— open the full-size coverEpisode 302 - Lined Up
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Episode 302 - Lined Up · 2022-09-15
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Source: https://log.5kadventures.net/transcripts/ep302.html · The Adventurers Log · An independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by parkrun.
[music]
Welcome
Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 302 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country.
Oliver Spake: And I am Ollie Spake and I am joining once again from Dharawal Country.
Melissa Ellis: How goes it in Dharawal Country this week, Ollie? Things are a bit warmer. Things are a bit more spring-like.
Oliver Spake: Things are quite good in Dharawal Country, at least from where I'm sitting. Thanks, Mel. I'm a little sick, mind you. I'm losing my voice a tad. Hope that doesn't sound terrible to all our listeners, but things are quite good and I'm pretty excited. But before we talk about that, how are you, Mel?
Melissa Ellis: I'm good. I'm a bit exhausted. I'm still recovering from my weekend. It's been a bit wet here in our Wurundjeri Country. Yes. Since I got home, I landed last night to wet ground and we've had showers today. I haven't streaked yet. So, yeah, lots to talk about.
Oliver Spake: Okay, well, there's quite a bit coming up. We do have a few more roving reports this week. We had quite a bumper episode last week. And thanks again to everyone contributing this week. And we have some more exciting news to share later in the episode, Mel.
Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. So we're going to make you wait till the end.
Oliver Spake: That's right.
Melissa Ellis: To hear about that.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, just like, you know, when you're in class, you've got to listen carefully. Be patient.
Melissa Ellis: And it's not just one thing that they'll be learning about today.
Oliver Spake: That's quite right. Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: So sit down, pay attention and be on your best behaviour.
Oliver Spake: Absolutely. So, well, Mel, why don't you kick us off? You had a big week. I'm not sure you know how to do a quiet parkrun week these days. How was it?
Melissa Ellis: Well, this weekend I travelled to Queensland. Or should it be Kingsland? For my parkrun adventure, I joined with Tracey in a Tutu to travel to the terrific town of Kilcoy on the lands of the Jinibara people. We stayed overnight in the Kilcoy Gardens Motel, only a three-minute walk to the parkrun, which starts and finishes behind the information centre in Yowie Park. Yowie parkrun is a double out and back course and was profiled by Lyndell in episode 256 titled X Factor. I was the 13th in a field of 17 with adventurer Ruben taking first finisher, Tracey as Tail Walker and Linda on finish tokens. Close to the finish area, we found the Yowie Coffee Van, which served us up our post-parkrun elixir in record time while we sat under the park shelter exchanging stories with adventurers and event team alike, including... Ron Grant.
Abby: Oh, wow.
Melissa Ellis: After a quick change and check out from our motel, we moved to the Black Rack Cafe for brunch and more park faff. Saturday evening, I stayed with adventurers Belinda Pauline and Russell Taylor before heading off to enjoy Des Connor Park Junior parkrun and meet with more volunteering adventurers. Des Connor Park Juniors is a credit to Pat and his volunteer team, and it was wonderful to see all the children taking part on a lovely mild Brisbane morning. I must give special mention to Tracey, who is a volunteer who gives so much of her time to Des Connor, both behind the scenes and on the morning, and is clearly a big support to Event Director Pat. While there were many adventurers on the volunteer roster, as we will hear later, I was especially pleased to meet in person Claire Stutchbury and Cherie Martin, as well as Michael Blain, who was timekeeping. Afterwards, there was another brunch at nearby Famished Cafe, where we were joined by Eman, Christine and Juno, who had also met us the night before for dinner. In addition to the two parkruns, I was fortunate to complete Freedom Walks at Kedron, Minnippi and Chermside parkruns before it was time to make my return journey back home. Much thanks to everyone who made the effort to join me at brunches, parkruns, Freedom Runs and dinners, and I truly had a wonderful, albeit exhausting, adventure.
Oliver Spake: I think just as well you had several brunches and dinners, Mel, you clearly needed the energy for all of that activity. But what great support and what a great community to, yeah, to go and spend a whole weekend with our Queensland-based parkrun adventurer family.
Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. It was a mini palm, that is for sure. And much thanks again to Tracey for all the effort that she put in.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Fantastic way to bring everyone together. And yeah, look, the photos from juniors. What a crew.
Melissa Ellis: They had 129 kids at the parkrun. Wow. So much larger numbers than I am accustomed to out at Eynesbury, but they handled it really well. It's a very different environment to our junior parkrun, which was really lovely to get a feel for and to witness. So I was very happy to be a visitor there and I look forward to visiting the other two juniors that I am yet to discover. Goodness. What about you, Ollie? Home again this week?
Oliver Spake: Well, I did, as I mentioned in last week's pod, I did have plans and hopes and dreams to make it to Picton parkrun and join in a bit of a mini-frond there. Well, not a mini-frond, a frond there as part of the pace of week that they were, putting on to challenge people to pursue their PB dreams. But unfortunately, I just wasn't up to it, to be perfectly honest. And it suited me much, much more to be right back at home in the bright orange vest. So I grabbed the camera. What did I do? I became the Volunteer Coordinator and legged it out to one of the key points as a Marshal, making the most of the opportunity to walk along with the Tail Walker for a while and just catch up and chat to a lot of our walkers and parkrun community that I don't always get to speak to as much when I'm in the blue vest. So it was a real highlight to just take it at a much slower pace.
Melissa Ellis: Just interesting point to bring up, as you said that you took on the Volunteer Coordinator role. So it might be a matter of interpretation with that role and not something that we've discussed before or not really something I've ever asked anybody, but probably in my mind always assumed the Volunteer Coordinator role would be more of a probably a midweek role filling the roster. But In your instance, is that on the day more of a marking off the volunteers as they arrive and overseeing them to their positions?
Oliver Spake: Absolutely. And I know a lot of parkruns do utilise it as a midweek role. Ours is long ago developed to be really a... a point for the volunteers to get a good greeting and an introduction and to help with their questions on the morning, particularly for our new volunteers if the Run Director is a little busy or tied up. So we've found at Shellharbour parkrun It's really helped us when the numbers have been high, but at the same time, it's just helped us also give other people experience. If they're maybe unsure about stepping into the Run Director role, they can take that on, get a bit of the coordination of the morning and a bit of the DNA of things before they step up into the vest.
Melissa Ellis: Thank you for explaining that.
