Episode 295 - Aidan Hobbs

Welcome

00:00:24Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 295 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie Spake and I am joining after a week off from Dharawal Country.

00:00:35Melissa Ellis: And I am Melissa Ellis and I'm coming once again from Wurundjeri Country.

00:00:41Oliver Spake: How are you Mel? It's good to be back.

00:00:43Melissa Ellis: I am good. We missed you, Ollie. Where were you last week? We didn't actually explain why you weren't with me last week when Scotty kindly stepped into your shoes.

00:00:56Oliver Spake: Oh, look, and it was wonderful to hear, Scotty. It was so nice as being a longtime fan myself of the parkrun adventurers that It feels a bit strange to be saying that now. It feels a bit self-absorbed. But needless to say, long-time listener, I really enjoyed listening to Scotty. So, look, before anything, a huge thank you to yourself and to Scotty for obviously steering the ship and having a great week in my absence.

00:01:25Melissa Ellis: I should also thank Scotty because he edited last week and gave me a week off. So that was really nice. Thanks, Scott.

00:01:33Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. It was like Christmas. He's like Santa.

00:01:35Melissa Ellis: He is. Christmas in July.

00:01:38Oliver Spake: That's right. But to answer your question, sorry, Mel, look, sometimes work and life and the balance of things just keeps us busy. And sadly, yeah, that was one of those weeks. So I did miss the pod. It was very nice, however, to get to listen and to hear a whole lot of podcast chatter that I hadn't already heard.

00:02:01Melissa Ellis: True. And where you were parkrunning, I assume you're at home?

00:02:07Oliver Spake: Yeah, you'd think with two weeks, two weeks to talk about, I could mix it up a little bit. But guess what, Mel? I was at Shellharbour.

00:02:16Melissa Ellis: You said it.

00:02:17Oliver Spake: I did.

00:02:18Melissa Ellis: Did you notice I tricked Scott into saying it last week?

00:02:22Oliver Spake: Yeah, well done. I thought we were going to make an episode without it, but nonetheless, I'm here to fix that.

00:02:30Melissa Ellis: Yeah, but now he owes us a dollar. He doesn't understand the fines. He hasn't been listening.

00:02:35Oliver Spake: That's all right. I'm sure I can lend him one if he needs, but I owe several dollars. But Mel, I did have the opportunity to run at Shellharbour, which was I worked out the first time I have completed a parkrun at Shellharbour since the 8th of May last year. So that was a whole lot of fun.

00:02:54Melissa Ellis: What? That's over a year.

00:02:56Oliver Spake: Over a year. Well, we have had a big... Big break in that time, but it was nonetheless a lot of fun to get out there. Got to run with one of the adventurers in the Windang clan, Lance, who doubled up as a photographer after he finished. Who won? It's not a race. It's not a race. It's not a race. Me. Yes. I followed in his tailwind. But, Mel, I was this week, however, back in the Run Director vest, and I'm very pleased to say that on his 25th parkrun, a certain Lance managed to finish first for his first finish. So it's not a race, but well done, Lance.

00:03:38Melissa Ellis: Well done, Lance.

00:03:39Oliver Spake: Yes, good work. That's right. Yeah, all the good things, Mel. All the good feels. We managed a flag shot without the flags the wrong way round, despite my best efforts. A certain Chris Fraser saw to that. And yeah, lots of lovely volunteers and a Darwin. So you can't complain with that.

00:03:58Melissa Ellis: Oh, Darwin was there. Darwin's becoming a regular.

00:04:00Oliver Spake: Yeah. And a little bit of a tinsel too, I should say. So Darwin's festive, you know, colourful feathers just jog that memory. So yeah, great fun. But... That's, well, two parkrun days very briefly for me, Mel. What about you? I heard about last parkrun day, but what about the one that's just happened?

00:04:19Melissa Ellis: Well, this parkrun day I snuck off to the military parkrun in Victoria, Puckapunyal, and I did mention that at the end of last week when I was chatting to Scott. We took a little bit of Ugly Christmas in July to Puckapunyal.

00:04:35Oliver Spake: Wonderful.

00:04:36Melissa Ellis: Puckapunyal was featured by ABC this week and in the parkrun Australia comms today. So if you want to know a little bit more about that event, have a little search of parkrun Australia Facebook page and you'll see some reference. It's Australia's only military parkrun. Far as I am aware, Ollie, it's the only one in the world.

00:04:59Oliver Spake: That's still my understanding also. Love to hear if there have been any developments on that front, but we're certainly not aware of them.

00:05:05Melissa Ellis: Yeah, there was previously one in Afghanistan, but that military operation has ended. So that is not operational anymore. So as far as I'm aware, there's no other one. So I do feel very blessed to be able to have access to that. I was there with some friends, Brendan Peel, Jodie Maisie, and Renee Jackson. So we were sporting the ugly Christmas colours. Actually, I wasn't.

00:05:28Oliver Spake: Yeah, I did notice that. I was going to ask about that. For good reason.

00:05:32Melissa Ellis: I feel a little bit guilty. I did have my brand new ugly Christmas buff on my wrists.

00:05:39Oliver Spake: Excellent. There we go.

00:05:40Melissa Ellis: Yeah, but I also on Friday received my Team Veteran shirt. Yes. Which I was very excited to wear. So I wanted to get out in that and show my allegiance. So Team Veteran is one of my five parkrun groups that I've added to my profile. So very proud team veteran member. So that was good. And the trails were lovely. I forgot about the hill. I forgot to tell my friends there was a hill, you know. You just say, oh, it's a lovely out and back trail.

00:06:10Oliver Spake: Yeah, mostly flat.

00:06:11Melissa Ellis: On the drive there, I'm like, oh, by the way, yeah, there's a hill.

00:06:16Oliver Spake: So what's the scale of the hill, Mel? For those of us who don't have the opportunity to visit, what size hill are we talking? Bellerive size hill?

00:06:24Melissa Ellis: Oh, I think it's bigger.

00:06:25Oliver Spake: Okay.

00:06:26Melissa Ellis: Oh, you're going to ask me the elevation?

00:06:29Oliver Spake: That's okay. We can all use our imagination.

00:06:32Melissa Ellis: It sort of goes uphill to the 2K mark and then there's a bit of a downhill to the turnaround. Then obviously you have to come back up, but then the last 2Ks is downhill.

00:06:40Oliver Spake: Fantastic. So it's quite nice. Yeah.

00:06:43Melissa Ellis: And... The ED remembered me from my first visit, which was really nice. I don't get remembered very often, so it was a bit of a thrill. And, yeah, we had a nice brunch in Seymour, which is the small town that sits outside the military area. We went for a bit of a scout to see if there would be a 5K event possible in the Seymour location, and there is because the Goulburn River runs through Seymour. And sure enough, it's got a trail that runs along the river.

00:07:14Oliver Spake: Yes, bless those river trails.

00:07:17Melissa Ellis: Yeah, yeah, and it's pretty nice. The Goulburn River is quite majestic running through Seymour. I was actually quite surprised how large and wide it was. So that was nice to see.

00:07:28Unidentified speaker: Okay.

00:07:29Melissa Ellis: We also visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Walk in the town of Seymour. So I got to see my father-in-law's name. Oh, is that right? Sort of like the Avenue of Honour. Yes.

00:07:41Oliver Spake: Have you been there before, Mel? No. Okay. Well, that must have been lovely.

00:07:44Melissa Ellis: Yeah, it was actually.

00:07:46Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:07:46Melissa Ellis: Yeah, we took our time around Seymour before we headed home.

