Episode 311 - Green Eggs & Snoods

Welcome

00:00:23Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 311 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie Spake and I am joining this week once again from Dharawal Country.

00:00:33Melissa Ellis: And I am Melissa Ellis and I am coming to you from Wurundjeri Country.

00:00:38Oliver Spake: Oh how are you Mel? I am good how are you? I'm good thank you. Tired from home renos but otherwise good.

00:00:45Melissa Ellis: Home renos how did they go? Have you built your deck? I

00:00:49Oliver Spake: Well, I think it's a bit generous to say that I built it, but I helped build it.

00:00:54Melissa Ellis: Well, do you have a deck?

00:00:56Oliver Spake: I do have a deck, yes. And it still needs coating, but I am over the moon, overjoyed. And big thanks to mum and mum's partner for helping out with that. Wouldn't have been possible without them.

00:01:11Melissa Ellis: Let's give him a shout out. Who's mum's partner?

00:01:14Oliver Spake: Thank you to Ken.

00:01:15Melissa Ellis: Thank you, Ken.

00:01:17Oliver Spake: Yes, yes, yes. Definitely got the skills.

00:01:20Melissa Ellis: Are you enjoying your deck?

00:01:22Oliver Spake: Yes. I just needed to stop raining here and there so I can seal it up and not be nervous about that. But that's okay. It'll happen. It'll happen. Yeah. But Mel, you had a bit of an adventure.

00:01:34Melissa Ellis: Yes. So on Friday gone, I travelled up north to Queensland to join Simon Mackley at the eighth anniversary of Calamvale parkrun on the traditional lands of the Yuggera people. Calamvale was the 100th event to launch in Australia and was celebrating an eight theme. A delayed flight meant I only arrived at my Redland Bay accommodation in time for bed and was up early dressed in my 80s outfit for Simon to pick me up for the 30-minute drive to parkrun. It was awesome to see so many of the community in fancy dress with the local athlete's foot also in attendance. Oh, that's a bit of irony. I had planned to run the event and I did manage to run almost the first kilometre. Before tripping... on air and falling heavily as I passed the start finish point for the first time. The runners around me were very kind to stop and render assistance, insisting I stop and rest. But all I could think of was if I stopped, I'd never be able to go again. So determined and foolish as I am, I jumped up and continued on. The Calamvale course describes itself as a figure eight, which it does loosely resemble, but in reality, it's a two and a half loop and it did feel like I was never going to get to the end. Feeling a bit alone and fragile, I made a call to friend Renee for some moral support, but was then met by Simon who returned on course to accompany me back to the finish. Simon also kindly presented me with a super duper at the end, which I promptly stuffed into my sock to soothe my screaming ankle. Brunch was enjoyed at the local Paws Cafe, which was also conveniently next to a 24-hour medical centre. I spent a very enjoyable afternoon hosted by Simon and his beautiful wife, Carolyn, meeting Jackson and new puppy, Jasper. And because I didn't have enough excitement in my day, my flight home was cancelled, bringing panic and a dash to the airport to sort out a solution. Thankfully, the amazing Kim at Jetstar got me onto a Qantas flight home and I even had a VIP ride in the terminal buggy to save me walking the long distance from the gate to the airport bus.

Mel's tourist tip

00:04:03Melissa Ellis: To be honest, I'm not really sure what Mel's tourist tip should be today. Perhaps it should be when travelling, ensure you have an adventure buddy on hand in case things go wrong.

00:04:17Oliver Spake: Wise suggestion there. I mean, airport buggy is probably a bridge too far. So travel buddy is a great, great alternative.

00:04:25Melissa Ellis: But it was a fantastic morning at Calamvale. So, you know, my dramas aside, the community was so vibrant and so lovely. Really enjoyed my time there.

00:04:37Oliver Spake: Yeah. Well, I'm glad that that gave you a bit of balance and really hope that you're starting to feel okay, not hurt too much, Mel.

00:04:46Unidentified speaker: Moving swiftly on. Yeah.

00:04:51Melissa Ellis: I have a very swollen ankle and the results of the x-rays and the ultrasound are not yet in.

00:05:01Oliver Spake: Okay.

00:05:01Melissa Ellis: I don't believe it's broken. I initially thought it might have been broken because I did feel I heard a crack as I went down. But it would seem that it is perhaps just a very bad sprain.

00:05:15Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:05:16[other]

00:05:16Melissa Ellis: And as dogs are barking in the background. Can you hear that? Yes, I can. Not quite sure what's going on.

00:05:23Oliver Spake: Bambi's concerned. Bambi's checking on you.

00:05:26Melissa Ellis: Perhaps.

00:05:28Oliver Spake: Oh, dear.

00:05:29Melissa Ellis: Anyway, that was just what was going on in Queensland, Ollie, but we had more going on around the country.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:05:34Melissa Ellis: We sure did. We sure did, starting with the launch. Yeah.

00:05:38Oliver Spake: Yes. So welcome to the newest member of the WA parkrun family. Is it Dobbin Park, Mel? I believe so. Yes. And I mean, what a contingent. So I am reading off your notes, your hard work here. Just let's be clear who's done the work this week.

00:05:52Melissa Ellis: You don't have to tell them that, Ollie. Just do it.

00:05:55Oliver Spake: No, truth, truth. Everyone wants truth. So that's 35 of 77 finishers being genuine first-timers, which is an outstanding new community kicking off in a new parkrun. That sounds lovely.

00:06:11Melissa Ellis: It does. And I looked up where Dobbin Park was, Ollie, because I had no idea. I really don't know WA. I've never been there, not yet anyway. And when I looked at the map, it's filling a big parkrun void because roughly halfway between Perth and Marina parkrun, which is in Geraldton? Is that right?

00:06:35Oliver Spake: Not in Geraldton to the best of my understanding. Oh, yes. No, no, of course. Yes, Geraldton. Okay. I'm confusing it. Yep, it is absolutely Geraldton.

00:06:43Melissa Ellis: So there isn't really another parkrun in the general vicinity. So it's filling in a nice gap there. And it looks like it's an out and back course in both directions at Jurien Bay. So surely won't be too long before one of our Channel 5 news crew arrives. WA gets out there and sends us a roving report.

00:07:04Oliver Spake: Yes, and I've just emphasised the fact that I do need to get to WA so I can learn my WA geography a little better. So thank you, parkrun community, for encouraging me to do that.

00:07:14Melissa Ellis: And I should also say the 35 out of 77 first-timers, that stat was brought to us by Chris Fraser.

00:07:22Oliver Spake: Oh, thank you, Chris.

00:07:23Melissa Ellis: Hmm.

00:07:24Oliver Spake: Now, we've had some anniversaries. So, a happy, a big happy 11th anniversary to our parkrun family in South Africa, which I read reliably is their turquoise anniversary. Oh. Yes. Wow.

00:07:38Melissa Ellis: Are you going out and doing your own research?

00:07:42Oliver Spake: It's a bit of a stretch to call that research, don't you think, Mel?

00:07:45Melissa Ellis: So the 10th anniversary in Ireland, Ollie? Yes. Would that be emerald? Do you see what I did there? Aren't they the Emerald Isle? Or have I got that wrong?

00:07:58Oliver Spake: That would have been very fitting. Very fitting it would have been, yes. Wow.

00:08:03Melissa Ellis: But no, you're right. Yeah, 10th is diamond.

00:08:05Oliver Spake: But happy anniversary. When they get to their 20th, that will be their emerald anniversary. So 10 years to go and we can really celebrate.

00:08:15Melissa Ellis: Right. We've had some announcements coming out of parkrun in the form of milestone vests. Yes.

