Episode 297 - The one when Mel sings

Welcome

00:00:23Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 297 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie Spake and I am joining once again from Dharawal Country.

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

00:00:37Oliver Spake: And Mel, happy International Cat Day.

00:00:41Melissa Ellis: Oh, thank you. And happy International Cat Day to Sphinxie.

00:00:46Oliver Spake: Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Look, he's been lapping it up. He's slept all day, and I think he did get three breakfasts. He doesn't usually, but obviously wanted to make the most of the day and pull the wool over our eyes.

00:01:02Melissa Ellis: That's lovely. The best I can offer is the black cat that I see from across the road occasionally from my office window. Don't even know its name.

00:01:12Oliver Spake: That's all right. It counts. I've had a couple of black cats. I had one when I was younger called Vegemite. Oh, that's a good name. Yeah, and I also had Bruce and Sheila. They were brother and sister. Right. And Schmincke, it was named after, I think, it might have been a German oil-based paint, if I'm not mistaken. That was when mum was at art school and that was something that was very familiar to her and her friends. Yeah. Yeah, but I digress. How was your weekend there?

00:01:46Melissa Ellis: Just going back to cats, although, you know, it's a tenuous link. I got swooped for the first time today, Ollie. Spring is in the air.

00:01:56Oliver Spake: Oh, it's almost swoopy September. Right, first sweep well we're only in the first barely week of august yeah I can't believe how early it is yeah goodness I think everyone's ready for the winter to be over and spring to come here in the southern hemisphere at least and it looks like the birds are right up for it yeah Is this where I say, aside from being swooped every single morning as a child by plovers, I don't think I've ever been swooped while running.

00:02:27Melissa Ellis: That's lucky.

00:02:28Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:02:28Melissa Ellis: That's very lucky. I'm actually going to go and get my Nike hat. When I lived over in Narre Warren South, I used to wear a black cap with a white Nike swoosh on it and I never got swooped. And I'm thinking maybe because it was the black and white.

00:02:45Oliver Spake: Ah, one of their own.

00:02:46Melissa Ellis: I looked friendlier. Yeah.

00:02:48Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:02:49Melissa Ellis: Okay. So I might switch back to that and see if I have any luck.

00:02:52Oliver Spake: You could go even further and throw on a whole Collingwood Magpies jersey or something.

00:02:56Melissa Ellis: Well, I've got one.

00:02:57Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:02:58Melissa Ellis: AFL, I've got to say, Collingwood, they're doing really well. At the right end of the season, we just won our 11th game straight. I say we because I'm on the bandwagon now. We're winning and doing really well and we're second on the ladder. Yeah.

00:03:13Oliver Spake: That's impressive. Well, yeah.

00:03:14Melissa Ellis: But I am a born and bred magpie Collingwood supporter, so.

00:03:18Oliver Spake: Oh, so it's a good year. Yeah. That's very good. I admit I haven't been following it closely this year, so I'm clearly not born and bred.

00:03:27Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, you're forgiven.

00:03:29Oliver Spake: Thank you. I suppose we should talk about parkrun.

00:03:32Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Oh, well. Yes, tell me about your parkrun morning.

00:03:38Oliver Spake: Well, my parkrun morning was fairly straightforward. I was determined to keep up the volley count, so just looked to fill a role that was vacant in the roster as photographer, which I haven't done too often. I'm probably one of those... Slightly self-conscious photographers, but I decided to put that to the side for the day, grab the camera, take a few photos and squeeze in a run. So I took a few photos beforehand, but then quickly when our Run Director Ralph set us off, I dashed and Mel, I led the pack. What? So that was exciting. I led the pack.

00:04:17Melissa Ellis: With the camera?

00:04:18Oliver Spake: With the camera. So about 150 metres in. Is that because Ralph wasn't running? Well, yeah. I'd had such a start that I was able to literally turn around at about 150 metres in and take a photo of the rest of the pack and then keep running. Not meaning to be a humble brag here, but I got to 600 metres and I was spent at that point. So I picked that spot and took a whole bunch of photos and then followed the Tail Walkers. But probably the highlight of the morning was getting to catch up at about the one and a half K or closer to two K mark with Mr. Chris Fraser, who was back out there and running and walking his 300th parkrun. Oh, brilliant. Yeah. Congratulations, Chris. Congratulations to Chris and thanks for having me for part of the parkrun at least. And suffice to say, he did beat me. I did finish just behind him.

00:05:15Melissa Ellis: He would like that. And I can just hear all our adventure friends out there saying, arbitrary.

00:05:21Oliver Spake: Yeah, absolutely. Yes.

00:05:23Melissa Ellis: But still, we like those nice round numbers, don't we?

00:05:26Oliver Spake: We do. We do. We do. Look, there are a couple of more 250s as well from some of our well-travelled Shellharbour parkrunners. Yeah, it was certainly a highlight to see Chris notch his 300th. What about yourself, Mel?

00:05:40Melissa Ellis: I was out at Kirkdale Reserve parkrun for my second visit, second visit in about five weeks, I think, four or five weeks. But it was Jodie Maisie's 50th parkrun.

00:05:52Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:05:53Melissa Ellis: So she earned her red shirt, but it was also her Hoffman because she's done 50 unique events. So we were celebrating that. Jodie brought along cupcakes. She also brought along B1. I don't know if you saw the photos.

00:06:04Oliver Spake: I did see the photos.

00:06:05Melissa Ellis: So Brendan Peel came along dressed as a banana in pyjama and I had my barcode scanned by said B1, which was a new experience for me. I ran, walked the course with the ideas man, Mr. Bruce Purdy, who was out there with... Donna his lovely wife and we wore red for jody's milestone as well and had brunch afterwards at the sara's cafe which was also very lovely sit around have a yarn with our fellow adventurers so uh yeah staying close ish to home again and got some zoomies in as well I did see that

00:06:46Oliver Spake: What a great way to celebrate. Congratulations to Jodie. And, yeah, well done. It was a very red bunch aside from said banana, of course.

00:06:54Melissa Ellis: I know. Any excuse, I think, lately, any excuse, Mr. Brendan Peel, to get into his B1 outfit. He really should be wearing it for City to Surf. It's not too late, Brendan. It's not too late.

00:07:07Oliver Spake: I'm going to start calling him Banana Man, you might get on the news yeah yeah I think let's let's do it come on Brendan you're gonna wear one too Ollie I was just encouraging Brendan I don't have one but I can fix that I suppose it is a large item to take in the luggage though oh yeah don't try and weasel out of it I'm still trying to weasel Brendan out of it.

00:07:34Melissa Ellis: We can put out a call to the parkrunner community if you have bananas in pyjamas outfit that you'd like to lend to Ollie. Come along to Cooks River parkrun on Saturday.

00:07:44Oliver Spake: Oh, goodness. Goodness, what have I done?

00:07:46Melissa Ellis: Maybe Eman would jump in too. Oh, I can just see it now.

00:07:49Oliver Spake: I will. Mel, episode 296, we saw a little bit of social media, but not really any feedback to share this week. Is it fair to say?

00:08:00Melissa Ellis: Yeah, there wasn't really a lot. However, Ollie, there was a discovery.

