— open the full-size coverEpisode 328 - Sterkte
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Episode 328 - Sterkte · 2023-03-24
Enhanced transcript — Produced by an automated editing pass — speakers named, sound described, segments marked. NOT yet checked by a person.
Speaker names appear only where they could be established with confidence; others are shown as “Unidentified speaker”. Non-speech sound is in [square brackets].
Source: https://log.5kadventures.net/transcripts/ep328.html · The Adventurers Log · An independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by parkrun.
Welcome
Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 328 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie Spake and I am joining once again from Dharawal Country.
Melissa Ellis: And I am Melissa Ellis and I am coming from Wurundjeri Country.
Oliver Spake: Welcome Mel and welcome everyone. Welcome Ollie. Mel, I have had a little more sleep this week, just for the record. Not going to be falling asleep this episode. No, not going to be falling asleep, thankfully.
Melissa Ellis: Well, it is a sleep themed episode, so don't yawn.
Oliver Spake: Oh dear, I can feel one coming on already. Riveting stuff, this podcast. Yeah. But, hey, there must be something that the listeners enjoy to have made it this many episodes anyway. So, yes.
Melissa Ellis: Thank you to our listeners for coming along on the journey for our little unofficial parkrun podcast.
Oliver Spake: That's right. So, Mel, I mean, I don't know whether to state the obvious and say where I was.
Melissa Ellis: Rip off the Band-Aid, Ollie.
Oliver Spake: Rip off the Band-Aid. Yeah, yeah, my turn. Look, there's probably a few things I'd like to share about my parkrun Day experience. So, this Saturday just gone, I was volunteering at Shellharbour parkrun.
Unidentified speaker: Ah.
Oliver Spake: No one fell off their chairs there. But I had the joy, as is often the case, to have a lot of fellow adventurers because we do have a lot of adventurers that come and go and visit and some that are based locally that have come along for the podcast journey as well. And, of course, some of just the local Shellharbour parkrun community. So, yeah, a huge thank you to all of my volunteer friends that It made my day, really. And special shout out to Em and Brendan who have been there week in, week out online, making everyone's welcome back from their 5K extra special. And I hope that they appreciate that mention because I forgot to mention them last week. I wanted to make a special point of saying it early. No, no, no, not by them. But, hey, you've got to, I think, pay due respect to our volunteers, as we all know, but probably some of the other volunteers. So, you know, thanks, Patty. Thanks, Sue, for your help. It was great to see some of the familiar faces once again. But we had Bec Bailey doing her first Run Director stint, and that was a highlight because it's always been one of my favourite things about parkrun to see people in their own approach and enjoying it in a different way. So despite Bec's claims that her knees might have been wobbling a bit during the run briefing, no one could tell. And if they could, they were distracted by that fantastic Kiwi accent. So, yeah, I think it was a stellar job. And I'm very happy to say that I have another member of the event team. So welcome to the Shellharbour family, Bec Bailey. Woo-hoo! And as we saw in Dazza's, that was her 10th different volley role. So, yeah, what a way to do it.
Melissa Ellis: Wonderful. There was a few people posting in Dazza's this week from Schlaba. There were.
Oliver Spake: There were. And, look, even the others, I mean, Julie and Gordon Turner I should have mentioned as well. But, Mel, we had a couple of visitors. We had a visitor from Kawana parkrun on the way heading south coming through. Oh, yeah. Not the one you saw in the last couple of weeks, but different Kawana parkrunner. But nonetheless, we also had a visitor who originally from Port Sorell parkrun is moving up to Airlie Beach. And hello, Eden, if you're listening, because our listeners were... I think on the pulse of things on Saturday and Eden might've been informed once or twice of a certain podcast, but, but yeah, she's, she's moving up and she's timed every stop with a parkrun. So I know that would resonate with a lot of our listeners and there've been some, just from some trawling of the stats, some great stops along the way already. I'd read them out, but I know there we are. Yeah, so Warrnambool, Altona Beach, Lakes Entrance. So, yeah, guessing game for next week is, especially if she joins the Consolidated Club Report, where does Eden go next? But always nice to meet some new adventurer friends. So that was my parkrun day.
Melissa Ellis: Fabulous. Congratulations to Bec from Me Too.
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Melissa Ellis: Our little Bailey shots all grown up.
Oliver Spake: That's right. We should have really celebrated with Bailey shots, mind you, but we'll have to do that at Palm.
Melissa Ellis: We will. What about yours? Yes, my parkrun day, Ollie, last Friday, I took a late flight to Sydney for event 188 at North Sydney parkrun, which was also hosting the latest lounge event by presenting partner Medibank. Now, I've just realised I neglected to look up the traditional owners of the land on North Sydney, so possibly, Ollie, you can... Do your homework while I keep reading, if you don't mind.
