Episode 301 - Thumbs Up

Welcome

00:00:23Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 301 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie Spake and I'm joining this week once again from Dharawal Country.

00:00:33Melissa Ellis: And I am Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country. Happy Father's Day, Ollie. I hope you had a good weekend with your family.

00:00:42Oliver Spake: Thank you, Mel. I had a great time between flat pack furniture and family barbecues and kitchen work. Yeah, yeah, no, it was a lovely time. And I hope that Paul also had a fantastic Father's Day.

00:00:54Melissa Ellis: He did. Lots of family time in our house as well. Yeah, it was a nice one. Flat pack furniture. Have you been to Ikea?

00:01:00Oliver Spake: No, this was an online order. So Ava's birthday is coming up and we've got a little holiday planned. So I kind of needed to start early on that because, yeah, it's a bed and a half. It's got built-in bookshelves and all sorts of things. And, yeah, that was most of Father's Day for me.

00:01:19Unidentified speaker: Oh.

00:01:21Melissa Ellis: You're a good dad then.

00:01:23Oliver Spake: Yeah, and dad's kitchen on the Saturday. So, yeah, I felt very handy trying to convince myself and other people that I've got skills that I don't think I necessarily have. But nothing's broken, nothing's exploded so far.

00:01:35Melissa Ellis: Fake it till you make it.

00:01:37Oliver Spake: Exactly.

00:01:38Melissa Ellis: Tell me about your parkrun day. Did you have time to fit that in?

00:01:42Oliver Spake: I did have a bit of time to fit that in. Fortunately, I was volunteering. I was handing out finish tokens in the rain. So I did make the point of getting out there early and running up and down a hill a couple of times to clock up my streak and my steps, also doing September. So yeah. It made the morning nice and fresh and cool as we kicked off, but a fairly modest parkrun with, I think we had 58 finishers. I was on the line. Em was Timekeeper. And yeah, just a nice morning. A lot of happy people. Few people even broke their PBs, which absolutely stunned me in that kind of weather.

00:02:21Melissa Ellis: Were they running faster to get out of the rain?

00:02:25Oliver Spake: I think that must have been it.

00:02:26Melissa Ellis: So did you tick off running in the rain yourself? No.

00:02:29Oliver Spake: yes I did I tried to grab a selfie with one of the birds I mean I was we'll get to the parrot section of the Bingoe card later but but yeah I couldn't even make myself out in that photo because of the rain on the on the lens there so yep tick I have streaked in the rain brilliant

00:02:47Melissa Ellis: You've hit the ground running.

00:02:48Oliver Spake: I have, quite literally. But yeah, a local, quiet volunteering effort and not shitting up the count there. But Mel, what about your parkrun day? How was it and where did you go?

00:03:00Melissa Ellis: Well, it was very good. I visited Beaufort Lake parkrun on the land of the Wadawurrung people. And Beaufort Lakes is the latest event to launch in Victoria and is situated behind the Goldfields Recreation Reserve in in the township of Beaufort. The man-made lake is popular in summer for fishing, water skiing, canoeing and swimming and is open for powerboats from December. Beaufort is located midway between Ballarat and Ararat and if you've ever driven the road from Melbourne to Adelaide, you would know it for its prominent bandstand in the main street. The octagonal rotunda was built in 1903 and is crowned with an ornate clock. The event is the newest event for the unofficial Victorian Gold Miners Challenge, joining Ararat, Ballarat, Wallaby Track, Goldfields Reservoir, Castlemaine, Bendigo Botanic Gardens and Kennington Reservoir, and was a one hour and 20 minute trip west from home, meaning it qualified for a stupid o'clock start.

00:04:02Oliver Spake: I was going to call it quite civilised, but yeah, sorry Mel.

00:04:06Melissa Ellis: I was joined there by friends and fellow adventurers, Irene and Parth, Dawn, Cheryl and Mark, Rhi, Sam and Kirsty, and was happy to grab some audio later with ED Katie. Also at brunch, it was lovely to chat to Wallaby Track co-ED Lorinda Coulter, who spoke about her experience being invited to talk at the recent conference and will soon be featured in the new parkrun Your Way weekly video series. The Beaufort Lake course is described later by ED Katie, so I won't go over that except to say that it's a relatively flat course and I was quite happy with my time. Sadly, no Wilsons, bingo or finish numbers were obtained.

00:04:47Oliver Spake: Well, still a successful morning and some great company too.

00:04:51Melissa Ellis: Always nice to catch up with adventurer friends.

00:04:54Oliver Spake: It is. And look, Mel, you mentioned the parkrun Your Way video series. Remiss of me to exclude that part of my morning as we also had a bit of the representation from the crew there capturing some content for parkrun Your Way. So parkrun Australia will earn a fine when that comes out. Yeah.

00:05:16Melissa Ellis: Oh, excellent. I wonder if they'll pay up.

00:05:19Oliver Spake: I look forward to seeing some of the familiar faces out there.

00:05:24Melissa Ellis: We will be very proud when that comes about.

00:05:26Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. We'll keep it hush-hush till then, but we'll see just between you and I and our five listeners.

Streaky September

00:05:34Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, we have to talk about Streaky September because it started.

00:05:39Oliver Spake: It started and we threw a Bingoe card out there, cat amongst the pigeons, no context whatsoever, and hasn't it been fun for everyone?

00:05:47Melissa Ellis: It has. Everybody's interpreting it their own way. It's been quite fun to watch. And I actually think people are getting more creative because they don't know what they're doing.

00:05:55Oliver Spake: Yeah, room for interpretation. But you mentioned Streaky September, so I guess I should start at the start. It's a very good place to begin. How is your streak going, Mel?

00:06:04Melissa Ellis: I'm still going. Well done. Yes, yes, it's going really well. I was very excited today when my boss said to me, you can work from home if you like. Monday is my typically difficult day to get my streak in, just with the commitments that I do have. So working from home was really good because it cut out the hour of travel either way to work and meant because I wasn't in uniform, I could go out in my lunch break and walk the streets.

00:06:30Oliver Spake: Lovely and a nice day.

00:06:31Melissa Ellis: And it was, yes, a sunny day here in fabulous Meltown.

00:06:37Oliver Spake: What about you, Ollie? The streak continues. Started relatively strong. The muscles don't seem to be too happy at the moment. I haven't done the right thing probably after my run a few weeks ago and kept up the movement. So, yeah, they're groaning. And it was a real streak saver today, to be honest. I did a two kilometre streak this afternoon as I walked to Woolies. And look, I'm not going to claim to be the most impressive effort with trolleys because there have been some impressive trolley features in the streaky group on Facebook that I have seen already. But it is so hard to walk anywhere near Woolies and not pick up a couple of trolleys. So I took three back, but I had to walk past a dozen or so to do that.

00:07:25Melissa Ellis: Good for you because I picked up one today as well and then walked past two more and just felt guilty walking past them thinking, oh, I don't think I can manage three at once because I have tried it before and I know it's challenging. Yeah.

00:07:41Oliver Spake: But of course, I did notice that the trolley collector was over at the other entrance to the supermarket as I needed it. So I very quickly put them in and just tried not to give him an insecurity around his job future. Oh, good for you. Plenty more for him. So yes, streaking continues. Streaking continues. And we hope everyone is enjoying their streaks and streak savers when they're called on. But yeah, Bingoe card.

00:08:09Melissa Ellis: Bingoe card.

00:08:10Oliver Spake: I suppose it's time for some context, some explanation.

00:08:14Melissa Ellis: I think that's probably overdue.

00:08:16Oliver Spake: So for everyone that is participating in the bingo challenge and accepting of the spelling of bingo, with our apologies to The Office Lady, the Bingoe card we released on the 31st of August so that it would be available. We've saved the context for now, but we will have a couple of level up challenges still to come. So keep your eyes on the Facebook pages, on the Streaky group and on the parkrun adventurers. But for now... The initial Bingoe card features a number of challenges. The first one being streak with a parrot, which we thought was quite apt given, well, let's face it, Darwin and several other birds that have chimed in over the course of the podcast. Not referring to myself in costume for that matter, but yeah, aside from that.

00:09:06Melissa Ellis: So... Forgot about that.

