than not is run in heavy fog. Can you believe that? The city is covered in a morning fog from the Atlantic Ocean around 300 days of the year, only clearing at around 10 a.m., but nothing in sight this morning. So it is absolutely an excellent day for parkrunning. Now I'll talk to you a bit later. Now it's time to get ready. I'm here at Swakop's finish funnel and I'm talking with Emily James. Emily is our Run Director for today. Emily, I understand that this is your first run directorship. How did it go so far? [Afrikaans: "good morning"] [German: "good morning"]

00:19:44Emily James: Yes, it is. I think it's gone well. Everybody seemed to laugh at my not so good jokes at the beginning. I'll call it a success.

00:19:53Johan Duvenhage: Yeah, I know. And we are so glad to have beautiful weather today.

00:19:57Emily James: Yes, I had actually a nightmare where the east wind blew us away and we had to cancel. Luckily it didn't come true.

00:20:04Johan Duvenhage: So do Swakopmund parkrun, in terms of volunteers, do you have any problems with that or is it easy to fill your roster every week?

00:20:14Emily James: You know what? I actually founded a WhatsApp group in January to try and help with that. Because Helena, our main lady who organises things, was complaining, oh, we have like, you know, 100 runners every week, but we can't get the volunteers. And I was like, no, there are people. I said, we just need to modernise. So I helped her to set up the WhatsApp group. And from then on, it's been really smooth sailing. We don't struggle at

00:20:41Johan Duvenhage: Fantastic. So thank you very much for your efforts today and congratulations on your first run directorship.

00:20:46Emily James: Thanks so much.

00:20:47Alan Beck: Thank you.

00:20:50Johan Duvenhage: Adventurers, I'm here with Alan Beck. Alan is one of the hallmarks of Swakopmund parkrun. He's a volunteer that has not done a single Swakopmund parkrun. But Alan, if I remember correctly, you've got more than 140 volunteer credits here at Swakop.

00:21:06Alan Beck: Yes. My hips don't like running.

00:21:08Johan Duvenhage: Oh, that's fantastic. Sorry. Oh, but that gives you the opportunity to volunteer. Yes. And you're very well known for something that we call Alan's Corner. Oh, I don't know. And that is Lady and Donovan that is quite excited. They keep Alan busy, not busy, company at his corner. Oops. Hey. Be quiet. So let's give the doggies a chance to... So Alan, these days you have the turnaround point at Swakop.

00:21:24[other]

00:21:42Alan Beck: Yes, it used to be behind you, if you're taking photographs, the last bit of grass here. But then you change, parkrun changed the route. because they didn't want us to cross main road. Yeah. So now we run along the beach.

00:22:00Johan Duvenhage: It's fantastic every time that I'm Swakop and I see you and the doggies at whatever Alan's point is or where it is. Thank you very much for volunteering and have a great day. Same. And thank you for coming from Bloemfontein. All right. Thank you. And adventurers, that's it from me. Happy parkrunning. Talk to you again soon.

00:22:24Oliver Spake: And thank you very much to Johan for taking us on the journey back to Namibia once again. It sounds like it's been a fantastic time. And yeah, I do love the pictures there as well, Mel, that he's been sharing along the way.

00:22:38Melissa Ellis: He's had some amazing photos, Ollie. Did you see that one of the dust storm?

00:22:42Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:22:43Melissa Ellis: Oh, my goodness.

00:22:44Oliver Spake: Wouldn't that be incredible? It's not something, aside from the very freak events that we have had dust-related over the last couple of decades, it's not something I've ever really experienced.

00:22:56Melissa Ellis: No, no, but all good now. And Johan, I believe, is on his way back home. Yes. Maybe we'll hear from him again next week.