00:07:49Oliver Spake: Oh, well, let's hope you're back there for a parkrun one day then, hey?

00:07:52Melissa Ellis: Just maybe, yeah.

00:07:53Oliver Spake: Yes, yes.

00:07:55Melissa Ellis: We'll see. But there was a big response to Ugly Christmas in July this weekend.

00:08:01Oliver Spake: Yeah, things got pretty ugly. They did. Well done, everyone.

00:08:04Melissa Ellis: And Sam posted the album earlier tonight, being Monday. Yeah.

00:08:10Oliver Spake: Yes, that's right.

00:08:11Melissa Ellis: Full of all the glorious ugly photos, but I just couldn't believe where all the ugly singlets were popping up. I'm sure there was more than usual.

00:08:20Oliver Spake: It felt that way. There were some particularly large groups, but some great little tinsels too.

00:08:25Melissa Ellis: Feedback from the last week's episode. There wasn't a lot of feedback, Ollie. You were missed, I must say.

00:08:33Oliver Spake: Well, I missed everyone too, thank you. But I think as we said, it was particularly nice to hear from Scotty and it made me almost miss the opportunity, the words. See, one week I'm out of practice. The opportunity to jump into the poem zone or something like that. Yeah, yeah. Brought back all the memories.

00:08:54Melissa Ellis: Maybe this week we should just call for poems and just have a one-off. Seeing as Scott hasn't come back to us with a new segment, as he promised.

00:09:04Oliver Spake: We'll just recreate all the other segments. That's it, Club Corner.

00:09:08Melissa Ellis: Maybe we'll just bring back the Poem Zone for a week and call for poems. We did fine him for saying that name that is not supposed to be named last week. I tricked him into it, but, you know, kudos to me. He's also received another fine.

00:09:27Oliver Spake: Oh, okay. What's this one?

00:09:30Melissa Ellis: Well, Johan suggested that he be fined for his very dodgy South African accent.

00:09:37Oliver Spake: Well, I'm in no position to argue with Johan on that particular topic.

00:09:42Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so that's $2 you owe us now, Scotty.

00:09:46Oliver Spake: And a roving report, huh? We jest, we jest. We won't hold our breath. That's right. Thank you, everyone, for your feedback.

parkrun news bulletin

00:09:56Oliver Spake: There have, of course, been some other news in the parkrun world, Mel, and I'm sure many of our listeners have heard the news. Would you like to fill us in, just in case?

00:10:08Melissa Ellis: I will. Now, this news came to hand, ironically, just after we recorded last week. Obviously, we weren't able to bring it to you last week, but Tim Oberg is no longer the head of Asia Pacific parkrun. Tim Oberg, had a press release and Tim did say, my time overseeing parkrun in Australia and the Asia Pacific region has come to an end. There were 4,109 days, including 587 parkrun days, formerly known as Saturday, between when we launched parkrun Australia's first ever event at Main Beach, way back on the 2nd of April, 2011, and when I worked my last day for this great organisation on the 1st of July, 2022. What an incredible journey it has been. Never in my wildest dreams could I have envisaged what we have collectively achieved, and there is so much to be proud of. In Australia alone, over 1.1 million people are now registered parkrunners, and we now support communities in 441 locations, the most of any country outside of the UK. When I look at a map of locations, it is truly staggering to see how much the parkrun concept has been embraced by the Australian community.

00:11:26Oliver Spake: Tim went on to say, when I reflect on this time, there are so many people who have made a significant contribution that I couldn't possibly name them all. But I do want to publicly acknowledge the following. Paul Sinton-Hewitt, the founder of parkrun, who took a punt on me back in 2010 by granting the first international license to expand his baby into the Southern Hemisphere, (unresolved — a personal name in Tim Oberg's acknowledgements that the ASR has garbled) and making it easier to get those first few events started. My colleagues, both here in Australia and around the world, who have supported me through thick and thin. The past and present chairs of the parkrun Australia Board, Gareth Saunders OAM, Gareth Candy and Scott Watkins for the mentorship and support you have provided over many years. The good folks at Sport Australia and the various state government departments who have provided strategic support. Our commercial partners, especially Medibank, whose support has enabled us to remain sustainable whilst expanding. The tens and thousands of you who have volunteered at our events and behind the scenes. This includes people like Paul Wilcock, who has been Event Director at St. Peter's parkrun in Sydney for over 10 years. And last but certainly not least, my wife Nikki and children Jack, Evie and Archie, who have never wavered in their support no matter what was asked of them.

00:12:57Melissa Ellis: So what's next? I'll be turning my attention to an area that I am extremely passionate about, the epidemic of childhood inactivity. I'll have much more to say about this in the weeks and months ahead, but in the meantime, if this is an area you are also interested in, please do get in touch. In closing, it's been an absolute honour to have spent the last 11 years of my professional life at parkrun. I have nothing but gratitude for everyone who has helped support me personally and and parkrun as an organisation over this time. Those of us who have the privilege to call parkrun a job know that we are just a tiny cog in the huge wheel that makes the magic happen every weekend. This magic will continue long after I'm gone, and that is a legacy that makes me smile.

00:13:46Oliver Spake: And obviously we would like to say our congratulations and thanks to Tim, who we should add, Mel, the inspiration for our Obi award and former host of the parkrun adventurers podcast.

00:14:00Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. And haven't we named a challenge after him as well? Those who have completed every state and territory in Australia and both islands in New Zealand.

00:14:12Oliver Spake: Yes, that's right. So the legacy is huge and we are full of appreciation for everything that Tim has given us all and look forward to seeing what he's going to do in another exciting area.

00:14:27Melissa Ellis: And Tim, if you ever want to come back on the pod, please let us know.

00:14:32Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. We've got an award you can present.

00:14:35Melissa Ellis: We do. You can open the envelope. It's quite a prestigious honour.

00:14:40Oliver Spake: Oh, wow. Mel, I think whilst that's pretty big news, we've got plenty more coming up. I know we have a couple of other roving reports and we also have an interview this week. Is that right?

00:14:52Melissa Ellis: We do, Ollie. We have Sam who has recorded an interview with Aidan Hobbs. He's got quite an interesting pedigree with parkrun. So let's have a listen to Sam and Aidan now.

Level 2 with a View

Interview Aidan Hobbs

00:15:11Sam Schroder: Hello listeners, it's Sam here talking to you from the comfy chair on Level 2 with a View. Today I'm having a chat with Aidan Hobbs, a parkrunner who holds 23 course records, most of which, but not all, are at parkruns in Queensland. Aidan, thank you for agreeing to talk with me and welcome to the parkrun adventurers podcast.

00:15:32Aidan Hobbs: Thanks Sam, it's great to chat, appreciate you having me on.

00:15:35Sam Schroder: So, Aidan, your collection of course records came to my attention when I was researching for my interview with Phil Gore a couple of months ago. I need to apologise to you because at the time I may have said Aidan Hobbs, whoever he is, when acknowledging all your course records, so sorry about that. You do have a pretty impressive 23 course records to your name, I believe, if my research is correct. Now, I know this is putting you on the spot, but Can you tell us which one of those 23 course records felt the sweetest and why?

00:16:12Aidan Hobbs: I think my fastest time at parkrun was actually at Sandgate and that was a couple of weeks ago. It was a 14.16, but it wasn't actually a course record because I finished second behind Kieran Perkins.

00:16:27Sam Schroder: Not the Kieran Perkins, I believe.

