Episode 303 - Home on the range

00:00:00[music]

Welcome

00:00:23Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 303 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. My name is Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country.

00:00:33Simon Mackley: And I'm Simon Mackley coming to you from Quandamooka Country.

00:00:36Melissa Ellis: Welcome back to the podcast Simon Mackley, Quizmaster, Event Ambassador and Dirty Cheetah.

00:00:44Simon Mackley: Thanks Mel, it's great to be here.

00:00:46Melissa Ellis: We haven't heard from you for quite a while. You have appeared on the pod in the past when you hosted a madness, I believe. Is that correct?

00:00:57Simon Mackley: I did. Yeah, it was Mel and Scott, the much famed and yeah, talked about when I apparently gave Mel the win.

00:01:09Melissa Ellis: The controversial quiz.

00:01:11Simon Mackley: Controversial quiz, yes.

00:01:13Melissa Ellis: I think Scott still wants to come on and defend his title, possibly.

00:01:18Simon Mackley: Well, he better have better internet that actually works three seconds faster.

00:01:24Melissa Ellis: Okay, so yes, you are our quiz master. You do provide the questions for the quizzes that we use at Palm and in The Madnesses.

00:01:37Simon Mackley: Indeed, yeah. I always write the questions, even if... Someone like Lyndell actually presents it on the day. But yeah, I'm the one that writes the questions.

00:01:46Melissa Ellis: Now, I know that although you are an event ambassador, your spiritual home was Mosman.

00:01:52Simon Mackley: Correct. Yes. But you've moved. I have. I've moved up to Redland Bay in Queensland. So... Even though Redland Bay is my closest parkrun, I regularly go to Fodder Forest. And yeah, I love the community there.

00:02:04Melissa Ellis: I have noticed that Fodder Forest is becoming a regular on our Consolidated Club report and also spreading the love of the Dirty Cheetahs up there, I hope.

00:02:14Simon Mackley: Yeah, the ears don't get much of play at the moment. But yeah, I've definitely been wearing the shirt and the 250 shirt since I gained that while I've been up here as well.

00:02:23Melissa Ellis: Would you like to tell us about your last parkrun day? Were you at Fodder Forest?

00:02:28Simon Mackley: I was at Fodder Forest for the second week in a row. It was quite a warm and humid one, actually. It was very different to the previous week, which is we had mist and it was a bit cold. But, yeah, it was a great event. I don't know how many people were there, but I met some parkrun adventurers from Gungahlin, Bill and Yvette. Yes, I was talking to them before the event started and heard a bit about what they've been up to. So they were there to get their F. Excellent.

00:03:00Melissa Ellis: So a frond of three at Fodder Forest. Say that three times fast. Exactly. Tracy would like that. That's an alliteration.

00:03:08Simon Mackley: Exactly. She did. I think she was there at event 44 as well.

00:03:12Melissa Ellis: Oh, perfect. All right. Well, let me tell you about my weekend. I packed up my little car and headed off on a seven-hour trek to Renmark in South Australia. Renmark is on the traditional lands of the... Yirrawurrung communities and is approximately 680 kilometres northwest of Melbourne. Renmark lies on a sweeping bend of the Murray River and according to visitriverland.com.au has one of the most beautiful and accessible riverfronts on the Murray. Renmark is a popular destination for houseboat holidayers and RV travellers. In October, the town hosts the Riverland Rose and Garden Festival, a 10-day event featuring open gardens, floral displays and art exhibitions amongst so much more. I decided to take my small tent and camp in the nearby Holiday Park, something I haven't done in quite some time and had previously declared I would never do again. Ironically, Simon, was the last time I probably caught up with you at a parkrun.

00:04:17Simon Mackley: I definitely remember that time in Bega. It was freezing.

00:04:21Melissa Ellis: However, back to parkrun. The Renmark parkrun course starts on a grassed area in front of the Renmark Hotel, running out and back in either direction alongside the riverside twice. There is ample parking available for the community, which averages 54 participants, with toilets at the before-mentioned hotel. Although I turned up not knowing anybody, I soon struck up conversation with Deb and Phil Harvey from the Shepparton Runners Club, who had been camped next to me. Alison Parris from the Laylaw Running Club and Jo and Wayne Porter from Anstey Hill Recreation parkrun with whom we discovered a mutual friend in Janet Reid. I was fortunate to have escaped Melbourne for some better weather and although it was not one of my best times, I was happy with a midfield finish amongst the 44 participants. After my run, I enjoyed a brief chat with the RD of the day, whose name I didn't catch, so I'm sorry about that, and met her lovely little chihuahua puppy, Daisy. But Simon, sadly, there was not time to linger in Renmark as I needed to return home the same day in order to volunteer at Eynesbury Juniors on Sunday morning. Highlights from my Sunday stint as Tail Walker was meeting pod listener and Victorian event ambassador Greg, who came to volunteer and qualify for his volunteering at juniors badge, and seeing Abby's mum in her bicycle helmet as turnaround marshal. Turns out we have a swooping magpie out at Marshall 10 who hates Renee but left all the kids alone. But there was also a duck in a tree that yelled at her the whole time. It was hilarious. Poor Renee. So that's me.