Oliver Spake: Yeah. And similarly, we also utilise the role midweek sometimes. So it's become much more of a variable role now that our numbers are much smaller. So it's an example of how we sometimes make the roles our own at our parkrun based on our community and our circumstances. So yeah. Yeah, I'd be interested to see, because only a couple of months ago I did have a chat with one of our ambassadors about it, I'd be interested to see how others approach that role and even other roles, what sort of interpretations and different innovations they might have around those. There are certainly some good ideas that people share and another good reason why things like the ED and RD catch-ups around, of course, the other parkrun conferences are great ways of cross-pollination across our wonderful community.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I have to say, even being that we are a junior event and we're not a large event, we don't tend to delegate that role, that Volunteer Coordinator role to anybody or use it. It's not a role that we actually fill. So I guess I'm a little bit curious in reference to that. And I guess I assumed that if somebody was to come on board and say, I'll take this job and I'm going to make it mine. If they're taking that role off the Run Director, then I would utilise that volunteer position on the roster. Yeah. Does that make sense?
Oliver Spake: Yeah. And if that's practical and naturally, if that works for the Run Director as well, we found it often is a nice complimentary role, as I said, to allow that Run Director to be more of an engaging presence of the morning and of course, to focus on the safe and smooth running of the event. But there are plenty of weeks, particularly nowadays, where it is just the Run Director. We don't always have a Volunteer Coordinator. So yeah, more of a variable.
Melissa Ellis: I guess it's just a role that's open to interpretation. But there was sad news, that came to light and it was Friday morning that this all started to unravel here in Victoria, here in Australia, I should say. I was driving to the airport Friday morning and the radio was on, on ABC, only I wasn't hearing ABC Australia news coming over the airways. I was hearing BBC being broadcast live from the UK. And at 4am in the morning, It was quite surreal to hear the news that Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II had died. Queen Elizabeth II was the monarch and head of the Commonwealth realm. And we know that there are 15 Commonwealth realms across three continents.
Oliver Spake: And I'll do my best to pronounce these realms as we know how great I am with pronunciation, Mel. So we've got Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, the Bahamas, Belize. Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and the United Kingdom.
Melissa Ellis: Thank you. And we recognise that this will have an impact on many of our community and our thoughts are with you as our world navigates this change. Long live the King. Yes.
Oliver Spake: We have certainly become accustomed to our head of state being such a long reigning monarch. So, yeah, big change, Mel.
Melissa Ellis: Hmm. Moving along.
Oliver Spake: Yeah. It's also time for another volunteer update. So the September volunteer update has been posted, and it can be found via the link in your volunteer thank you email or at the parkrun website, so volunteer.parkrun.com slash news. And this month it covers things like volunteer credits and occasions versus the volunteer tasks, the volunteer appeal and reminder templates and how to use those. And I meet the team at Wimmera River parkrun in Victoria.
Melissa Ellis: Hey, excuse me, you didn't read that properly. Sorry.
Oliver Spake: in the greatest state.
Melissa Ellis: Always good to refer to the monthly update for little tips and maybe in the future, Ollie, they will have that Volunteer Coordinator profiled and we'll answer all our questions.
Oliver Spake: That's right, or give us more ideas. But that's the beauty of it.
Streaky September
Oliver Spake: So I think you mentioned the S word a bit earlier, Mel, and I'm not talking about Voldemort parkrun. Streaking and streak. How is your streaking going?
Melissa Ellis: It is still going. Well done. It is going well. I have ticked most of the things off my Bingoe card now.
Oliver Spake: Oh, wow.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah. So I'm pretty happy with that. Did some lovely streaks up in Kingsland. And, yeah, what about you?
Oliver Spake: So I'm gradually ticking off a couple of my bingo challenges and I will say a big thank you to Darwin for rocking up to parkrun on Saturday morning. Aha. That's a parrot.
[other]
Melissa Ellis: But did you run with Darwin?
Oliver Spake: Not quite, no. Actually, not at all.
Melissa Ellis: Doesn't count.
Oliver Spake: No. but I did get a picture with Darwin. And yeah, look, Mel, I have to say I've done a lot of 2K walks more than usual, despite sounding a bit croaky. I've had a bit of, I don't know whether it's sciatic pain or something else. So I'm not moving very fast. So streak save is galore. And as soon as I have my sense of smell back, I'm looking forward to doing the five senses, but slowly does it.
Melissa Ellis: Excellent. Well, I haven't done mine today. Have you done your today one?
Oliver Spake: I have. Yes, I did take the opportunity to streak a little earlier. So we need to move along so you can get to streak. Is that fair to say?
Melissa Ellis: It seems like I'm going out in the rain late at night. Yes.
Oliver Spake: Oh, no. Oh, well. Well, a bit of motivation, a bit of support, and thank you again to our Streakmeister, Pippa, who has been a constant through Streaky September for us this year, like she has in previous years. And we have a bit more audio from Pippa. So let's have a listen to the latest Streaking tips and motivation.
Pippa White: Hi, parkrun adventurers. It's Pippa, and we're about halfway through Streaky September by the time you get to hear this. So question this week is, how are you getting on with your Bingoe card? And why is the Bingoe card so much fun? Well, like any habit, creating the habit is most of the battle. And it takes about three weeks to create a new habit, apparently. So if you are new to streaking, then you're starting to get to that point where this getting out and doing a couple of K plus a day is becoming normal. The fun thing about the Bingoe card is it reminds us that these habits can be good fun and they don't have to just be a thing that's tedious, that hurts, that we don't want to do. So this week, I'm going to really focus on ticking off some of my Bingoe card squares because at the moment it's looking a bit shocking. And as you know, everything rocked a little bit in the UK in the last week, which of course has an impact for quite a lot of countries around the world. And getting out and having a walk has kept some of the normality in my life, even when that's been a bit strange. So happy streaking and happy Bingoe card ticking off of boxes. See you soon.
Melissa Ellis: And thank you for that, Pippa. Great, as always, to have your wise words.
Oliver Spake: That's right. And just in case you have been missing them, we are sharing on Facebook via our page and through the streak group, The Bingoe Card. It has had a couple of level ups. And by the time this episode has been released, there will be another level up. And I guess we should share that news that it's Well, carrying on the listening in class theme, Mel, it's a bit of spelling.
Melissa Ellis: Mm-hmm.
Oliver Spake: An old favourite.
Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. So what we want you to do is on your streak, take photos of street signs and spell out a word using the first letter from every street sign. But not only that, to add to the theme this week.
Oliver Spake: A tribute.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, that's right, Ollie. Spell us something that's royal.
Oliver Spake: Interpretations welcome. Mm-hmm.
