— open the full-size coverEpisode 304 - Let Us Entertain You
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Episode 304 - Let Us Entertain You · 2022-09-28
Enhanced transcript — Produced by an automated editing pass — speakers named, sound described, segments marked. NOT yet checked by a person.
Speaker names appear only where they could be established with confidence; others are shown as “Unidentified speaker”. Non-speech sound is in [square brackets].
Source: https://log.5kadventures.net/transcripts/ep304.html · The Adventurers Log · An independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by parkrun.
Welcome
Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 304 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie Spake and I am joining this week from Dharawal Country.
Melissa Ellis: And I am Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country. Welcome home, Ollie. You had a very late return to Australia last night, I believe.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, I did return a little later than planned, not much later, just your standard small delay here and there, which extended my trip. So I'll take that as a positive.
Melissa Ellis: So you didn't end up just extra hours at the airport then?
Oliver Spake: Well... Yeah, more or less at the airport, each airport on the plane, not quite in the hotel pool. So probably it's stretching it to call it too much of a positive. But hey, yeah, I'm sure many people have had much, much longer disruptions than my two hours. It was just felt by more so by my children than I who felt like they were getting home at 4 a.m. this morning.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's rough, but I trust it was a good trip.
Oliver Spake: It was a wonderful trip. Yeah, it's pretty hard to complain when you're in tropical weather with little to do except to chase your kids around a pool and enjoy a bit of relaxation.
Melissa Ellis: And I trust you got some notties. I saw you were out at 8am on Saturday mornings. You missed two parkruns.
Oliver Spake: Well... You know, I had one job and that was to know what I was actually doing. So I really only missed one parkrun, believe it or not.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's right. That's right. Yes.
Oliver Spake: So mistakenly, yeah, two episodes ago I claimed that I was going to be missing parkrun. Little did I know. I had no idea whatsoever I was going to parkrun. So two parkruns ago I volunteered as photographer and had the chance Yeah, I had the joy of a nice sunny morning and a lot of first timers and visitors, which we seem to be getting quite a lot of, which is wonderful given the warmer turn in the season. But yes, this weekend, just gone, I was overseas in a non-parkrun country called Fiji. So I had to make it up myself.
Melissa Ellis: Set a scene for me, Ollie. I've never been to a tropical oasis before.
Unidentified speaker: Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: What's it like?
Oliver Spake: It was lovely and warm. It's that temperature, mid-20s, reasonable humidity, quite a bit of sunshine, lots of palm trees and really just a nice balmy feeling.
Melissa Ellis: Do they do that thing with the towels where they make the little, you know, fold them up and make animals?
Oliver Spake: Not so. Not like some of the other hotels and cruises that you might come across where they do that. The service is lovely. The people are wonderful. A lot of friendly people, obviously, around the hotel. But as you jog down or walk down paths and roads, it's just lovely to be greeted by many friendly faces. And obviously, tourism is a big industry there. And everyone is happy to have tourism booming again. Well, at least everyone I have met and spoken with. And I did take the opportunity to chat with a lot where I could, but just really quite pleasant.
Melissa Ellis: Fantastic.
Oliver Spake: And I keep my streaking up and I was determined to make the most of Saturday morning. I've been squeezing in a few late streaks of walks around the resort early in the trip. But come Saturday, it was out at 8 a.m., I did decide to launch my parkrun from the side of the pool, to make sure I had a towel waiting for me at the end of the parkrun and head out from the resort and down really one of the main, well, the main road on Denarau Island, which is about 20 minutes drive from Nadi, which is the main centre and the international airport on the west of the main island, Viti Levu. Denarau Island is actually a human-built island. landscape where it was formerly mangroves and purchased in the late 1960s and a lot of resorts and golf course built out on it to fill up the space. So as you can imagine, well-manicured gardens and a nice path along the side of the road there. So I headed out along the road and followed that all the way around to The Entrance to the island where there's a security gate and a bridge turned around and And more or less, it was an out and back with a little bit of extra just to make sure I reached the 5Ks. In fact, I overdid it and did 5.1. But we never complain about extra parkrun metres. So it was a nice experience. I wasn't joined by anyone. My family stayed in bed. And come the end of it, I was very happy to get into the pool.
Melissa Ellis: Excellent. Did it have one of those swim up bars where you can just get a cocktail? Because that would be the perfect brunch.
Oliver Spake: I didn't go straight to brunch in that sense. I actually went to breakfast straight after the pool. But then I did go to brunch after that. Grabbed my almond latte and went and jumped in the pool and then hit the cocktails.
Melissa Ellis: Sounds fun.
Oliver Spake: And I was very pleased to wear my ugly singlet as well to tick that off my list.
Melissa Ellis: Good work. I hope you can stay awake for the rest of the episode.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, I do apologise. I'm sure I sound pretty tired and struggling with words, but it is good to be back and it's good to be catching up on things. Look, I have to say, Mel, I haven't listened to the whole episode and I really apologise, but it was lovely to listen to Simon and yourself last week and wasn't it nice to catch up with the Quizmaster himself? So thank you so much, Simon, for stepping in and doing a wonderful job in hosting last week's episode. He did do a great job. Yes, he did. I was very impressed. Not like the amateur who's back this week. Yeah. Goodness.
Melissa Ellis: We can cut all that out, Ollie. Don't worry. No one will know.
Oliver Spake: Not at all. Not at all. But no. While I was away, you were on an adventure of your own. How was it? Where did you go?