Oliver Spake: North Sydney is on the traditional lands of the Cammeraygal people.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, look at you. Thank you. Well, that's where I was. So, North Sydney possibly has been profiled in the pod previously. I don't recall. In any case, it is a three-lap course around St Leonards Park, run entirely on tarmac paths and does include some decent inclines. Thankfully, it's one of the 8am Sydney events scheduled And by the time we arrived, we're set up and waiting for participants with Medibank t-shirt and singlet giveaways, blue frog muesli, juices and bananas. There was also free massages to be had afterwards if desired. I was very kindly collected from my motel by fellow adventurer, Michael Gentle. And as we headed to the nearby facilities to don our red Medibank shirts, we came across more adventurers in Sue Smith and her son, Chris Horowitz. Sue was tail walking the event. I must give a special mention to a coalition of dirty cheaters who we caught up with in Dorota, Aileen and Jason, all wearing ears which I also had for the occasion. I ran with Dorota and Jason, Dorota pushing her kids Josh and Freya in a double pram and I still couldn't keep up with her. The Medibank Lounge brought in the crowd with 402 walkers and runners on the day, breaking their previous course record of 327. And you will hear later that there were a few other adventurers in attendance also, as well as Harry the Hover Dog. Yes, so I was okay with my effort in the warm, hilly conditions, especially as I attempted conversation as I ran. Afterwards, Michael and I somehow ended up with the pram and the kids and headed to nearby Soto on West Cafe while event ambassador Dorota attended to some official duties. Thankfully, she wasn't too long. After brunch, Michael took me on a walking tour across the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge with its breathtaking views of the harbour and the Opera House. We headed for Hyde Park now. There was a reason for the visit to Hyde Park and it was to search for some public artwork, big public artwork. The bullet sculpture for Indigenous Diggers by Tony Albert consists of four individual seven-metre-tall steel and marble bullets sitting next to three fallen shells, all on a large boomerang-shaped concrete wall. It is described by the artist as meant as both a sign of respect to Indigenous servicemen and a reminder of the stark reality of war. The sculpture has personal meaning for the artist and I urge you to seek it out next time you're in the area. You can find it close to the Anzac Memorial on the western side. Now, after that, I was kindly returned to the airport for my journey home. It was only an overnight trip this week as I was on the roster back at Junior's. I will add, however, a funny anecdote from the airport. I was sitting having some lunch in the food court and I received a message from fellow Victorian adventurer Dawn Branton. She had also touristed to Sydney and ran at Willoughby and said had she known I was so close she'd have joined me at brunch.
Unidentified speaker: Oh.
Melissa Ellis: I replied that I was now sat at the airport waiting to head home and, well, guess what? So was Dawn. So I trotted quickly to her gate and we enjoyed exchanging our morning stories until it was time to board our flights. So all in all, a very enjoyable parkrun day once again. Second brunch.
Oliver Spake: Lovely. Or third brunch almost, but yeah. Yes. Oh, no. Well done, Mel. And are you nominating the big coat hanger as a big thing?
Melissa Ellis: Or is that a stretch?
Oliver Spake: That's a stretch. That's a stretch. All right. No, but well done. Sorry to have missed you in visiting our neck of the woods. I'll have to plan that a little better or repay the favour when I'm in your neck of the woods.
Melissa Ellis: I've already booked another flight to Sydney.
Oliver Spake: Oh, okay.
Melissa Ellis: That's right. See you at the end of the year.
Oliver Spake: Okay. Rightio. Well, we talked last week about some special milestones, some millennial milestones for our notties, and I suppose we've got a bit of an update. Someone else has done their 1,000th.
Melissa Ellis: They have, Ollie. Today it was Jacqui O'Connell's turn to run her 1,000th nottie, so we wanted to make special mention and congratulations to Jacqui. She's only six behind TOC, so reached her milestone today. Well done.
Oliver Spake: Hot on the tiles, yes.
Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"
Oliver Spake: Well done, Jack. And across the parkrun world, we did note one more new local parkrun in Australia joining us in Toowoomba in Queensland, Picnic Point Parklands parkrun. Absolutely. Sorry, just unwinding my tongue. Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: It is an alliteration, isn't it? Yes. The Four Ps, which had 239 participants, supported by 25 volunteers, and becomes the third event for the Toowoomba region, Ollie. I haven't been to Toowoomba.
Oliver Spake: No, well, Toowoomba is certainly one of the destinations that I would love to visit, not least because, you know, some of our adventurer community hail from there. And, yeah, I've heard wonderful things about Toowoomba. I hadn't realised quite its size. I mean, we were talking beforehand about, you know, do we call it a region, do we call it a city? I don't know, or that was maybe just my confusion. But... Little did I realise that Toowoomba is, in fact, Australia's second largest inland city and, what, 16th largest city overall. So it's no small place. And from what I have seen, there are some beautiful hinterlands areas around the region there. So got to be on the list.
Melissa Ellis: Fabulous, yes. And they have a, I think they have a flower festival around September time.
Oliver Spake: They do. They do. Now, if there can just be a running festival lining up with that, that would be a particular highlight. Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Excellent. So welcome to Picnic Point Parklands parkrun. Welcome to the parkrun family in Australia.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew
Melissa Ellis: Now, Ollie, big news this week. Johan, he has been busy. He has been over in South Africa attending their annual conference, which I think they haven't had for a few years. So it was their first one back from COVID. And he spoke to a big name. So let's have a listen. See who Johan found.
