Episode 306 - King Gizzard

Welcome

00:00:23Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 306 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie Spake and I'm joining from Dharawal Country.

00:00:32Melissa Ellis: And I am Melissa Ellis with Chico and we're coming to you from Wurundjeri Country.

00:00:38Oliver Spake: Hello Mel, hello Chico, he's squeaking here in the background how are you both yeah we're good we're good how are you are you recovering yet um I'm on my way I'm on my way um I'm not going anywhere fast that's for sure but um yeah unfortunately the the health is not back to 100 yet and the voice is just holding out but still on the tonsillitis medication as exciting as that is for everyone um And, yeah, I look forward to getting back out there soon.

00:00:40[other]

00:01:11Melissa Ellis: Do you think it's post-COVID, Ollie? I hear a lot of people who really take a hit from COVID. They just seem to have a run of, you know, bad health.

00:01:19Oliver Spake: Well, I mean, I will say that when did I catch COVID? That was April. So I've had a pretty shocking winter. I like to think I've been relatively healthy these last couple of years, but I've had a couple of lingering things over winter.

00:01:36Melissa Ellis: Don't worry, I can edit all that out.

00:01:38Oliver Spake: And I sound like that. Yeah.

00:01:43Melissa Ellis: Oh, now Chico's going to investigate what's going on. All going to plan so far.

00:01:50Unidentified speaker: Thanks, Chico.

00:01:51Melissa Ellis: Yes. I was going to say, I am actually, I still have avoided COVID. Can you believe it? How many people do you know who haven't caught COVID? Just me?

00:01:59Oliver Spake: Well, you and Ava.

00:02:01Melissa Ellis: Yeah, that's all. Team Ava. Okay. Yeah. I'm in good company.

00:02:05Oliver Spake: Team Ava's not very popular tonight. I'm not sure you want to be on Team Ava. Team Ava's in big trouble for punching her sister. So, yeah. Right. But she's got a big heart. So, you know, you've got to take people for all of their elements, don't we? Anyway, I digress. Thank you for asking, Mel. I'm getting better, as I say, and doing well regardless. Thanks. How are you?

00:02:28Melissa Ellis: I'm good. Yep, I'm good. I'm not going to complain about being tired because I do that every week. So I had a really good sleep last night and I'm feeling a lot better. Thank you. Well, that's it.

00:02:37Oliver Spake: I mean, there's a bit of a recurring theme, as has often been on the podcast, because, well, I tend to favour one parkrun in particular, and I favoured that parkrun this weekend just gone. I volunteered. I think I run directed. And lovely day, sunny day, wasn't wet. There were lots of puddles and slippery ground and not a whole lot more to say except that that was pleasant. So that might be a bit of a yin to your yang, Mel, because you had a bit of an adventure, didn't you?

00:03:11Melissa Ellis: Mm-hmm. Are you ready?

00:03:14Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:03:15Melissa Ellis: Okay. This week's parkrun adventure took me far north for my first event in the Northern Territory. I chose Darwin parkrun being it was the first event in the Northern Territory. In the Northern Territory.

00:03:28Unidentified speaker: Sounds like a club. Yeah.

00:03:30Melissa Ellis: In the Northern Territory. Darwin parkrun is on the lands of the Larrakia people. But let's wind back the clock to Friday. Someone in their infinite wisdom booked a cheap ticket which, after a stopover in Brisbane, landed shortly after midnight on Saturday morning. Having never been to Darwin before, I opted to stay at a motel very close to the airport and managed to flop into the deliciously comfy bed at around 1am. Thankfully, I slept soundly and was not too cranky when my alarm went off at 5.30am. I was much crankier at having paid for a room I only used for five hours. The hotel concierge encouraged me to order an Uber, which I've never done before, and with none being available, my stress levels were peaking until a taxi was successfully acquired at 6am for the short trip to Darwin parkrun. Darwin parkrun is a relatively flat double out and back along the waterfront precinct of the CBD. The event starts near Parliament House, which I later learnt is called the wedding cake by locals because it's white, square and full of fruit, nuts and alcohol. There was ample parking and toilets available next to the start line and a high quotient of parkrun tourists amongst the crowd. And it was hot. Probably not as obvious for your regular Queensland parkrunner, but from someone from the southern states, it was high summer heat wave hot. Look, I don't mind heat, but I checked out of my motel and had a long wait till my midnight flight back to Melbourne. So clearly this hadn't been a very well thought out plan. I was there on my own, but chatted before the event to a friendly local parkrunner in a Run Down Under top. And during the run, I was simply happy to maintain a slow jog to complete my run. Surely this is all good training for the punish, right? Afterwards, on advice from my Run Down Under friend, I wandered along the walkway towards the waterfront precinct for my post-parkrun coffee, then onward over the skybridge to the CBD. So as not to get bogged down in details, I'll give you an abbreviated account of my day in Darwin. I took the hop-on, hop-off bus and explored both the museum and art gallery, plus the markets at Parap. With my phone battery getting critically low, I returned to the CBD to seek advice at the information centre on where to recharge my phone. Sadly, at 2pm they were closing and not interested in helping a bereft tourist with her questions on charging her phone or how to make her way back to the airport. No direct PT from city to airport, I was told. Call an Uber. Well, I would if I could recharge my phone. Try the library, they said. Closed. I wandered the main street looking for somewhere I could charge, eventually discovering a PowerPoint behind a rubbish bin outside a supermarket. That will do. I sat on the windowsill for an agonizing hour while my phone limped towards 25% charge. Now, while there was much more to see and do in Darwin and the thought of a sunset on the beach was highly alluring, I was reluctant to risk needing to recharge my phone again, so I summoned my very first Uber and headed back to the airport. Granted, this meant a very long time waiting for my midnight flight, but I found a charge point for my phone and, well, at least I was cooler in the terminal and also discovered a shower I could use, which felt glorious and I'm sure well appreciated by those on my return flight.

00:06:48Unidentified speaker: Mm-hmm.

00:06:48Melissa Ellis: So what did I learn from this trip, Ollie? Yes. Next time I will travel with a portable phone charger and consider my life choices when it comes to reasonable flight times. More lessons learnt. Anyway, after losing another 10 minutes locating my car in the airport car park. I headed straight to Junior's Airport Fresh to take on the sweeping marshal position and be on site for our very own Abby's 25th volley milestone as she took on the RD role and not for the first time.

00:07:19Oliver Spake: Wow. Congratulations to Abby, importantly. Nice way to celebrate that particular milestone. But Mel, you must be tired.

00:07:29Melissa Ellis: I'm not going to complain. Now, look, I did nap yesterday afternoon and went to bed very early. So, you know, the body's a little bit fatigued. I think it was just all the excitement more than actually being tired. So I'm not going to complain too much because it was a fabulous adventure. Yeah, it does sound it and as always some very informative travel tips adventuring tips there I'm keen to go back to Darwin so I'm treating this like my recce I've got the lay of the land now I know what not to do so when I go back I can get it all right

00:08:02Oliver Spake: Uh-huh. So it sounds like a power bank is another item needed in the adventurer's Travel Kit.

00:08:09Melissa Ellis: Correct. And you know what? I actually had one, but it died on me and I haven't gone around to replacing it. So that's high on the list before the next adventure is to replace that power bank.

00:08:20Oliver Spake: But I am noting from the work front, charging on public transport, ever important. Yes. Oh, wow. Okay. So when's the return trip then, Mel?

00:08:32Melissa Ellis: Oh, sometime next year, hopefully.

00:08:34Oliver Spake: Okay.

00:08:35Melissa Ellis: Because a sunset on the beach at Darwin, I believe, is the thing to do. And there's a military museum there that I need to go back for. Didn't see the crocodiles, you know, so much to see just in Darwin itself. And that's not even considering what else there is in the territory.

00:08:52Oliver Spake: Oh, well, nice work. Nice work.

00:08:55Melissa Ellis: Thank you.

00:08:55Unidentified speaker: Thank you.

00:08:56Melissa Ellis: I aim to please.

00:08:57Oliver Spake: But I suppose other things have been happening in the parkrun world this last week. And we did make mention briefly in last week's podcast, didn't we, that Unity Day was going to be a special parkrun day happening that particular week, which is, of course, the extra parkrun day in Germany.