Melissa Ellis: Well, Ollie, strap yourself in. Have I got a report for you? What? Well, as mentioned last week, Paul, Zoe and I went on a family road trip to Parkes on the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri people. Parkes is a town in the central west region of New South Wales, which is located on the Australian Transcontinental Railway line and the Newell Highway, which links Victoria to Queensland. It is 355 kilometres west of Sydney and approximately 750 kilometres north-northwest from where we live in the outer west of Melbourne. Parkes was originally known as Bushmans, but was renamed in December of 1873 after Henry Parkes made a visit. Sir Henry Parkes was instrumental in Australia becoming a unified and federated country. In the 1870s gold rush, Parks gained significant attention and was also the location of a RAAF station and fuel depot during World War II and is a sister city with Coventry in the UK, birthplace of Sir Henry Parks. However, our attraction to visit Parkes was the Parkes Radio Telescope, which sits 20 kilometres north of the town. The telescope is a 64 metre diameter parabolic dish used for radio astronomy and was built in 1961. While it's not a NASA facility, the telescope has frequently been used to receive signals from NASA spacecraft and was a prime receiving station for the Apollo 11 mission and the emergency that occurred during Apollo 13. The telescope works day and night through rain and cloud and is used by 300 researchers each year with more than 40% being from overseas. The Australian movie The Dish was loosely based on the Parkes telescope's role in the 1969 moon landing. However, as is the case with many movies, you can't let the truth get in the way of a good yarn. In reality, there was no power failure. The telescope did not lose track of the spacecraft. The Prime Minister visited Honeysuckle Creek, not Parkes. The first few minutes of the televised broadcast came from Honeysuckle Creek and no one ever played cricket on the dish. What is true, however, is that on the day of the moonwalk, the wind was gusting at 100 kilometres per hour, and although they would never operate the telescope in those conditions for safety reasons, the director gave the go-ahead to do it. So due to my fascination with the dish and Paul and Zoe's interest in space, Visiting Parkes had been on our radar for quite some time. And conveniently, they have a parkrun. Northparkes Oval parkrun launched in June 2021 and is situated at, unsurprisingly, Northparkes Oval within the Parkes township. There's heaps of parking, nearby toilets and the course itself is two laps on a mixture of sealed paths, grass and trail and does feature some elevation. The average attendance is around 40, but this week saw 22 participants cross the finish line. While I ran the course, Paul and Zoe volunteered on barcode scanning and finish tokens, and our furry family kept a close watch of proceedings from their dog pram. After my run, I enjoyed a chat with RD Andrew, ED Dan, and even discovered that Timekeeper Cameron will be running at Shellharbour next week. I thought you'd like that. I did get swooped on my second lap by a resident magpie, but all in all, it was a lovely visit to a small yet very welcoming parkrun community. Oh, and there was even some parkrun tourists from Jerrabomberra. I can't finish my recap without also mentioning that Parkes hosts the annual Elvis Festival, which is held in early January to celebrate Elvis's birthday. While in town, we also visited the King's Castle Elvis Museum, which is a collection of Elvis's personal artefacts owned by Greg Page, well known as the original Yellow Wiggle. It included genuine artefacts from Elvis's home and items he wore or used on stage. And although I'm not a big Elvis enthusiast, I did enjoy learning more about his life and seeing the exhibits up close. Now, Ollie, ask me what I learnt about long car trips with dogs. Okay.
Oliver Spake: Mel, what did you learn about long car trips with dogs?
Melissa Ellis: Well, here's the thing. Before taking off on a long car trip with dogs, it would be prudent to take them on a nice long walk to ensure they empty their little selves out and you don't have to be stopping regularly for rest breaks for said dogs.
Oliver Spake: Okay.
Melissa Ellis: So we made that mistake.
Oliver Spake: I don't suppose they confer and all agree a suitable time where all three can go together.
Melissa Ellis: We only took two.
Oliver Spake: Oh, sorry, two. My apologies.
Melissa Ellis: Poor old Lucy. She got palmed out to the grandparents because three dogs in the backseat with Zoe was just going to be ridiculous. And Lucy is the one that isn't on multiple medications, so she was the easiest one to leave at home with the grandparents. But, yeah, in reality, a nice long walk to wear them out would have been a good idea.
Oliver Spake: Okay.
Melissa Ellis: Wear them out and empty them out. Yes. Because little dogs equals little bladders.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Okay. Another one for the guidebook.
Unidentified speaker: Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Mel's top tourist tips.
Oliver Spake: Mm-hmm.
Melissa Ellis: But no, we did enjoy taking the dogs and we had a little cabin pretty close to the centre of town, which was just a short walk to the main street where we could have our dinner and buy a coffee and take the dogs in their dog pram. And our cabin was dog-friendly.
Oliver Spake: That sounds really pleasant. And, yeah, what a town just in terms of the history there. I can't say I'm not a little disappointed that there was no cricket match on Dish.
Melissa Ellis: But they sell little tiny cricket bats and cricket balls in the souvenir shop, which is hilarious because – Apparently it didn't actually happen. But don't let that get in the way of merchandise.
Oliver Spake: That's right. That's exactly right.
Melissa Ellis: But, yeah, there was so much to do. And, you know, the event team were just so lovely and very happy to chat to us during and after. So very enjoyable trip. But we also got home quite late yesterday, so I am also a little bit worn out.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. So might be a short pod this week, hey? Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: We can always try. We always say that and it doesn't quite happen.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, noted. But spoiler alert, look forward to seeing you this coming parkrun Day, Cameron.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah.
Listener Feedback
Oliver Spake: Ah, but Mel, did we have some feedback from last week's episode?
Melissa Ellis: We did. We had a message, Ollie, from The Ideas Man, and he said, following up from the Parkwalk logo discussion, the global marketing company has now completed these two designs to recognise Victorian statesmen. Do you want to describe them for us, Ollie?
Oliver Spake: I'll describe them for you. LAUGHTER So these are two very impressive-looking silhouettes, black silhouettes, as many are, in the shape of the state of Victoria, with white writing spelling out the word Gratesman, one of which has a capital T. The other one, very cleverly placed, palm tree in the place of the T, which I have to admit, it does look really quite nice. It looks quite smart.
[laughter]
Melissa Ellis: That's a really good description, way better than I could have done.
Oliver Spake: I'm not sure about that. I'm looking forward to seeing the rest of the states and territories and countries.
Melissa Ellis: We can get these made into T-shirts.
Oliver Spake: Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: We should get the Ideas Man, the global marketing company that he's got, onto our new pod logo. Seeing as he's now displayed his talents...
