Episode 305 - You’ve Got Mail!

00:00:24[other]

Welcome

00:00:24Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 305 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. My name is Melissa Pixie Ellis, and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country.

00:00:31Oliver Spake: And I am Ollie Pixie Spake, and I am joining from Dharawal Country. How are you, Mel? I'm very good. How are you? I'm very well, thank you. I can't keep this up. That's enough of the fast talk, Ollie. I'm not sure how I went, but hopefully saved Bruce Purdy a bit of trouble. And of course, we'd like to thank everyone who shared their own podcasting tips, experiences and habits and likes. I'm not sure we got dislikes, but thank you for sharing if that was the case. I don't recall any. But in relation, of course, to International Podcast Day, which passed by with a bit of celebration on September 30, last Friday. And the mention there of Bruce Pryor was Bruce's feedback indicating that he does listen at 1.3 times the speed. And that's a timing necessity to fit it in on the commute, but that we do sound like pixies.

00:01:25Melissa Ellis: So we're going to sound like pixies on sugar.

00:01:28Oliver Spake: Yeah, sugar, helium and a few other things. Yes. Yes.

00:01:33Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, you haven't been well. How are you feeling now? Are you okay now? I'm on the mend, yeah.

00:01:38Oliver Spake: Okay. I'm on the mend, thank you. I'm on the meds, I'm on the mend, and hopefully the tonsils will be better much, much sooner or soon. Yeah, so I missed another parkrun day, Mel, and my apologies in particular to Cameron, who I was looking forward to seeing at Shellharbour, who went there without me. I had one job. I did not fulfil my job. And fortunately, on what was a very wet-looking Saturday, it did clear up a bit, I was able to rely on one of the trusty team to step in and run direct in my place.

00:02:11Melissa Ellis: Well, big kudos to your team for stepping up and helping you out. And I'm sure Cameron will be back. I got a feeling that he indicated he has family, perhaps his parents, in the area. So I'm not sure I didn't search his record, but he may have been there before and he may well come back again. So you'll have to catch him the next time.

00:02:33Oliver Spake: That's right. So no parkrun for me. What about yourself, Mel? Help me live a bit of parkrun day experience, please.

00:02:40Melissa Ellis: Okay, this week I adventured to Charleston parkrun, South Australia, on the lands of the Peramangk people. Charleston is a small town in the Adelaide Hills on the main route to the Barossa Valley, and from 1918 to 1953 it was serviced by the Mount Pleasant Railway line, which now forms the Amy Gillett Bikeway. The bikeway, or rail trail, is a 17-kilometre sealed path used for cycling, walking and horse riding and is named after Australian track cyclist and rower Amy Gillett. Coincidentally, the Charleston parkrun runs along the tarmac bikeway beginning close to Newman Road and is basically a relatively flat double out and back with views of greenfields, cows and horses. 75 participants enjoyed the lovely mulled morning, which was significantly more than the average of just under 39 finishers. I am pleased to report that volunteer parkwalkers were out on the course encouraging everybody. However, as was the case with many events, the parkwalker vests and signs had not arrived in time for the first week of October. I was greeted warmly when I arrived by volunteer Jenny and encouraged afterwards to join the regulars for brunch at the nearby Woodside Provador Cafe. And there I joined Bob and Heather Willis and Tail Walker Peter Mason for a very enjoyable park faff, learning more about the history of the event, which launched in June of 2018. Now, I had initially planned to visit Strathalbyn parkrun this weekend, one of my nendies, until I realised that Charleston would fill a Wilson number of 167 and was only a mere 15 minutes further to travel from where I was staying overnight in Murray Bridge, sold little did I know that this lovely parkrun would also give me a south for my UK compass club challenge therefore completing all four points of the compass score that's a bonus yes my trip to Charleston was regrettably brief as I needed to return home to volunteer at juniors on Sunday mornings What tourist tips can I offer this week, Ollie? Cheap rooms over pubs result in interrupted sleeps.

00:04:50Oliver Spake: Yes. Yes. I've had too many parkrun accommodation digs with cheap rooms over pubs. There are at least two palms that I've slept with cheap rooms over pubs.

00:05:03Melissa Ellis: Yes, about quarter to two in the morning I awoke to very inebriated patrons on the street underneath my room. So that's okay.

00:05:15Oliver Spake: It's all part of the experience. That's right.

00:05:18Melissa Ellis: But, yeah, that was my very busy Saturday.

00:05:21Oliver Spake: Yeah, it was. It was and backed up on the Sunday. Look, thank you for the fix, Mel. That helped.

00:05:27Melissa Ellis: But I am really exhausted because after Juniors, Ollie... I had a rather busy day on Sunday as well when I accompanied Abby's mum, Renee Jackson, to do a rather long walk around the city of Melbourne. We took the Capital City Trail and we did that in support of fellow parkrun adventurer, Andrew Reynolds, who was over in the UK doing the London Marathon. So although the times didn't align, we still wanted to show our support in some way. So that was what we did. But, Ollie, I am not 30 kilometre walking fit at the moment.

00:06:08Oliver Spake: How about after that? Yeah, so what's this? This is a bit over 24 hours since the walk. How are the legs, Mel?

00:06:16Melissa Ellis: The legs are okay. The hips are not happy.

00:06:18Oliver Spake: Yep, okay.

00:06:19Melissa Ellis: The hips are really not happy. So it's not the first time I've done the Capital City Trail because typically in my marathon training, I would do the Capital City Trail as my last long run before the Melbourne Marathon. Oh, and it timed quite well, ironically, in with Sunday being Melbourne Marathon in Australia. And we knew that the trails would be quite quiet because all the regular runners that would ordinarily be out on those city trails were probably running the Melbourne Marathon or one of the events in the serious yeah yeah it was pretty quiet but uh yeah so usually I can run the whole thing well in past years I've been able to run the whole trail but that just shows how much fitness I've lost because even walking it was agony towards the end but we had fun so that's all that matters well that is all that matters that's right great support and yeah hopefully the marathon running went well Oh, Andrew did really well. Yes, he did. Yes. Yes, we tracked him and we awoke in the morning to see how he went and he looked very happy with his performance.

00:07:31Oliver Spake: Excellent. Well done, Andrew. Look, I suppose we should cover off some of the feedback from last week, Mel.

00:07:38Melissa Ellis: Yes, we heard from a few people, Ollie, didn't we? We had a comment from Geoff Glaab with tips on giving ratings. That's right. In response to our request for, what are they called?

00:07:51Oliver Spake: Well, yeah, I guess how you give ratings to podcasts. Hmm. And Geoff did explain in the comments there that if you're a Spotify user, you can give parkrun adventurers a quick five-star rating like this. That's probably not a very easy way to describe that on the podcast because I can't show. But if you check out our post from last week from the episode, Geoff's comment there does have the visual with how to place that rating. I suspect there are a few people out there that are much more savvy in giving ratings than I am and not sure about yourself there, Mel, but it's quite easy. Yeah.