00:09:15Melissa Ellis: Absolutely is, Ollie. And we had eight adventurers taking part in Unity Day. Would you like to read the events, seeing as... Oh, I'd love to give it a stab, yes. You're much better at that than me.

00:09:27Oliver Spake: Oh, look, I'll have a go at the events. You can have a go at the adventurers.

00:09:30Melissa Ellis: Oh, are we going to go... You say the event and I say the adventurer?

00:09:35Oliver Spake: Sure. Okay, let's do that. All right. So we had Neckarau parkrun. With Russell Johnston. Nidda parkrun. With Gillian Lamont. Hasenheide parkrun.

00:09:44Melissa Ellis: With Graham Wilkinson. Monrepos parkrun. With Nicola Tarrant.

00:09:48Oliver Spake: And Rheinpark parkrun.

00:09:49Melissa Ellis: where we had Andrew Kappel, Christine Imbert, Cass Castleton and Imogen Swales.

00:10:00Oliver Spake: And my apologies to all of the German parkruns that I have just mispronounced.

00:10:04Melissa Ellis: And all the surnames that I've mispronounced.

00:10:07Oliver Spake: What a team.

00:10:08Melissa Ellis: But I got Castleton right, did you notice?

00:10:10Oliver Spake: Yes, I did. I did.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:10:13Oliver Spake: And more close to home and more recently, this parkrun day just gone, Mel. What's the special celebration happening down in your neck of the woods whilst you weren't there, of course?

00:10:25Melissa Ellis: We want to wish a big happy 500th to Albert Melbourne parkrun this last weekend. They celebrated with 644 participants and three adventurers in attendance, Ollie, who were Scotty Trickett, Joanne Blackbourn and Marie Lincoln.

00:10:42Oliver Spake: Wow, 500. So, well, congrats on the team from Albert for a big milestone there. Great to see everyone turning out for the celebrations.

00:10:52Unidentified speaker: Mm.

00:10:52Oliver Spake: Speaking of celebrations, it's probably remiss of me not to thank Mr. Brendan's Scholarly for not letting me fly under the radar. Is parkrun Day just gone as well? There was a bit of a rendition that Brendan so kindly led at parkrun just before the brief there. Your birthday. So thank you, Brendan.

00:11:15Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's my bad. I didn't mention it on the pod last week. I did know and I forgot when we were recording. I'm sorry.

00:11:22Oliver Spake: Well, I was trying to fly under the radar, but sometimes that's not possible. But thank you, Mel. You did wish me happy birthday. So thank you very much.

00:11:29Melissa Ellis: I did try to slip it in the socials wherever I could. Yeah.

00:11:33Oliver Spake: Well, and here's me thinking that if I'm run directing, I can keep it under wraps. But I turned around, the megaphone was gone and it was too late.

00:11:40Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's nice. So the parkrun community sang happy birthday. They did.

00:11:45Oliver Spake: They were lovely. Quite lovely. Yes.

00:11:47Melissa Ellis: Did you go up an age category?

00:11:49Oliver Spake: Not yet. It's coming. It's coming. Very excited about that.

00:11:55Melissa Ellis: I'm going to ask your mum. I'm going to ask your mum at Bathurst. She'll tell me.

00:12:00Oliver Spake: Speaking of Bathurst, what a segue. Oh no, hang on. Hang on. I've just noticed a post-it note on the desk and my apologies because I've noticed it before. I keep forgetting to mention it, but it's only two months away. Time capsule. Yes.

00:12:19Melissa Ellis: It's time to open it.

00:12:21Oliver Spake: Very soon.

00:12:21Melissa Ellis: By the end of the year.

00:12:22Oliver Spake: The end of the year yeah we were given special instructions we've got one job and that's to open it yeah one job it's the only job so for those who haven't been listening to the pod for let's say uh more than 22 months there was an episode in late, oh gee, now the maths is failing me, late 2020, where our original co-hosts of the parkrun adventurers put in place and buried a time capsule. Also filled and buried a time capsule, I should say. So we do need to open that and we do need to discover what's in there and we look forward to it.

00:13:00Melissa Ellis: What episode was it? Do they just have to go back and guess?

00:13:03Oliver Spake: Ah, Well, no, we can't help with that. Episode 215, which was, of course, the special farewell to one Mel Erbacher episode, Bon Bon Voyage. So I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun opening the time capsule. So stay tuned. Not too many months to go.

00:13:23Melissa Ellis: No. But for now, it's time to throw to this week's roving reports.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:13:28Melissa Ellis: We're going to hear from Sam at Bathurst and Caveman Cam from Applecross.

Roving report Sam Schroder — Bathurst parkrun

00:13:40Sam Schroder: Hello adventurers, it's the Office Lady here and I've left Level 2 with a view for an adventure in Bathurst. Luke and our grandson Asher and I have made our annual pilgrimage to the mountain for the Bathurst 1000 which is on tomorrow. But this morning I've left the boys at the track and I've walked down to Bathurst parkrun. The parkrun gods have been kind to us because it's a wet and gumbooty Bathurst 1000 this year let me tell you, but we've had a dry parkrun. I'm here with Jen Arney and Stephen Jackson and they are the co-EDs of Bathurst parkrun. Stephen, I know that our listeners have heard about Bathurst parkrun before, but for the newer listeners to our podcast, can you tell us very briefly what brought you to setting up parkrun in Bathurst?

00:14:24Stephen Jackson - Co-Event Director, Bathurst parkrun: Well, I moved to Bathurst all about 10 years ago, and we sort of looked at it, and I was on the board of parkrun Australia at that stage. Oh, okay. And I'd come out of Sydney, and there was no parkrun. And I was going to Dubbo for work, and there was one there, and I thought, blow it, I can set one up here. But I tried to set it up and talk to council, but didn't know anybody in town. It was sort of, nobody's here, couldn't contact anyone. Went to school, dropped my son off at school, met Jen just purely as the teacher of my son went home and there was an email from parkrun Australia that said somebody else in Bathurst wants to start a parkrun went back to school it was Jen met her the next day we said parkrun and she said why are you taking so long to stand up what's happening I said I don't know anyone conveniently her dad was the mayor aha problem solved council six months later so parkrun up and running in six months and we're six Speaking of parkrun gods, that's certainly somebody who was looking after you two, weren't they?

00:15:19Sam Schroder: Awesome.

00:15:19Jen Arney - Co-Event Director, Bathurst parkrun: We were watching that river level overnight as it was slowly rising through the day yesterday, Sam, as you know. And yeah, this morning we were very lucky that it's still open. We're still safely able to get around, but give it another hour or two and I think we're expecting it all to close and the river to flood.

00:15:37Sam Schroder: Yeah, certainly. I took a bit of footage of where it's about three inches from the path on the other side of the river. Very, very close. So Luke and I, I have to confess, are not massive fans of two-lap courses and Bathurst parkrun is a two-lap course, but we love this course. Stephen, tell us why we love this course.

00:15:54Stephen Jackson - Co-Event Director, Bathurst parkrun: Okay, well, the idea is it's a two-lap course, all right, you go around the river. But as soon as you get back to the start, you do a U-turn and go back against the traffic. So you're actually seeing everybody. You're part of the community. Everybody sees each other, they high-five, they say hello. So everybody knows each other because it's out and back. It might be two laps, but it's out and back, and so you see everybody.

00:16:13Sam Schroder: Yeah, it's a fantastic twist on the two-lap course, actually an out-and-back, and I absolutely love it. And I've had a great walk run this morning. It was lovely to see the park walk volunteers out on course and also a big team of Tail Walkers. Lovely to see all the volunteers on course. Yeah, really lovely. And during the week, Luke and I also ran a hot lap of the racetrack. This year, in two weeks' time, will be Luke's first Mount Panorama Punish. It will be my third. Luke did an amazing time on Wednesday. I'm so impressed. He came in in 44 minutes 05. So he's thrilled with the 05. He's supposed to only walk. I don't think he walked. I'm pretty sure he ran. And for the listeners who are slower parkrunners like me, I average about a 42, 43 minute parkrun. And I did the hot lap in 55 minutes and 05. So we're both very happy to have the 05 for year 05 of the Punish. Jen, for the listeners, tell us a little bit about Mount Panorama Punish.

