Episode 329 - Winter Waffle

00:00:00[intro theme playing]

Welcome

00:00:23Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 329 of the parkrun adventurers Podcast. My name is Melissa Ellis. I'm coming to you from, well, me and the cicadas are coming to you from Wurundjeri Country.

00:00:38Oliver Spake: And this bunch and I are coming to you from Dharawal Country. Oh, and my name, I'm Ollie Spake.

00:00:48Melissa Ellis: I threw you, didn't I, because I went off script.

00:00:51Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right, that's right. And you stole my insects as well. Never mind. Battle of the cicadas in the background here.

00:00:58[crosstalk]

00:00:59Melissa Ellis: Well, I'll tell you what I'm not going to steal, and that's your Eurovision recap because, like, I know things are happening with Eurovision. I'm seeing comms going backwards and forwards between you and – some of our adventurer friends about Eurovision playlists.

00:01:15Oliver Spake: Well, yes, yes, and I have only just been playing catch-up, to be perfectly honest. So I greatly appreciate some of the playlist tips from our adventurer community. They don't disappoint. There's always someone with the knowledge you need in our community, which is fantastic. Yeah, a huge help. Much appreciated. And, yeah, we were doing a bit of previewing at the weekend in Puzzles, the garage bar.

00:01:44Melissa Ellis: Aye. Aye.

00:01:48Oliver Spake: Sorry. During lockdown, when – you remember that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Lockdown first hit. Yeah. We bought a pool table within the first week and I had some leftover materials. I had a pallet and a few other things. It was in one of those crate things. So I built a bar, bought a fridge, bought a pool table and a dartboard. And it was the habit, particularly around Eurovision timing, that we'd all got some big rugs, just like a pub. We'd all gather around the pool table with a few chairs, listen to Eurovision music and hang out there. So that got us through lockdown. And it's still a go-to for enjoying Eurovision tunes. So we started our previewing back in Puzzles to honour the tradition.

00:02:36Melissa Ellis: And the bar's called Puzzles. Oh, yes, yes.

00:02:41Oliver Spake: Missing the details. Like names, explanations for names. Yes. We called the bar, which is the garage, which now actually has a car in it as well, but fortunately it's a two-car garage and we can pull the car out so it has a bit of space. We called the bar Puzzles.

00:02:57Melissa Ellis: Right. Excellent. So all your things can go straight to the pool room. Exactly.

00:03:02Oliver Spake: Literally. Quite literally.

00:03:04Melissa Ellis: Well, that's brilliant. Hey, I'm thinking this Eurovision playlist thing, that'd make a good mixtape for long car drives, wouldn't it?

00:03:11Oliver Spake: It would. It absolutely would.

00:03:13Melissa Ellis: Only you can't make them anymore and you have to figure out how to get them onto devices.

00:03:18Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:03:19Oliver Spake: Yeah, you've got to set up the playlists and stream them and whatnot, which I'm managing okay with, yes.

00:03:26Melissa Ellis: But maybe somebody's already done that on Spotify and all I have to do is search for it. Quite possibly so. Eurovision 2023 or something.

00:03:34Oliver Spake: That's right. Gosh. That sounds like a request, Mel. You ask and you shall receive.

00:03:43Melissa Ellis: Hey, Rachel. Hello.

00:03:46Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. So, well, there's a bit of a segue, Mel. Coming up in our podcast this week in episode 329, as you mentioned, well, Rachel, spoiler alert, we don't have any roving reports this week. We don't have any interviews. We have Rachel and us. So if you thought last week was brief, this week is. Maybe even slightly more so, but that's okay. That's okay. There's a lot of fun just around the corner and we're just preparing for that.

00:04:18Melissa Ellis: You shouldn't say it too soon because we could just waffle on a lot. It is a waffle-themed pod.

00:04:26Oliver Spake: That's right. Waffles, yes, yes.

00:04:30Melissa Ellis: Look at me, go me with all the segues. But anyway, that's beside the point. Let's discuss parkrun day we've just had.