00:08:25Oliver Spake: And I haven't checked all of them out yet, to be perfectly honest. But I think clearly that would suit some climates quite well.

00:08:33Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:08:34Melissa Ellis: Especially ours. And I thought you would be extra excited about this being that you do like to run in a vest. You are a vest runner. Well, what do we call them here? Not vests. We don't call them that. Singlets. So we should use our own terminology.

00:08:48Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, that's true. When I think of a vest, I think of almost like a knitted vest or a volunteer vest. Yes, true.

00:08:55Melissa Ellis: But yeah, singlets. I jumped onto the UK store because they're not in the Australian parkrun shop.

00:09:03Oliver Spake: Okay, yes.

00:09:04Melissa Ellis: They are in the UK store. And to order them, you have to first put in your barcode number. Now, it's probably a while since I've tried to order anything online online. along these lines. But yeah, so I had to try and pretend I was ordering something. I put in my barcode number and I guess that the store will check your barcode to make sure that you are eligible to order whatever you are trying to order. And once it does those checks, then it allows you to go forward with the purchase. And it is in pounds. So it came to with postage around £18.28, which is a little bit of a strange figure. And I did a rough calculation, which came to about $32 Australian, just over $32 Australian to order this. A vest. Yeah. But, yeah, it seemed to go ahead okay. So, obviously, the UK store is happy to post those to Australia. But also there's new milestone buffs, Ollie, only they call them snoods. Hmm. That's a funny word, a snood.

00:10:15Oliver Spake: Snood. A snood. A snood.

00:10:16Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I really feel like that's something that is out of a Dr. Seuss book. I'm sure Lorax, they knitted snoots. Didn't the Lorax knit snoots out of the truffler trees?

00:10:30Oliver Spake: I didn't do my research on that, but...

00:10:33Melissa Ellis: Have you not read your children The Lorax?

00:10:36Oliver Spake: Well, it has been some time. Generally, it's Green Eggs and Ham. Generally, it's Green Eggs and Ham.

00:10:42Melissa Ellis: The Lorax has been a family favourite in my household.

00:10:45Oliver Spake: But apparently that's a thneed. Oh, really?

00:10:48Melissa Ellis: Really?

00:10:49Oliver Spake: Yeah. Yeah.

00:10:50Melissa Ellis: Right. Okay.

00:10:51Oliver Spake: Sorry to fact check you, Mel. So rude.

00:10:55Melissa Ellis: I'm sure there were snoods in something.

00:10:58Oliver Spake: No. Well, in fact, I believe... Snood. I'm also finding hits for a... A snood with that as well. So I'm really confused. I think we're going to have to rely on our adventurer community to clear this up for us.

00:11:11Melissa Ellis: You are finding hits for a snood in the Lorax.

00:11:14Oliver Spake: Well, I'm finding hits when I Google snood and Dr. Seuss.

00:11:18Melissa Ellis: Oh, maybe it's that Christmas Dr. Seuss one. What's the Grinch? Maybe it's in the Grinch. That was Dr. Seuss, wasn't it?

00:11:27Oliver Spake: I believe so. Oh, well. You'll hear the typing in the background. Yeah. Oh, yes. I might be wrong. Covering all the big hitters this week, but great options to help people celebrate. So for those that do want to order.

00:11:29[other]

00:11:44Melissa Ellis: I was just going to jump in and say, I am led to believe that as is the case with the milestone badges. The snoods can be ordered by anybody. So they can be ordered as gifts. You don't have to have achieved them as in a milestone shirt to be allowed to order them. So go ahead and buy all the snoods.

00:12:07Oliver Spake: Yes. Cover yourself with your goals.

00:12:09Melissa Ellis: Released conveniently in time for Christmas.

00:12:13Oliver Spake: That's right. Well, I suppose it's a nice way for people to have something when they complete their goal.

00:12:18Melissa Ellis: Yes, if only if we'd thought of that earlier. Never mind.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:12:23Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, this week we have two roving reports. We've got Tracey coming to us from Robelle Domain and Sarah from the West Side coming to us from Whitfords Nodes. So why don't we have a listen to them now?

Roving report Tracey Wood — Robelle Domain

00:12:48Tracey Wood: Good morning, parkrunners. This roving reporter has roamed across the river to Robelle Domain. Where is that? It's Springfield. And it took me all of 30 minutes to get here. I know, right? Had to bring a cut lunch with me. Okay, I think I found the course. There's lots of people heading, hmm, across a bridge and down a path. I'm going to follow them. Bye. Okay, I've just started on Robelle Domain parkrun course. We've done a little loop and already there's people coming back. I don't know what's happening here, Mika.

00:13:22Mika: All right. So with this course, Tracey, they're going to sort of head up to the top here. It's a bit hard to say that when you can't see my directions. But anyway, they head up to the top. Then they actually go all the way back again and pass the start. And then they come back again to do this section again. Right. And then we come down and finish just down here on the grass. So it's, yeah, it's a little bit of a loop de loop back and forth.

00:13:51Tracey Wood: And is it all on this park?

00:13:54Mika: Yeah, so all of it's in the Robelle Domain Park and all on footpath, except for the tiny little grass bit at the very end.

00:14:02Tracey Wood: Okay, so when I heard about Robelle Domain, I thought it was a big green area. So it sort of is, but could you describe Robelle Domain for the people at home?

00:14:13Mika: Yes, so it's a pretty large park. There's a lagoon that's sort of associated with it that's just sort of beside where the start line is, so that's usually a good... ticket to come along and go do something fun afterwards as well and cool off. There's a few large green patches, lots of barbecues, a few playgrounds. And then over next to the park, you've got a cafe. Next to Lagoon, you've got a cafe as well.

00:14:36Tracey Wood: And can I just mention the cafe doesn't open at 6.30 in the morning. And if you're looking for a cafe at 6.30 in the morning, you need to go find McDonald's, which is approximately five minutes away. I don't think you need to know that, but hey, I just thought I'd share that with you. Now, Mika, is this your home parkrun?

00:14:55Mika: Officially, I call Ripley my home parkrun, but this one is the closest to me. So it gets equal love.

00:15:03Tracey Wood: And what are you doing this morning? You're just coming out for a walk?

00:15:06Mika: Yeah, just doing a wander this morning myself. I've brought a newbie along to the cult today. So my sister-in-law has joined us for her first parkrun. She's visiting from Sydney. So she's off with my son and my husband right now and they're running.

00:15:22Tracey Wood: And what's her name?

00:15:23Mika: Coralie.

00:15:24Tracey Wood: Coralie, welcome to the cult. I mean, sorry, family. Family. Family. Yes, we are so not a cult. Not a cult. Not a cult at all. Alrighty. The lady does protest too much. Looks like we're going uphill. Might be a good time to pause it. Thank you for chatting with me. Alrighty, I've finished Robelle Domain parkrun and I've found Lauren who I was chatting with on the course. And Lauren's got some really interesting stats. Lauren, you were telling me, let's see, I think this is your 150th parkrun.

00:15:59Lauren: 180 something, maybe 181. I've done about 63 different parkrun courses across Australia. Eight different countries. Wow. I love doing parkrun touristing and chatting to wonderful people such as yourself, Tracey, along the way. And can you tell me what were the countries again? Countries, so my first one was St. Peter's in Sydney, Australia, and then home to New Zealand to do a few over there. I've also done Singapore, Japan. The USA, I did Crissy Field in San Francisco when it was still running, so nice to get that one under the belt. Also Bushy Park, I did my Bushy Pilgrimage in 2019, very exciting. And Denmark and Germany, is that eight? It's definitely eight and that might be it.

00:16:49Tracey Wood: Anyone else feeling a bit jealous here? Lauren, I'm going to put you on the spot. Okay. And say, with all of these wonderful parkruns and countries, top three, but you can't say your home one.