00:08:27Melissa Ellis: Yeah. We also had a message from Alison King who said, how to post a review from the iPhone podcast app. First go to the podcast you want to review, then scroll down. And there it is. I believe Alison also had a screenshot indicating where the, uh, review section was.

00:08:48Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. So thank you for that feedback. And thank you for anyone that has rated us. Next challenge is we've got to find out how to find out if we've had ratings. So what ratings we have.

00:08:59Melissa Ellis: How to read them. I don't want to read them only in case they're not good. What if they're not good?

00:09:03Oliver Spake: Look, everyone's view is important.

00:09:05Melissa Ellis: Yeah, but I'll get upset.

00:09:07Oliver Spake: Hear that everyone. Only nice reviews.

00:09:11Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:09:12Oliver Spake: No, everyone's view is important and we look forward to any reviews. And I have seen them occasionally as well, so I jest. But thank you for the feedback. We did also get some feedback from Brett Bailey who sent us an email, which we've included in this section because, hey, spoiler alert, we found out the inbox is working. But... Brett's email was regarding pronunciation and the drum roll is because I'm just making sure that I can pronounce it correctly. But Brett said, hi, team, just following up with your discussion on the pronunciation of Waikanae. I'm no expert in Te Reo Maori, but generally the F sound is used with words starting with WH. For example, Whakatane. Whakatane was pretty much as how Ollie said it, and I'm hesitating because I can't remember how I said it, but where it is a hard W. Brett said, looking forward to meeting you soon. A Bailey shot is planned for post SH parkrun on the 15th with a visit to duty free on the way over and maybe a repeat at Bathurst. Cheers, Brett. Thank you, Brett.

00:09:34[other]

00:10:25Melissa Ellis: Alison also gave us a tip, I think, in that same message about giving reviews that also said that you almost nailed your pronunciation, Ollie. So well done, you. And shame on me for forgetting that the F sound only relates when it begins with a W-H.

00:10:45Oliver Spake: Yes, and I think Alison was pointing out that the A-E at the end was an I kind of sound, if I'm pronouncing that correctly. Like an I. But I'll move on in case I'm butchering that too. But thank you very much, everyone, for the feedback.

parkrun news bulletin

00:11:01Oliver Spake: However, we've probably got some news from the parkrun world to recap. I'm not sure it was a pretty quiet week in parkrun world, wasn't it, Mel?

00:11:08Melissa Ellis: I don't think it was. It was busy. It was a big week.

00:11:12Oliver Spake: It was very busy. parkrun's a grown-up.

00:11:15Melissa Ellis: parkrun turned 18.

00:11:17Oliver Spake: Yeah. Must admit, I was expecting some slightly different festivities to parkwalk, but it was a great way to mark it, of course. I was very sorry to have missed that, Mel, but it's been great seeing a lot of the images and a lot of the celebration and some of the stories coming through, even in the roving reports that are coming up. But So on the parkrun blog over the last week, there was a great recap shared of parkrun over the years, of course, the origins, some of the key highlights, some of the key challenges, of course, in the last few years that we have had. But under 2022, we thought it'd be worthwhile sharing some of what they did publish as highlights for the most recent year. So I'll kick off, Mel, but I won't try and read it all.

00:12:01Melissa Ellis: Yeah, no, I can help out.

00:12:03Oliver Spake: Otherwise the tonsils will get angry, I'm sure. But they said, over the years, we've celebrated our average finish time getting slower, showing that parkrun has increasingly broken down barriers to participation and welcomed more and more people for whom physical activity was not previously the norm. In 2005, the average finish time for completing a parkrun was 22 minutes and 17 seconds. Now in 2022, the average finish time is over 30 minutes. We've introduced the new milestone clubs so that they are equal for both volunteering and walking and running, which further supports our view that all participation is equal, whether walking, running or volunteering. At the start of the year, Russ Jefferys took over as CEO. And then in March, we celebrated International Women's Day, welcoming nearly 100,000 women and girls to hashtag International Women's Day parkrun or IWD parkrun.

00:13:00Melissa Ellis: Now, with events in 2,200 locations around the world and 18 years of parkrunning, we have grown from 13 participants to more than 7 million registered parkrunners. With our hashtag park walk campaign beginning this weekend, the number of registered parkrunners is only going to increase. Join us for the month of October and beyond and invite friends, family, neighbours and colleagues along to your local parkrun for a hashtag park walk. Together we are creating a healthier, happier planet. A happy birthday parkrun. Yes. And a lovely initiative to mark parkrun's 18th birthday.

00:13:39Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:13:40Melissa Ellis: Did Shellharbour – oh, I said it. But in any case, did they get their park walk vests and signs in time for Saturday, Ollie?

00:13:49Oliver Spake: Yes. Yes, we were some of the fortunate parkruns, I think, maybe as the mail reached further, further south from parkrun HQ in Australia. We were within that touching distance. So they were able to be safely dispatched across to the team and we had two parkwalkers out there in Gordon and Jason out celebrating.

00:14:15Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's good. I don't know that the vests reached as far south as Victoria. I know my local events didn't receive theirs and we certainly didn't receive ours for Junior parkrun. They still haven't turned up yet, but I am eagerly stalking my mailbox every day. Yes. Hoping that that will turn up soon. I'm sure they're here any minute.

00:14:37Oliver Spake: That's right. Clearly, it's a big initiative. It's a big effort and a lot of people go into a lot of trouble to get them out and some great innovation for those that haven't received them and they're still looking to celebrate. But I think all in all the positivity of the initiative and seeing and hearing people coming to parkrun, being drawn to parkrun for that initiative makes it all worthwhile. So they're in the mail and I hope they pop up tomorrow.

00:15:03Melissa Ellis: And we'll hear a little bit more about that in one of the roving reports coming up, Ollie.

00:15:07Oliver Spake: That's absolutely right. But it's another special day today, in fact, Mel.

00:15:12Melissa Ellis: It is today. It's German Unity Day, and we happen to know that there are a lot of adventurers. Well, okay, maybe a lot is a stretch. We have some adventurers over in Germany running at the special event today. I have checked the Consolidated Club report. It's not out yet for Unity Day, so we can't bring you those stats. Christine Imbert will be running, I believe. And Adrian Luscombe also mentioned that he too will be. But we looked at the Consolidated Club report for Zeta Park and Adrian doesn't seem to be in the Adventurers Club. So, Adrian, you need to join us. Calum Burrell shared a link for us to see the Consolidated Club Report for Monday, but I have worked out now how I can find that. But thank you, Callum, for including that as well.

00:16:07Oliver Spake: Indeed. Thank you very much. And probably a couple of names, familiar to some of our longer time listeners of the podcast, the name of Nambour parkrun and the name of Aidan Hobbs, both familiar. Nambour, of course, being the venue of one of our favourite Palm get togethers. I think it was Palm 2021. But there's a new record, a new course record at Nambour parkrun.

00:16:33Melissa Ellis: It was just ridiculous. I mean, really?