00:08:06Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:08:07Melissa Ellis: That happened in the last week, which was a bit exciting. And by the time the pod comes out, it will be shared on social media.

00:08:14Oliver Spake: Yes. Well done, Sarah. You found it.

00:08:16Melissa Ellis: The bottle, it made its way all the way to Western Australia.

00:08:21Oliver Spake: It was always going to get there. We were sure of it.

00:08:25Melissa Ellis: It was. So she is in possession of the challenge now. Now we sit and wait for it to occur.

00:08:31Oliver Spake: Yes. Well, she's had plenty of prep time. So not knowing the challenge, of course, but mentally preparing.

00:08:37Melissa Ellis: I read it out when I threw it in the water.

00:08:40Oliver Spake: Oh, yes, of course. Well, it's coming then.

00:08:43Melissa Ellis: But the fever...

00:08:45Oliver Spake: The fever, the fever. Yeah, I've got the fever so much. I've got a bit of a head cold now. But aside from that, have you been watching some of the games, Mel?

00:08:55Melissa Ellis: I have. And very exciting. Some of it's been on repeat, I must admit. I... Haven't been able to get my head around when is the prime time. I know I've had two weeks. I still think it should be the evening for some reason that this stuff's on, but I probably should be putting the TV on when I wake up in the morning, shouldn't I?

00:09:15Oliver Spake: Well, yeah, I think that's one of the tips and tricks. Great for the early rises because some of those events are probably an hour or two before even wake up time, more like stupid o'clock. But we were spoiled with the Tokyo Olympics being much, much closer to our time zone.

00:09:32Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I think maybe the marathon threw me right at the start because it was more prime time for us for some reason. Yes.

00:09:39Oliver Spake: That's very true. But needless to say, there have been some amazing finishes. And look, we put our green and gold glasses on for this because whilst amazing performances across many of the Commonwealth nations, we have been unashamedly cheering on some of our Aussies. And one of those is a guy called Ollie.

00:09:59Melissa Ellis: I know. Yeah. Scott could interview him.

00:10:02Oliver Spake: Ooh. That works, doesn't it? Yes, that works. But, yeah, what an amazing finish in the 1,500 metres there. So games record time, the first Australian since Herb Elliott in 1958 to win either the men's 1,500 or the mile event that it was before, I understand. And it was only in the last 10 metres that he really raced in there. Just a stunning finish from I think it was something like fifth going into that final stretch.

00:10:35Melissa Ellis: It was absolutely amazing. And I think he was so overcome when he saw the first place himself. He was so overcome that he kind of fell to the ground, didn't he?

00:10:43Oliver Spake: Yeah, just raw emotion. And look, while we're on the 1500, I did catch this morning, Dave recording, Abbey Caldwell, who finished amazingly in third position to get the bronze herself in the women's 1500 metres. And little did I realise, she was formerly a Westerfolds parkrunner, Mel. Yes, with one parkrun at Sunny Inverloch as well.

00:11:07Melissa Ellis: Excellent. Two good parkruns to have in your repertoire.

00:11:11Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. And special mention, of course, to Linden Hall and Jess Hull from Shellharbour parkrunner. Shellharbour parkrunner, I should say, also in the final of that event.

00:11:22Melissa Ellis: Who else was doing well? Peter Bol, Ollie. He had the eyes of the nation on him in the 800 metres men's event. And he came away with a silver medal.

00:11:33Oliver Spake: Yes. Couldn't quite make it there in the end, but yeah, amazing run. And yeah, it just... Stunning what he can do. Speaking of stunning as well, the first Australian para-athlete with a stunning four gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, Madison de Rozario. So we mentioned her last week, of course, as she was kicking that off. She's just gone from strength to strength.

00:11:57Melissa Ellis: Yep, absolutely brilliant. So we'll claim her as well.

00:12:01Oliver Spake: That's right, that's right. But I suppose from an Australian perspective, we've had no medals in the parkrun finals. Mel, we've had some good representation. So a couple of parkrunners in there in Isobel Batt-Doyle, who came eighth. I believe Aldinga Beach is her parkrun. Rose Davies, 17th, and I've seen a few Newy runs from Rose. And Natalie Rule, also in the final there, coming in in 18th. And then across in the men's, Jack Rayner, 8th, who I think is a new farm parkrunner, I could be wrong. And Matthew Ramsden, who came 10th, who I think, once again, is a Rockingham parkrunner. So great performances, no medals, but some solid parkrunning out there.

00:12:46Melissa Ellis: Absolutely is.

00:12:47Oliver Spake: Well, it's probably a bit generous to call it parkrunning, but some very solid 5K runs.

00:12:51Melissa Ellis: Yeah, because, you know, parkruns are not a race.

00:12:55Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:12:56Melissa Ellis: Oh, good news, good news. And it'll be sad to see their Comm Games wrap up, but we can look forward to the next round of the Olympics. That's right. Go through it all again, Ollie. But now it's time to throw to our champions of roving reports.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:13:15Melissa Ellis: Let's have a listen to them now.

Roving report Johan Duvenhage — Manzini parkrun

00:13:23Johan Duvenhage: Good morning, sanibonani adventurers. Today I'm checking in from Manzini parkrun in the kingdom of Eswatini. You may remember Eswatini better as Swaziland, but the name changed literally overnight in 2018 after King Mswati III announced it during a speech. Eswatini is a small landlocked country situated between South Africa and Mozambique and has a population of around 1.3 million people in the 200 by 130 kilometre country, making it the second smallest on mainland Africa. Until recently, the only parkrun was in the capital city Mbabane, but on the 16th of July, the largest urban centre Manzini launched their event. Manzini is also known as The Hub, as it is the major commercial and industrial centre of Eswatini, and has a population of about 110,000 people. The city was once one of the major colonial headquarters during the Anglo-Boer War, That war led to the destruction of most of Bremersdorp, as it was then called, after which the administrative functions moved to Mbabane, with the city redeveloping over the past century and a quarter and not much of the historical past remaining. The Manzini parkrun takes place at the lovely Manzini Golf Course in the centre of the city, and I'm delighted to join the team here today. Good morning, sanibonani Adventurers. We're here in Manzini today. Manzini parkrun is the second parkrun in Eswatini and I'm talking with Minenhle, who's scanning for the first time today. Minenschle, how does it go so far? [siSwati (also isiZulu): ""Sanibonani" - "hello / greetings to you all" (repeat of the greeting that opens the report)."]

00:14:58Minenhle: Thank you so much for having me. I mean, it has been so much fun. I was a bit nervous at first because it's a new thing, but it's been going quite well. It's a lot easier than I thought it would be and I just love interacting with the runners and and watching all of these committed people really see it through. That's beautiful.

00:15:16Johan Duvenhage: So today's event number four, and you've said that you've been here three times already. So you've volunteered in other roles before as well?

00:15:23Minenhle: I've volunteered quite a few times and I've worked in the NGO sector. I have volunteered as a human rights advocate. I really do like to give back to my community in any way that I can. So as soon as I join something that I enjoy, I'm like, how can I volunteer? How can I share this experience with someone else?

00:15:42Johan Duvenhage: Thank you very much for volunteering at Manzini. We appreciate it.

00:15:45Minenhle: Thank you.