00:04:39Oliver Spake: Yes, one of our favourite topics, the parkrun day just gone. It wasn't all too dissimilar from previous parkrun days for me. I woke up and it was raining, Mel, and that was quite the disincentive. We at Shellharbour have traditionally had an incredible individual who has set up our course with cones out on course and put out the flags for most of our events. But he unfortunately did, he fractured his foot recently. about a month ago. So we've had to share those tasks and it was my turn to set up the course. So the notion of, well, sorry, the idea that I had to go and get the course gear and get out there and set it up in the rain was, yeah, it was a little sobering. And particularly with our grassy hills being rather slippery when wet, it was also a little concerning. So we had a little bit of a pre-parkrun huddle and the Run Director of the day, our Boston-bound Ralph, made a safe call. We went ahead, but I took the opportunity to be an extra Marshal at the top of said hill. So I volunteered.

00:05:52Melissa Ellis: Slip and slide, slip and slide, Marshall.

00:05:56Oliver Spake: There we are. Part of the hill is gravel as well, yeah. Spoiler alert. But, yes, we have actually had slips there too. So, look, it could be fun if it was particularly some of the grass being quite long in parts. That could be fun. I acknowledge that. But Stack Club... sometimes hurts and that's right that's right so yes um had the opportunity to marshal got to say hello and have a brief chat with a few fellow adventurers and enjoy the morning as the sun tried to find its way through but at least the rain stopped and greeting people as they come back up a hill that's always good fun they've got that sense of achievement or defeat

00:06:44Melissa Ellis: Very good. That's it. Very good. That's it. Yep. I note it is the weather has changed. I'm in my slippers. First time this year I'm in the slippers. I don't know if I should admit they're moccasins, but anyway, I just did.

00:06:59Oliver Spake: Well, off air I heard you quote the winter uniform of, well, southern Australia. Yeah.

00:07:08Melissa Ellis: I said no such thing. Lie. Cheeky. Okay. But, yes, this week I didn't take a long car drive. I took a short car drive up the Hume to Puckapunyal and I returned – to hmm I looked up the aboriginal land only I didn't look up the pronunciation so I'm gonna go with torn grung land something like that anyway for event 66 of Puckapunyal parkrun and I was one of 16 finishers out there under the watchful eye of ed's arnica and Michael it was my fifth visit and it filled in a missing windex and so I don't usually take a lot of notice of my my windex numbers but I was desperately looking for a silver lining to my to my weekend so I was pleased to know that uh Event 66 would be a new number for me. And afterwards, I took the opportunity to visit a local friend on her farm and enjoyed... Homemade crumpets, conversation and camels. Oh. So it's not every week you get that.

00:08:27Oliver Spake: That's right. That's a wonderfully fun alliterative combination there. No waffles, I notice, but.

00:08:34Melissa Ellis: No, but crumpets, they're pretty close. That's right. They've got rings in them. Yes, yes.

00:08:39Oliver Spake: I almost bought, I think it's the waffles. Maybe it was pancakes. Yeah. Almost. After parkrun on Saturday morning, but yeah.

00:08:46Melissa Ellis: Yeah, but no, my girlfriend's farm, she's got a herd of camels. Yeah. So that's pretty cool.

00:08:52Oliver Spake: That's lovely. No conversations with camels though?

00:08:55Melissa Ellis: Oh, no. The conversations were more with the goats.

00:08:59Oliver Spake: Ah, yes, yeah. But no screaming matches, I hope.

00:09:03Melissa Ellis: Yeah, yeah. No, she's got a couple of very cheeky goats. Yeah. But I think they're dogs and... live on the deck and follow her around the farm.

00:09:14Oliver Spake: Goats have great personalities.

00:09:16Melissa Ellis: Chester and Mishap. Megan has, so.

00:09:21Oliver Spake: Oh, that's lovely. I digress. Yeah, that sounds like a nice parkrun day and a little more civilised on the travel front, Mel. It was, yeah.

00:09:29Melissa Ellis: And it's never a bad thing, is it, just to have a cruisy week?

00:09:33Oliver Spake: Yeah, it's been a busy time, so I think you've well and truly earned a cruisy week.

00:09:39Melissa Ellis: Somebody who hasn't had a cruisy week, Ollie.

