Episode 320 - Summer Holidays

00:00:00[intro theme playing]

Welcome

00:00:23Oliver Spake: to episode 320 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie Spake and I am joining from Dharawal Country. And I am Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Ngarrindjeri Country. Ah, that's right. Well, how's life on the road, Mel?

00:00:41Melissa Ellis: It's very interesting. Can I paint you a picture, Ollie? So I'm not at home. I'm on holiday in SA again, and I'm currently in a motel. Well, it's not a motel room. I'm on the second level of a resort. I'm hidden away in the bedroom because I've got two teenage girls staying with me who have been in the pool all afternoon. I've cooked them dinner. I've left it out there on the table for them to help themselves when they come in from the pool. They've got a note to say I'm in the room and I'm recording. So I'm sitting on the bed. I've got my mouse and my laptop and, yeah, we're going to do our best today.

00:01:23Oliver Spake: Well, that's right. Despite what some listeners, particularly first-time listeners, might think, we do not have a production van. We do not have a production studio. We are completely unofficial, of course. We're not even affiliated with parkrun. We just talk about them a lot. We do. But that means you've got to make two, don't you, Mel?

00:01:42Melissa Ellis: Yes. I really need to get a new laptop for these purposes, Ollie, because my poor old laptop keeps telling me I've got way too much in my memory and I've got to delete things. But I'm always scared to do that as well in case I delete something I'm going to need. I can't update any of my spreadsheets because nothing will update in my Dropbox because there's no space for anything. Yep. on holidays.

00:02:08Oliver Spake: You are, and out adventuring. So look, hazard a guess, you've probably got the more fascinating parkrun adventure to share this week between the two of us. Maybe you'd like to go first and tell us about your parkrun day experience.

00:02:24Melissa Ellis: I will. On parkrun day, I was at Goolwa parkrun in South Australia, as I said, on the lands of the Ngarrindjeri people, and it was my 20th in South Australia. I believe there are currently 46 publicly available events in South Australia. And incidentally, I don't think South Australia has had any events closed or relocated.

00:02:47Oliver Spake: South Australia, the stay estate, huh? Yeah.

00:02:50Melissa Ellis: Goolwa is a historic river port on the Murray River near the Murray Mouth and joined by a bridge to Hindmarsh Island. The name Goolwa means elbow in Ngarrindjeri language and the area was known as the elbow to early settlers. Goolwa is approximately 85 kilometres south of Adelaide and was a seven and a half hour drive northwest from Melton. Some interesting facts about Goolwa. Before 1837, the area was briefly considered for the site of the colony's capital. However, the treacherous waters of the Murray Mouth made it difficult for shipping and made the town unsuitable as a major port. Goolwa nevertheless developed as Australia's first inland port, built to connect the town to Port Elliot and later extended to Victor Harbor, allowing goods to move from riverboats to seaboats so that neither had to negotiate the Murray Mouth. In 1935, a permanent barrage called the Goolwa Barrage was constructed between Hindmarsh Island and Sir Richard Peninsula. The barrage separates the freshwater of the River Murray from the saltwater and was constructed to prevent the saltwater traversing further up the River Murray and polluting much-needed freshwater. Every second year, Goolwa hosts the South Australian Wooden Boat Festival, which is held over two days and one evening. The event is on this year from the 28th to the 30th of April, which would be a great time for tourists to visit the area. Also of note is that Goolwa was declared a Cittaslow in 2007 by visiting Cittaslow representatives and was the first non-European town to gain Cittaslow status. What is Cittaslow, Mel? I'm glad you asked, Ollie.

00:04:33Oliver Spake: You put the words right in my mouth.

00:04:36Melissa Ellis: I looked up what a Cittaslow is and the official website states, international network of cities where living is good. Hmm. The Cittaslow organisation was founded in Italy and was inspired by the slow food movement. Cittaslow's goals include improving the quality of life in towns by slowing down its overall pace, especially in a city's use of spaces and the flow of life and traffic through them. In addition to Goolwa, Australia has two other recognised Cittaslows in Yea, Victoria and Katoomba, New South Wales. And also Matakana in New Zealand. Matakana, probably. I don't know the pronunciation. Now, parkrun. Goolwa parkrun launched on the 28th of April in 2018, making it event 215 and led by RD Stan this week. 116 participants crossed the finish line, supported by seven volunteers. The course is an out and back along the river starting in Richard Ballard Park where there is ample on-street parking, toilets, playground and Riverview Deli opposite the start-finish area for brunch afterwards. I was joined on my trip by Zoe and her friend Alicia and was pleased that they walked the course, meaning Zoe completed her 140th 5K event and Alicia her third. They were rewarded afterwards with milkshakes and raisin toast. Now, On Sunday, I was super excited to volunteer at Thorndon Junior parkrun, which is in Paradise, a northeastern suburb of Adelaide. I don't always find time to do my research, and although they didn't complain, the girls were less than impressed with their 5.30 a.m. wake-up call for the one-and-a-half-hour drive to Junior's. I was met there by fellow adventurer Janet Reid and was pleased to meet Thorndon ED Christy and EA Kate, as well as other volunteers who are both pod listeners and adventurers. It was event 100 for Thorndon Juniors, which is set in Thorndon Park and is described as a one lap of the perimeter of the large oval, followed by three laps of both ovals. The start and finish are near the main entrance to the park. Thorndon Park is the city's principal park, which they describe as the most accessible and inclusive park in their city. Featuring the historic reservoir and brand new all-inclusive play space, the park is a major attraction for all ages and abilities. Zoe and Alicia walked the course while I tail walked and chatted happily behind them with Janet. And afterwards, we wandered across the road to enjoy our second brunch of the weekend of pancakes and milkshakes. Well, that was the girls, not me. I had coffee.