00:15:47Johan Duvenhage: Adventurers, I'm here with Ayanda. Ayanda is our Run Director for the day. Ayanda, are you happy with the turnout today?

00:15:53Ayanda: Yes, I'm very happy with the turnout today because there are a lot of people.

00:15:56Johan Duvenhage: And a lot of first timers as well, I saw.

00:15:58Ayanda: Yeah, and a lot of first timers. So I'm very happy.

00:16:01Johan Duvenhage: So the course, can you describe the course for me?

00:16:04Ayanda: The course? Yeah. It's about five kilometres. So we round two laps. So yes, the first lap, we give you a rubber band. Then on the second lap, then when we give you your, we scan your barcode. Then you have to win.

00:16:17Johan Duvenhage: All right. Thank you very much, Ayanda. Have a nice day.

00:16:19Ayanda: Oh, thank you very much.

00:16:21Johan Duvenhage: Good morning, adventurers. I'm here with Amon Shamilimo. Amon is the Event Director here at Manzini parkrun in Eswatini, the kingdom of Eswatini. Good morning, Amon. Good morning. How are you, sir? Fine. I'm so glad to be here for the fourth run of Manzini parkrun, parkrun, yeah. How did it come about that Manzini got its own parkrun?

00:16:44Amon Shamilimo: Actually, I opened an NGO and basically it was about involving the youth, the young ones. So I thought of where we can have some recreation for the youth so that they are kept busy when they are not doing their school work. And then I just googled and then I came across PacRun. I didn't even know about parkrun, even the closest one in Mbabane I didn't know about it so I googled then I got this one and then I contacted uh it was Bruce in South Africa then he gave me a call then we spoke then he said no it's fine you can do it all you need to do find a place once you get a place then let us know Then we'll come check and then you can start. But it was before COVID time. Yeah. And then during COVID, he told me, no, now we've closed this COVID. We can't do runs anymore. So you have to wait until we reopen again. So when they started again, then I contacted him. Hey, Bruce, I'm here. I got a place. Then he says, OK, fine. Send us the map. And we started from there and then they told me how to go about it later from the owners of the land and all those things. So that's how I got to start it. And then on the, I think it was last month. Yeah, then they had to give me six weeks to get some training. Then we went to Mbawane. The guys in Mbabane are so awesome and very friendly. They helped us a lot. So they taught us how to go about everything and how parkrun is run. Then from there, your team from Joburg and others came from Dabeng. We launched on this.

00:18:46Johan Duvenhage: was it the 6th?

00:18:48Amon Shamilimo: 16th of July 16th of July yes yes yes so yeah for a start for me it was good because we were over 33 something yeah 33 so far the participation seems to run around the 20s yeah yeah what would you like to see happening for Manzini parkrun in the future? I would love to see it grow you know and involve especially from all the ages you know I would love to see it, you know, grow and everyone participates, the young, the old. You know, I would love to see, you know, that happening here. Yeah.

00:19:27Johan Duvenhage: Thank you very much for bringing parkrun to Manzini. We really love the course. And I'm going to kill someone that told me that it is a flat course. It's not even slightly undulating. It was quite undulating. And my legs are going to feel it tonight. Amon, thank you very much for having me here and it was a special day for me especially since this was my 100th different event and I hope to see you again in the future.

00:19:50Amon Shamilimo: All the best for Manzini. I really appreciate it and thanks for coming, Johan. It was nice having you here and we enjoyed being with you here. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. You're welcome.

00:20:01Johan Duvenhage: Well, Adventurers, that's it for another fun day at parkrun. The event at Manzini went off without a hitch today thanks to the efforts of our lovely volunteers. and although the total participation for the day was maybe a little bit low there was really great excitement as the first three finishers all three smashed the course record today taking into account the trail run nature of the route the first finisher manaba and shlabatsi set a more than respectable time of 16 minutes and 34 seconds bettering the record with almost four minutes And, not to be outdone, my relatively mediocre time, which I'm blaming on the heat and humidity, did shave off 7 minutes of my age category record. So, until next time, salani kashle and happy parkrunning. [siSwati (also isiZulu): ""Salani kahle" - "stay well", the farewell said by the person leaving to those staying behind."]

Roving report Cameron Drake — Lake Claremont

00:20:48Cameron Drake: Hello? Hello, is this thing on? Is this thing working? It still works? Oh my gosh. Hey, it's Cam from WA here. I'm reporting in because I'm adventuring. I'm at Lake Claremont today. Lake Claremont, well, where is it? It's not too far from the showgrounds. If you've ever dropped the wife and kids off at the show and said, don't worry, I'm going to go park somewhere and I'll see you inside and gone for a bit of a drive and a bit of a walk back, Yeah, round about that area. So today, Perth has turned it on. The sun is shining. There are blue bits of sky somewhere. Oh, there's some. And let's go check out the course because it looks beautiful. Okay, I'm here with... Mike. Mike, nice to meet you, mate. Hey, what's your favourite thing about parkrun?

00:21:29Mike: I think it's probably just the fact that it's a community thing and everyone gets down and does it and it's always harder to run by yourself. It's always good when you've got a group of people to sort of spur you on and everyone gets around each other. It's always good fun. Perfect.

00:21:41Cameron Drake: Thank you very much for sharing. You have a great run.

00:21:44Mike: Thanks very much.

00:21:46Cameron Drake: All right, I'm here with, what's your name? Paul. Paul, what's your favourite thing about parkrun?

00:21:51Paul: Oh, just everybody together and all that. I've actually just come back from Tasey Queensland, Victoria. I ran parkrun every Saturday.

00:22:01Cameron Drake: Oh, wow.

00:22:02Paul: What are some of the places that you got around to? Oh, Kerang. A couple in Bendigo, which is White Hills one. There's three or four in Queensland. Orford in Tasmania, I remember. Oh, OK. I remember Kerang last said because it was minus three.

00:22:19Ayanda: Minus three?

00:22:19Paul: Yeah. But I just love the... You can go anywhere and you see people and talk to people. parkruns everywhere and you can talk to people. Yeah. I'm 78, still going. I still enjoy running, and I will till I fall over. Hopefully not today. No. All right, Paul, great chatting to you, and have a great run. That's wonderful.

00:22:42Cameron Drake: Oh, cheers. Yeah.

00:22:44Paul: Oh, you have a good one, okay?

00:22:45Cameron Drake: Thanks, mate. Okay, I'm here with Duncan. Duncan, what's your favourite thing about parkrun? It's sort of the community, but it's also trying to beat my daughter, who I used to beat easily, and is now beating me. So that's my big challenge going forward. It happens. Hello, daughter.

00:23:02Melissa Ellis: Hello.

00:23:03Cameron Drake: Is your favourite thing about parkrun beating your dad?

00:23:05Melissa Ellis: Not really. I think it's just coming down and running with lots of people, and it's more motivating than running by yourself, I think.

00:23:10Cameron Drake: Ain't that the truth? Well, congratulations on catching up to him and eclipsing him. Well done.

00:23:15Melissa Ellis: Thanks.

00:23:16Cameron Drake: Morning Chris. It's a great group of people just here and the organisation's amazing. I just love it. Excellent. Now I'm here with a self-confessed parkrun starter. What's your name? Charlie. Charlie, what got you into parkrun and what kept you coming back?