00:09:10Oliver Spake: Streaking with a parrot. The intent being is you find a parrot on your streak. If you are fortunate enough to have an in-house Darwin or an in-the-backyard Darwin, you might choose to streak with Darwin. Yes, you might have budgies, so the budgies can join. You might also have children in budgie costumes that I did notice on Facebook a couple of weeks back, a very impressive costume there. So there are different ways you can do that, and let's face it, After my education, I took a while to catch on, but basically every bird is a parrot. So just get a picture of it. No, there are many species of parrot. So we look forward to seeing those varieties in your photos. Absolutely. We have streaky Strava art, which is always a favourite. There is no criteria. You can be as artistic as you wish. I think I have seen a blob out there. And part of our 300 episode tribute, Patrick himself already streaked a 300. But that was technically in August. So I'm looking forward, hopefully, to some more art from Patrick.

00:10:12Melissa Ellis: But still, it's a good example, Ollie, that you could write a word in Strava art or a numerical representation. It doesn't have to be a picture. Yeah.

00:10:22Oliver Spake: That's quite right. Be as creative as you wish. I think a couple of years ago, I did take four days to spell out a word. That's a bit of a cop out, the whole word. It can be as long or short as you like. And yeah, there's always room for interpretation. We also have a camera with 300. So no science behind this. Find a 300, take a picture on your streak. Always love the creativity. So yeah, we look forward to the many varieties of 300 we can find. Streak with a friend. Those of you that have nearby friends that like to streak with you, that's a bonus. Those of you that have virtual friends that like to streak with you, that's a bonus. Or four-legged friends. You might make a friend on your streak and invite them along. Sign them up to the Adventurers Club. So lots of opportunities there. He might be at a parkrun.

00:11:10Melissa Ellis: I ticked this one off on day one, Ollie. Did you? I did. I got Paul out on a streak. He's my friend. Of course, of course. He doesn't usually get out very often. So I was very chuffed when he agreed to accompany me on my day one streak. Oh, nice work, Mel and Paul. Thank you. Leading by example. But Ollie, the thumbs up, it has been questioned and I'm not sure that our listeners have really understood the symbolism of the thumbs up. So please explain.

00:11:41Oliver Spake: Yeah, I suppose it does look a lot like the icon for the like. It doesn't mean that you just have a streak that you like. The intent with the thumbs up is, well, it's a bit of a reference to those that might be regulars at Dazza's. They might have noticed that one of our contributors often uses imagery. Well, let's just say a photo to convey the parkrun experience of the day and often, if not always, is wearing an ugly buff. So Monty Slade almost always throws in a photo with a thumbs up and that's all it is. Mm-hmm. Yep. Just a photo with a thumbs up. Nice and easy. But your choice of what's in the background.

00:12:19Melissa Ellis: Just like chucking us a salute.

00:12:21Oliver Spake: Yeah. So as you can see, we've tried to be fairly gentle with the challenges so far. And the next one is probably another example of that. Brekkie or cake? Enjoy.

00:12:34Melissa Ellis: See, I haven't been able to tick this one off yet because I typically don't have food at brunch after a parkrun. I just order a coffee. So this is going to be a little bit tricky for me. I'm going to have to find a way to tick this one off.

00:12:49Oliver Spake: And I suppose we should qualify. It's meant to be that brunch experience after your parkrun or during, if you wish. Yeah. I would say pancakes probably count. I did have a muffin parkrun day morning, but it wasn't technically straight after my streak. So I'm going to have to have another muffin just to get it right, I think.

00:13:10Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I need a low carb brekkie. So that's my caveat on that one. Now, Ollie, the shopping trolley. This one's my favourite. There's going to be this whole new group of adventurers that can never unsee a trolley abandoned on the side of the road again.

00:13:28Oliver Spake: So we have seen some very impressive photography video journals of the abandoned trolleys out there. And, Mel, it's an epidemic.

00:13:39Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah, they're everywhere, but Em Nico's trolley. I'm getting rather attached to it, Trevor, the trolley. We won't talk about Sonia's trolley. We probably can't get away with that.

00:13:52Unidentified speaker: No.

00:13:52Melissa Ellis: You have to follow along in the Streaky September group comments on the photos if you want to hear about Sonia's University Days trolley experience. LAUGHTER

00:14:02[laughter]

00:14:04Oliver Spake: Yes. And look, that's the reason for all of this is just to have a bit of fun and share some experiences. So if we've got some stories behind it, that's all the more fun. And whilst we do encourage the trolleys to be returned, level up for the returned trolleys. I'm just enjoying all of these trolleys.

00:14:22Melissa Ellis: Yes, if you are out on your streak and you happen past an abandoned trolley, just snap a photo of it and that's the tick for the Bingoe card. And, yeah, like you said, Ollie, returning it is just a level up.

00:14:36Oliver Spake: Now, it's raining here again, so streaking in the rain for myself has been quite easy. For some, it might not be as easy, but it's intended how it sounds. If there's a rainy day, jump out. Please try and stay as dry as you can. Stay well, but get out there and enjoy a streak with a bit of refreshment on the face. But if you do need to be creative, there's always points for creativity.

00:15:02Melissa Ellis: How can you fake that? Yeah.

00:15:06Oliver Spake: Take a water bottle.

00:15:07Melissa Ellis: With a hose. Yes. Oh, okay. All those people up in Northern Territory that don't listen, I don't think we have a problem, Ollie. I think all our listeners are on the eastern seaboard.

00:15:18Oliver Spake: Whoa.

00:15:18Melissa Ellis: And there's plenty of rain.

00:15:20Oliver Spake: We have our international listeners as well, some in some very dry climates.

00:15:24Melissa Ellis: Oh, South Africa.

00:15:27Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah.

00:15:28Melissa Ellis: Johan, you're going to have to get the sprinkler out.

00:15:31Oliver Spake: That's right. Yeah. And last but not least so far, five of a kind. So five of a kind is your opportunity to go and collect whatever you like. You don't literally have to collect it, of course, but take your photos and share with the group your collection of five. So this and a few of the others have come from a few of our... strong ideas contributors and an example of this one is that you might collect five different types of road signs so to capture photos of a street of an avenue of a laneway of a highway of a court court thank you Mel Or you might capture, you know, five types of dogs. So be as consistent or as varied in your categorisation and your taxonomy as you like.

00:16:20Melissa Ellis: You could have a trolley from Coles, one from Woolworths, one from Foodworks, one from Aldi, one from Bunnings.

00:16:28Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:16:28Melissa Ellis: They don't have to be abandoned. Just run around the supermarket.

00:16:32Oliver Spake: Oh, dear. Oh, dear. So there is the initial Bingoe card. There will be level ups. By the time that this pod is released, we anticipate another level up will have been released. And to know what to do there, you will have had to have listened to last week's episode. So happy streaking, everyone.

00:16:50Melissa Ellis: But now we've got more audio from the streak master herself, Pippa White. So let's have a listen to that now.

Streakmeister tips

00:17:06Pippa White: Hi, parkrun adventurers, it's Pippa. Two very quick thoughts for this week. The first one is about day one. Remember how exciting it felt the first day one. I'm going to do this. It's going to be brilliant. If there's a point within this month or maybe even a little bit later on when suddenly, for whatever reason, you can't get out, you can't do that exercise. then we'll be there and we'll be there to enjoy your new day one with you. So just because you fall off a wagon at one point doesn't mean we won't walk you back on. The second thing is about understanding doing the streak my way or doing the streak your way. I count my streak as long as I have started before midnight. So if it's been the absolute worst day possible, I will get out maybe quarter to midnight. I will leg it down on my two kilometre streak saver, down, out, round and back. And do you know something? If I finish in the next day, that's not the end of the world. I started before midnight and that's the way I've done it. So here's to the joy of a day one and here's to the joy of saying at least I've started on the right day and therefore it counts. Happy streaking, guys.

00:18:21Oliver Spake: And thank you very much to the Streakmeister. Thank you, Pippa. And I hope that everyone is enjoying the tips and takes it forward to enjoy their streaky September. There's so much still to come.

Emails

00:18:34Melissa Ellis: Oh, there absolutely is, Ollie. But guess what, Ollie? We've got mail.