Oliver Spake: Oh, see, no, I'm seeing a market for these. You know, we've got our milestone pins, our badges. Would we not want to see one of these for each of the other achievements? And you could collect your pins. It's wonderful, wonderful creation. So, yeah, keep it up.
Melissa Ellis: But moving along to other designs, Ollie.
Oliver Spake: Other designs, yes.
International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day
Oliver Spake: So time for a recording. It is past the 25th of September. And Mel, I am pleased to say I did manage to purchase my Ugly Christmas Singlets and shirts, visors. Fabulous. All of the above.
Melissa Ellis: Wow, you went all out. You got one of everything.
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Melissa Ellis: Well, it's Christmas. That must have been expensive. Yeah.
Oliver Spake: It's Christmas. But, yeah, no, I was very excited, very excited by the multiple designs and was keen to make sure that Hannah and my mum also had some. So, yes, it's Christmas.
Melissa Ellis: But if you have missed out on ordering your Ugly Christmas Singlet or shirt, don't worry. Keep your eye peeled on the Facebook page or on the website, the iheartugly.com website. There may be future chances. There often is.
Oliver Spake: Fingers crossed for anyone that has missed out. Just keep a close eye. But given, as I mentioned, we are very, very close to the end of September and, well, next parkrun day is next month. So, Mel, how's the streaking? Oh.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, I was worried you were going to ask me this. Now, Adventurers, I think that you need to give me a pass because last Tuesday and last Wednesday, being that I had a limited time to get a podcast to air, I spent every single minute I had editing so that I could have it finished by Wednesday night. So don't you think that earns me a free pass, Ollie? Because I fess up, I missed Tuesday and Wednesday last week of streaking.
Oliver Spake: I think one of the greatest things that I have seen in the streaking community, Mel, is the level of encouragement when people do struggle to streak per their plans. It's all about just making the most of streaking your way. And if you need a pass, then I suggest you get a pass.
Melissa Ellis: Well, to be fair, my podcast streak didn't get broken.
Oliver Spake: Well, that's true.
Melissa Ellis: Yes.
Oliver Spake: That's quite right.
Melissa Ellis: And I thought it could be prudent to also add, I did have a conversation recently with a listener who commented to say, if we record on Monday night, why does it take until Thursday to release the podcast? And I thought, well, that's a fair question because people wouldn't necessarily know what goes on behind the scenes, Ollie.
Oliver Spake: Essentially, Ollie takes a lot of editing to fix.
Melissa Ellis: No, that's not what it is. But I thought, you know, just for people who might not be aware of what happens, we don't just take the audio that we record on Monday night and throw it into a file and upload it. So there's a lot of post-production that goes on. The music has to get edited in. The sound effects get edited in. There's files from the roving reporters and And there's things that we edit out every time Mel stuffs up reading anything that she's written and she does a take two that has to get edited out. There's ums and ahs and all sorts of things. So we tidy it all up. We add in all the little bits and pieces until we get our finished product. And that's why it takes a few days. So we're sorry for that. But in the interest of it being a more concise and less tedious listen, I think it's worth doing.
Oliver Spake: Yeah. And I mean, we do always aim to have the podcast available close to parkrun day. I think it's part of the anticipation for years and years and years. That's, well, maybe just years and years. That's what I... Always looked forward to as the weekend approached and particularly on those weekends where I had an adventure planned. Not as often as some of you, but yes.
Melissa Ellis: We try to get it out in time for your commute, wherever you may be adventuring to. So it needs to be out Thursday night so that if you've got a long drive on Friday, like I often do... which is also another reason why I need to get it out Thursday night. Anyway, I just thought I'd add that in.
Oliver Spake: No, well, yeah, it's helpful context.
Streaky September
Oliver Spake: But dare I say, someone that doesn't need the level of editing that perhaps I do and has been there throughout streaky September for us, kept us on track and kept us motivated has been our Streakmeister, Pippa, who is joining us for this last instalment of Streaky September's encouragement. So should we have a listen now?
Pippa: Hi, parkrun adventurers. It's Pippa and we are almost at the end of September and it feels really good from where I'm standing. So how's it been? How are you getting on? Has it become a habit? Are you enjoying getting out? I know that from the Streaky group that we've got people who have simply tracked their streak savers on the busy days and enjoyed then the discipline of getting back in to do something longer some of the other days. We're really pleased to see you wherever you are. And if you need to do a day one, then come and join us for a day one. The other thing is that we asked you initially to streak in September. And if on the 1st of October you decide to break that, then that's fine too. Maybe we'll see you next year or at another time in the year. For those of you who are enjoying being part of it, we're now streak till New Year's Day. So streak to New Year. And at some point, either the Office Lady or Melissa will change the name of the group. And then we'll just keep supporting each other, possibly slightly less, fewer posts at that time. Does mean, though, got a last few days to get the bingos in. So I managed to walk in the rain this week, which is very exciting. I've walked some new places and I've really enjoyed looking around and making sure I'm actually enjoying what I'm looking at as the season changes. So here's to the end of Streaky September. It's almost there. Well done. You've been brilliant. See you soon.
Melissa Ellis: And thanks very much to Pippa for bringing us the Streaky September reports every week through September and for the reminder that you can stay on in the group if you want to, which transitions after September to Streak to New Year's Day. Or if you like, just come back and join us again next year.
Oliver Spake: Thank you very much, Pippa.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew
Melissa Ellis: But now, Ollie, time to throw to our two roving reporters this week. We have got Toc and Janet. So let's have a listen to them.
Roving report Tony O'Connell — Frank Keenan Reserve parkrun at Yarrawonga
Tony O'Connell: Howdy, parkrunners. Toc from Inverloch. We've come up to a gorgeously sunny Frank Keenan Reserve parkrun at Yarrawonga. I'm sitting here looking out over the lake. We've got dragon boats going past us. How good is this? And I'm sitting here with the smiley Leah, who's the Event Director at Frank Keenan. Leah... How did parkrun arrive in Yarrawonga?