Melissa Ellis: Like what? Purple? Crown?
Oliver Spake: We'll leave it up to the creativity of the streakers, but hopefully everyone is enjoying their streaking and we do hope that the Bingoe card provides that bit of motivation.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew
Oliver Spake: But to keep us going, Mel, and in case you want to listen to something on your streak and you're out there right now, it's time to listen to some other voices. We have three roving reports this week, so how about we have a listen now?
Roving report Ingrid — Umbagong District parkrun
Ingrid: Hi, this is Ingrid at Umbagong District parkrun and I'm here with Graeme. Graeme, how are you? Wonderful. Now, I've tracked you down because there's been a bit of a chat about you and people have been saying you're an excellent volunteer and you're very enthusiastic. So your reputation precedes you. What's your parkrun story?
Graeme: I started a parkrun... three four years ago something like that my late wife her oncologist suggested parkrun was a good activity for mental health which I was aware of I used to try to walk a lot but when I came to parkrun it was just it was switch off for an hour because I was jan's carer as well and um yes you know parkrun got me through it so yeah fantastic you're pretty easy to spot yep you've got your parkrun hat you've got your pins your volunteer pins and and all the rest how many times have you volunteered oh they're probably close to 60 now yeah I only ever walk at parkrun because I'm too old to run um but I really enjoy The volunteering side of it. It doesn't matter what you're doing. If you're a Marshal on the course, you get to cheer the people and all on the finish. Whatever it is, it's just belonging, a sense of belonging to community. And it's just such a wonderful thing.
Ingrid: Yeah, I totally agree with that. The sense of community is, I wouldn't do it for the running.
Graeme: Yeah, well, I've also started going around because we're so new here. I've been going around the local businesses and doctors and even to the vet handing out Umbagong flyers. to encourage people and we're getting a few people. I actually got people from the vets who were interested in coming and yeah, so it's good.
Ingrid: Yeah, oh fantastic. Well, I'm glad that I was able to track you down and meet you and yeah, thanks for putting on such a great event.
Graeme: Thanks for volunteering. Oh no, look, it's hard for me to put into words, but I probably get more enjoyment out of the volunteering
Roving report Harry — Taman Pudu Ulu parkrun
Graeme: than actually doing in my case the walk because I walk every day with my dog anyway but it's I don't know it's just it's community yeah it's fantastic yeah yeah thanks again okay you're welcome hello parkrun adventurers it's Harry here from Taman Pudu Ulu parkrun in Malaysia
Harry: My family and I have just completed parkrun, running, volunteering, so on and so forth. I have my brother with me, Jasneesh Bular. He's ran the parkrun today. And I'm just going to get his views on parkrun here in Malaysia and how it went with Taman Pudu Ulu parkrun. So Jas, how did you think you did today at parkrun?
Jasneesh Bular: Hello everyone. I thought it was a good parkrun today. It was an early start. We start early here in Malaysia. Happy to see everyone gather early in the morning and run together. I think it's not about how fast you run, but just running it, you know, feeling active, feeling good. And it was a good run today. It was rather hot, but happy with my time and hopefully I'll improve slowly in the coming weeks. We have just started here in Malaysia reopening. I think this is the fourth parkrun since we reopened and hopefully we can keep the momentum going.
Harry: Okay, so you have been on 91 parkruns today. So could you please tell the listeners, how did you get into parkrun and how it has been your journey with parkrun?
Jasneesh Bular: Yeah, I think it all started when I went to uni in Manchester in the UK. I got involved in parkrun over there. Unfortunately, I wasn't too active. I think I only did a handful of parkruns during my three years in Manchester. It was only when I got back to Malaysia where you brought me into parkrun again. So we did the Taman Pudu Ulu one. We did the other one in Malaysia, the Putrajaya one. So I think it's been a good experience. I think it's something that benefits me, my well-being, you know something to keep me away from work and studies and all that so yeah really appreciative of parkrun and hopefully more events pop up in Malaysia in the next month so years coming of course you've spoken about yes uh we've been part of of Taman Pudu Ulu and then
Harry: We have also been part of the Putrajaya parkrun, so on and so forth. What do you think about the community, the parkrun community in Malaysia? Do you see a positive growth or do you have any comments of that sort?
Jasneesh Bular: I think it has been largely positive. I think the two parkruns that we have, we have the regulars over there. I think the Putrajaya one is where you can really feel a sense of community where everyone supports each other, volunteer, everyone knows everyone over there. It's like a big family event, if I can say that. It's like a carnival actually in the morning. Everyone gathers early, they run together, they support each other, they clap for each other and I think that's what we need in the community moving forward and Thank you, it's nice to see elderly people, young people, families, strollers, all running and walking the parkrun. So, yeah, I think, like I said, hopefully it continues and hopefully we keep the momentum.
Harry: Of course, we are on the topic of parkrun in Malaysia. How would you describe a typical day at parkrun in Malaysia? So, you know, from the time you wake up from your bed all the way
Jasneesh Bular: until now when we're back at home so what would you say is a typical day at parkrun in Malaysia well I guess it starts the day before actually on a Friday you know after a long week at work then gives me something to look forward to then you know I can finally go out on a Saturday morning and express myself at parkrun so you know on a Friday night I usually just mentally prepared and I'll be running 5k and on the day itself I think I wake up around half six with you and then we go To parkrun, we reach about 7, 7.10 maybe. And then we usually volunteer. So we do the first-timers briefing, we try and do marshals, we do the barcode scanning and stuff like that. And then obviously at half seven, we do the parkrun itself. And after that, we chat with the locals, we chat with the tourists, we try and connect ourselves with as many people as we can, you know, try and spread the word. Because especially at Taman Pudu Ulu, we have a lot of non-parkrun runners and walkers. So again, we try to spread the awareness and get more people involved because I think the impact is only positive. I don't think there's any negative apart from having to wake up early on the weekend. But yeah.
Harry: So if everything goes well, I believe you would be doing your 100th parkrun in Australia. What's your feeling? How are you feeling doing your 100th parkrun as a parkrun tourist in another country?
Jasneesh Bular: I don't know what to expect to be honest and I haven't like I said I haven't done too many parkruns outside Malaysia and to do my hundred in in a different country all together I think might be a special experience but to be honest it's just a number I think 100, 101st, 102nd. I think as long as I can keep moving to parkrun every week, you know, for me, every parkrun is special and we should not take things for granted. As we saw with the pandemic, everything came to a halt. So I think as the parkrun community, we need to cherish every single parkrun, to be honest. And yes, it's nice to reach 100. But for me, it's nothing but a number, to be honest. And I'm looking forward to every parkrun equally as I'm looking forward to my 100th.