00:07:21Oliver Spake: Of course. Well, the double act. I mean, mistakenly, I did say parkrun day. Of course, parkrun weekend.

00:07:28Melissa Ellis: It was.

00:07:29Oliver Spake: And well done team on the early rise.

00:07:33Melissa Ellis: I did promise them they could sleep in for the rest of the week.

00:07:36Oliver Spake: Oh, yeah?

00:07:37Melissa Ellis: Until next parkrun day, of course.

00:07:38Oliver Spake: Until next parkrun day, yes. So, look, it sounds like it's been a lovely trip so far, Mel.

00:07:45Melissa Ellis: It is, yes. And the weather's quite mild. We haven't had any scorchers, so that's always good. It's nice mild weather for the girls to enjoy the pool and a bit of tennis and some activities in the resort. So, Lots of walking and relaxing for moi.

00:07:59Oliver Spake: Yes. And, yes, thank you. But what about you? What about me? I was going to say, firstly, thank you for the new terminology. You know, I didn't know what a barrage was. I had to look it up. Yes, yeah. So if you hear the tapping, that's me learning.

00:08:09[crosstalk]

00:08:14Melissa Ellis: And I tried to explain everything as I could, like the Cittaslows. Yes. Oh, well.

00:08:19Oliver Spake: Yes. I appreciate it. See, this is why I'm here. I'm here to learn. Thank you.

00:08:24Melissa Ellis: But tell us about your parkrun day, Ollie.

00:08:26Oliver Spake: My parkrun day did not take me seven and a half hours northwest from home. It took me seven and a half minutes probably, and it would have been, I would say, in a roundabout way south from home to Shellharbour parkrun, where I was the Run Director for the week as I made my return after the week off last week. It was a very, probably surprisingly sunny morning as things had been overcast and we'd been expecting a bit of rain. Things cleared and became quite warm in the morning and we were once again I think delighted to welcome a whole lot of first-timers and visitors to the event as numbers seem to be staying relatively high in welcoming newcomers to parkrun, which is something I've always enjoyed about this time of the year. It's something about the summer season that brings people out. We had 180 parkrunners. great supporters as always. And afterwards, I did manage to make it out for coffee. We had a volunteerist as one of our Tail Walkers who joined regular parkrunner and volunteer Julie Turner as the Tail Walkers for the day. But Linda Boxich from Charlton parkrun in the UK joined us for what was her 300th parkrun, as she, as a world tourist, slowly ticks off the countries around the globe. And I could be wrong. I should have counted how many countries she is up to. I'll have to very quickly go back and check my notes there, but she's up to 11.

00:10:10Melissa Ellis: Very good. Yeah.

00:10:12Oliver Spake: So a nice morning.

00:10:14Melissa Ellis: Excellent. So I didn't notice a lot in the social media this week with parkrun. However, I saw a post, Australia's numbers were back up second highest ever attendance this last weekend, if I am not mistaken.

00:10:27Oliver Spake: I understand. So hopefully that'll continue to get a bit of a nudge, if I remember correctly, as we approach the Easter public holidays as well. People do get back out on the road and visit a lot of parkruns and others with sports, families with sports. get the week off and make a return. So, some of that enthusiasm from the beginning of the year lasts just that little bit longer. We'll see.

00:10:53Melissa Ellis: Yes. It's still school holidays here in Australia, which I believe wouldn't necessarily be the case in the rest of the world, but we have our long summer break over January and the kids in Victoria aren't due back at school, usually until after Australia Day, which is... That's right.

00:11:13Oliver Spake: Later this week.

00:11:14Melissa Ellis: Thursday of this week. Yeah. I know Zoe's not back until the 2nd of February.

00:11:18Oliver Spake: And I think my girls are about the same. In fact, Zali and Ava very nearly came to parkrun this week, but by very nearly, they expressed interest the night before, and that's about as close as they got. No 5.30am starts in this house for the girls. Yeah. But, Mel, we haven't got any notes in terms of feedback from last week, but what I did note was some lovely comments in relation, in particular, to our roving reports and people catching up on the episodes. We know everyone's been a bit busy and probably all up to different episodes in the back catalogue, but, yeah, they were great to hear, the reports from around the globe last week.

00:11:59Melissa Ellis: Yes, Jeff and Johan and Alison coming to us from three different countries.

00:12:06Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:12:06Melissa Ellis: Attracted some very good feedback, so thank you to them. One thing we could mention, I don't know if I've discussed this with you, Ollie, whoopsie.

00:12:16Oliver Spake: Here we go, surprises. Surprises are great.

00:12:25Melissa Ellis: through the week where listeners can comment on a topic from the previous week's podcast and discuss.

00:12:32Oliver Spake: Absolutely, we are. And we are really looking forward to hearing what people's thoughts are and particularly some of the perspectives that our community might have. I know that we've had a bit of a talk about some of our perspectives recently, but whether it's that or whether it would be more just looking on some of the experiences or the insights from different roving reports, Mel?

00:12:55Melissa Ellis: I don't know what it's going to be.

00:12:58Oliver Spake: Well, I support it, clearly, whatever it is. Maybe the first one can be what we talk about.

00:13:04Melissa Ellis: Yeah. I guess we could start with, you know, the views on our discussion last week on the launch attendances.

00:13:11Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's what I figured.

00:13:13Melissa Ellis: Yeah. That sort of thing. Yes. But whatever The Office Lady thinks is the point of discussion from the podcast, but we'll do it in the week after each episode is released. Yes. So people have a chance to listen to it before... they engage on a, maybe a Tuesday night post.