00:23:33Paul: My partner got me into it and just keeps me accountable. I wouldn't be out here doing it if there wasn't a big bunch of us anyway.

00:23:40Cameron Drake: Fair enough. Alright, thanks gang and I'll see you around. Well that's it from me from Lake Claremont parkrun. This is a cracking course at a beautiful location. Thoroughly recommend coming along. But tell you what, how about you tell us what your favourite thing is about parkrun as well. Why not crack open the phone, hit record and start talking. It's not hard, even I can do it. Alright, I'll catch you around. See ya.

Roving report Pippa — Stratford-upon-Avon Juniors

00:24:07Pippa: So I'm here at Stratford-upon-Avon Juniors. It's Pippa and it's a beautiful sunny day. And hey, look who I found. Hey, Pippa. Hi, Alison. Are you having fun here at Juniors?

00:24:18Alison Fraser (King): Oh, my God. It's like the best fun ever. Seeing these kids smile and it's the perfect tonic for anyone having a really bad day or week.

00:24:26Pippa: Or having to wear the most fetching, beautiful boots as you come over to do parkrun tourism. What happened, Alison?

00:24:33Alison Fraser (King): Well, adventurers will probably know I broke my ankle back in January and I had hoped to be able to be doing parkrun while on this trip, but I've had a bit of a backwards turn in terms of my recovery and the surgeon said, you need to wear your moon boot and absolutely no parkrun.

00:24:50Pippa: I'm going to call you out on that one, Alison. I think this is your fourth volunteer at parkrun. Are you not being a parkrunner this break?

00:24:57Alison Fraser (King): a parkrunner in this respect so yes I am getting almost well I say I'm not getting the the parkrun experience in terms of getting my barcode scan but I think I'm getting an even more fuller parkrun experience because I'm here at the start I'm here like while everyone's running and at the end where everyone's really enjoyed themselves and it makes me feel good to be part that way

00:25:20Pippa: Oh, that's brill. I'm a real big fan of volunteering at parkrun, particularly when the world doesn't look as if it's the one way you can get in a car and drive. But thanks to you, I've done two very, very different parkruns on the last weekend. We were supposed to be touring together, but yeah, thanks. I've been both to Wales and to Derbyshire. I don't know how that happened.

00:25:41Alison Fraser (King): And I've been to Stratford both weekends. And have you done some Commonwealth Games as well? I have. So I was hoping to come to the Commonwealth Games when they announced it back in 2017 that it would be in Birmingham because, you know, it's pretty close to home. And then with the pandemic, I wasn't sure if we'd be able to. And then Jacinda said we could would be able to get back into New Zealand without the managed isolation um system lottery and so I booked flights and tickets and I've been to see sevens um with New Zealand and Australia and I've been to see Australia play netball and also went to the cricket England New Zealand on Thursday it's been fun fab and just at the minute the new zealanders are at the front of the um road race it's going around Warwick which is very local to here yes it's Fantastic. We're really good in the cycling. Yay. Anyway, brilliant to catch up with you, Alison.

00:26:30Pippa: You too, Pippa. See you soon.

00:26:32Alison Fraser (King): Bye.

Roving report Alison Fraser — Stratford-upon-Avon Rec Junior parkrun

00:26:34Alison Fraser (King): hello adventurers it's Alison here reporting in again from the UK but today it's actually not Saturday it's Sunday and I am at Stratford-upon-Avon Rec junior parkrun I'm in the same location as last week for Stratford-upon-Avon parkrun and but this time it's the 2k event with lots of little kids and I am volunteering as Marshal so I'm going to see if I can check down Sue and we'll find all about the event So I'm with Sue Teal and you're the Co-Event Director of this event, is that right? That's right, with another Simon, Simon Williams. The other Simon that Sue referred to was your husband Simon, who we heard from last week. And how did you get involved with Juniors?

00:27:18Sue Teal: Well, Simon, my Simon, my husband, had done quite a lot of the work to talk to the council to get it set up. And it just sort of stopped, it paused. So I just thought, right, it's all done. I need to get involved. I need to just get it going because it's a perfect place for a junior parkrun. So I convinced Simon Williams to get involved as well. And we just got going and started it.

00:27:46Alison Fraser (King): How long have you been going now?

00:27:48Sue Teal: We've done our 98th event. So of course we paused during the pandemic. So we've been going, I think, about three years.

00:28:01Alison Fraser (King): And what do you enjoy about juniors? Because you don't have kids who are junior age yourself. They're older now. That's true.

00:28:09Sue Teal: I just like the excitement of getting kids involved in an event that they can do at their own pace, their own speed. And also that it's an event that parents can actually do with their children. A lot of sporting events, parents are standing on the sidelines watching but this one they can actually run with their children and enjoy it together or marshal or marshal yeah I mean volunteering is also a really great part of juniors because we need so many marshals for safeguarding and it's just great to be able to be out on a day like this where it's glorious sunshine um

00:28:48Alison Fraser (King): watching your kids run. And they run part of the adult course, don't they? It's very similar to start with.

00:28:54Sue Teal: Yes, so they run part of it and then they run, it's an out and back course. So they run a bit along through the recreation ground and then along the river and then back again.

00:29:08Alison Fraser (King): It's a beautiful course.

00:29:10Sue Teal: It is lovely, yeah. And it's quite nice when you're sort of tail walking to be able to kind of take it in and appreciate it a bit more.

00:29:17Alison Fraser (King): And what would you say to any parkrunner who perhaps has a juniors near them but has never been either with their children or as a volunteer?

00:29:26Sue Teal: I would say go and get involved. take your children they will love the running and if they don't want to run they can also volunteer and it's just a lovely lovely atmosphere it's friendly people talk to you people encourage you to run to volunteer it's just really nice and it's also quite quick so it's finished by half nine perfect well thank you so much for having me it's been really fun it's good to see you again

00:29:56Alison Fraser (King): And that's a wrap from Stratford-upon-Avon Rec Juniors. So much fun. This is when I wish we had juniors in New Zealand because I would be there every Sunday. So if you have a juniors near you, you should go along and give it a try. Even if you don't have kids, it's awesome just to volunteer. So that's it from me here in the UK. I'll be back in New Zealand next week. See ya.

Roving report Lyndell Murray — Darwin

00:30:17Lyndell Murray: G'day parkrun adventurers, it's Lyndell and today I'm coming to you from the lands of the Larrakia people, which means I'm in Darwin now. For those of you who are particularly attentive to the podcast, you will know that there was a roving report from Darwin just a few weeks ago. So I don't know whether there's a job here for me to do. In my usual, not very prepared manner, I haven't reviewed Sam's roving report, so I'm presuming that she's already interviewed the Run Director and the Event Director and some of the locals or... reviewed the course all those kinds of things so I don't know really what I can do here maybe I will try to find some visitors and try and find some tales of adventuring anyway let me see how I go that is my challenge for today I will listen to the briefing do the run and check in after that Alrighty, parkrun adventurers. I've had some success. I've found some tourists. And I've happened to find the tourists who are from the furthest away. So here at Darwin, we manage to cover all the states in Australia with tourists. But these guys are all the way from Foots Cray Meadows in the UK. I've already forgotten your names. Rob and Larissa, is that right? Hey! How are you going today?

