Episode 335 - Soldier’s Five

00:00:00[music]

Welcome

00:00:24Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 335 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. I am Ollie Spake and I'm joining from Dharawal Country.

00:00:32Melissa Ellis: And I am Melissa Ellis and I'm joining from Wurundjeri Country. Welcome Mel. How was your volunteer week? It was volunteer-y. volunteered at juniors. I was a Marshal.

00:00:46Oliver Spake: Lovely, lovely. Hopefully with fine weather too.

00:00:48Melissa Ellis: It was, yeah. We have had some very fine parkrunning weather in the west side of Victoria. So clear skies, no rain. Not even a puddle. Jemima was high and dry.

00:01:03Oliver Spake: Yeah, we do love the puddle. I like the reports of the puddle. So it's easy to take for granted the lack of rain when it was so noticeable back there before. But nonetheless, I'm sure there'll be puddles there again before too long.

00:01:16Melissa Ellis: There will. And what about your volunteering week, Ollie?

00:01:20Oliver Spake: It was a relatively quiet one. I mean, I have no surprises here. I was at Shellharbour parkrun as Run Director for the week. And look, it was just a lovely morning. Also dry, which is an absolute treat. We've got a nice refurbished path, which is also a treat. And And, yeah, we had a touch of pink to remember one of our parkrun community that we had to sadly bid farewell to a few years ago. So a nice parkrun day, though. Yeah, nice way to spend it. But, I mean, that's my parkrun day recap, really, Mel. I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here because we've got a bit coming up in the episode today, this week, today. Not sure what I framed that as.

00:02:05Melissa Ellis: We do, Ollie. It's a jam-packed episode. We're going to have to whip through everything because we've got emails and we've got roving reports. The Office Lady is going to bring us a recap of this week at Dazza's. We've got, yeah, the roving reports coming from Austria, South Australia and Queensland. And Sarah from the West Side pops in with some national news.

00:02:28Oliver Spake: So quite a bit. Yes. Hence, it was probably quite practical for me to get my recap done. But Mel, I suspect you had a bit more of an adventure away from home. Where did you go? What did you do?

00:02:39Melissa Ellis: I did. Well, turns out this weary adventurer took the easy option and stayed close to home to attend Dixon Field parkrun on the lands of the Dja Dja Wurrung and Wurundjeri people and add another number two to my Pooper Scooper Challenge. Dixon Field is in the town of Gisborne in the Victorian Macedon Ranges and is approximately 50 kilometres northwest of Melbourne. There is a real growth in the area, with Wikipedia quoting the influx of young professionals, artists and hipsters to the region who are drawn by the region's natural beauty, proximity to Melbourne and access to the city-style cafes and restaurants. And for the blockheads out there, Gisborne South was chosen as the filming location for the reality television series The Block in 2022. There were 131 parkrunners at the event, which starts and finishes at Dixon Field and travels along Jackson's Creek to the Gisborne Botanic Gardens, where it does two loops before returning. It is a mixed terrain course with maintained grass, concrete, sandy gravel trail and four creek crossings. The autumn colours were stunning, but the fallen autumn leaves also meant having to watch your footing at some points. I will also admit to feeling slightly triggered when I heard the course described as starting with a lap of the oval. That was way too year nine PE class for me. Another great benefit of staying local, apart from reducing my travel times, was the amount of people I knew at the event. There was a modest amount of tourists out to inspect Victoria's newest event, as well as curious local parkrunners from the surrounding areas of Toolern Creek, Sunbury and Wyndham Vale. Lucy must have been confused by me being home on a Saturday morning as she was unusually excited as I was preparing to leave. So much so that I very nearly brought her with me, even going as far as checking the course page to confirm that dogs were allowed. But then I realised I actually had no idea if she'd be able to complete 5Ks. So I made the decision to leave her at home. Sorry, Lucy girl, we'll start training you up for the distance. Oh, and the course is mostly flat. The weather stayed fine and I enjoyed brunch afterwards at Jolly Miller with Irene Bommakanti and Cheryl and Mark Smith.