Roving report Johan Duvenhage — parkrun South Africa 2023 Conference, Muldersdrift
Interview Russ Jefferys — CEO, parkrun Global
Johan Duvenhage: Good afternoon, goeiemiddag adventurers. It's Johan reporting from the parkrun South Africa 23 conference, just outside of Gattingen at Muldersdrift. And I'm very fortunate today to have Russ Jefferys with me, the current CEO of parkrun Global. Good afternoon, Russ. [Afrikaans: ""goeiemiddag" is Afrikaans for "good afternoon" — Johan gives the English first and then repeats the greeting in Afrikaans."]
Unidentified speaker: How are you doing?
Russ Jefferys: Johan, I'm great, thank you. It's good to be here.
Johan Duvenhage: You've had a very, very short trip to South Africa so far and you're going back again today, I understand.
Russ Jefferys: Yes, just a flying visit. I got here Thursday morning and I've enjoyed the conference this weekend, but unfortunately I've got to go home this evening. It'd be lovely to stay longer and enjoy this amazing weather, this incredible sunshine, but I've got to go back to the UK.
Johan Duvenhage: I quickly want to talk a little bit about parkrun, your history in parkrun. And I saw that you started your first parkrun in Reading in 2011. That's a long time ago.
Russ Jefferys: You've done your research. Yeah, my first event was in Reading. So I was living just around the corner from the event in 2011, my wife and I. And we ran that first event and loved it. But we were in the process of moving out to Australia, which we did just a few months later. And it was really when we were there, when we moved to Canberra, was when our parkrun journey, if you want to call it that, really started. And we established an event, Ginninderra parkrun in Canberra, which was the first event in Canberra. I think it might have been the fifth or sixth in Australia at the time. And yeah, it's a story I've told often. But, you know, what an incredible experience that was just in terms of building a community, finding a family, making great friends, people that we're still in touch with 10 years later, 11 years later. It's really been amazing.
Johan Duvenhage: So when did you move back to the UK?
Russ Jefferys: Moved back to the UK 2015. So we did two years in Canberra, one in Brisbane, lived in New Farm. So New Farm, parkrun in Brisbane was home for a little while. And then we moved back in April 2015.
Johan Duvenhage: Fantastic. Now the parkrun adventurers, and we don't like to call ourselves tourists, we prefer the word adventurer. And I think that's because parkrun is much more than just getting in a car and driving. I see that you've done 91 locations. So you're very close to your Cowell.
Russ Jefferys: Yeah, do you know, it's not something I'm keeping a particular eye on, but it is nice to go out and visit different events. I did see that on one of the apps yesterday, actually, that I was getting closer and closer to 100. And I thought, I'm slowly making my way to 250 events as well, so maybe I'll try and combine the two things and get my 250th at my 100th different event.
Johan Duvenhage: Oh yeah, your 250th run. Yeah. You became the acting CEO around about December 2021, if I recall correctly, and then it's almost a year now that you've been CEO of parkrun Global. I guess it's been a bit of an experience.
Russ Jefferys: yeah it has been an experience it's been it's been great fun um you know I always knew it was going to be a challenge um and it is but um but it's such a massive privilege at the same time I love what I do um I love the organisation I've been privileged to um work with the organisation now for uh coming up for eight years um and it's changed and grown so much in that time and obviously now I've got the opportunity and responsibility to take it forward for the next several years and uh I'm enjoying it. So yes, it's been an interesting first year. But with the strategy just published and being able to talk about all of the great things that we're going to do together at weekends like this, it just fills me with so much enthusiasm and excitement for what's coming next.
Johan Duvenhage: So I want to talk about the strategy a little bit later, but just before we go there. So in the last year, what's been your biggest challenge?
Russ Jefferys: I think probably the main challenge has just been getting ourselves in a structure internally, the organisational structure, which sets us up in the best possible way for the future. So there's been quite a bit of recruitment that we've done over the last year or so, which was needed because coming out of the pandemic, we weathered that storm remarkably well, but we recognised that there was an awful lot of investment that we needed across the team. And then with that structure and new people in place, it was about really committing to paper uh you know what our plans are and aspirations are for the next few years and and that's the strategy and it took us a long time to to get there uh you know but it was an important piece of work uh and it was important that we gave it the time um that it needed in order for it to be a you know a compelling strategy that we're gonna take forward for the next five years
Johan Duvenhage: Thanks, Russ. So, you shared just away with us a lot about the strategy and I think what for us as South Africans was very interesting was two things. Firstly, that one of the building blocks of the strategy is the doubling of parkrun in the next five years. That sounds very ambitious.
Russ Jefferys: Yeah, it's not so much one of the building blocks as an outcome of the strategy. So it's not really the most important thing. So we talk about growing well is really the priority. But if we do that over the next five years, we do anticipate that we'll double in size. We were talking about it a bit over this weekend, but I think it was between 2017 and now, despite the pandemic. We doubled the number of events globally. So that kind of growth isn't unusual. It's not unprecedented for us. But what's important is making sure that we've got everything in place to support that growth. Because as I said yesterday in my talk, you know, being twice the size. So we're talking about going from 2,200 events globally to 4,500, something like that, and a quarter of a million participants a week to half a million. That's obviously going to cause a greater workload and greater pressures on the organisation. And if we're not set up in a way to accommodate and facilitate and support that, then we're going to have problems. And so that becomes really the central tenet of the strategy is making sure that we're putting ourselves in the best possible position to grow well.