00:16:37Oliver Spake: Aidan Hobbs, you're just showing off. And so the parkrunner and runner, let's face it, also referred to as Superman, has proven the point. I did do a double take here in looking at what the previous fastest time was. So to come in by my very poor back-of-the-envelope calculation, a minute 37 faster than the previous record at 17.28 on that course in Nambour is just astounding. And so the best of our understanding, our fact-checking has shown it to be Aidan's 24th current course record. One of them is a joint record, ironically, with a parkrunner by the name of Dean Cain.

00:17:22[laughter]

00:17:22Melissa Ellis: That's hilarious. Oh, no offence to Dean. No, no. No offence to Dean, but he does share the name of an actor who did play Superman in a very popular series, TV series. Would it have been the 80s?

00:17:37Oliver Spake: I'm sure it would have been the 80s, Ollie. No, it was the 90s. It was mid-90s. It was that sweet spot in television and music history, the mid-90s.

00:17:45Melissa Ellis: Are you sure? Did you fact check that?

00:17:47Oliver Spake: I'm absolutely sure. Absolutely sure. Lois and Clark, that's right.

00:17:51Melissa Ellis: I know. I was still living at home when that happened.

00:17:55Oliver Spake: But not only that, so not only does he share that record with Dean Cain. Dean Cain was, in fact, the previous record holder at Nambour parkrun. So there appears to be a bit of a rivalry between Superman and Dean Cain. So my question is, is Dean's remaining course record at Ocean View parkrun under threat? We'll see. We'll see. Aidan, you might have to answer that for us.

00:18:20Melissa Ellis: Oh, wow.

00:18:21Oliver Spake: You fact-checked?

00:18:23Melissa Ellis: Yeah, oh, yeah. You're right. It was 1983. No, it was 1993. 1993, yeah.

00:18:30Oliver Spake: I was 23.

00:18:32Melissa Ellis: Oh, now I've just divulged how old I am. Oh, well, there you go. Memories can be funny things, can't they? Yeah.

00:18:42Oliver Spake: Oh, but yes, I do remember that series, Mel. And yeah, I don't think I watched too many of the episodes, but I remember Dean Cain well. But more to the point, congratulations, Aidan. That is a phenomenal parkrun. And of course, to everyone there on the day as a part of the event, but I can't imagine that. How exciting.

00:19:03Melissa Ellis: Now, Aidan, you've got to go for the Australian record. No pressure.

00:19:06Oliver Spake: No pressure whatsoever. Yeah. Anyway, that's a fairly big recap.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:19:10Oliver Spake: So I think it's time maybe to hand over to a couple of our roving reporters, Ingrid and Sarah this week, who will recap what was the first park walk day with some roving reports.

Roving report Ingrid Botha — Armidale parkrun

00:19:30Ingrid Botha: Hi adventurers, this is Ingrid at Armidale parkrun and I'm here with Margaret and Chris. The reason I'm doing this report today is because we are doing the Park Walk initiative here in October and Margaret said to me that she is here for Park Walk. Now I was fairly sceptical about Park Walk, I thought we always welcome walkers anyway, but Margaret's here because of Park Walk. Hi Margaret, how are you?

00:19:52Margaret: I'm fine, thank you. Yes, I'm here for the very first time and only because it said... park walk. I felt less intimidated because there was walk in the title rather than parkrun knowing how fast my son runs parkrun. So your son's a fairly regular parkrunner? He's been coming here for a few years and pushes his daughter in the pram all the way and does a fairly good run.

00:20:18Ingrid Botha: Yeah, there were a couple of really fast buggies actually and there were hills and there was boggy ground and they were still on fire today. So it's fantastic. How did you find the course today?

00:20:28Margaret: I found it tricky. We did go at a pace. I went with my daughter-in-law and the other baby in the pram and we did get bogged. There were hills. We didn't finish the course but we did it at a fairly good rate and got our heartbeats up.

00:20:42Ingrid Botha: Yeah, and that's really what it's about. It's the participation. It's not about finish times or anything else. It's about being here. Yeah, the ground was a bit boggy today. It's definitely not one if you want to keep your shoes dry. They were pretty good. Now you're here with Chris, and Chris, this is your second parkrun.

00:20:58Chris: Yes, yes, this is my second one. My son has been doing this for years and keeps saying, oh, Dad, you really ought to come to parkrun. And a couple of weeks ago, I succumbed.

00:21:09Ingrid Botha: And you found out he was right, didn't you?

00:21:11Chris: Oh, absolutely. Much to my surprise, I could actually run the whole course, although I felt pretty secondhand after it.

00:21:18Ingrid Botha: Yeah, well, I didn't manage to run the whole course, but I never do, so it doesn't really matter. Oh, really? Yeah, I'm a run walker. I enjoy the run walk. So, yeah, and that's fine. And that's why I was surprised with park walk, because it does seem to me that it's quite inclusive and is really interesting hearing your perspective. Do you think you'll be back?

00:21:36Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:21:38Margaret: But when the ground has dried out a little, I think I will. It's quite cold this morning. There's a freezing wind. I think when the weather warms up a little. I do walk fairly regularly anyway. But, yeah, I've broken the... Sort of broken that barrier, I think, knowing that I can come and that everybody is nice and you don't have to run.

00:22:03Ingrid Botha: Yeah, well, you're about to find out the best bit is the coffee afterwards. So that's the only reason we all do it. Yeah, well, really great to meet you guys today and we'll catch you around. Lovely to meet you.

00:22:13Chris: Might see you here again.

00:22:15Ingrid Botha: So I'm here on a brisk Armidale morning and I'm here with Amanda and Ian and they are parkwalkers today. Hi guys, how did you find it today? Yeah, it was really fun. Nice to encourage the walkers.

00:22:26Ian: Yep, fantastic. Love walking it.

00:22:29Ingrid Botha: Yeah, and you guys are regulars here. How many parkruns have you done? We've both done about 230 thereabouts. 230, that's awesome.

00:22:37Amanda: And mostly at Armidale? Yeah, mostly at Armidale, but we enjoy a touristy parkrun when we can.

00:22:45Ian: Anywhere and everywhere. Up Northern Territory, Queensland, we haven't got to Victoria yet, but we've been around New South Wales many a spot.

00:22:52Ingrid Botha: One of our podcast hosts is quite keen on Victoria, but I don't know if it's all it's cracked up to be. Hey, Mel.

00:22:58Amanda: I've even done Bushy parkrun over in the UK. Oh, really? Oh, wow. How many years ago was that? That was about five years ago. Yeah. Yeah, about five years ago.

00:23:08Ingrid Botha: I've got to say, was it massive? It was huge. There was about a thousand people there. It was crazy. I've got to say the smaller ones are, I prefer the smaller ones.

00:23:15Amanda: I prefer the smaller ones too. That was a bit overwhelming for me, but I did enjoy the experience. Yeah. And you love Armidale parkrun, I'm sure?

00:23:22Ian: Oh, Armidale parkrun's a fantastic parkrun. It's beautiful in springtime and even in autumn when there's all yellow trees and you've got to run on the yellow leaves. It's lovely.