00:13:31Oliver Spake: So stay tuned and yeah, look forward to it.

parkrun news bulletin

00:13:35Oliver Spake: But probably one of the more noticeable events captured across the, well, across the news waves, parkrun related over the last week is, Mel and I won't take any credit for noting this I mean it has been widely circulated but thank you for raising it was that of Renmark runner holly ranson who became the first woman to finish 24 parkruns in 24 hours so it has made a bit of news in Australia and I expect a little wider than that but shall I give a bit more detail there Mel

00:14:09Melissa Ellis: Yes, please do. There was an ABC social media post, I do believe, Ollie.

00:14:14Oliver Spake: Yeah, there we are. So I'll read that one out if that's okay. So credit where credit's due. These are not my words, but it says, it was just another training day when Holly Ranson ran 24 parkruns in 24 hours, unknowingly becoming the first Australian woman to complete the arduous feat. The professional dietitian and hobby athlete lives and breathes exercise, combining her passions for mental and physical health. Ranson is one of thousands of Australians who lace up their jogging shoes each week to finish their local community's five kilometre parkrun course. But on the weekend, the endurance athlete kept on running, totalling more than 120 kilometres to raise funds for Tumberland Farm, a rehabilitation program in South Australia's Mount Lofty Ranges. Having met some of the staff and residents, I'm inspired to see how they've used running to turn their lives around, Ranson said. I feel very passionate about this cause. I really believe that sport, recreation and the outdoors are such great natural ways to improve physical and mental health. Ranson kicked off the long distance event at the Mawson Lakes parkrun before travelling to courses across Adelaide and eventually crossing the finish line the following day at Largs Bay. It's quite a logistical challenge. You have to drive between each venue and it's 24 in 24, but you might run twice in one hour, she said. And just to add to the craziness, I actually ran between two of them. They were only separated by about three kilometres. Ranson hadn't planned to come away from the charity event with a national achievement, also becoming the fourth Australian to complete the mission, but her athletic way of life paved the way. As a dietician, I love working with athletes, but I work with all kinds of people and I do a bit of coaching with some runners, cyclists and some triathletes, she said. So I get to apply the experience that I have from my personal events into my working life as well. The long-distance charity event was co-organised by fellow endurance enthusiast and Loxton local Sean Kaisler. I think I'm definitely on his hit list of people who are keen on entering these crazy events and I just can't resist the challenge, especially when it's for such a good cause, Ranson said. So having completed a graduate diploma in psychology, Ranson said there was a strong connection between the body and mind. I think that they absolutely go hand in hand. You can't have mental health without physical health and vice versa. She said it can really just help you sort through things. When you have 24 hours worth of running, that's a lot of thinking time. Ranson said there was a strong community of runners in the Riverland and while the Renmark parkrun was on hiatus due to the flood, she encouraged locals to get active in any way they could. I would encourage anyone just to start. Don't have too many expectations of yourself, she said. Even if it's a few exercises at home, in the lounge room or walking around the backyard, just give it a try and I promise you'll be hooked, which is a nice bit of perspective, but an incredible achievement. And again, that continues to get me running between the events too.

00:17:22Melissa Ellis: Wow. Well done to Holly. And I was at Renmark parkrun not that long ago, but of course, yes, it's been inundated with the very widespread flooding in the Murray River region. So at the moment, yeah, that parkrun is on hiatus.

00:17:37Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:17:38Melissa Ellis: But thank you for sharing that, Ollie.

00:17:40Oliver Spake: Thank you, Mel. But I think, look, I will pack it in. I don't think there's any other news we've got to share this week, Mel.

00:17:45[background music]

00:17:45Melissa Ellis: No, we don't.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:17:46Melissa Ellis: So how about we pass over to Tracey, who comes to us this week from Scribbly Gums Conservation Reserve.

Roving report Tracey Wood — Scribbly Gums Conservation parkrun

00:18:02Tracey Wood: Good morning parkrunners, it's Tracey in a Tutu and I've toured over to the east side of Brisbane today and I've found Scribbly Gums Conservation parkrun. And I'm asking a local, Brad, why is it called Scribbly Gums?

00:18:15Brad: It's named after the trees in the area. The unique bark all over the tree which looks squiggly.

00:18:23Tracey Wood: Right, so someone's come here and defaced this beautiful property?

00:18:27Brad: No, it's all natural. Natural bugs and grubs mark the trees underneath the bark.

00:18:31Tracey Wood: Well, they look pretty healthy, though. Might have been a little bit of a fire here at some stage, but it still looks all right. Is that okay? Is it good for the trees?

00:18:40Brad: Yeah, they burn off regularly in the area because it's a built-up area. The council come in and burn different sections every year for controlling the growth.

00:18:48Tracey Wood: But the bugs are okay? No problems with the bugs?

00:18:51Brad: Oh, you get a few midges and things in here every now and again, but you should be okay.

00:18:55Tracey Wood: Okay, well, local knowledge. I've put on some mozzi repellent anyway. So thanks for the tip, whoever gave me that. And thank you, Brad. I'm Kate parkrun, as I'm standing around in the start in my attractive yellow vest, and all the volleys are wearing red vests. And I've asked one of the volleys this morning, why are we all wearing red vests?

00:19:14Peter: Or why are you all wearing red vests? Because we're giving back to parkrun. We're giving back to the thing that keeps us going every Saturday morning.

00:19:20Tracey Wood: Yeah, excellent. And sorry, what was your name?

00:19:23Peter: I'm Peter.

00:19:23Tracey Wood: Peter, and you're touring from?