Johan Duvenhage: The other bit that was also very interesting for us was to hear that you're going to try and remove the focus from being so UK-centric. And that was also something that I think we picked up from a few people, that sometimes we feel that parkrun is all about the UK. Do you want to tell us a little bit more about that?
Russ Jefferys: Yeah, sure. So I think, I mean, to some extent, that's inevitable, right? It's a UK export, and it was established first in the UK, as we know, and the charity that sits at the centre of the whole organisation is a UK charity. So to some extent, it's inevitable that there's going to be an element of UK centrality. So that's kind of inevitable. But at the same time, I really believe that if we're going to be a truly global organisation, truly global movement, then we need to be bigger all around the world. And that means that over the years to come, the UK will become a less dominant part of our operations in terms of events and participation. But in order for that to happen, we really need to think globally. So we need to be making sure that we've got everything that we need to support the growth that's coming in South Africa and Australia and the US and Europe and everywhere else. And so that's what I mean by that. I think it's our aspiration to be truly global. To some extent, that's kind of subjective. We're already in 22 countries, but we could be in so many more places. And that's really what we mean by removing some of the focus on the UK and becoming less dependent, I guess, on the UK.
Johan Duvenhage: So in terms of this five-year strategy, in your opinion, what's going to be the biggest challenge to get this a reality?
Russ Jefferys: The biggest challenge, I guess, is just making sure we do things in the right sequence and that we don't get ahead of ourselves. So I think there's a tendency, there's no shortage of demand for new events. And that's why I say I'm pretty confident about the doubling in size. But we have to make sure we're ready for it. And I think that's where maybe we've come unstuck previously or where we've seen some challenges and issues is because we've spread ourselves a bit too thin. And of course, it's always exciting to think about the next new location or the next new country that we might be able to open up in. But I really want to make sure that we're making the most of the opportunities in the countries that we're already operating and that we've got all the right systems and processes and structures in place in order to support that without necessarily taking advantage of those shiny new opportunities which are tempting. But we just need to make sure we get the basics right.
Johan Duvenhage: And then lastly, in terms of the strategy, I heard two terms that I think resonated with me and the one was the funding issue and the other was communication. Do you want to maybe talk a little bit about that?
Russ Jefferys: Yeah, I mean, from a funding point of view, you know, obviously we all know that parkrun is free to access, but it's not free to deliver. And the simple fact is it's an incredibly efficient model, huge efficiencies already in the model, but we do need revenue coming in to operate. And the simple fact is with more money, we can do more, we can expand quicker. So it'll be a challenge for us to raise our revenues. I fully expect that we'll need to double our revenue from £10 million to £20 million, pounds a year over the next five years but again if we get the basics right I don't see that as being too much of a challenge although those numbers can kind of can sound daunting especially from where we've come from on the communication side there's always more that we can do and obviously I was head of communications for six years or so and I know how things have changed over the years but how much more we can do and particularly internal communications you know as we grow it's one of the big challenges you know adding more events adds more volunteers more ambassadors, more staff. And so keeping hold of that internal communication, making sure that we're bringing people with us on the journey, that people understand where we're going and how they fit into that and the contribution that they can make. And that we're communicating the decisions that we're making, you know, and that people understand where those decisions are coming from, I think is going to be absolutely critical and more challenging as we get bigger. But it's not an uncommon challenge. We're not unique in that regard, but it's something that we're going to have to keep a close eye on.
Johan Duvenhage: So we have a local term here that we call sterkte and I think the easiest way to translate that is strong. So I don't know if that makes any sense. So a lot of sterkte for you in this job. It sounds like you've got a big thing cut out for you to do.
Russ Jefferys: Yeah, no, I like that word. Don't ask me to pronounce it.
Johan Duvenhage: And then just lastly, you had your first South African parkrun. Congratulations at Ruimsig. How did you find the experience of the... We know that parkrun translates differently to different locations a little bit. So how did you experience Ruimsig yesterday?
Russ Jefferys: Yeah, I think you're right. But at the same time, it is also instantly recognizable, isn't it? And it feels the same. I've been lucky. I've done... I can't remember how many different countries... I've done a parkrun in but it's a few and it never ceases to amaze me actually how similar it feels so yes it looks a bit different you know I'm not quite used to certainly not used to the altitude here my god that took me by surprise but I think it was everything I expected you know a wonderful trail route some hills some pretty rugged challenging terrain at times but just an unbelievable community feel so positive so welcoming everything I expected and and Yeah, some differences, of course, but instantly recognizable at the same time.
Johan Duvenhage: Well, adventures, Russ is being a little bit modest. He did fly despite the altitude and had a pretty decent time for South Africans. You know, we're very well known for having the slowest times in the world. Russ did pretty well. I think you finished around about 12th on the finish list.
Russ Jefferys: Yeah, I think so. 20, 24 and a half minutes, something like that. My quick days are long behind me.