00:09:43Oliver Spake: Yes, is our very own Channel 5 News crew, Lyndell the Legendary. So, Lyndell is, well, going to Paris, as has been announced just this last week or about a week ago. By the time our pod comes out... Lyndell will be joining Paris, the Paris Olympics, as a triathlon official. And the announcement read that, yeah, Australia's Lyndell Murray and Michael Thomson have been selected by World Triathlon as international technical officials for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. So Lyndell is among the 28 technical officials who will officiate at the Olympic Games, while Michael is among the 27 who will officiate at the Paralympic Games, and the technical officials were selected in accordance with World Triathlon's technical officials' appointment rules. So that's a multi-phase process. It involves the creation of eligible lists. I'm now paraphrasing, but it's quite an extensive process, as I understand, and it's one that Lyndell has obviously been well recognised in these circles previously. I mean, she was over in Tokyo for the Paralympics previously, but... This is quite exciting as the Paris, and I read again, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games will host three medal events for triathlon, and that includes the individual men and women and the mixed relay included in the program. After the successful debut of the thrilling format in Tokyo and the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will welcome the biggest ever para triathlon field with 120 athletes competing in 11 medal events worldwide. And some of those were really quite thrilling. So that's going to come around very soon. Lyndell, we are over the moon with excitement for you. Well done.

00:11:34Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. What an achievement. She just needs that Paris parkrun now.

00:11:41Oliver Spake: Yeah, and for anyone that hasn't been listening to this podcast for a while and you want a few insights, there's a fantastic account from Lyndell from her experiences in Tokyo. I'm going to have to look up what the episode number is though.

00:11:55Melissa Ellis: Quick, Ollie, quick, do that. Do that while I waffle on. Excellent. Okay, so... I just made a note to bring up the fact that through the week I went back and categorised all our episodes into seasons and how I did that was by just saying, well, one year can be a season. But do you realise we're in season eight? I don't know why that was a surprise to me, but it just feels like it's been a long time. I didn't realise, you know, the pod's been going for so long, Ollie. Season eight.

00:12:27Oliver Spake: My gosh.

00:12:28Melissa Ellis: It's obviously five years with Mel Erbacher and most of that with Scotty Trickett. And then we took over and we're in our third year. So, yeah. And I don't know if the actual categorising on Podbean is really going to help in any way. No. I don't even know why I did it. Yeah. But everything's now neatly categorised for my OCD brain.

00:12:51Oliver Spake: Well, yes, we do like a bit of order and it's exciting to think, you know, eight seasons, eight seasons. That is longer than Star Trek The Next Generation, which funnily enough is the first show that comes to mind, which lasted seven seasons, which, you know, is just the, you know, it's about as high as you can go in my personal opinion, but... In terms of TV shows that I have loved.

00:13:15Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:13:16Oliver Spake: So, look, thank you to everyone that's been a part of that. Gee.

00:13:19Melissa Ellis: And what will this be? The sixth palm.

00:13:22Oliver Spake: Oh, goodness.

00:13:23Melissa Ellis: Because we've had five, haven't we?

00:13:24Oliver Spake: Yeah. Yes. Yeah, we absolutely have. I was going to say, why can I never count this?

00:13:31Melissa Ellis: Well, 2018 was the first one that showed up.

00:13:34Oliver Spake: That's right. So that's going to be number six. Wow. And, yes, thank you for waffling on there, Mel. I think somehow I managed to be the one that waffled, but my reference to Lyndell's insights into her Tokyo experience is episode 251, Tokyo Tales, which, if I'm not mistaken, would that place it in season six or season seven? That was in September 2021. Yeah. Six. Back in season six.

00:14:04Melissa Ellis: Completely irrelevant, but in any case.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:14:06Melissa Ellis: That's right. What isn't irrelevant, oh, go me with all my throws today, I'm on fire, is a launch that happened. I apologise, there's probably lots around the world, but specifically for us in our neck of the woods, New Zealand had a launch, Ollie.

00:14:22Oliver Spake: Yes. So welcome to the family. Waitangi parkrun.

00:14:25Melissa Ellis: Do you like how I got you to say that word because I didn't know how to say it? But there's no H, so it's not an F sound.

00:14:33Oliver Spake: That's my understanding. That's right.

00:14:36Melissa Ellis: I'm learning. Yes. This stuff sinks in. Anyway, they had 287 participants for event number one, supported by 20 volunteers. I had a little look at the course. It looks pretty good. It starts at... What did you say? Waitangi Park and runs north along the Wellington waterfront and the course consists of two out and back segments with a clockwise loop around Waitangi Park after the first out and back. So obviously Wellington, that's quite a major city in New Zealand. I have never visited New Zealand so I'm only going by my geography recollections.