00:18:37Oliver Spake: You've got mail. We do. We do. We've got a bit of mail. So we're going to catch up with the mail now. We've got plenty of roving reports still to come, but we've got three emails this week. And if I may, Mel, I'll read out the first couple. Please. Yes. So the first one we've got here comes from Charles Burns, who said, Hi, Mel, Ollie, and those on level two with a view. First time correspondent, long time listener. Sorry, I've been some episodes behind over the past few weeks and was stunned to hear my name read out a few times as part of being in one of the biggest fronds at the Ponds parkrun. Would love to show either of you around at the Ponds or Rouse Hill parkrun when it opens back up again in brackets this coming weekend after a long closure due to erosion from this year's consistent rain in Sydney. Congratulations on reaching 300 episodes and here's to many more. Charles Burns, A1691878. And thank you very much, Charles. I understand that The Rouse Hill course is still in recovery mode and with a bit more rain. I'm hoping that it does get the chance to return soon. But I would love to come to either of those parkruns. I've done them as freedom runs only on the longest run and I can't wait to be there on a parkrun day.

00:19:58Melissa Ellis: I have also done Rouse Hill on the longest run day. So I know that course, but I don't know the ponds.

00:20:06Oliver Spake: Well, as our adventurous community has shown us and as Charles has told us, they are good parkruns. So these ones are definitely on the list.

00:20:15Melissa Ellis: I think The Ponds is higher on my list. I need a the, the.

00:20:19Oliver Spake: All right. Well, and another email, Mel. So this one from Leanne Rotondo, who said, thank you for and congratulations on 300 episodes, you two. We listeners, community members, love that you love it. You must be so happy. I'm looking forward to wind down time tonight to listen to it. Not that you'll get time to think of it this week with all the celebrations, but it made me think of Palm next year. I'm wondering if there's an event prior or some other opportunity to investigate travel buddy possibilities. Flight, same hotel location, etc. Hopefully that's Not creepy, just thinking way ahead as I may be travelling solo. I've met Ingrid Botha at Dolls Point, but don't know any adventurers, so would be handy to see if anyone else is interested for similar. Congrats again. Kind regards, Lee Cabarita. That's my porn name. Leanne Rotondo. A467161. And I think that's a great idea.

00:21:17Melissa Ellis: I do too because I will also be travelling solo, I think, this time around. So I'll be looking to have some shared accommodation if at all possible, you know, outside of the party house, of course, Palm Weekend. I hope there's a party house again. There might be some previous residents that may pass on the party house this year after last year's shenanigans.

00:21:41Oliver Spake: Well, I wasn't in the party house last year, so... I'm just going to have to use my imagination. But yeah, I think that as plans firm, thanks to our party planners, we will certainly share a bit more information and some suggestions. And it would be great to encourage those that do want to reach out and connect with some of the fellow adventurers making plans to do so. And we can all enjoy a wonderful Western Palm.

00:22:11Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. But, Ollie, we also heard from Johan, who said, How's it, Mel and Ollie? I had such a wonderful weekend, made special by parkrun friends who organised, while maybe almost schemed, coaxed and cajoled, and synced a number of milestones to be reached at Arrow Rest parkrun outside Broederstroom near Hartbeespoort Dam, in the Northwest Province. There are now three parkruns in the area following the single previous one closing down during the pandemic, the other two being Schiemerberg and Iron Throne Trail. Part of the excitement was that Cassie, the parkrun world tourist bear, also made it to South Africa after showing up in Namibia first. Cassie has a travel history that would make most parkrun tourists go green with envy. Event number 14 saw 97 participants joining on a beautiful spring morning, running the course with antelope grazing and the sites of the Hartbeespoort Dam and the Magaliesberg Mountains in the distance. Another feature of this event was quite a sea of bright neon orange and yellow caps, or green depending on who you ask, on the large tourist contingent that attended the event. Now most adventurers are well aware that doing a certain number of different events open the door to a somewhat select group of parkrun crazies, that then appear on the most events table for that country. And of course, as the obsession grew, so the special clubs were established, most notably those of parkrun tourists for 20 events in most countries, Cowell Club for 100 events, and the Freyne Club for the totally mad with 250 events. But most of these clubs were really only becoming international after the introduction of the Running Challenges extension and parkrun apps, with most of us in South Africa hardly giving them a second thought until only about three to four years ago. We did, however, have our own Most Events club to aspire to. The South African tourist group started somewhere in 2014 with only a handful of people that had reached the 20 event milestone and has grown over time to around 3,000, which is still a relatively small subset of the larger parkrun population. Several years ago, a logo was designed and the neon orange cap and later a peak as well, was launched, which qualifying tourists with 20 events under their belt could buy with two goals. Firstly, as a way to recognise fellow tourists on their adventures, and secondly, as a fundraising method to support the provision of the milestone flags that are common with most South African events. These milestone flags are no longer in production, but that's a story for another day. I believe the Tourist Fund will find other worthwhile causes as times progress. In fact, the Fund has been so kind to fund the purchase of milestone shirts for parkrunners in communities where the price was prohibitive given their circumstances. And of course, it was only a few years later that the first tourists started nearing 100 events and the neon yellow caps saw the light with a rather interesting nickname to go with it, Windgat. The literal translation of Windgat is windhole, but the meaning is more along the line of a windbag or braggart, or maybe most accurately indicating someone with a bit of bragging rights. Both caps can only be earned by doing South African parkruns. So apart from South African parkruns, those in Namibia and Eswatini also adds to your tally as those three countries use the same website. For most locals, their Windgat and Cowell Club status would be in sync, but anybody so lucky to have done parkruns outside South Africa... would have to work a bit harder to get their bragging rights affirmed. Having done two international parkruns, my magic number was thus number 102 to join the club. For dedicated parkrun tourists in the Gauteng area, this is an exercise that can be done in as little as two years, but if you live in other areas of the country, this becomes a bit more difficult to achieve. It took me about four and a half years to get to, of course, not helped by the pandemic. On the other hand, the pandemic made me reconsider chasing goals relentlessly and I've also volunteered in non-running roles more frequently since and have learned to be way more patient. As of today, there are just over 170 Windgat on the most events table in South Africa. But bragging aside, I think the most important part of this experience remains the making of new friends along the way, as well as seeing parts of our beautiful country and meeting the wonderful volunteer teams all over that otherwise may not have been to cross our paths. And it was just such friends that really made yesterday such a joy. A wonderful week to all the adventurers and happy streaking and parkrunning. Johan. Oh, Johan, I am so sorry for all the things I mispronounced. I clearly underestimated my ability.

00:26:56Oliver Spake: I think you read it well, Mel. And look, I would have stumbled over a lot of that pronunciation. But Johan, we really appreciate you sharing. And it's a wonderful insight that I really had no familiarity with the clubs in South Africa. But clearly, as Johan well puts it, it's all about the experience. It's all about connecting and having those experiences and seeing the country. Well, certainly is for me anyway.

00:27:21Melissa Ellis: I knew the South Africans had a very strong tourism group and my friend Cheryl Smit, fellow Victorian statesman or greatsman, she has an orange buff, which I do believe signifies or is achieved once you get on the most events list in South Africa. So 20 different events.

00:27:45Oliver Spake: An impressive achievement. And I do love how we get to get a bit of an insight into some of our cousins in the parkrunning world and the experience there. It would be wonderful to go and explore some of them firsthand. But until then, we're going to live vicariously through you. So thank you again for sharing.

00:28:04Melissa Ellis: Didn't Scotty say we were having a Contiki tour to South Africa?

00:28:07Oliver Spake: Well, that's right. We did try and drum that back up. So yeah, give it time. Give it time. Maybe in another 300 episodes. We'll see. But, Mel, thank you very much for helping with the emails. Thank you, everyone that wrote in this week. And as I did mention earlier, we've also got a number of roving reports.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:28:26Oliver Spake: So prepare yourselves. We hope you've got a few more kilometres in your streak or a couple more streaks to spread this pod over because we've actually got four roving reports for you. So we'll have a listen to that and then we'll be back with Dazza's informant and all of your favourite things shortly.