Johan Duvenhage: Russ, thank you very much for your time. We really appreciate you coming out to South Africa and sharing the future of parkrun with us and all of the best in the UK.
Russ Jefferys: Johan, it's been an absolute pleasure and thanks for having me here.
Johan Duvenhage: Thanks.
[13 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]
Interview Bruce Fordyce and Gill Fordyce — Ultra-marathon runner and parkrun South Africa; guest at the 2023 conference gala…
Johan Duvenhage: I'm here with Bruce and Gill Fordyce, who's well known to all of us and tonight is the Gala Dinner at the parkrun South Africa 2023 Conference. Bruce, how do you feel about conference being back and parkrun on its feet again?
Bruce Fordyce: Yeah, it's wonderful. I mean, and the fact that we've got a conference for the first time in four years is wonderful too and it's been a great day, a lot of work, a lot of fun. And now we're celebrating tonight and I think we're celebrating that parkrun is back on its feet and getting stronger every day and we're having a conference at last.
Johan Duvenhage: Gill, and conference for you, how do you feel that it's actually happening?
Gill Fordyce: Yeah, well, the stress levels are starting to go down, but they will go down more after my presentation tomorrow. But I think it's gone fine. I think we've managed, we were running late today, but that stuff happens at conference.
Johan Duvenhage: Luckily, the hour of midnight is still there, so as long as we don't pass that, it's okay, because we learned all about sleeping tonight, or today.
Gill Fordyce: Yes, but we're going to start those new good habits after tonight. After tonight, yeah.
Johan Duvenhage: Thank you very much for... having us here for conferences. Absolutely beautiful.
Gill Fordyce: It's been such a pleasure to have everyone. It's so nice.
Bruce Fordyce: Wonderful to parkrun with everyone this morning as well.
Gill Fordyce: Yeah, it was lovely.
Johan Duvenhage: Thanks. Talk to you again later.
Interview Gillian Findlay — parkrun South Africa 2023 conference presenter
Johan Duvenhage: Good evening, Gillian Findlay. You had a nice, interesting presentation today at conference about how to keep your parkrun going.
Gillian Findlay: Indeed, I'm concerned that some parkruns have been closed down and I just want people to be careful when they open a new parkrun that they do a proper due diligence and they check out certain things to know that this parkrun is going to be successful in the future and that it will continue for several years into the future and hopefully forever.
Johan Duvenhage: So in your opinion, what is the top most important thing that new events should be looking at?
Gillian Findlay: I think new events, you should look at the reason why people are opening new events. An event needs to serve its community. And if that's not the top priority for opening a new event, then it's probably doing it for the wrong reason and unlikely to succeed. So you must first interrogate the proposer of the new event, why they want to do it. If their answer isn't they want to do it to serve the community, that's a big no-no. And you need to just manage the expectations because they are never going to make money out of parkrun. It's a free event that serves the community, and I would say that that's the single most important thing. But there are quite a few other factors that will play into it as well.
Johan Duvenhage: Thanks. I hope our ambassadors here took heed and that we will look at more sustainable events in the future.
Gillian Findlay: Thanks very much, Johan.
Interview Heidi Williams-Sutton — administrator/organiser of the parkrun South Africa 2023 conference
Johan Duvenhage: I'm standing with Heidi Williams-Sutton and Heidi has been working amazingly and hard and crazy to get the parkrun Conference sorted administratively and everything. Heidi, how did you enjoy preparing for parkrun Conference 2023?
Heidi Williams-Sutton: I have thoroughly enjoyed it. We've been working on it for months. So I think we started before September 22 and it's just amazing to see everything come together, all the hard work that we've put in and to see it come together.
Johan Duvenhage: Did you have fun today and yesterday?
Heidi Williams-Sutton: Absolutely. It was just nice to see everybody enjoying themselves. I think for me that's the aim, is to put on this conference for everybody else.
Johan Duvenhage: You've done a great job and thank you very much for the hard work. We so appreciate it.
Heidi Williams-Sutton: Thanks Johan. Thank you.
Oliver Spake: And thank you very much to Johan for all of the action and the information from the conference and also to everyone that spoke with Johan, to Russ, to Bruce and Gill, to Gillian, to Heidi. It was lovely to hear about everything going on, Mel.
Melissa Ellis: Sounds like they had a blast over there.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, it certainly does.
Melissa Ellis: And how's Johan getting the scoop, getting the one-on-one with Russ Jefferys? Good work, Johan.
Oliver Spake: That's right.
Melissa Ellis: Good roving reporting.
Oliver Spake: Yes.
Melissa Ellis: And by the way, Ollie, that's not me heavy breathing on the other end of the line. I've got Chico on my lap. He's not well, so he's sitting on my lap. So he's just getting some pats, but he's panting.
Oliver Spake: Get well soon, Chico. Yeah. Thank you.
Melissa Ellis: Chico says thanks.
Dazza's
Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, moving on, we have Dazza's next. And Dazza has said, it's Sleep Awareness Week, a topic of big importance to parkrunners who like to run a lot. Sleep hygiene really matters. Did you get enough sleep? Come on in to Dazza's, tell us all about your sleep habits and share your parkrun morning.