00:06:02Simon Mackley: finished. That's my weekend. Amazing. Sounds like a really good trip.

00:06:06Melissa Ellis: So I did swear, Simon, that I would never go camping again in a caravan park on my own in a little tent. And here I was doing it all again.

00:06:14Simon Mackley: Yeah. I'm surprised you've done it again, but I'm sure the weather was much nicer.

00:06:19Melissa Ellis: It was. It was not as cold. I can recommend the Big Four Holiday Park very highly at Renmark. It was a lovely park. So I felt very safe.

00:06:29Simon Mackley: Excellent.

00:06:29Melissa Ellis: But that is our weekend just gone.

Emails

00:06:33Melissa Ellis: We had some feedback from a few listeners. Would you like to read the first one, Simon?

00:06:41Simon Mackley: I'll definitely read the first one. We got an email from Sam Schroder, the Office Lady. So she said, Luke and I were listening to the chat about the Volunteer Coordinator role and how it works at Shellharbour. At Picton, the role was picked up by one of our lovely local ladies, Vicky, who very happily works the crowd with her clipboard each Saturday, filling the future roster. She also knows all the people who are happy to fill last minute gaps. So she ensures a full crew each week and takes all that pressure from the RDs. And in the summer, She also brings along Zooper Doopers. We love Vicky at Picton. Regards, Sam.

00:07:19Melissa Ellis: And what's your take on this position, this Volunteer Coordinator, Simon? How have you known it traditionally to be used?

00:07:26Simon Mackley: So from my experience at Mosman, the RD used to always look after the Volunteer Coordinator role. I've seen it recently at Berrinba. They had someone specifically sitting at the end next to the scanning table and and trying to fill the role. I've seen a few people around doing Volunteer Coordinator roles. Actually, I know from Curl Curl in Sydney that they have a person that does it every week. And he fills that role. I think he's probably done it for four or five years, to be honest.

00:08:00Melissa Ellis: So he actively vets the emails and the messages to fill the roster through the week and also on the morning?

00:08:07Simon Mackley: Exactly. So he gives a shout out before the RD starts and says that the roster's here and we'd love to see you volunteering and that sort of thing.

00:08:15Melissa Ellis: All right. Well, we also had a comment on last week's pod post from Belinda Taylor, and she said, great roving reports this week, more overseas ones, please. And I do know that Belinda particularly enjoyed Jeff's report from the US and Harry coming to us from Malaysia.

00:08:34Simon Mackley: Yeah, I definitely enjoyed those myself. Yeah, it was really good to hear from you know, outside of Australia and our friends overseas.

00:08:42Melissa Ellis: It's great to hear those different accents, isn't it? Exactly.

00:08:45Simon Mackley: And knowing Harry, it was just, yeah, in my mind, I was seeing his big beaming face talking to us.

00:08:51Melissa Ellis: Excellent.

00:08:52Simon Mackley: I'll take the next one, which was Sue Keane. She replied to Ollie about his pronunciation. So she said, Jerrabomberra is actually pronounced Jerrabomberra. It was instilled into me when I went for event two. So that settles it.

00:09:07Melissa Ellis: Who knew there was three ways that you could say it? We got them both wrong. We got two wrong. Anyway, thank you, Sue. Thank you for clearing that up. Now, another big point of discussion, Simon, that has been covering the socials is Parkwalk. Now, Ollie and I haven't touched on the Parkwalk initiative in October yet. We haven't really discussed it at all. So I might start by saying that this October marks 18 years since parkrun's founder, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, shouted go at the very first parkrun event. We'd like to make this 18th anniversary one to remember by dedicating the whole month of October to something extra special. Park Walk at parkrun. Through the Park Walk at parkrun global campaign, we would like to encourage more people to experience the joy and incredible benefits of walking at parkrun, not just in October, but always. So my understanding of Park Walk in October is it's a big promotion to encourage walkers to feel welcome to come along to parkrun and hopefully then they will understand that parkrun isn't just about running and that they can continue to attend after October and enjoy walking at parkrun. That's right, isn't it, Simon?

00:10:30Simon Mackley: That's my understanding of it, yeah. It's a big push. from the global office. Chrissie Wellington, who is a very well-known triathlete, is on this. Yeah, so it's definitely to encourage people to walk. I walked two weeks ago for the first time ever at a parkrun. So, after 260-something parkruns, I walked my first one.