00:16:30Aidan Hobbs: Well, not the swimmer, but the runner, Kieran Perkins. Right. I don't know. I think I've got a couple of local parkruns that I really like. Rocks Riverside and St. Lucia, I think, are my two home parkruns. Yeah. But all the parkruns that I do, I become part of the community for each one that I go to. I kind of follow them on Facebook and I stay in touch with a lot of the people that I meet. Woy Woy was an example down in Sydney where I met a few of the local Woy Woy Roadrunners. Kenny is heavily involved in the group. After I ran the course record there, I let them know that my grandparents lived down there and that I'm down pretty regularly. And afterwards, they made me an honorary member of the club and they gave me a club singlet down there. So, yeah, I thought that was pretty special. Yeah, I think, you know, all the parkruns that I go to, they're meaningful for different reasons and I get the same joy out of parkrun tourism that anyone else does, I'd say.

00:17:34Sam Schroder: That's so good to hear. I actually had a note to ask you about your massive parkrun PB at Sandgate a couple of weeks ago. I'm curious, how did it feel to run 14.16, your best ever time, and not be the person who took the course record?

00:17:51Aidan Hobbs: Well, I wasn't at all upset. Kieran is a phenomenal runner. We've had a few really good battles over a few different distances over the last couple of years. So to finish so close behind him, I was pretty happy. It was a tough race. There was a lot of back and forth, but it was good fun. And Sandgate, each year, for those that don't know, they've got an annual race. They call it Speedy Week, but it's like the unofficial parkrun championships where all of the fast runners from all around southeast Queensland come together with the goal of trying to get as many people under the 15-minute, 16-minute, 17-minute, 20-minute barriers as possible. And we get a phenomenal number of athletes running really quick times there. So it's a great morning.

00:18:40Sam Schroder: Yeah, I watched the video of the start and the video of the finish. And as impressive as all of that was, I was a little bit panic stricken by hearing in the background what was obviously the Timekeeper and the token team. And I presume there was some kind of astronomically well-organised funnel system going on.

00:19:00Aidan Hobbs: They said on the morning that they had their A-team on and that they were all very well rehearsed in ensuring that it operations were running smoothly and efficiently that morning. And as soon as the first runners come through from then on in, it's just making sure that everyone's filtered through and they keep moving and people aren't sort of collapsing dead on the ground. And yeah, so it was very well run that day.

00:19:26Sam Schroder: Very impressive. And speaking of efficient Timekeepers and token hander-outers, I know that one of the dreads that volunteers always have in the back of their mind is the potential for one day maybe having to record the 59-59 result for all the runners now I notice you have a record at Rooty Hill parkrun in New South Wales of 59-59 do you want to tell us a little bit about that oh uh

00:19:53Aidan Hobbs: I'm not sure if I could even remember that one. Yeah, I think I ran a fast time that day, but it wasn't the record. It was behind the record. At the time, the record was held by Liam Adams, who is currently heading over for the Comm Games. Oh, is he Comm? Yeah, I think it's Comm Games he was selected for. He was going either for the World Champs or Comm Games, but I think he's definitely running the Comm Games. He was over at Tokyo for the Olympics. So to not be able to get the record off him, I wasn't too upset by it. But subsequently, I think the Rooty Hill record might have gone down to Stefan Musich, who's a local runner in Sydney. And I think he was pretty happy. He'd been targeting it for a while, but managed to get under it a couple of months ago.

00:20:39Sam Schroder: Oh, that's Excellent. Do you know what I love about the answer you just gave me is you haven't dwelled on the 59-59 part of the story at Rooty Hill at all. And I just think that's really so significant because, you know, parkrun, it's a free 5K run, completely run by volunteers. And I love that, that people choose to volunteer week in, week out at a lot of parkruns. And I love that, obviously, you know, your initial response was, oh, now let me think about that. So it's not any kind of scar then that you didn't get a result that day, obviously. That's excellent.

00:21:15Aidan Hobbs: It happens. I mean, what's the saying? If you're not satisfied with your run at parkrun, you get a full refund.

00:21:22Sam Schroder: Yeah, exactly. Come back and do it for free next week.

00:21:25Aidan Hobbs: That's right.

00:21:26Sam Schroder: So your quickest course record, if I'm reading your stats correctly, is 14.41 at Mitchelton last October. As we've said, it's not actually your quickest parkrun, but it's your quickest course record. Do you want to tell us a bit about that run?

00:21:41Aidan Hobbs: Yeah, that one, it was previously held by an international triathlete. Oh, his name escapes me. Let me, I might see if I can pull it up. But I did have the record at Mitchelton. So I'd held it for a number of years. And I think they changed the course slightly. And then the triathlete, it was Trent Thorpe. He ran 14.51. And I think my time before that was maybe like 15 something. So fairly indignant that someone had came and taken my course running record. I went out there on a mission to get it back. So, yeah, just went out there, would have been, was it last year, maybe?

00:22:27Sam Schroder: October, I think, yeah.

00:22:29Aidan Hobbs: Went out there in the morning and, yeah, just went flat out as hard as I could to get it back and, yeah, managed to take 10 seconds off it. But Trent messaged me afterwards. He said congratulations. And he said he was going to have to come back and get it. There might be an ongoing battle for that now. So who knows? Watch this space. He might come back.

00:22:48Sam Schroder: There's a rivalry on. That's right. Nice. I like it. Well, that's kind of where I was headed is like is this a thing at many of the courses? Are there runners that you are sort of taking their record and going back and taking it again? Or are you a bit too quick for most runners? runners. And I guess the question is an overall kind of tell me about how important getting course records is to you and how much of your parkrun planning is about where you want to go and get more course records.

00:23:20Aidan Hobbs: Well, I mean, it's one of those things like, you know, at any one point in time, the number of records that I've got could change. And, you know, it's on a Saturday morning, if I'm just out doing another training session or not doing parkrun, there's always the possibility that I'll get a notification from Strava saying, oh, you've lost your course record, and, you know, any one of them could go down on any given weekend. And when you've got 23 of them, there's a lot to defend, and particularly, you know, I've got a few up in Townsville, a few down in New South Wales, and a few out in sort of some smaller towns. It's not as easy to get out to them. A lot of them are just opportunistic. If I happen to be on holidays or up there, I'll go out and suss out the local parkrun. So, Yeah, I've lost a few. I've gained a few. But, you know, the general trend is that I seem to be getting more than the number that have taken off me. But a few of them are fairly quick. A few of them are probably slower than others. But, you know, ultimately, I'm not too upset. If someone comes along who's faster than me and gets them, then, you know, that's great. I think... That's what it's all about, I guess.

00:24:31Sam Schroder: That's it, isn't it? So is it a case of every weekend you think about whether you're going to go somewhere and try and break a course record? Or is it more, as you said, more of an opportunistic kind of occasional thing?

00:24:42Aidan Hobbs: Yeah, I have to fit it in around my training and also what other events that I've got coming up. So If I am going to target a fast parkrun, then I will line it up generally with if I have to run a fast session on a Saturday, then rather than maybe doing a tempo run or an interval session, then I might just go and do a really quick parkrun and sort of two birds, one stone. I get the training benefit and also get to have a crack at a record.

00:25:10Sam Schroder: Makes sense.

00:25:11Aidan Hobbs: It also depends on the – there's like a nearest – There's an acronym for it.

00:25:19Sam Schroder: Oh, yes. NENDY, Nearest Event Not Done Yet.

00:25:22Aidan Hobbs: That's the one. So I'm kind of running out of those. I've got a few still. South Bank in Brisbane is probably the closest that I haven't got. So I'll need to have a crack at that one soon. But I missed it by one second a couple of years ago. So that's...