00:04:57Oliver Spake: Very nice. Well, I look forward to hearing about Lucy's training program and introduction to parkrun. But, yeah, it sounds like a nice new course there, Mel.

00:05:05Melissa Ellis: Yes, yes, very good, very nice and flat after the previous few weeks where I've had some undulations. My legs were happy.

00:05:14Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah, I have to say my legs are a bit grumpy. I've finally made it back out to the local Saddleback Mountain here, which was my training program for Point to Pinnacle. First time I've been back since that mountain run and my legs are complaining. So, yeah, mine are due a flat course for sure.

00:05:32Melissa Ellis: You know what that means? That means you should be doing it more.

00:05:36Oliver Spake: It does. It does. I'm not sure I fully agree with the idea of launching myself into that right now, but it does mean that. Truth, yeah.

00:05:45Melissa Ellis: But Ollie, through the week, we were tagged in a post. Now, this post came to us from the running guy, who's also known as Ryan Stoddart, one of our fellow adventurers. And his post said, an hour into the Ultra Perth, 50 kilometres, I was 11 kilometres in and running over the Matagarup Bridge. On the other side, the 50K runners turned right, but to the left, the parkrun was starting in 60 seconds. So naturally, I turned left. I couldn't travel all the way to the other side of Australia and not do a parkrun. Burswood Peninsula parkrun is a multi-lap course that runs along the side of Optus Stadium and through Chevron Parkland. During the briefing, the Event Director said to beware of ultra runners on the ramp section of the course. They'll be wearing race bibs, to which I lifted my shirt to reveal my hidden race bib and said, like this one. Shocked, she said, you paused your ultra to do a parkrun? You ultra runners are really crazy. I got a huge cheer from the other parkrunners, lots of encouragement during the run and many wishing me luck for the rest of the ultra. Proof that the parkrun community is the greatest. Once parkrun was completed, I got my barcode scanned and off I went to continue the ultra, parkruns, 448. Locations, 124. WA parkruns, one. How's that?

00:07:11Oliver Spake: Way to go.

00:07:12Melissa Ellis: Yeah, well done, Ryan.

00:07:14Oliver Spake: Yeah, wow.

00:07:15Melissa Ellis: Quite impressive too, 448 runs, so.

00:07:21Oliver Spake: Very much so, yeah. Just as well you didn't pass any others there, Ryan.

00:07:24Melissa Ellis: Pass any, oh, any other parkruns.

00:07:27Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah, not the parkrunners, yeah, just the temptation for more parkruns, but timed to perfection clearly.

00:07:35Melissa Ellis: Yeah, he could have gone over the bridge and done Claisebrook, couldn't he? Oh, well.

00:07:41Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:07:41Melissa Ellis: Good work.

00:07:43Oliver Spake: Yes, so yeah, no, great to hear about that one. And look, we've also heard news. Someone else who had a bit of a good run last week was our very own Eman, Eman Vergara, who was in Singapore for the Sundown Marathon. Eman came in fifth with a time of three hours and eight minutes. With the catchphrase, we run the night, it became the nation's first night marathon in 2008. And he sent us this from Singapore. Hey guys, we had a fantastic parkrun adventure in Singapore this weekend, having completed our third country parkrun at West Coast Park parkrun. It's a Singapore challenge complete. We had the pleasure of meeting fellow parkrun tourists, Paul and Michaela Curtin from Berwick Springs. It was definitely hot and humid and we are looking forward to the chilly Toowoomba weather. Regards, Eman, Chris and Juno. And we did see the photo attached there with Michaela and Paul and Eman. Yeah, that must have been warm.