Oliver Spake: feeling slightly targeted um but joining us this week almost at Dazza's but joining us um Joss Fussell who said visited Lancefield this week got an amazing homemade present from friends to celebrate parkrun and me and my partner's new baby Molly and uh joss shared a photo which uh which included Joss's partner and friends, holding an artwork, as described, which shows the couple running with Molly in the pram and a ginger cat. So, yeah, lovely piece of art, a nice gesture. And, yeah, thank you very much for sharing and joining us at Dazza's, Joss.
Melissa Ellis: What a lovely keepsake. And I like that name, Molly.
Oliver Spake: Yes. It's a cute name.
Melissa Ellis: Yes, all righty. Next we had the Gores, Chris Gore, coming to us from the UK, who said, Hi, Dazza. We have been able to sleep in a bit on Saturdays while doing parkruns here in the UK. Today, Karen and I wound up our UK holiday with a run at Bushy parkrun. It was our wettest parkrun this holiday. Bushy parkrun is a flat course on a combination of grass, tarmac and hard-packed dirt. But with all the recent rain, there were plenty of muddy puddles that couldn't be avoided. It wasn't my fastest time this holiday, but it wasn't too bad. Next week we will be back in Oz. It has been a great holiday with a couple of challenges completed and some interesting new parkrun courses for us. And we had a photo of Chris and Karen standing behind the pop-up, plus a shot of the puddled course. And I think there was some deer and a bridge as well. But yeah, good to know the Gores will be back home in WA, ready for our visit.
Oliver Spake: I was starting to get worried there. But yes, I don't know why I've always struggled with calling that a pop-up. I can never think of the name. It's so simple. So I'm going to try and commit that to memory. It's something so ridiculously simple that I struggle with.
the birthday boy: Moving on.
Oliver Spake: Amongst all of our volunteers in Dazza's this week was Catherine Pirotta who was volunteering and said done volunteering at Werrington Lakes Reserve parkrun today and Catherine shared a photo of herself in the selfie frame.
Melissa Ellis: We also heard from Chantal Hosking. She was touristing and she was also in New South Wales. She said, today I visited Singleton, another nomination for a big thing. Largest sundial in Southern Hemisphere indicates the driveway towards the parkrun parking and start line. And Chantal shared a photo of said sundial. I think we've got that one on our list already, but thank you for sharing the photo, Chantal.
Oliver Spake: That's right. Now... Across the other side of the planet again from, well, from you and I at least, Mel, Christine Imbert joined us from Italy and said Etna parkrun in Sicily, a trail course with stunning views of Mount Etna. Met a couple of other tourists from the UK and a large group from Poland. And Christine's photo there showed, well, firstly, the selfie frame, which stood out. It was a really cool one, quite a large looking one and shaped like the logo of an italian parkrun sponsor trekking trail and mtb with the top being mountain peak shaped plus a shot of the snow-capped mount etna definitely one for the list clearly so thank you for sharing Christine
Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. Cool to see the different country selfie frames and some little, you know, slight nuances, I guess you would say, Ollie. Yes. Oh, next we've got Martine Barrot. She was touristing and she said, plenty of sleep for us last night as we had an early start to attend the return of Lancefield parkrun after a five-month pause. Great little parkrun with a very welcoming event team. With all of Mel's rodeo talk last week, Andrew Johnston couldn't resist riding there. Oh, Diprotodon. Yes, you got me.
Oliver Spake: Diprotodon? Diprotodon?
Melissa Ellis: Dinosaur.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, look at the picture. Look at the picture, everyone.
Melissa Ellis: Ah, there we go, a rodeo reference. Thanks, Martine. You do listen. That's right.
Oliver Spake: Now, joining us from New Zealand was Tim Robbins, who said, I didn't have the best night's sleep with the WOMAD Festival and rain, but had a cracking East End parkrun in New Plymouth as the sun emerged. And Tim shared a photo of himself in the selfie frame there and didn't realise how large the WOMAD Festival was in terms of its global reach there. But yeah, trust it was a good one.
Melissa Ellis: I think we're only familiar with the festival, I don't know, for me it's because PK's there every year. Yes. And I see PK's social media. So I thought it was an Adelaide thing and I thought the AD and WOMAD was, you know, part of an acronym for… It just makes sense, yeah. Yeah. So what's the festival based on?
Oliver Spake: Yeah, so the world of music, arts and dance is the longest or one of the longest running best culturally established festivals on the planet. And since beginning in the UK in 1982, apparently more than 160 festivals have been held in 27 countries and islands all over the world, which of course includes Australia as well as South Africa Canada New Zealand us uh so there's some parkrun countries in there um maybe it's a it's a new challenge opportunity just saying I kind of need one for my um my classy card there but uh also abu dhabi and uh sardinia so um someone please correct me on sardinia do we have an option there so yeah great to learn about it and uh thanks for sharing Tim
Melissa Ellis: So it doesn't stand for women in Adelaide like I thought it did. Oh, well.
Oliver Spake: Well, it can as well. I haven't cross-checked that. It may do as well.
Melissa Ellis: No, that's okay. That's me being silly.
the Obi Award — Joss Fussell
Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, time for an announcement of an Obi winner. Who are we giving it to this week? Do you have the winner?