00:25:38Sam Schroder: That's definitely one to go back for. So when you talk about your training and fitting in fast parkruns, if they fit with your training plan, what's your preferred running event? What distance is your specialty?

00:25:52Aidan Hobbs: Yeah, it's a good question. Probably when it comes to running, I seem to be a jack of all trades, master of none. I'll run anything from the 1500 metres to the steeplechase to the marathon to I do cross-country, trail running, mountain running, road, pretty much everything. And I love all distances and events equally. So when I look at the events that I tend to perform best in, at the moment on the World Athletics profiles, they attribute point scores to performances that you run. And my top 10 performances generally seem to be over the three K steeplechase. Um, also the 3000 metres. And I've got a couple of marathon times in there as well. So they're probably the distances that I seem to perform best in, but, you know, I enjoy all distances equally.

00:26:48Sam Schroder: So you've been parkrunning since 2015. Can you tell us about when you first found parkrun, how it all began?

00:26:55Aidan Hobbs: Yeah, well, I was a late starter. I had moved away. I used to live in Brisbane and then moved up to Mount Isa, was doing remote outreach as a podiatrist and going out to all of the remote Indigenous communities. And I'd never heard of parkrun living out there. This was before parkrun in Mount Isa had started up.

00:27:16Sam Schroder: Right.

00:27:17Aidan Hobbs: And it wasn't until I moved back in 2015 that I did my first parkrun, which I think was out at Petrie, and I was pretty unfit comparatively to now. I think my time back then was about 1853 or something, and that was the inaugural parkrun. Oh, it's so slow. Really comparative, I guess.

00:27:40Sam Schroder: Yeah, fair, fair.

00:27:41Aidan Hobbs: That was the first parkrun at Petrie that I went and did. But, yeah, gradually, I guess over the years, my training consistency and the mileage and things, it kind of accumulates year on year, and I've found that I've been able to get those times down faster and faster each year. Yeah, how I've seen the improvements.

00:28:01Sam Schroder: That's fantastic. So I think you said earlier St Lucia and one other parkrun, you consider them both home?

00:28:07Aidan Hobbs: Yes, St Lucia parkrun and Rocks Riverside are probably the two closest for me. But if I'm not having to do like a hard session or even if I'm doing a tempo run, we do a lot of our training out at the University of Queensland, which is where St Lucia parkrun is, and quite often I'll just jump in and do it as part of the warm-up so I'll jump in kind of the back of the pack and just jog along and carry my barcode with me and you know it means that I get an extra notch on the total number of parkruns done and then I might go over to the track or do a harder session afterwards so I still kind of get the same enjoyment that other people get out of trying to see how many parkruns I can get on my profile and how many different locations that I can get. And I guess one good thing about being fast is that I've got the opportunity to have a crack at seeing how many parkrun records I can accumulate as well.

00:29:05Sam Schroder: So I'm going to put you on the spot with my last question. You can't say St Lucia or Rocks Riverside, but tell me the three best parkruns or most interesting or most unique or whatever. You decide why, but tell me three parkruns you think are pretty awesome.

00:29:24Aidan Hobbs: White Rock is pretty spectacular. It's a very challenging course with a really steep off-road rocky section, uh similarly Cormorant Bay it's a unique course as well it kind of runs through the bushlands there uh just near the um near the water oh the last one I probably can't beat uh the Sandgate parkrun just because it's fast and furious it's uh completely flat and uh it's it's a good one if you want to run a fast time yeah it's it's good for a If you want to run a PB, head to Sandgate.

00:30:00Sam Schroder: Yeah. And I presume on that speedy week, it's a pretty amazing atmosphere as well. So I can see the appeal. So Aidan, it's been such a pleasure to chat with you. I really, really appreciate you giving up some time to have a conversation with me. Thank you for joining me and happy running.

00:30:19Aidan Hobbs: Thank you very much. It's been a pleasure.

00:30:28Oliver Spake: Thank you very much to Aidan and to Sam. Some impressive running there, Mel, clearly. Well done.

Emails

00:30:35Melissa Ellis: Absolutely it was. But this week, now that Scott's gone, Ollie, we've got mail.

00:30:41Oliver Spake: You've got mail. Are you drawing a connection? Not at all. Not at all. Yes, we do. We do. So our first mail came from Geoff Glaab who said, woo-hoo, USA, USA. Yes. Excuse my very poor Homer Simpson voice there. But Jeff actually said, Hello, Mel and Ollie. I wanted to share some good news out of parkrun USA. This past Saturday, we had three events launch. With the addition of Kohler Mountain Bike Preserve, Little Sugar Creek Greenway and Osborn MetroPark parkruns, we topped the 2,000 participant mark on a single day for the first time since March 2020. In fact, at Kohler Mountain Bike Preserve parkrun of the 63 finishes, 54 were brand new to parkrun. It's currently swamp season in Kentucky, so I'm choosing to volunteer more than run, but I do hope to be adventuring soon. Keep up the good work. Your show is a highlight of my week and a beacon of positivity in a sometimes dark and cruel world. Happy parkrunning, Jeff.

00:31:52Melissa Ellis: Oh, this was great to hear, Ollie. And when I heard about these three events, I did think of Jeff and I was really hoping they'd be within reach for his adventuring.

00:32:01Oliver Spake: Yes. And lovely feedback. I know very little about swamp season, so I'm going to have to do a bit of research, Jeff, there and learn a bit more.

00:32:10Melissa Ellis: Yeah, true. Thanks for the kind words, Jeff. We do appreciate that. But, Ollie, we've also heard from Bruce Purdy, the ideas man.

00:32:19Unidentified speaker: Mm-hmm.

00:32:20Melissa Ellis: Bruce messaged us and said, ideas for the Streaky September Bingoe card. Because Streaky September. Because Streaky September. Third time lucky. Yep. Because streaky September aligns with parkrun adventurers podcast episode 300. Woo-hoo. Woo-hoo. How about photograph a 300 during your streak? Continuing the anniversary theme, a selfie with a cake or suitable parkrun breakfast. Find five different road sign types during a streak, i.e. road, Street, court, crescent, place, highway, etc. Five different for a flush. Maybe five the same for a full house or a straight. To be continued.

00:33:16Oliver Spake: I bet. Yes.

00:33:17Melissa Ellis: There's a bit to unpack there.

00:33:19Oliver Spake: Wow. This is going to be a pretty packed Bingoe card this year, I think.

00:33:22Melissa Ellis: It might need instructions.

00:33:24Oliver Spake: There are some good ideas there, Mel. And I really like the 300 idea.

00:33:28Melissa Ellis: I know. Fancy that. Like, I'm all focused on 299. I hope you've been researching, Ollie. It's your big moment.

00:33:35Oliver Spake: Yeah. Yeah, to some extent, yes, yes.

00:33:41Melissa Ellis: Do you need to record with Scotty that way you can have a duet?

00:33:45Oliver Spake: Oh. Oh, goodness.

00:33:48Melissa Ellis: Maybe he could be coaxed out of retirement.

00:33:52Oliver Spake: or another ballad. Oh, dear. Well, look, we'll have to wait and see, Mel. But, yes, it is coming very, very soon. Thank you, Bruce, for some more great ideas. You really do get things moving.

00:34:04Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so maybe when he says continuing the anniversary theme, a selfie with a cake, maybe adventurers can bake a cake.

00:34:11Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:34:12Melissa Ellis: We could have a bake-off.

00:34:13Oliver Spake: We could have a bake-off.