00:10:51Melissa Ellis: Wow.

00:10:52Simon Mackley: And it was very different, very different. Like, I'm middle-of-the-pack runner. I'm not a fast runner. I'm not a slower runner. But yeah, it was a very, very different feel. And I really got to have a look around and see what Fodder Forest actually looked like when I'm not concentrating on the path in front of me.

00:11:09Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's really interesting. I can't believe that you got that many parkruns without actually ever walking one.

00:11:15Simon Mackley: I've probably run walked one with my son, but yeah, walking the entire thing with my new dog. Yeah, it was, um, It was a very different experience. And when I enjoy it, I definitely want to do it again.

00:11:25Melissa Ellis: So something that has been a little bit controversial, and we don't actually go controversial very often in the parkrun adventurers podcast, but the new Parkwalk logo. I wanted to have a little discussion about this, basically because we had some feedback from the Office Lady, the art department, and the Informant saying, who are up in arms over the design. Now, don't get me wrong, the colours are lovely. The pink, the white with the orange, it's very striking. However, I think it's more the logo, the word parkwalk, that has got people a little bit perplexed with how they chose to portray it, would you say?

00:12:10Simon Mackley: Yeah, it's a little bit strange how the Ks, so Ks, Going from the K of park into the W looks a little, yeah, a little off kilter.

00:12:20Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and then the final K tails off into the zigzag design, which is supposed to, I think the zigzags are supposed to look like Ws. Yeah. The zigzags are on either side of the logo, representing kind of the W of walk, I suppose. Now, so the ideas man thinks perhaps it's a European pronunciation of park vault. Yeah. And he's also wondering if the same graphic artist might like to design a greatsman logo. But that's a whole other discussion for another day.

00:12:51Simon Mackley: That is controversial. Well, having a statesman specific thing for Victoria as a greatsman, I don't know.

Dad joke

00:12:59Simon Mackley: It kind of greats on me. Dad joke. Them's fighting words.

00:13:06Melissa Ellis: But, yeah, so I'm not sure that they've got this logo on point yet. You can kind of get it, but it just feels a little bit like it's off to me.

00:13:17Simon Mackley: The zigzags to me look very winter. They look very ugly Christmas.

00:13:23Melissa Ellis: They are, aren't they?

00:13:24Simon Mackley: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it could be a heartbeat even.

00:13:28Melissa Ellis: A little bit Fair Isle. Do you remember that? That's the name of that design, isn't it? Fair Isle, knitted Fair Isle pattern. Yeah, no, okay. I'm showing my age.

00:13:38Simon Mackley: I don't know the answers to that.

00:13:42Melissa Ellis: That's okay. I'm a knitter from way back. Anyway, I tried to fix it myself on my phone and I just pinked out all those zigzags and tried to fix it. And then I realised parkrun's actually done that themselves. There's another logo without the zigzags as well. So, oh, well, anyway, it is what it is and we will embrace it.

00:14:03Simon Mackley: Of course we will for October. A hundred percent. It's a great initiative.

00:14:07Melissa Ellis: It is. And hopefully people will come along, try their walking at parkrun, realise that they're welcome all the time and they will keep coming back.

00:14:14Simon Mackley: Exactly. And they may become volunteers out of it.

00:14:17Melissa Ellis: Yes, because that's another part of park walk, isn't it? There's going to be the special new volunteer positions.

00:14:24Simon Mackley: Exactly.

00:14:25Melissa Ellis: And new volunteer park walk vests, I believe.

00:14:28Simon Mackley: So yeah, I believe there's either one or two coming and yeah, It's to encourage people to sort of walk as a group and chat. Excellent.

00:14:37Melissa Ellis: Well, anyway, being that we're all about walking and being active, that's a really tenuous segue, but Ollie's not here to do all the clever segues, so I'm doing my best.

Streaky September

00:14:52Melissa Ellis: Are you still streaking, Simon?

00:14:55Simon Mackley: I started on the 1st of September and then I got COVID on the 2nd of September. Oh, no. Yeah, so I wasn't allowed out of the house. I tried to do a streak in my backyard and, yeah, I got very, very bored very quickly.

00:15:10Melissa Ellis: You didn't do 250 laps of your hallway.

00:15:13Simon Mackley: No, no. Yeah, after hearing Chris had done that, I was very, very impressed. No, it didn't work for me, unfortunately, after getting COVID. How's your streak going?

00:15:25Melissa Ellis: I am still going and have even completed my streak tonight. Listeners will be glad to know that after last week's pod, I did get out there. My lovely husband accompanied me on a lap of the block. So I am still up to date. Amazing. Yes. Some things I haven't done. I have not done Strava art yet, this Bingoe card, I guess you can say. So I'm yet to tick that box off. But I think I've got most other boxes. Oh, I haven't done the signpost one. Ollie's level up.