Roving report Paul Kitching — Nantu Wama

00:28:49Paul Kitching: G'day parkrun adventurers. It's PK checking in for another roving report from a new parkrun in South Australia. This is their sixth parkrun. It's the Nantu Wama. I think that's Nantu Wama. I'm not sure. I should get it right. You know what, I'll ask the Run Director to pronounce it for me. It's the name for the traditional owners of this land. We are in North Adelaide. For those who know North Adelaide and South Australia, it is Lefevre Terrace. So some people may know this area as Helicopter Park. So if you say Helicopter Park to some people, they'll be like, oh, yeah, I know that area. Anyway, it's close to the city, close to some great cafes, and it's a beautiful area of South Australia's parklands, the North Adelaide parklands. And we're here to do their parkrun. So let's go and get amongst it. And I'm now here at the finish line. And I saw this guy put his hand up before when they asked if there were any first-timers to parkrun. G'day, what's your name? Tomomichi. Tomomichi. And this is your first time doing parkrun ever. What made you decide to come and do a parkrun?

00:29:55Tomomichi: So honestly speaking, one of my colleagues recommended it and I joined the parkrun.

00:30:02Paul Kitching: Oh, that's great. So one of your colleagues where you work? Yeah. And they knew that you enjoyed running and you hadn't heard about it or anything like that before?

00:30:10Tomomichi: Yeah, just from her.

00:30:12Paul Kitching: Yeah, fantastic. And does she do this parkrun or does she do other parkruns?

00:30:16Tomomichi: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:30:18Paul Kitching: What's her name? She's Jo. Jo? Awesome. Thank you, Jo, for spreading the word. Fantastic. And what did you think? What did you think of today?

00:30:25Tomomichi: Ah, yeah, that's so cool. Yeah, so this is so nice weather today. Yeah, it's beautiful out here. Very relaxing and yeah.

00:30:31Paul Kitching: Beautiful. I enjoyed it. Fantastic. Well, it's one of the newer ones here in South Australia. There are quite a few now. When I first started doing it, there were three. And now I think there are, gosh, someone's going to tell me 40 something. One of the statesmen will tell me. But the big question is, will you do a second parkrun? Will you come back?

00:30:47Tomomichi: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:30:48Paul Kitching: Congrats. Yeah. That's the big question that we like to hear the answer to. He's saying yes now, but he's shaking his head. No, he isn't really.

00:30:56Tomomichi: I'd like to try another parkrun also, but yeah, this is my... Well, this is your closest one, do you reckon? Yeah, yeah.

00:31:03Paul Kitching: Because there's more close nearby. It's fantastic. There's another one opening up. Well, thank you so much, mate. I'll let you keep relaxing and thanks for doing parkrun.

00:31:09Tomomichi: Yeah, thank you.

00:31:10Paul Kitching: Good on you. Thanks, mate. Yeah, so there you go. A first timer here. And let's see who else I can chat with. Well, we've just gone from someone who's doing their first parkrun to someone who's doing their 300th. Wow. Congratulations, Eva. How are you going?

00:31:25Eva: I'm good, thank you.

00:31:26Paul Kitching: Well done. How does it feel to have done your 300th?

00:31:28Eva: Oh, it's great.

00:31:30Paul Kitching: Can you remember your first parkrun? Yes. Where was it and when?

00:31:33Eva: Eveleigh. In Western Australia, eight years ago.

00:31:38Paul Kitching: Eight years, fantastic.

00:31:39Eva: Because we had break. Of course.

00:31:41Paul Kitching: Yeah, because you think these days 300, oh, well, if you do one every week, that's six, you know, maybe six and a half years. But of course, the pandemic put a kibosh on that. So why do you do parkrun?

00:31:54Eva: My husband's a runner who does marathons and loves running and I'm not. And someone said to us, oh, you should do parkrun. Awesome. We went, what? What? What is that thing? So we started doing parkrun and got hooked.

00:32:06Paul Kitching: Awesome. So that was in WA and now you've travelled.

00:32:08Eva: When we left WA, we were States people.

00:32:11Paul Kitching: Awesome. Well done.

00:32:12Eva: But since then, we have to go back. Yes. Probably another 20. 20.

00:32:15Paul Kitching: Oh my gosh, and WA, there's a few Ks to complete, I can imagine. I'm sure there's some remote ones there. How are you travelling with the statesmanship here in South Australia?

00:32:26Eva: We're pretty good. We've still got about five to go. Awesome. Obviously now Coober Pedy is one, gosh and we've still got Port Augusta and The Avenues we still haven't done even though it's beautiful yes but yeah we're getting there slowly we've been away for a while so we did 14 different parkruns in America wow that would have been amazing gosh yeah that's good to see that that's starting up well sorry that's starting to grow now which is good in America so it is yeah Fantastic. And the people we've met tend to be English or Europeans that started in the parkruns in America.

00:33:04Paul Kitching: Brilliant.

00:33:04Eva: But, you know, it was a challenge. It was good.

00:33:08Paul Kitching: Awesome. Well, welcome to the 300 Club. I'm not in it. Thank you. I'm nowhere near it. Well, I'm 200 and something. It's awesome to hear. And look, you know, all the best for your 400th, your 500th. Oh, yes. Well, the guy who started parkrun did his 500th last week. Oh, wow. So there's a few of them out there now, which is great. But anyway, the 300 is a massive milestone. Congratulations, Eva. Go and enjoy your celebrations.

00:33:30Unidentified speaker: Will do. Thank you.

00:33:31Paul Kitching: Well done. I am now going to try and find the – let's go and try and find today's Run Director. Yeah, why not? Well, I promised I'd speak with the Run Director and here she is. This is Tina. Congrats, Tina, on the sixth parkrun here at, is it Nantu Wama? Nantu Wama. Nantu, is that how you say it? Awesome. I was trying to get it right before, Nantu Wama. I'm here in North Adelaide and you are the co-ED. Congrats. Thank you. Where had you been parkrunning before this?

00:33:58Tina: I was at Pakapakanthi.

00:33:59Paul Kitching: Right, okay. So what prompted you to move here? Because it's not that far away, but it's still...

00:34:03Tina: No, but this is a very different course. So we've got the bike path, we've got the trail, we've got the hill. So it'll attract some people that were at other local parkruns. So what a difference.

00:34:14Paul Kitching: It's awesome. And it's near, I mean, every parkruns near good cafes, but, you know, this is nice here. And I was saying in my intro that it's Helicopter Park for those who, you know.

00:34:22Tina: Everyone knows Helicopter Park in Adelaide.

00:34:24Paul Kitching: If you say that, you're like, oh, yeah, I know where it is. Easy parking. Yes. Great parkrun. I mean, and there's lots of room as well. You know, there's a few people out on the course. Saw some horses. Didn't see any come across, you know, the path or anything like that. How did it go, like, setting this parkrun up? Did the council have a say in where you went? Did they accept your first plan that you were going to do?

00:34:41Tina: No, they were happy with our initial course. They just wanted to keep us away from a biodiversity area and off the bridleway. And other than that, they were very supportive. They've already interacted with Pakapakanthi and Torrens. So Adelaide City Council is fabulous with parkrun.

00:34:55Paul Kitching: Now, when you said bridleway, I was fully expecting, you know, I thought it was like, you know, the lead up to some church for some bride and groom. So don't go there because you might come across someone getting married. For those who don't, who are not into the equestrian world, I'm assuming that's a horse term. Yes. Do you know what it means?

00:35:11Unidentified speaker: No.

00:35:12Paul Kitching: Anyway, so if someone could let us know. Can someone call up? Oh, that's right. This is not a radio show. Anyway, someone's just nodding, you know, ticking me away going, PK, don't you know what a bridleway is? Well, you know what? I'm going to go and look it up. That's one word I've learned today. Hey, congratulations. Beautiful parkrun. Awesome community here. And yeah, keep doing great things. Thank you. Good on you. Thanks, Tina.

00:35:31Unidentified speaker: Thanks, PK.

00:35:33Paul Kitching: Well, that is it. The beautiful parkrun here at Nantu Wama. Nantu Wama. Yes, I got it right. There you go. I'm off to check out what Bridal Way means and find a local cafe. Keep doing awesome things, all you great parkrunners. Keeping parkrun alive. Keep adventuring. And I'll see you at another new one soon.

Roving report Melissa Ellis — Beaufort Lake

00:35:56Melissa Ellis: Good morning. It's Melissa here coming to you from the very brand new Beaufort Lake parkrun. I'm here with the ED Kate. Good morning, Kate. Good morning. How's it going? Great. We've had the parkrun and we've already had the brunch. So we're grabbing a quick word. Firstly, can you tell us the name of the Aboriginal lands on which we're recording? Certainly.