00:17:17Jen Arney - Co-Event Director, Bathurst parkrun: Well, the Mount Panorama Punish is just that. It's one hot lap around the Mount Panorama racing circuit. So we get it closed to traffic and you can really take the racing lines. Heading up through the cutting and things is a really tough grind. But, of course, that view across Skyline, which we were talking about through the week, Sam, is a really...

00:17:38Sam Schroder: nice reward before you get to smash yourself on the downhill through the S's again absolutely I have the same experience every single time I run it which is I've got to be at the top in 30 minutes or they're putting me on a bus and it's terrifying and I never run events with those sorts of cutoffs because I'm terrified I'm always last I came last in a half marathon a few months ago by 15 minutes was actually really cathartic because it meant that I now know what it feels like to come I'm dead last, but I do not want to be put on that bus at the Punish. But a reassurance for listeners, if you're a slower parkrunner like me, you absolutely can get around the course. You've just got to be conservative and sensible on the way up, and then you can run your guts out on the way down. It's mad fun.

00:18:17Jen Arney - Co-Event Director, Bathurst parkrun: There's some training tips on our website. There are two. Actually, that will give you a bit of an idea of how to pace that uphill so you've still got something to get to the end.

00:18:26Stephen Jackson - Co-Event Director, Bathurst parkrun: You can go 40 to 45 minutes on any parkrun. You'll get around it.

00:18:30Sam Schroder: Perfect. Excellent. So there's a massive crowd of us from The adventurers coming to join the Punish Net in two weeks. And we'll be here at parkrun as well in two weeks. And lots of us will be at the pasta dinner on the Saturday night as well. Are there any tickets left for the pasta dinner?

00:18:45Jen Arney - Co-Event Director, Bathurst parkrun: There are some left.

00:18:46Sam Schroder: Okay. If anyone is still thinking about it, you need to get in quick. I am absolutely thrilled to have spoken with you both this morning. I said two minutes. It's been five and a half. Mel will probably edit half of this conversation out, and I am totally here for that. Stephen, Jen, thank you so much for the chat this morning, and I'm going to go find some breakfast and walk back to camp, and I will see you all in two weeks. Thank you, Sam. Thanks. See you.

Roving report Cameron Drake — Applecross parkrun

00:19:14Cameron Drake: Testing, testing, one, two, three, testing. I've just broken my microphone. It is all floppy-doppy now. This will be great. Purple, red, black, green, light blue, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500. What am I talking about? Milestones. That's right. G'day, everyone. It's Cam here from WA. I'm at beautiful Applecross parkrun. WA's turned it on for the weather today because today someone's running their 250th parkrun and they've earned themselves a lovely green milestone shirt. Now, I wanted to know... How much motivation are the Milestone shirts for people to continue keep doing parkrun? Well, let's find out. Alright, I'm here with Rosanne. And Rosanne, what colour shirt do you have on today?

00:20:01Rosanne - Applecross parkrunner: I have a fabulous black one on today.

00:20:03Cameron Drake: And what does that signify?

00:20:04Rosanne - Applecross parkrunner: That I have reached 100 parkruns. Congratulations, well done. Thank you.

00:20:09Cameron Drake: Now, do you think the Milestone shirts provide a bit of motivation or incentive to keep coming back or to push through when the weather's a bit substandard?

00:20:19Rosanne - Applecross parkrunner: Oh, definitely. I think I sat on about 95 just before COVID hit. And that was the longest five I had to wait for.

00:20:26Oliver Spake: Oh, no.

00:20:26Rosanne - Applecross parkrunner: There's definitely that degree of trying to push yourself to the next one. So I think it gains momentum. You get that 25, then you get that 50, then you get the 100. And now it's sort of like, oh, I've got to wait 150 to get my 250 shirt. So it's definitely a degree of motivating factors there to get me there.

00:20:44Cameron Drake: Excellent. So, Colin, how long until 250?

00:20:48Rosanne - Applecross parkrunner: I'm still at about 132 or 133. I think I've lost count now. So I'm about halfway there.

00:20:53Cameron Drake: Okay, the big question. How about volunteering?

00:20:57Rosanne - Applecross parkrunner: Oh, I've just achieved my 25. Well done! That one actually meant a lot more to me than the 100. I was a lot more excited.

00:21:03Cameron Drake: Why's that?

00:21:04Rosanne - Applecross parkrunner: I don't know. I think it's just a thought that you're doing something not for yourself but for others.

00:21:08Cameron Drake: Selfless contribution to parkrun.

00:21:11Rosanne - Applecross parkrunner: Yeah, I guess so. I mean, it is a bit selfish, so I'm going to do it. But, yeah, I do it for myself. But, yeah, I just love the community aspect that we have, particularly at our little Baldivis Tamworth Wetlands parkruns.

00:21:21Cameron Drake: That's right. Okay, well, it's been lovely chatting, Roseanne, and I'll see you on the course.

00:21:25Rosanne - Applecross parkrunner: Great. See you then, Cameron.

00:21:27Cameron Drake: okay everyone I'm here with Connor that's right well done and what did you just do today Connor I ran my 250th parkrun well done so quick quiz what colour shirt is that uh it's kind of like a greeny bluey kind of colour yeah pretty good so I was asking people if they thought milestones and milestone shirts were a motivation to to keep coming back for parkrun or just like a little cherry on top what do you think

00:21:52Connor - Applecross parkrunner: Yeah, a bit of motivation for some people, cherry for others. It really depends on what you're wanting to get out of it.

00:21:59Cameron Drake: And what about you?

00:22:00Connor - Applecross parkrunner: Oh, just come here for fun. Oh, a bit of a race as well. I like competing.

00:22:06Cameron Drake: So you like being at the pointy end?

00:22:07Connor - Applecross parkrunner: Yes. Yes.

00:22:09Cameron Drake: I need a train wall though. Don't we all, mate? Don't we all? Well, congratulations on reaching 250 and hope to see you again at 500. Oh, I don't know. That's a long way away. Only another nine years? Oh, double that. I work FIFO. Oh dear, make a parkrun where you work. Oh, finally. Alright, I'll catch you around. See ya. Have a great day. G'day. I'm here with? Heath. Heath. Now Heath, I've noticed you've got a lovely green shirt on today. What's that to indicate?

00:22:38Heath - Applecross parkrunner: Oh, this is for my 250 plus parkruns.

00:22:43Cameron Drake: So how much more plus is there?

00:22:45Heath - Applecross parkrunner: Not a lot. I only got it this year, a couple of months ago, and now I've been trying to get my volley shirt, like the one you're wearing. Ah yes, the volley shirt, very satisfying, isn't it? It is, it is.

00:22:54Cameron Drake: So, I was asking people about their thoughts on the Milestone shirts, and if they feel it's like their motivation to come to parkrun after they've got a few under their belt, or if it's just a little bit of fun, cherry on top sort of thing. What do you think?

00:23:06Heath - Applecross parkrunner: I think to start with, it was good motivation, especially back in the day where they were free, which realistically they kind of still are. But I think the 100 was the last of my motivational shirt and then became a bit of a badge of honour kind of thing, I think, as you sort of got a bit closer. But with COVID, it took me probably two years longer than expected. Yes, the pause. Yeah, the great pause. But yeah, I was glad to have it and now definitely I'll stop thinking about them again now for a while and do a bit more volunteering. But I think they're good, especially for new runners. I mean, my parkrun got us into running and I just did my first 100 mile race last two weekends ago. Oh, well done. So it's started us on a journey that we're ever grateful for, for sure.

00:23:55Cameron Drake: That's fantastic, so it's like a badge of honour.

00:23:59Heath - Applecross parkrunner: I'd like to think so. It comes out for milestone events now. Wait, you don't wear it all the time? When I remember.

00:24:06Cameron Drake: You don't wear it down to the shops just to show off when you're filling the scripts at the pharmacy just to fill up at the servo?

00:24:12Heath - Applecross parkrunner: No, no, no. I do wear my shoe barcode quite often around and I get lots of comments about that. You've got your barcode in your shoes still. Wait, you take it off, you forget to put it back on, you don't have your barcode. Exactly, exactly. But this day and age of digital barcodes, it's so much easier now. Cool. All right.

00:24:28Cameron Drake: Well, great. Thanks for chatting and I'll see you around. No worries. Thanks. Hello. My name's Cameron and you've been stitched up. What's your name? My name's Liz. Liz.