00:08:45Melissa Ellis: Yeah, that sounds like a really interesting event. There was a few people I know running that event because also local to me, Mark Porritt, aka Poz. He is a regular volunteer at Junior parkrun. He is also a Victorian event ambassador. He was also over there running in that event. So I had a bit of a look to see if I could find the official race results, but alas, I could not locate them.

00:09:11Oliver Spake: Well, thank you for trying. But yeah, Eman will keep us honest. And yeah, hopefully his legs are getting a rest now. Some people whose legs weren't getting a rest, Mel. Another additional day.

00:09:23Melissa Ellis: There was, Ollie. Finland had their additional day this last week, Thursday, the 18th, Ascension Day, which is the 40th day after Easter Sunday. Known as, Ollie...

00:09:37Oliver Spake: So I'm going to get in trouble from the in-laws now because I can't say a Finnish word.

00:09:44Melissa Ellis: So we had a few adventurers over in Finland on Thursday. We had Heather Morgan at Tampere. Tampere, how do you say it?

00:09:53Oliver Spake: Tampere, yeah.

00:09:55Melissa Ellis: Okay. And we had Stephen and Helen Davis, Chantal Hosking, Nicola Tarrant, Christine Imbert and Bob Harlow at...

00:10:02Oliver Spake: Tokoinranta. Thank you. Just checking my pronunciation for Tampere or I'm really going to get in trouble. But yes, Tampere. There we go. Thank you. One of those will be right.

00:10:15Melissa Ellis: Stephen and Helen Davis are having a great holiday touring over there, Ollie, and didn't we get a surprise?

00:10:22Oliver Spake: Yeah, thank you for pointing that one out to me and thank you for sharing, Stephen and Helen. The girls back home loved the photo of yourselves with none other than the second place getter from Eurovision. Käärijä. That's my first attempt at saying his name, but yes.

00:10:44Melissa Ellis: Otherwise known as the cha-cha-cha guy.

00:10:47Oliver Spake: That's right. The guy with the green shoulder pads and one fantastic dance. So, yeah, what a time. What a time. And well done to everyone taking part on Finland's additional day.

Dazza's

00:10:59Oliver Spake: But Mel, there's still more going on and we have been doing a bit of a Dazza's Light, but we've enlisted a bit of help this week so we can hear a bit from Dazza's. So should we have a bit of a listen to The Office Lady?

Level 2 with a View

00:11:19Sam Schroder: Hi there, it's the Office Lady here from the comfy chair on level two with a view. The bosses have asked me to give you a rundown on some of the comments from Dazza's this week. Dazza acknowledged that last week was Volunteer Week in Australia and we were so pleased to see the huge number of adventurers who commented to share their volunteering adventures at parkruns all over the world. A standout for me was Anne Fry, letting us know that she was back RDing after a couple of weeks laid up after her unexpected appendix surgery. The Office Lady's top pick this week has to be from Dawn Branton, who, along with Parth Bommakanti, visited Nambour parkrun and met Fluffy. Great job on getting some awesome shots, Dawn and Parth. Fluffy was the feature shot in Monday's album. Now, we do of course love a frond and there were quite a few passionista fronds at home parkruns this week. But the standout frond pick in Dazza's was from Picnic Point Parklands parkrun with six adventurers in attendance. The pick of which was shared by both Cherie Martin and Carmel Roll. Thanks ladies. Congratulations to Caro Vos and Cherie Cottle, who both became regionaires this week by completing the last of the 15 parkruns in the Greater Newcastle region. It was great to see that Chantelle Hosking and Christine Imbert met in real life at Tokoinranta parkrun in Finland on Finland's bonus parkrun day last Thursday. Loved your shirts, ladies. A big happy birthday to Heidedal parkrun, who celebrated their sixth birthday on Saturday. Thanks to Johan for sharing a great group shot of lots of the local children who were there to help mark the occasion. Another theme of the Dazza comments was zoomies. Shout outs to Renata Koch for her first zoomie, Patrick Shymitzek for an interesting level armed zoomie and Scott Arrell of Scott Airplanes hashtag fame for a fabulous precision group shot of right arm up zoomies. This was of particular interest to TOC, who asked in Dazza's if zoomies should be left hand up in the Northern Hemisphere. We weren't sure about this, but evidence from Helen Rutter's pics of she and her hubby doing zoomies at the Cinder Track parkrun say yes, left arm up zoomies are possibly accurate when you're on the top half of the world. Considering Helen got a new course PB at the Cinder Track with her left arm up zoomie, We'd have to assume these reverse zoomies really do work. Now most weeks, the bosses mention the most popular post in Dazza's. That is, the one with the most like and love reacts. So this week, that was... Oh, well this is a bit awkward. That was my comment. Luke and I had a rare visit to our closest parkrun at Picton this week, and we were there to help celebrate our lovely friend Vicky finishing her Rundown Under journey, which she did by running and walking 14,080 kilometres in just three years and five months, which was an average of over 11 kilometres every single day. Quite an appropriate week to finish too, as Vicky is a phenomenal volunteer, coordinating the volleys at Picton week in, week out. She's a real legend of the Picton community. So that's my wrap up of Dazza's this week. Maybe if you liked it, the bosses might let me do it again next week.