00:31:35Rob: Very well, thank you.

00:31:38Lyndell Murray: Very hot. So you're from the UK, you're in Australia. How long have you been in Australia?

00:31:42Larissa: Just over two weeks now. Just over two weeks, yeah. We went into Sydney first via Singapore and then we've been in Yulara, Uluru, Alice Springs and now here. We arrived last night. Ah, so right in time for parkrun Day.

00:31:56Unidentified speaker: Always the plan.

00:31:58Lyndell Murray: Always the plan. So is this your second parkrun in Australia or your third?

00:32:02Rob: Second. Yeah, we did West Coast Park in Singapore on the way in. Then we did Greenway in Sydney and now here, Darwin.

00:32:10Lyndell Murray: Yes, and you're up to how many overall?

00:32:13Rob: I've done 182 with 68 different events.

00:32:18Larissa: And I've done 203 parkruns with 68 different events.

00:32:21Lyndell Murray: All right, so you've got quite a few events. You must have some interesting touristing stories. What's your best story, whether it's something that it was a parkrun that you really loved or a bit of misadventure on the way that you had to rectify part of the way through? Have you got a top tourist story for us?

00:32:39Rob: Yeah, I think the one I liked was Weedon Island Preserve in Florida. So it was all on a boardwalk in a swamp, which really stank. And it was covered in what I thought were spiders, but they were actually crabs, so that was my favourite one so many stories Wimpole Estate we did recently that's in Cambridgeshire in England that was just beautiful probably the longest straight of anyone we've done how about you?

00:33:10Larissa: What about you, Larissa? I think my favourite was our Z. We did the parkrun alphabet, so we did a Z. There wasn't one in the UK, so we had to travel to the Netherlands. Yes. And we did that, and that was lovely. And that was just as the Invictus Games were being taken down. So it was really lovely, yeah. And what's the Z called in Netherlands? Zuiderpark.

00:33:30Lyndell Murray: Yes, there's not many Zs around. No. Zillmere, the Australian Z, is just up the road from my house, actually, so there you go. All right, now, so how much longer are you in Australia and what other parkrun adventures that you have ahead of you?

00:33:44Rob: So we've got another four weeks. So next it'll be one in Adelaide, probably Pakapakanthi.

00:33:53Lyndell Murray: Paca Panthea? There's some people from Paca Panthea here.

00:33:55Rob: Oh, wow. Then it'll probably be Albert in Melbourne. And the last one will be, I think it's South Beach Recreation, relatively new in Perth.

00:34:07Lyndell Murray: Aha, so you will almost be a Peel Club member from one trip. So the Peel Club is every state in Australia. That's what I'm here chasing. You'll have done pretty close to that.

00:34:18Rob: That's right, yeah. We were going to be going to Cairns, but Qantas sort of messed us about a bit. So there you go.

00:34:26Lyndell Murray: There's a misadventure right there.

00:34:28Rob: So come back and do Queensland and Tasmania another time and New Zealand.

00:34:34Lyndell Murray: Of course. Now, do you have any advice for aspiring adventurers, any top tips for touristing or anything like that?

00:34:45Rob: I mean, certainly in the UK. I don't know if it works in Australia, but cheap hotel chains are good. The 5K app is just absolutely brilliant. We actually support that. So, you know, the guy who's developed that has changed things for everyone. So use that. You know, just pick a place you might want to go. There's usually a parkrun nearby. Well, apart from Yulara, which is a thousand kilometres from the nearest parkrun we've discovered. But yeah, yeah, that's it, I'd say. Just get out there and do it.

00:35:13Larissa: Yeah. Definitely, yeah. Enjoy.

00:35:16Lyndell Murray: And now your home parkrun, Footscray Meadows, obviously this podcast has lots of listeners in the UK but is based in Australia. Tell us about your home parkrun.

00:35:26Rob: Okay, so it's a cross-country course, very few paths. It's quite hot in the summer. We've got a winter course, which is totally different, so you can do it twice. Yeah, it's quite small, so if you're relatively fast, you can get a good finish time, position rather. Yeah, absolutely. Come and see us.

00:35:45Larissa: yeah it's a very friendly parkrun and it's it's known as a friendly parkrun and we really welcome lots of tourists anyone that you know people who run regularly we've got a really nice cafe locally do good coffee so come and yeah come and visit us we'd love to see you excellent well thank you so much for talking to me today and all the best for the rest of your adventuring um safe travels thank you so much thank you thank you thanks

00:36:12Lyndell Murray: Okay, on the other end of the spectrum, I found Patrick. He's a first-time parkrunner. First-time parkrunner today, but not a first-time runner.

00:36:19Patrick: No, I am not. So I'm from Adelaide, came up to Darwin, doing a hike up in Katherine, and while I was here, I figured I'd come to a parkrun and sort of get a run in so my training wasn't so... Spread out. Spread out, yeah.

00:36:38Lyndell Murray: Yeah. So this parkrun podcast is for tourists so you were one of us already on your very first parkrun because you're away from home doing a parkrun. How did you enjoy it?

00:36:49Patrick: It was great. It was nice to run with other people. I'm often out running alone so it was enjoyable. Running in a pack of people is always good fun. I don't do it often, so when I do do it, it's great. There's something about everybody running in the same direction and hearing all the breathing and the pavement pounding. It's awesome.

00:37:14Lyndell Murray: All right, so do you think you'll look up your local parkrun when you get home?

00:37:18Patrick: Probably will. Yeah, there's a couple pretty close to me, so I need to add it to my list of things to do.

00:37:27Lyndell Murray: Excellent. Well, I'm glad you had a lovely time at parkrun. I hope you do head back when you get home. And all the best with your ultra. Are you training for an ultra at the moment? Yes.

00:37:36Patrick: Yeah, the Yurrebilla Trail in Adelaide, so it's 56km. It's all up, down. It's got to have some big elevation, so... Yeah. Yeah, I'm half looking forward to it. LAUGHTER

00:37:48[laughter]

00:37:49Lyndell Murray: Look, in my experience, these things are really good when they're done. So you've got that look forward to, right?

00:37:54Patrick: Yeah, exactly, exactly. I'd like to say it would be fun, but yeah.

00:38:01Lyndell Murray: There'll be moments of fun, I'm sure. Yeah, yeah, hopefully, hopefully. All right, well, thank you for talking to me. All the best in your fledgling parkrun journey. Cheers, thank you.

00:38:20Oliver Spake: And thank you very much to all of our roving reporters this week. And that included Cam over at Lake Claremont, Johan in Eswatini, Pippa and Alison, both in Stratford-upon-Avon and Lyndell up at Darwin. So Mel, we've We've covered the globe pretty well this week.

00:38:38Melissa Ellis: It was good coverage, wasn't it?

00:38:40Oliver Spake: Go team.

00:38:41Melissa Ellis: Thank you to everybody who enjoyed listening to those. And Ollie, this week we haven't got mail as such, but we do have something from...

Poem Zone

00:38:54Alison Fraser (King): The Poem Zone.