Harry: Well, okay. Thank you very much, Jasneesh. I hope you have a good weekend ahead and we will take it from here. That's all from me, Harry, in Taman Pudu Ulu. Today, Jas did his 91st parkrun. And, of course, just a little bit about me. I did my 180th parkrun and volunteered as the first-timers briefing for... And it was my 115th volunteering stint. We enjoyed parkrun. We hope all listeners here are like-minded. And we hope all of you have had a good parkrun this weekend. Thank you. Take care, everybody.
Roving report Geoff — Charleston parkrun
Geoff: Good morning, parkrun adventurers. This is U.S. correspondent Geoff. I'm coming to you from the lands of the Shawnee and Cherokee people in lovely Charleston, West Virginia. Pepper and I drove 250 miles, about 400 kilometres yesterday, in order to tick off our NENDY at Charleston, West Virginia parkrun. This morning is the 152nd running of Charleston parkrun. It looks to be a pretty flat out-and-back course along the Kanawha River, and it's a beautiful, beautiful morning. It is a little cool, especially for the end of summer. There's a nice breeze. The humidity is pretty low, and it looks like there's a lot of geese to chase on the course, so I think we're going to have a We might have a faster time than I want to today, but we'll see about that. Once we're done, we will chat with some other participants and volunteers, and we'll see you then.
Dee: Get up this hill. You got this hill. Oh, yeah. Here we go. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Outstanding.
Geoff: This is Dee. Every parkrun I think needs a Dee. There's a slight hill finish and Dee is encouraging everyone up the hill and she's very helpful. All right, parkrunners, I'm back with John and Jennifer. And we had a special day today, right, guys?
Unidentified speaker: Yeah.
Geoff: Yeah? So what happened today? Well, she got her 50th parkrun. Yeah?
Unidentified speaker: And he got his 100th.
Geoff: Awesome. And have you guys done all your parkruns at Charleston?
Unidentified speaker: I did one in North Carolina.
Geoff: Okay, which one was that? The Creekside parkrun. Yeah, I would like to do that one. They take some really nice finish line photos there.
Unidentified speaker: I think it ended on like a half mile long uphill. Oh, no. It was a little different than what we used to do.
Geoff: That's a relatively new event, isn't it?
Unidentified speaker: Yeah, they were only like at 15.
Geoff: Okay. So how long have you been doing Charleston since the beginning? 2018. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
John: She's actually started before I did. I was here at the fifth.
Geoff: You were at number five? Okay. So you did your 50th today, so you took some time off, I guess. Yeah.
John: That's all right. And then I've done three at Durham Park.
Geoff: Oh, cool, cool. That's one of our oldest events there. Awesome.
John: Yeah. I was just there last weekend.
Geoff: Oh, really? So what's your all's favourite thing about parkrun? What do you like about it?
John: It's consistent every weekend with all my fellow runners.
Unidentified speaker: Yeah, just constantly challenging myself and being with friends. We've got a lot of friends here.
Geoff: Awesome. Do you guys have any tourism ambitions? Do you want to do parkruns overseas or anywhere else? Do you have any in mind that you want to do?
Unidentified speaker: Yeah, my friend James went to England and did one around a castle, and that looked amazing.
Geoff: We don't have any like that here.
Unidentified speaker: No, we don't have any thousand-year-old castles laying around here.
Unidentified speaker: No.
Geoff: Well, I'm from Joe Creason in Louisville, so it's a four-hour drive away. If you guys ever are in Louisville, we'd be happy to have you.
Jamie: Okay. Thanks for chatting with me. All right. Thank you.
Geoff: Okay, parkrunners, I'm back with Jamie. Jamie's the Run Director today. How was it today?
Jamie: It was good. We had a crowd of over 50, had some visitors from Louisville, Joe Creason. Yeah, all right, thank you. I did not pay him to say that. We had a visitor from UK who had, I think it was his 197th different parkrun.
Geoff: Oh my gosh. I'm going to try to chat with him. I think he's standing over there.
Jamie: So can you describe the course here at Charleston? Yeah, basically it's a flat course. It's along the river. We have a nice 10-foot wide shared use path that we share with local bikers. It's really relatively flat. We have two little hills, so we always joke that we're the one course where you can finish something. Start uphill and finish uphill.
Geoff: That's right. Yeah, that was kind of an anomaly there. I want to talk about Dee for a second. She really just like, she really pushed me up the hill and she's been pushing every single runner. Does she come very often?
Jamie: I'll tell you what, I'm glad you mentioned Dee. It gives me goosebumps thinking about her because she just came out and started being really vocal, encouraging runners. So now she's the official volunteer title is Finish Token Support. But she comes out, she memorises everybody's names. Yes. She cheers. She says things like, this hill's a nothing burger. This hill's a nothing hill. You got this. So she really inspires me every week with her enthusiasm and encouragement.
Geoff: She remembered my dog's name, and I would have ran up and hugged her if I wasn't a sweaty mess after this. Did you have anything to do with bringing parkrun here to Charleston?
Jamie: Mainly it was Adam Patner's vision to start parkrun. He told me about it, and I said, I'll be there to help you all the way. Awesome. So I've been involved since the very beginning, but it was Adam's vision. He went to a parkrun in Canada and just really thought that would work here.
Geoff: Yeah, it really seems to you guys have a really stable crew here. I just talked to someone who did their 100th and someone who did their 50th. I really had a lot of fun today, and thank you for putting on a great event. Thank you, man.
Jamie: So glad you're here.
Geoff: right adventurers I am here with Gary and uh Gary uh how was it today it was beautiful parkrun nice nice nice and flat with a nice fast finish I really enjoyed it I really enjoyed the breeze today it was it was it was a nice kind of cool morning I mean we don't really get too much of that around here so how many parkruns in the us is this for you Gary oh this must be I think this is my eighth or ninth different u.s parkrun And you've done, someone told me you've done 190-ish different ones.
Gary: 197 today.
Geoff: So you are getting close to...
Gary: So three more for my 200 different parkruns.
Geoff: And then you're almost to your Freyne, right? That's 250. 250, that's correct, your Freyne, yeah. That's another year away. That's another year away. Well, you know, if you do 50 different ones.