00:15:08Melissa Ellis: And thank you to the Office Lady for bringing us the Soldier's Five. Now, Ollie, I did ask Sam to do a Soldier's Five and she did question whether that was a typo or a thing.

00:15:21Unidentified speaker: Yep.

00:15:21Melissa Ellis: What do you call it when autocorrect, autocorrect issue? And I said, no, it's really a thing. And it means a short brief of five points or five minutes as a quick brief on something meant to give the most important points in a quick and succinct manner. For example... Corporal, can you give me a quick Soldier's Five on how this weapon works? So that's the explanation and that's why I asked Sam to do a Soldier's Five of Dazza's, which she did quite succinctly.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:15:50Melissa Ellis: That's right. But now some others that we want to hear from, hopefully a little bit more involved than a Soldier's Five, is our roving reporter. So let's have a listen.

Roving report Tony O'Connell — Donaupark

00:16:09Tony O'Connell: Howdy parkrunners, it's TOC from Inverloch and I'm reporting in from Vienna in Austria today. We've come along to Donaupark parkrun.

00:16:18Michael: Donaupark parkrun, yes.

00:16:19Tony O'Connell: And I'm with today's RD, Michael.

Talking to Michael — Run Director, Donaupark parkrun, Vienna, Austria

00:16:22Tony O'Connell: Michael, how are you?

00:16:23Michael: Thank you, thank you. I'm great, I'm great. It's perfect weather, perfect weather for parkrun. Yeah, real...

00:16:29Tony O'Connell: It's always sunny in Vienna.

00:16:30Michael: It's always sunny in Vienna, yes. I mean, the last weeks weren't sunny, but today it's perfect spring weather, perfect running weather. It was a perfect parkrun. Lovely. And how many did you have today, Michael? We had today, I think it was 97. So quite a lot for us today, but we're getting and hitting the hundreds more and more. So very happy about it.

00:16:53Tony O'Connell: Excellent. And I noticed when you called out the tourists, there were tourists once again from all around Europe, Australia, from everywhere. It's obviously a bit of a tourist destination.

00:17:03Michael: Definitely Vienna. Vienna is a tourist destination, so we have a lot of tourists. As you said, you're from Australia, a lot of British, Irish, but also a lot of Poland. I think we also had somebody somewhere from South Africa, something like that. It was interesting because in the beginning, I think the majority were tourists actually. A lot of them British. And now we're getting like a good and I think very healthy mix of locals but also tourists and that's I think what matters.

00:17:38Tony O'Connell: I noticed you had a running club today. I think they might have been a local running club all in their club tops. I think run long or something.