00:34:14Melissa Ellis: Oh, it's all my MasterChef dreams come true. LAUGHTER

00:34:17[laughter]

00:34:21Oliver Spake: Oh, dear. Well, look, there are some excellent bakers in the Adventurers Club, so you might be onto something there, Mel.

00:34:29Melissa Ellis: Or you could just pay someone to do it and take the credit. Or that, yes.

00:34:33Oliver Spake: As Scotty said last week, you know, you can actually stretch the rules a little bit with some of these challenges, like the photo with a stranger.

00:34:42Melissa Ellis: Yeah, let's be honest, most of us do stretch the rules. I still think a selfie with a stranger with a toilet block in the background is a good option.

00:34:50Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:34:51Oliver Spake: In the background. That's the key one. Yeah.

00:34:54Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

Dazza's

00:34:55Melissa Ellis: But moving on to Dazza's, Ollie.

00:34:57Oliver Spake: Moving on to Dazza's. At Dazza's this week, he said, it's Ugly Christmas in July day. Dazza, I can't wait to see exactly how ugly you all are. Come on in and share your parkrun fun with your friends. And... Someone who did come on in was Andrew Johnston, who was touristing and said, in celebration of Christmas and the North Pole, Martine Barrot and I uglied up and went to see the Aurora. And the photo did tell the story of them in the selfie frame decked out in full ugly shirt and buff at Aurora parkrun.

00:35:36Melissa Ellis: Oh, good work, Andrew and Martine. We also heard from Rebecca Bailey. Bec Bailey, who was celebrating a frond, drove 1,000 kilometres, got my I, and added Victoria to my Peel list with this lovely ugly crew at Inverloch. Carried on the ugly into Sunday morning where I volunteered as Marshal number 10 at my very first junior event, Eynesbury Heritage Trail junior parkrun. Put on a good show, good morning, and even the puddle duck got some water. And Bec shared a tinsel selfie, fronting stump shot with Bec, Jacqui and TOC, plus a photo with Jemima at juniors. And yes, the puddle was full for the first week of winter.

00:36:19Oliver Spake: Oh, happy days. I didn't ask you about juniors, Mel.

00:36:22Melissa Ellis: No, you didn't. Oh, you know what, Ollie? Not only did we have our special guest volunteer, the lovely Bec Bailey from New South Wales, from the parkrun that we don't name. But we had our very first Duke of Ed volunteer.

00:36:41Oliver Spake: Ah, very exciting.

00:36:42Melissa Ellis: So that was very exciting. So our Duke of Ed volunteer is a 14-year-old and I had the lovely pleasure of being his supervising adult. Excellent. For his very first juniors parkrun. So, yeah, and he's back next week. So he's coming back. So that's even better.

00:36:59Oliver Spake: Well, yep, locked in now. That's wonderful. Keep up the good work. Speaking of keeping up the good work, let's keep up the Bailey shots. We also heard from Tanya Bailey over in New Zealand. Last minute fill in for Timekeeper this week at Pegasus. A chilly four degrees and a hearty 53 participants. Where else can you have a hippo in a tutu as a Marshal? Ugly Christmas next week. And Tanya did share a nice early light shot with that post.

00:37:31Melissa Ellis: Did I miss a photo of a hippo in a tutu though?

00:37:37Oliver Spake: I may not have noted that. Yes. There was one? I'm not sure. I'm going back. I'm frantically looking. I would have noticed it, surely.

00:37:45Melissa Ellis: Bec! You need to help us out. Moving along, we are the most likes this week, Ollie, came from Brendan Scholarly. On a chilly day at the parkrun that cannot be named, Em and I had the pleasure of timing and presenting our parkrunners with their coveted finish tokens. And Brendan shared a photo of himself and Em with some fantastic purple beanies and and volley pins in the orange vests.

00:38:15Oliver Spake: Yes, and I did fail to mention in those notes that they were also sporting their ugly buffs. And I think there were some very ecstatic parkrunners receiving those finish tokens. One quote I remember was, is that really number 22? I've never had 22. So something to be said for smaller numbers and a great finish crew.

00:38:36Melissa Ellis: The volley pins, Ollie, are they the ones, are they those little pins that you can buy on the website?

00:38:41Oliver Spake: They are, yes.

00:38:42Melissa Ellis: Oh, excellent. I've got those too.

00:38:45Oliver Spake: Yeah. So thank you, Brendan and Em. Now, we also heard from Mary Geluna. From a rather busy and festive parkrunner, I have to say, popping into Dazza's for a first visit, who said, let it snow at the Ponds parkrun. And there were some impressive shots, but Mary shared one of some very festive Ponds parkrunners in the snow or what looked like snow. Obviously, it wasn't snowing in Greater Sydney, but the Ponds really know how to do their festive Christmas in July parkruns. And yeah, I love those photos.

00:39:23Melissa Ellis: They absolutely do, and I did pinch one of those photos to add to the Consolidated Club report this week. So if you want to have a look, go and check out the post. Yes. This week we also heard from Johan from South Africa. No ugly singlets in sight, but still a bit of Christmas cheer as New Rescue Jason does his first parkrun and Tail Walker duties with me at Inibos parkrun. And Johan shared a photo of himself and Tail Walker Jason.

00:39:52Oliver Spake: The dog. Tail Walker with the tail. Well done. Now, also far afield or further afield, we heard from Tim Robbins, who was over in Europe and said, nothing ugly here at Lovstien parkrun in Bergen. And I apologise for my very poor pronunciation, but popping up there, Tim, in Norway and And he shared a photo of himself with Troll in the selfie frame with the city in the background there. So, yeah, lovely shot and nice travels. Troll all the way over in Norway. Yes.

00:40:29Melissa Ellis: Wow. But, Ollie, we heard from Will Barlow, who said, I found a trolley. And Will shared a photo and a video evidence of said trolley and he's returning it to the local Aldi store and in ugly shirt and buff as well. This really did make me smile to see somebody taking a lost trolley home. Thank you, Will.

00:40:55Oliver Spake: Yeah, well done. A very festive trolley return. And we heard from Nadine Crawford, who also travelling over in the UK. Nadine said, we visited Daventry parkrun in West Northamptonshire on special invitation from our friend Derek Munro, who we met at Hastings Foreshore parkrun. As Derek was the RD this morning, we had the Australian National Anthem played at the brief, Waltzing Matilda played at the 1K mark, and we were treated to a full English breakfast at their home, which used to be an old pub and is older than Australia. We also met these two people proudly sporting an ugly Christmas t-shirt and the first Dolly or Bev t-shirt we have seen in the wild. I'm so sorry. I was so excited I forgot to even ask your names as they are parkrun adventurers listeners. I know they'll see this. A very exciting morning with all the parkrun magic. And I'll add that the photo shared had Ugly, it had Apricot, it had Milestone shirts, it had the With Me Now Dolly or Bev shirt. What a collection.

00:42:05Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. And I do believe one of those people was Adventurers Club member Tracy May.

00:42:12Oliver Spake: Yes. So well done. Great connections.

00:42:14Melissa Ellis: Fancy that. Fancy going all the way from Australia to a random UK parkrun event and seeing an adventurers Ugly Christmas Shirt. Because... There can't be that many over there. I know there is some, but I wouldn't think there's hundreds. I would think, you know, somewhere between maybe 50 to 100, but I wouldn't. I don't really know. I don't have the figures. We don't know. With all those UK parkruns, because they've got lots. So that's pretty amazing.

00:42:44Oliver Spake: Meant to be.