00:23:31Ingrid Botha: Yeah, it is very pretty. It's mostly a grass course. It's an out-and-back, but it's a little bit of a complicated course, but there was plenty of marshals and it was really well marked out, I found, and lots of friendly people, as you'd expect. How long have you been parkrunning here? For 230 runs, have you been here sort of since the beginning?

00:23:48Ian: Yep, we did the first one and we virtually come here every Saturday unless we're off somewhere else. And if we're touring or travelling, we'll always find a parkrun. My wife makes sure that wherever we go, there's a parkrun on the Saturday morning somewhere we can go to.

00:24:05Ingrid Botha: I like her a lot. Okay, well, thanks guys. And you enjoyed the park walking roll? This is something obviously different.

00:24:13Amanda: I think it's a good initiative. It's good to encourage the walkers. Yeah.

00:24:16Ian: Well, I think we should get a lot more walkers coming out. It's good exercise Saturday morning. If it's cold, you come out, you wear a coat, a hat. Buff, gloves, and you're warm. You're warm as toast walking.

00:24:31Ingrid Botha: Yeah, and I've got to say, I'm standing here in a t-shirt. It's pretty nice now compared to when we started, so it really did come good quite quickly. When you guys crossed the line, there were two or three walkers around you, and I know a few in front and a few behind. Was the conversation good?

00:24:44Ian: yeah we just tried to encourage everybody that we saw and luckily because ours is out and back we got to see people as they were going past us as well the other direction so that's good yeah when you start parkrun you have very few friends but when you do it as much as we've been doing you end up travelling all through the countryside doing different runs even got us to the Larapinta Trail stage race this parkrun did wow fantastic okay well thanks so much and thanks for volunteering thank you

Roving report Sarah Jefferson — Zillmere parkrun

00:25:13Sarah Jefferson: Good morning, parkrun adventurers. It's Sarah here, not on the West Side, but on the east side. I'm here to get my Z at Zillmere this morning. Very exciting. And I'm here with Damon Newman and Maria Newman. And I'm very excited to meet you guys. Now, can you tell me a little bit about your parkrun journey so far?

00:25:31Damon Newman: journey started off with Marie actually. I probably am more the runner of the both of us, but we were living in Varsity Lakes and Marie said to me, I think there's some type of running group that goes on over at the boat house. So we turned up there and now we're about 350 odd into it. I think Marie's about 150 or 60 odd volunteers.

00:25:59Sarah Jefferson: Wow. Volunteers. Congratulations and thank you. That's amazing. I still need to get my 100 volunteer shirt. Yeah, you better order that. Yeah, well done. So do you guys go around and do a bit of adventuring yourself?

00:26:11Damon Newman: We have, yeah. Because we've been up here in Brisbane for about the last year and a half, two years?

00:26:17Maria Newman: Yeah, about two years now.

00:26:20Damon Newman: It's a first opportunity really because we were pretty much entrenched in Varsity for a long while there. So we got the opportunity, so we've pretty much done most of them that are within about an hour of here.

00:26:33Maria Newman: And any time we go away, even if it's New Zealand or Canada or wherever there's a parkrun, we will always pick accommodation next to a parkrun. And for us, it's like our regular, we call it church even, that's how regular it is, awesome that's our kind of people here nice um so what does parkrun mean to you I guess it's it's part of your routine it's community community coffee coffee important stuff uh independence like mobility I mean like the ability to just keep fit as we get are getting older and just trying to hopefully we'll be there still there you know even in our twilight years yeah awesome and we've seen some

00:27:12Damon Newman: you know it really has been an eye-opener to us because um we've met people especially even in Varsity that are about 70 70s even 80s yeah that are running it yeah wow about 81 I think is one of our oldest ones yeah right so we just reckon that you know if they can do it yeah it's great yep

00:27:32Sarah Jefferson: I've dragged my partner's pa here today. He's 82, so he's on the course somewhere. So, yeah, it is great. And that's right, it doesn't discriminate. Anyone can join in.

00:27:42Damon Newman: I pushed my father around at New Farm parkrun this time last year, exactly. He was 81 at the time. He turned 82 that day.

00:27:52Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, wow. Pushing them around in a wheelchair. What a great birthday, or start to a birthday, I say.

00:27:57Damon Newman: Yeah.

00:27:58Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, awesome. And aside from sort of when you're holidaying and you do a bit of adventuring, do you chase any of the challenges at all?

00:28:05Damon Newman: Not really. We kind of were surprised because other people were telling us about them. So you look on the app and you go, oh, I've already done that one. I've done that one. I've done even like the stopwatch challenge. It was surprising.

00:28:18Maria Newman: I think we almost got every letter, maybe just bar two. Oh, awesome. A Q, I think, and I can't remember what else.

00:28:24Damon Newman: The ones that are really difficult.

00:28:25Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, right. Well, we've travelled all the way from Perth to get our Zeds. Oh, well done. Just to hear that you guys have rocked up. Well, yeah, lucky you guys. So, yeah, well, it's really great to hear about your parkrun journey. And, yeah, thanks for sharing it with the listeners today. Thank you. Thank you. All right, this morning I'm here with... Jill Gardiner. Hi, Jill. Can you tell me a little bit about what you've done this morning at parkrun at Zillmere?

00:28:51Jill Gardiner: At Zillmere this morning? Well, I've come out early, about quarter to six, and I've done pre-event set-up. I've done the First Timers Welcome. I've then barcoded after I've run, and I've just finished doing the Token Sorting as well.

00:29:04Sarah Jefferson: Crazy.

00:29:04Jill Gardiner: All in a morning's work. Well, all in a morning's work. It's not usually as hectic as that, but again, because of the school holidays, I think we haven't had as many volunteers putting their hands up, so I thought I might as well come along and do it and then make sure that the event actually happens. Thank you. We're thankful for that because we travelled all the way from Perth to get our Z. Oh, that's good.

00:29:20Sarah Jefferson: Yes. Can you tell me a little bit about your parkrun journey? I hear you've done quite a few. I think today was about 450.

00:29:28Jill Gardiner: three or 454 so yeah I started about nine years ago so yeah it's been kind of like every weekend for well apart from COVID obviously yeah um coming along regularly but it's part of me now it's part of my uh yeah lifestyle yeah it's great so yeah if I don't do it I feel as if there's something you know missing for my life yes that's right um and do you go around and do some touristing I do yes at the minute um I'm focusing more on getting some more volunteer credits yes because they're a little bit low at the minute so I thought I might as well bump them up this year sounds like you will Yeah, well, with today, I'm counted as one. But anyway, I do junior parkruns now on Sundays as well to help with that. But yeah, I do like to volunteerism. Yeah, nice. I'll be going to England next year, so hopefully get a few done over there, particularly bushy ones, which I'm looking forward to. Yeah, I'm going to definitely do that when I get over there. Awesome.

00:30:13Sarah Jefferson: I hear it's like a very well-oiled machine there. Yes, 1,000, well, yeah, 1,000, 1,500 plus. So yeah, that should be interesting. It'll be the biggest one I've ever done. So yeah, I'm looking forward to it. And I'm assuming you get lots of tourists here.