00:17:46Michael: Yes, I think you're talking about Weekly Long Run. Yes. Yes, it's one of the many running clubs in Vienna. I think there's also a scene like rising of running clubs in Vienna. And yeah, the good thing is it's perfect. It's a perfect combination also with parkrun because they just can come to parkrun and also with the running club and run together, but not only in the club, but with everybody else.

00:18:13Tony O'Connell: And another European parkrun for us where we've got to the finish line and there was champagne at the finish line. There was cake at the finish line. One of your parkrunners obviously having a birthday today.

00:18:25Michael: Yes, yes. One of our parkrunners, a volunteer but also running today, had his 40th birthday. And that's actually, he said to me, or no, and another finisher said to me, I've been here for the fifth time and four times there was cake at the finish line. So yeah, we love to celebrate like really everything, like a birthday or a milestone or an anniversary, or if nothing like that, just being there and having fun. Celebrate life. Yeah, celebrate life. Okay, so give us a little bit of a description of your parkrun. Where does it run? Yes, sure, sure. Very happy about that. So we're now actually standing close to Donaupark. So it's called Donaupark parkrun. It's in Vienna. It's a big park. It's very nice. That's like three laps. And if you know Vienna a bit, then maybe you've seen Donauturm. It's the tallest building in Vienna. And you run towards Donauturm and then three laps. It's a flat course. You can run fast if you want to. But the beauty is also that everybody can run and walk and I just had a talk with another volunteer today and she said like there was this one girl she wasn't able to walk all 5k like had to stop and now she can walk the whole 5k and I think that's the beauty having fast runners, having runners running regularly but also having walkers. Just coming here, walking, running with everybody and yeah, super nice.

00:20:05Tony O'Connell: And Mike, a little bit of your background. I understand your father had a little bit to do with setting up Donaupark parkrun.

00:20:11Michael: This is true, yes. It's today actually also our 75th parkrun, so also a little anniversary. And yes, my father set up with... together with Lukas and Ben and also so many more volunteers, parkrun in Vienna. There's actually a story behind it. I remember we visited my sister in Australia and my father was running there a parkrun. And he said like, There's a pub and there's so many people. It's super nice. People are coming together every Saturday. We need something like that in Vienna. And so he sat down, I think it was 2015 or something like that, had this idea. And this idea didn't, yeah, left his mind. And it was a lot of work. But then, yeah. More than a year ago, we together, so my father, and I was also involved, I think, in the zero parkrun already. So the preparation, we set up parkrun in Donaupark. And yeah, we're very happy that it's here now and that it's also growing. Because in the beginning, we were like, I think, 30, maybe 40 people. And as you saw today, almost 100 people here.

00:21:29Tony O'Connell: And a good local contingent too. That was a good locals. And once again at the finish line, everyone sat around and we had the birthday and everyone sung.

00:21:38Michael: That was really fantastic. That's true. And also the cafe where we're standing here now, it's always somebody sits here, joins and talks, have a chat. It's so lovely to have so many people from all over the world chatting, experiencing and also getting to know each other.

00:21:57Tony O'Connell: I think it says a lot about the parkrun when it's half past 11 and we're all still sitting at the cafe, still talking. The day's half gone and we're still sitting here and enjoying it. At our table, there was people from Scotland, there was people from Canada, there was people from Australia, people from the UK. And everyone just gets together and we talk about the common things that we have.

00:22:18Michael: Yeah, definitely.

00:22:20Tony O'Connell: Well, Michael, look, it's been lovely to come and do your parkrun. It's been lovely to visit the city. Wish you luck with the parkrun.

00:22:26Michael: Thanks a lot. Thanks for being here. And, yeah, thanks a lot.