Oliver Spake: I have an envelope here. So this week the Obi goes to... Joss. So congratulations, Joss. Yes. Congratulations, Joss. And probably worth mentioning, there was an add-on comment in Joss's photo that Molly, of course, wasn't in the photo, was in the artwork, wasn't in the photo. Molly was already in the car there. So, yeah, just to reassure everyone, Molly was there. But, yeah, congratulations. And it sounds like maybe you should share that, Obi, with Molly and your partner.
Melissa Ellis: And the cat.
Oliver Spake: And the cat. That's right. Obis are for everyone.
Melissa Ellis: Must be significant family member.
Oliver Spake: As they often are, our pets. Yes. Yes. How's Chico doing, by the way, Mel?
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, he's panting. It wasn't really the best idea to pick him up, was it, Ollie? It's all going to be through my audio. Maybe he better go back down on the ground.
the Birthday Boy
Oliver Spake: Not at all. Not at all.
Melissa Ellis: While we throw now to hear from our birthday boy.
the birthday boy: Howdy, it's the birthday boy here, with some of the goings on for April 2023. As was mentioned last time, April has got some gas, so let's get going. This month has five parkrun days, with week one on the 1st of April, week two on the 8th, this is the Easter weekend, so be aware for travelling and accommodation, week three is the 15th, week four the 22nd, which is prior to the Anzac Day public holiday, and then the fifth and final week of April is on the 29th. A reminder first, with the standard anniversary caveat, events may celebrate what they like, when they like, so please check all details with the local source, i.e. their webpage and or their Facebook page. This is especially true for dress-up, cakes, etc. I treat anniversaries like toilet availability when I'm visiting a new event. I check to see what's what. A highlight in April is the anniversary of Australia's pioneer parkrun, Main Beach Queensland. Congratulations to Main Beach, they are turning 12. Now let's check out the first anniversaries. Across the five parkrun days of April, we have seven official first anniversaries occurring. Week one has Charters Towers Airport, Queensland and Karoola Park, New South Wales and Werribee Park Mansion, Victoria. In week two, we have Chaffey Park, New South Wales and Myponga Reservoir, South Australia. There is nothing in week three. Then in week four, we have Lake Claremont WA and week five is Jindabyne Sport and Recreation, New South Wales. And now for the parkrun independence events, their 11th anniversaries. This month, it's Ginninderra in the ACT. Congrats! If you fancy an extra parkrun this month, you could pop over to the other SA, to South Africa for Freedom Day on 27 April. This is like the additional parkrun we have on New Year's Day. Events opt in and out and they populate an event compendium for that country. As with all parkrun adventurers, the parkrun cancellations page is a valuable tool. See parkrun.com.au forward slash cancellations. The official cancellation page contains information for the coming weekend plus two further weeks. So be sure to check it again mid-month as April is a long month. Now, did you think I'd forgotten the goings-on in WA this month? Never. If you would like to bear witness to the parkrun adventurers podcast in a live recording, then you should visit UWA parkrun on 15 April. That's the University of Western Australia, if you prefer the long name. And how long is it? Long enough to be in the top 10 event name lengths of Australia. So not that long. If you, like the birthday boy, aren't able to make it to WA, but can make it to South East Queensland, there is a Jomo Frond going to occur to celebrate the joy of missing out at Varsity Lakes parkrun on the same day as Palm. Not at the same time though, obviously, owing to time zone changes. Well, see you next month for some more birthday boy banter, and be sure to let Mel and Ollie know if you have any requests.
Oliver Spake: Thank you very much to our birthday boy once again and special thanks to The Birthday Boy for the reminder of the palm and Jomo dates. Coming soon. Coming very soon.
Melissa Ellis: But we should note too, if anybody is thinking that they want to go to Werribee Park Mansion for their first birthday, you can't at the moment because they're actually closed due to their bridge works. They haven't come back yet from the floods. So... But Main Beach, absolutely, you could go to or Ginninderra.
Oliver Spake: Yes. Do we call out that little link for those that are following in the pod this week?
Melissa Ellis: I think it was a nice little link there. Obviously, Russ Jefferys being the founder at Ginninderra parkrun and it being their independence birthday.
Oliver Spake: Free to run on their own or walk.
Emails
Oliver Spake: Anyway, Mel, aside from the birthday boy, we've heard from some other people in our emails. We've got mail. You've got mail.
Melissa Ellis: We do, Ollie. We heard from Julie Doolin. I think she's putting a sticker on her snazzy card. She said, good afternoon, Mel, Ollie, and the Office Lady, whatever. Today I became a South Australian statesman or stateswoman after completing Patawalonga River parkrun. I moved to South Australia in January 22 for a two-year posting with Defence and parkrun has been an amazing way to see the state from Coober Pedy to Kangaroo Island and from Port Lincoln to Mount Gambier. Travelling over 12,500 kilometres by road and 22 kilometres by ferry, I have met some fantastic people along the way and had some amazing adventures. Kind regards, Julie Doolin, A2210024.
Oliver Spake: Thank you, Julie, and well done.