00:30:25Jill Gardiner: Oh, we usually get, I'd say, two-thirds tourists to about a third locals. And sometimes there's only a couple of locals and the rest are tourists. So it's a big touristy one, obviously, because we're the only Z in the whole of Australia. But we like meeting all the people from around and about. Yeah. So that's good.

00:30:41Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, cool, cool. And any challenges that you're chasing apart from your volunteers? Oh, tell me about it. It's a forever thing, right?

00:30:51Jill Gardiner: Well, you kind of like finish one and you think, oh, what should I go for next? So, yeah, I'm trying to get some Nelsons done. I'm trying to get my Wilson Index up a bit. Well, I've got one today for Wilson Index.

00:31:04Amanda: I'm up to about 189.

00:31:07Jill Gardiner: nine nine I'm trying to get to 200 and then I'll give that a rest for a bit but yeah so that will happen just after the New Year I reckon um and then yeah trying to get some nelson's trying to get some Wilson index up trying to obviously get my volunteerists and and uh volunteering things going and obviously I want to do the bushy one try and do the compass one because I need a west but I don't know when I'm going to do that yes there's a west in west Australia that's just started yeah yeah feel free yeah um and there's a couple that I'm nearly at the brink of doing but uh yeah I'm hopefully I might get oh another s I need snakes alive one more s but I might do that when I go to England sounds good sounds good cool well I love your enthusiasm for parkrun oh I love it this yeah Jill is not Jill without parkrun oh I love it part of your identity

00:31:52Sarah Jefferson: it's their middle name oh that's actually great that's a great idea cool all right thank you for sharing part of your story today that's right and um all that you do for volunteering in parkrun right happy parkrunning everyone thank you all right I'm here with terry and Dylan and I really like your new vest can you tell me a little bit about it and what you did this morning so this vest is a park walk

00:32:15Unidentified speaker: It's a version of parkrun, but it's for people who think they're not quite ready to run, so they just want to take it slow so you can walk.

00:32:23Unidentified speaker: It's very fun. And you can do it at your own pace, and parkwalk is as good as parkrun.

00:32:29Sarah Jefferson: Awesome. They look really great, and really great job volunteering this morning. Thank you. It's awesome. And just quickly, how many parkruns have you done, young man? I have done around 65 to 70. That is very impressive. Very impressive indeed. Is this your local parkrun that you come to a lot? Yes, it is. Awesome. And do you do different parkruns sometimes?

00:32:50Unidentified speaker: We've done a couple of different parkruns. We've been to Cairns where my sister was. But Zillmere is our home and it's really hard to leave because it's very friendly and it's just such a lovely course.

00:33:02Sarah Jefferson: Awesome. Well, we're thankful for having people like you guys on the course this morning, encouraging people. Thank you. So really well done. Thank you. Thank you.

00:33:18Melissa Ellis: And two very good reports coming to us from Ingrid at Armidale and Sarah from the West Side over on the east side, Ollie. Yes.

00:33:30Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. And look, wonderful to hear from a whole bunch of parkrunners and parkwalkers, I think even more so. So, you know, some common themes there with a few of our guests in the roving reports and the way they plan their tourism, much like yourself, Mel. But park walk, getting a good solid representation. Good work, everyone.

00:33:53Melissa Ellis: It was, but especially Margaret, Ollie, who was made to feel more welcome because of the park walk initiative. Yes. And I think, you know, that's something that a lot of us and certainly Ingrid indicated that she thought everybody would be welcome at parkrun, but just that change in name has made a big difference.

00:34:18Oliver Spake: I suppose different things resonate for different people and it's absolutely, it seems a place to get that message out there and to help more people discover parkrunning the way that

Emails

00:34:31Oliver Spake: That they enjoy.

00:34:31Melissa Ellis: But we've got mail this week, Ollie.

00:34:34Oliver Spake: You've got mail. Oh, yeah, that's right. The email inbox works.

00:34:39Melissa Ellis: It does. And it was full to overflowing. So thank you to everybody that took the time to let us know that we're not broken, that our email is actually still working. And first up, we heard from David Irwin. And he said, Mel and Ollie, you wanted an email. You got an email. Also try Marathon Talk Podcast as it's back, the original running podcast. Best wishes, David, aka Monty Slade.

00:35:12Oliver Spake: Are you allowed to say that?

00:35:12Melissa Ellis: I don't know. There's no disclaimer. I've never listened to Marathon Talk, Ollie. Oh, am I going to get shot?

00:35:21Oliver Spake: No, no, you're not going to get shot, but it is a great podcast. It has been, I'm sure, five years since I've listened to Marathon Talk, but it's absolutely a stalwart of the running community and always, always has a lot to listen to. So thank you, David. Good suggestion.

00:35:40Sarah Jefferson: Hmm.

00:35:40Oliver Spake: Now, the next email in our inbox came from Calum Burrell, who said to us, Hi there, Mel and Ollie. I know that both of you and the pod listeners love your parkrun stats, and a good number of people like to use the 5K app to track these. Well, one new feature which I wanted to draw your attention to is the new stat featured titled Total Days Attendance, and that's located on the main profile page between Years parkrunning and Longest Tourist Streak. Prior to this app providing this stat, it is fair to say that days attended would ordinarily be something that people would have to work out themselves and probably have spreadsheets to figure it all out. But now the 5K app developers have made looking at this so much easier. I think a key thing to point out is, hypothetically, if I have done 280 parkruns, why does it show up with 276 days? Well, that is more than likely due to these occasions when a few of us were able to get to do New Year's Day doubles back in the day when we were allowed to do them. As you might recall, my wife, Lindsay, and I did our joint 250 a few weeks ago. 250 runs for me and 250 volley stints for Lindsay. And many thanks for providing us both with an Obi Award in recognition of that. Now, on Lindsay's profile, it states that her total day's attendance is 249. Again, due to New Year's Day doubles and also one occasion when Lindsay doubled up one week when being Volunteer Coordinator for our home event, then barcode scanning for another. Again, in the days that could count as two credits in one week. Therefore, this coming parkrun day will be Lindsay's 250th day attended. So in summary, there is now another very arbitrary milestone which folk can look forward to. They're 50, they're 100, 250, or whatever their parkrun day attendance figure is. Good luck trying to explain that one to the RD on the day you're here. Thanks for a great pod and the encouragement for those doing Streaky September. This was my first time being involved with that, and it was also great to hear the Streakmeister Pippa White giving her words of wisdom. All the best, Calum Burrell, A461587. And P.S., I've included a couple of screenshots of the app to help show you what I've described in this email. Also, I look forward to hearing the You've Got Mail sound effect again, which we've enjoyed. Thank you, Callum. That is a really good feature.

00:38:12Melissa Ellis: I looked mine up, Ollie, just then while you were reading, and my total days attendance is 444.

00:38:19Oliver Spake: 444.

00:38:20Melissa Ellis: So have I got a Nelson total attendance days?