Gary: I was just telling one of your friends here, he's getting really jealous. Within an hour's drive of my home, I think there's probably about... 150 200 parkruns all right so that makes touring a lot lot easier than it is in the u.s right sure absolutely oh yeah I mean this one is my closest and it's you know 400 kilometres away so it's like um I really had to make us make a special trip so what's your home parkrun my home parkrun is Chelmsford Central it's uh it's a city that's about 30 miles east of London
Geoff: Okay, all right. So you've done 197 different ones. Do you have any ones that are sort of special to you that stand out that you've done over the years?
Gary: Yeah, I did one this summer, which is the, at the moment, it's the officially the hardest parkrun in the UK. It's called Great Yarmouth North Beach. And the reason it's hard is the whole five kilometres is on soft sand. And so it added 40% to my parkrun time. Nice. It is absolutely brutal. I mean, you can imagine what your legs feel like.
Geoff: But I mean, the view had to be nice.
Gary: It was beautiful, absolutely beautiful.
Geoff: Any other ones that come to mind?
Gary: Yeah, from a beauty perspective, there's one in the UK called Fountains Abbey, which is around an old... monastery that's owned by the National Trust. Absolutely stunningly beautiful. Really, really nice. So if you ever get over to the UK and you get a chance to do that one, it's up in Yorkshire. Go and do it. It's beautiful.
Geoff: Thank you. Any others that you can think of?
Gary: I'm going to ask you for three, so that's two. I'll tell you my most favourite U.S. one, I think, was Weedon Island. Have you been to Weedon Island?
Geoff: No, I haven't. That's in St. Pete, right? Yeah, it is. And it goes around on boardwalks. There's no dogs allowed at that one. No. No dogs.
Gary: That's lower on my list. And you have to spray yourself with anti-insect repellent to start with. But it was nice. It was nice. Awesome.
Geoff: Okay. Well, thanks for chatting with me, Gary, and safe travels back. No worries. Thank you very much. Alrighty, Adventurers, that about wraps it up for me from Charleston parkrun in wild and wonderful West Virginia. I want to thank Adam and Jamie for putting on such a great event. I want to thank all of the wonderful, supportive, and encouraging volunteers. and all the other supporting and encouraging participants. It's a wonderful community, and I highly recommend that you check out Charleston parkrun should you ever find yourself in West Virginia. So until next time, this is U.S. correspondent Geoff logging off, and I wish you happy adventuring.
Melissa Ellis: And what a great bunch of roving reports we had this week, Ollie. I was so glad that Ingrid down at Umbagong got to speak to Graeme.
Oliver Spake: Yes, nice work, Ingrid and Graeme.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and we had Harry over at Taman Pudu Ulu and also Geoff coming to us from Charleston over in the USA. So lovely to hear all those different voices. Thank you, guys.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, thank you very much. We are enjoying having so many roving reports coming through, both domestically and all of the tastes across the globe of parkrun in our fellow parkrun nations.
Emails
Oliver Spake: Please keep it up. But, Mel, we haven't got mail this week.
Melissa Ellis: No. The inbox was empty. It's the Scott Trickett effect.
Oliver Spake: Oh, dear. Poor Scotty. No, that's okay, though, because it has been bursting at the seams recently.
Melissa Ellis: Maybe we need to empty it.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, you think we've maxed out?
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, yeah. Actually, oh, to be fair, Ollie, I did see a notice about that. That might be our drop box.
Oliver Spake: All right. Apologies, everyone, if you're trying to get through to us. We do care about your message. We simply need to get onto some tidying.
Dazza's
Oliver Spake: No, look, what we did have messages in, Mel, is, well, we didn't receive them. Dazza received them. As this week, he said, did you know that it's Share Ideas Day? The creator wanted people to be as confident creative and wacky as they like. So come on in and tell Dazza the most creative or wacky parkrun related idea you've got. And joining us pretty quickly was Adrian Hillyer, who said, it's Bruce Purdy day. Referring to the ideas, man, of course. And appropriately, we also heard from Bruce Purdy, who was touristing, who said, my best ever idea was for the Bunnings parkrun. I've even done a course measure whilst wandering the aisles. Barcode scanning would be at the checkout whilst post parkrun breakfast is the obligatory Bunnings snag. And Bruce did share a selfie of himself and Donna. I don't believe that was Bunnings in the background though.
Melissa Ellis: But is the onions on the top or the bottom? Who only knows. But, Ollie. Both. The most likes this week. Oh, this is awkward. It's me. And I said, hi, Dazza. I visited Yowie parkrun and it was the loveliest morning. But I did share a photo of myself with some of the adventurers out there at Yowie and Ron Grant.
Oliver Spake: Nice work.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, was he? Was he? Was that the right photo that I...
Oliver Spake: I believe so, yes.
Melissa Ellis: Okay, good. Yes. I did take a couple of photos.
Oliver Spake: Now I've forgotten which one I shared. We also heard from someone who was volleying, Renee Jackson, who said, I'm enjoying some Abby and Mum time today, starting with volunteer duties at... Wyndham Vale. While having post-parky brunch, Abby has shared some of her ideas. Apparently, we need parkrun held every day of the week because not everyone can attend on a Saturday. And juniors needs to be a multi-distance course. One kilometre for small children who are so tired from getting up early on Sunday morning. And three kilometres for bigger, fast kids who love running. And thank you, Renee, for sharing a photo of herself and Abby, plus a certain someone buried deep in a book. She's so cute, that kid. Some great ideas.
Melissa Ellis: Our voluntourist this week was the Office Lady, Sam Schroder, who said, after timekeeping at Picton parkrun's PB week, where we saw 18 of the 73 participants run and walk brand new PBs, I had a lovely breakfast with Roberta Winters and a long walk in the sunshine before heading to Level 2 with a View for some Dazza reply duty. Mel and Ollie, please note, Patrick, Shimmerzex fines are paid in full. And there was a photo of the desk on Level 2 with a View. And what's that? Oh. Donuts? Caramel doughnuts? I think they're supposed to come my way.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, I was curious on your thoughts on this one. But nonetheless, I guess Patrick's made an effort to pay his fines. I think it's called bribery. Maybe. All right, we'll have to take that one offline. Moving swiftly along, Ian Shaw was touristing, who said, my idea was to go and tick off Jerrabomberra Mountain Reserve parkrun. I knew NENDY for their event number two. Tick, job done. However, glad the idea didn't extend to fully checking out the course profile before doing the run, an out-and-back course in the true sense of the description. Nice to have that mountain done, though, in the first half of the course. All said and done, though, thoroughly enjoyed the course and shall be back to try and improve on the benchmark time set for the course PB challenge. And Ian did share a couple of images there. One is a pretty sharp-looking elevation profile and a visual also of the course layout.