00:15:14Oliver Spake: Yeah, I've never been to the North Island, so my accounts are all secondhand also. But another waterfront parkrun and, yeah, down at the bottom of the North Island there.

00:15:26Melissa Ellis: They seem to have a lot of parkruns starting with W over there. Maybe in Maori language W is very popular. I don't know. That could be a lie.

00:15:36Oliver Spake: I'd be interested to hear if we can get some insights, yeah. Yeah.

Dazza's

00:15:40Melissa Ellis: But we're going to move straight on now to Dazza's. We're churning through the content, Ollie. That's right. So what did Dazza have to say this week?

00:15:48Oliver Spake: Appropriately, it was International Waffle Day. So Dazza said, are you a fan of dessert breakfasts or more of a savoury fan? Come on in and share your adventures with Dazza and your fellow listeners. And look, someone popping in first up was volunteering and Jack Corkill was said visitor who said, did the first timers' briefing today at a wet Maitland parkrun. Hopefully I didn't waffle on too much, with a photo shared of Jack doing the first-timers thing.

00:16:22Melissa Ellis: But also with Jack, of course, Claire Corkill, who had an achievement and said, ticking off another region of Runners parkrun, Maitland parkrun, and just confirmed. Stop watch bingo. Only took 269 runs to get there with the eye roll emoji. So well done, Claire. Not jealous at all.

00:16:45Oliver Spake: Yeah, that was in a flash, really. But, yeah, a bit of a trend here. Sarah Jefferson, joined us and said hey Dazza no waffles but pancakes at home it was yes for finally achieving stopwatch bingo big tick it only took 258 runs wow so that they're quite close together with their run numbers aren't they very much so yeah so look congrats Sarah and Claire not jealous with you Mel not jealous

00:17:20Melissa Ellis: I've got at least 100 more than that and I'm still waiting. Oh, well. We heard from Samantha Roberts who was touristing and she said, went back to Coomera parkrun this morning. It's been nearly three years since I was last there. I forgot how lovely it is. Lately, post-parkrun brekkie consists of pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs with maple syrup poured over the lot. Yum. Thanks to Cafe 63. And a great big teeth, beard, smiley emoji from Samantha. Yes. And she shared a photo of herself in the selfie frame.

00:17:51Oliver Spake: Now, joining us also was Georgina Devine, who said, thanks to some help from P1 and P2, I was able to attend Avondale University College parkrun's second birthday event. It was my 10th location, my first time on a single lap course, and the first time I've crossed the finish line on a slip and slide. Loved it. Great location, great volleys, great cake. Hopefully I'll visit again one day to experience it with great weather too. And Georgina sharing herself diving onto the slip and slide, plus near the end of the slip and slide.

00:18:27Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I think there were videos, weren't they, of those?

00:18:30Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. Mel, have you parkrunned on a slip and slide before?

00:18:36Melissa Ellis: I have not parkrunned on a slip and slide.

00:18:39Oliver Spake: parkrunned. parkrun.

00:18:41Melissa Ellis: parkrun. I have not parkslided on a slip and slide either. And it was raining, so they had rain, plus they had water going on the slip and slide. It just looked like lots of fun. I wonder if it was really there for the whole event or it was a set-up. I don't know. I'm sceptical.

00:18:58Oliver Spake: It's on the internet. I believe it. So thanks for sharing, Georgina.

00:19:03Melissa Ellis: But that's what you need on your grassy... On the hills. Yeah. You've got to embrace this stuff, Ollie, and steal their idea.

00:19:11Oliver Spake: Only if they have to run back up it, yeah.

00:19:14Melissa Ellis: All the best ideas are stolen from somebody else.

00:19:17Oliver Spake: Oh, absolutely.

00:19:17Melissa Ellis: Now we heard from Greg Garner who did a nottie, but a pretty impressive nottie. He said, no parkrun this morning as I completed the 12-kilometre trail run at Yandinda, Yandina. Yandina? Oh, gosh. Yandina 5.0 2023 instead. Yes. What's a 5.0? A 50? 5.0? What's that about? Ollie? Don't know? I don't know. Okay. Well, it's the Yandina 5.0. It's like Hawaii 5.0. Okay. It seems like that, doesn't it? And Greg had a selfie of himself at the event. Yeah, yeah. Hope you enjoyed your event, Greg.