00:38:57Oliver Spake: The Poem Zone. That's right. It's back. The Poem Zone. You and Scotty foreshadowed it. I'm so excited about this. So thank you very much to Patty Oshimo. Sorry, Patrick. Patrick Shymitzek. for writing to us with a contribution. And he did give us a message, Mel, so I'll read that out if that's okay. He said, Hi, Mel and Ollie and the rest of the crew. I hope you're all going well. Industrial disputes are resolved and everyone has a sufficient supply of caramilk. I have a poem to submit. I'll leave the title for the reader. If you think it's worthy of reading out, may I ask for Mel's dulcet voice, read it out. And I know you're ready to go, Mel, but I think it's that exciting that we need to keep the suspense going. And if our listeners would like to hear it, it will feature at the very end of this week's episode. What do you think?

00:39:58Melissa Ellis: I think that's a good idea. I'm a little bit shy.

00:40:03Oliver Spake: I think you'll do a fantastic job.

00:40:04Melissa Ellis: And it also means that if you really aren't that interested in hearing me, not so much the content, but me, then you can just tune out when the outro music plays.

00:40:14Oliver Spake: No, rest assured, no one will be tuning out. It will be a highlight. So thank you so much, Patrick. We're sorry to make you all wait to listen to it, but we are nonetheless very excited that you have helped reignite the poem zone.

Dazza's

00:40:30Melissa Ellis: Moving swiftly on this week at Dazza's. Dazza's said, it's Wiggle Your Toes Day. Did you wiggle your toes running, jogging, walking or volunteering at parkrun today? Welcome to Dazza's. Tell us all about it. And, Ollie, we haven't decided who's singing. Oh, my goodness. Who's reading out the first one. I might jump straight in if I may. And you can sing it if you like. No, no, no, no, no, no. It's all good. But coming to us this week with a milestone is Claire Stutchbury. We hope Jack's doing well, Claire. We haven't heard from him for ages, but we know that he's off and he's busy. In any case, Claire said... graduated from my 25th volley milestone at St. Lucia. So a little clap, well, a big clap to Claire. Congratulations.

00:41:22Oliver Spake: Yes. Purple shirts, they're the best. And with an achievement of sorts, Tracy Leiper, a cold iced mocha, please Dazza, as I sweated it out at Nightcliff today, got to tick off the northernmost Australian parkrun along with my first in the NT. And Tracy shared a photo with the selfie frame with the beautiful shoreline in the background there.

00:41:47Melissa Ellis: Lovely. Excellent. And at home this week was Matthew Billington. Hey, Dazza. RD for me today at my home parkrun at Albury Wodonga parkrun. Great turnout of 90 parkrunners on a drizzly sort of day. FYI, for those Fibonacci number chasers, this event location will tick the box on 377 on the 24th of September. And our neighbouring event location of Willow parkrun in Wodonga will have 144 on the 20th of August. This will be a nice opportunity to meet some of my adventuring parkrun family if you're keen. So thank you for the tip on those, Matt. We're hearing a lot of people putting forward dates for Fibonacci numbers, so it's good that the community's looking out for each other and spreading the word for those.

00:42:35Oliver Spake: Hear, hear. I'm going to need to do some planning.

00:42:38Unidentified speaker: Mm-hmm.

00:42:38Oliver Spake: And we heard from Samantha Roberts, a newbie to Dazza's at least, who was up at Varsity Lakes and said, watching the sweet swans, Varsity Lakes parkrun. And thank you, Samantha, for a lovely photo with a black swan at the shoreline there and some very cute signets.

00:42:57Melissa Ellis: Oh, I wonder if they've got names like Albert at Albert Melbourne. And coming to us with something new this week, this is a new category for us to read out at Dazza's. We had Chloe Bravos. Wiggling our toes in matching threads at Lake Joondalup parkrun on this beautiful winter morning local Noongar season of Djilba. Chloe shared a photo of Team Bravos in their matching parkrun shirts with a very well-positioned flag and a very cute little child. Yes. Let us know their name, Chloe, too, so we can give a shout-out to said little child. Yes. But, Ollie, this caused me to want to do a bit of research about Noongar season and And so I got onto, you know, Google, as one does, and I've come up with this if I can enlighten you. Please. In the southwest of Australia, the Noongar seasonal calendar includes six different seasons in a yearly cycle. These are Birak, Bunuru, Djeran, Makuru, Djilba and Kambarang. Each of the six seasons represents and explains the seasonal changes we see annually. The flowering of many different plants and the hibernation of reptiles and the molting of swans are all helpful indications that the seasons are changing. The Noongar seasons can be long or short and are indicated by what is happening and changing around us rather than by dates on a calendar. This six-season calendar is extremely important to Noongar people as it is a guide to what nature is doing at every stage of the year as well as understanding respect for the land in relation to plant and animal fertility cycles and land and animal preservation. So, parkrunners, that's our learning for today. Thank you, Mel.

00:44:52Oliver Spake: Thank you. It is fascinating certainly to get a bit of an insight I've never heard before of anything around the Noongar seasons.

00:45:01Melissa Ellis: No, I'd never heard of it either. I had no idea it existed. So I'm actually quite happy to learn that.

00:45:08Oliver Spake: Yeah, and all from a parkrun visit. So thank you, Chloe, for inspiring us for that and Mel for sharing a little bit more.

00:45:16Melissa Ellis: No problem.

00:45:17Oliver Spake: Now, a very well-liked post with another achievement came from Barbara Luther who said, this morning we visited Lota parkrun in Brisbane. It was Roger's 350th parkrun and his 100th Australian event. We enjoyed sharing parkrun and breakfast with fellow adventurers Pauline, Russell and Belinda. And thank you, Barbara, for sharing the photo of the group with the flag. and water in the scrubland in the background. So huge congratulations, 100 Australian parkrun events.

00:45:49Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and I did share that photo with the Consolidated Club Report on Sunday if you want to check it out as well.

00:45:56Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:45:56Melissa Ellis: But next up, with a frond that I was part of, Ollie, we heard from Jodie Maisie. She said, hi, Dazza. My heart is full of love from all the friends who came and helped me celebrate my 50th parkrun at Kirkdale. And Jodie shared a collage of the Mostly Red theme plus selfie frame plus Jodie with celebrity sign, snack and podcast host. That's me.

00:46:22Oliver Spake: It was. Now, another celebration, an anniversary, but not Chris Gore's anniversary. Chris reported in, though, saying, We certainly wiggled our toes this morning trying to keep warm while Karen Gore and I were waiting at the start line of Claisebrook Cove parkrun. It was the first parkrun in WA and their 10th anniversary. 230 runners and walkers turned up to help celebrate the rain had moved on and the sun made an appearance for the event congratulations Claisebrook Cove parkrun and thank you team Gore for sharing the photos of of well team Gore in front of the water and a shot from the cafe afterwards and we'll echo that and say happy 10th Claisebrook Cove yes I want to go there that's on my list Yes, very much so.