Melissa Ellis: So here's the thing, Ian. I like to go off to events not really knowing what I'm going to come up against and then I can't be, you know, getting all full of dread. But now I know... That is a mountain. Goodness me.
Oliver Spake: Yep.
Melissa Ellis: And how did you pronounce that word, Ollie?
Oliver Spake: Jerobombera was my attempt. Okay. Yeah, we did have a bit of feedback about that, didn't we?
Melissa Ellis: I don't know if it's Jerobombera.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, I believe it is Jerobombera. I'll blame it on the croak.
Melissa Ellis: But then if it's near Canberra, it would make sense that the end bit is Berra, as in Canberra, Jerobomberra. But I have heard locals say Jerobomberra, so yeah.
Oliver Spake: Mm-hmm.
Melissa Ellis: Anyway, we also heard from Steve's bike, and he said, Hi, Dazza. Today I completed my 200th parkrun near a university that has no motto. How bizarre. From an idea-sharing perspective, I think it is nearly time for the bike to announce its retirement. It has been fun, but I think it's time for some new ideas. Happy parkrun day all. Oh, Ollie, I don't know how I'm feeling about this.
Oliver Spake: I'm mixed. I've got confusion as always because obviously I've got no idea what that location was. And of course, sadness. Yeah, nearly time for the bike to retire.
Melissa Ellis: I don't want the bike to go in the bike shed. Look, we love the bike.
Oliver Spake: We hope to see the bike around plenty, but yeah, we understand. And maybe we'll get to know Steve. I don't know.
Melissa Ellis: And here's a tip for all those people that have been trying to work out who Steve's bike is. His name isn't really Steve. Yes, that's right. And if you are trying to work out the location this week, I'll give you a hint. Oh. The university that has no motto is Deakin University.
Oliver Spake: Ah, okay.
Melissa Ellis: It's not going to help you.
Oliver Spake: Oh, not without some geography knowledge there.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah.
Oliver Spake: Okay. Well, thank you for the help. Now, we also heard from Mark Scarborough with a bit of an achievement. Mark was incidentally also volunteering. He said, today I was RD at Wagi Bridge parkrun. James from the Channel 2 News crew ran with another of our RDs to chase down a Wagi Bridge PB, which he smashed and also got a new parkrun PB by five seconds. His previous PB was from Marina parkrun in WA. Well done, James. Excellent work, James. Congratulations.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Now, coming to us from their home parkrun this week was Tony O'Connell, who said, hey, Dazza, run in a superhero costume. It makes you faster. And Tony was the Flash.
Oliver Spake: That's right.
Melissa Ellis: And he had his trusty Robin by his side, which was Jacqui O'Connell. But I don't know that the Flash has a Robin. Does the Flash have a Robin? I think TOC's getting his superheroes mixed up. LAUGHTER
[laughter]
Oliver Spake: Well, they're both fast. It works. But looking so resplendent, I don't think I could even see the stump in the background. Yeah, that's a change, isn't it?
Melissa Ellis: But happy birthday to Inverloch, celebrated its eighth birthday this last weekend. That's right.
Oliver Spake: Happy celebrations. Now, we also heard from Calum Burrell, who was celebrating a bit of a milestone and said, I have an idea. During my 250th run, I'll grab a photo of three times 100 top runners, thereby knocking off that particular Bingoe card box. Wow, that's an effort. Had a fab morning as Lindsay Burrell did her 250th volunteering and was perfectly synced for the same day I do my 250th run. An awesome morning all round at Burnage parkrun. Thank you to all the volunteers today who made this happen. And Calum shared a photo of he and Lindsay looking very colourful, celebrating with a rainbow tutu, rainbow heart T-shirt, rainbow glasses, rainbow hat and rainbow rainbow.
Unidentified speaker: Mm-hmm.
Oliver Spake: Looking fantastic, all by the sign there. So congratulations.
Melissa Ellis: Yes, congratulations to you both. A really, really good achievement. Ollie, the first comment coming to us from the UK this week was Christine Imbert who said, a change of plans saw me at Church Mead parkrun this morning where I met up with some friends. There is a lovely memorial garden nearby and this seemed particularly poignant at this time. And Christine shared with us a photo of a lovely Union Jack floral tribute. Thank you, Christine.
Oliver Spake: Yes. And carrying on our UK theme, we also heard from Graham Wilkinson, who said, Hi, Dazza. My idea was for an easy run at Albert parkrun prior to running the Great North Run 2022 tomorrow. But I'd also volunteered for barcode scanning, so unconsciously ran my second fastest time this year. A poignant two-minute silence followed by rapturous applause in remembrance of Queen Elizabeth II proceeded parkrun this morning at Albert Park. I'm proud to report it was fully respected by everyone attending and was a truly moving experience.
Melissa Ellis: And last but not least, we had a tourist post from Michael Scott. Michael said, Hi Dazza, did Avondale University College parkrun number 52 this morning with my Adelaide cousin Glenis doing her 200th parkrun seven years after we introduced parkrun to her. It also lifted my Wilson number to 60 up from 44 over the last three parkrun days. A long black for me and a cappuccino for Glenis, please. I think we earned them. You absolutely did, Michael.
Oliver Spake: Well done and happy 200th to Glenis.
Melissa Ellis: Right.
the Obi Award — Calum Burrell and Lindsay Burrell
Melissa Ellis: What's next? Oh, that leads us- To an Obi. Into an Obi winner, Ollie. It does. Should I open an envelope? Seeing as you're so good at it.
Oliver Spake: Okay.
Melissa Ellis: I haven't been hearing the envelope lately though. I don't know what's happened with that. Oh. You must have those newfangled supersonic quiet envelopes. I think so.
Unidentified speaker: Okay.
Oliver Spake: It's exactly what they are, exactly what they are. The Office Lady has really improved a lot of systems around here. It's a shame she can't stop me clapping and mentioning certain parkruns, but that's okay. I digress. Our Obi this week goes to... ..Calum and Lindsay Burrell. Congratulations to you both for, I think, a very well-aligned milestone pair of celebrations.
Melissa Ellis: And very colourful.
Oliver Spake: Yes, that's right. That's right. I was just considering that my sentence wasn't terribly well-aligned, but nonetheless, I got the main words in there. But congratulations to you both.
the Informant
Oliver Spake: But Mel, I think it's time to hear a little bit more about what went on at parkrun Day through the eyes and voice of our informant. So let's have a listen.