00:19:56Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. And some some very quick referencing because I'm pretty sure I've seen the name before the Yandina 5.0. But yes, the Yandina 5.0 does include different lengths courses. And incidentally, Mel, while I'm reading the name Yandina means to go on foot, in the local Indigenous language. And the course there through the Mapleton National Park and some private land includes 50-kilometre, 36-kilometre, 21-kilometre and 12-kilometre courses. So there we are.

00:20:27Melissa Ellis: Ah, rightio. So the fifty is the headline.

00:20:30Oliver Spake: That's right. Yeah, it looks like some beautiful scenery there and well done, Greg. But in another neck of the woods... Roberta Winters joined us from the UK and said, Hi Dazza, Nutella waffles for me this morning after my first international parkrun at the home of parkruns celebrating my 100th parkrun with 1,155 of my dearest friends. And Roberta shared a photo of herself behind the pop-up with what appears to be no longer the bushy tree.

00:21:02Melissa Ellis: Awkward. Yes, and we should stipulate that. Roberta was at Bushy parkrun for those people that can't actually see the photo of the pop-up.

00:21:11Oliver Spake: That's right, and there is absolutely no suggestion apart from my waffling that that might be the bushy tree. But, yes, some timber there and a flag.

00:21:22Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah, we were going to talk about the flag. We were going to talk about the flag. We did a bit of research earlier. Well, you did. I asked you to. This welcome flag, I've heard reference to it somewhere in the comms in Australia that we were going to get a welcome flag, but nobody else that I've spoken to seems to have any recollection of reading the same thing as me, and I had not seen this before, flag in any photos until you drew my attention to it in Roberta's picture. Yes. So it's not a start-finish flag. It actually says welcome, and it's in different colours.

00:22:00Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. So, I mean, the colours are not too dissimilar from the pop-up. I suppose there's consistency in the yellow. I haven't seen it firsthand, so potentially the colour scheme is different. maybe more similar than it appears on photos there. But to our UK pod family, when did these join us?

00:22:21Melissa Ellis: Please explain.

00:22:22Oliver Spake: They look very nice, very welcoming, of course, to say the least.

00:22:27Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so I was excited. This is why it stuck in my mind when I read about it. I think it was around the time Australia was getting new flags with Medibank branding on and we might have got the little extra corflute signs to hold up but I recall hearing that we were going to get a welcome flag that you could potentially place at The Entrance to the park and I thought oh I need that for juniors that will be really good for juniors so parkrun if you're listening where's our flags

00:22:39[crosstalk]

00:22:58Oliver Spake: Fortunately, however, well, fortunately perhaps for our southern hemisphere events, Australia and other non-UK parkruns, I don't expect we'll be getting the pop-ups and my reason for mentioning that is that makes me shudder thinking of my beach tent that I always struggle to fold up.

00:23:18Melissa Ellis: See, I was really good at the beach shelter thing.

00:23:20Oliver Spake: Oh, well, yeah.

00:23:22Melissa Ellis: And the kids would have little tent things too that had to fold up like that. I'm sure Zoe had a little fold up thing like that.

00:23:30Oliver Spake: Yeah. No, I have one that lives in the garage that is full of sand because whenever I can finally manage to pack it up, I'm not stopping to shake the sand out. It's packed up and that sand's coming home. Yeah.

00:23:42Melissa Ellis: Gosh, we are waffling. Oh, We are. Speaking of, I was also going to say Nutella waffles. Roberta had Nutella waffles. Now, I reckon that would taste pretty good because back in the day before I went low-carb, I used to actually eat pizza. I used to make my kids Nutella pizza. And that was so yum. Just buy a pizza base and smear it in Nutella and put mozzarella cheese on top and bung it in the oven. Oh, so yum. You have to try it, Ollie. Have it at your bar. I forgot what it's called.

00:24:17Oliver Spake: Oh, at Puzzles? Puzzles, yeah. What? Yeah, you need Nutella pizza at Puzzles. I've never been much of a Nutella fan, but if you suggest it, Mel, I'll have to try it. Excellent. All right.