00:24:38Liz - travelling parkrunner at Applecross (with dog Stanley): Stanley. Stanley?

00:24:41Cameron Drake: You're Stanley? The dog's Stanley. Okay. Excellent.

00:24:43Liz - travelling parkrunner at Applecross (with dog Stanley): Me and Stanley are travelling the country.

00:24:46Cameron Drake: Travelling the country. Where did you start from?

00:24:48Liz - travelling parkrunner at Applecross (with dog Stanley): Melbourne.

00:24:49Cameron Drake: Melbourne. And which way round did you go? North or sort of south way?

00:24:52Liz - travelling parkrunner at Applecross (with dog Stanley): Up the East Coast. Excellent. We've been up the East Coast, we went inland and then onto the coast and had three months in Cairns and have come across and broke down in Port Hedland.

00:25:05Cameron Drake: Oh, a lovely place to get broken down into.

00:25:08Liz - travelling parkrunner at Applecross (with dog Stanley): Yes, that's what I thought. But at least they had a parkrun, so I was all good.

00:25:12Cameron Drake: Saving grace, of course. So now you've come down to Perth, is this your first parkrun down here?

00:25:18Liz - travelling parkrunner at Applecross (with dog Stanley): Yes, yes, we got in yesterday. I bought a lift with another girl coming down, and we've taken four days to get down. And, yeah, so this is my... And the people I'm staying with found me the nearest parkrun.

00:25:30Cameron Drake: Oh, that's very kind of them.

00:25:32Liz - travelling parkrunner at Applecross (with dog Stanley): Yes, and drove me here this morning.

00:25:34Cameron Drake: So are you staying in Perth for a little bit?

00:25:36Liz - travelling parkrunner at Applecross (with dog Stanley): Well, my car's being fixed here, and it needs a new engine, so probably a little while.

00:25:41Cameron Drake: Oh, dear. Settle in. So where do you think you'll be off to next week?

00:25:47Liz - travelling parkrunner at Applecross (with dog Stanley): Um, I don't know. I'll find another, see if this is another parkrun close by, but I think I'll have to do quite a lot of them because I'll be here for a number of weeks.

00:25:56Cameron Drake: Oh dear. Well, if only it was under better circumstances, but it's lovely seeing you and maybe I'll bump into you next time your car breaks down.

00:26:04Liz - travelling parkrunner at Applecross (with dog Stanley): It's all an adventure.

00:26:06Cameron Drake: That's it. That's the name of the game. Having an adventure. All right. I'll see you around. Cheers.

00:26:10Liz - travelling parkrunner at Applecross (with dog Stanley): Thanks very much.

00:26:12Cameron Drake: Hello, I'm with Cameron. Nice to meet you Cameron. Now, your mum decided to handball an interview from her to you and she tells me you're quite an interesting chap. Why's that?

00:26:22Cameron - UWA parkrun founder, Perth: Well, I've been quite involved in the parkrun community for about 10 years now. 10 years? I started parkrun 11 years ago when my dad was running 5Ks in the UK and I asked to join him. We moved over here. He set up Claisebrook Cove parkrun. 10 years later, I've gone and set up UWA parkrun. Oh, wow. Following father's footsteps. Pretty much, yeah. Just also stepping away because I was in the same event team as him. Ah. Now, I understand you're a bit of like a superstar Run Director. How so? Well, I have run directed at five different parkrun locations, including Shelley parkrun, Lake Joondalup. Wanneroo, Perry Lakes and UWA. So you like Rent and RD? Pretty much. Kept getting handpicked for the kids takeover events and then became part of an event team for Perry Lakes and UWA parkrun later on. Brilliant.

00:27:23Cameron Drake: So I was asking people about their milestone shirts and if they feel that's like a motivating factor to keep on coming out or if it's just a bit of fun on top of everything. What do you reckon?

00:27:35Cameron - UWA parkrun founder, Perth: Absolutely. It's all part of a community feel, a group of runners with milestone shirts. So it's like a uniform, sort of a sense of community through common attire. Well, I absolutely have to wear a parkrun shirt every week, regardless of whether it's 250 runs, 50 volunteer or 25 volunteer. Unfortunately, I've grown out the other ones, but... Oh, that's right, you would have gotten them years ago, wouldn't you? Yeah, the 100 shirt used to fit me like a dress. So I assume you've got them all. Well, I do now, but I have given some away because I was never going to wear them again. So give them to people who wanted another milestone shirt. Excellent.

00:28:14Cameron Drake: All right, well, lovely chatting with you and hopefully I'll see you around. Maybe when we visit UWA in April next year. Did you catch wind of this? No, I did not. Surprise!

00:28:26Cameron - UWA parkrun founder, Perth: Love to see you there then. We're crashing your party. All right, we'll see you later. Awesome.

00:28:31Cameron Drake: Well, that's it from me today. And I think the general consensus is Milestone shirts are awesome. All right, see you.

00:28:47Oliver Spake: And thank you very much to our first bunch of roving reports for this week's podcast. And guess what, Mel? We've got some more roving reports coming up later.

00:28:56Melissa Ellis: We have.

00:28:56Oliver Spake: There was ample this week. There certainly was. There certainly was. But it's exciting to hear about Bathurst. And we know that the weather has hit Bathurst quite a lot lately. this weekend. So our wishes with everyone, firstly for their safety and their comfort, and we are hoping that things will be okay for when we do make it out there.

00:29:19Melissa Ellis: We do because since they ran the parkrun, the rising water levels have inundated the course. Yeah. Goodness, Ollie, I hope it's all okay and receded by the time we are up there. Otherwise, we've got to revert to plan B and I don't have a plan B. We also should mention the Bathurst 1000 for our international listeners who might not know what the Bathurst 1000 is. I believe it is a touring car racing event. Is that correct?

00:29:46Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right.

00:29:48Melissa Ellis: V8s.

00:29:49Oliver Spake: Yeah, typically V8s and it is a number of laps, a number of laps.

00:29:56Melissa Ellis: They just go round and round all day.

00:29:57Oliver Spake: It's quite the endurance race. So what is it, 161 laps, is it? I don't know.

00:30:03Melissa Ellis: You only have to turn on and watch the last one because that's when they end.

00:30:07Oliver Spake: But with the course length being 6.2 kilometres, I do believe it's 161. Sacrilege if I've got that wrong, just doing my maths there. I think that's right.

00:30:16Melissa Ellis: But Sam also chatting to Jen and Steve there about the punish and assuring us she did, the Office Lady herself did a hot lap while she's been up there. So reassuring the slower runners that it is quite doable in the allocated time.

00:30:32Oliver Spake: That's right. So if you're sitting on the fence, Or in the pits, jump on board and give it a go.

00:30:38Melissa Ellis: If not, just come along and enjoy the fun and volunteer in the pit crew.

00:30:43Oliver Spake: That's right. My mother has signed up to volunteer and we're looking forward to it.

00:30:47Melissa Ellis: Excellent. And thank you, Cam. Yes. Cam was speaking to the parkrunners out at Applecross about what motivation milestone shirts are. But hey, what? Cameron's story. Ollie doesn't know we're visiting for palm23. Oh.

00:31:02Oliver Spake: Heaps of time. That's right.

00:31:04Melissa Ellis: And I do believe Cameron's dad, who was mentioned in the roving report, is John Story. And we've heard from him before, I'm pretty sure. I don't have the details to hand, but I know I have heard of John Story. He's an ambassador out there in WA.

00:31:18Oliver Spake: Yeah. So, look, some great roving reports. Looking forward to the rest.

Emails

00:31:22Oliver Spake: But... Mel, I'm not sure if we're having issues again. I've checked the email inbox and I'm not sure we have mail.

00:31:30Melissa Ellis: No, we don't, Ollie, but it's okay. The email's working because it was full of roving reports.

00:31:35Oliver Spake: It was, it was.

00:31:36Melissa Ellis: Yeah, there was just no feedback this week, but that's okay.

00:31:40Oliver Spake: We had a lot last week. Thank you very much, everyone.