00:42:45Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and great to see Nadine and Ian enjoying being hosted so finely over there at Daventry.

00:42:53Oliver Spake: Yes, that's certainly a very nice host there. Thank you, everyone, for popping into Dazza's, who was also a great host. It was, as we've said, a remarkably festive parkrun day.

the Obi Award — Bec Bailey (Rebecca Bailey)

00:43:06Melissa Ellis: It was, Ollie, and I assume the envelope is back in your in-tray this week.

00:43:10Oliver Spake: Okay. Yes, Mel, it's somewhere here. I just have to move a bunch of post-its. I meant to clean up this desk before I went away for a week there. But here we are. I've got the envelope. And so the Obi, the very esteemed award, the Obi, goes to this week. For 1,000 kilometres, a stump shot and Jemima Puddle Duck, it's got to be Bec Bailey.

00:43:47Melissa Ellis: Good choice, Ollie.

00:43:50Oliver Spake: Congratulations, Bec.

00:43:52Melissa Ellis: Excellent. My house guest. I am very proud.

00:43:58Oliver Spake: We should clarify that there was no bribery involved and certainly has nothing to do with the caramilk sitting on anyone's desk.

00:44:08Melissa Ellis: Or the lolly slice in your lunchbox.

00:44:11Oliver Spake: Or the lolly slice. That's right.

00:44:15Melissa Ellis: Ah, another awesome week at Dazza's.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:44:18Melissa Ellis: So moving on, we've got some roving reports. We've got two roving reports to throw to and our informant. So time to listen to them now.

Roving report Sarah Jefferson — Willoughby parkrun, NSW

00:44:36Sarah Jefferson: Good morning, parkrun adventurers. It's Sarah here on the West Side, except that I'm not on the West Side. I'm actually on the east side. And I'm here this morning checking out event number 231 at Willoughby parkrun. It is not raining so far, but I will check in to let you know how I go. Hopefully the rain gods are on my side and I don't end up drenched. This morning I'm here with Grant, one of the EDs at Willoughby parkrun and it's quite wet underfoot and I'm sure I look like a drowned rat and we are doing the alternate course. Grant, can you tell us a little bit about the alternate course and how it's a bit different to the regular course?

00:45:12Grant: Yeah, sure. Our regular course actually starts on the oval, our Artarmon Reserve. But with all the rain that we've had this year, all the natural grass ovals in the Willoughby Council area are officially closed. So we aren't allowed on the area. And that's only the first... probably three, 400 metres of the course. So we changed the start point to be on the concrete path and to make up the extra distance, we extend one of our turnaround points by another few hundred metres. And we start and finish at the same, albeit non-standard point. And we've been running this version of the wet weather course for probably two years now.

00:45:58Sarah Jefferson: Oh, wow. Yeah, right. All of the rain. Yeah. And have you noticed that any of the numbers have declined?

00:46:05Grant: Since COVID, definitely. We were clocking 250 to 300 most weeks. We're down to sort of 150 to 200, but we have... We've been over 200 probably a handful of times since, but definitely down. And we've... The RD team has talked about it. We've lost... We get a lot of very first-timers. We get a few tourists, but mostly a lot of first-timers. But we're not seeing the numbers growing by the number of first-timers we're getting, so we're not sure where they're all going on their second time, whether we've put them off.

00:46:45Sarah Jefferson: Well, it is a beautiful course. It's very green, running through the... Would you call it a bushland or a forest here, or the reserve? Yeah, yeah. It's definitely worth checking out. So thanks, Grant. Thanks for all you do for parkrun.

00:46:55Grant: No worries. Thanks for coming.

Roving report Alison Fraser — Cambridge NZ parkrun, Waikato, New Zealand

00:46:58Alison Fraser (King): Kia ora, adventurers. It's Alison here reporting in across the ditch from Cambridge NZ parkrun in New Zealand. It's been a bit of a minute since my last report. I think the last one I did was at the launch of Ōtaki River parkrun on New Year's Day. And a lot has happened between then and now. Firstly, we had a bit of a COVID pause and then I broke my ankle. And so I've only been doing some volunteering and today was going to be my first day, parkrun tour as a parkrunner but sadly um I will not be getting my barcode scan today instead I'm volunteering as photographer and I'm so looking forward to it So Cambridge is just outside of Hamilton on the North Island of New Zealand. It's a small town and the parkrun is, I think it's about four years old. I've only been here a couple of times before, but love it. And I'm here today because I know quite a few people are coming along. So I'll see who I can get to come on the pod. So I'm with Helen here at the finish at Cambridge. How'd you find that today, Helen? [Te Reo Maori: ""Kia ora" is a Te Reo Maori greeting, literally "be well" and used as "hello". So: "Hello, adventurers.""]

00:48:12Helen: The finish is quite tough, Alison. It's about 200 metres uphill. And where have you come from today? North Shore of Auckland, my home run in New Zealand is Sherwood Reserve where I'm co-ED. And I think everyone should visit that one. You're only saying that because of the cake, Alison.

00:48:30Alison Fraser (King): I'm saying it because it's got a very unique feature with the eels.

00:48:33Helen: It has. Lots of ball walks and lots of bridges.

00:48:36Alison Fraser (King): But why did you come to Cambridge this morning?

00:48:39Helen: why wouldn't you it's a beautiful parkrun in the middle of absolutely nowhere um lovely and scenic undulating some might say um but but say very pretty and um also Wilson index and fibonacci so it's event two three three today quite a few quite a few people chasing that and uh also an opportunity to um adorn the lovely um Ugly Christmas in July t-shirt

00:49:04Alison Fraser (King): and um something we do on the pod with everyone is your top three not counting your home so I actually just before and you had a bit of a little time to think about it I did so um delamere forest in the northwest of England um Quinns Rocks in Western Australia

00:49:23Helen: beautiful parkrun to run along the coast of, uh, Western Australia along the indian ocean which is you don't get to do that very often and I would have to say Sherwood Reserve, uh, where I'm currently a co-ED but if you didn't count Sherwood Reserve oh okay probably University of Waikato it's an interesting course four laps different laps um some people choose to get lost there um not mentioning any names uh and uh yeah a good crew there so all right thank you

00:49:54Alison Fraser (King): So I'm with Brian, the Run Director for today at Cambridge NZ parkrun. So beautiful day today, Brian.

00:50:01Brian: Yeah, I tried to put the weather on, eh? I don't think I've had a rainy day for any of my run directing.

00:50:06Alison Fraser (King): Oh, I shall keep an eye on the roster then.

00:50:09Brian: Yeah, look out for me every time, yeah.

00:50:11Alison Fraser (King): And today was a big event for Cambridge.

00:50:15Brian: Wow, yeah, it was our 233rd parkrun, which is a Fibonacci number. So it was part of the Fibonacci sequence. So yeah, it was... It was quite big. We had a lot of people come over just to get that. So, yeah, it's good to see a lot of new faces and stuff like that. It was also ugly Christmas Day as well. So we had lots of, yeah, great Christmas shirts.

00:50:36Alison Fraser (King): Yeah, well, I'll be sending the pictures to the pod, so don't you worry.

00:50:39Brian: Oh, yeah.

00:50:40Alison Fraser (King): So tell us about the Cambridge course, Brian.

00:50:43Brian: It's mostly flat. And the best part is it's mostly downhill for the first two and a half kms. That's probably the best way to describe it. Yeah, it's mostly downhill for the first two and a half kms. Yeah, it does finish on a bit of an uphill though. It does catch quite a few people out and there's a few sort of bridges and stuff sort of to navigate. So yeah, it does go up and down some little bits and pieces there around the course.