00:24:27Melissa Ellis: Now, who have we got next? Lynette. Lynette from Cobram. She was volunteering and she said, late order for cappuccino and sweet blueberry muffin, please. Dazza, just home from the three-hour drive to volunteer at Eynesbury Heritage Trail Junior parkrun. We had a terrific time. Sarah, Al and I and three grandsons. The event is well organised. You feel well supported and the families and kids that attended are just super. Managed to get a Zoomie with Mel. Two of the challenges ticked off for me. Beautiful track with native animals and plants and a terrific friendly team. You really must go to Eynesbury Juniors. Thanks, Lynn. And Lynn shared the Zoomie photo with myself and Sarah and also Greg playing with the three grandsons, Gregory Moore, who is also an adventurer.

00:25:18Oliver Spake: Nice work, team, and well done.

00:25:20Melissa Ellis: It was lovely. They had a very long drive with some very small children to come all the way to Eynesbury to join us at Market Week.

00:25:28Oliver Spake: Yeah. Yes, Market Week. Sounds like a nice one, Mel. And look, one further visitor to Dazza's, Anne Fry, popping in with a bit of a milestone. So Anne said, celebrating... celebrated, sorry, Robin's 25th volunteer and 100th on a course at Shiraz Trail parkrun, followed by a savoury breakfast. And Anne shared a photo with Robin and friend holding giant number balloons, which, of course, represented the 100. Fabulous. Mmm. But... With everyone joining us, thank you all for sharing your parkrun Day and parkrun Weekend experiences with us.

the Obi Award — Roberta Winters

00:26:08Oliver Spake: There can be only one Obi winner, though, Mel, and I suppose that means it's time for the envelope.

00:26:15Melissa Ellis: It is. Would you like to do the honours?

00:26:18Oliver Spake: Okay, I shall. Just looking for the envelope, and here we are. Oh, I ripped it, sorry. Okay, the Obi this week goes to... Roberta.

00:26:20[background music]

00:26:34Unidentified speaker: Yay!

00:26:40Melissa Ellis: Excellent. The smiliest adventurer I think that we have, Ollie. Always smiling is Roberta and... living her best life over there in the UK.

00:26:51Oliver Spake: Yes, and 100th parkrun to boot.

00:26:53Melissa Ellis: Oh, yes, congratulations on that.

00:26:55Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, not a shabby effort there at all. So it sounds like it was a wonderful experience and look forward to hearing more from Roberta's Adventures.

00:27:08Melissa Ellis: Ollie, you know what that just reminded me of? Didn't you say last week that Eden, was she not your tourist?

00:27:15Oliver Spake: Let's find out in the Consolidated Club Report, Mel.

00:27:17Melissa Ellis: Okay, back to the show notes.

00:27:19Oliver Spake: Yes. So, look, we have waffled for a little while, half an hour in fact, so thank you everyone who has hung in there and is still listening to us with no interlude. We're going to give you a break. We're going to give you an interlude.

Club Corner

00:27:31Oliver Spake: It's time to pause and hand the reins to Rachel for another visit for Club Corner.

00:27:40[background music]

00:27:50Rachel: This is Rachel with Club Corner, where we talk about the what and why of parkrun clubs, and I am coming to you from Arrernte Country. This week it's about Australian states and territories, and other regions. Australia is lucky, because it has such clear boundaries between the states and territories. This makes the collection of all events within the boundary easy to track. The club slash achievements may be easy to track, but Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales each have more than 100 events in their regions. This makes them hard to achieve. The NT is the easiest, with three events to their name and a great title for completing the club slash achievement. A Territorian. The ACT is also awesome and quite achievable, their title is also great. A Capitalist. Frankly, the state titles drift away in quality when compared to those two, with some names on the rather stereotypic side of things. Waratah Wanderer, Banana Bender, Sandgroper, Croweater, and Tasmaniac. There is one more state, and we have heard it referred to as great, but really, is it? Rather, one could be considered to be victorious when completing Victoria. There are plenty of other groupings of events throughout the country, with regional titles such as Rayfarer, Melbourne Air, Brisbane, Ranberra, Idita Laid, Perfect, Gippslander, etc. Do you have a favourite patch of Oz that you collect? Let Mel and Ollie know where you are from and what you collect. And remember, in parkrun life, all non-Milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun, so stay tuned for our future club corners.