Dazza's

00:31:43Oliver Spake: However, there was plenty of feedback for Dazza at Dazza's, where this week Dazza said it's Universal Music Day. Dazza loves to blast a bit of old school disco music while he cooks your park faff treats. Do you listen to music when you're running or walking at parkrun? Come on in, pop a coin in the jukebox and tell us about your morning. And one such person that did do that, telling us about, well, a bit of a nottie this week was Geoff Glaab, who said... No parkrun for me this week, but we'll probably be listening to the newest release from Melbourne's finest, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, tomorrow during my half marathon. One flat white to get me through the rest of the workday, please.

00:32:26Melissa Ellis: Is Jeff really listening to Melbourne musicians?

00:32:29Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:32:29Melissa Ellis: Well, how come I've never heard of King Lizard in the... Wizard and the Lizard Wizard. I've got to look them up now.

00:32:36Oliver Spake: You do. Absolutely. And Jeff, hope the half marathon went well.

00:32:40Melissa Ellis: Yes.

00:32:40Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:32:41Melissa Ellis: We also heard from Ingrid Botha, who was at home. And Ingrid said, amazing morning at Dolls Point where our first time RD did an amazing job. The parkwalkers, parkrunners and park barkers were out in huge numbers. I'm off to make pancakes as an offering to the parkrun weather fairies for such a wonderful morning. Now, Ollie, it's also worth mentioning even that our very own Ingrid featured this last week in the parkrun newsletter.

00:33:10Oliver Spake: That's right. That was quite an appearance.

00:33:13Melissa Ellis: Yeah, giving her words of explanation as to how she evolved, I guess, from a first-time Tail Walker into a now-time RD.

00:33:22Oliver Spake: So a great story, and thank you for all of your support to parkrun too, Ingrid.

the Frond

00:33:27Oliver Spake: And on the frond fronts this week, Mel, Channel 5 News crew member, TOC, did check in and say, not a lot of music today, but Abby's mum says we are in the TikTok cafe, and TikTok does music clips, so connection made. And I think that's a solid connection but not as spectacular as the photo of the snot log and, of course, the selfie with Abby.

00:33:51Melissa Ellis: And it was also raised with me over the weekend what Abby was upset with Toc about in a previous episode because I remember her saying she wasn't happy. But we couldn't remember what it was that Toc had done to upset her. So if anybody remembers, can you please write in because we haven't taken notes of things like this. Sorry. Sorry, Abby. Back to every single episode. We were actually clueless as to what it was that TOC did to upset her. But I think we need to see TOC and Abby in a TikTok now.

00:34:22Oliver Spake: Does that make Abby tick?

00:34:23Melissa Ellis: I think so.

00:34:24Oliver Spake: Yeah. TikTok. Yeah.

00:34:27Melissa Ellis: Anyway, moving on. Tanya Bailey, she came to us from across the ditch and she said, didn't listen to music today, put the blue park walk vest on and chatted to old friends and newbie parkwalkers. Picture of myself and Renee in the new vests. And thank you, Tanya, for describing your own photo and saving me the trouble.

00:34:45Oliver Spake: Thank you for volunteering. Well done.

00:34:47Melissa Ellis: Tanya. Tanya, Ollie, it's Tanya.

00:34:50Oliver Spake: Tanya. Oh, my goodness. That's right. Sorry. And, yes, we look forward to having you from across the ditch next week, Tanya. And over in the ACT this week, doing a bit of touristing, Heather Hunter, who said, No music for me, Dazza, but I did enjoy five kilometres of chatting with friends while walking Coombs parkrun, followed by second breakfast at the National Arbitrary. I'm so bad with this word. Arboretum. Arboretum, at the National Arboretum. Thank you, Mel. One job. We saw kangaroos. I was too slow to take a photo. I completed my 59th different event and I think increased my floating Wilson index from 8 to 15. And Heather did share a photo of the gang with the selfie frame, and I recognise a Shellharbour parkrunner in there, Galia. So hello, Galia, and great to see you all at Coombs.

00:35:41Melissa Ellis: We also heard from Gemma Kajasky. Touristing. We drove 900 kilometres to Centenary parkrun in Clermont. Clermont? Clermont. Clermont? There's an R in there. Central Queensland, in any case. Neil volunteered on finish tokens. We didn't know that today is Universal Music Day, but we did enjoy post-parkrun breakfast in the company of fellow parkrunner and music teacher at five different Outback schools. And we had a photo on some very dry looking ground with a backwards flag. Ka-ching.

00:36:14Oliver Spake: That's a nice effort though. That's a very nice effort.

00:36:17Melissa Ellis: Yes, I'm very impressed. And did I get your name right? Please give me some feedback.

00:36:23Oliver Spake: Fronding once again in Victoria once again, Craig Ryan, who said, Cyril Curtain Reserve parkrun for a frond today celebrating the conclusion of Australian run down under for Irene Bomikanti. It was lovely to see some adventurers I have met already as well as meeting many for the first time. The run felt like I was on a Dire Straits to begin, but concluded in a Bon Jovi-esque blaze of glory. And there's something to be said for the photo there. If I'm not mistaken, that was some owl latte art, which I don't know the connection to the music, but it was very impressive, as were the musical references.

00:36:59Melissa Ellis: I saw a few owl lattes being enjoyed over the weekend coming from Cyril Curtain. So, yeah, excellent. And congratulations to Irene as well.

00:37:10Oliver Spake: Yes, well done.

00:37:11Melissa Ellis: It was a big effort to complete her Australian lap of Run Down Under.

00:37:16Oliver Spake: Well done.

00:37:16Melissa Ellis: Now, Val Warwick, she was volunteering. No music bar the babbling of the rivers winding, wending, winding their way seaward and delightful chatter of parkrunners wending, winding their way beside the rivers, Lachlan and Derwent. We were joint Tail Walkers at Tassie's newest parkrun, Tynwald Park in New Norfolk. Our cappuccino was had with grandchildren rather than parkrunners, and that was a real treat for us. And Val shared photos of lush-looking scenery shots plus a photo of the Tail Walkers, and I am putting that on my list, Ollie. I love a parkrun along water.

00:37:55Oliver Spake: It looks beautiful. I'm really being challenged by next month's destination. But yeah, I'll stick to my plan. Thank you, Val. Now we also heard from Joe McLean, who was touristing once again and said music today was courtesy of the water lapping against the boats in the marina at Airlie Beach parkrun. Gorgeous course and glad for the 7am start as it was already hot and humid. Bit of a difference to last week's weather in New Zealand. Shout out to the four firefighters who pulled up in their truck, did parkrun and headed out again. Wow. Nice effort there. And Jo did share a very nice-looking scenery shot with herself in the selfie frame there with a beautiful-looking marina there.

00:38:40Melissa Ellis: Cool. And she's getting around. She was in New Zealand last week. I'm sure she was overseas prior to that. Yes. So it sounds like that Jo's been on a big trip.

00:38:50Oliver Spake: Yeah, where will Jo be next?

00:38:53Melissa Ellis: We also heard from Belinda Taylor, touristing. No music for me, but lots of podcasts on my five-hour drive to Waterloo Plains parkrun. What a hidden gem this parkrun was. Free camping with hot showers and toilets, metres from the start line, in grounds nicer than some paid camping sites I've stayed in. Big thanks to RD Amber for being so welcoming and the chats and keeping this tiny forerunners today parkrun going each week. And a colourful collage from Belinda, including a gorgeous sunrise. Yeah. Wow.

00:39:28Oliver Spake: And so shout out to the Waterloo Plains team. That's, I think, a lovely little sounding parkrun there with a very modest average.

00:39:37Melissa Ellis: I want to go there now. I want to have a frond at Waterloo Plains. Tracey, Tracey, we need to visit. Let's make a plan.

00:39:43Oliver Spake: You could have a quite impressive frond there as well. You'd easily outnumber.

00:39:47Melissa Ellis: Oh, we can have it at Abertheim, Waterloo. I'm getting carried away. Over to you.

00:39:55Oliver Spake: I see legs growing. Yes. Chris Gore, Touristing, said, Hi, Dazza. I don't listen to music when parkrunning, but when I am running during the week, I will usually listen to podcasts. If I want to increase the pace a bit, I will listen to some rocky music like Gonna Fly Now or Eye of the Tiger. Today, however, we tackled our NENDY, which happened to be Xantharia Trail parkrun. Oops, sorry. It should be Mundy Regional parkrun along the Xantharia Trail. It would be the hardest parkrun I have done with about 200 metres of elevation on gravel trails. It is the first time I have had to walk up the hills. My usual finish time is around 21 or 22 minutes. Today it was 28, and Karen took over an hour compared to her usual 38 minutes. It was a pretty course with some great views if you can take your eyes off the track long enough to enjoy it. We were also joined by our son, Phil, today, completing his 300th parkrun. So congratulations, Phil. Congratulations on all of Team Gore there in the photos amongst a collage of the beautiful Mundy Regional parkrun. Thank you.