00:19:25Peter: Robelle Domain.

00:19:26Tracey Wood: Ah, lovely. And Peter, what's your parkrun story?

00:19:30Peter: I started parkrun, I think it was 2016, I think thereabouts. My husband kept nagging me to get up and do something and I thought I'd better get out and do it. I actually haven't done a parkrun in a long time. I just volunteer. I haven't physically done a parkrun in a long time. I just enjoy volunteering. It's good. You love it.

00:19:49[crosstalk]

00:19:52Tracey Wood: I love it. We love that you're volunteering. Thank you. Yeah, I love it.

00:19:55Peter: It's good. So tell me your volunteering story. How many have you done?

00:19:59Tracey Wood: I think I'm about 87 volunteers. Awesome. Yeah, about 87. Go you. Thereabouts. And do you volunteer at other locations as well?

00:20:04[crosstalk]

00:20:10[crosstalk]

00:20:10Peter: Yeah.

00:20:10Tracey Wood: Obviously, because you're here today and your home parkrun's Robelle Domain.

00:20:14Peter: Yeah, well, I volunteered down at Greenbank last week and, yeah, every now and then I'll try and get out to do something else. We've got a really good team of Run Directors over at Robelle, so it's nice to just be able to go out and do whatever you want and, you know, that... They're all having fun there and we're having fun out here.

00:20:31Tracey Wood: What's your favourite role?

00:20:32Peter: I like barcode scanning, but I also like doing the Volunteer Coordinator. I like going and talking to people and encouraging them to come and volunteer and try different roles at parkrun, not just sort of stick with the one thing.

00:20:44Tracey Wood: You're timekeeping today and a lot of people are scared of that because they're worried they'll stuff it up or do something about that.

00:20:48Peter: There's always that in the back of your mind, but, you know, it's parkrun and they can dock my pay.

00:20:53Unidentified speaker: LAUGHTER

00:20:55Peter: Mine too. That's great. Thanks for chatting with me, Peter. No worries. Thank you.

00:21:00Tracey Wood: Alrighty, parkrunners, I'm out on the course and I'm tail walking with Caroline who actually did pre-event set up today and knows where all the little flags and doohickeys are. Caroline, can you tell me about Scribbly Gums Conservation parkrun course?

00:21:16Caroline: Sure Tracey. So it's not your average parkrun. It is definitely not fast and flat for our our road runners. It is a trail course. The whole lot is on wide fire trail so you could run three abreast. There's lots of room for Tracey and I to be you know walk side by side which is great. It is A lot of hard packed dirt, but there's sections that have got really big rocks that you've got to cross over creek crossings even when they're dry. You certainly can't tackle it at full speed, but you might be able to hear the cicadas in the background. And if we're lucky, we might see some wallabies out on the course. And it's hilly. It's probably one of the hardest, harder parkruns in Queensland, to be honest. So beautiful and difficult.

00:22:11Tracey Wood: And as part of tail walking, I need to pick up little flags and markers and whatnot.

00:22:17Caroline: Is that right? Oh, yeah, absolutely. This is one of those parkruns that really requires two Tail Walkers, ideally at least one local Tail Walker. Because it's so involved. There's so much to pick up and there's so many little things to look for. But it is beautiful out here. We're really spoilt and we've got gorgeous weather. So it's a good day. Hey, Tracey.

00:22:38Tracey Wood: Fantastic. Okay, looks like we're coming up to a turn. I see some other markers. Thanks, Caroline. Okay, it's Touring Tracey and I've finished Scribbly Gums and I've now found Blair, who is the Event Director of this course. How are you going, Blair?

00:22:52Blair: Good, thanks. How are you?

00:22:53Tracey Wood: Good. Now, this is event number 14 for Scribbly Gums, is that right?

00:22:56Blair: Yeah, 14, that's it.

00:22:58Tracey Wood: Okay, and why did you set this event up?

00:23:01Blair: Well, I live locally and it's an awesome area to run, so I've run here for a few years and I've been Event Director at Capalaba for a while and thought, let's start one a bit closer to home.

00:23:12Tracey Wood: Yeah, awesome.

00:23:13Blair: And yeah, so it took a couple of years to get off the ground, but here we are.

00:23:17Tracey Wood: Yeah, and how long have you been into parkrun?

00:23:19Blair: I started in 2012, so 10 years last year.

00:23:23Tracey Wood: Wow, congratulations.

00:23:24Blair: Thank you.

00:23:26Tracey Wood: And are you chasing challenges as well?

00:23:28Blair: Yes, I have been. I had a goal about 2019 to do my Wilson Index up to 100. So I finished that sometime last year, I think. And currently working on my P Index, trying to get that to 10. So today I shot off to Mansfield to get number 7 there. And then raced back here to help pack up.

00:23:48Tracey Wood: Oh, good on you.

00:23:48Blair: Yeah.

00:23:49Tracey Wood: All right, now I'm going to put you on the spot a bit here.

00:23:51Blair: Okay.

00:23:52Tracey Wood: And I'm going to ask you, not including this one, what are your top three parkruns?

00:23:58Blair: Oh, top three parkruns. So hard. Yeah. Probably have to say Capalaba because I set that one up from the beginning. I really liked Glasshouse Mountains. That was a nice one. And probably Nambour. So probably a trail. Wow. Nambour's a bit of a toughie.

00:24:10[crosstalk]

00:24:15Tracey Wood: Yeah, so you're a sucker for punishment. Yeah, sucker for punishment. And you like the hills and you like the trail. Yeah.

00:24:22Blair: Wow. Like's a strong word. Yeah.