Emails

00:23:04Oliver Spake: Maybe. But, Mel, we've got mail. You've got mail. We've received an audio message, in fact, after a message through on our account from Ali at Dolls Point parkrun, which I'm told is the most beautiful parkrun in Sydney. Now, we have to say a huge thank you to Ali for reaching out on this week in particular, because as we did refer to earlier in the pod, it is in fact NAIDOC week. And Ali has shared with us just a bit of context and a bit of practical effort or investigation that we can take this week in particular and any week for that matter. So why don't we have a listen, Mel?

Roving report Ali Sheppard — Dolls Point parkrun

00:23:58Ali Sheppard: Yama parkrun adventurers, this is Ali, part of the event team at the Prettiest parkrun in Sydney. That's right, Dolls Point parkrun on Bidjigal. I'm reporting in because this week is NAIDOC week, and as a proud Nyampa Wild One woman and a parkrun tragic, I have been thinking about how we can come together to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, communities, histories, and achievements through parkrun. So here are some of my thoughts. This week is a perfect week, if your event doesn't do so already, to incorporate an acknowledgement of country into your run brief. Oh, and I want to take a moment to differentiate between an acknowledgement of country and a welcome to country. A welcome is usually performed by an elder and traditional custodian of the land that you're gathered on. It is part of millennia, generations of tradition of giving permission to people to enter a person's country and travel across it safely. an acknowledgement of country can be performed by anyone. And it is basically taking a moment to say, hey, we're visitors here and we promise to look after the place that we're currently on. So it can sound like, on behalf of everyone gathered here today, I'd like to take a moment to give thanks and pay respects to the ancestors and elders of the traditional custodians of the land that we're gathered on. You can, of course, use the name of the people whose land you're gathered on, and you can usually find that out by looking it up on your local council website or your local Aboriginal Lands Council. Secondly, this week is also a great time to throw some support behind some Blackfella athletes. The Indigenous Marathon Foundation is running the Run Sweat Inspire Festival, which is an online challenge, a digital event that you can sign up for and get a very real medal from. And the proceeds of that go towards the Indigenous Marathon Project, a great annual initiative that brings together a group of young blackfellas to train for and participate in the New York Marathon. This year's cohort just did the Gold Coast Marathon and Half Marathon. And if you want some just awesome feel goods, go check out the IMF social media pages to see them cheering each other on and crossing the line on the Gold Coast last weekend. Thirdly, wouldn't be parkrun if we didn't do a theme, right? So a few events across the continent, including Dolls Point parkrun, are doing a NAIDOC theme this Saturday the 9th. Show up in red, black and yellow for the Aboriginal flag and blue, green, black and white for the Torres Strait Islander flag. And as you're putting together your awesome parkrun outfit on Friday night, take a moment to look up the history and design and the meaning of the colours in those five And then you can just very subtly slip it in in conversation in your park faff, post-parkrun coffee. But, yeah, you know this. But you could also make plans with your fellow parkrunners to head to a local NAIDOC community event after parkrun on Saturday. Either way, the theme of this year's NAIDOC is Get Up, Stand Up, Show Up. And this is really a prompt for everyone to ask what active learning can we do together about our nation's First Peoples and stand in better solidarity with each other along the way. Anyway, that's it from me. Happy parkrun and happy NAIDOC. Yanae. [Australian Aboriginal language (Gamilaraay/Yuwaalaraay or a related NSW language): "hello / greetings"] [translation uncertain]

00:27:44Melissa Ellis: Yeah, thanks, Ali. We really appreciate your input. And I can say, Ollie, I have been a big supporter of the Indigenous Marathon Project in the past. I am an owner of one of the Indigenous Marathon t-shirts, yep yep I wore it in one of my marathons the Melbourne marathon years ago yes and also happened to have an encounter with Robert de Castella who happened to walk past me at Melbourne Marathon and comment on my shirt that I was wearing yeah that's cool they are really cool shirts too absolutely are I don't own one and they are beautiful So I'm a big fan of what Robert's doing with the Indigenous Marathon Project.

00:28:27Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:28:28Melissa Ellis: But also, Ollie, this weekend, yeah, keep an eye out if your local parkrun is doing a red, black, yellow theme.