00:38:25Oliver Spake: Wow, that's a multiplier.

00:38:28Melissa Ellis: It's kind of freaky because my previous married name was Nelson, so anyway. Moving swiftly on.

00:38:37Oliver Spake: I'll do my research while you do that, yes. Okay.

00:38:39Melissa Ellis: Well, I'll go on and I'll read the next email. It came from Eman and he said, Hi, guys, another enjoyable episode and good to hear Ollie had a nice holiday. On the question of podcasts, one of my favourites and relevant to listeners of the adventurers podcast is the AFF On Air podcast by the Australian Frequent Flyer. It's a fortnightly podcast talking about all things travel and frequent flyers, flights, airlines, and using travel points and travel hacks as a frequent flyer family. Gosh, Eman. It's a great way to get up to date on any flight and holiday deals in Australia and abroad. Relevant to those looking to attend palm23 or even those looking to book domestic and international parkrun adventures. Cheers, Eman. Oh, that's interesting. I think I'm going to have to download that for my next long car trip.

00:39:33Oliver Spake: I think so. Yeah, that sounds like a very appropriate one.

00:39:36Melissa Ellis: It's a different type of podcast. I hadn't sort of thought to listen to something. I wouldn't think to search something like that. I wouldn't even know that existed.

00:39:44Oliver Spake: That's right. And that's why we ask. That's why we love this community is we continue to learn. So thank you and appreciate the cheers for my nice holiday too. Thanks, Eman. Now, on the subject of travels, we had an email from Sarah Langley who said, "'Greetings from Copenhagen. It was an exciting weekend for new opportunities as I attended my first international parkrun at Amager Fælled in Copenhagen, volunteered as the first parkwalker for the event and then raced across town to present at my first international conference.' Amager Fælled is the oldest parkrun outside of the UK and is a two lap course through the nature park. It felt similar to being home at Shepparton at times due to the wide range of trees and plants throughout the course. The volunteer team were very welcoming and it was a great event. All the best, Sarah Langley.

00:40:40Melissa Ellis: That was great to hear from Sarah. Thank you for emailing us. I met Sarah on recently, Ollie, when I visited Frank Keenan Reserve parkrun in Yarrawonga.

00:40:49Oliver Spake: Yeah. And look, nice way to do it. Just touching down straight into park walk, volunteering. Yeah. And to present at the conference nonetheless as well. So it's been a big one, Sarah.

00:41:01Melissa Ellis: And Sarah sent us a lovely photo of herself in her parkrun volley vest. Yes. And we've included, well, the Office Lady has included the photo in tonight's album.

00:41:11Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:41:12Melissa Ellis: Now, we also heard from the Quizmaster, Simon Mackley. He sent us an email to say, even in Bali, they've heard of Oliver Spake. even if they can't spell it. And Simon sent us a photo of a, what are they called, Ollie? They are a gazebo? What do you call that?

00:41:31Oliver Spake: Yeah, like the portable gazebos. I don't know the name. Yeah.

00:41:35Melissa Ellis: I don't know. But anyway, it said Ollie Pake. I couldn't make out the first word, but it said something Ollie Pake.

00:41:43Oliver Spake: Gunty Ollie Pake or something like that. Yes. I hope you're enjoying your time over there, Simon. Yeah. Honestly, I'm not stalking you.

00:41:51Melissa Ellis: The skies aren't looking that blue, though, in the background of that photo, I have to say. I hope you've got good weather, Simon.

00:41:57Oliver Spake: Hopefully that's just some nice heat. Great running weather, that. So thank you, everyone, for proving that our inbox works. The notifications were really churning through this week, so wonderful to hear from everyone. And just the feedback on my own research, Mel, in my 5K app, total days attendance, 355.

00:42:17Melissa Ellis: Woohoo! Yes. Well done.

00:42:19Oliver Spake: Thank you. But we heard from some more people.

Dazza's

00:42:22Oliver Spake: Well, I suppose Dazza did more appropriately. So this week at Dazza's, he said, happy birthday parkrun. Let's have a park walk party. Welcome to Dazza's.

the Frond

00:42:34Oliver Spake: And... One of those being welcomed to Dazza's was Roberta Winters with a bit of a frond who said happy birthday parkrun. We'll celebrate with a mini frond at Geeveston. And Roberta shared a photo with the Geeveston selfie frame and a few other of the crew in their apricot shirts. Looking like they're enjoying sunny Geeveston this parkrun Day just gone.

00:42:58Melissa Ellis: Our volley this week was Catherine Greenstreet who said, parkwalker at Robelle Domain. I really enjoyed the new role, chatting to people about parkrun and encouraging people. And we had a photo of Catherine in her blue vest.

00:43:11Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:43:12Melissa Ellis: Saw a few of those blue vests this week, which was wonderful.

00:43:16Oliver Spake: Now, a very liked post came from one of the Channel 5 News crew, Tony O'Connell, TOC, who said, hi, Dazza. The photo captures the joy of an awesome parkrun. Missed the walk memo from the Office Lady and scored a first finisher. And TOC shared a photo of, I think, what looked like a bit of fun on a parkrun course by the water.

00:43:38Melissa Ellis: A jump shot from TOC, and I believe he also took out the age category record. So well done. Now, having a frond this week was Sarah Jefferson, who said, happy birthday parkrun. An exciting day here in sunny Queensland. Super exciting meeting Tracey Wood and celebrating a Z. And Sarah shared a photo of herself and Tracey in the selfie frame at Zillmere.

00:44:04Oliver Spake: The selfie frame, yes.

00:44:05Melissa Ellis: The selfie frame.

00:44:09Oliver Spake: Now, celebrating a bit of a milestone this week was Sam Ilsley. And there were a couple of posts around Sam's milestone, but Sam did share a photo looking very purple on course and said, I'm Sam and I did my 50th parkrun. So congratulations. It was one very purple crew.

00:44:29Melissa Ellis: And volleying this week was Janet Reid, who said, Hi, Dazza. Today I was RD aboard the mothership Lochiel, celebrating the start of Parkwalk Month and the start of my birthday month. Our blue vests didn't arrive in time, but that didn't stop us getting into the hashtag parkrun spirit. Two hastily sewn capes did the job nicely. Our parkwalker volleys, Christine and Louise, were visible and had a great time chatting along the way. Hope you had a good day too, Dazza. Just a hot lemon, honey and ginger for me, please. Too much enthusiastic cheering on my part has left me hoarse. Lucky Jeff. And Janet shared a photo of the Lochiel parkwalkers in their very impressive capes. And that's great initiative, whoever got those capes thrown together that quickly.