Leah: Well, actually, I was surprised that there wasn't a parkrun here, Toc, because it's such a beautiful town and I'm so glad the weather's turned on for you. Yay to Yarrawonga. It's been very wet the last three weeks, but perfect today, so thanks for coming. Yeah, essentially, I turned up to this town in the start of 2020 and I was like, how is there not a parkrun around here? It's the most beautiful setting. There's awesome running tracks along the lake. But COVID hit, so I put in an application and unfortunately, because of COVID, it took, what, two and a half years before we were up and running, um but yeah essentially there was the fantastic local parkrun around Cobram which has a fantastic reputation um and they all jumped on board to get us up and running here as well so that's how it started but it was a bit of a process but we're here
Tony O'Connell: Bit of a process, you hear. We've run the course this morning. Yes. And I've got to say, the little bit around Chinaman's Island is one of the most stunning bits of a parkrun course that I think I've seen. It's absolutely gorgeous out there. Love it. That really blew my mind away when I went out around that.
Leah: Yeah, really lucky. And sometimes you'll get some of the rare birds as well because it's a bird watching area. You'll also get the wallabies, sometimes some bigger kangaroos as well. Haven't hit summer yet. I'm a little bit concerned we might need to use that snake kit. I'm glad I've got my emergency nursing experience for that. But no, it's actually quite safe. And yeah, plenty of people on the course, which is really nice. Today, I reckon we cracked 100 today.
Tony O'Connell: 103, I think. 103, I reckon, yeah. A new course attendance record.
Leah: Absolutely, yeah. So I'm glad you could be here for it, Toc.
Tony O'Connell: There's actually a really good crowd out there too and there's some really speedy people out the front.
Leah: Oh, tell me about it. I know. We've got a few runners, local runners. I reckon Brooke... I should know her last name, but she's in the Australian Institute of Sport. I reckon she's got the record. But, yeah, we're really lucky. It's a very sporty town come footy season. Yarrawonga is in the netball and the footy grand finals tomorrow. Go Yarrawonga. I reckon pre-season will probably start next week and we will have some real speedy ones from there. So that's pretty cool.
Tony O'Connell: And, Leah... How'd you get introduced into parkrun? I believe you might have a connection with someone that is pretty close to parkrun royalty.
Leah: Yeah, well, apparently she is. Look, I hadn't ever heard of it until I went up to Queensland about seven years ago. And my sister-in-law, her name's Laura Phillips, and she was originally at the Bushy. I think it's Bushy in London. So I think she's under 100, less than 100. I think quite a bit less, actually. So she's got one of the really, really short, short numbers. And, yeah, that's a really, really big deal. Did not know at the time, but she's the one that just really pushed parkrun and just said it's the best thing ever. So she signed me up that long ago. Yes.
Tony O'Connell: I don't think I've actually met anyone under about 8,000. So to have someone with a two-digit parkrun athlete number, that would just be mind-blowing.
Leah: Oh, my God. She's fantastic. They're across in Western Australia now. But, yeah, loves it, loves it, which is really cool.
Tony O'Connell: Yeah. Nah, look, I think we'll wrap it there. It's time for a coffee. Oh, definitely. As I said, it is absolutely stunning out here. I've got to say, last night we crossed the bridge. We got halfway back over it and the heavens opened up on us. Oh, yeah. And there is nowhere to hide on that bridge.
Leah: Absolutely not. Yeah, the light show was amazing last night. We've been pretty lucky. The track doesn't get too wet. Everywhere else is flooded in the district. I think this is why we're getting such good numbers at the moment. Yeah. Yeah, thanks for coming, Toc.
Tony O'Connell: Stunning course, stunning day, stunning location. Well done, and enjoy your parkrun.
Leah: Yeah, cheers. Thank you so much. Thanks for coming.
Roving report Janet Reid — Memorial Park parkrun
Janet Reid: Good morning, parkrun adventurers. It's Janet here reporting from aboard the Mothership. Oh, wait, no, I'm not aboard the Mothership Lochiel today. I'm actually adventuring. I've come up to Port Pirie for the launch of Memorial Park parkrun, and no, I'm not breaking the rules either. I'm lucky enough to be their event ambassador. So with me this morning, I have Event Director and Run Director on the day, Desmond Muserewa. Good morning, Desmond. How are you?
Desmond Muserewa: Good morning, Janet. I'm doing very well, thanks.
Janet Reid: How are the nerves this morning?
Desmond Muserewa: Oh my gosh, over the top. I'm very excited about what's happening. So what prompted you to start a parkrun here in Port Pirie? Oh, well, I moved to Port Pirie a little over two years ago and the first thing I looked for being a parkrunner was a parkrun in Port Pirie and I couldn't find one. And the closest one was in Port Broughton, which was a fair bit of a drive away. And I thought, hang on, why can't we just have a parkrun close by?
Janet Reid: And you put the wheels in motion. There we go. And I was lucky enough to be given yours to help support you and get it up and running. And here we are on launch day. It's taken, what, 18 months to get to this point? Roughly 18 months.
Desmond Muserewa: Yes, that's it.
Janet Reid: How have you found the council, Desmond?
Desmond Muserewa: Oh, a remarkable bunch of people. I think they were very great just from the get-go. My first interactions with them was to express this idea of having a parkrun in Port Pirie, and it generated a lot of interest. And from then on, we had a very good discourse and remarkable support from the council. I'd like to be grateful for them for that, yeah.
Janet Reid: It's really wonderful, isn't it? It makes such a difference when you've got your council on board with you and you've got that extra support. Yes, indeed. How do you see Port Pirie parkrun developing?
Desmond Muserewa: Well, on the basis of the conversations that have taken place prior to the launch and what has happened on the launch day itself, I'm very upbeat about the success of Port Pirie parkrun in the future. Memorial parkrun, should I say, in the future.
Janet Reid: And your core team, have you got a good core team of volunteers? Oh, yes, indeed.
Desmond Muserewa: I've got a very keen and enthusiastic core team of about 20 people. And the list keeps on increasing. So, yep, that's so comforting.