00:16:00Simon Mackley: Oh, okay.

00:16:01Melissa Ellis: From last week. Time is my enemy at the moment. And to be honest, the next two days are going to be pretty difficult. I might have to bite the bullet and set the alarm super early, which I'm not a fan of, I must admit. But I've got two days to edit the pod before I'm going away for the long weekend. So, yeah. Anyway, Ollie is in Fiji. As he mentioned at the end of last week's pod, he is setting himself poolside in lovely Fiji, but he has promised to provide us with a Bingoe card level up. So by the time this episode comes to air, that should be released. Fingers crossed.

00:16:42Simon Mackley: Is he going to do something like you have to do your streak in Fiji just so that he has a niche?

00:16:47Unidentified speaker: No.

00:16:49Melissa Ellis: That would be really cheeky, but I think he's way too nice to do that.

00:16:53Simon Mackley: Yeah.

00:16:55Melissa Ellis: He actually told me what it was going to be and I can't remember. Oh, okay. And we better not mention it just in case he changes his mind. But that's his department. So Ollie is the very clever person that updates the Bingoe card. I do not have those skills. I am struggling hard enough to populate the Dazza's in the show notes in his absence. So nothing's quite going along as normal this week.

the Streakmeister

00:17:19Melissa Ellis: Anyway, what is normal is that for the third week we have the Streakmeister. We have some audio from Pippa again. So why don't we listen to that now?

00:17:35Pippa: Hi, parkrun adventurers, it's Pippa. So by the time you hear this, you will have gone through three weeks of streaking. Has it become a habit yet? Are you looking forward to scampering out for a quick streak saver or meeting up with friends for a slightly longer walk? This week, just my streaks have involved going past Buckingham Palace, walking to work so that my daughter could cycle. I felt I was quite noble in that one. Got lost running in the woods. Found a friend to run longer in some different woods, as well as some of my regular walks talking to friends. I also want to talk a little bit about what the long term impact is of streaking. And that is that I look at distance and I think other people who have long distance walk and running will have got this as well. And I don't think, oh, it's three or four miles, therefore I have to get in the car. I go, OK, I can cycle that bit. I can walk that part. So routinely, two, three, four kilometres, quite happy to walk. Same with seven, eight, nine kilometres on the bike. And for me, that's a really wonderful thing about getting fitter and getting into that habit of using my legs while I can rather than hopping into the car. That's a point to ponder as we're getting towards, say, we've finished week three, getting towards the end of September and all the joy of being part of this. Happy streaking.

00:19:00Melissa Ellis: And thank you to Pippa. Three weeks of streaking done now. And as she said, has it become a habit? It does change your perception of distance. Do you find that, Simon, when you put the car in for a service and you think, oh, I could just run home?

00:19:19Simon Mackley: Well, yeah, I have been doing like a 1.35k loop, dropping my sons at the bus stop and then walking the dog. So the other day, like on the 1st of September, I went and did two Ks, added the extra few metres.

00:19:33Melissa Ellis: Excellent. Getting the streak done. So, yeah, that's an excellent idea. Not quite the same as me accompanying my husband to the bottle shop just earlier so I could get my streak done while he bought his beer.

00:19:45Simon Mackley: Nice.

Dazza's

00:19:47Melissa Ellis: Moving swiftly on. This week at Dazza's, Dazza has said, it's Country Music Day. Dazza's favourite thing about country music is that if you play it backwards, you get your dog back, you get your truck back and you get your wife back. Come on, listeners, give us your best parkrun country music crossover puns, tenuous links or crazy coincidences. And we kicked it off this week with Claire Stutchbury and Jack Corkill. But Claire said first... guess who's back that's my little you know back again eminem very eminem yeah anyway straight back to parkrun Jack said four and a half months parkrun hiatus and now back completing Stones Corner parkrun had to be back on Friday night so I didn't miss another week was lucky enough to run some parkruns in inverted commas overseas every Saturday morning and had up to 20 people some mornings from a few countries. And Jack added a Great Britain flag, an Australian flag, and a New Zealand flag. We are so happy to see Jack back at parkrun. Welcome back, Jack.

00:20:55Simon Mackley: Welcome back indeed. We got first time to Dazza's, Craig Ryan. So he said, morning, Dazza. This morning I completed Gardiners Creek parkrun with my brother-in-law, not quite Tim McGraw, A great morning as all parkrun mornings are. Happy parkrun day all.