00:17:01Lauren: Okay. Ooh. All right. I will just say my current home one is in Wollongong, Sandon Point. It's beautiful. It's a lovely run along the coast, along the beach. Not on the beach, but along the coast. So, Bushy Park, I've already mentioned. That's the Bushy Pilgrimage. I don't know. I felt like I was coming home somehow. Yeah, the Chrissy field in San francisco when that course we ran out towards the San francisco bridge the golden gate bridge and then we ran when we ran back it was like we were looking at alcatraz so that was wonderful and then this is a real tricky one I am on the spot uh hopefully maybe some of this time can be uh edited out but let's say I'm gonna pick one in

00:17:47Tracey Wood: No, I can't. I don't know. Now it doesn't have to be just because of its scenery.

00:17:51Lauren: Okay, so Queenstown, New Zealand is beautiful. How did you go today? Oh, I loved it today. This is a beautiful course. We're in Robelle Domain in Springfield Lakes. So beautiful. It's through, it's a nice flat course, um hard surface so if you like grass and trail this one might not be for you however it goes through it beautiful um there's an artificial lake in the neighbourhood there's bush forest um lots of shade ticks all the boxes and the people have been amazing yeah I know right yeah it's excellent well thanks for chatting with me okay thanks Tracey have a good day see ya

00:18:30Tracey Wood: Okay adventurers, I have finished Robelle Domain parkrun and I have both the Edie and the Ardy. So ED is... Darren.

00:18:39Janine: And RD is... Janine.

00:18:41Tracey Wood: And how did it all go today, Janine?

00:18:42Janine: Fantastic. Yep, really good. Beautiful day. Lots of positive people from other parkruns and yeah, great day. Excellent. And Darren, how long has this parkrun been going?

00:18:55Darren: This is the 10th one. But this one actually took over from Augustine Heights, which closed before COVID started.

00:19:02Tracey Wood: What happened with Augustine Heights?

00:19:04Darren: Well, every year we've got to do a risk assessment and the risk assessment went in and it was discovered that we were crossing driveways. So that's not allowed. So it had to close.

00:19:15Tracey Wood: So is this the same event team that came over from Augustine to Robelle Domain?

00:19:19Darren: Yes, everyone, except for a couple of new people. We've actually got seven or eight crews now that do this.

00:19:26Tracey Wood: And this looks like a really nice area, a very community-minded area. Would you agree with that?

00:19:31Darren: Oh, very much so, very much so. And I could never understand why we never had a parkrun in this sort of park area, this Robelle Domain. So it's brilliant and it's bringing everyone out for a run or a walk or whatever they want to do.

00:19:43Tracey Wood: I've noticed a lot of parkwalkers here. How many people would you say here today, Janine?

00:19:47Janine: I think we got two... Hang on.

00:19:51Darren: I think it was 250.

00:19:52Janine: 250, something close to that. I actually thought we were going to get 300 today with the type of weather we had, but there's a big celebration next week and there was one last week, so we've got the quiet week in between.

00:20:03Tracey Wood: Oh, wow. Okay, sorry, I missed it. What's the celebration next week? What's the party?

00:20:07Darren: Oh, no, I don't think it's a party. I think it's one of these prime number things where they, yeah, if everyone likes to get their 11th. So, yeah, that's next week.

00:20:17Tracey Wood: Oh, it's a Fibonacci. Okay, for adventurers listening at home, it's the Fibonacci number 11 next week. If you've listened to my previous report, I'm not explaining that again because we don't go there again because we don't talk about that. Look, thanks very much, guys. Thanks for talking with me. Great event today. Thank you for having me. Really enjoyed this and have a good day. You too. Have a great weekend. All right, team, it's Tracey in a Tutu signing off from Robelle Domain parkrun. See you on the veer side. Bye.

Roving report Sarah Jefferson — Whitfords Nodes

00:20:46Sarah Jefferson: Good morning, parkrun adventurers. It's Sarah here for Channel 5 News Crew reporting in from Whitfords Nodes parkrun this morning for event 2-2-2, ticking off my Nelson's Challenge. And this morning I'm here with... Jane Ingalls.

00:20:59Stu Anthony: And... Stu Anthony.

00:21:01Sarah Jefferson: And good morning, everyone, and thanks for volunteering. Can you tell me a little bit about your parkrun adventures and your parkrun journey so far?

00:21:08Jane Ingalls: Yes, so I started coming to parkrun as part of Buddy Up Australia, and I have done 15 volunteer roles and 21 parkruns and sometimes parkwalking.

00:21:21Sarah Jefferson: Awesome. Very good stats for volunteering. Can you tell me a little bit about Buddy Up Australia?

00:21:26Jane Ingalls: Sure. Buddy Up Australia is an organisation that focuses on the health and wellbeing of veterans and first responders. We do that in three ways. We do it through arranging physical events and wellness events and purposeful volunteering.

00:21:41Sarah Jefferson: Awesome. And do some of those people actually come down to parkrun as well? Yes.

00:21:45Jane Ingalls: Sometimes we've got a whole crew down here. Today there's only two of us here, but even that, that's enough. That's an event. Fabulous. And what does parkrun mean to you? I love the ability to just connect with random strangers. Everybody's very encouraging. It doesn't matter how slow the slowest person walking is, everybody still gives them a lot of encouragement. I think that's really rewarding.

00:22:07Sarah Jefferson: I agree. I love that about parkrun as well. And is there a volunteer role? Semi, your volunteer stats are pretty on point. Is there any of the volunteer roles that you enjoy more than others?

00:22:18Jane Ingalls: I think probably the timer is one I really like because I get to yell and encourage everybody as they go by. But the other one which is super competitive is we all like to do Tail Walker because we get to do the five kilometres as well.

00:22:30Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, that is always a popular one. And we've got one of, I think, our first finisher here today. Is that right?

00:22:37Stu Anthony: That is.

00:22:39Sarah Jefferson: I said it. It's okay. You're not bragging. I said it. And can you tell me one of your parkrun goals at the moment?

00:22:46Stu Anthony: parkrun goal is to get back under 18 minutes after three knee surgeries in the last, I don't know, So it's just trying not to feel old and to get back in and feel fit again. Yeah, there's a little goal there to get back under 18 again, which is a challenge as you get older and older and older.

00:23:04Sarah Jefferson: Very impressive. Very impressive. I think I'm getting slower as I get older, but I love your goals. And is Whitford's your home parkrun?

00:23:12Stu Anthony: Home parkrun, but I've probably done about 10 different parkruns in WA. We even schedule our holidays around parkruns. Well, I do. The wife doesn't know that yet.

00:23:21Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:23:21Stu Anthony: But that's my secret little planning tool. Yep. So, yeah, I like to do different parkruns whenever we travel. Fabulous. Just mix it up a bit.

00:23:31Sarah Jefferson: Have you got any coming up, any holidays that you've booked secretly?

00:23:34Stu Anthony: We'll be Margaret River parkrunning at the end of the year and Albany Mount Clarence parkrun in January, nice both beautiful and on my probably my top three so fabulous yeah fabulous and what's the furthest parkrun you have completed away from Whitford's furthest from Whitford's would be Albany to the south and we did the soft start for Jurien Bay parkrun last weekend so they have their first official parkrun today but we joined in at the soft start just randomly when we were up there wow that's cool shows that you can just travel and we randomly stumbled across a parkrun awesome which was is amazing that you can just go on a holiday somewhere and just randomly find a parkrun. Yeah, that is.

00:24:16Sarah Jefferson: That was meant to be, I say.

00:24:17Stu Anthony: I think so.