Janet Reid: And I noticed two weeks prior to launch, you had a full roster for launch day and next week looks pretty full and you've got the next couple of weeks with people on the roster already.
Desmond Muserewa: Yes, absolutely. That's testament to the fact that Port Pirie was waiting for a parkrun. Agreed. They were ready for a parkrun and it's showing in the numbers. It certainly is, yes.
Janet Reid: Well, Desmond, congratulations. I wish Memorial Park parkrun all the very best and may you grow from strength to strength and bring happiness and health to your local community.
Desmond Muserewa: Great. Thanks very much. Thanks, Janet. And before you go, thanks to you as well for your overwhelming support in setting this parkrun up. We wouldn't have gotten here without your kind assistance.
Janet Reid: My absolute pleasure. Okay, thank you, Desmond.
Oliver Spake: Thank you very much to our two roving reporters this week. Great to hear about the big turnout.
Melissa Ellis: At Frank Keenan, yes. Attendance record out there and nice weather, I do believe as well.
Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, very helpful. And Port Pirie, yeah, I'm pleased to say that I've been to Port Pirie. I haven't been to the parkrun. It's been a long time, but it sounds like a pretty successful morning.
Melissa Ellis: It would be a bit hard to have been to the park when it only just launched.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, I was in the wrong spot for that one. But well done, well done, Desmond, and the whole team, the whole family at Memorial Park.
Melissa Ellis: And a bit of a South African flavour.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. We believe. Nice to see some linkages across the globe there.
Emails
Oliver Spake: It is. So Mel, do we have any mail?
Melissa Ellis: No, we don't. Nope, it's empty again, but then I haven't done that maintenance on it. So I'm really having bad luck with emails at the moment. We don't need to go into that.
Oliver Spake: Oh dear. Okay, well, everyone, we'll keep encouraging you to email us and should we find that for some reason they're all being held up, we'll have an entire podcast dedicated to the emails. We haven't been reading out either that or we'll get one one day.
Dazza's
Oliver Spake: Moving swiftly along. It's time for Dazza's. And at Dazza's this week, he said, we love that our listeners are from all over the world, but today Dazza is being a parochial Victorian, so it's all about the AFL Grand Final. Dazza doesn't take sides. He just wants to see a good, clean game of footy this afternoon. In brackets, The Office Lady is a one-eyed swan supporter who will probably shout at the umpires and eat too many party pies. Come on in and tell us all about your pre-footy parkrun fun.
Melissa Ellis: And, Ollie, top of the ledger this week with the most likes was you. Oh. And you said, Bula from Fiji. Don't tell the Office Lady that Zali's love of cats will see her firmly in the blue half of the ledger. That's if she wasn't so distracted by Vegemite-related mishaps at the buffet breakfast today. No parkrun here, just an Ugly Christmas Singlet and one adventurer very ready for the resort pool. May the best team win. And there was a photo of some mug in front of the pool in an ugly singlet. [Fijian: "Hello from Fiji. ("Bula" is the standard Fijian greeting, literally "life".)"]
Oliver Spake: That's right, yes.
Melissa Ellis: Sounds like fun, though.
Oliver Spake: Well, aside from that breakfast-related matter, yes, it was great fun. We also heard from Tim Robbins in New Zealand, who said, a few of us popped up to the front room coastal eatery afterwards for coffee and chit-chat. And Tim did share a photo of himself with the rest of the volley team and a rolled-up flag. And I was curious, does that incur a fine? Because it's not backwards necessarily.
Melissa Ellis: Oh.
Oliver Spake: I think it passes.
Melissa Ellis: I don't know. We've never considered that. We haven't had a rolled-up flag before. But I wanted to know the name of that river, Ollie. How come that doesn't start with an F like everything else that has a W in front of it? Because I mispronounced it.
Unidentified speaker: Oh.
Oliver Spake: My apologies to our New Zealand listeners.
Melissa Ellis: I thought you knew better than me. I thought, oh, it's a little twist on the New Zealand pronunciations.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, a twist purely down to me.
Melissa Ellis: Moving swiftly on, we heard from Lee Cabarita. That's her born name. And she was at home this week. She said, hi, Dazza. After Black Moors last Sunday, Sally and Bianca did their first marathon and I did the half with Mickey. We shuffled an easy local parkrun at Parramatta today, followed up with a couple of coffees and park faff. Great to bump into Naomi and Rob too at Cafe 4 to 7. And there was a photo of Lee and the team at brunch and in the selfie frame.
Oliver Spake: Well done, everyone. And we heard on the volley front from Roberta Winters who said, Tail Walker at Echuca Moama with their talkative Run Director talks as much as me. A mix of red, blue and white with the halfway marshal undecided in both team colours. Hope the Office Lady is happy at the end of the evening. And Roberta shared a photo of her in the selfie frame. Should we update any of our international listeners that maybe weren't following the results as to whether The Office Lady was happy at the end?
Melissa Ellis: She was not happy.
Oliver Spake: But thank you for your kind wishes, Roberta. The Cats won. Spoiler for anyone that is maybe watching this a week late.
Melissa Ellis: I'm sure it's been all over social media. If they have any connection to Australia, they will have seen reference, surely. But we also had a milestone coming to us via Chris Gore, and he said all football events were overshadowed this morning with Karen completing her 250th parkrun in She has been parkrunning since 2015 and has participated in 47 different events in two states and three countries. And Chris shared a photo of his lovely wife, Karen, celebrating the 250th. And congratulations to Karen.
Oliver Spake: Hooray. Yeah, well done. Now we heard on the Touristic Front from Jo McLean who said... Pre-footy adventure to Whalan Reserve parkrun today. First time visit and really loved the course. Lovely green out and back loop, all on paths with just a bit of undulation. The crew there are exceptionally friendly. Only a small event. They have their 50th next week, so if you're looking for somewhere to visit, I highly recommend. Some puddles, but no swans or cats in sight, double shot skinny cap and an asahi bowl with friends afterwards fab start to the morning and Joe shared a photo of herself and the group in a selfie frame plus a very delicious looking brunch I'm glad you could say the name of that bowl I don't know how to say that oh I love asahi bowls yes Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Very good. And coming to us all the way from South Africa was Caro Vos with an achievement. No grand final for me, but got my Cowell Club event at Durban Point parkrun. And Caro shared a shot over the parkrunners and the water out there at Durban Point. Thanks, Caro, and congratulations.