Roving report Paul Kitching — Narooma Wetlands

00:22:31Paul Kitching: G'day parkrun adventurers, it's PK checking in for another roving report from a new parkrun in South Australia. It is the Narooma Wetlands parkrun, which is the second parkrun in Murray Bridge. Well, actually, it's the only parkrun in Murray Bridge at the moment, but we'll find out about that in a minute. They announced a new one. And we thought, well, we need to get our number two. So let us head up here. So it's probably another 20 minutes beyond Murray Bridge. Sorry, Mount Barker, I should say. Yeah, so about 45, 50 minutes out of Adelaide, depending on where you're leaving from, straight up the freeway. And it is a beautiful, beautiful course. A three-lapper out alongside, on a trail, or gravel, I suppose. Yeah, gravel. Alongside some wetlands. Beautiful course. Lots of visitors, lots of legends. Let's go and speak to a few of them.

Talking to Scott and Charlene — South Australian parkrunner and statesman

00:23:27Paul Kitching: Now I'm with a couple of legends that I've known since early days in Mount Barker and now they're getting out and doing a lot of different ones. I think you've got a new home course. G'day, Scott. How are you, mate?

00:23:37Scott: Fantastic.

00:23:37Paul Kitching: And Charlene, how are you? Hi, great. Nice to see you guys out here at Narooma. Actually, I saw Charlene in the mall yesterday. That's in the middle of Adelaide. And we're just talking about parkrun because that's the first thing that comes to mind when we see each other. And I said, oh, yeah, where are you going tomorrow? And you said... The New Murray Bridge one. The New Murray Bridge one. And we went, so we. What do you think of the course, Scott?

00:23:56Scott: It was brilliant. It's a nice flat out and back. Three loops and you get to see everyone as you go past. I know, right? Always people to catch.

00:24:02Paul Kitching: Yeah, I know, right? That's the thing. I was watching and it's also good because I was trying to work out. I wanted to try and get top 20. Not like you, maniacs, who are much faster than me. But it's good because you can count the people. I'm like, right, I'm now in position. Now, Charlene, yesterday you were telling me about numbers. We're doing it because it's our number two. You're doing it because you've already got a number two.

00:24:23Charlene: Well, we've got plenty of number twos because of our statesmanship back today. Of course. Yeah, congrats. Yeah, but we have been working on the Wilson.

00:24:29Paul Kitching: Well done. Yeah, and where are you at?

00:24:31Charlene: I've got 116 now, but we've got a few weeks to wait on that or maybe a year. I'm not sure.

00:24:35Paul Kitching: So does that mean your floating index is 115 or something like that?

00:24:38Charlene: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:24:40Paul Kitching: That's crazy. I don't think I've met anyone. I'm sure there are some listeners out there that are like, pfft. 115?

00:24:44Charlene: Karen Baraglia.

00:24:47Paul Kitching: There you go. So you've got your eyes on other parkruns there that are those numbers? You probably can't in South Australia.

00:24:55Charlene: I've got a spreadsheet and it tells me where to go, when to go.

00:24:57Paul Kitching: I thought Scott told you where to go. No, I tell him where to go. You tell him where to go. Sorry, sorry, that's right. No, fantastic. Where's your next parkrun going to be?

00:25:07Charlene: I think it's actually, we've got a few at Pakapakanthi now because they're in the numbers that we need. So that's good. And actually the fact they cancelled today worked well for us.

00:25:14Paul Kitching: Oh, there you go. What about favourite parkruns or just, you know, from memories?

00:25:19Charlene: I think my favourite is Largs. I really like that one for some reason. I'm not sure, but yeah.

00:25:24Paul Kitching: I love it. And Scotty?

00:25:28Scott: Not sure, actually. I didn't mind Coober Pedy. Oh, wow. That was entertaining. Of course, you're a statesman. Nice and flat and worth the drive. I love it.

00:25:35Paul Kitching: Fantastic. Well, congrats and thank you so much for being part of parkrun, part of the community.

00:25:39Charlene: We love it. Thanks, PK. Good on you, guys. Cheers.