00:24:18Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, and very exciting. WA will have a J now, so cool. Thank you for sharing your parkrun journey. Great for talking to you. Thank you. Bye. So I'm back in the car. Lots of 2-2s out for the 2-2-2 event at Whitford's. Whitford's is 25 kilometres from the Perth CBD, travelling in the direction of north. There is one decent sized hill. Aside from that, there are plenty of downhills and flat paths. It also tracks along the coast. So after today's run, I actually jumped straight into the Indian Ocean, which is a nice perk at this time of year. So if you haven't checked it out, Whitford's is definitely worth it. And congratulations, Ollie, on your 250 volunteers. What an achievement.

00:25:13Oliver Spake: And thank you very much to Tracey and Sarah for the roving reports and another Nelson event popping up, Mel.

00:25:18Melissa Ellis: Yes, there was a 2-2-2 out there at Whitfords Nodes. That was Sarah coming to us with Jane Ingalls, who began because of Buddy Up Australia. That was interesting to hear about Buddy Up Australia, Ollie. And Stu Anthony, who was first finisher and schedules his holidays around parkruns. Who would do that?

00:25:41Oliver Spake: Our kind of people, huh?

00:25:43Melissa Ellis: Yes, he's our kind of person.

00:25:45Oliver Spake: Yeah. Not a cult. No.

00:25:47Melissa Ellis: And Tracey was talking to Mika who brought along her sister-in-law. So good work, Mika.

00:25:55Oliver Spake: Yes. Bring them in. That's the way. Lovely to hear. But, Mel, I have to admit I was distracted. I was looking up the definition of snood after our discussion and I didn't realise it had so many meanings. Ah. Yeah, so it certainly does, according to the very reliable source of Wikipedia, does refer to a band or ribbon for keeping hair in place or a small hairnet or cap, but it also refers refers to a short line of horse hair, gut or monofilament, which a fish hook is attached to a longer line.

00:26:32Unidentified speaker: Wow.

00:26:34Oliver Spake: And also the flap of erectile red skin on the beak of a male turkey. Wow.

00:26:40Melissa Ellis: Keep listening to the parkrun adventurers for more learning.

00:26:44Oliver Spake: And finally, a piece of clothing to keep the neck warm.

00:26:48Melissa Ellis: There you go. And, Ollie, just to add to the different names that you can refer to such an item, I believe they're also known as a thir in certain parts of the world, perhaps over the Dutch.

00:27:03Oliver Spake: Over the Dutch, yes. Fascinating, fascinating. So, yeah, there we are, all the background snood from Middle English and other origins.

Dazza's

00:27:13Oliver Spake: But we should talk about Dazza's. We should. Who's first? You. This week, well, Dazza was making everything green in celebration of, well... You. Yeah. A 250th volunteer and other 250th celebrations. And Dazza said, you know, what can we get you? Lime milkshake, a glass of green cordial, cappuccino with green sprinkles. Come on in and tell us all about your parkrun adventures today. And coming on in, first of all, we had Kath Atkin in New Zealand who said, Western Springs parkrun done, a three-lap hilly loop around the lake by Auckland Zoo. Loved it. Oh, it's by a zoo. That sounds fun.

00:27:56Melissa Ellis: It does. And we also heard from Natalie Sopa. She was touristing. She was also in New Zealand, Hobsonville Point parkrun in Auckland done by the water. A big commitment to parkrun tourism after attending a wedding yesterday and still on Melbourne time. And Natalie shared a photo of a lake, must be adjacent or at Hobsonville Point, a beautiful lake and very blue skies.

00:28:28Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's got to be worth the morning for sure. Nice work, Natalie. And Mel, we heard from Bec Bailey, who was at home and said, provided this zoomy photographer with a bit of green on his 250 volley this morning at Shellharbour. Well done, Ollie. My highlight this morning included run walking up Point Break Hill and seeing all the zooms coming down toward the camera. People who knew zoomed and people who were unsure just copied everyone else. Can't wait to see the Shellharbour album when it comes out. And Bec did share a photo of yours truly in his green tutu, zooming, plus a second pic of Bec zooming to the finish line.

00:29:10Melissa Ellis: Oh, what's with Point Break Hill? Well. How did that name come about?

00:29:14Oliver Spake: It overlooks the surf beach. So Point Break being the reference to a surfing movie. Oh, right. Yes.

00:29:22Melissa Ellis: Okay. Well, thanks for your post, Bec. We also heard from Heather Morgan, touristing as well, didn't wear my green shirt as I only packed an old event tee on my tourist trip to the other side of the state. Coonawarra for me. Underpasses and bridges for the win. And yes, I pressed the button and joined the Adventurers Club officially.

00:29:47Oliver Spake: Oh, nice work. Well done, Heather.

the Frond

00:29:51Oliver Spake: And on the fronding fronts, we heard from Sonja Pohlman. Happy birthday, Sonja, by the way. A delightful surprise of a mini frond at the Beaches. Missed Michael Sharp in this pic, though. And Sonja shared a photo at the Beaches with P1, P2, Luke, and new listener Georgina Devine.

00:30:11Melissa Ellis: We also had a post from Bruce Purdy, our ideas man. This post, Ollie, had the most likes. And Bruce said, congratulations, Ollie, from everyone at the Wallaby Track parkrun. Now, it was Wallaby Track's return after the recent flooding.

00:30:29Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:30:30Melissa Ellis: On their alternate, alternate course. Yes. But it was a Zoomie video from Wallaby Track. Plus, Bruce also shared a photo of a triple Zoomie. You did see this video, I hope, Ollie.

00:30:45Oliver Spake: Yes, I have seen the video. Wow. That is just awesome. Thank you so much, Wallaby Track family. And it's nice to hear that you're all back. And thank you to the Ideas Man, of course. Now, we heard also from Joe McLean, who was volunteering and said, congrats, Ollie. 250 volleys is awesome. Always love the fab vibes you get from volunteering. Number 63 for me today, marshalling at the ponds. How could you not smile in this wonderful weather? And Joe shared a photo of, well, of Joe in the Medibank virtual selfie frame showing lovely blue skies.

00:31:26Melissa Ellis: Excellent. I like that virtual selfie frame. And I must admit, I don't really know how to get it or do it. I don't know if you have to be a Medibank customer to be able to access that. I don't see many people sharing it. So I think Joe's pretty clever. We also heard from Michael Schultz. He had a PB. At Scribbly Gums Conservation this morning, I did my First PB since February last year and second in more than three years. I was going almost flat out but took a wrong turn and lost 30 seconds. So I should be able to PB again there next time. Well done, Schultzy, and thanks for dropping into Dazza's.

00:32:08Oliver Spake: That's right. And that's a nice glass half full approach to things. So we look forward to hearing about the PB next time. We heard from Chris Gore, Mel, who had a bit of a milestone over there in WA and said, sorry, Dazza and Ollie. Congratulations, Ollie, on your magnificent achievement. But there wasn't any green for us today. It was all red to celebrate our great nephew's 50th parkrun. He picked Kalea parkrun, his favourite course, in the hope of getting a PB for his milestone. His previous all-time best was 30 minutes and 6 seconds, set two months ago, and today he beat that with a 29.19. Well done, Christian. Another Clare parkrunner also had a birthday, so there was plenty of cake to be had. And we did see a photo of Christian with the red shirt cut out and a family shot as well with proof of all the aforementioned cakes. So, yeah, sounds like... A pretty nice morning and impressive PB.

00:33:06Melissa Ellis: It was, Ollie. It took, you know, pretty much almost a minute off his previous best. It's very impressive.

00:33:12Oliver Spake: That'd do nicely, yes. Wow.