00:28:36Oliver Spake: Yes, or, of course, the Torres Strait Islander colours as well. But, yeah, I'm going to have to get my outfit sorted, Mel.

00:28:42Melissa Ellis: Correct. I am inspired now to pull out my Indigenous Marathon shirt to wear this weekend at my parkrun, although it's going to be a bit snargolly. I'm a bit worried.

00:28:54Oliver Spake: No, it's all going to be good. It's all going to be worth it. And I hope that we see a lot of themed colours out there across the parkrun. Well, parkrun Australia in particular, I suppose. But hey, anyone can get on board.

Dazza's

00:29:09Melissa Ellis: Now, Ollie, Dazza's this week. Dazza's said, welcome to Dazza's where we are celebrating NAIDOC week. The theme this year is get up, stand up and show up. Come on in and tell us where did you show up today?

00:29:24Oliver Spake: And I'll go first, shall I, Mel? Sure. And report on someone that did pop in relatively early because some...

00:29:32Melissa Ellis: Your favourite.

00:29:33Oliver Spake: Yeah, because they wanted to provide me another mystery. So let's see how I do. Steve's bike. Dazza, I am so proud that you are focusing on NAIDOC week this week. I encourage all visitors to attend a local event in your area. Today, my clue will make it very easy for Ollie. Okay. I have cold, oh no, I have cold flu-like symptoms. So today I'm doing what everyone should be doing when feeling like this. Insert bed emojis here. Okay. I'm going to make a pre-emptive congratulations to Ollie for his correct guess. Happy parkrun Day all, and I hope to join you next week. Stay safe.

00:30:09Melissa Ellis: Oh, he used Abby's catch cry. Stay safe.

00:30:15Oliver Spake: Oh, Steve's bike, I hope that you are feeling pumped up and ready to get out and roll again soon.

00:30:22Melissa Ellis: So you correctly guessed that where he was, was home in bed, Ollie.

00:30:25Oliver Spake: Yes, I did. Thank you for making it easy for me.

00:30:29Melissa Ellis: We also heard from Bruce Purdy. He had the most likes this week. Funny. Finally ticking off the north for the compass at a very wet north Sydney and had the greatest surprise catching up with Ollie. We had a chance to talk about the song for episode 299. And based upon the weather today, it could be singing in the rain. And Bruce had a photo of himself with some very wet guy in the selfie frame.

00:30:58Oliver Spake: Yes. Wonderful to see you, Bruce. What a surprise.

00:31:01Melissa Ellis: Don't you ever wear long pants, Ollie, ever?

00:31:05Oliver Spake: No. No, I choose not to. Okay. But no, I didn't wear any ugly Christmas buffs around my ankles either. No full Monty this week. No full Monty this week.

00:31:16Unidentified speaker: Okay.

00:31:18Oliver Spake: Moving right along, we heard from Geoff Glaab over in North America but somewhere else. And he said, Canada Day at Victoria Park parkrun, Kitchener this morning. Tail walked and met so many fellow American tourists. First new flag on my profile and I get to do it all again tomorrow. With the update being second parkrun in two days. Ran with Pepper at Kiwanis parkrun in London, Ontario. Thank you to the volunteers for being so lovely and for the very welcome popsicles at the finish. And Jeff shared with us a few photos from his experience, including some great photos on course and with the selfie frame looking at Jeff and, well, actually, who stole my focus there was a very proud-looking Pepper in the selfie frame there, Mel, with the Canadian flag in the background. So, look, well done, Jeff. But, Pepper, way to go.

00:32:17Melissa Ellis: I'm wondering if popsicles is that like our super doopers?

00:32:20Oliver Spake: Yes, that'd be all right.

00:32:22Melissa Ellis: Ollie, we also heard from Michael Gentle who did a nottie this week. He said, no, get up, no, stand up and no, show up. None of those applied to my parkrun today or lack of parkrun to be more specific. It was too wet and too cold for me. He is hoping the rest of the adventurers family is not as soft and enjoys their parkrun day. We hope you're back on board soon, Michael.