Talking to Todd — Run Director / Event Director, Narooma Wetlands parkrun

00:25:43Paul Kitching: I'm now with Todd, the Run Director for today and probably one of the EDs here. Yep, ED. The ED. Well done, mate. Oh, ED. That's cool. Well done, mate. Congrats on Narooma. What a beautiful course. Are you happy with how it's gone so far?

00:25:57Todd: Yeah, very happy with how it's gone so far. Number two. Number two, yeah. Number one was a bit daunting, but yeah, we got through it. Good stuff. Yeah, no, the track's holding up well to the... 60, 70 people that we're getting through.

00:26:07Paul Kitching: Beautiful gravel. It's a new course, a new path, I think you mentioned?

00:26:11Todd: Yeah, a new path. Probably been put in two or three years ago by the council just to join up the Murray-Coorong Trail between Long Island and Stair Reserve. Right.

00:26:19Paul Kitching: So you can do like a long trail then from one end?

00:26:21Todd: Yeah, so the Murray-Coorong Trail starts actually down at the Coorong, follows all the way through and this is just a short section of it. Brilliant. Towards the end and then you head through the trails at the top of Murray Bridge from it.

00:26:32Paul Kitching: Yeah, fantastic stuff, mate. And you've been involved with parkrun for a while?

00:26:35Todd: I've been involved probably two years, 18 months, two years.

00:26:39Paul Kitching: Why did you get involved in parkrun?

00:26:41Todd: I started off just running, just got involved in running and parkrun and, you know, just for general health and, you know, Saturday morning run. Excellent. Yeah, just went through to volunteering. Yeah, beautiful.

00:26:53Paul Kitching: Natural progression, I think. Excellent. And there's some kids here today. Are they yours? Yeah, my daughters, yep. Yeah, fantastic. Drag them along. I love it, mate. And the best thing about that is that volunteering becomes second nature for them.

00:27:03Todd: Yeah, that's why you kind of show them. Absolutely. You bring them out here and try and encourage them to talk to people. Yeah. I don't know. Get them involved with people, I suppose.

00:27:14Paul Kitching: Absolutely. And we've done that with ours. My daughters are here today. They just came over the line. And we've been doing it for six years? Yes. Seven years. I can't remember. Seven years, maybe. Yeah, and it's the same. And they've grown up doing it. And it's being National Volunteer Week, it's fantastic to thank our volunteers and recognise the amazing work that they do because volunteers do rule the world. Yeah, that's right. And you've got some great volunteers here. Good regulars. Well, you've had some... Sorry, just watching some people racing over the... Yes, Sam. Ha-ha, mate. Ha-ha. Yeah, so you've got a good community of volunteers?

00:27:43[laughter]

00:27:47Todd: Yeah, good community of volunteers. Got a good base of regulars. We've got some visitors coming through. A lot of visitors, actually. Oh, good. For the first few events. Yeah. The first eight events already filled up with probably 20%, 30% volunteers from other places.

00:28:02Paul Kitching: As we call them, volunteers.

00:28:03Todd: Volunteers. I like it. I'm going to have to use that. Use that one, mate.

00:28:07Paul Kitching: Thanks to the volunteers that are here today. Volunteers, yeah. Good stuff, mate. Well, we're going to go and find a coffee somewhere. Thank you so much for everything that you do for parkrun and for helping us come and enjoy this beautiful part of the world. No worries. Thanks for coming down. Thanks, Todd. Cheers. Cheers, mate. Well, there you have it. I am going to go and find a coffee somewhere as my crew have just come over the line, which is awesome. Yeah, come and do Narooma Wetlands parkrun. If you are trying to get your statesmanship in South Australia, you will need to come and do it. It is also a good one to come and do if you have done Murray Bridge parkrun. and it is currently cancelled. And so you can get something on the 5K app. I can't remember what it's called. One of the listeners out there is going to be yelling at me right now going, it's called something, something. It's called one that I've done before, but it's now cancelled. It's probably not that. That's not the exact words. But anyway, you'll know what I mean. Look it up. It is one of those ones that you can definitely do. If you've done Murray Bridge, it's cancelled. You can now do Narooma, and you can tick that off your challenge. Anyway, this is PK signing off for another roving report. Thanks to everybody who makes parkrun possible. You're all legends.