00:29:25Melissa Ellis: Thank you very much, Rachel, letting us know about the regions within Australia at least. However, just to correct one little mistake, I guess AIs can't always get it right. They only know what they're told, don't they, Ollie? The Victorian region name I believe is a greatsman.

00:29:47Oliver Spake: I have heard that, yes. I have heard that.

00:29:51Melissa Ellis: So I just think, you know, when you've got a platform and you can spread the word, you should.

00:29:55Oliver Spake: Well, let's see. Now it's out there once again. We'll see if AI and indeed Rachel picks it up.

Emails

00:30:03Melissa Ellis: But there's another way to spread the word, isn't there, Ollie?

00:30:06Oliver Spake: Ah, there is. There is. And it's our mailbox. And guess what, Mel? We have mail. You've got mail. And we have mail this week from Eman. Eman has written in and said, Hi, guys. Team Vergara travelled to the nation's capital for Juno to complete her Peel Club Challenge at 19 months old. Thanks to your recommendation, we met up with Mark Scarborough and the infamous troll at Wagi Bridge parkrun. me. Also on your last episode regarding Toowoomba, we are working on having a running festival this year and we'll keep you updated. It's great to have another event start in the Garden City and Bonza launching affordable direct flights from Melbourne will make it more accessible to our southern adventurers. See you guys in three weeks, Eman and Chris. Ah, so Mel, a running festival will be coming.

00:31:01Melissa Ellis: Excellent. Seems like we'll be planning a frond. That's right. In no time at all. And Eman also included a photo of himself, Christine, and Juno with marvellous Mark. Yes. So, yeah, Eman did reach out to me and ask for a recommendation when he was going to be in town. But how's Juno, hey? A peer club already. Well, of course, unofficially. She gets to do it all over again when she turns four.

00:31:31Oliver Spake: Just imagine her telling all the other parkrunners, I was here two years ago. Well done, Team Vergara.

Consolidated Club Report

00:31:39Oliver Spake: But maybe time to move to another team, Mel. How are our adventurers doing in the Consolidated Club Report?

00:31:46Melissa Ellis: Well, they've been busy little adventurers on Saturday, the 25th of March, 2023. Out of 399 members, 313 took part at 173 locations. There were parkrunners at 24 events in the UK. Two events each in Singapore, South Africa and USA. And one event in Germany, Poland, Finland, Austria, Malaysia and Ireland. I think that is the most countries we've ever had representation in. What a spread. Yeah. I know. Everybody's on holidays. Locally, we had adventurers at 36 events in the greater state, 33 events in Queensland. 31 events in New South Wales. Did I say 36 the first time? I thought you did. Good. 11 events in South Australia, 10 in WA, 7 on the North Island, 4 each in ACT and Tassie, and 1 on the South Island.

the Frond — San Remo parkrun — Michelle Fyfe, Susan Frederick, Dexter Roddick, Sally Gutierrez and Susan Mitchell

00:32:48Melissa Ellis: The largest frond was in New South Wales at San Remo. That's where it is, isn't it?

00:32:54Oliver Spake: Yes, I'm pretty sure. That's right. Yes.

00:32:56Melissa Ellis: And at San Remo were Michelle Fyfe, Susan Frederick and Dexter Roddick, Sally Gutierrez and Susan Mitchell. But we have, I am proud to announce, hit our 400 members milestone. Excellent. Hooray. Hooray.

00:33:13Oliver Spake: Welcome number 400.

00:33:15Melissa Ellis: Yes. I've also got a new stat for you, Ollie, and that is that three adventurers recorded palindrome times on the weekend. So we had William, is it Boughton? Boughton, yeah, at Tampere, Finland, who recorded 2442. Sarah Langley at Shepparton, who recorded 4004. And Parth Bommakanti at Toowoomba, 4004 as well. Nice stat there.

00:33:45Oliver Spake: Some very nicely balanced times in there.

00:33:49Melissa Ellis: And did we track down our friend Eden?

Sign-off

00:33:52Oliver Spake: Well, we have checked in, so the statisticians have been looking into the results. We don't know if Eden is number 400. I'm not sure that's the case, but I believe Eden made it up to Parramatta on the trek north. So we'll see, Mel, but we've got plenty of adventurers to catch up on and keep track of, not least yourself. Do you have anything coming on the horizon?