00:41:11Melissa Ellis: Mundy Regional is widely accepted to be Australia's toughest parkrun. So good work, team.

00:41:17Oliver Spake: Definitely has the X factor.

00:41:18Melissa Ellis: Now, lastly, we heard from Helen Rutter coming to us from the UK. She said, we can't come to Dazza's yet, but we are blasting Bon Jovi and the Scorpions as we drive to Cheshire to our hotel. We'll check in to Dazza's tomorrow. And then she followed up by saying, what a morning of beautiful faces at the Northwest Tourist Meetup at Alderley Park, so many people I haven't seen in ages, some legends, and the one and only Gregory Bailey.

00:41:46Oliver Spake: It's the fourth Bailey, Ollie.

00:41:49Melissa Ellis: The course was a bit tricky underfoot but so pretty. Two laps of lake and woodland, the best parkrun morning, and what it's all about. We had a DIY breakfast, bap, and a pastry. Oh, another one of those baps. Yes. And a group shot in the woods. Thanks for checking into Dazza's Helen.

00:42:09Oliver Spake: Yeah, it did sound like a lot of fun was had over there.

00:42:12Melissa Ellis: I've got to have a bap.

00:42:13Oliver Spake: A bap.

00:42:13Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I want a bap. I'm going to have a bap next week. I'm going to have to make my own bap.

00:42:17Oliver Spake: I only ever think of basil when people say bap. Why?

00:42:21Melissa Ellis: Basil brush?

00:42:21Oliver Spake: No. No, no, not Basil Brush, not Basil Fawlty either. But Bap was the name my middle daughter used to call Basil that we grew in our garden. She'd demand Bap. So, yeah, that's Bap in this household.

00:42:36Melissa Ellis: Okay. But thank you, everyone.

00:42:39Oliver Spake: for popping into Dazza's for a very musical week.

00:42:43Melissa Ellis: Ah, yes.

the Obi Award — Heather Hunter

00:42:44Melissa Ellis: And let's choose an Obi Award winner, please. Ollie, do you have the envelope and what colour is it today?

00:42:51Oliver Spake: I have the envelope. It is green. Oh. It is green. Yeah? It's not very rock and roll green, but, you know, that's all right. Different style of music maybe. But I'll open the envelope. This week the Obi goes to... It goes to Heather, Heather Hunter, congratulations.

00:43:20Melissa Ellis: Excellent. Well done, Heather, and thank you for sharing your parkrun day with us.

00:43:26Oliver Spake: Another big one.

00:43:27Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

the Informant

00:43:29Melissa Ellis: In the absence, Ollie, once again, of our informant, I've put together more stats leeched from Dazza's and any of the other social media posts we've had. So would you like to hear them? Please. Well, we had a launch this week over in New Zealand at Broad Park on the South Island. There were 239 participants and I counted them 39 first timers. In alphabet challenges, Bec Bailey collected an R at Rhodes and also an R for the Namely and the Pirate Challenge. Roberta Winters collected a Y at You Yangs. So did Billo. He didn't specify that in Dazza's, but I'm guessing that was his motivation for visiting. Sarah Jefferson collected a V at Varsity Lakes. In the Aussie Pioneers Club, I added Darwin as the first event to launch in the Northern Territory. Heather Hunter did increase her floating Wilson index from 8 to 15. Michael Sharp and Mike Scott nabbed 333 for the Nelson challenges out at the Beaches. Monty Slade picked up Pontypool toward his full Ponty Challenge. Christine Imbert nabbed a 1-4-4 at Walmer and Deal Seafront parkrun for a Fibonacci, as did Calum Burrell, who pocketed 610 at Woodbank. And for the I Volunteered at Juniors badge, Roberta Winters earned this. Last but not least, earning her purple shirt, Miss Abigail Jackson, who completed her 25th volunteer at Eynesbury Juniors as Run Director under the close supervision of Mum Renee.

00:45:24Oliver Spake: Congratulations, everyone. Knocking off some challenges, well, progressing on some of the challenges, and once again, a very impressive milestone in there.

00:45:32Melissa Ellis: It was, yes. We're very proud of our Abigail.

00:45:34Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:45:34Melissa Ellis: Now, time to throw to our next lot of roving reports, Ollie. So let's have a listen to Tracey and PK.

Roving report Tracey Wood — White Rock parkrun

00:45:51Tracey Wood: It's Tracey in a Tutu and I've wended my way to the wild west of White Rock when I can hear the whistle of the whipbird in the wilds here. Ah, yes, I am chasing my NENDY this morning. I'm at White Rock. It looks a bit hilly. Hmm. But that's okay. I'm parkwalker and I'm going to have a lovely time out there. All right, let's go. Okay, this parkwalker is out on White Rock parkrun course and I have found Jessica. Hello Jessica, how are you this morning? I'm pretty good this morning, thank you. How are you? Good. Now Jessica, you're walking with me obviously, parkwalker.

00:46:27Jessica - White Rock parkrunner: Can you tell me your story? Why did you decide to come to parkrun today? Well, today, no special reason other than I wanted to tick White Rock off my list, but I have been doing parkrun for a number of years. Not consistently until probably this year I've become more consistent. Yeah, and this is looking good so far.

00:46:45Tracey Wood: Now, tell me, you messaged the RD during the week, and what was that message? What was that email that you sent her?

00:46:52Jessica - White Rock parkrunner: That was just more of a concern because I am on the slower side of things, but I still wanted to do it. So I just messaged if that would be okay because I didn't want to hold everybody back and make the volunteers have to wait longer for their morning coffee. And I was welcomed with open arms and told, just come along and do your thing. And isn't that fantastic? It is fantastic.

00:47:14Tracey Wood: Just what I wanted to hear. All right, that's great. So I'm trying out the new parkwalker role. I'm heading up the top of the hill now. So I might pause for a moment and check back in soon. Okay, I've finished White Rock parkrun and I'll be told to talk to this lovely lady called Ray. Hi, Ray. Hi. Have you got a parkrun story? What's your involvement in parkrun?

00:47:36Ray - White Rock parkrunner: Oh, I decided to do it a couple of years ago. 2019 I started and love it.

00:47:42Tracey Wood: Yeah, find a different one regularly. Yes, so you're a bit of an adventurer, maybe? Oh, try to be, yeah. Yeah, a bit of a tourist. So what brings you back to parkrun every week?

00:47:54Ray - White Rock parkrunner: Oh, it's just great to get out, get up early, do it. It's a great environment, good people, meet new people, go to different places, and then find great breakfast places afterwards.

00:48:05Tracey Wood: Oh, you are so an adventurer, right? I'm signing you up for the club now. Okay. And how many conferences have you done, right?

00:48:12Ray - White Rock parkrunner: Oh, I think I'm up to about 34, 33, 34. 34 today, I think. Good for you. And did you enjoy White Rock this morning? Love it. Absolutely. Yeah, it's great. Up and down, up and down. Yeah, it's a tougher one because it's trail and because of the hills. But, you know, yeah, I did it. Great. Love it. Well, you go off to your appointment. Nice chatting with you. Have a lovely day. Shall do. Thank you so much. Bye.

00:48:37Tracey Wood: Okay, I'm back at the barcoding area and I have found Tash, who is the RD today. Tash, how did it all go?

00:48:43Tash - Run Director, White Rock parkrun: Hi. Yeah, really good today. We've got some nice weather at the moment because it's spring. It's not too cold, so we're getting a lot more people coming back. And thankfully, it's not raining either, so we've got a nice big turnout. We're a pretty small parkrun, so we don't get, you know, hundreds of people. We normally get 30 to 50 people. So we had a bit of a bigger crowd today and quite a few fast people and quite a few people enjoying a walk as well. So, yeah, it's been a good one today.

00:49:10Tracey Wood: Now, I had a friend of mine come out here a while ago and she's done White Rock, but I've noticed that White Rock's been closed for a while. Yeah. because of flooding. Was that it, damage to the trails?