00:33:15Melissa Ellis: We also heard from Johan and the country anniversary. Johan said it was green and a tad wet. At Innibos parkrun South Africa today, we had Bruce and Gill visiting and afterwards they met with the event teams from the region. I'm glad I was Timekeeper today because I haven't invested in a wetsuit yet. And... Johan shared photo evidence of how wet the course was, plus a selfie frame photo of Johan with Bruce and Gill and somebody else, Ollie, but I didn't catch who the fourth person was in that selfie frame. So apologies.

00:33:57Oliver Spake: Nonetheless, looks like a good one. Now, in the UK, a bit of a milestone as well. We heard from Helen Rutter, who said, congrats, Ollie, a small frond at Goole today, my 250th parkrun. Lots of lovely friends from England, Scotland and Wales came along. Lovely cake, chat, social. Oh, and a run too. Then a cow half inched my toasted tea cake. And Helen shared a photo of 250 cupcakes and a finished photo of Helen as well. So a huge congratulations to you, Helen. That's a massive milestone.

00:34:36Melissa Ellis: But also coming to us from the UK was Calum Burrell. who had a challenge of sorts. He said, very happy to join in on Helen Rutter's 250th celebrations at Goole parkrun. Just being amongst friends was ace. Getting stopwatch bingo completed was an added bonus. And he did that in 257 runs. I'm a bit jealous. LAUGHTER Calum shared a jump shot and a lovely picture of Helen holding a 250th card with her face on it and a UK friend there with Helen and Calum. I assume Lindsay was there too, volunteering, but I have not confirmed.

00:34:59[laughter]

00:35:19Oliver Spake: Uh-huh. No, good work. Good work. Now, on the touristing front, we heard from Geoff Glaab, who said, Hello, Dazza. Late post from the airport while awaiting my connecting flight home. Sarah and I...

00:35:35Melissa Ellis: That was the word I needed to look up.

00:35:38Oliver Spake: Sluitlopers. Sluitlopers? I don't know. Sluitlopers? Tail Walkers. Really should have looked that up. Sorry, Jeff and everyone. Yesterday at Amsterdamse Bos parkrun in Amsterdam. It was a foggy start, but eventually by the second kilometre, the sun broke through. It was the best start to the last day of our European vacation we could have asked for. This was my 10th different event, and I got a new flag for my profile. Thanks to Run Director Judith and the rest of the team at Amsterdamse Bos for making us feel right at home. Put this one on your list. And Jeff did share a photo of the parkrun with Tail Walkers Jeff and Sarah at the rear walking on a very foggy morning. And I apologise for all that pronunciation. Mispronunciation, as it were. [Dutch: "Tail walkers (literally "closing runners" — the Dutch parkrun term for the volunteer who walks at the back)"]

00:36:30Melissa Ellis: I told you there was another word I was going to look up and I couldn't remember what it was. It was that one.

00:36:36Oliver Spake: Yeah, I should have looked it up. One job.

00:36:38Unidentified speaker: Mm-hmm.

00:36:40Oliver Spake: Yes, so look, it's worth mentioning there was a big turnout at Dazza's this week, a pretty big turnout. I think as we reach our southern hemisphere summit, we're seeing the numbers grow and it's being reflected at Dazza's, but not to be left behind are our northern hemisphere kin. So thank you, everyone, for popping in.

the Obi Award — Oliver Spake

00:36:59Oliver Spake: And as much as Mel and I would like to award the Obi to someone, someone else has come in to steal our thunder once again. Truth be told, because it's all about truth this week, I've got no idea who it is. I've got no idea. So let's hand to our mysterious Obi announcer for this week.

the Informant

00:37:19the Intern: What a cracking day, Bajeman.

00:37:21The Informant: Relaxing on the beach. Wicking your boosty. Beach working.

00:37:25the Intern: Yeah, you got that right. Can't wait for the cricket to start. Are you going to any Big Bash games? Are you the informant?

00:37:34The Informant: Who's asking?

00:37:36James: I have a delivery.

00:37:37The Informant: For me?

00:37:39James: Sign here.

00:37:42the Intern: What is it?

00:37:43The Informant: It's from Mel.

00:37:45the Intern: How did you know you were here?

00:37:48The Informant: I... I really don't know. Dear informant, can you please record the Obi announcement for this week's pod? I'll have a large car of milk waiting for you when you get back to the office.

00:38:05the Intern: Really?

00:38:06The Informant: I'm not going back to the office.

00:38:09the Intern: Well, who was it?

00:38:11The Informant: This week's Obi goes to Ollie Spake. We'll be reaching 250 volunteers. Oh.

00:38:17the Intern: Yeah, that was valid. 250 official volleys. And everything else he does in the background at Shellharbour.

00:38:26The Informant: Yeah. Good man, Oliver. Cheers to that.

00:38:35Melissa Ellis: And congratulations, Ollie, on your Obi win. And well done to our delivery boy for finding the informants wherever they may be.

Level 2 with a view

00:38:44Melissa Ellis: But now it's time to cross to The Office Lady who's going to do a deep dive and get to know a special guest just a little bit better.

Interview Oliver Spake — Co-host, parkrun adventurers podcast; Shellharbour parkrun volunteer

00:38:59Sam Schroder: Hello, everyone. It's the Office Lady here talking to you from the comfy chair on level two with a view. I'm very pleased to be back in the office today with a special interview celebrating a very impressive milestone. But before we talk, I thought it might be fun to give you all a chance to guess the guest. So, let's get started. So in the spirit of the Who Am I quiz question asked each year as part of the parkrun adventurers Listener Meetup quiz, let's see if you at home can guess who I'm talking to before I introduce him. Some people might describe my guest as a parkrun fanatic. He's definitely a parkrunner with some impressive statistics, and we're going to discuss his most recent achievement in our chat. But first, let's look at his running statistics that are not parkrun related. My guest has completed City to Surf 12 times, with his fastest time being this year in an extremely impressive time of 56 minutes, 25 seconds. He ran the Sydney Marathon in 2016 in three hours, 26 minutes, 56 seconds. And his half marathon PB was run this year in one hour, 33 minutes and 21 seconds. My guest has described his favourite non-parkrun event as the M2M Challenge, which he might even tell us about soon. And if my research is correct, he's completed that event five times. If you haven't already worked out who I'm talking to today, this one might give it away, I reckon. Later this week, my guest will be running the Point to Pinnacle in support of Carrie's Beanies for Brain Cancer Foundation. My guests' non-running interests include music festivals, Eurovision, the Socceroos and the Matildas, and going to restaurants and wineries with his lovely wife, Cathy. And for the dead giveaway final clue, I'm talking to a man we all know very well who has three daughters and his oldest daughter, Hannah, has just graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry at Wollongong University. Yes, listeners, in case you hadn't already worked it out, it is my absolute pleasure to welcome all the way from the desk right beside me, Oliver Spake. Welcome to the parkrun adventurers podcast, Ollie. Oliver Spake Thank you very much. You had me guessing there.

00:41:24Oliver Spake: You had me guessing. Your desk is much cleaner than mine, isn't it?

00:41:29Sam Schroder: Well, you do have a lot of post-it notes on your desk. There's no two ways about it. But I'm the Office Lady, not the cleaning lady. You do you, Ollie. I'm okay with your desk, yeah.

00:41:39Oliver Spake: You're very accepting in this office and I appreciate that. Thank you.

00:41:42Sam Schroder: Absolutely. Now, there's a very special reason for our chat today, Ollie, and it's not just that it was a fun excuse for me to play the Who Am I game. I know you were very strategic and tried to let this milestone fly under the radar. But, Ollie, I want to offer you a huge congratulations for completing your 250th stint of volunteering on the weekend. Thank you. Can I start by asking you, what role did you volunteer in for day number 250?