00:24:24Tracey Wood: Right. Have you been to Ocean View? No.

00:24:26Blair: Yes, actually, yeah. That's probably up there as well. Oh, wow. I forgot about it.

00:24:27[crosstalk]

00:24:29Tracey Wood: Yeah, because you'd enjoy that too. Yeah, yeah. Excellent. All right. Well, how did it all go today? Do you know?

00:24:34Blair: Actually, I don't know what numbers we ended up with. Around about 100. 108, apparently. So that's one of our lower numbers. We've had sort of 250s around there in recent weeks with the whole January New Year's resolutions and whatnot.

00:24:38[crosstalk]

00:24:47[crosstalk]

00:24:49Unidentified speaker: Yeah, of course.

00:24:50Blair: But I expect we'll settle down under the 100 mark in the next few weeks as things sort of Get rolling, yeah.

00:24:56Tracey Wood: Yeah, great. All right. Well, thanks for chatting with me, Blair. All right. And you have a good day.

00:25:00Blair: You too. Thanks very much.

00:25:02Tracey Wood: All righty, parkrun adventurers. It's Tracey in a Tutu signing out from Scribbly Gums Conservation parkrun. It is not a pram-friendly course. There are no toilets at this course. I do suggest insect repellent if it looks to be a calm day. But it is a lovely course, lots of room, really nice people here. Put it on your list and have a good day.

00:25:15[background music]

00:25:31Oliver Spake: Thank you very much, Tracey, with some familiar voices, Mel.

00:25:35Melissa Ellis: There was, yes. Good to hear from Caroline again and Brad and also E.D. Blair.

00:25:41Oliver Spake: But, Mel, we did have some other parkrun adventures out there at the weekend and I think a lot of them were at Dazza's.

Dazza's

00:25:50Oliver Spake: So let's check in and read where Dazza said this week. Open. Dazza was caught in traffic and a tad late to open. But here we are. Did you get to parkrun on time today? Come in and tell us all about your parkrun day. And coming in from New Zealand was Phil Olson with hashtag Wanaka tree, not parkrun tree, at Wanaka parkrun today. Coffee and scones were great, Dazza. And Phil shared a picture of the tree. So we're reliably informed the Wanaka tree hashtag has more than 40,000 posts.

00:26:31Melissa Ellis: So this just isn't a parkrun thing. This tree is famous in New Zealand.

00:26:35Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. That's right. And clearly, I'm sure a lot of our listeners must have come across it. But if you haven't, yeah, do have a look. It is stunning. It is a willow tree, I understand. And it's sitting there in the lake.

00:26:52Melissa Ellis: It was a very beautiful photo that was shared to us as well by Phil. So Makes me want to go and see this tree myself, Ollie.

00:26:59Oliver Spake: I'm kicking myself that I've been there and I can't remember it. So either the cafe was that good when I went to Wanaka or I just obviously was looking in the wrong direction.

00:27:10Melissa Ellis: Next we heard from Richard who was touristing and he said, after a bit of hunting for the start line, Sally, Susan, Fred, Dexter and I made it in time for Curl Curl parkrun to tick off a C for Pirates and Nelson number 444. So the photo that Richard shared with us was everybody in the selfie frame. And, Ollie, Chloe and David Bravos were also at Curl Curl. So they had a little frond happening there, but they didn't know.

00:27:36Oliver Spake: No, no, they didn't. But that's okay. What about Curl Curl parkrun, huh? It is a very nice spot, of course. We've been there, haven't we, Mel?

00:27:45Melissa Ellis: We have, yep.

00:27:46Oliver Spake: And we also heard from Ingrid Botha, who said, I volunteered as Barcode Scanner at Dolls Point parkrun, while Paris volunteered as chief sniffer of things. Three squares ticked off on the Bingoe card. Some of the others are going to take some planning. And a photo there of Ingrid's hand sticking a sticker over Dazza's on the challenge chart.

00:28:10Melissa Ellis: Oh, very good. People are starting to tick off their challenges, Ollie.

00:28:14Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:28:15Melissa Ellis: Well, stick off their challenges.

00:28:19Oliver Spake: That works quite well, doesn't it? Yes.

00:28:22Melissa Ellis: We heard from Helen Davis. She said, hi, Dazza. We touristed to event number two at Calembeen in Creswick. We created a new challenge to celebrate event number twos. We also celebrated Renee joining the Pirate Club. So, Helen shared a photo of the challenge that she's created in the 5K app called the Pooper Scooper Challenge. The idea is, Ollie, if you attend 10 event number twos, you have a single scoop for the challenge. And if you attend 20 number twos, you have a double scoop. So I created this challenge myself. I've recreated it in my 5K app and I've discovered I've got 15 number twos.

00:29:02Oliver Spake: Very good. Very good.

00:29:03Melissa Ellis: I wonder how many you've got. Oh, probably not many because you only just got your number two.

00:29:09Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:29:10Melissa Ellis: Was it last year when you got kidnapped?

00:29:12Oliver Spake: That's right. So, yeah, not too many number twos for me.

00:29:15Melissa Ellis: But we do like this challenge because it's encouraging people not to go to the first event. So well done, Helen. And we'll hear more about that a bit later on.

00:29:26Oliver Spake: Now, on the challenge front as well, we heard from Heather Hunter, who said, I completed my 60th different event, NENDY and Hunter Region ..., this morning with my cousin at Nulkaba parkrun. Well, we started together and met up at the end. Cross paths on the out and back when I was just over halfway to the halfway turnaround and she was almost halfway through the return trip. A good event for cross country runners. We only just made it for the first-timers briefing since I was too busy talking to listen to the GPS directions and took the wrong exit from a roundabout and had to chuck a Yui, in brackets how on earth do you spell that um so and for context in case you haven't read this Heather has spelt it initially with u dash e y uh but is it also ue y u w I e or u I e or y o u I e um I don't know

00:30:27Melissa Ellis: And do people overseas call them UEs too, like we do, which is when you do a 180-degree turn and head back in the direction from whence you came, which is a U-turn.