00:49:20Tash - Run Director, White Rock parkrun: Yeah, there was quite significant damage to the trails. Quite a few holes opened up on the trails and they needed to bring in some pretty big machinery by the looks of it to fix the trails. So quite a lot of work went into it and it's unfortunately changed a little bit of the course but it's smoothed out the first sort of 800 metres or so. It used to be quite rocky and you'd sort of climb a little bit and now it's smoothed out. Some people are enjoying that and some people miss the old... parkrun but you know they needed to get that machinery in here to fix the trails so people could use it so yeah it was really sad we were closed for quite a few months yeah wasn't expecting the rain to have that much of an impact but um it it really did and I think it's just you know the soils and stuff out here the type of area that it is the rain just accumulated and just washed a lot of it away so

00:50:10Tracey Wood: Yeah, awesome. Yeah. Well, thank you for having me this morning.

00:50:13Tash - Run Director, White Rock parkrun: Thank you for letting us visit. That's all right. Thanks for coming out. I'm glad that you enjoyed it, and thank you for coming out as well.

00:50:19Tracey Wood: No, it's lovely. Oh, all right.

00:50:21Tash - Run Director, White Rock parkrun: Thanks for chatting with me. No worries.

00:50:24Tracey Wood: Okay, folks, Tracey in a Tutu signing out from White Rock parkrun. That was awesome. Had a good morning. Chatted to lots of people. Another good parkrun day. See you on the view side. Bye.

Roving report Paul Kitching — Pakapakanthi parkrun

00:50:38Paul Kitching: Good morning, parkrun adventurers. It's PK checking in from another parkrun, one that I've done before, but it's actually had a bit of a course change, which is awesome. I am here in South Australia, in Adelaide, at Packer Picanthy. Packer Picanthy is the traditional owner's name for Victoria Park in the middle of the city. And here we are checking it out because once again, we are able to actually do the proper course of Pakapakanthi. It used to be All the way out, for those who know, Pakapakanthi, around the beautiful Victoria Park. But then it was constricted and now it's once again open. Jeepers. Hello, beautiful Alicia. How are you going?

00:51:19Alicia Hopper - parkrun Event Ambassador, South Australia: Hi, PK. How are you?

00:51:21Paul Kitching: Awesome. I've decided to come over and speak to the very, very important, probably the most important people here today. I'm just walking around and having a look at the vest you've got on. Tell us about the vest you're wearing. Oh!

00:51:31Alicia Hopper - parkrun Event Ambassador, South Australia: So I get to be a parkwalker today. The new role for Park Walk Mum.

00:51:37Paul Kitching: Awesome.

00:51:38Alicia Hopper - parkrun Event Ambassador, South Australia: Very excited. It's blue. It's sexy. It has pockets. It's got pockets. Woo-hoo. All the ladies out there will know the excitement.

00:51:47Paul Kitching: I get it. Absolutely. And you've even got a park walk sign to encourage people to come and walk as well. That's right. Fantastic.

00:51:56Alicia Hopper - parkrun Event Ambassador, South Australia: For everyone out there, when you say... Come and do parkrun. And they say, oh, I can't. I don't run. You know, this is about saying it's okay. You can walk and parkrun.

00:52:06Paul Kitching: You can actually walk and you can walk and enjoy. And I love the fact that it's not the Tail Walker. It's actually somewhere within the walking area.

00:52:14Alicia Hopper - parkrun Event Ambassador, South Australia: That's right, yeah. So the aim is that you're in the middle of that walking pack and you're representing walkers.

00:52:20Paul Kitching: Yay, I love it. Walkers and walkers. Yay, and walkers and dogs, of course. We love your dogs. Of course. Now, you remind me, your role is ambassador. Event ambassador, yes. So event ambassador for how many parkruns?

00:52:32Alicia Hopper - parkrun Event Ambassador, South Australia: I think seven, one of which is Pakapakanthi. Yay.

00:52:36Paul Kitching: And you guys, I was just saying in my long intro that the course is back on track.

00:52:42Alicia Hopper - parkrun Event Ambassador, South Australia: Oh, it's finally open back to its original vision. And in fact, better than ever because the wetlands have opened up on the south end of the parkrun. Which is fantastic.

00:52:54Jen Arney - Co-Event Director, Bathurst parkrun: And it is just beautiful.

00:52:56Alicia Hopper - parkrun Event Ambassador, South Australia: I love it. So now we've got the open track amongst the trees. We've got the view of the wetlands. We've got, you know, the big old gums at the back. It's spectacular.

00:53:06Paul Kitching: Love it. They are spectacular. And yes, I'm looking forward to getting out there amongst it. I'll let you go and do your job because I know you need to encourage people to walk and you're looking after your beautiful dogs as well. Thank you for being part of parkrun. Lovely to see you. What does parkrun mean to you?

00:53:20Alicia Hopper - parkrun Event Ambassador, South Australia: parkrun is community.

00:53:22Paul Kitching: Yay. Beautiful. Thanks, darling. Lovely to see you. So there you go. Just bumped into the beautiful Alicia Hopper, who is an event ambassador. So they're the go-to person, you know, that all the Event Directors and Run Directors can talk to and heads up, you know, to the event ambassadors. They give up a lot of their time during the week for anything. And so, yeah, let's hear it. Let's hear a cheer. Can everyone cheer? Woohoo! Out there for event ambassadors. Woohoo! There's a massive crowd of runners who have just joined who like to go around and join different parkruns around Adelaide. And I'm going to see if I can chat to one of them maybe after we've done the run. Far out. I've got Albie to thank for pushing me over the line. I talked for the first half, unsurprising, and then ran the second half. Still only did it in 30. Anyway, I saw a face I recognised. G'day, Peter.

00:53:45[other]

00:54:12Unidentified speaker: Hi, PK. How are you, mate? You well? Good.

00:54:15Paul Kitching: You're a regular here. I wanted to ask you what your thoughts were of the new course, now that it's around the wetlands.

00:54:21Peter - Pakapakanthi parkrunner, Committee for Adelaide: I know, I absolutely love it. Like, it's actually a beautiful run now. Let's be honest, it was a bit boring before, and now we've got beautiful wetlands here, and I just think it's stunning, and what a perfect day for it too.

00:54:31Paul Kitching: I know, right? Fantastic. So this is your home parkrun?

00:54:33Peter - Pakapakanthi parkrunner, Committee for Adelaide: Yes. Excellent. This is my home one.

00:54:35Paul Kitching: How many have you done?

00:54:36Peter - Pakapakanthi parkrunner, Committee for Adelaide: Oh, I don't know the answer to that. Let's say 20.

00:54:39Paul Kitching: Mate, that's awesome. Congrats. Peter is part of the awesome Committee for Adelaide, which is all about, you know, supporting and celebrating everything here in Adelaide and awesome networking events and championing Bruce Djite and everything that he has to say. Maybe Committee for Adelaide could take over parkrun one day. Maybe get Albert, some of the crew out.

00:54:57Peter - Pakapakanthi parkrunner, Committee for Adelaide: That'd be cool, actually. Like, we've done some work with Fred's van and, you know, we go out and do team stuff together. So, you know what, PK? That's a good idea.

00:55:05Paul Kitching: I thought I'd just plant that seed. No, it's good because they, I mean, it doesn't have to be an official thing. Anybody can turn up. There's a massive group of runners there today who I'm about to chat to who are the inclusive, I can't remember their official name, but I'm about to go and chat with them, which is always good to see. I also wanted to point out that there's actually going to be, like, ABC, who are a massive... supporter of parkrun, are taking over parkrun. And you may have heard it here first. They're doing an outside broadcast on October the 29th. So what's that in four weeks? Yeah, at Mawson Lakes. So if you haven't done Mawson Lakes yet and you want to be part of an outside broadcast here in South Australia, go along to Mawson Lakes on the 29th. Sounds like a good plan. Anyway, I'll let you go and have some breakfast. Congrats. Lovely to see you again.

00:55:45Peter - Pakapakanthi parkrunner, Committee for Adelaide: Thanks, PK. Coffee time.