00:45:22Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. What skills. Looked fantastic. Well done. Now, Mel, coming to us from Europe this week was Graeme Wilkinson, who said... I think I'd read that at some parkruns in Poland, you don't see the volunteers until it's almost time to start. So I was pleasantly surprised after an early warm-up jog to meet RD Ella just after she had arrived to set up. The UK parkrun tourist contingent was warmly greeted this morning at this most friendly of parkruns despite the language barrier. It seems that everyone here greets everyone else when they arrive. Imagine if that happened at Bushy. And thus, after a few handshakes, I had picked up my first word of Polish. After the run brief, naturally in Polish, so the only words I picked out were when I got a mention for visiting and appropriate applause for volunteers and milestone achievers, we set off. Zinawiska parkrun is a tree-lined two-lap course, hard surfaces at the start and end of each lap, with an easy trail section in the middle that feels more forest than park. It's also very flat the whole way. On the second lap, I shouted out the customary, thanks, marshal, and backed it up with clapping. It's possible the Marshals thought I was a bit mad, but they joined in anyway. To help runners, there's a map of the course at the finish line. The start and finish are marked on the path. And there's direction arrows at critical points on the course. At the end of the run, everything was just as you would expect. Once my token was scanned, I was offered some tea, grabbed a picture with Ella, and chatted with a couple of runners whose language skills are better than mine. Then it was back to the hotel for a shower and breakfast before catching the train back to Berlin for a second extra parkrun of the year. Hasenheide, here I come. Poland became the fourth country I've run after the UK, Denmark and Sweden. So now I'm a world tourist. If you can, I'd like a pumpkin spice latte, please, Dazza.

00:47:32Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's interesting that Graham mentions the thanks marshal. Is that what he said, wasn't it? Thanks marshal. I think that's like a British thing to yell it out. And somebody's mentioned that recently on the pod. I'm sure I heard somebody mention that because here in Australia we tend to say, thanks for volunteering. Yes, yes. As we run past the vollies, don't we?

00:47:54Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah. I mean, I do like to cheer back to the volunteers, but I certainly don't call them by Marshall, so you might be right, yeah.

00:48:03Melissa Ellis: Yeah, but anyway, well done, Graeme, and congratulations on becoming a world tourist. Yes.

00:48:08Oliver Spake: That is an achievement.

00:48:09Melissa Ellis: Next, we heard from Andrew Reynolds, first time poster in Dazza's. And Andrew said, made the pilgrimage and rubbed shoulders with parkrun royalty. Andrew, I wasn't there. I'm confused. I jest. Andrew shared a photo of himself over at Bushy parkrun with his son, James, and no other than PSH. So pretty exciting to have an audience with the man himself. I did use Andrew's photo for the Consolidated Club Report on Sunday.

00:48:45Oliver Spake: Yeah, not a bad day to catch up with PSH.

00:48:47Melissa Ellis: And Andrew nabbed himself a Tail Walker position too. So himself and James were tail walking at Bushy. I think there was 1,200 odd from my recollection of what he said.

00:48:57Oliver Spake: It must have been a great morning. So yeah, well done, Andrew. And now jumping across to Canada, Richard said, happy birthday, parkrun. This morning saw the last of of our Canadian parkruns before heading home, and we celebrated Sally's 50th event at River Oaks parkrun in Oakville, Ontario. As part of their milestone celebrations, the event organisers have capes for participants to wear to let other parkrunners know someone is completing a milestone. And Richard did share a photo of Sally taking on the course in her 50th cape. So congrats, Sally. Well done on the 50.

00:49:36Melissa Ellis: And over in New Zealand, we heard from Brett Bailey. Happy birthday parkrun. Ran Pegasus with Bronner and 76 other parkrunners. The weather changed back to winter with a chilly two degrees, but we still returned to our two laps summer course around the lake and over the bridge. A quick dash home, then into town to volunteer as track marshals at the New Zealand Road Running Champs with around 200 relay teams competing. Sadly, I can't take part in our special dark run at Pegasus today, Sunday, celebrating parkrun's birthday as we are off to see post-modern jukebox. And Brett shared a photo of himself walking on course with Brunner with beautiful flowers in the foreground.

00:50:18Oliver Spake: I want to see them. I want to see post-modern jukebox.

00:50:21Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I've seen them pop up on Facebook. I'm very impressed with them. I also would like to see them. Maybe we need to go to New Zealand. I don't know.

00:50:30Oliver Spake: I think so. I think they might be coming this way, in fact, but were they the ones that did the remake of the Friends song through the generations?

00:50:38Melissa Ellis: Oh, really?

00:50:39Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:50:39Melissa Ellis: Don't they do kind of a jazz take on songs, postmodern jukebox?

00:50:44Oliver Spake: They do.

00:50:44Melissa Ellis: I've seen a Spice Girls one.

00:50:46Oliver Spake: Yes. In a jazz style with three girls dressed up as three of the Spice Girls. Yeah, I do like some of the mashed up, reimagined songs, though. Hmm. When I was researching songs that I might have to sing, I came across some, not by Postmodern Jukebox, but another group that were very good at, yeah, just mixing up some classics. There was a certain 99 Red Balloons that's mashed up, but I digress. Anyway, doing a nottie this week at Dazza's, Natalie Soper said, no parkrun for me as was finishing the Cape to Cape walk in WA, including a very hard eight kilometre walk on a beach. The podcast got me through it with a smile though. And Natalie shared a fantastic photo of herself on the beach there on, yeah, what would have been a fantastic experience.

00:51:36Melissa Ellis: I was very impressed with this, Ollie, and it made me do a bit of research on Cape to Cape Walk. It's 135 kilometres.

00:51:45Oliver Spake: Yeah, it's no small trek.

00:51:47Melissa Ellis: No, and it's completed over five days. So well done, Natalie, and thank you for taking us with you on your journey.

00:51:55Oliver Spake: Yes, we're glad to keep you company out there.

00:51:58Melissa Ellis: Now, our last one today, Ollie, came from Jonathan Morgan, who was touristing, and he said, first outing for my Nelson T-shirt at Lochiel parkrun, event number 333. Of course, 333 being one of the Nelson numbers, but Jonathan shared a photo of himself in his Nelson shirt, which had a photo of Lord Nelson on the front. That's right, wasn't it, Ollie? It's Lord Nelson, isn't it? Correct. Yes. Like the captain. No, military? Military. I don't know if it's Navy or military.

00:52:31Oliver Spake: Yeah, Navy.

00:52:32Melissa Ellis: I feel like he was on a ship. I feel like Lord Nelson was on a ship, but they probably did back then.

00:52:37Oliver Spake: Well, yeah, this is where I get confused because I believe that the Nelson I know of is associated with sailing.

00:52:44Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:52:45Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:52:46Melissa Ellis: I'm Googling it.

00:52:46Oliver Spake: Yeah. In fact, where I grew up in Tasmania, there was a replica of a vessel called the Lady Nelson, which I had taken to be associated.

00:52:57Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Horatio Nelson, is he the Lord? Yeah, he was a vice admiral. So, yeah, there you go. Hmm. Admiral Nelson. Yeah, because when I went through recruit course, as I said previously, oh, this is all linking in nicely. My previous married name was Nelson. So when I was on army recruit course, my nickname became the Admiral because that's what they do in the army.

00:53:20Oliver Spake: Yes, yes.