Oliver Spake: Congratulations. Now, jumping across the ocean, Richard, who said, Bonjour, Dazza. Our start to parkrun this morning was nearly as disastrous as the grand final was for the Swans. Oh.
Melissa Ellis: Ouch.
Oliver Spake: Sorry, Office Lady. I only just made it to the start of Frédéric Back parkrun line as the countdown was going. Our GPS had us 1,500 metres from the start line. On the plus side, I did run into a Canadian cousin in Montreal. And Richard shared a photo of us. It was a pretty funky-looking sign, but slightly more excitingly, Dazza's cousin. What a spitting image.
Melissa Ellis: There's a few popping up, Ollie. We had one last week too.
Oliver Spake: Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: It was, I think, in New Zealand.
Oliver Spake: That's right. They're all over the globe.
Melissa Ellis: I know. It's the popularity, you see, Ollie. The pod's spreading and people just want to get on board with Dazza's. That's right. Anyway, also overseas on a tourist jaunt, we had Helen Rutter, and she said, Hi, Dazza, lots of lovely park faff again, this time at Roosevelt Island, D.C. I promised I would walk a parkrun, so I did. I highly recommend it, so enjoyable. And we had a park faff photo plus a fantastic token return reminder with Gandalf calling the shots. And I did borrow that park faff photo for the Consolidated Club report this week.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, enjoy your touristing, Helen. Joanne Blackbird called in, touristing also, and said, Grand Final is my favourite public holiday of the year. Get to venture further afield for parkrun. This year, traipse down to Portland. Scenic out and back around the lagoon and I got tips on the best roads back to Melbourne. Loved it, and Joanne's photo was in the selfie frame, but also a shot of a quite nice turnaround post there for the parkrun. So, yeah, they look quite well established there.
Melissa Ellis: Joanne, I know, is a big fan of the Ugly Christmas Shirts, so I wonder if she's got one for this year. And lastly, we heard from Christine Imbert, who was in Europe, a bit of international touring at, oh... Mauritia? How do you say that, Ollie?
Oliver Spake: Mauritia.
Melissa Ellis: Okay, thank you. It sounds better with the accent. In Rimini, Italy, also watched the sun come up on the beach near our hotel, had a post-parkrun swim in the Adriatic, explored part of the town, and two of us went up on the big wheel. I don't know what that is, but that sounds like fun. And Christine was touristing in her ugly singlet.
Oliver Spake: Nice work. And my apologies also for my pronunciation, but nonetheless.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, that's on you.
Oliver Spake: I hope you're enjoying your travels. Yeah, it certainly is. It certainly is. Thank you everyone for joining us at Dazza's this week. It was another good turnout and plenty of footy banter that we didn't mention there as well. So jump in, I'm sure. Well, let's just say I hope that everyone is feeling in better spirits now.
the Obi Award — Caro Vos
Melissa Ellis: Well, that leads us to award an Obi, Ollie. I'm hoping that the envelope is back in your in-tray. Have a look.
Oliver Spake: It certainly is. It's very hard to miss it this week, Mel. Yeah? It's a very sharp, bright shade of pink.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, that Office Lady's got lots of lovely colours.
Oliver Spake: That's right. So I will open the envelope.
[other]
Melissa Ellis: Mm-hmm. That nice supersonic quiet one. Gosh, it must be stuck tight.
Oliver Spake: It was. It took a bit of wrestling. But the winner this week of the Obi is... Caro. Caro Vos. That's right. Congratulations, Caro, on your Cowell Club achievement. And yeah, what a place to do it too.
Melissa Ellis: We hope you're back home soon.
Oliver Spake: Yes, but I'm sure having a fantastic time over there. Wow. Well, that makes up for my lack of parkrun, listening to everyone else's stories. Thank you, everyone.
Melissa Ellis: Good, good. Alrighty.
[other]
the Informant
Melissa Ellis: So now, Ollie, it's that time of the pod where we have a listen to our informant. So let's see what they've got to say this week.
[15 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]
Oliver Spake: Mel, no informant.
Melissa Ellis: No. Was the car in the car park?
Oliver Spake: I didn't look.
Melissa Ellis: Check the bar fridge. See if the caramilk's gone. Goodness, where are they?
Oliver Spake: Yeah, no, look, I don't know.
Melissa Ellis: Was there any emails from HR? Not that we'd know because...
Oliver Spake: Well, yeah, that's a good point. That's a good point. As we said before, maybe we're not getting the emails. Was the informant on an adventure at the weekend? Hasn't come back. Extended holiday.
Melissa Ellis: Well, Ollie, what we do know is that there was a launch yesterday at Memorial Park, South Australia, as reported earlier by Janet Reid. Yes. We know Caro Vos ran her Cowell at Durban Point in South Africa. We know Karen Gore ran her 250th at Shipwreck parkrun over in WA. We know Robbie Williams looked great in hot pink. And Vegemite doesn't belong on pastries.
Unidentified speaker: No.
Oliver Spake: That's right.
Melissa Ellis: So that's my abridged version of the stats.
Oliver Spake: With thanks to our adventurous community for informing us. Yes.
Consolidated Club Report
Oliver Spake: But we do have some more stats. We've got our Consolidated Club report, don't we, Mel? So how did we go?
Melissa Ellis: On Saturday, the 24th of September, of a total of 301 members, 239 took part at 136 locations. There were adventurers in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, South Africa, Canada and the USA. And you can see a breakdown of all the events on our Facebook post, including a link to the report. Thank you, Christine, for that suggestion.
Oliver Spake: That's a good idea.