00:55:46Paul Kitching: Yeah, you know it. I think your crew's over there. Hurrah. See you, mate. Nice to see you. Might go and have a quick chat to one more crew and then find some coffee. Okay, I'm now here with Rory from the group I alluded to. I can never remember your correct name. Adelaide Frontrunners. Adelaide Frontrunners. And your tagline is inclusive... Yeah, we're an all-inclusive running group. Awesome. LGBTQIA+.

00:56:09Rory - Adelaide Frontrunners: Fantastic. How many in the club? Oh, I don't know. Big time out to that. I reckon there's like maybe 70 to 80. But yeah, I would say all up. We've got... Yeah, we've got a lot. Probably maybe 100 to 150.

00:56:21Paul Kitching: Awesome. And so the word goes out on your Facebook page as to where you're going to run on Saturday?

00:56:25Rory - Adelaide Frontrunners: Yeah, we're pretty active on the socials. We always stick to the parkruns because it's like a really good community event. And yeah, the team really like it. And we like that we can obviously set times. It's all done for us. The organisation sort of take it away from us a little bit, which is good.

00:56:38Paul Kitching: That's great. No, it's beautiful. Well, certainly people think of parkrun, they think of community, so you've certainly nailed it there, and it's so good to see so many of you out here. And also, actually, last time I saw you guys was, I think, at Lochiel, where it was the Queen's birthday weekend, and that was rather fabulous. Yes, for a while. You were. And before that was right here at Pakapakanthi where I caught up with the awesome Matt Hyde and Richard Davies afterwards. Matt's not with us today. He's probably recovering, no doubt, as he's absolutely smashing it on stage at the moment with The Normal Heart, part of State Theatre Company South Australia. You've seen the amazing production?

00:57:14Rory - Adelaide Frontrunners: Yeah, we did. We went as a social group, actually. Fantastic. Yeah, we went to support Matt and his work. Yes. Yeah, I'm sure he's recovering emotionally today as well. Yeah.

00:57:22Paul Kitching: I know, right? For those who are here in South Australia and hearing this before the 15th of October, highly encourage you to go and see The Normal Heart. Matt Hyde, who's part of the frontrunners, is in it. It's great. Good on you, Rory. I'll let you guys go and find coffee somewhere. You'll take over some cafe, no doubt.

00:57:37Rory - Adelaide Frontrunners: Yeah, yeah. Just over there. We're pre-warned them this time, though.

00:57:40Paul Kitching: Well done.

00:57:40Rory - Adelaide Frontrunners: This should be good.

00:57:41Paul Kitching: Thank you so much for supporting our parkrun community with your community. Awesome. Thanks, Rory. See you, mate. What a beautiful man. Yes, it's great to see. And, yes, I think we'll go and find a coffee. Thanks for listening. That's me signing off. See you.

00:58:02Oliver Spake: And thank you to our second batch of roving reports this week. So thank you very much, Tracey and PK.

00:58:08Melissa Ellis: Tracey knocking off her NENDY there, Ollie, over at White Rock. Yes. With her W alliterations.

00:58:17Oliver Spake: Well done, Tracey. And PK, yeah, there's a bit going on in South Australia there.

00:58:22Melissa Ellis: Absolutely was. Pakapakanthi. A course change, I believe. And yeah, he spoke to a few, but he spoke to Rory from the Adelaide Frontrunners. So it was nice to hear a little bit more about the Frontrunners, a very all-inclusive running group.

00:58:40Oliver Spake: That's right, yep.

00:58:41Melissa Ellis: Yeah, they must be in all states because I know of the Melbourne frontrunners as well.

00:58:45Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:58:46Melissa Ellis: But interesting, Ollie, PK mentioned the ABC are doing an outside broadcast on the 29th of October at Mawson Lakes in South Australia. And coincidentally, I heard on ABC Radio today that Victoria's also going to be having a broadcast. It is going to happen at Albert, Melbourne on the very same day, the 29th of October. And Matt Preston is going to be out at Albert, Melbourne for that live broadcast.

00:59:14Oliver Spake: Yeah. So there's a bit going on. I wonder where else there might be some. We'll see. We'll see.

00:59:20Melissa Ellis: We'll see. See if our adventurers can put their ears to the ground and find out if the ABC is going to be popping up at some other states.

00:59:29Oliver Spake: Yeah.

Consolidated Club Report

00:59:30Oliver Spake: Certainly a lot going on. But I think still to close out recapping this parkrun day just gone, Mel, can you update us on the Consolidated Club report?

00:59:40Melissa Ellis: I can. On Saturday, the 8th of October, of a total of 314 members, 251 took part at 142 locations. There were adventurers in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, South Africa, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and the USA. And you can see a breakdown of all the events on our Facebook post, including a link to the report. This week the largest frond was at Cyril Curtain Reserve in the greater state, celebrating Irene's completion of Run Down Under Australia with 12 adventurers. There were TOC, Jacqui and Dan O'Connell, Craig Ryan, Helen and Stephen Davis, Dawn Branton, Cheryl Smit, Renee, Abby and Hannah Jackson and, of course, Irene Bommakanti. Parth was there too, but he volunteered. Yes. We also had six adventurers at the Ponds in New South Wales and six at White Rock in Queensland, thanks to Tracey in a Tutu. The largest Vrond was 10 adventurers volunteering out at Eynesbury Juniors, and if you can beat that, please let me know. Locally, Victoria topped the charts again with 34 events, with Queensland second on 28. New South Wales rallied this week a bit with 21. LAUGHTER

01:00:57[laughter]

01:00:59Oliver Spake: Thanks for the encouragement.

01:01:01Melissa Ellis: Yes. South Australia improved on last week with 12. WA had six, ACT five, Tassie three, and two in the Northern Territory. So we had a bowling strike this week. Ollie?

01:01:15Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:01:20Melissa Ellis: Across the ditch, Adventurers represented at nine events in total with Pegasus being joined on the South Island by Broad Park and Blenheim. And that's it.

01:01:29Oliver Spake: Wow. Now, I could be mistaken, but I think that's the first time our adventurers completing their parkruns have topped 250.

01:01:36Melissa Ellis: Oh, yes. You're probably right.

Sign-off

01:01:39Oliver Spake: Yep, yep, yep, yep. Just notching past that mark. So thank you very much for all the stats and well done, everyone. Now... I know what you're doing in two weeks' time, Mel, but what's the plan for next parkrun Day?

01:01:51Melissa Ellis: I thought I'd stay close to home this week, Ollie.

01:01:56Oliver Spake: Just a casual eight-hour drive then or something like that?

01:02:00Melissa Ellis: You're the second person that's just said that today. You're the second person today. No, don't be cheeky. No, no, two and a half hours is all I am travelling this week. I'm actually hoping to get my family to join me perhaps on an overnight trip to the country town of Boort to visit one of Victoria's, well, So we'll see. We'll see if we can encourage the family on an overnight trip. Otherwise, I'll just get up for a stupid o'clock. But, Ollie, what about yourself? Have you got some VIPs coming to visit you at that Voldemort parkrun?

01:02:37Oliver Spake: Well, yes, I will be staying home. I will be run directing once again, so I need to be healthy because I am looking forward to challenging for the Vrond title and having a bit of a frond. I'm very excited that, well, I think we'll be having a Bailey's style celebration, let's just say.

01:02:56Melissa Ellis: Mmm. Mmm. That's sounding exciting. And I will have a little bit of FOMO. So I will gladly hand you over the accolades for the largest frond. So let's see how many adventurers can turn up.

01:03:10Oliver Spake: That's right. But I suppose we still have the rest of the week to tackle.

01:03:16Melissa Ellis: Yeah, early nights for you, young man. Early nights.

01:03:20Oliver Spake: Well, that's right. But thank you for putting up with me. I think I've managed not to cough this week, but I do apologise for the quality of my voice every week, not just this week, of course.

01:03:31Melissa Ellis: Well, we just want you to get well. Thank you. So hot lemon drinks and honey and all that jazz, just get yourself well. But, Ollie, that's it. As always, you can contact us via Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. that's it for another week we will see you all next week for more adventures

01:03:55[music]

01:04:48Abigail Jackson: Hi, Mel and Ollie. Today, me and Hannah volunteered with Mum at Juniors. Hannah was finish tokens and I was Run Director, but Mum was helping. It was a special day because I did my 25th volunteer. My favourite part of volunteering is cheering people on and it's so fun. Bye adventurers, stay safe!