00:53:21Melissa Ellis: Everybody gets renamed. Oh. Anyway, I digress. Well, okay, that's Dazza's for this week, Ollie.

the Obi Award — Sarah Jefferson and Tracey Wood

00:53:31Melissa Ellis: It's time for an Obi. Guess what? You don't have it. I've got it right here in my hot little hands.

00:53:37Oliver Spake: Just as well. I was getting a bit confused here.

00:53:39Melissa Ellis: Do you know what colour it is this week?

00:53:42Oliver Spake: No.

00:53:43Melissa Ellis: It's parkwalker blue.

00:53:46Oliver Spake: It's very on-brand.

00:53:47Melissa Ellis: I'll just pull it out. Okay, this week's Obi goes to... It's Sarah Jefferson and Tracey Wood coming to us from Zillmere. Sarah nabbing her Z and our two latest Channel 5 News crew reporters are meeting up. That's right.

00:54:17Oliver Spake: That's very exciting. Congratulations. Yes. Thank you very much, Sarah, for roving report and popping up at Dazza's there and to everyone who joined us at Dazza's this week. I guess, Mel, with the informants not around, do we move straight on to the Consolidated Club Report or do we have some stats?

00:54:44Melissa Ellis: No, no, no, Ollie. Hold your horses. Okay, sorry. Don't get carried away. I have put together some stats. So here's my little take on the week that was in adventurer's Land. Music

00:54:59[music]

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:55:06Melissa Ellis: so launches last week we had nolan's park in Victoria with 67 participants now nolan's park is in the little town of Boort in country Victoria And we also had Coober Pedy Oval in South Australia, which had 66 participants.

00:55:24Oliver Spake: Wow, almost line ball.

00:55:25Melissa Ellis: Now, looking at Compass Club's Ollie, Roberta Winters collected her southern most point at Geeveston. In the Alphabet Challengers, Sarah Jefferson, previously mentioned, nabbed a Z at Zillmere, and Bec Bailey, a J, and Jo McLean, an L, at Lower Hutt over in New Zealand. Fibonacci, we had Heather Hunter nabbing a 55 at Avondale University College and Bec Bailey a number five at Jerrabomberra. In the Nelson Challenge, the Office Lady and Luke bagged a 333 at Rhodes and Jonathan Morgan... As we previously said, also nabbed a 3-3-3 at Lochiel. Stopwatch Bingo saw Karen Gore yell bingo with an E at the University of Western Australia in World Tourist Stakes. Graham Wilkinson became a world tourist with his fourth country in Poland as Chico enters the room. As we said, Andrew and James Reynolds earned their bushy pilgrimage and Sally, I can't say her last name. Do you know how to say that, Ollie?

00:56:31Oliver Spake: I am guessing, but I think it's Gutierrez.

00:56:33Melissa Ellis: She nabbed a red shirt at River Oaks in Canada and... And earning her Black Volunteer 100 shirt at Eynesbury Juniors, our very own Nana, a.k.a. Vicky Smith, along with her granddaughter, Charlotte, who reached her junior marathon achievement.

00:56:51Oliver Spake: Oh, well done, everyone.

00:56:52Melissa Ellis: So that's my incomplete stats because I pulled all those out of all the comments that we received at Dazza's. So in general, In the absence of the informants, if you would like your achievement read out in our abbreviated stats report, please make a note of it in Dazza's so we know to give you a shout out.

00:57:13Oliver Spake: Yep, and thank you, Mel, for the stats.

Consolidated Club Report

00:57:16Oliver Spake: Now, I suppose, not wanting to let you cool your heels there, Mel, is it time for the Consolidated Club Report? I'll take a big breath.

00:57:24Melissa Ellis: Okay. So on Saturday, the 1st of October, we had of a total of 308 members, 238 taking part at 142 locations. There were adventurers in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, South Africa, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Denmark, and the USA. And you can see a breakdown of all the events on our Facebook post, including a link to the report. Hopefully I remembered to do that. Now, the largest frond was at Robelle Domain, who had six adventurers and Robelle Domainers in Queensland. They were Steve Amor, Cherie Martin, Barbara Luther, Mark Brighton, and Catherine and Ian Greenstreet. While over in New South Wales, there were five at Shellharbour and five at the ponds. Oh. Locally, Victoria topped the charts with 34 events, with Queensland a close second on 29. Lower figures this week in New South Wales with 18. A very healthy 10 in South Australia with WA, Tassie and ACT following up with six, five and four respectively. Across the ditch, Adventurers represented at six events in total. That's me done.

Sign-off

00:58:42Oliver Spake: Well done, Mel, and thank you very much. Well done, everyone. It has been quite a big parkrun day, an 18th birthday parkwalk and lots of achievements ticked off. I'm not sure how we're going to back it up next week. I hope to just show up. How about you, Mel? Do you have any kind of plans for parkrun day next week?

00:59:04Melissa Ellis: Do you even know me? Hello, have we met? No. Of course I do. I am going to jet off to Darwin.

00:59:16Oliver Spake: Of course you are, yes. Yes, yes.

00:59:19Melissa Ellis: So I haven't got accommodation planned yet. That's this week's problem. I'm sure I can figure that out. But I've got flights. I'm going to land at some ridiculous time somewhere after midnight on Saturday morning, and do the closest parkrun to the airport, or the city, which I do believe is Darwin. I haven't figured out all the contingencies, but I'll work it out. I've got five days or something.

00:59:46Oliver Spake: Heaps of time.

00:59:47Melissa Ellis: Heaps of time. So another adventure for me, and I shall land back early hours of Sunday morning. Whether I go to juniors will depend on how empty the roster is. But there you go.

01:00:01Oliver Spake: There you are, everyone. Tune in next week for the next instalment of Mel's parkrun Travel Tips.

01:00:07Melissa Ellis: Yes, there's bound to be a really good lot of what not to do's. Don't book flights that land at midnight. That's probably going to be one.

01:00:19Oliver Spake: I'm sure it will be fantastic and I look forward to hearing about it. I will be living vicariously because, yes, I will be volunteering. I'll be back in the blue and white vest at home in Shellharbour for real this time. Sorry, Cameron. Excellent. Yes.

01:00:33Melissa Ellis: Okay. Well, that's been a busy episode but we got through it, Ollie. We did. Have we gone over time? I can't see the time.

01:00:43Oliver Spake: What do we call over time these days?

01:00:45Melissa Ellis: Oh, wow.

01:00:46[music]

01:00:46Oliver Spake: we have I think it's time no further ado thank you everyone for tuning in sorry we couldn't keep up the 1.3 times pace in terms of speaking but Bruce has got a great tip for speeding us up if you do need however as always everyone you can contact us via Facebook or our email which does work which is parkrunadventurers@gmail.com that is it for another week and we will see you all next week for more adventures

01:02:09Unidentified speaker: Thank you.

01:02:22Unidentified speaker: Hi Mel and Ollie. What's this about the informant leaving? Who's going to read out the stats when I do my special milestone soon? The level two office won't be the same. Bye adventurers. Everybody stay safe.