00:30:40Oliver Spake: That's right, in the non-Australian vernacular. It's probably more popularly known as a U-turn. But nonetheless, Heather shared a photo also of herself taking a selfie as her cousin ran towards her.

00:30:55Melissa Ellis: We also heard from Rebecca Bailey, who was at home. She said, morning, Dazza. I completed a trifecta of volley rolls this morning at Shellharbour parkrun. First welcomed some first-timers and visitors with a friendly briefing. Then it was off down to Point Break Hill turnaround for marshalling and photographer duties. Very warm day today. Amazing job to all those who ran and walked the course and enjoyed the views. Off for brunch and a catch-up after. It's been a while since I was at my home course. One of my goals this year is to do a non-run volley once a month at home and help out the event team. And a nice big smiley face emoji from Bec. who also shared a selfie of herself holding a cone. Is that in the Point Break vicinity?

00:31:37Oliver Spake: That is indeed, yes.

00:31:39Melissa Ellis: Nice work, Bec. Thank you for volunteering, and that's a nice...

00:31:43Oliver Spake: initiative for a once a month non-running volley roll yeah very popular with the event team thank you Bec now a milestone josephine moon said I stayed home to celebrate my 250 and shared a photo in green with two cute small people also in green but well done josephine that's a huge achievement Ollie I should have looked up what her home parkrun was and I didn't that's on me

00:32:12Melissa Ellis: But we also heard from Michael Sharp, who was volunteering. He said, RD today. First one there and last one to leave. And in brackets, coffee. So I guess Michael stayed around for an extended park faff. Accidental twin with Mark Gray. Closing in on my one-to-one run to volunteer ratio with 241 to 238. And there was a photo of both Michael and Mark backs to the camera in their 25 volley shirts with matching hats.

00:32:45Oliver Spake: Yeah, love the purple. And Ashgrove parkrun is the answer. So congratulations on the celebration at Ashgrove, Jo.

00:32:54Melissa Ellis: Good work, Ollie.

00:32:57Oliver Spake: Tap, tap, tap. We heard from Cherie Cottle, who we believe might have been a first-timer there. First week of our holidays at Henry Kendall Reserve parkrun, and Cherie shared a photo, a selfie with her hubby in 100 shirts saying,

00:33:15Melissa Ellis: We've got a few first-timers this week. I think people are ticking off their challenge card by posting in Dazza's.

00:33:21Oliver Spake: Well, it is a good opportunity to do so, isn't it?

00:33:24Melissa Ellis: Yes, and also a first-timer to Dazza's was Susie Hempsel, and she said, on holidays in Brisbane and I needed a K for my alphabet, so made my brother join me at Kelvin Grove parkrun. She shared a selfie with her brother, and looks like Susie is also a 5.30 runner. Yeah.

00:33:41Oliver Spake: Now... Over in South Africa, Johan reported in and said, in time and even had time to hang the washing at parkrun event ID number 3190. Beautiful morning after some worrisome weather in the region the previous day. And the photo there from Johan, the washing pic was quite beautiful. And we did share that, of course.

00:34:08Melissa Ellis: It was too good not to share that photo. I might still steal it for our banner pic, Johan. That's right. FYI. Yes. I was really taken with that photo. I'm not quite sure why they needed their washing hung up, but anyway.

00:34:12[crosstalk]

00:34:23Oliver Spake: And as always, love the landscape pics and also a picture of the group.

00:34:29Melissa Ellis: Now we heard from Lynette Ann, who was over in the UK. She said, hi, Dazza. I'm so glad to see you're still open. Such a late check-in. I'm so excited to be in London and experience Bushy parkrun. 1,392 parkrunners. I was one of seven Tail Walkers. The weather was minus three degrees. The pond was frozen, rock solid. The mist was spectacular and the parkrun community warm and embracing. Deer run through the park, squirrels about, such an experience. Latte for me, thanks, Dazza. Definitely something to defrost my fingers. And we had a beautiful photo from Lynne coming to us of the bushy tree.

00:35:08Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:35:09Melissa Ellis: You know that one that the logo's based on? I'm just joking, Danny. I'm just joking.

00:35:15Oliver Spake: Not going there. No, that sounds like an experience. And I hope you warmed up there, Lynne. Now, Mel, another first-timer. We heard from Damiano Le Negro, who said, ran a PB time at Calembeen parkrun. Running person emoji, puff of smoke emoji, muscle arm emoji. And shared a photo of the hand holding the token. And well done on a PB.

00:35:43Melissa Ellis: And welcome to Dazza's.

00:35:45Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:35:46Melissa Ellis: And thank you for going to event two.

00:35:48Oliver Spake: That's right. On the track for the Poo-Poo Scooper Index. Excellent.

00:35:52Melissa Ellis: Now, Ollie, Dazza's envelope. It has been shoved under my bedroom door. So just hang on. Just bear with me for a minute.

00:35:59[crosstalk]

00:36:00Oliver Spake: I've got to go and pick it up. I don't know if I should just hum some elevator music.

00:36:06Melissa Ellis: Okay. Are you still there?

00:36:08Oliver Spake: I am. I am. I was keeping everyone entertained.