00:34:24Melissa Ellis: Well, I don't know. All my efforts have been put into trying to prepare myself for Mama Ollie and I haven't made plans yet for next Saturday and I'm not really sure if, again, if I'm going to have an opportunity to travel. So maybe a couple of quiet weeks for me. Yes. But also quiet, you might say, in pod terms. You might say that.

00:34:52Oliver Spake: You might say that and so might our listeners when they realise that there won't be an episode next week, as we approach palm 2023 and and get ready for the festivities there we will be taking I think it's a week I've lost count and track of the weeks but between episode 329 this episode and palm 2023 which will be episode 330 yeah we'll have a bit of a break because we'll be all over the place and uh and there'll be a lot to look forward to

00:35:27Melissa Ellis: Yeah, primarily because I leave a week early to go over to WA, so I need the week before I go to focus on all the last-minute things I need to do and not be editing. That's right. We're probably going to have a couple of weeks gap until we record our episode. Now, also worth noting, when we say live episode, it is in front of a live audience. It isn't live on the internet. So we will be attempting to capture the audio as sometimes works and sometimes does not so that it can be edited and released officially, but it won't be live on the day unless somebody does a sneaky Facebook live. It has also happened in the past.

00:36:14Oliver Spake: That's true. Yes, there have been elements of that. I think we went live with a quiz previously, didn't we? Correct. Yes.

00:36:20Melissa Ellis: I think some, yes, some Facebook Live for our friends over in the UK.

00:36:25Oliver Spake: That's right. But for those who are joining us, yes, you will have the privilege of listening to the waffle in person.

00:36:34Unidentified speaker: Yes.

00:36:36Melissa Ellis: And all the bits that usually get cut out.

00:36:38Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. And we do look forward to sharing the experience with you all once again. I suppose we've had a couple of opportunities, Mel and I, in hosting a live palm, but they're each different. They're all fantastic in their own right. They're like your children. You don't have a favourite. Just the top three. And, yeah, we look forward to that and we will miss everyone in the meantime.

00:37:03Melissa Ellis: We will, but I'm guessing Dazza's will still be open?

00:37:06Oliver Spake: Dazza's will still be open. Dazza doesn't take breaks. No. Yeah, not planned ones anyway. So do drop in and say hello to your fellow adventurers and share your experiences and achievements. There won't be an Obi on offer, but still the opportunity to connect, particularly as you're on the road or... in the airport, returning from your parkrun journey. And yeah, it'll be nice to live vicariously through your experiences, especially if we are parkrunning closer to home, Mel.

00:37:38Melissa Ellis: Yes. And what about yourself, Ollie? Closer to home?

00:37:42Oliver Spake: This Saturday I'll be going to a new event, actually. So you won't hear about it on the podcast because there won't be a podcast for that particular week. But I'm looking forward to after having the tip-off from, I'd say, a well-informed parkrun adventurer that it was a good opportunity to head up to Werrington Lakes Reserve and head up to the parkrun there where, adventurer Catherine Pirotta is run directing for her first time so yeah we'll have a potentially a small contingent in the car heading up on the morning for a run in the the neck of the woods in Sydney that I'm yet to do any official parkruns out in the west near Penrith.

00:38:28Melissa Ellis: Wow that's awesome you'll have another addition to your event total excellent.

00:38:33Oliver Spake: Yeah, and unlike you, Mel, I'll be joining Palm heading into the weekend. I think I fly in on the day of the first Freedom Run. So, yeah, very much looking forward to seeing everyone there.

00:38:47Melissa Ellis: Looking forward to it very much. But who's doing the outro? Oh, my gosh, you. That'll be me. Because I did the intro.

00:38:53Oliver Spake: That'll be me. That'll be me. So, look, last calls. There's still an opportunity to make it to Palm. If you haven't made up your mind, you can make it out there or if you're local already. We hope to see you. Come and join in the fun for all or as little as you like. And in the meantime, everyone. You can, as always, contact us via Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. But that's it for, well, for another week and a bit longer. We'll see you all at Palm for more adventures.

00:39:20[outro theme playing]

00:40:22Unidentified speaker: Bye.