Melissa Ellis: And just proving again how much of a good thing it is for Defence members who do have to travel or relocate quite regularly to for their work and it's a good link to community when you have a parkrun home to go to.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's a good point. That's a good point. A nice way to get to know your community and enjoy the local surrounds. But, Mel, we have another email, this time from Steve Warwick, who said, if Friday brought such a great parkrun activity, what will tomorrow bring? And he said, how lovely for the lovely lady and myself to have a pre-parkrun coffee talking over all things parkrun with a very big person in parkrun circles. By that, I mean one of our well-known and well-travelled adventurers. That was amazing, none other than Carmel Roll, who flew to Devonport for a full weekend of activities. And then, after farewell in Carmel, we had a short walk where we bumped into Lyndell the Legendary, who was in town for the Oceania Triathlon Competition. Now, if that's not a big morning, I don't know what is, and there's still tomorrow to come. Steve.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's fabulous.
Oliver Spake: Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Steve sent a photo as well, Ollie, which was himself and Carmel and Val enjoying a coffee in the cafe. So I hope they all enjoyed their parkrun mornings and shout out to Lyndell who would have had to forego her parkrun morning with her officiating duties.
Oliver Spake: That's right. Always so close but a lot of excitement there, I'm sure.
Consolidated Club Report
Oliver Spake: Now, I'm not saying which is more exciting or less exciting, but, Mel, that's my prompt to switch to the Consolidated Club Report. What's been happening?
Melissa Ellis: I know why you're excited. Well, the adventurers Consolidated Club Report for Saturday, the 18th of March, 2023... had a total of 399 members, of which 325 took part on that date at 178 locations. There were adventurers at 23 events in the UK, two events in Singapore, and one event each of South Africa, USA, Germany, Italy, and Sweden. Locally, we had adventurers at 41 events in New South Wales. And 37 events in the Greater State. 36 events in Queensland. 12 events in WA. Eight in South Australia. Tasmania and the North Island each had five. Three in the ACT and one on the South Island.
Oliver Spake: Blue.
the Frond — North Sydney parkrun
Melissa Ellis: Crickets.
Oliver Spake: And the largest frond.
Melissa Ellis: I was waiting for you to make a smart comment. You couldn't think of anything, could you?
Oliver Spake: Just blue. Yep, just blue.
Melissa Ellis: Just blue.
Oliver Spake: Okay.
Melissa Ellis: Well, I was on the winning team in any case this week, Ollie, because not only was I in the winning state, I was also at the winning frond. There were eight adventurers at North Sydney, myself and Michael Gentle, Sue Smith and Chris Horowitz, Jenny Reidman, Ian Knox, Michelle Fyfe and Mary DeLuna. And I apologise to those other adventurers that I didn't get to catch up with.
Sign-off
Oliver Spake: It certainly sounds like it was a... A big one up there at North Sydney. So, yeah, well done to everyone. 325. Almost lined it up with the episode number. Almost. But, Mel, looking forward. Looking forward. One thing I did want to mention was our friends at the Panorama Punish have released or have opened entries. You can sign up for the Punish.
Melissa Ellis: I saw this, Ollie, and you know how I saw it? I was booking a weekend ago in Sydney, and it was in October, and before I pressed the button, I thought, oh, I better just check what date that punish is. And I nearly had a clash on my hands, but lucky I checked. It pays to check.
Oliver Spake: It does. So jump on there and join in the fun there. I'm sure there will be plenty of adventurers making the trip out there. It was a great experience for us last year. But, Mel, what else is on the horizon for you of next parkrun day?
Melissa Ellis: Well, if you do look at the show notes, you'll see that I put I am undecided next week. Okay. Let's just see how the week unfolds. I always try to get to a new event if I can, but they are getting further and further away. Yes. So we'll see. We'll see how enthusiastic I feel by the end of the week to take another long car trip.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. Or you could go to the creek.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, I could, couldn't I?
Oliver Spake: A few options.
Melissa Ellis: I could see where the party is. You never know. That's right. What about you? Anyway.
Oliver Spake: What about me? Well, I have a garage with some event kit gear, which means I'm staying home and delivering said gear, but I'm seemingly not needed on the roster. So maybe a little trundle.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay.
Oliver Spake: Staying close to home.
Melissa Ellis: I should actually add, I'm also run directing this weekend. I'm Run Director at Junior's.
Oliver Spake: There you go, yes.
Melissa Ellis: Going off script. Taking your lead from last week, Ollie.
Oliver Spake: Me, going off script? Never.
Melissa Ellis: We've had a Duke of Ed volunteer, volunteering, what do you call them? Kid? Sounds a bit wrong. Duke of Ed kid volunteering with us. That's all right, this last few months, and he is going to be graduating this week and joining me in the Run Director vest. So looking forward to that at Juniors. And it's Market Week at Eynesbury. If anybody wants to come and tourist, it's a good week to come.
Oliver Spake: Yeah, which week is Market Week usually?
Melissa Ellis: The fourth Sunday of the month. I've forgotten.
Oliver Spake: The fourth. Okay.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah.
Oliver Spake: Right, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you might hear a very locally toned podcast from us next week, but we'll see.
Melissa Ellis: We will. We'll see. But as always, you can contact us via Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week. We'll see you all next week for more adventures.