00:32:47Oliver Spake: Absolutely. Sometimes it's the best decision. Meanwhile, we heard from Sonja Pohlman, who was at home doing a bit of volunteering and had to say one of the beach's flags got up, showed up, but only stood up for a little while, unfortunately. Last seen heading towards New Zealand. Please return if you find it on a beach near you, Alison King. Oh. RD at beaches today on a wobble country. Maybe another flag would have been better today anyway. Hashtag always was, always will be. Now, Sonja, I don't know if I'm allowed to read this out, but Sonja did share a second post with the second photo. So first photo she shared was Sonja in her purple beanie on the beach looking a bit cold, to be honest. Second photo accompanied by the text, Mel, this one got up, stood up, showed up and now needs to pay up. Help me, I can't stop him. Oh, and that's a fine.

00:33:44Melissa Ellis: Good old Peter, still twisting the backwards flag. Peter, would you like our PayPal account so that you can send us your fines? Because these fines, they're not coming through to actual money, Ollie. I think we need a PayPal.

00:34:02Oliver Spake: We haven't thought up that bit of the process yet. No, we didn't. I mean, the fine jar looks wonderful. It's beautiful.

00:34:06Melissa Ellis: I know. I've got three of them on my shelf, three empty fine jars. But moving along, Ollie, we heard from Roberta Winters, who was celebrating a frond, ventured to Ginninderra parkrun on Ngunnawal land before heading to the office and bumped into Luke and Sam. And... Roberta shared a photo in the selfie frame at Ginninderra, one of my favourites.

00:34:32Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, with some of the team, so way to go. Someone else who was catching up with some rather interesting parkrunners, Dawn Brampton, who said, ''A very crisp start to the day at Jurassic parkrun, aka Dorset Recreation Reserve. Smashed my PB by almost five minutes.'' being chased by dinosaurs will do that. So firstly, wow, congratulations, Dawn. And secondly, Dawn did share a photo of a T-Rex finishing in front of a slightly poorly adjusted parkrun flag.

00:35:05Melissa Ellis: Well done, Dawny.

00:35:06Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:35:07Melissa Ellis: I saw Dawn yesterday at Juniors. She came down and volunteered with us. Wow. But I was a bit jealous of her Jurassic parkrun. Yes. We also heard from Chris Aruz, who was touristing this week. I stood up and showed up on Corner Country for Packer McCarthy parkrun Apparently, it's one of the last times in their compact course that they had to create when a COVID testing station took over some of their usual course. I wish I recorded the first time as welcome. The course description was something else. And Chris had a photo of the course map, which looks kind of complicated. Yeah. And with the selfie frame.

00:35:50Oliver Spake: Now, a special welcome to Dazza's for Felicity. Felicity Castellan, who I believe is just visiting us for the first time now. Who said, hi Dazza, volunteeristed at Varsity Lakes. Great team there. Nice work.

00:36:05Melissa Ellis: Excellent. Felicity, ticking off a V, I would assume. So we also heard over in New Zealand from Tanya Bailey, I got up, stood up, but did not show up at parkrun on the West Coast for a car show and a weekend away with good friends, gin tasting and lots of wine to drink. See you next week, Dazza! And Tanya had photos on request of cars and gin.

00:36:34Oliver Spake: That sounds like a lot of fun.

00:36:35Melissa Ellis: We love the Baileys and their cars. They've got more than one classic car, I do believe.

00:36:42Oliver Spake: And, yeah, coming to us, who also came to us in the roving reports, Johan in Namibia. So showed up at the lovely Swakopmund Park around Namibia where we had a beautiful morning after a week of very bad east weather, which brought gale force winds and the worst dust storms since 1973, according to some residents.

00:37:03Melissa Ellis: That's a long time.

00:37:05Oliver Spake: That is. Yeah, some amazing sandstorm photos there that we've mentioned a little earlier in the pod here and a much clearer photo of the course and the flag.