00:51:10Alison Fraser (King): So you've got your bet for the toughest parkrun on the North Island?

00:51:14Brian: Yeah, in the North Island, I think, yeah, we've probably got the most hills. And there's probably, yeah, it is the hardest in the North Island. I don't think we'd beat Dunedin in the South Island. No, no. Not a hope in hell. But, yeah, we're definitely, well... I don't know, I've heard some rumours about some of the other people, other courses sort of been having the odd hill or two, but yeah, it doesn't beat our finish hill.

00:51:35Alison Fraser (King): No, it's definitely a challenge for those trying for a PB.

00:51:39Brian: Yeah, don't come here for a PB, that's for sure. You can get a park, you know, Cambridge parkrun PB, but yeah, not an overall one, no.

00:51:46Alison Fraser (King): Have you done many other parkruns around the country?

00:51:49Brian: Oh yeah, I've done Palmerston North a couple of times, um Western Springs and like last year for the first time ever managed to get like 20k's up the road to Hamilton like um hadn't been there yet still gotta go to Hamilton University want to say Waikato University I should say haven't done then yet but yeah that's that's about it haven't really done anymore yet I need to get out more sort of yeah yes yeah been tired here for a bit but now I'm free supposedly so for the listeners I'll just add that Brian up until recently was the Event Director here and is now handed over those yeah and tell us about one of your eds um the news you broke at the run brief this morning ah yeah so yeah and one of our co-eds just gave birth yesterday a little baby Charlotte 3.8 kilos I believe so yeah it's

00:52:34Alison Fraser (King): It's a nice notice to have at the run brief.

00:52:36Brian: Exactly. Everyone thought she was just getting fat, but no, she was pregnant.

00:52:40Alison Fraser (King): Well, let's hope she'll have a bit of a break for a while from parkrun.

00:52:42Brian: Yeah, she would have been down here today, but we had enough volunteers, so she didn't need to.

00:52:47Alison Fraser (King): Cool. Well, thank you so much, and thanks again for another awesome parkrun.

00:52:50Brian: Thanks, Alison.

00:52:52Alison Fraser (King): And that's a wrap on Cambridge NZ parkrun. It's called Cambridge NZ parkrun to differentiate between this one and the original one in the UK, which sadly is no longer with us. So will this one be able to change its name to Cambridge parkrun? Who knows? Anyhow, it's a beautiful course. It's rural outlook, it's undulating it's an out and back you start on a downhill finish on an uphill as you may have gathered but it is a really really cool awesome friendly event that I think everyone should come and visit sometime anyway that's all from me I hope to report in again soon so have a great rest of the week everyone

00:53:14[music]

the Informant

00:53:46The Informant (second voice): Bye. from level two with a view. And this week, Stu, well, who cares about the view? Although flying on a caramel sugar high, I'm angry, Parkies. Despite management being fully aware my hero, Mr. Scotty Trickett, was coming in, they sent me off for a training course. I could have given him a great interview, like one of those Channel 5 things, except not a run report.

00:54:13The Informant: How? What in-depth probing questions would you ask?

00:54:17The Informant (second voice): I don't know. Oh, since he's a funny guy, I'd tell a joke. Yeah, like, um, oh, here's one. There are two muffins baking in the oven. One muffin says to the other, phew, is it getting hot in here or is it just me? The other muffin says, ah, the talking muffin.

00:54:37The Informant: I guess it's all in the delivery. Maybe you got it wrong.

00:54:41The Informant (second voice): Oh, Mr Trickett will get it. He's a smart guy. Hey, remember that time when Simon Mackley, so-called Quizmaster, rigged the quiz tiebreaker so Scotty didn't win?

00:54:52The Informant: It wasn't rigged.

00:54:53The Informant (second voice): Yes, it was. And then soon after, the Quizmaster packed up and moved to Queensland. Coincidence? I don't think so.

00:55:02The Informant: Okay, since you're obviously off in conspiracy la-la land...

00:55:06The Informant (second voice): Okay, okay, I'll go back to the script. Far out! These are unofficial stats. They are only current at the time they are collected and may differ from the stats you read elsewhere. There were 444 runs held down under, a double Ritchie, down 11 on last week. 36 were in New Zealand and 48 of these were in Australia. Worldwide there were 1,756 events. Aussie New Zealand attendance was 32,049 out of 193,000 worldwide. There was one event launch in the United States. Down under we had 3,338 PBs, while 1,183 people participated for the first time. 63 juniors reached their junior 10 milestone, 151 people reached their 50 milestone, 92 reached their 100 milestone, and 19 people reached their 250 milestone. 26 people called bingo. Geoff Howe was the quickest on 152 runs, while Gary Stephen was slowest on 318 runs. There were three new statespeople, Tao Tan in ACT, Michael Giles in the Northern Territory, and Jeremy Porter in South Australia. In the top 20 most Aussie New Zealand events list, Brian Hardy celebrated his 400th parkrun by moving up to equal 19th with Melissa Ellis. She'll be spitting chips! Well, not chips, some carb-free lentil nibble thing. Overall, on the biggest movers, three people moved up nine spots to be on rank 177 after running their 95th different parkrun. Joanne Blackbourn, Robyn Plarn and Lance Plarn. 109 people lifted their Windex. This week's biggest mover is Garth Clee who moves up 60 to 108, which sneaks him just into the Queensland top 10. In other notables, Ernie Jordan jumped 32 to 56 and 8th in NSW. Michael Fitzsimmons moved his Windex to 33 and placed 3rd in the ACT after doing a number 2 at Umbagong.

00:57:23The Informant: Right, that's enough. Red carded for using toilet humour.

00:57:27The Informant (second voice): But why? This is... I'm only saying what Ollie and Chris did at Wentworth.

00:57:32The Informant: Ouch!

00:57:33The Informant (second voice): Oh my God, so grumpy. Have some chocolate.

00:57:37The Informant: In the Adventure Challenges, we have Neil Harvey joining the Peel Club by completing an event in all states and territories in Australia. Nicole Hay joined the Cowell Club by completing 100 different events, and a further 12 parkrunners completed half Cowell. If you would like to see these stats in full, you can download them from theinformant.me. That's www.theinformant.me. Or look for The Informant on Facebook. This has been The Informant, and my spreadsheet is bigger than yours.

00:58:15Oliver Spake: And thank you very much to our informant and to our roving reporters, including Sarah at Willoughby, so making a bit of a trip to the east coast still. And I think, Sarah, that bottle must have headed the other way by now. So... It'll show up. It'll show up, we're sure. I hope so. She keeps missing it.

00:58:38Melissa Ellis: I'm sure it's stuck in Tasmania. I'm sure Val or Steve can confirm.

00:58:44Oliver Spake: Yeah, sailing through the strait there, just up near the north coast. And, of course, Alison at Cambridge, so doing a bit of touristing there.

00:58:52Melissa Ellis: Yeah, those New Zealanders are chasing Windex numbers and Fibonacci numbers.

00:58:57Oliver Spake: Yes, and I did see Alison's photo in Dazza's, and I did notice a sign that looked like there was a bit of elevation there. So, yeah, between that and the report, I'm curious about that one.

00:59:10Melissa Ellis: Hmm.

Consolidated Club Report

00:59:11Melissa Ellis: Would you like to know about the Consolidated Club report this week?

00:59:14Oliver Spake: Very much so.