The Informant: This is the Informant, coming to you live from Level 2 with a view. These are unofficial stats, they're only current at the time they're collected, and may differ from the stats you read elsewhere. This week, there were 459 runs held down under, there were 420 in Australia, and 39 in New Zealand. This is out of 1,703 worldwide. Aussie New Zealand attendance was 40,491, up 1,200 on last week. That's out of 203,000 worldwide. There were six event launches, Pine World Park in Tasmania, along with one in Finland, Ireland, United States, and two in Poland. And I guess in the interest of full disclosure, there was two launches in Japan last week that we missed out. Down under, we had 4,696 PBs, while 1,917 people participated for the first time. 91 juniors reached their Junior 10 milestone, 168 people reached their 50 milestone, 112 reached their 100 milestone, and 28 people reached their 250 milestone. 20 people called bingo. Jason Crowe was quickest on 161 runs, while Errol Poole was slowest on 381 runs. There was an army of statespeople this week, 13 of them. In the ACT we had seven, Pam Cunningham, David Little and the Beeman family, Link, Keira, Ian, EJ and Jackie, Emma Host, Teresa Smith, Mark Booth and Grace Odgard in Northern Territory, Justin Teal in South Australia and Nathan Lane in Western Australia. In the most events list, nothing at all happened in the top 20. However, the biggest mover is Majella Gillen, who ran her 87th different parkrun and moved up 12 places in the rankings to 235. 437 people increased their windex. The biggest mover is Leanne Blaney, who moves up 36 to 81. In the iIndex rankings, 31 people have moved up their listings. Tara Cullinan was the biggest mover, moving up two from zero previously. In the Adventure Challenges, we had one Peel Club inductee, Thomas Fammingjack, while Renee Gimbert and Darren Pead ran their 100 different event to join the Cowell Club. And seven people joined the Half Cowells. Bonus stats this week. Thanks very much, Ideas Man, for giving me more homework. Bruce asked, how many are pioneers, i.e. have completed the original parkrun in each of Australia's states? That is the Main Beach, Albert Melbourne, St Peters, Ginninderra, Claisebrook Cove, Launceston, Torrens and Darwin. And there are nine. Neil Barnett was first on 23rd July 2016. Then we have Alan Rosen Burrell, Brendan Peel, Carol Cunningham, Wendy Beckhouse, Simon Elliott, and finally Irene and Parth Momakanti, who were last to do it on 19 December 2020. And in case you were wondering, none of them have run them in the order of event commencement. Now if you would like to see all these stats in full, you can download them all from theinformant.me. That's www.theinformant.me or look for The Informant on Facebook. This has been The Informant and my spreadsheet is full of caramel goodness.
Melissa Ellis: And thank you very much to our millennial informant this week, Ollie, as opposed to the boomer who tricked us last week and passed over his duties to said millennial.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Delegation. Nice work. Yes.
Consolidated Club Report
Oliver Spake: But let's keep the stats going, Mel. How are things going in the Adventurers Club with the Consolidated Club Report?
Melissa Ellis: Well, the adventurers Consolidated Club Report for Saturday the 10th of September 2022 had a total of 295 members, of which 233 took part at 115 locations across the UK, South Africa, USA, Canada, Finland, New Zealand, and Australia.
the Frond
Melissa Ellis: This week's largest frond, top of the fronds this week, was the popular ponds with nine. Again, we had Dennis Peden, Charles Burns, Natalie Wilson, Jeff Robinson, Joe McLean, Louise Garbers, Tarina Gearan, Mary DeLuna and Manish Bindroo. We also had seven adventurers at Robelle Domain in Queensland and and seven at Jerrabomberra Mountain Reserve in the ACT, plus six members. We're enjoying PB week at Picton. On the Frond front, Ollie, I know this week because I was there. The largest Ferrand was 12 at Des Connor Park Junior parkrun with Michael Blain, Barbara Luther, Robin and Lance Plarn, Melinda and Pauline Taylor, Linda Ripper, Claire Stutchbury, Lyndell Murray, Sherry Martin, Tracey Wood, and me.
Oliver Spake: That's a pretty good Frond.
Melissa Ellis: So there's all the stats.
Oliver Spake: I'd be confident in that one, very confident in that one. And, yeah, nice to see our friends at the Ponds, popular as ever.
Melissa Ellis: It is. But can I just say, even though Des Connor had 12 and I was missing from Eynesbury, I think I had a bit of a count and I think Eynesbury's still got eight or nine Adventurer members volunteering. So Adventurers are very good junior volunteers, Ollie. Yes, they are. That's true. Now, can you see the segue where I'm going with this? It's Ideas Week.
Oliver Spake: It is Ideas Week, yes.
Melissa Ellis: And I am inspired by the Ideas Man himself who popped up at the end of last week's pod and the running challenges, Ollie, the running challenges and the apps that have the badges. Well, I've got a great idea for a new one.
Oliver Spake: Oh, yeah?
Melissa Ellis: Yeah. I think there needs to be a badge for people who volunteer at a junior parkrun. They need their own badge, as simple as that. Yeah. There needs to be an incentive to come along and experience juniors because, honestly, anybody I know that does come along and witness the kids and all the fun they have, they just love it and they come back. Yeah. Yeah. I think we need our very own badge for that. Yeah. Don't be going complaining that there's only five in the country because I know you adventurers will go all over the place to get your Peel Club. So don't go getting upset that you have to travel because we know you like to travel to get a badge.
Oliver Spake: So there you go. That's a nice idea, Mel. I'm throwing out the gauntlet. You make a strong case.
Melissa Ellis: So adventurers, get behind me. Let's make this happen. Yes. Oh, but we've got more announcements. That's just not all. Now we're to the fun bit.
Oliver Spake: Oh, that's right. That's right. We did say we had some news, didn't we? I know. We've made them wait. Almost forgot. No, we didn't.
International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day
Oliver Spake: No, we didn't. So, look, we did share a bit of an update, a bit of a special update in last week's podcast, and it was a tad ugly. And this week's update. Now, should I read it, Mel? No.
Melissa Ellis: I can save your voice if you like, Ollie. I know you're getting a little bit croaky, but the uglies are out. And there was an extra bonus surprise that nobody knew anything about. Visors. Don't forget, orders are only open for a very limited time and these designs are never to be repeated. Head over to the Ugly Christmas Singlet or Shirt Day Facebook page or check out Santa's Little Helper's new website, iHeartUgly.com, for all the details. Oh, wow. It's getting serious. It absolutely is. And I'm so excited. I'm so excited.