00:47:13Melissa Ellis: And coming to us all the way from the UK, we heard from Graham Wilkinson, who said, got a wiggle on this morning to Stormont parkrun in Norn Iron with the reluctant volunteer in tow. Ran the two flatter than expected laps in a tidy 24.47 and then joined that reluctant volunteer for some barcode scanning. Snakes challenge completed on the island that is famously devoid of snakes. And Graham sent us a joke, which is, what did St. Patrick say as he drove the snakes out of Ireland?

Dad joke

00:47:48Oliver Spake: I don't know. What did he say?

00:47:50Melissa Ellis: Are you all right in the back there, lads? I'll get my coat. And we've got a lovely photo of Graham in his parkrun shirt.

00:48:01Oliver Spake: Yeah, a great shot. Even better joke. Thank you, Graham. I love that.

00:48:05Melissa Ellis: A dad joke.

00:48:07Oliver Spake: Oh, the best.

00:48:08Melissa Ellis: I wonder what the building is in the background of that photo. It looks like a grand building. Hmm. Graham will have to get back to us on that.

00:48:16Oliver Spake: Yeah, our Google researching hasn't extended that far this week. So yeah, let us know, Graham. And also reporting in, Mel, after a bit of an update last week in the podcast, Jen Arnold reported in from a tourist parkrun and said, Stephen Jackson and I headed to Orange parkrun after Bathurst parkrun was flooded with Stephen's eldest son, Chris, and youngest son, Josh. It's a beautiful spot to run and we all pushed on for some extra distance. You were right on last week's podcast, Mel. We'd love to see plenty of parkrun adventurers at the Mount Panorama Punish this year for the Palm. Use the code ADVENTURER, so that's all one word, of course, all caps, ADVENTURER, to enter. And don't forget to join the adventurers team too. Have a great week. And Jen shared a photo of... Oh, the gang in the selfie frame with one punished shirt in the shot, I did notice.

00:49:16Melissa Ellis: Very good. Looking forward to that event too.

00:49:19Oliver Spake: Yes. And thank you very much for confirming and for the generous offer. So adventurers, if you haven't signed up yet, go and check it out. Use the code and we hope to see as many of you there as possible.

00:49:32Melissa Ellis: We might get our biggest frond ever at Bathurst.

the Obi Award — Graham Wilkinson

00:49:34Oliver Spake: Yeah, wouldn't that be cool?

00:49:35Melissa Ellis: Okay, time for the Obi to announce the winner. If you've got the envelope.

00:49:42Oliver Spake: I do. I do. It's right here. I have cleared the post-its and I can see it nice and clearly today.

00:49:49Melissa Ellis: Excellent.

00:49:51Oliver Spake: The Obi this week goes to... Graham Wilkinson. Congratulations, Graham.

00:50:09Melissa Ellis: And he wins an Obi for a dad joke. That's right. Well, there you go.

00:50:12Oliver Spake: That's what it takes. That's what it takes.

00:50:15Melissa Ellis: So that'll be the next new segment, will it? The dad joke. Has that happened in the pod before?

00:50:19Oliver Spake: A jokes corner. Surely there's been a jokes segment. I mean, we've had the Christmas bonbon jokes, of course.

00:50:25Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But dad jokes? I know you're good at that one, Peter Pohlman.

00:50:30Oliver Spake: Yes. Is that an invitation, Mel?

00:50:31Melissa Ellis: Well, yes, of course. Always happy to take contributions from wherever. Yeah.

00:50:38Oliver Spake: Does it need to squeeze into the poem zone for now? Does it need to be poetic dad humour?

00:50:43Melissa Ellis: Okay.

00:50:46Oliver Spake: Getting a bit niche there. Back to what I was going to say. Thank you, everyone, for joining us at Dazza's.

00:50:54Melissa Ellis: Yes. Okay. Dazza's is done.

the Informant

00:50:56Melissa Ellis: What's up now? Time for us to throw to the informant.

00:51:07The Informant: This is the informant. These are unofficial stats. They are only current at the time they are collected, and may differ from the stats you read elsewhere. This week there were 450 runs held down under, Down 9 on last week. 413 in Australia and 37 in New Zealand. This is out of 1,753 worldwide. Aussie New Zealand attendance was 35,376. down approximately 500 on last week. That was out of 203,000 worldwide. There were two event launches, Bell's Parade in Tasmania and Limepark Playing Fields in the UK. Down under we had 4,010 PBs, while 1,516 people participated for the first time. 72 juniors reached their Junior 10 milestone, 146 people reached their 50 milestone, 101 reached their 100 milestone, and 28 people reached their 250 milestone.

00:52:13[13 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:52:26The Informant: 17 people called bingo. Randall Pavlich was quickest on 172 runs, while David Lawrence was slowest on 337 runs. There were eight new statespeople. Iswani Bana in the ACT. Tiana Rains and the family of Riz, Mark, Liz and Richard Brownhill in the Northern Territory. Kellyanne Urquhart and Luke Elliott in South Australia. In the top 20 most Aussie New Zealand events list, Jim Woodruff moved up to equal 8th and Brian Hardy moves up to 19th. Overall in the biggest movers, Mark Calderkirk and Stephen Davis moved up 9 spots each. 409 people lifted their windex. The biggest mover is Errol Poole, who moves up 23 to 97. In the adventurer Challenges, we had three Peel Club inductees. Andrew Blanchin, Kelly Leighton, and Mary-Anne Law. A further 10 parkrunners completed the Half Cowell. An added bonus, no extra charge, I'm giving you an update on the I-Index. I've heard numerous mumblings about the I-Index lately, and it's time to set the record straight. Clear up some misconceptions. First, a look at history. This began long ago in episode 226. It is exactly like the Wilson Index, but you're not working with run numbers, it's event number. It's the continuous number of different parkrun events that you have done in order of their commencement. In Australia, the first event launched is Main Beach. Therefore, event number one is Main Beach. Event number two is New Farm. Event number three is Albert Park. Event number four is St Peter's. Event number five is Kirra, and so on. Main Beach, being event number 1, is the Wilson equivalent of running at a launch. If you haven't run at Main Beach, your I-index is 0. If you are a Queenslander and have run Main Beach, New Farm and Kirra, but haven't run Interstate, your index is 2. Yes, you have run number 5 Kirra, but you are missing 3 and 4 at Albert Park and St Peter's. Just like Wilson and contrary to common misconception, you don't have to run all the numbers in sequence. You can go and backbill 3 and 4 anytime. However, this is not the constitution. You can play with this however you like. Cameron can make a WA version and only include WA events. Alison can make a New Zealand-based version. Someone has suggested a floating version. Also, all good. Where it comes apart somewhat is when multiple events launch on one day or an event folds. Remember back in the old days, as kids we had those choose your own adventure books. I'm inviting you to choose your own adventure. Right, moving on. This week's spreadsheet has an iIndex tab. It has a list of the higher iIndex holders, and a list of all Aussie parkruns with a number defining launch order. Neil Barnett is top of the list of the iIndexes. Neil has run all of the Australian events up to the launch of Tuggeranong. But in his 323 different events, he has not yet run at Parramatta, which is our 21st event. Therefore, has an i-index of 20. If Neil runs Parramatta this week, he doesn't move to 21. He moves much higher because he has already run Riverway, Fingal Bay, Rockingham, Cleveland, etc. Hopefully that clears it up. Or perhaps it has made a mess of it. Depending on stress level from correspondence, the i-index stays or gets buried and never spoken of again. 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.