Melissa Ellis: Ollie, the largest frond. There were officially five adventurers at Frank Keenan Reserve in Victoria who were Toc and Jacqui O'Connell. Bruce, the ideas man. Matthew Billow-Billington and Joe Richards. However, we know that two more adventurers signed up on the morning being Joe McCarthy and Joe's thing-o. Yes, Joe's thing-o. I know nothing. Also coming in with an official five was Umbagong in the ACT with Erica and Matt Hopcraft, Marvellous Mark, Dawn Branton and Ollie?
Oliver Spake: Jiang Ting Huang. Thank you.
Melissa Ellis: Thank you. And there were four at Stockton in New South Wales with P1, P2, Paris Lawrence and Lorraine Collison.
Oliver Spake: Wow. There's some pretty hefty turnouts in some of these parkruns this weekend.
the Frond
Oliver Spake: And what about the largest frond, Mel?
Melissa Ellis: I don't know. But what I do know is that there were two at Northparkes Oval being Paul and Zoe Ellis. So who can beat that?
Oliver Spake: Nice work. Thank you very much. Congratulations, everyone, popping up all over the place.
parkrun news bulletin
Oliver Spake: But I suppose it's time to cast our eyes forward, looking forward. Now, last week, you and Simon did bring up Parkwalk and have a bit of a chat about that. And as we step into October, it's Parkwalk time, isn't it?
Melissa Ellis: It is. It'll be starting this weekend, won't it?
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Melissa Ellis: Gosh, and hopefully people are starting to... hear more about it, see about it in the social. So we thought we would give a little bit more information this week about the new volunteer role, Ollie, the parkwalker volunteer role.
Oliver Spake: Would you like me to read it? Yes, please. Okay. So as part of the parkwalker campaign this October, as the announcement goes, we're introducing a brand new but optional volunteer role The parkwalker. It has been created to demonstrate that walking at parkrun is both encouraged and valued and that walkers are supported. Whilst every event has at least one Tail Walker, the new parkwalker role will extend this support along the parkrun course. During the event, the parkwalker or parkwalkers will be positioned ahead of the Tail Walker, but behind those who are running. They provide encouragement and support to anyone who is walking and ensure everyone who is walking feels part of the parkrun community. The parkwalker or parkwalkers will receive both a volunteer credit and a walk run credit, providing they have their barcode when carrying out this role. And parkrun will be providing new parkwalker vests to events that have supplied delivery addresses. which are on their way. And parkrun has also produced a parkwalk board, which teams can use to promote walking for photo opportunities to identify parkwalker volunteers or in whatever other creative ways might be thought of. These can be used throughout October and beyond. Events in Australia and Ireland have been using prompt boards for a few months with huge success, and parkrun is now rolling these out around the world. and we've put our boards into use locally. Mel, do you find many teams using them?
Melissa Ellis: While I'm touristing, actually, I think the most popular one is the first-timers board.
Oliver Spake: I'd agree.
Melissa Ellis: I think I've seen that used the most. And it was the one that came out first. But interesting, Ollie, I didn't realise that it was only Australia and Ireland that had them. I just assumed all of the countries had them.
Oliver Spake: Likewise, yeah. And, look, I have to apologise. There's my tired head. I think I switched from speaking as parkrun to commentating on parkrun as part of that announcement reading. But I hope the message still came through. So, yeah, we're looking forward to seeing the parkwalker tops and they are yet to be received, many parkruns I'm not aware of any parkruns that have received those tops or vests but yeah it'll be great to see more people getting out and enjoying their walking at parkrun and also very excited to know that juniors is also included in the promotion so we'll be getting them too that's great
Melissa Ellis: be able to encourage kids to come along and just walk at juniors.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, because I think it is something that many of us take for granted. I mean, certainly you both talked about it last week, but if you don't walk regularly at parkrun, it might feel a bit different and you might not realise just how pleasant it can be.
Melissa Ellis: I would say over the years I've walked a lot, especially because in my first few years of being a parkrunner, I had a small child, which Paul and I would often tag team who walked with Zoe and who got to run. And also, you know, the day before a big event, if you've got a race on a Sunday, traditionally you would walk the parkrun, maybe try and nab a Tail Walker position so you could double up your walk and volunteer. So it's not a big thing for me to walk a parkrun. I might even choose to walk it with a friend rather than do a run in times gone by. Yeah. I think Australia has got a strong walking community.
Oliver Spake: I think so.
Melissa Ellis: I haven't come across a lot of events in all the different ones that I've done. Maybe once in all my different events where I came across an event that maybe you could say wasn't used to having walkers and wasn't quite across having to be extra patient with a small child taking a little bit longer. But that's not to say that over the years that hasn't changed at that parkrun. That was quite a few years ago. Yeah.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, conversely, I've certainly had some wonderful support from Tail Walkers and other walkers having walked with small children on rare occasions myself. So it will be great to see more people discovering walking at parkrun, more first-timers as well as established parkrunners. It's something I still take for granted for sure. So I do look forward to doing more of it. So let's see everyone out there. And Mel, I suppose the question then, doing an ever so slight segue, is will you be walking or running at Bathurst?
Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's a good point. I probably should be walking the Bathurst parkrun because of the event the next day, the Panorama Punish that I am going to need to save my legs for. Yeah.
Oliver Spake: That's right. So that's only three parkrun days away. Gosh. Panorama Punish coming up on the 23rd of October.
Melissa Ellis: It is coming up fast, but very much looking forward to it. I just hope I can do it. I just hope I can get myself around the course in the required time.
Oliver Spake: The atmosphere and the excitement of the event. I'm sure you'll do great and it will be wonderful to see many adventurers out there being a part of it. I really look forward to seeing it all for the first time.
Melissa Ellis: And we should maybe let people know, in case they haven't seen in their emails or on social media, there's a dinner. Is that the Saturday night before the event? Do you remember, Ollie?
Oliver Spake: That's right. Yeah, that's right. And I think positions are quite limited now. as that has been promoted for a little while. So if you haven't checked it out and you do want to attend that dinner, do check your emails. I'm not sure if there are still positions left, but just in case, it's a pasta dinner. And, of course, yeah, as I mentioned, Bathurst parkrun on Saturday morning. It's very much part of the plan, or myself at least. Will you be going there?