00:36:16Kate: So we're currently standing on the lands of the Wadawurrung people.

00:36:19Melissa Ellis: Excellent. Now, event two, how exciting. It went well today. Would you like to describe the course for everybody?

00:36:25Kate: Absolutely. So we have a one kilometre out and then there's one kilometre loop. So we do three loops and then back. The course is primarily a gravel surface with some boardwalk. We had a few paddles today. It's been a bit wet around this part of the world lately. But through... foresty kind of bushland. It's quite picturesque, but I'd probably describe it as more of a trail than a walking path per se, but quite a natural setting that actually goes over a part of the lake.

00:36:56Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and you've got a bit of an Aboriginal art trail as well?

00:37:01Kate: Yeah, that's correct. So our local prison actually funded that program with some of their inmates. So there was a project to establish some storytelling around the lake, which we're very fortunate to run past and be able to celebrate with those traditional owners.

00:37:18Melissa Ellis: Excellent. Now, how did Beaufort Lakes come to be? How did you get involved?

00:37:24Kate: I do a little bit of running myself personally and felt that I needed a bit of a group around me to push me and allow me to be a better runner.

00:37:33Alison Fraser (King): So I made some online inquiries.

00:37:36Kate: Sorry about that very loud truck. I made some online inquiries around how to establish a parkrun and having not ever participated in one, The first thing that was suggested to me was to go and actually go and participate. So I went to Ballarat and where Bruce has, Bruce Purdy has been a fantastic ambassador and support for Beaufort to get up. Done a few in that time and volunteered and just really blown away around the amazing support and that the parkrun community provides to other runners and volunteers.

00:38:07Melissa Ellis: How did you manage to get a team together?

00:38:10Kate: Oh, a bit of pressure? No, look, Simone, the other kind of key player here, and Jane also, both... active members within the community and also like the outdoors and a bit of physical exercise. We all have young children at the school here so just like minds and interests I suppose but we'll keep trying to recruit volunteers and build that team so that there's a bit more flexibility and we can get back to running ourselves from time to time.

00:38:39Melissa Ellis: I noticed there was a bit of support coming from the surrounding parkruns today. You had members here from Wallaby Track. There was a nice representation. Yeah, absolutely.

00:38:47Kate: And some of the Melbourne clubs made their way as well and Melton. So, yeah, look, I probably need to get my head around the names of all of the other clubs and get a bit of a geographical understanding of where they're coming from, but very well represented. The caravan park, which adjoins the lake, had some tourist runners in it overnight last night where they came up yesterday afternoon so they could get an early start with us. So it's really great to have visitors come and visit our community.

00:39:15Melissa Ellis: Is there more things to do around the area while we're out here? You want to give a plug to Beaufort Lakes?

00:39:20Kate: Yeah, absolutely. we're not too far from some pretty remarkable bushwalking and hiking. You don't need to go to the Grampians to get your elevation. We've got an amazing 21 kilometre Burritmo trail that goes, it's kind of in and around Mount Cole and crosses over to Mount Buanga. And you can do it in a two day hike if you like, but it's quite achievable with a level of fitness to do it in a one day. But You'll see waterfalls and beautiful views of the region. You'll get to some really quite chilly elevations and then back down into some lovely forest area. So lots of good bushwalks and then even north of the Shire as well, north of Pyrenees around Avoca. So lots of outdoor activities. And then at different times of the year, we have other attractions. We have a Lake Goldsmith Steam Rally, which sees quite a few thousand people come and celebrate old historic engineering practices through steam. And yeah, there's lots to offer around here.

00:40:21Melissa Ellis: That's good because tourists sometimes like to combine their trip with different activities. So if there's a festival on, obviously that's a very good time for people to mark Beaufort Lakes into their calendar and come along and enjoy that at the same time. It was a very cold morning this morning. I drove up here in the fog but it lifted by the time we finished. So yeah, I really enjoyed your course. We've got another car. Just for the tourists, I'll note you've got toilets at the start finish point and there's plenty of parking. And we just had a short trip into town to the Pyrenees.

00:40:57Kate: Pyrenees Pantry is where we've met this morning. And also up at the side of the run, there's also a fantastic new playground for the children. There's a barbecue and with new barbecue facilities going in. So in the warmer months, we'd encourage visitors to hang around and make the most of those facilities and have a swim or a kayak in the lake as well.

00:41:16Melissa Ellis: Yeah, good. And was the council quite supportive with your funding and everything?

00:41:21Kate: Absolutely. We're really lucky that parkrun themselves, through a Victorian grant, funded the establishment of Beaufort parkrun. So we didn't have to do too much rallying in that sense. But Pyrenees Shire Council have been very supportive in providing the use, the consent to use the land and also ongoing commitment to some trail improvements and some bollarding and signing just to to make the navigation of the trail easier, but also eliminate some of the setup pressures that are on the volunteers at the moment.

00:41:50Melissa Ellis: Oh, excellent. Oh, thank you. Well, thank you very much for talking to me and all the best for the future of Beaufort Lake. Thank you so much for visiting.

Roving report Tracey Wood — Mudjimba

00:42:00Tracey Wood: Good morning, parkrunners. It's Tracey on her travels and I've taken my Toyota and motored up to Mudjimba this morning where I have discovered, to my horror... they're having a party. Yes, it's their fourth birthday party. That's not the problem. The problem is I have come to a party without either a costume or a tutu. I know, right? This is almost unforgivable. But something else that has also not gotten the memo is the weather. It is absolutely bucketing down this morning and it's Not a pretty day at all. However, we've got about five people so far. So see how it goes. I'm going to go find someone and have a chat. Hello again, parkies. And here I am out on Mudjimba course. Now, anyone who came to Palm last year would know this course. We did it as a free last year. I'm walking along the back of the residential area at the moment and it's still raining. I wasn't able to get anyone to interview. When I arrived at the table, I introduced myself, had a chat to the RD, Sarah Jane, and a few of the other volleys. And then I started chatting to a few people who turned up. And can you believe it? Harry the Hover Dog was here. So that was pretty awesome. I then chatted to a local bloke. And can you believe it? That was Professor Rob Harvey. I actually hadn't met Professor Harvey before, but I follow him on Insta as well, and he tells me he's a very developed parkrun adventurer. I then chatted to a visitor, a lovely lady from New Zealand called Sarah, and she tells me she's also been interviewed for the podcast as well. So, Alison, you beat me to it on that one. But anyway, I'm out here now enjoying the course. I've got waterproof boots on, so it's not too bad. And anyway, it's parkrun day, so it doesn't matter. Okay, parkies, I've just finished my gym because I'm a little bit wet and, yeah, I'm feeling a bit... But anyway, I've finished and I've found Sarah-Jane again, the RD. Sarah-Jane is actually... It's actually her first time volunteering as RD today and her 50th volunteer. So congratulations, Sarah-Jane.

00:44:16Sarah-Jane: How did it all go? Thank you very much. I think it went really well. People were quite encouraging, which is, you know, usually the parkrun way, isn't it? People are very kind and apart from it being absolutely wet and soggy and, you know, everyone going home wet from head to toe, it was a great day and lots of smiles despite the rain. Excellent. And how did you get into parkrun? Good question. I actually started parkrun when I was living in London back in 2011. And through a friend of a friend, you know, she was telling me, oh, yeah, there's this thing called parkrun. It's just started. And so I looked it up and my closest at the time was Crystal Palace. And yeah, so that's how I started. Wow. So how many parkruns have you got under your belt? I think I'm just last week I think I got up to 358 so yeah yeah although I'm a bit ah look it's good it's really great but I introduced parkrun to my sister who started at Main Beach when it kind of kicked off and last weekend we celebrated her 400th run. So she's overtaken me all over the years. So, yeah, so we're very keen parkrunners. And I think for me, you know, the best part about it is that it doesn't matter where you go, inevitably there's a parkrun near you while you're travelling and it's always the same things and people are always really friendly. And, yeah, I just have made lots of really good friends over the years through parkrun. Awesome.

00:45:54Tracey Wood: Awesome. And are you a bit of a tourist as well?

00:45:56Sarah-Jane: Yeah, I am. Probably a bit less so now than I have been in the past. But my goal this year, having just moved to the Sunshine Coast, is to do all of the runs on the Sunshine Coast. So I've done five out of eight. So I'm nearly there. But wherever I am, I always make sure that my travel plans do revolve around being somewhere on a Saturday morning to do parkrun.