00:57:09Oliver Spake: And thank you once again to our informant. And Mel, let's keep the stats going.

Consolidated Club Report

00:57:14Oliver Spake: I think it's time for an update on the Consolidated Club Report.

00:57:18Melissa Ellis: Yes, this week, Saturday the 6th of August 2022, a total of 262 members, of which 208 took part at 111 different locations. In the UK, there was 18 events at Millhouses. Southall, Glossop, Carlisle Park, Cheadle Hulme, Stormont, Fareham, Nonsuch, Reigate Priory, Lardyard, Penryn Campus, Ross-on-Wye, Shepton Mallet, St Mary's, Alba Beg, I can't say that one, Abba Beg, Penryn, Edgbaston Reservoir, the Cinder Track Whitby. And in the USA, we had one event at Joe Creason. In South Africa, one event at Homestead Lake. In Eswatini, one event at Manzini. Germany, one event at Oli.

00:58:16Oliver Spake: Rosensteinpark.

00:58:17Melissa Ellis: In Singapore, there was one event at Bishan. But locally, we had adventurers at 32 events in Victoria, 19 events in New South Wales, 16 events in Queensland, seven in South Australia, four in West Australia, three in ACT, two in Tasweeja, one in Northern Territory, three in the North Island and one on the South Island. And that was another clean strike.

00:58:50Oliver Spake: Excellent. Well done, everyone.

00:58:52Melissa Ellis: Sorry for all the stumbling on some of the harder-to-pronounce names.

the Frond

00:58:57Melissa Ellis: But largest fronds, Ollie, this week. Four adventurers turned up again at Umbagong District. There was Mike Scott, Tanya Pollard, Michael Charlton and Tim Robbins. Four more at Kirkdale Reserve in Victoria. Oh, that was where I was. Jodie Maisie, Bruce Purdy, Joanne Blackbourn and me. And five at Lota, Roger and Barbara Luther and Belinda Russell and Pauline Taylor. But the biggest frond this week was at the Ponds with Charles Burns, Geoff Robinson, Joe McLean, Louise Garbers, Lisa Spencer, And Julie and Gordon Turner. Hooray. Hooray. Yeah, go the ponds. Yeah. Once again. Yeah. So I know we had in the frond stakes, I know we had a couple at Kirkdale as well, because otherwise our frond would have been bigger, but some of our members were actually volunteering. I'm sure you had a few at your parkrun.

00:59:59Oliver Spake: Yeah, we did have a couple. That's correct.

01:00:03Melissa Ellis: But I do know for a fact there was eight out Eynesbury Heritage Trail juniors this week.

01:00:09Oliver Spake: Excellent. Woo-hoo. Well done, everyone. And thank you to all the volunteers out there.

01:00:13Melissa Ellis: Oh, and there would have been two volunteering at Stratford-upon-Avon.

Sign-off

01:00:18Oliver Spake: There certainly would have been, as we heard from earlier. Mm. There's always a couple of new names in there and a couple of surprises. So well done, everyone. And are you excited about next week, Mel? Are you excited about the fronds popping up next week?

01:00:33Melissa Ellis: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see how many people turn up at Cooks River and join us or are just in town for City to Surf. Of course, a very iconic New South Wales fun run that's been going for a very long time. Didn't it have its 50th running during lockdown Ollie did we do that as a virtual that was a virtual so I suppose this is the 50th physical run of the event yes yes so that's kind of exciting lots of people like to dress up I'm going to be dressing up uh you may or may not be as banana I was thinking a different shade of yellow but yes yes

01:01:12Oliver Spake: Really? Well, apricot yellow.

01:01:14Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay. Yes, you do like to run in your singlet, don't you?

01:01:18Oliver Spake: I do.

01:01:18Melissa Ellis: With that parkrun name on it.

01:01:20Oliver Spake: That's right. It's a shame the font is so small.

01:01:21Melissa Ellis: Well, but it does make you stand out and you will see other parkrunners. So, yeah, it would be interesting to know if parkrunners out there are going to be running in their parkrun singlets.

01:01:29Oliver Spake: That's right. And there are a couple of familiar names coming to the event as well. I think I've even seen in the post shared recently that Liam Adams is making an appearance. So, yeah, competition's tough for us, Mel.

01:01:44Melissa Ellis: Well, say hi to him for me because I'm going to be seeing him at my end unless he does a lap of honour. But also there was somebody else. Oh, yeah. Superman.

01:01:57Oliver Spake: You are, of course, referring to our recent guest, are you not, Mel?

01:02:01Melissa Ellis: I am, and I can't think of his name. Aidan Hobbs.

01:02:04Oliver Spake: Our recent guest, Aidan Hobbs.

01:02:06Melissa Ellis: Yes.

01:02:07Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right.

01:02:08Melissa Ellis: Sorry, Aidan.

01:02:09Oliver Spake: So, yeah, we look forward to seeing them disappear very quickly into the distance, not because we don't like them, just because we live in awe and we use them as motivation and inspiration for our own city to surf.

01:02:21Melissa Ellis: Correct.

01:02:22Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:02:23Melissa Ellis: And at Cooks River. Yes. I think the whole office is going to be there.

01:02:28Oliver Spake: I think so.

01:02:29Melissa Ellis: We'll have to leave the informants in charge.

01:02:32Oliver Spake: Oh, well, no, everything's good now. That should be fine. No concerns there whatsoever. What could possibly go wrong?

01:02:38Melissa Ellis: Maybe we should rethink that. Who else could we leave in the office?

01:02:44Oliver Spake: Buy some more caramel. Everything's fine. Okay. But I am looking forward to Cooks River. I think it's going to be a bit of a flying trip for me. It's looking like a busy day, but I'm there. Excellent. Yes.

01:02:55Melissa Ellis: All right. Well, that pretty much wraps it up because we haven't got much else to say about Cooks River. Well, not to say. Yeah, not to say.

01:03:03Oliver Spake: We do have something else coming up.

01:03:06Melissa Ellis: Of course, don't we, Mel? Maybe they'll forget.

01:03:11Oliver Spake: So stay tuned for the long-awaited return of The Poem Zone. We've been making you wait for that. But in the meantime, we are certainly looking forward to seeing some of you next weekend or this weekend if that's when you're listening to it. Well, last weekend. All right, I'm tapped out, Mel.

01:03:29Melissa Ellis: Yeah, no, I'm taking over. As always, you can contact us on Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it, almost, for another week. We'll see you all next week for more adventures.

01:03:40[music]

01:04:54[music]

01:04:54Pippa: The Poem Zone.

01:04:56Melissa Ellis: I've been to parkruns that don't go up or down. From Dolls Point to Husky and Old Picton Town. But no matter how far or how wide I roam. I still call Shellharbour home I like to tourist, I love being free And so I keep leaving the farm and the sea But I yearn for the bush, sand and dirt road I still call Shellharbour home All the volleys and runners joining round the world Jogging with their family and friends As they get their BGs and PBs It's good to know where your milestone ends Come Saturday we'll all be jogging once more By the cafe, lagoon, cardio hill and the shore I realise something that I've always known I still call Shellharbour home