00:36:10[background music]

00:36:11Melissa Ellis: Good for you. Alrighty.

the Obi Award — Michael Sharp

00:36:13Melissa Ellis: Okay. So... This week's Obi goes to Michael Sharp.

00:36:30Oliver Spake: Ah, yes, yes. Perfect in purple.

00:36:32Melissa Ellis: Perfect in purple. And what a good volunteer he is too, always sharing his beautiful photos from the Beaches parkrun. I don't think we mentioned that before. He is one of the, I think he's the co-ED with our friend Sonja Pohlman down there actually, isn't he?

00:36:46Oliver Spake: I should have checked the stats, but he's definitely behind the scenes.

00:36:49Melissa Ellis: No, I'm pretty confident he is. So as well as the honour of being an Obi award recipient, he will receive one of the Office Lady's classy challenge cards in the mail. So Michael, I forgot to say this last week, but Michael, send us your address once you've listened to the podcast. And we will pop that in the mail for you.

00:37:10Oliver Spake: That's right. And verifying after the fact check, yes, yes, you are 100% correct that Michael and Sonja are the fantastic team behind a beautiful parkrun.

00:37:20Melissa Ellis: I'm good, aren't I? My little memory.

00:37:24Oliver Spake: You are. You are.

00:37:25Melissa Ellis: Ollie, now, we've been enjoying the last two weeks all the information from our lovely Rachel. Yes. In Club Corner. But this week we've got something new for you again.

00:37:38Oliver Spake: Excellent. Excellent. What do we have?

the Birthday Boy

00:37:42Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, thank you for asking, Ollie, this week. This week we hear from another new segment. It's the birthday boy. So let's hand it over now to the birthday boy.

00:37:45[background music]

00:37:57The Birthday Boy: Howdy, it's the Birthday Boy here with some of the goings on for February 2023. The Birthday Boy segment is planned to be a regular monthly affair where we look ahead into the next month at some highlights. Is there anything going to be regular about this? Who knows? February 2023 has four parkrun days. Week 1 is the 4th, week 2 on the 11th, week 3 the 18th and week 4 the 25th. As we all care about anniversaries, let's check out the first anniversary's firsts. A caveat here, events are allowed to celebrate whatever they like, whenever they like. So please check all details with the local source, i.e. their webpage and or Facebook page. This is especially so for dress-ups, cakes, etc. With that said, this month the official first anniversaries all fell on the first weekend. We've got Cyril Curtain Reserve Vic, Henry Kendall Reserve New South Wales, and Jamestown Golf Course South Australia. Even though they all started one year ago together, they are now on different event numbers ranging from 50 to 53. This is why if you are a number chaser, you need to check, check, check and recheck. That's one advantage those alphabeteers have over number chasers. At the other parkrun Anniversary Extreme, as parkrun independence begins at 11, let's check that out. This February we've got Kirra Queensland turning 11 due in week 3. Congrats to Kirra. Now, speaking of number chasers, how about some higher Fibonacci numbers? Australia is waiting for a local 610, which should be main beach Queensland due in late 2023. In the meantime, how about some 233 and 337? 337 has four planned outings in February. In week one, there is Dawesville, WA, Risdon Brook, Tasmania. Week three, it's Maitland, New South Wales, followed by Maribyrnong, Victoria, in week four. Then for 233, there are three opportunities for number chasers in February. In week one, Oakey, Queensland, and Echuca-Moama, Victoria. And week three, Margaret River, WA. As with all parkrun adventures, the parkrun cancellations page is a valuable tool. That page is parkrun.com.au forward slash cancellations. The page contains data for the coming parkrun weekend, plus two further weekends. This isn't enough to plan for all of February, but certainly it's enough to get started. See you next month for some more birthday boy banter, and be sure to let Mel and Ollie know if you have any requests.

00:40:30[background music]

00:40:41Oliver Spake: And thank you very much to our birthday boy.

00:40:44Melissa Ellis: Yeah, all the monthly highlights for February, Ollie, and fibos and event anniversaries and Echuca. It's Echuca.

00:40:58Oliver Spake: That's very helpful, very helpful.

00:41:01Melissa Ellis: But no mail this week.

00:41:04Oliver Spake: No, no mail.

00:41:05Melissa Ellis: No.

00:41:05Oliver Spake: Empty.

00:41:06Melissa Ellis: Yep, empty letterbox.

Consolidated Club Report

00:41:07Oliver Spake: So I'm hoping you can save us and tell us a bit about the Consolidated Club Report.

00:41:13Melissa Ellis: Oh, I absolutely can. So the report for Saturday the 21st of January 2023 had a total of 374 members, 306 of which took part on this date at 165 locations. Those locations were 17 in the U.K., three in South Africa and one each in the USA, Ireland and Namibia. Now, we had locally adventurers at 38 events in New South Wales, 33 events in Victoria, 32 events in Queensland, 11 in South Australia, 9 in West Australia, 7 on the North Island, 5 in the ACT. Tassie and the South Island both had adventurers at three events and... there was an adventurer at one event in the Northern Territory. So that is a clean strike, a bowling strike.

00:42:11Oliver Spake: Yes. I was wondering how I could make pins, sound effects with my voice, but yeah, not going to attempt that. But hooray.

00:42:19[crosstalk]

00:42:19Melissa Ellis: That's when I insert my bowling strike.

00:42:21Oliver Spake: Oh, good.

00:42:21Melissa Ellis: Sound effect, Ollie, that I haven't been able to use for ages and ages and ages because nobody ever goes to the Northern Territory. But thank you, Jonathan Morgan, who was running at nightcliff on his way to Thailand.

00:42:37Oliver Spake: Nice, and see if Thailand had parkrun too. Jonathan would be all set, like I said.