00:46:19Tracey Wood: And all the other parkrun adventurers who are listening to this are nodding their head in unison. Well, yes, yes, that's exactly right. Isn't that normal? Yeah, yeah, that's what we all do. So I'm going to put you on the spot, Sarah-Jane, because I've got a question that we like to ask people, and that is, what's your top three parkruns? It doesn't have to be because of scenery. It could be because you had a great experience. It could be because you met really nice people there and had a great chat. It could be because you did a PB. It could be anything.

00:46:50Sarah-Jane: Putting you on the spot here. Yes, you have put me on the spot. I've done, I think... bit over 80 now different parkruns across five countries so that is a tough question yeah tough question to answer on the spot but I think I'd get in trouble if I didn't at least put my old home run of Curl Curl in the top three because I know they would want me to but it is that's a it's a fantastic parkrun very friendly people it's nice because it's kind of a figure eight so you're not it's not just an out and back you know um it's it's different the whole way um I think oh I've really enjoyed oh there's so many that I've enjoyed um I've done the one in hobart which was great because I just loved that it was a bit of a trail run um I can't think of what it was called — Risdon Brook Yes, maybe.

00:47:45Tracey Wood: Dam?

00:47:46Sarah-Jane: Yes, yes, that one. And, oh, gosh, this is hard.

00:47:50Tracey Wood: I know there's too many to choose from.

00:47:52Sarah-Jane: There is too many to choose from.

00:47:53Tracey Wood: You're not allowed to put your home parkrun on Mudjimba.

00:47:55Sarah-Jane: No. And there was one in the UK that I did when I was visiting a couple of years ago. I think it's called... It's like Roundhay Park, I think, in Leeds, and it's beautiful because it's through this country park. Wow. Yeah, again, it's kind of, you know, a bit on grass, a bit on path, but it was just beautiful scenery and, again, really friendly people and, you know, it's always fun when you're touristing as well, so... Yeah, there you go.

00:48:23Tracey Wood: Excellent. Well, well done again on your first RD volunteering. No one died today. No one got lost. So I consider that a win. Yep. And congratulations on your 50th volunteering as well.

00:48:33Sarah-Jane: Thank you. And thank you very much for having me at Mudjimba. Yeah, thank you. And thanks for volunteering today as well. Awesome. See you later.

00:48:41Tracey Wood: All right, folks, Tracey in a Tutu without the tutu today and taking off in search of dry clothes and coffee. Have a good weekend, folks. See you on the V-side.

00:48:51Alison Fraser (King): Bye.

Roving report Alison Fraser — Whakatane Gardens

00:48:53Alison Fraser (King): Good morning adventurers, or should I say kia ora, here from Whakatane in New Zealand and I have come to the launch of Whakatane Gardens parkrun. It's my NENDY, 65 kilometres as the crow flies and it's an event that our event has been supporting in terms of the test events and I'm on the volunteer roster today so really looking forward to seeing how this goes. I'm going to see if I can track down the Co-Event Director, Kieran, who's run directing today and see what he has to say about his event. So I'm here with Kieran Canavan, the co-ED of Whakatane Gardens parkrun. How did it go today, Kieran? [Te Reo Maori: "Hello / be well (a standard greeting)."]

00:49:33Kieran Canavan: It was a super amazing day today. We were absolutely delighted with the turnout. We had 111 runners turn up this morning, of which about half were first-time runners this morning from Whakatane. A lot of locals came along. A lot of tourists came to visit us this morning as well. The sun was shining. It was an absolutely fantastic atmosphere, so we were really, really delighted with how things went.

00:50:00Alison Fraser (King): Can you tell me about your parkrun story?

00:50:02Kieran Canavan: Guys, well, my parkrun story was a little bit of a slow burner, really. I joined, I think it was back in 2011, and I went to my local parkrun for its first anniversary. So they had been going for a year, had their first anniversary.

00:50:20Alison Fraser (King): Which one was that?

00:50:21Kieran Canavan: That's Wanstead Flats in East London. My second parkrun was exactly a year later for their second birthday and my third parkrun was a year after that for their third birthday. The Run Director there, who was a friend of mine from our local running club, made a comment at that stage saying, oh, Kieran turned up for his one parkrun a year, and I thought to myself I'm going to show him and then that's when I sort of started to get more into parkrun and turning up regularly and once I did that I was hooked and absolutely thoroughly enjoyed it yeah why was it that you didn't go more regularly until then Partly because I wasn't quite as local to the parkrun when it first started. I did move house in between, but also Saturday mornings were for recovery from Friday night. Friday night was blowout for the week. You know, I was a keen runner. I was running marathons and doing lots of events, but Saturday morning was my lie-in morning. So I didn't really want to commit to it at that stage, but it's changed my life really.

00:51:30Alison Fraser (King): In what way?

00:51:32Kieran Canavan: I guess I see things differently, you know, parkrun community is a massive community, you know, you feel like I've met lots of people through parkrun, I've got lots of great friends, you know, the people that I know and share my life with are all into parkrun, you know, it kind of is all encompassing, you know, it's absolutely beautiful and yeah.

00:51:54Alison Fraser (King): Can you tell us how Whakatane Gardens came to be? How did this town finally get a parkrun?

00:52:00Kieran Canavan: Sure, so myself and my husband Lance, we moved back from the UK to New Zealand just shy of 12 months ago now and decided to move to Whakatane. We were set on the Bay of Plenty and were looking for the house. We found the house first and foremost and that brought us to Whakatane and As we got here, or even before we moved here, we really saw there was a parkrun gap in the map of New Zealand when it came to Whakatane. There was sort of Gisborne and there was Rotorua and Tauranga, but nothing else in between. It really just felt like there was a big gap there that needed filling. It was almost a reason not to move to Whakatane. But putting that aside, we moved to Whakatane and I was just dead set right from the onset. I was like, OK, I'm going to see what I can do to get Whakatane up and running with the parkrun. And I contacted parkrun Australia at the start of this year. And after about four or five weeks, they were contacted by another person, which was Maurice. So they put us both in contact with each other and we worked together to bring parkrun to Whakatane.

00:53:18Alison Fraser (King): Can you tell us about the course?

00:53:19Kieran Canavan: Yeah, so the course is an awesome course along the Warren Cole Walkway. So we start and finish in Whakatane Gardens. We go up onto the walkway and we're running along the Whakatane River out towards the Whakatane Bridge. There's a natural turning point there where there's three maritoten poles, which is an awesome point to turn. And then we run back along the Warren Cole Walkway the way that we came. We pass the point at which we entered onto the walkway and continue and go past the amphitheater and the model railway and the skate park up to the yacht club where we have our second turn and then when you turn at the yacht club you are in the knowledge that you only have about six to seven hundred metres left to go so you can give it your your all and that final bit of welly to get yourself to the finish line back down in Whakatane Gardens where you started

00:54:16Alison Fraser (King): I hope we get people coming back week after week.

00:54:19Kieran Canavan: Yep.

00:54:19Alison Fraser (King): And not once a year for birthdays.

00:54:22Kieran Canavan: Absolutely. I hope so too. But even if they do come next year or the year after that, maybe I'll have my opportunity to nab them and sow the seed.

00:54:32Alison Fraser (King): Yep. And just one last thing before we go. Whakatane is known for its sunshine, isn't it?

00:54:37Kieran Canavan: Yep. Beautiful town and beautiful sunshine today. So the weather gods were with us. It never rains in Whakatane.

00:54:46Alison Fraser (King): which of course is a lie but it's a beautiful town beautiful place to come and visit and we look forward to seeing you here sometime soon thank you very much and that's a wrap from Whakatane Gardens parkrun such a beautiful course in a beautiful part of the country and surely going to be quite popular with tourists like the parkrun variety and also though just general holiday makers anyway kakite anō

00:55:20Melissa Ellis: Thanks to all those roving reporters coming to us from everywhere. We had Queensland, we had South Australia, and we had all the way over in New Zealand, Ollie.