00:21:12Melissa Ellis: Welcome to Craig Ryan. We also had a couple of milestones over in New Zealand this week, Simon. We had Chantelle Hosking and Tim Robbins. Chantelle said, saw this and thought of you, Dazza. Today visited Owairaka parkrun and did a thing, 250th parkrun. Chantelle shared a photo of a very big kiwi dazzler. And congratulations, Chantelle. Now, Tim said, there was a Shania Twain song playing on the radio on my way up to Greytown Woodside Trail for my 250th this morning. Does that count? I do believe the Office Lady replied that it absolutely does count. And Tim shared a photo of himself with the 250 shirt cut out. So congratulations to you both.

00:22:04Simon Mackley: Yeah, congratulations. Okay, I feel like I've been stitched up here. We've got one from Patty Shymitzek. Saturday morning in Shellharbour, Australia is being like somewhere special. All through the morn, how the hours pass by, you walk, run and talk. And you watch the folks fall. We had a fall at parkrun today, but it was a minor injury, thankfully, and the weather was perfect. I tail walk and even took a selfie with a famous parrot that I'm not sharing because I need selfie lessons.

00:22:38Melissa Ellis: Well, I'm very good at selfies. I could give you some lessons there, Paddy, but I actually saw that selfie and I thought it was quite good. So own it. Own it and post it. That's what I say. Next up, we had Jacqui O'Connell with a nottie. Nottie number 817 today after timekeeping at Inverloch parkrun. Lots of sea parrots today and fortunately the rain held off with only a light sprinkle. Jackie shared a photo of the sea parrots, which are seagulls. And well done on 817 notties. That's pretty impressive.

00:23:14Simon Mackley: That is huge, yeah. Okay, we've got the ideas man, Bruce Purdy. So he said, happy country music day. I work with a really cool muso named Jeff who goes by the stage name of Crank Williams. His music style is cow punk, which is a harder edged country music. P.S. Crank doesn't feature in this photo from Berwick Waters parkrun. And Bruce shared a photo of the start of Berwick Waters parkrun with the correctly positioned flag. So no fines for him.

00:23:44Melissa Ellis: I love it when I learn things, Simon. Cowpunk. I had never heard of cowpunk before.

00:23:49Simon Mackley: I'm going to have to look it up.

00:23:50Melissa Ellis: It sounds really edgy though, doesn't it? Yeah, I'm interested. I'm going to look it up too. But at home this week was Emma Nicholson who said, here comes that rainy day feeling again at Kirra parkrun where I enjoyed my first parkrun in a few weeks. I didn't travel anywhere, staying to enjoy the green, green grass of home. And Emma had a photo of herself, which I assume was one of the parkrun photos, on a very wet-looking course.

00:24:17Simon Mackley: We've got one from Johan in South Africa. So he has said, oh, give me a home where the parkrunners roam, where the children and parkrunners play, where seldom is heard a discouraging word and the sky is not cloudy all day. Well, not quite cloudless, but doesn't look like any hope of streaking in the rain. Greetings from Heidedal parkrun on an awesome spring morning.

00:24:40Melissa Ellis: And I didn't put it in the show notes, but Johan had a photo of himself in a cowboy hat.

00:24:46Simon Mackley: Looking very good.

00:24:47Melissa Ellis: Looking very country. Now, this week, the most likes was for our very own Office Lady, Sam Schroder. And she said the alarm definitely gave us achy breaky hearts this morning, but worth it. For a 7am start at Curl Curl, followed by breakfast and a nottie in Manly. Curl Curl, Simon, back out in your old territory.

00:25:08Simon Mackley: It certainly is. I know that path very well. So at home this week, we had Michael Sharp. He said, ah, parkrun, you fill up my senses like a night in a forest, like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain, like a storm in the desert, like a sleepy blue ocean. You fill up my senses, come fill me again. Upside down squiggle. I don't know what that actually means.

00:25:33Melissa Ellis: Oh, Simon, didn't you watch Mr Squiggle? Are you not old enough?

00:25:37Simon Mackley: Oh, no, I definitely know Mr Squiggle.

00:25:39Melissa Ellis: Upside down, upside down. Oh, Miss Jane, Miss Jane, it's time for a spacewalk. Yeah. And that is in relation to the photo that Michael shared of some parkrunners on the beach at the Beaches doing handstands. So they were upside down.

00:25:58Simon Mackley: Gotcha.

00:25:58Melissa Ellis: And a backwards flag. So that's very cheeky of Mr. Sharp because Sonja posted the same photo where the flag was not back the front. Oh, dear.

00:26:07Simon Mackley: One job. Yeah.

00:26:09Melissa Ellis: now Caro Vos we heard touristing over in South Africa and Caro said overcast but lovely day at Somerset West parkrun in South Africa and Caro shared a photo of the three kilometre marker which was tyres but with some lovely mountains in the distance we hope you're having a great trip Caro yeah definitely back in the

00:26:34Simon Mackley: So, touristing, we had Helen Rutter, who looks like she's made her way across the pond. These Americans are actually a very happy bunch. Had a fabulous morning at Delaware and Raritan Canal parkrun, followed by a proper park faff with locals and visitors alike. And there was a photo of a brunch table selfie.