Oliver Spake: I am very partial to a visor and I'm looking forward to checking those out. I couldn't think of a better addition to I Asked.
Melissa Ellis: But also, Ollie, we've got another announcement and it is in the form of the location for the event at palm23. And I noticed, no, not palm22 like you wrote.
Oliver Spake: One job, one job.
Melissa Ellis: Now, as we have announced, next year we are going to Western Australia and the date of palm23 will be the 15th of April. But also we are happy to announce that the event we are going to be visiting. Drumroll. Drumroll. Would you like to announce?
[other]
Oliver Spake: I couldn't possibly. Go for it, Mel.
Melissa Ellis: the University of Western Australia parkrun. So as we have heard, the course is an internal 2.5 kilometre loop of the University of Western Australia Crawley Campus that you can complete twice. The course is entirely on path and will take you past all major icons on campus. It is relatively new parkrun. So hopefully most of the adventures travelling there won't have done it yet. We're very sorry, Eman. And... We are led to believe that the organising committee has got ideas for our post-parkrun cafe, which is close by. And hopefully we can also have somewhere to record. I'm not sure that that's been nutted out yet. Another stadium venue. Exactly. So if you are planning to go to West Australia before Palm, don't go there. Leave it till Palm so that you can clock up a new event. Woohoo! and join us for parkrun morning that's right yes yeah it's certainly one of the highlights of the weekend absolutely is but if you've already done it like Eman don't worry because it's perfectly acceptable to go to a nearby parkrun and then just run across and meet us afterwards we won't mind because we're adventurers and we get how we need to have new events
Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. That's right. Well, look, we'll have a whole lot more to share in terms of the details of Palm, in terms of any of the special fancy dress occasions, in terms of any of the other activities, the freedom walks and runs, the get togethers, and the things that for those that have joined us previously at a Palm weekend, we do enjoy. And for those that haven't joined us, be sure to just jump on to one of the parkrun adventurers Listener Meetup page on photo albums and you'll see a bit of the fun that has been had at the five palms previously but we really do look forward to spending that time with anyone and everyone that is in a position to come across and join us and make the weekend as fun as you want
Melissa Ellis: But especially we want to meet our friends from WA. So all those people that haven't been able to get to a PALM and especially during all the border closures that we've had in the last couple of years, we're coming to see you. So we want you to come and join in the fun.
Oliver Spake: Can't wait. Wow.
Melissa Ellis: So many announcements.
Oliver Spake: That's right. But that's out there. I'm glad we didn't forget that.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, lucky. Yeah.
Oliver Spake: And thanks again to those behind the scenes that put in all the effort organising things. We don't actually do much. Well, I don't. I know you put in a lot of effort, Mel, but to our organisers, our party planners, thank you.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew
Melissa Ellis: Oh, footnote, Ollie, by the time this pod goes to air, there will be a brand new member of the Channel 5 news crew. We've also forgotten about that. Oh. Whoops. So you may or may not have seen a video that will be posted in the previous week of the fabulous Sarah from the West Side.
Oliver Spake: That's right.
Melissa Ellis: Who we issued a challenge to interview somebody on a beach in a pirate costume with a parrot in the background and tell a joke and they have to laugh and all these things. And she did it.
Oliver Spake: Ah, she nailed it.
Melissa Ellis: She absolutely did it. She sent us a lovely video, which we've shared, and we would like to welcome Sarah Jefferson to the Channel 5 News crew.
Oliver Spake: Last in the news, but certainly not least, thank you for all of your efforts, Sarah, not just in the challenges you've been contributing to the pod and our podcast experience for some time now. So that is well earned.
Melissa Ellis: And she's on the planning committee. I didn't get that. Could you try again?
Oliver Spake: Oh, that's great. Siri just chimed in, by the way, in case you heard that in the background.
[other]
Melissa Ellis: I heard Siri.
Oliver Spake: Siri's excited too. That's how much big news this week is. Yes. So, yeah, we've got some good support. Thank you.
Sign-off
Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. But, Ollie, next parkrun day. Yeah. What are you going to be up to?
Oliver Spake: I've decided I'm not going to parkrun next week. Oh. No parkrun for me.
Melissa Ellis: Just like that?
Oliver Spake: Yeah, just like that. Where will you be? I need a bit of a break, a bit of a holiday. So, look, I'm sorry to say I'm going to be poolside in Fiji and there is no parkrun there. Well, not official parkrun anyway. We'll have to leave it to, well, my imagination.
Melissa Ellis: Okay. Yeah. So there's the potential of a nottie, a Fiji nottie.
Oliver Spake: There will at least be a nottie, that's for sure. I'm going to keep the streak going.
Melissa Ellis: All right.
Oliver Spake: And I really desperately need to get healthy and get into this mountain training. So I don't like my chances of training for Tasmanian mountains on an island in Fiji, but I'll do my best.
Melissa Ellis: Okay, can you send us some audio on the ground in Fiji? Maybe you can get some parrots, some Fijian parrots. Oh, there we go. I'm sure they have some. There we go. Sound effects.
[other]
Oliver Spake: So, yes, no parkruns for me. What about you, Mel?
Melissa Ellis: You know what? I have actually left this week blank in my diary so far, and I haven't made a decision. I'm still recovering from last weekend, so I haven't actually made the decision as to where I'm going. Obviously, we're recording on Monday night. By the time the pod comes out, I may have decided, so I am going to spin the wheel and edit in at the last minute where I will be. How about that?
Oliver Spake: That sounds like a good idea.
Melissa Ellis: Would you look at that? It's an R. Have we covered everything? Is there anything else that we've forgotten? I'm sure there's something, but we nearly forgot a lot of things.
Oliver Spake: We did nearly forget a lot of things, but thank you to everyone for, once again, for all of your contributions throughout the pod. But Mel, I'm pretty sure we covered it well. I think it might be time to sign off. So, everyone, as always, you can contact us via Facebook or our email, which we promised to clear out so we can receive emails, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week. We, not me, but the rest of you, we'll see you all next week for more adventures.
[music]
Abby: Mel and Ollie, today me and Mum are volunteering at Wyndham Vale parkrun. And I promised Mum I wouldn't drop every single token on the floor this time.
Unidentified speaker: Gracias. Good job. Good work, man. The next one's 33. [Spanish: "Thank you."] [translation uncertain]
Abby: Good job. Thank you.
Unidentified speaker: Now you get out of here.
Abby: Oh no, I dropped all the tokens, Mum. Just kidding. Bye, adventurers. Stay safe.