00:55:30Oliver Spake: And somewhere a little more close to home for you, Mel. Correct. You included. So thank you very much, Tracey. Thank you, Mel. Thank you, PK. And thank you, Alison. And nice to see the parkrun pop up in Whakatane there. That's actually where my uncle lives. So, well. Yeah, on the list. But as I understand it, there is a little bit more context to PK's report, Mel. So if I may, he did share that Nantu Wama translates to horse plain in Kaurna language and was given this name due to the horse agistment which occurs on the site, which is bordered by LeFevre Terrace to the west. And Sir J.G. Shaw Lefevre was one of South Australia's colonisation commissioners. Bridal Way also is a path or track along which horse riders have right of way. So a bit of extra info there. [Kaurna: ""Horse plain" — the name given to the North Adelaide parklands site because of the horse agistment there."]

00:56:27Melissa Ellis: It is. And well done, PK. He did say that he would go away and do his homework on Bridal Way. And he did.

00:56:34Oliver Spake: That's right. So I hope I've pronounced some of those words correctly. But hey, we'll clock up the fines today.

Dazza's

00:56:39Melissa Ellis: We will. But Ollie Dazza's this week. He said, we think Dazza misunderstood the streak part of Streaky September. Where on earth are his chef's whites? We hope you're all enjoying the actual streaky September fun of walking or running at least two kilometres a day or doing 30 minutes of intentional exercise. Come on in and tell us how your parkrun morning was. Have you managed to fill any of the Bingoe card squares yet? And moving straight in. It's me. We've got Claire Stutchbury, who was a tourist this week. Claire said, fast approaching 250. Did my 241st run at Minnippi for my 75th Queensland event and 140th different event and 85th event in the mega tourist streak. Oh, my goodness, Claire. Now, hang on a minute. It just feels like yesterday Claire and Jack moved to Queensland. Now they've done 75? Yeah. Well, no, Jack hasn't. Poor Jack. He's got a bit of catching up to do, Jack.

00:57:42Oliver Spake: In good time. And we also heard from Em Nico, who was a volunteer, parkrun Day just gone and said, a rainy day at Kirra parkrun where I was the RD. A smaller turnout than usual. Only the most committed parkrunners made it out of bed. And Em shared a photo of herself. with the volley team in high-vis there. Very committed parkrunners.

00:58:04Melissa Ellis: And that's where our artistic director was also, Ollie. I was wondering if he caught up with Em or he was going under the radar. We'll have to see. Anyway, we also heard from the ideas man. He had the most likes this week, Ollie. Bruce said a real adventure with Donna to Wentworth Common parkrun today. There was our regular Sydney chauffeur, Morgan, who slept in. She needed it after a busy week. A late bus causing a missed train then arriving just as the RD started the briefing. Now we're streaking in the rain for a well-earned coffee or six. Oh, my goodness. Bruce shared a photo of himself and Donna clearly in the rain.

00:58:43Oliver Spake: Yes. Glad you made it. And I bet those coffees were nice. Now, we heard from over in New Zealand now from Tim Robbins who said, I wonder if there'll ever be a naked parkrun. Lol. Nevertheless, today I made my Kiwi debut at the fab Porirua parkrun. Great natter at brunch afterwards where I won a free hamburger. Score, and Tim shared a photo of himself as part of the volunteer photo in front of a lovely bird mural.

00:59:14Melissa Ellis: I wondered where he was moving to. I kept seeing reference that he was moving, but I must have missed along the way where he was going. But now I know.

00:59:21Oliver Spake: And I did stuff up the pronunciation, but I'm not sure even that's right. I apologise.

00:59:28Melissa Ellis: Ah, well, we'll figure it out next week when it's Maori Language Week. Now, we heard from Luke Schroder, and it wasn't even because the Office Lady was in jail. He did it of his own free will. He was touristing, and he said, hi, Dazza. Today, Sam and I did a weird parkrun beside Wollondilly River. Is that how you say it, Ollie? The Wollondilly? Yes. The Wollondilly. The Wollondilly. That one. The Wollondilly River, which is not in the Wollondilly. It was Goulburn parkrun at Marsden Weir Park. One of us was looking forward to making friends with swooping magpies and one of us was not. We followed it up with breakfast at the Paragon Cafe and some op shopping around Goulburn and Crookwell where we found lots of treasures. There's a lovely photo of Luke and Sam on course with the flowing water in the background.

01:00:20Oliver Spake: Love the Paragon Cafe. Yes. Now, we also heard from Samantha O'Connor, who said, two fairly unimpressed boys mostly rode in the pram as it was pouring at Lake Mac. So many puddles to jump in that they wore themselves out. And I think the photo did tell the thousand or two thousand words, as it were, of Sam and the boys in some very well-equipped wet weather gear on course. They looked slightly thrilled.

01:00:49Melissa Ellis: Goodness me. But, Ollie, we had a milestone. Helen Reeves said, celebrating a friend's 250th at our local. Now, far as I know, Helen Reeves' local is Traralgon, so I'm assuming that's where it was. And she shared a photo of the pair on course, including a fantastic custom 250 top. Go me for knowing my friend's parkruns. LAUGHTER

01:01:12[laughter]

01:01:14Oliver Spake: Nice work. And we also heard from Bernadette Bennett who said, ticked off the cake box at Stockton parkrun, granddaughter's 100 with a total of 160 M&Ms. I know how to buy favour. And it was a deliciously colourful looking cake with the 100 there. That was impressive. And granddaughter in a 100 cape. So it looked like a fun morning.

01:01:39Melissa Ellis: We also heard from Helen Rutter coming to us from the UK. She said, hello. She paced 35 at Canons Park today. It was very difficult to keep pace. Had scrambled eggs after streaky day number three. And Helen shared a photo of herself by the backwards flag. Oh, Helen.

01:02:01Oliver Spake: Moving along, we heard from Richard and still overseas, Sid. Thanks for staying open late again, Dazza. Milkshake and I headed out to Pickering, Ontario, for Duffin's Trail parkrun this morning, where we met a fellow Aussie from Wangaratta. He's working here as a GP, and we talked about how GPs here and in Australia are prescribing parkrun for people's mental and physical health. And Richard did share a photo of, well, a milkshake in the selfie frame and a bike. Steve?

01:02:36Melissa Ellis: Is Richard ever coming home?

01:02:37Oliver Spake: No, no, clearly not.

01:02:40Melissa Ellis: Well, coming to us from the UK, Ollie, was Monty Slade, who said back to Chippy Fields again, Chippenham Fields parkrun, Monmouth. And we have a thumbs-up photo by the bridge. And thanks to your investigating, Ollie, we know that Ollie Monnow Bridge is in Wales, is the only remaining fortified river bridge in Great Britain with its gate tower standing on the bridge. Did I say that right?

01:03:08Oliver Spake: I believe so. Yes. So that factors on me if I got it wrong, but it was a very interesting looking bridge. So I had to go and look it up. So thank you very much, Monty. Welcome back to the North. And we also heard from Steve's bike, who said, history never repeats, I tell myself before I go to sleep. Or does it?

01:03:31Melissa Ellis: Did you figure it out?

01:03:32Oliver Spake: No, it hurts.

01:03:33Melissa Ellis: Did you have to sing it in your head? No, you're too young. Oh, my goodness. You're too young to know that song.

01:03:40Oliver Spake: Look, the Bond theme comes to mind, but yeah. No. No. Okay.

01:03:46Melissa Ellis: It's not Bond. But anyway, he was at the same event he was last week, basically.

01:03:51Oliver Spake: Ah, okay. Okay.

the Obi Award — Monty Slade

01:03:56Oliver Spake: for Dazza's now all's left is an Obi award winner Ollie an Obi award winner I have an envelope would you like me to open it always always that's you're good at that here it is so the Obi this week goes to thumbs up it's Monty Slade And congratulations, Monty. That may have something to do with your slightly extended running effort just recently. But yeah, thank you once again for your contribution to Dazza's. And thank you everyone for coming past and popping in to Dazza's this week. Well, look, it already has been a long pod, but let's keep it going, Mel. It's time to catch up with the informant.

the Informant

01:04:47Oliver Spake: So let's have a listen.