00:26:53Melissa Ellis: And we had a bingo call this week from Christine Imbert. This morning's parkrun certainly set my heart singing. Met up with friends at University Parks parkrun in Oxford, had a delicious banana and chocolate crepe for brunch, got home, checked my results and found that after 341 parkruns, I had finally completed stopwatch, bingo and Christine shared a photo of a french style food truck slash coffee van I wasn't quite sure what it was but in any case it was called crepes o mania and congratulations Christine you give me hope that I may still get stopwatch bingo one day oh what number are you at um 345 and how many you've got to go one oh what number It's been a very long time since my last one, I can tell you.

00:27:16[crosstalk]

00:27:49Simon Mackley: Wow. Okay. Well, that's amazing work, Christine. So, we've got another tourist. We have Louise Minty, who said, we listened to some twangy country music on the drive to Rock Creek Trail parkrun in Portland, Oregon. No rocking chairs on porches sighted. And she shared a photo of

the Obi Award — Johan Duvenhage

00:28:07Melissa Ellis: her and a friend with the parkrun flag and Louise is from west Australia yes so she is also doing quite a tourist trip at the moment over in oregon amazing it is now okay I have to look for the envelope for the Obi because Ollie's not here so it must be in my in tray let me I'm hoping it is because it didn't arrive at my house it didn't arrive okay now here it is I've got it Okay, this week's Obi goes to... Johan. Hello, was very clever with his take on a country song, would you say? Yeah, and he actually sent us a photo in his cowboy hat. So, yes, Johan wins the Obi this week.

00:29:07Simon Mackley: Very well done, Johan.

00:29:09Melissa Ellis: Righty-o. That's it for Dazza's this week.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:29:13Melissa Ellis: Simon, time now to throw to our roving reports. We've got one this week, so let's listen to that now.

00:29:17[music]

00:29:29Sarah Jefferson: Good morning, parkrun adventurers.

Roving report Sarah Jefferson — Geeveston parkrun

00:29:30Sarah Jefferson: It's Sarah for the Channel 5 News crew reporting in from Tasmania. That's right. I've made the journey from Western Australia down to check out the most southern parkrun in Australia. And I'm here with the whole team at Geeveston parkrun this morning because they couldn't decide which one of them wanted to stay. Speak to me. So I'm very, very happy to be here this morning. And thank you for hosting. Great job.

00:29:54guest: Yeah, no, thanks for coming. Good to see that you put the sunshine on. I know. And considering it was pouring yesterday, we were pretty shocked to wake up this morning with the sunshine. So no, it's been a great morning.

00:30:04Sarah Jefferson: Definitely. And we were watching Facebook eagerly and we are pleased to say that it wasn't cancelled. So can you tell me a little bit about your course?

00:30:11guest: Yes. So we've had a little bit of trouble lately with the rains coming in and we've had a bit of flooding in this park. So we've had to cancel. three events recently until the council have been able to jump in and fix up all the debris and damage from the floodwaters. So this is our second week back since all that's happened and we are super happy to be back.

00:30:36Sarah Jefferson: Definitely. We're happy to be here too. Now I did stop and try to find the platypus and Has anybody got any tips for me?

00:30:46Unidentified speaker: Carly, Vitalina? It's in the swamp at the moment. Okay.

00:30:50Sarah Jefferson: So if I'm looking out for it. The lily pond. The lily pond. And someone was saying bubbles and swirls. Yes.

00:30:56[crosstalk]

00:30:57guest: Is that right? Yes. Yes. You have to. Yes. Because he's quite quick in the water and you have to be patient. You have to watch out for those bubbles. And once you see those bubbles pop up, then you just, you know that he's under there. He's there. And you just have to wait for him to pop up. All right, well, I shall go back and have a little look. Excellent.

00:31:14Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, thank you for that. And do you guys get many tourists down here?

00:31:18Pippa: We do have a few tourists come and go, and they come down here because we're the most southern in Australia. So that's the drawcard. Yep.

00:31:27Sarah Jefferson: And I guess one positive for us in WA is that we now have a direct flight after COVID, Hobart to Perth. So that is very exciting for us. So we'll be looking forward to seeing more Perth parkrunners. Definitely. More parkrunners from WA, hopefully in the future. So you heard it, Perth, right there. There's the challenge. Get your way down to Jamestown. Thank you so much for hosting us today. Thank you for coming. Okay, I'm back in the car now and that's a wrap. Event 176, Geeveston parkrun tick and the most southern parkrun for the Compass ticked off. If you are visiting Hobart, it's a beautiful... 50-minute journey down through the Huon Valley, driving along the Huon River. Go and check it out. A really lovely crew. My only wish is that I could have stayed for coffee at the local bakery with the team, but I'm heading to Salamanca Markets, hoping to check out and taste a scallop pie. Okay, see ya.