00:42:10Oliver Spake: Well, firstly, thank you very much. I appreciate the congratulations. And though I was trying to fly under the radar, stealth-wise, as it were, yeah, obviously I was picked up on the radar. I have chosen, and I had it in mind for a little while, that I would... I would volunteer in the same role that I started in, so marshalling.

00:42:35Sarah Jefferson: Lovely.

00:42:37Oliver Spake: And to combine that with my other favourite role for much of my time at parkrun, which was volunteer coordination. Excellent.

00:42:45Sam Schroder: So marshalling was the first volunteer role that you undertook? That's right. Yes. Why don't you tell us a little bit about the very first time you volunteered at parkrun?

00:42:55Oliver Spake: I was trying to think back. In fact, I can't remember which location I was marshalling in. It was somewhere, I would imagine, not too far from the start or the finish because I was a newbie. I think it was within my first 10 parkrun occasions and I had been enticed by to give volunteering a go by some very exuberant Co-Event Directors, one of whom goes by the name of Brendan. And, yeah, it was a great experience. I remember very clearly just watching everyone go by and how many thank yous and cheers I got as everyone went by, and I immediately enjoyed that. So it was nice to have my eyes opened to something I hadn't done before.

00:43:43Sam Schroder: You're a versatile volley, that's for sure. Regularly taking on more than one role on a Saturday morning. According to my research, you've done 19 different volunteer roles over those 250 days. I know I'm putting you on the spot here, but can you tell me your favourite volunteer role and why you love it?

00:44:02Oliver Spake: For a long time it was barcode scanning because it helped me learn people's names. Yeah. I think that's always been the helpful role because you can look at the barcode, you can congratulate people, you can read the name, use the name, and that helped me learn names. I haven't done that as much in the last few years and that's why I'm terrible with names at my home parkrun. So I do apologise. But I think I like timekeeping the most, to be perfectly honest. I really enjoy seeing everyone just get that last bit of enthusiasm or maybe curse their way to the finish line and just the excitement of being able to call out the times when the moment's right to see the buzz going on as well past the finish line behind me. So I find that's probably the most excitement I get.

00:44:52Sam Schroder: Oh, that's excellent. Do you have any especially memorable volunteering experiences you'd like to share with us?

00:44:59Oliver Spake: I think it's easy to say I've enjoyed volunteering with the family. I haven't done it a lot. And in particular, my two youngest daughters, whilst they have helped to volunteer, it's been sparing. The I remember some of the early days on the beach when our course did traverse the beach, taking Zali down, building sandcastles and using that as an excuse to entice her down, which was just as well because there was a long walk back up the steps afterwards. But I'm not so sure aside from that. I've... Loved the challenge. So the few times that I have been a photographer and sometimes doubled that up as a Marshal, the challenge of being able to zip across the course and pop up somewhere to try and take photos from an angle. But that's not really a one-off occasion. Yeah, it's all a blur, to be perfectly honest. Big smiley happy, but yeah.

00:45:56Sam Schroder: Excellent. Now, I know that at Palm this year in March, you jumped on barcode scanning at Bellerive parkrun after you'd finished running. Is that something you like to do when you're adventuring? Are you much of a voluntourist?

00:46:08Oliver Spake: It's been a recent thing. It really has. How do I put this nicely? When I was kidnapped. When I was kidnapped and taken to Wentworth Common parkrun for my event number two, I made the most of that opportunity as well in barcode scanning. But Bellerive, actually, now that you mention it, that was a true highlight. That was my first trip back home. That was Palm. And being able to zip back and join a very healthy contingent of Barcode Scanners to scan in. I remember scanning number 222, which Dawn finished in. So that was... lovely next to the cricket pitch. And yeah, I think that's an even better way to enjoy visiting a parkrun, to get the excitement of being out on course in the parkrun, but then being fortunate enough to come back and be part of the volunteer crew and get to savour everyone else's morning as well.

00:47:01Sam Schroder: Now, our listeners know you love to see the smooth running of your home event, but moving now from volunteering to participating in parkrun, I note that since you started parkrunning in June 2014, you've run, walked or carried gumboots at 41 different locations. And at one stage, you actually managed a tourism streak of 13 weeks. Very impressive. I think our listeners who might only have been around for the last year or two might find that shocking news that you managed a 13-week streak. So you know the drill, Ollie. Excluding your home event, give us your top three parkruns and why.

00:47:40Oliver Spake: Do I have to exclude it?

00:47:42Sam Schroder: Yep.

00:47:44Oliver Spake: Well, I think the excitement at Bellerive was absolutely a highlight and that one has shot to the top.

00:47:51Unidentified speaker: Wow.

00:47:52Oliver Spake: as being part of the top three. The reason is, of course, the company and the event. But the course was a really enjoyable one to run. It was, I think we've said, relatively flat. It did have a little bit of a hill, I'm told, reliably. Yes, it did. But what a beautiful outlook and a wonderful welcoming crew, which, you know, to be perfectly honest, has been present at every parkrun I've been to. Yeah. Um, it's really quite hard because the Palm meetups have always been highlights for me. And I have to say, still right up there was the experience. Yeah. There are two in mind in terms of the Palm meetups other than Bellerive that I'm thinking of. They've all been highlights, but the more recent adventure to Nambour was a big highlight because the course was just wonderful. It was just so incredibly hilly and challenging and we had fluffy, well, not on course time of parkrun, but again, the excitement of being out there and experiencing this course that I'd heard so much about in beautiful surroundings, the bushland. It was just a great experience. So Nambour was certainly up there as well. And then I guess one of the more recent ones, Geeveston has shot into the list. Geeveston was a lovely experience again. Tassie's really been special for me getting back there this year. And I like to think it's not because it was my only ever first place finish, but, you know, that was a bit of a highlight.

00:49:37Sam Schroder: That's allowed to be a reason. That's right.

00:49:40Oliver Spake: But again, the location, it just, you know, at that time it was, it was May. So it was quite cold. It was quite frosty, well, not frosty, but misty and just a lovely welcoming community that I really enjoyed getting to chat to and, you know, get back out on course and walk around once I'd finished as well. So they'd be the three that I would name. I'll probably change that to be perfectly honest.

00:50:07Sam Schroder: Out of 41, you're allowed to have more than three, but I think those were excellent answers. Thank you.

00:50:11Oliver Spake: I'm sorry, Bathurst.

00:50:14Sam Schroder: Bathurst is amazing. We can't cover everything. I am actually about to mention Bathurst in the context of the next question.

00:50:22Oliver Spake: Ollie, do you know where your NENDY is? Well, I think I'm back at Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens, if I'm not mistaken. Correct. Yes.

00:50:29Sam Schroder: So in the interests of potentially trying to drum up enough interest to beat the Bathurst non-palm frond record of I think it was 24 or 25 adventurers, can you tell us, do you have any plans to visit Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens so we can all be there that day?

00:50:50Oliver Spake: Well, I appreciate the suggestion. I had originally hoped to make it for event number 11. That passed me by. Yes, it did. So no immediate plans. However, I'm very open to it. I do need to get up there because that is in fact very close to the home of Hannah's boyfriend's family who I need to meet. to get up and have a nice brunch with. So that will be a good excuse to get up there as well as seeing any adventurers.

00:51:20Sam Schroder: Yes. Well, all the adventurers promise not to rock up to Hannah's boyfriend's families for brunch, but it would be lovely for us to try and organise a frond to Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens, which I can tell you is a beautiful course. So I have one last question before we wrap this up. Ollie, can you tell us about your parkrun and other running plans for this coming weekend?