00:37:15Melissa Ellis: Yeah, some of the sandstorm photo was visible from space.

00:37:20Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:37:22Melissa Ellis: Okay. Over in the UK, we heard from Graham Wilkinson. Long story. I was a designated driver today for a trip to Crathes Castle near Banchory. Oh, I don't know how to say any of these, Ollie.

00:37:37Oliver Spake: You're doing well, Mel.

00:37:38Melissa Ellis: Thank you. In a showery Scotland. Had a tourist there from Brisbane, but I don't think we made a frond. I did name drop the group and podcast, though, so a potential new member. An undulating course with 95 metres of elevation gain. I had an enjoyable run, though I missed out on stopwatch bingo number by one second. Again, consoled myself with a latte and a huge slice of Snickers brownie at the on-site cafe. Short story, ran 5k, finished a marathon. Nice work. Excellent work, Graham. Yes.

00:38:13Oliver Spake: The long and the short of it. But look, thank you everyone for dropping past Dazza's and sharing another very special week with us. It's always a nice way to spend it.

the Obi Award — Geoff Glaab

00:38:25Oliver Spake: But, Mel, I suppose it's Obi time. It is absolutely Obi time.

00:38:31Melissa Ellis: So it's time for the envelope.

00:38:32Oliver Spake: It's time for the envelope. Do you have it or do I have it this week?

00:38:35Melissa Ellis: Maybe I have it. I haven't had it for a while. Let me have a look. I've got it in my in-tray, I think. Yeah, here it is.

00:38:45Oliver Spake: Excellent. I was hoping I couldn't see it under the post-its.

00:38:48Melissa Ellis: Yeah, no. I'll open it. done. Right. Now, Ollie, this week's Obi winner is Geoff Glaab.

00:39:12Oliver Spake: And pepper.

00:39:14Melissa Ellis: Yes. Well done. At Canada Day. Yes. Two events this week in Canada, touristing and getting his very first new country. Well done, Jeff.

00:39:28Oliver Spake: Congratulations. And again, thank you to everyone.

00:39:31Melissa Ellis: Okay. So that leaves us with time now, Ollie, to throw to our informant.

the Informant

00:39:49The Informant: This week, well, nothing's changed. We're not breaking until we get full cream milk and our daily caramilk, preferably of the hokey pokey variety.

00:39:59Ali Sheppard: But I prefer almond milk.

00:40:01Unidentified speaker: Yeah, the caramilk is good, but I'm not voting against almond milk.

00:40:07The Informant: Oh, far out. How many times do I have to tell you it's not milk? How many almonds have had their milkshake bring boys to the yard? Not a single one.

00:40:17Unidentified speaker: I don't think you've read that right.

00:40:19The Informant: Just stick with me, guys. Maybe we'll get both milks.

00:40:23Unidentified speaker: All right. Just one more week.