Melissa Ellis: Isn't that what we discussed that I would walk it?
[laughter]
Unidentified speaker: LAUGHTER
Oliver Spake: That's the one, yes.
Melissa Ellis: Hello, are you awake still? Wake up, Ollie, wake up.
Oliver Spake: Coffee time.
Melissa Ellis: Yes.
International Podcast Day
Melissa Ellis: Now, one other point is that Friday the 30th is International Podcast Day, something that we've always highlighted in this very same podcast. Yes.
Oliver Spake: That's right.
Melissa Ellis: We don't have anything special planned.
Oliver Spake: No.
Melissa Ellis: Other than to say it is the day.
Oliver Spake: It's nice to tip the hat at the day of the podcast or towards the day of the podcast as a celebration. I know that a listener and now slightly more involved in this particular one, podcasts are... such a handy thing. It's a great way to be able to connect with like-minded people, discover new things. And I'm sure that we all listen to a great variety of podcasts. So maybe we need a little share at some stage around what are our other podcast tips, suggestions that people can throw at the
Melissa Ellis: Ollie, I was yet again listening to back episodes of the parkrun adventurers podcast. And I was listening to an episode with Robbo. Yeah. And Mel and Scott were discussing his magical marathon podcast.
Oliver Spake: Ah, yes, yes. Yep.
Melissa Ellis: And he was reminiscing back to the days when he did the parkrun Australia podcast. And podcasts were a very early concept back then. Whereas now, everybody knows about podcasts and many, many people will just listen to them and download them and have their favourites and all sorts of things.
Oliver Spake: That's right.
Melissa Ellis: So- I know Eman is always very curious to ask people, what other podcasts do you listen to? And I thought I would ask you, Ollie. You might like to share with the listeners if you do listen to other podcasts.
Oliver Spake: Well, much less than I used to, particularly because I don't drive to work as much as I used to. I had always enjoyed listening, of course, to our friends with me now. And sadly, I don't get to listen to them as often as I used to. There are, I suppose, different interest podcasts that pop up from time to time, but this is where I have to come clean and say, as a big soccer fan, I do tend to consume most of my love for the round ball game through podcasts. So that does dominate my interest at times. But yeah, aside from that, things like the odd TED Talk or, yeah, I don't know. I can't think of any others I've listened to recently. What about yourself, Mel?
Melissa Ellis: I like listening to health podcasts with the latest, I suppose, health advice. I listen to a lot of psychology type podcasts.
Unidentified speaker: Mm-hmm.
Melissa Ellis: And one of my favourites is a podcast of one's own, which is Julia Gillard's podcast.
Oliver Spake: Thank you.
Melissa Ellis: Where she interviews a lot of very notable and often unknown by the general population, women.
Oliver Spake: Yep.
Melissa Ellis: And I enjoy hearing all those stories of some very remarkable women. And, of course, I listen to With Me Now. I don't listen to any other sports ones, though. And the news. I like to listen to the news.
Oliver Spake: But no, you've sparked an interest. I need to go and look at my podcast list and probably listen to some of the podcasts I'd bookmarked to listen to over time, like the ones I thought I'd listen to in my week off.
Melissa Ellis: We should probably even ask listeners to give us reviews. I know Scott and Mel had done that in the past, but do you know what, Ollie? I don't even know where to tell them to go to do it.
Oliver Spake: I suppose on your different platforms. Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Okay.
Oliver Spake: But there's something to test out whether our email is working. You've got some tips around the best ways of giving reviews, best locations for it. Please get in touch with us.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, good point.
Oliver Spake: But nonetheless, happy International Podcast Day. Mel, thanks for being a part of the international podcasting community and thanks to all of our fellow podcasters out there for keeping us all entertained.
Melissa Ellis: Okay. Time to start wrapping things up, I suppose, Ollie.
Sign-off
Oliver Spake: Yes. So next parkrun day, where are you off to, Mel?
Melissa Ellis: Oh, I have no idea. I'm not over last week's one yet.
Oliver Spake: No, I can understand that.
Melissa Ellis: And I got home and all my thoughts were to preparing for this very night's recording. So I haven't even thought of it. I'm not even going to say I'm going to put in an alphabet wheel this week because that's just my work. So, I don't know, maybe I will just post on the Office Lady's Friday post to announce where I decide I go.
Oliver Spake: That's right. Bit of recovery time, bit of rest.
Melissa Ellis: What about you?
Oliver Spake: I will run direct at home. I'm back to Shellharbour.
Melissa Ellis: You are looking out for Cameron.
Oliver Spake: That's right. I hope to see you there.
Melissa Ellis: He'll be the one that puts his hand up and says that he's from Parkes.
Oliver Spake: Excellent. Excellent. So look forward to it very much so. After a week off, it'll be good to get back to parkrun. But before that, I'm looking forward to getting back to bed, to be perfectly honest.
Melissa Ellis: Well, okay. Well, we shall wrap up and let you catch up on some, I don't know, really we should feel bad. You've just had a week in a tropical paradise and now you're complaining that you're tired.
Oliver Spake: Thought I was going to get away with it.
Melissa Ellis: Go and have some sleep. But as always, you can contact us via Facebook or on our very full email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week. We'll see you all next week for more adventures.
the Office Lady: Right, I better find an envelope for the Obi, I suppose. Oh, oh, what's this? A note. Oh. Dear Office Lady, we thought about putting this note amongst the post-its on Ollie's desk or under the Eynesbury roster on Mel's desk. But then we thought, no, you're the one that will get the biggest shock reading this note. We're gone, Office Lady. Out of here. Vamoose. Splitsville. Whatever other clichés you like that mean we've left the building, you can have the comfy chair. The debacle over Ollie getting all the caramilk at the last stupid harbour front was the final straw. We'll keep publishing our spreadsheets on theinformant.me, but we're not coming to level two with a view that isn't even that great anymore. Try having fun without us. See ya.