00:51:46Oliver Spake: So the plans are as things currently stand and they're fairly locked in but always susceptible to change. I haven't got a Q of my alphabet. I've been very, very slowly ticking that off so I'm looking forward to visiting Queen's Domain where, of course, we did do a Freedom Run event Freedom Walk, as it were, at Palm this year, but get there for a real life parkrun. And Kathy has promised to come and join. So that will be a highlight. And then on Sunday is an event that I should be much more prepared for. But as you mentioned, I have committed to completing the event and to using it as motivation to raise money for what I think is a wonderful cause, which is Carrie's Beanies for Brain Cancer, and trying to raise a goal of some equivalent to the elevation, which is really the feature of the event. So the point to pinnacle is a half marathon that I'll take on on Sunday morning, and it runs up kunanyi, otherwise known as Mount Wellington. Excellent.

00:52:52Sam Schroder: So, Ollie, on behalf of all of the listeners of the podcast, congratulations on your amazing milestone and thanks for volunteering an amazing 250 times. I also want to thank you for being one half of of the best podcasting duo. You and Mel bring a lot of joy to all of the people in the adventurers community and we love listening to you both each week. I hope you and Kathy have a ball in Hobart and I hope you run well up that mountain. We'll all be looking forward to your recap in next week's pod. I'm going to go make a donation to your excellent cause now. Thanks so much, Ollie.

00:53:31Oliver Spake: Thank you, Sam. So it feels a little strange to thank myself for the interview. So thank you, Sam, for that interview.

00:53:46Melissa Ellis: She did the deep dive, didn't she, Ollie? She did, yeah.

00:53:49Oliver Spake: And look, it's been quite lovely. Look, I really appreciate everyone's well wishes. I do want to say a huge thank you to everyone who does this and across the social media channels and, you know, for all of the congratulations. It has been wonderful. heartwarming. And it's been very special to me to reach that milestone. I have been a bit quiet about it just because it just slots in there in life, but it's been a lot of fun and I really appreciate the chance to speak about it.

00:54:17Melissa Ellis: So you enjoyed the morning? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Good point. Tell us a little bit more about

00:54:23Oliver Spake: I haven't really recapped, have I? No. Yeah. Look, as preempted in that discussion, which Sam and I had a chat before parkrun morning, and whilst I very nearly slotted out and slotted into some different volunteering roles, in the end, the roles that I carried out, I did the Volunteer Coordinator, just the side of it in the morning, coordinating a few people, helping out our Run Director, and I was fortunate enough to marshal and be photographer. So that was a lot of fun. And it was particularly festive, dare I say, because there were a lot of other people celebrating milestones in the morning as well. You know, we had visitors celebrating to 50. We had hundreds. We had 50s. We, in fact, had one of our Duke of Ed volunteers doing his volunteer 50. So shout out to Dylan, who has... still at only age 16, being one of our best Run Directors with supervision, of course. But look, a huge thank you to Run Director Ian of The Morning for his kind words and to everyone who made me feel very special. You know, we had... Julie Turner, one of our adventurers and local Shellharbour parkrunners doing the run report. But not only that, Julie made sure to bake some cookies and have them for everyone to enjoy as part of the celebration. It was also fittingly Julie's grandson, Oliver's 50th milestone. So they doubled up with some red shirts and red frogs in celebration. So it could have been mistaken for Christmas, really, between the green and the red. And, yes, of course, to a bunch of our adventurers for turning up. I mean, we had Michael on the line and Chris and Kerry as well celebrating. Chris Fraser was kind enough to give me a little hamper of goodies and treats. Yeah. I felt very spoiled and, of course, decked out in a tutu thanks to Bec Bailey, who brought along the green tutu. So I got a lot of compliments for my look, and that was all thanks to Bec. But it was a great morning. It was sunny. We had lots of visitors and just a great vibe now.

00:56:36Melissa Ellis: Oh, that sounds fabulous. But I do believe, Ollie, two of Shellharbour's favourite people weren't able to be there. Would that be right, Em and Brendan?

00:56:47Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:56:48Melissa Ellis: They're unwell, so we should send a big get well soon to our friends, Brendan and Em.

00:56:54Oliver Spake: Yeah, and they were looking forward to being our volunteers on the line, which they do so well. So we do hope that they are both feeling much, much better very soon.

Emails

00:57:04Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, guess what?

00:57:06Oliver Spake: What? You've got mail.

00:57:08Melissa Ellis: We've got mail. Yes. We do now, Ollie. We heard this week. We got a personal message from none other than the Ideas Man. And he said... Jeez, we had fun at Wallaby Track yesterday with the zoomies. Once we created the huge one at the start, it really inspired everyone to continue zooming on the course. And with the three-lap out-and-back alternative course, there were plenty of smiles. The best part about zoomies is that they are so inclusive. The parkrun jump isn't. I'm wondering if we should plan an international park-run zoomie day. And this is why he's the ideas man.

00:57:50Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. And it's not my style to say no to a good idea.

00:57:55Melissa Ellis: But so, Ollie, I thought, you know, we need to have a chat about this because we need to figure out when would be the best time of year to do this. Hmm. Hmm.

00:58:07Oliver Spake: Well, every week, really.

00:58:11Melissa Ellis: I know, I know, I know. But wouldn't it be cool if there was a specific day and all the adventurers filled Dazza's with Zoomies? And there was, like, let's not go past the fact that this week there were lots, a lot of people were Zooming in your honour all around the country.

00:58:27Oliver Spake: Well, that's true, and I probably missed one huge detail that Bec Bailey referred to it as, is that there were a lot of photos of zoomies at Shellharbour parkrun, which was great fun. And fittingly, it coincided with an event here called Wings Over Illawarra, which was an air show all weekend. So it was a real zoomie of a weekend. Oh.

00:58:46Melissa Ellis: I reckon our original Palm Party man, Gary Murphy, would love that because I know he's a big aeroplane air show enthusiast.

00:58:57Oliver Spake: Oh, yes. Yeah.

00:58:58Melissa Ellis: That's what Palm was based on. But I digress. So is there a date, like a Zoomie date, Ollie, in aviation world that we could align this international Zoomie day with?

00:59:13Oliver Spake: That's a very good question. I don't know.

00:59:16Melissa Ellis: Amelia Earhart, what's a date that might, you know, her flight?

00:59:23Oliver Spake: Ah, yeah, well, I was thinking of her birthday, but her flight.

00:59:27Melissa Ellis: Yeah, didn't she have a solo flight? Oh, well, maybe that's not a good, no, that didn't end so well, did it?

00:59:32Oliver Spake: Yeah. Yeah.

00:59:35Melissa Ellis: Okay. What about the Wright Brothers? Didn't they do something?

00:59:42Oliver Spake: Well, yes. And look, we have a few aviation pioneers that we could potentially celebrate there. The Wright Brothers' first flight was December 17. So that's a bit close to International Ugly Christmas Singlet or Shirt Day. So whilst I think a consideration would be it's a great opportunity if you've got the singlet to air out your armpits in the heat of summer, in the Australian summer. Not sure all of our adventurers would agree with my rationale. There was something out in Sunbury.

01:00:14Melissa Ellis: Houdini. Houdini flied out in Digger's Rest, 18th of March. Oh, so that doesn't really fit either, does it? On the 18th of March, 1910, Harry Houdini, the world-famous escapologist, made what is claimed to be the first controlled powered flight in Australia. That's near me. That's near Sunbury parkrun.

01:00:36Oliver Spake: Well, there's a candidate.

01:00:37Melissa Ellis: There's a candidate. Yeah. Maybe we should just ask adventurers to come up with ideas for the date.