00:32:35Simon Mackley: Wasn't that a great roving report from Sarah, all the way from WA, down there at the most southern point, Southern parkrun in Geeveston, talking about the swirls and the bubbles of the platypuses.

Consolidated Club Report

00:32:47Simon Mackley: Amazing. Hey, Mel, do you want to move on to the adventurers Consolidated Club report?

00:32:52Melissa Ellis: I absolutely do, Simon. This week we had a total of 300 members. Yes, yes, we have hit 300 members. It might be three weeks late to coincide with our 300th episode, but we got there.

00:33:07Simon Mackley: That is so exciting.

00:33:08Melissa Ellis: And of those 300 members, 235 took part on the 17th of September at 134 locations.

the Frond

00:33:18Simon Mackley: So the largest frond, once again, we had eight at the popular ponds. We had four at Greenway, which was Tracy Jensen, Neeraj Kanal and Aaron and Michael Gentle. Four at South Toowoomba with Pauline and Russell Taylor and Barbara and Roger Luther. The largest frond we had was six at Des Connor Park Juniors, which was Belinda Taylor, Erica Liotta, Leonie Butler, Michael Blain, Michael Schultz and Tracey Wood. And then there was five at Westerfolds Junior and four at Eynesbury.

00:33:54Melissa Ellis: Now, Simon, you might be able to answer me this question. Greenway. Why has Greenway parkrun got a capital W in their one word of Greenway?

00:34:05Simon Mackley: I don't actually know. I don't know.

00:34:09Melissa Ellis: Okay. I just always wonder whenever I see it with its little mid-word capital. I guess it's like the whole parkrun all in lowercase. It's part of the brand. Greenway has a brand. Okay. And good to see four out at Eman's home parkrun at South Toowoomba.

00:34:27Simon Mackley: Yeah.

00:34:29Melissa Ellis: And the fronds making the news at all the junior parkruns.

00:34:35Simon Mackley: Exactly. Yeah. Where was Eman this week?

00:34:37Melissa Ellis: Oh, I don't know. I'd have to refer to my own consolidated club report.

00:34:43Simon Mackley: All right, you don't need to.

00:34:47Melissa Ellis: Or I could stalk him on an app or something. Yeah. But it was close this week, Simon, between the big three, 28 events in Victoria, which is down on our normal numbers, and 26 in New South Wales. Ollie would like that. New South Wales is challenging Victoria. He would.

00:35:06Simon Mackley: He would.

00:35:07Melissa Ellis: 23 in Queensland, so Queensland not far off the pace.

00:35:11Simon Mackley: Yeah.

00:35:12Melissa Ellis: Even South Australia was up on its usual numbers with 12 events. Amazing. I know. I know. We're growing. Indeed. So, yeah, that is good to see. Lots of adventurers out there enjoying all their touristing. But...

International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day

00:35:28Melissa Ellis: Looking forward, Simon, Ugly Christmas Singlets. Now, I happen to know, up until now, you have not been an owner of an Ugly Christmas Singlet. That is correct. Is this going to change this year, Simon?

00:35:40Simon Mackley: It is going to change this year. I definitely want to get the throwback version, the one that has so many cute little things in there. Little Easter eggs.

00:35:52Melissa Ellis: I like how you called it the throwback version. It's the original reimagined version of the Ugly Christmas Singlet.

00:36:01Simon Mackley: Fair enough. I'll accept that.

00:36:05Melissa Ellis: And it has two new rows. One, the first row has the motifs that is the pineapple and which signifies or represents, I guess you could say, the OG Mel, Mel Erbacher. Yeah. The red balloon that represents Scotty Trickett and his 99 red balloons. Yeah. The little Eynesbury duck that's there to represent me. And there's this strange other thing. Is that a cactus? A cactus.

00:36:38Simon Mackley: And is that? I don't know. Is that Ollie because he hasn't shaved and he's all prickly?

00:36:46Melissa Ellis: Um, maybe. Yeah. Or maybe it's supposed to be something else. Hmm. Maybe I'll take that conversation into next week. Fair enough. Ollie can explain what his cactus is supposed to represent. He's not here. Too bad, so sad. Exactly. Now, also, the other row of motifs is representative of all the different animals that have been on past versions of the Ugly Christmas Singlet. Now, the kangaroo, I believe, was on the original Ugly Christmas Singlet, the one that this same shirt is based on. Yeah. The koala and the pineapple was on the second version. Oh. The emu was on the third version, which was our Nambour year.