00:42:42Melissa Ellis: Actually, next week I think he's going to be at Singapore, so Singapore will pop up on the Consolidated Club report next week. Excellent.

the Frond

00:42:50Melissa Ellis: But Ollie Larger's frond was, we can say it this week, they're not disqualified, it was at Calembeen, event two at Calembeen. Who had? 11, very good law-abiding adventurers in Stephen and Helen Davis, Matt and Erica Hopcraft, Irene Bumacanti, Andrew Johnston and Martine Barrot, Renee Jackson, Cheryl Smit, Bruce Purdy and Dawn Branton. Hooray! All working on their number twos challenge.

Sign-off

00:43:17Oliver Spake: Yes. So a bit of a concentration at a lower number of events, hey? Yeah. I'm just commenting on the relative numbers there, Mel, when the states move around. Yeah, so you're on holiday this week, so that's still keeping you on the road for next parkrun day, isn't it, Mel? Yeah.

00:43:36Melissa Ellis: That is correct. Next Saturday I am going to be doing another event in South Australia, Oaklands Estate Reserve. I know absolutely nothing about it, so I've got some research to do and I've got a bit of a drive to relocate before then. All fun and games. So I'm looking forward to that. I'm going to be meeting up with Sarah from the West Side.

00:44:01Oliver Spake: Wow. Excellent. Excellent. Well, I look forward to hearing about that and happy and safe adventures for you and the crew.

00:44:09Melissa Ellis: Thank you very much. And will we see you back at Shellharbour?

00:44:14Oliver Spake: I will, I will. I get the honour of debuting the new vests, well, being one of those debuting the new vests, as I've come in this evening. So I will be run directing back at Shellharbour. I've realised I actually have two weeks off run directing after this week, so... I have to re-evaluate my life priorities, but suffice to say this week and run directing and, if I'm not mistaken, it's also hottest 100 day for the music of Triple J and a day spent listening to The Countdown and catching up on all the music I haven't listened to in the last year so that I can be relatively current. It's a bit of a household tradition. Even the kids love it. So, yeah, we'll be doing that.

00:44:56Melissa Ellis: Don't they do that sort of thing usually on like New Year's Eve or the 1st of January? What's it doing on the 20-whateverth of January?

00:45:05Oliver Spake: Yes, so the hottest 100 is a countdown that, oh, I think has been going since, is it the mid-90s? I could be mistaken, maybe the early 90s, for listeners of the Triple J radio station in Australia where a public vote, and it's a huge public vote, is open for about a month or a month and a half beforehand for all music that was played on the Triple J radio station in the year before. So it's that voting and processing time for this particular one as it's, yeah, as I say, it's entirely publicly voted.

00:45:39Melissa Ellis: Oh, I've got an idea.

00:45:45[crosstalk]

00:45:46Unidentified speaker: Excellent.

00:45:47Melissa Ellis: But let's talk about the new vests just quickly because I didn't actually bring this up. I noticed they have popped up at a few events on the weekend, but not all events have received them yet. But you got yours today.

00:46:00Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:46:01Melissa Ellis: I know Adrian out at Peppertree parkrun, he's arrived today as well. So, they are starting to appear and we should start to see more of them, but they are the new red marshal or what would you call the volunteer vests, but not all of them are red. So what is the Run Director, Ollie? Would you like to tell everybody?

00:46:23Oliver Spake: Oh, yes, I would. Black and white. Black and white is the Run Director vest. So the blue has been replaced by black, but otherwise it looks much the same. And as you say, yeah, red is the feature colour of most of the other vests with some high-vis yellow Tail Walker vests to accompany.

00:46:43Melissa Ellis: We are going to also get the yellow Tail Walker vests at Juniors, but we don't get the new black and white Run Director vest. So we will be staying with the old school blue and white.

00:46:54Oliver Spake: Okay. Well, personally, I like blue and white.

00:46:59Melissa Ellis: But we love change, remember?

00:47:00Oliver Spake: But that's right. I also like orange. We love change. We do love change. Yes, we do love change.

00:47:07Melissa Ellis: That's got to be our motto. We love change.

00:47:10Oliver Spake: But, yeah, that's something we'll see popping up at many, many more parkruns and the orange vests being recirculated to events outside Australia and all pacing.

00:47:22Melissa Ellis: Or juniors.

00:47:23Oliver Spake: Or juniors. I don't think you want our faded orange ones. But I digress, Mel. I hope that you enjoy the rest of your holiday week.

00:47:31Melissa Ellis: Thank you very much. Yeah, I'm going to read a book. That's my job for the rest of the week. I'm going to read a book. I don't read a lot, but it's a new year, Ollie. It's time for new things, time for new habits. So that's... My new outlook on life.

00:47:47Oliver Spake: Excellent.

00:47:48Melissa Ellis: You have a good week too.

00:47:49Oliver Spake: Thank you very much. Thank you very much. It is a short working week for me at least and I'm looking forward to a whole lot of reorganising at the weekend and sorting things out and cleaning up and doing more gardening and all those wonderful things. But I do look forward to our new segment next week of Mel's Book Club.

00:48:09Melissa Ellis: Oh, does that mean I have to read a bit? Oh, yeah. That'll keep me honest, won't it? Okay.

00:48:11[crosstalk]

00:48:13Unidentified speaker: That's right.

00:48:14Melissa Ellis: All right. But, Ollie, as always, you can contact us via Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. We're also on Twitter and we're also on Insta. That's it for another week and we'll see you all next week for more adventures.

00:48:25[outro theme playing]

00:49:26Unidentified speaker: Bye.