00:40:26The Informant: Well, good on you. A fix of placards. Just wave them every time you see Ollie and Mel. We'll probably only need, I don't know, four days. Right. Let's kick on with the report. In good faith and all that. This is the informant. Coming to you live from level two with a view. This week's view is still of a united, well, well maybe not totally united, but we're a reasonably solid workforce of some sort reporting a limited report to show them what we're really made of. These are unofficial stats. They're only current at the time they are collected and nobody has bothered to collect if they are correct or not. There were 433 runs held down under, 37 in New Zealand, and 396 of these were in Australia, which lost quite a few due to the East Coast rains. Aussie New Zealand attendance was 26,730. There was just one launch in the UK. Down under we had 3,275 PBs, while 1,032 people participated for the first time. 60 juniors reached their junior 10 milestone, 131 people reached their 50 milestone, 81 reached their 100 milestone, and 23 people reached their 250 milestone. 19 people called bingo. Scott Pelto was quickest on 171 runs, while Ruth Taylor-Hull was slowest on 328 runs. There were 12 new statespeople. Mike Carroll, Toby Bellwood, Sam and Luke Schroder from the ACT, Tim Peters, Nina Walser, Nina Wallace, Daniel Thomas, Meg Collar, Meg Kelly, Scott French, David Astelosh, Katrina and Barry Grosley finish the Northern Territory. In the top 20 most Aussie New Zealand events list, Alan Burrell moves up one, Neil Scott down one, to be equal 14 on 163 events. Brian Hardy enters the fray, making his debut on equal 20th with 149 events. Oh. And I guess, if I want to keep my chances of a pay rise, I should mention the boss, Melissa Ellis, moves to outright 19th after running her 150th different parkrun. She's a star. Hey, he's been messing with the script. Overall, on the biggest movers list, Vicki Thompson and Steve Amor moved up eight rankings to 172 after running their 95th different parkrun. 93 people lifted their Wilson Index this week. This week's biggest mover is Tricia Griffiths, who moved up 24 to 38. In the Adventure Challengers, once again we had no Peels and also no Cowell clubbers, but we did have nine half Cowells. If you want to see your usual glossy stats report in full, well, you're out of luck. But if you want to see the Down Under Only stats, you can find them at theinformant.me. That's www.theinformant.me. Or look for The Informant on Facebook. To get back to your usual stat report, well, you better send your message of support to... Oh, crikey. I don't know the email address. Well, this has been the informant and my spreadsheet. Well, it's bigger than having to keep tabs on your own.

00:44:10Oliver Spake: And thank you to our informant. Mel, I've just been thinking, you know, I think it's probably time we start just giving them a bit of concession. Maybe we should concede to some of the demands. Maybe there's a bit of reasonableness there. No, no.

00:44:26Melissa Ellis: No, no, no, Ollie. I can see division in the ranks. I think they're close to breaking. I think we've got to stand firm. We've got to stand up and I think we'll win.

00:44:36Oliver Spake: All right. All right. I'll hang in there, Mel.

00:44:38Melissa Ellis: Yeah, hang in there. Let's give it another week. See how we go.

00:44:40Oliver Spake: Yeah. Okay. All right. What could possibly happen, right? What could possibly happen? But all right, let's move on to other topics then, Mel.

Consolidated Club Report

00:44:49Oliver Spake: How about the Consolidated Club report? How's the Adventurers Club?

00:44:53Melissa Ellis: Well, the Adventurers Club for Saturday the 2nd of July 2022 had a total of 232 members, 164 who took part on this date at 101 different locations. In the UK we had 18 events. Southampton, Nonsuch, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Rushmoor, Bevendean Down, Valentines, Chester, Ormskirk, Gaul, Rushcliffe, Brandon Country Park, Colby, Tewkesbury, Cirencester, Tetbury Goods Shed, Sharpham Road Playing Fields, Crathes Castle, East Park. In Canada, we had three events at Whitby, Beach Strip and Kiwanis. In Namibia, there was one at Olly.

00:45:46Oliver Spake: Swaggerman.

00:45:47Melissa Ellis: Thank you. And in the USA, there was one at Roosevelt Island, D.C. Locally, we had adventurers at 28 events in Victoria. 17 events in New South Wales, 14 events in Queensland, 7 in South Australia, 4 in WA, two in Tassie and two in the ACT. Over the ditch, we had four events in the North Island.

the Frond

00:46:19Melissa Ellis: The largest frond this week was at Redcliffe where we had five adventurers, Lance and Robin Flan, Roger and Barbara Luther and Gemma and Gemma. Can't say your last name, Gemma, but never mind. Now, on the frond status, to my knowledge, our biggest frond was eight adventurers. Ah, you guessed it. Yes. Eynesbury Heritage Trail junior parkrun with Irene and Parth Bromacanti, Dawn Branton, Catherine Coombridge, myself, Abby and Renee Jackson, and Andrew Reynolds.

00:46:57Oliver Spake: Nice work. That's some very good fronting and some impressive adventuring, everyone. Special shout out to Team Canada there showing up this week.