00:37:34Simon Mackley: Yeah.

00:37:34Melissa Ellis: With Fluffy. Then last year we had the platypus and the echidna. So they are both there. But new, new this year is the crocodile and the kiwi. Very cute. A nice little inclusion there with the kiwi for our friends across the ditch. Yeah. Yeah. Now, not only can we get this fabulous design in both the singlet and the shirt, but there's a second design this year.

00:38:04Simon Mackley: Which is amazing. The gingerbread is a great addition this year.

00:38:08Melissa Ellis: Obviously, it is in gingerbread colour with the buttons down the front. What are they? Gumdrop buttons? I think it's gumdrops, yeah. I've got Shrek in my head. I've got the gingerbread in my head. Not the gumdrop buttons. And on the back, run, run as fast as you can. So a cute little design there by the Elves. The Elves, yes, thank you. But special limited edition, and I am led to believe limited numbers this year, Simon is a visor.

00:38:49Simon Mackley: I am definitely getting one of those. I definitely heart ugly.

00:38:52Melissa Ellis: Yes, I have ordered the visor already. I've ordered the OG updated shirt and visor in a package. So I am very excited. They are going to match my Brooks ugly runners perfectly.

Sign-off

00:39:06Simon Mackley: Beautiful. So where are you going next parkrun day?

00:39:10Melissa Ellis: I'm glad you asked, Simon, another adventure because there's no rest for the wicked especially not the wicked parkrunners um I am going to North Parkes Oval in the New South Wales town of Parkes you've got a long weekend we do Fantastic. Our Prime Minister has given us a day off on Thursday and Victoria may have upset the plans of the rest of the country who maybe would have liked a Friday public holiday and yet don't get one because we already had a public Friday holiday for the AFL Grand Final.

00:39:48Simon Mackley: Are there any Victorian teams still in the final?

00:39:50Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:39:50Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:39:54Melissa Ellis: Geelong's in Victoria.

00:39:56Simon Mackley: Oh, is it? Okay.

00:39:58Melissa Ellis: And the Sydney Swans. Yes. Yeah, but anyway, we don't care about the footy. We just care about we've got a public holiday. So actually this weekend we have been planning for the last two years and we As you know, over the last two winters, every time we've had lockdowns in Victoria and especially in Melbourne CBD. So we haven't been able to get to do this adventure. So finally we are. So we're very excited. The dogs are coming with us. Oh, amazing.

00:40:29Unidentified speaker: Yay, a 10-hour dog trip with two chihuahuas.

00:40:33Simon Mackley: Fun.

00:40:35Melissa Ellis: We're taking the dog pram. So keep your eye out for lots of social media of dogs at parkrun this week. But no, it should be a fun, it should be an adventure and I'm forcing Zoe and Paul to get out of their bedrooms.

00:40:51Simon Mackley: Amazing. What about you, Simon? I will not be parkrunning for the next two weekends. I have a wedding this weekend and I'll be in Bali for the next one.

00:41:02Melissa Ellis: What is it with my co-hosts going off on tropical adventures where there's no parkruns?

00:41:09Simon Mackley: I'm sorry. Yeah. I mean, I don't choose the destinations. I just go.

00:41:13Melissa Ellis: Oh.

00:41:14Simon Mackley: No, I do. I definitely have some. Well done, Caroline. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So we're heading off to Bali for eight nights because, yeah, it'll be our first overseas trip since COVID and we've cancelled so many trips in this time. And yeah. So we're heading off, taking a well-deserved break.

00:41:34Melissa Ellis: Well, I hope you enjoy that. And yes, don't we just hear that so often when we see our friends going on holidays and it's like, this is our third attempt to get there. We've all had a tough couple of years and we are now enjoying a little bit of the spoils. So I hope you have a really good time.

00:41:52Simon Mackley: Thank you. I'm hoping so too. hoping to get some runs in even if it is very humid.

00:41:58Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah, notties and streaks. Yes. Oh, well, you can catch up. Just deduct those COVID days you couldn't do and add that on to the end. I'll just restart the streak, yeah. Oh, yeah, that too.

00:42:11Simon Mackley: I only did one day, so I might as well restart it.

00:42:14Melissa Ellis: Okay.

00:42:14Pippa: Well, I think that's it.

00:42:16Simon Mackley: As always, you can contact us via Facebook or on our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week. We'll see you all next week for more adventures. Thanks for having me, Mel.

00:42:27[music]

00:43:29guest: Hey mum, the Office Lady has sent me an email. What's this? Oh, I like the logo because it has fun zigzags and it says parkwalk instead of parkrun. I like that it encourages people who don't like to run or can't run to come and walk so they're still getting their fitness. Bye adventurers, stay safe!