00:59:15Melissa Ellis: Of a total of 248 members, 194 took part on this date at 110 different locations. In the UK, we had 15 events at Ury Riverside, Clumber Park, Daventry, Aldenham, Jersey Farm, Mildenhall Hub, Beckenham Place... Hanworth, Roundshaw Downs, Tawd Valley, Chippenham Playing Fields, Ross-on-Wye, Somerdale Pavilion, The Great Field and Wolverhampton. In the USA, we had two events at Joe Creason and Roosevelt Island DC. In Ireland, there was one event at Inch Beach. Netherlands, one event at Goffert. In Norway, one event at Lovstien. Two events in South Africa, Inibos and Atlasville. And locally there were adventures at 30 events in the Great Estate, 19 events in New South Wales, 16 in Queensland, 7 in South Australia, 6 in West Australia, 2 in Tassie, 2 in ACT, none in the Northern Territory. But over the ditch, 5 events in the North Island, and one event in the South Island.

01:00:34Oliver Spake: Whoa, that's a big one.

the Frond — Three-way tie — Sandon Point, the Ponds, and Elliott Heads Beach (six adventurers each)

01:00:36Melissa Ellis: Yes, and the largest Frond this week, Ollie, was a three-way tie. Yeah. So we had six adventurers out at Sandon Point. Paddy, Sam and Luke, Aaron and Michael Gentle, and Roberta Winters. We had six at the Ponds, Charles Burns, Dennis Peden, Jeff Robinson, Louise Garbers, and Joe McLean and Lisa Spencer. And rounding it out at Elliott Heads Beach, we had Lance and Robert Flarn, Barbara and Roger Luther, and Ian and Catherine Greenstreet.

01:01:14Oliver Spake: That's some impressive turnouts there, Mel.

01:01:16Melissa Ellis: Mm-hmm. Yes, so no largest frond in Victoria this week, Ollie, just saying.

01:01:25Oliver Spake: Yeah, I did pick up on the mention of the Great Estate a couple of times in the last week or two. And we're not sure of the largest Frond.

01:01:33Melissa Ellis: No, we're still not sure.

01:01:36Oliver Spake: Yeah. I know we had at least five at Shellharbour, or at least I think so. Oh, nice work. Yeah. I could be wrong about that, but, yeah.

01:01:43Melissa Ellis: That could be the biggest one. Yeah. I really didn't look it up this week for juniors, but.

01:01:49Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah. I'll give it to you. Thank you. You're welcome. But looking forward, looking forward, well, there's a little thing happening. It's on the other side of the planet from us, but it's of interest. The Comm Games are on. In fact, they're already on by the time this pod is out. So we hope you're all following and watching and cheering on. There's certainly a couple of parkrunners scattered in there. And, yeah, it's pretty exciting, Mel.

01:02:13Melissa Ellis: Have you got the fever?

01:02:16Oliver Spake: Look... I'm not sure I like the idea of getting the fever these days. But, yeah, look, it's catching. I haven't been following. I haven't been preparing. It has crept up. And I want to say a big shout-out to a few of the people that have kept me up to date even with some of the athletics over in Oregon because one of our former course record holders – is one of those athletes, and we like to follow her achievements. So thank you, Michael Gentle, and apologies that I wasn't on the pod to actually share Jess Hull's finals finish. But nonetheless... We'll be following the Comm Games and cheering on all of our wonderful athletes.

01:02:56Melissa Ellis: That's great. I'm starting to get the fever, Ollie, because I watched a special This Is Your Life last night on Ian Thorpe. Ah, yes. So I'm getting all excited about the swimming. I like the swimming.

01:03:08Oliver Spake: Yeah.

01:03:09Melissa Ellis: But I have to admit, I don't know where the Commonwealth Games are held this year.

01:03:13Oliver Spake: Birmingham. Birmingham.

01:03:14Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay.

01:03:15Oliver Spake: Yep.

01:03:15Melissa Ellis: Yep. I'm all about the fact that they are coming to Melbourne or Victoria, but I don't know if that's the next one or the one after. I think it's the next one.

01:03:26Oliver Spake: I believe so.

01:03:26Melissa Ellis: It's going to be in my backyard.

01:03:29Oliver Spake: Well, almost literally, yeah. There's a touch of regional Victoria, if I remember correctly, because I remember our good friends in Tasmania hoping to host before the Victorians so graciously offered to take over.

01:03:45Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah. Now I feel bad. But, yeah, so like not to take anything away from Birmingham, but going back to it being in Victoria, Ballarat's going to have the athletics. Yeah. And that is literally in my backyard. So I'm getting all excited about volunteering potentially at the Victorian Commonwealth Games in whatever year that falls on as long as they let me have Saturday mornings off.

Sign-off

01:04:14Oliver Spake: Conditions. Well, you've got a few years to prepare there, Mel. And look, I suppose while we're looking forward, let's look forward to the closer or near future. Next parkrun day, where are you going?

01:04:26Melissa Ellis: Unicorns.

01:04:29Oliver Spake: Okay. I'm going to get my U, Ollie. Oh, you don't have your U. No. Wow.

01:04:37Melissa Ellis: No, because it's far, far, far from me. Yes. The previous two U's at Underwood and Yeronga, Queensland and New South Wales, I've not managed to ever find myself in that location. But there is now one in ACT, so I'm going on a road trip.

01:04:54Oliver Spake: Wow. I'm slightly jealous. Especially because I was almost going to go. But it will be great. I look forward to seeing and hearing more about the new course at Umbagong.

01:05:07Melissa Ellis: And I'm going to catch up with Will because he's on the volley roster.

01:05:11Oliver Spake: Look out, trolleys of the ACT.

01:05:14Melissa Ellis: Oh, we could have trolley races.

01:05:16Oliver Spake: I think you'll have better things to do. But yeah, sure.

01:05:20Melissa Ellis: What about you? Let me guess. Are you going to be at home?

01:05:24Oliver Spake: Going for the hat trick, Mel. That's right. I will be volunteering. I might have the kids in tow too. So that will be exciting. I'll see if I can get Zali to scan a few barcodes or put it to some use. She's got to earn a keep. That's good. I'm glad to hear the kids are coming out. Well, it hasn't happened yet, but, yeah, we can always dream. That's the hope. There'll be some tourism coming up in weeks to come, so I look forward to spending a sunny Saturday morning right at home.

01:05:53Melissa Ellis: So hopefully this week Abby is a little bit happier with us. We had a challenge to up our game. Yeah. Yes. Hopefully she's happier with the recording last week. I think she will be. She's a bit of a star, our Abby, I must say, just quietly. She's doing better and better all the time.

01:06:13Oliver Spake: She doesn't miss a beat.

01:06:14Melissa Ellis: No, she doesn't. No, she's very clued on, that little kid. But, Ollie, I think that's it. Thank you for having me back, Mel. Bye. You are always coming back. Don't play the meek victim to me.

01:06:28Oliver Spake: Well, you know, I could have been off in Antarctica studying penguins for longer than I was, but all the same, it's good to be back.

01:06:38Melissa Ellis: Yeah. No, we're glad to hear you back again, Ollie. And as always, listeners, you can contact us via Facebook or our email, which is (possibly parkrunadventurers@gmail.com). Yes, it is scripted. That's it for another week. We'll see you all next week for more adventures.

01:06:53[music]

01:08:03Sam Schroder: Now, let me see. Two blocks of caramilk breakaway. Two blocks of caramilk marble. Two blocks of caramilk hokey pokey. Ooh, my favourite. Yes, I do think six blocks of caramel chocolate will have an impact on where the Obi envelope goes this week.