00:47:07Melissa Ellis: Now, as we did mention earlier, Helen Rudder tipped us off that we could get a Consolidated Club Report for Canada Day on Friday, the 1st of July, which Calum Burrell shared the link to. So, We had five members who took part at two different locations. They were Nicola Tarrant, Geoff Glaab and Sarah Marby at Victoria Park Kitchener and Helen Rutter at River Oaks parkrun. Excellent.

00:47:34Oliver Spake: No, well, thank you again. It helps to have friends around here.

00:47:37Melissa Ellis: Yeah, we do appreciate our broader community stepping in and helping us out and giving us the tips because we don't know everything and we do get things wrong, although we try really hard not to.

00:47:49Oliver Spake: We do try. We do try. And that's why we appreciate any of the updates, suggestions and corrections that you might have for my pronunciation and other slip ups here and there. But look, it's always nice to then just reflect on what we learn along the way and some of the good times that we do get to savour vicariously of everyone's adventures.

00:48:13Melissa Ellis: Yes, we are not professionals. We are just passionate parkrunners doing our best to produce this little podcast in the footsteps of those who have come before us.

Sign-off

00:48:25Oliver Spake: That's exactly right. Gee, speaking of footsteps then, Mel, where are your footsteps leading you next week?

00:48:32Melissa Ellis: I don't know if I'm going to tell you. I don't know if you're going to be all secretive, but look, Ollie, it isn't looking like I'm getting a very far from home adventure this week. Circumstances seem to be keeping me to my local area. So I think, I think, think I might join a little frond at Kirkdale Reserve parkrun this week it is the event I need to complete and regain statesmanship I know it's an ongoing thing I'm always losing it and I'm always having to catch it up yep but uh yeah Kirkdale did launch some weeks ago and I'm yet to get there I've been keeping it in my back pocket and it looks like I'm playing that card this week

00:49:15Oliver Spake: Well, I'm sure that'll be worth it. That'll be good fun and very satisfying to make it out there. And thank you for sharing it. What about you? Well, currently, I am scheduled to be a Run Director at a newly renamed park, a certain parkrun located in the Killalea Regional Park. However, if this rain continues, we're going to have to see, Mel. I might have to seek out a new event.

00:49:42Melissa Ellis: You might have to go really far to find one.

00:49:47Oliver Spake: Well, because of the weather, perhaps so, but not because of my lack of ticking off local parkruns, though.

00:49:53Melissa Ellis: No, no, I meant the weather.

00:49:55Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. Thank you.

00:49:57Melissa Ellis: Knowing my issues last week, and we did choose to not go to Sandon Point and North Wollongong last week. However, I do believe the weather was pretty nasty at those events last

00:50:10Oliver Spake: Yeah, Sandon Point in particular is a very exposed location on the water side. Beautiful spot, but you feel the wind. So we'll see. Stay tuned next week.

00:50:19Melissa Ellis: I'll look forward to hearing where you end up.

00:50:22Oliver Spake: Yep, that's right. Either a new adventure or a lot more fines. Sorry, Mel.

00:50:26Melissa Ellis: No, I was just going to say, no, I forgot what I was going to say. Never mind. Who's signing out?

00:50:32Oliver Spake: I'm struggling with the spreadsheet again. It's you, Mel.

00:50:36Melissa Ellis: Thank you. Well, if we're done, which I believe we are, a bit of a shorter pod this week, that's it for another week. You can contact us on Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That is it for another week, and we will see you all next week for more adventures.

00:50:50[music]

00:51:50Unidentified speaker: Oh.

00:52:03Unidentified speaker: Hi, Mel and Ollie. This weekend I had an adventure at Port Fairy parkrun. We loved the big waves at Port Ferry and we played in the water. Then at juniors, I came number fourth and I got a PB. Yeah, so. And then after juniors, we went ice skating. It was so fun. Bye, adventurers. Stay safe.