01:04:59The Informant: This is The Informant, coming to you live from level 2 with a caramel view. These are unofficial stats, they are only current at the time they are stolen from elsewhere and may differ from the stats you read yada yada. This week there were 448 runs held down under, 409 from Australia and 31 in New Zealand, making up a chunky proportion of the 1,755 runs held worldwide, which is down 10 from last week, neither of them being ours. There were five event launches. Jerrabomberra Mountain Reserve in New South Wales, Robelle Domain, Queensland, Whakatane Gardens in New Zealand, and two more in South Africa. Aus and New Zealand, their attendance was down 6,000, as only 33,221 runners took part, despite global numbers staying about the same. 1,482 new parkies had their barcode scanned for the first time, and 4,004 scored a PB. 74 juniors bagged their Junior 10, 136 bagged their 50 milestone, 109 bagged their 100 milestone, and 25 scored their 250 milestone. There are six new statespeople. Suzanne Goodair, Dominique Woodward, Lani Morrison, Pearl Harbor, and Edward Farrell in the ACT. And Kevin Barnes in the Northern Territory. In the top 20 most events, Kathleen Wollington bumped back up to equal 10th on 183 different parkrun events. And Tony James bumped up to equal 14 with 164 different parkrun events. In the biggest movers, Craig Robinson, Sarah Pritchard, Andrew Poffrey and Martine Barrow all jumped up 9 places to be ranked 234th place with 87 events. 26 people called bingo. Sally Stepniewski was quickest on 146 events, while Alex Gow was slowest on 352. Biggest mover on the eye index is the man partially responsible for its creation, Mr. Brendan Peel, who moved up 19 places to 30 and now holds the head of the table. Well, good on ya! In the Adventurers Clubs, Rory O'Sullivan joined the Peel Club and Vicki Thompson joined the Cowell Club. Another 11 people joined the Half Cowells. So good on you too! Well, that's your stats for this week. If you would like to see them in full, you can check out my spreadsheet at www.theinformant.me That's www.theinformant.me Or look for The Informant on Facebook. This has been The Informant, and my spreadsheet is juicier than yours.

01:07:57Melissa Ellis: And thank you to our informant, Ollie. I would say the informant must be a boomer. Would you agree? I mean, I'm Gen X and you're Gen Y.

01:08:08Oliver Spake: Slightly, yes, I believe.

01:08:09Melissa Ellis: Yeah, which explains why you didn't understand the reference to Steve's Bike's Facebook post because that was a Split Enz song, which is my Gen X generation.

01:08:20Oliver Spake: And I should know my Split Enz music, but not enough. And also the riddles always get me. That's my excuse.

01:08:28Melissa Ellis: Well, anyway, thank you. Thank you to our informant again.

01:08:31Oliver Spake: Thank you very much.

Consolidated Club Report

01:08:32Oliver Spake: Yes, Mel, consolidated club report time. Yes.

01:08:36Melissa Ellis: It absolutely is. Well, this week on Saturday, the 3rd of September, we had 291 members. So that's seven up from the previous week. And we came so close to that magical 300 number. Yes. For our 300th episode, fell just a little bit short. But in any case, there were 220 adventurers taking part in seven countries at 126 different locations. That's a stretch. That's a big stretch. Yeah. Yeah. We're spread far and wide.

01:09:07Oliver Spake: That's right. But we're also concentrated too.

the Frond

01:09:10Oliver Spake: What about the fronds?

01:09:11Melissa Ellis: The fronds. There were six. And again, at the ponds this week, the ponds topped the fronds. Oh. Now, we had Manish Bindroo, Dennis Peden, Joe McLean, Louise Garbers, Tarina Giron, and Rio Lambino. Oh, that's such a cool name. It sounds really like Latino, Rio Lambino. Anyway, well done to the Ponds. Hooray. There was also Fronds of Five at Westerfolds, Orange, and Beaufort Lake. How many at your parkrun this week, Ollie? I think three.

01:09:47Oliver Spake: Yeah, I think three too. I'm just recalling who I saw taking part and finishing. I think three.

01:09:54Melissa Ellis: Now, the largest frond, always difficult to establish because we don't have the data, but I do know for a fact there was eight Adventurers volunteering at Eynesbury Juniors again this week.

01:10:04Oliver Spake: Great work. Thank you for volunteering, everyone, and some impressive parkrunning locations around there in the report, and of course, a number of volunteers too. But another thing we like about being on board, Mel, looking forward now, is some of our attire. Some of our attire is particularly special in the adventurers community and beyond. It is. Mainly because it's just so ugly.

01:10:30Melissa Ellis: It is so ugly, so ugly. And we are very excited to bring you news this week.

01:10:37Oliver Spake: Yes. Now, would you like me to read this one or did you want to read it?

01:10:40Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I'm done reading after Johan's monologue.

International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day

01:10:44Oliver Spake: Okay. All right. So our message is some of our listeners may have seen there was a special elf announcement made on the Ugly Christmas Singlet or Shirt Day page last week. That's right. Ugly Christmas is coming and Santa's Little Helpers have been knitting at ludicrous speed to get this year's limited edition Ugly Christmas Singlets and Shirts ready. Did you know that this December 17th will mark five years of Ugly Christmas Singlet or Shirt Day? And Santa's little helpers are so excited that they have doubled down on the ugly. That's right. This year they've created a new limited edition release for 2022, plus they have an extra special surprise. What will it be? Well, we know what it is, but we're sworn to secrecy for now. Orders are only open for a limited time, so don't miss out. Head over to the Ugly Christmas Singlet or Shirt Day Facebook page for all the ugly details. So there you have it, an Elfie scoop.

01:11:50Melissa Ellis: And we will definitely share any posts that appear, on our socials as well, Ollie. But I think it's just a timely reminder to our community to let them know Ollie and I aren't actually involved in the creation of the Ugly Christmas Singlet or shirts because it's the elves and it actually has nothing to do with us, although we support it because the adventurers have always gotten behind the the Ugly Christmas Singlet and shirts. And it is usually a way that we can identify our fellow adventurers out in the field over Christmas.

01:12:25Oliver Spake: But I am looking forward to that, Mel. I'm very much looking forward to that. I have, of course, been one of those that has collected everyone. And I will not miss this, particularly if it is extra ugly. That's right up my alley.

01:12:37Melissa Ellis: I don't think you could look ugly in it, Ollie. I really don't.

01:12:40Oliver Spake: Thank you. I think that's the case for all of us, Mel. That's the beauty of it. Two minuses make a plus, right? Hang on. That didn't come out right. Moving swiftly along.

01:12:52Melissa Ellis: And I know what the surprise is. No, no, no, no, no.

01:12:56Oliver Spake: All right. I'm in the dark, okay, listeners? I'm in the dark.

Sign-off

01:13:00Melissa Ellis: Let's probably cut it short now because it's been a mammoth pod this week, Ollie. It's been huge. Possibly time to just say, where are you going to be on Saturday?

01:13:14Oliver Spake: I'm hoping to revisit a parkrun I've been to before. Depends if my legs actually want to run. Yeah.

01:13:21Melissa Ellis: What is with these legs? Did you break them at City to Surf?

01:13:25Oliver Spake: I don't know. They're just whinging. They're just lazy. It's not my fault. It's my legs. But, yeah, with all things going to plan, I hope to pop up at Picton. If not, I'll be back local. We will see. What about yourself, Mel?

01:13:41Melissa Ellis: I've got an adventure. If the world doesn't already know from all the events that have been created, then I'm very surprised. But I am going to be up in Queensland, touring to Yowie parkrun, having a wow of a time with a lot of fellow listeners, hopefully, and also getting to Des Connor Park Juniors, Ollie. That is what I am mostly looking forward to, visiting a fellow junior event.

01:14:09Oliver Spake: Oh, that'll be special. Well, Mel, I hope you have a wonderful trip. I look forward to hearing all about it next week. But thank you, everyone, for staying on board for this nice, meaty, hearty parkrun podcast this week.

01:14:23Melissa Ellis: Now you made it sound piratey. Arr, it's meaty.

01:14:29Oliver Spake: To me.

01:14:29Melissa Ellis: But, okay, thank you, Ollie. Thank you for joining me once again. And as always, listeners, you can contact us via Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week, and we'll see you all next week for more adventures.

The Ideas Manclosing sting

01:15:53the Ideas Man (likely Bruce: G'day, it's the ideas man here, looking for a fresh idea. Satoba? Yep, been there, done that. Songs for Ollie to sing? Done. Poem zone karaoke? Already suggested. How about I steal an idea from Abby? Stay safe adventurers.