01:00:43Oliver Spake: Well, yes. I mean, you could draw a long bow and say, well, zoomies are also associated with happy dogs running around. And you base it on International Dog Day, which I believe is late August. But yeah, I think let's crowdsource this one. And failing that, we'll go straight back to the ideas, man.

Consolidated Club Report

01:01:04Melissa Ellis: Fair enough. But, okay, are you ready for the Consolidated Club Report?

01:01:09Oliver Spake: I've been waiting all pod for it, Mel.

01:01:11Melissa Ellis: In our adventurers Consolidated Club Report for the 12th of November 2022, we had a total of 331 members of which 268 took part on this date at 143 locations, which were 21 events in the UK, one in South Africa and one in the USA, one in the Netherlands and one in Poland. And locally we had adventurers at 35 events in Victoria, 27 in New South Wales, 22 in Queensland, South Australia came in fourth with nine, WA had eight, there were seven on the North Island, five in Tassie, four in ACT and one on the South Island. Now, Ollie, as far as the largest front, it was in Robelle Domain in Queensland with eight adventurers. They were Jenny Reedman, Holly Pleasance, Linda Coombes, Belinda Russell and Pauline Taylor, Tracey Wood and Belinda Land. Which is a great turnout. Yes. We also had six adventurers out at Mitchelton in Queensland, six at Shellharbour in New South Wales, six at Ballarat in Victoria, and six at Wagi Bridge in the ACT.

01:02:38Oliver Spake: Yeah, so quite a good spread. And what about that number of adventurers over in the UK? Wonderful. Or number of events, I should say.

01:02:46Melissa Ellis: Yes, really impressive. But there was also some stats, Ollie.

01:02:50Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. Yeah, I think as we picked up in Dazza's and a very impressive 250 there to Helen Rutter at Goole. And I'm stealing your thunder there, Mel, so I'm going to let you read out all the rest. Sorry.

01:03:02Melissa Ellis: Oh, really? No, no. I was happy for you to do it, Ollie.

01:03:05Oliver Spake: Ah, right.

01:03:06Melissa Ellis: But Carmel Roll, she did her V50 out at Yowie parkrun.

01:03:11Oliver Spake: Thank you for volunteering, Carmel.

01:03:12Melissa Ellis: We had a few events celebrating Nelson numbers, Ollie, out at Wagi Bridge. There was event number 111 and Sue Keane and Yvette Turner were out there grabbing that number. At Taree, we had event number 333 and Margie Lewis was out snatching that one and Mitchelton number 444 and Bradley McCann was out there.

01:03:38Oliver Spake: Now picking up the Cowellell Club, Michael Blain at Main Beach. So congratulations, Michael. And the Bee Gees Club, Sue Smith down at Batemans Bay, down relative to where I am. Congratulations.

01:03:51Melissa Ellis: And Roberta Winters was out at Victor Harbor achieving her Alphabeteer. So well done to you, Roberta.

01:03:58Oliver Spake: Yes, congratulations, Roberta. She was up in our neck of the woods last week. And parkrun birthday as well.

01:04:04Melissa Ellis: Yes. So Gregana was out at Mudgeeraba. Is that how you say it, Ollie?

01:04:09Oliver Spake: Mudgeeraba.

01:04:10Melissa Ellis: Oh. Thank you. Celebrating their fourth birthday.

01:04:14Oliver Spake: And well, Mel and Simon, as we heard at Calamvale, celebrating the eighth birthday.

01:04:21Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. And what fun it was. But there was no cake at Calamvale. Not that I saw.

01:04:26Oliver Spake: Oh, at least it looked relatively festive.

01:04:28Melissa Ellis: Not to worry. You don't always need cake. You can have super doopers.

01:04:32Oliver Spake: And weren't they useful super doopers? Yeah, many uses. See, there's your top tip. Frozen super doopers.

01:04:39Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

01:04:40Melissa Ellis: Yes, yes.

01:04:42Oliver Spake: Now, looking forward, Mel. We do like to look forward. We do.

International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day

01:04:47Oliver Spake: Bit of a sprinkle of ugly popping up.

01:04:49Melissa Ellis: There is. There was a few popping up. I noticed Bruce had his new ugly on in Dazza's at Wallaby Track, and also Chantel was sporting her ugly as well. Mine hasn't turned up yet, Ollie, but I'm waiting on my visor, so I know my package is going to be a little bit delayed, but that's okay. There's still plenty of time before Christmas.

01:05:15Oliver Spake: That's right. Yeah, it's coming in nice and early for some of us. So I am also looking forward to that, Mel.

Sign-off

01:05:21Melissa Ellis: But Ollie, we know where you're going to be next week because you have already mentioned that you're going to head off to Queen's Domain and you're off, on your big event, Point to Pinnacle. So we wish you all the very best for that.

01:05:37Oliver Spake: Thank you very much, Mel. I'm very excited to get back down to, well, Nipaluna land in southeastern Tasmania. And yeah, very underprepared, but I'm going to give it my best for everyone that's supported. So thank you, everyone.

01:05:51Melissa Ellis: We're sure you're going to do really well. We'll be watching and waiting for updates with anticipation, so please keep us informed. Is there any way we can track you or, you know, how do I update the adventurers? Very good question.

01:06:09Oliver Spake: Well, I mean, I will be tracking it on Strava. I did get a sports splits registration thingy today that I got a message about, but I don't really know how that works. I think there's a way to track there, but I don't know how live it is. You're right.

01:06:24Melissa Ellis: Will you be updating your good wife during your run?

01:06:27Oliver Spake: Probably not.

01:06:28Unidentified speaker: Oh.

01:06:30Melissa Ellis: Right. Okay. Scrap that.

01:06:32Oliver Spake: Okay.

01:06:33Melissa Ellis: And you text us when you get to the top.

01:06:36Oliver Spake: The plan is to get to the top and have a couple of endorphins and take some pictures.

01:06:40Melissa Ellis: Right.

01:06:41Oliver Spake: Yeah. Yeah.

01:06:42Melissa Ellis: Okay. Well, please let me know and I'll share them on Dazza's or I'll share them on our page or you can do that yourself. Thank you. Whatever you feel like doing.

01:06:53Oliver Spake: No, I appreciate it. Hoping for some snow, Mel. Hoping for some snow.

01:06:57Melissa Ellis: Snow?

01:06:57Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:06:58Melissa Ellis: In November? Yes.

01:07:00Oliver Spake: Yes. What about you, Mel? What's your plans for this week?

01:07:04Melissa Ellis: Oh, don't go there. Okay. I'm hoping to be able to complete a parkrun wherever I may be. At the moment I can't even drive, Ollie, so if I can hitch a lift to Toolern Creek, look out, Brendan Peel, I'm going to be upping my Peel Ellis Cup challenge numbers. Oh, there we go. Yes. Other than that, if anybody is going on a long drive interstate and wants some company, I'm available.

01:07:32Unidentified speaker: Goodness me.

01:07:34Oliver Spake: Oh, dear. No. It'll be great when it comes, I'm sure. Yes.

01:07:39Melissa Ellis: Oh, yes. Stay tuned. Stay tuned and see where Mel ends up.

01:07:42Oliver Spake: Yes.

01:07:43Melissa Ellis: Anyway, Ollie, it's been great. Thank you again for joining me tonight. Oh, thank you. And having a chat, as always. We're done.

01:07:54Oliver Spake: We are done. That's it. We are done indeed. Thank you, everyone.

01:07:57Melissa Ellis: So as always, everybody, you can contact us via Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That is it for another week. We will see you all next week for more adventures.

01:09:19James: Hi Mel and Ollie, I delivered the envelope. They were exactly where you said they would be. The old guy in the beige trousers was a bit grumpy that I found them, but the intern was really pleased to see someone from her generation. James from the Channel 2 News crew, signing off.