Roving report Lyndell Murray — Robelle Domain

00:29:11Lyndell Murray: Good morning, parkrun adventurers. It is Lyndell here, checking in again. Now, today I am on the traditional lands of the Yuggera and Ugarapul peoples. I'm out at Springfield at Robelle Domain parkrun. Now, I'm not... This roving report light again today because Tracey in a Tutu was here not long after the launch of this event, but I could not resist trying to make a connection with an old friend. Now... Robelle Domain parkrun is the relocated Augustine Heights parkrun and many moons ago when I visited Augustine Heights, I uncovered the story of a mystery lawnmower man. Now, It's been a few years. I didn't know whether I'd be able to find the mystery lawnmower man, but I did.

Talking to Simon — Robelle Domain / Augustine Heights parkrunner, the "mystery lawnmower man"

00:29:57Lyndell Murray: Here he is, his name's Simon. Simon, tell me the story about the mystery lawnmower man.

00:30:02Simon: Oh, well, at Augustine Heights in the early days, the top part of the turnaround there, the park was never sort of mowed. And of course, you know, the morning when the dew and it was wet and everything other, I didn't like my shoes wet, mind you, I'm not a fast runner, but so I used to mow some lawns for my family and other people that I shouldn't have. But anyway, so going past there, I used to just do the top part of the parkrun. for quite a while until someone found out about it. But it was all good. It suited me to do it. I enjoyed it. And everyone had dry feet. So that was the start of the story. It was good.

00:30:30Lyndell Murray: Yeah. And I understand that the Run Directors used to show up every Saturday and go, oh, the lawn's been mowed.

00:30:36Simon: And down the bottom, yeah. And around the start thing, too. And the start finish when it was long there, yeah. So yeah, the contractors were long between the mows up there. But it was good. It worked out really well.

00:30:45Lyndell Murray: And it was several years before they uncovered you as the mystery lawnmower man.

00:30:48Simon: Well, it was a long time before they determined. It was around that time my son decided that I shouldn't be doing all these things for his siblings and other things like that. So I had to confiscate all my mowers. So then if I wanted to mow, I could go and borrow one, but he wouldn't know where I was going. So anyway, everything sort of came to a halt, you know so nearly finished the same time then Augustine Heights would have finished around that oh not long after that anyway so but it was great fun in the meantime anyway I really enjoyed doing it it was you know part of your community service things you do as a volunteer just think of all those volunteer credits you could have got as an other role um if you hadn't have been a mystery well that's true that's true but my volunteer credits roll around pretty quickly anyway so I didn't need to do it for that no it's good just just yeah

00:31:32Lyndell Murray: more community service I guess whatever else and helping everybody else that's good it's good 100 it's brilliant now Robelle Domain, this is a beautifully manicured spot you'd probably get arrested if you turned up with your lawnmower here probably yes to make my own mark on the start and finish yes I might try it one day I don't know I'll see now again now this podcast is a podcast for parkrun adventurers you're a bit of an adventurer yourself yes can you tell me what what's a highlight for you in the adventuring that you've done Simon

00:32:01Simon: Oh, I don't know. Maybe breakfast after, I guess. I don't know. I sort of parkrun now with my grandson, and of course he's doing other things now, and another family that he was running with, they still drag me out every week, which is really good. But we go quite a few different places at least once a month or whatever. I mean, yeah, like just recently, we went to Wynnum and then Dalby and all over the place. It's been fantastic. Yeah, that's good.

00:32:30Lyndell Murray: So you've been to Dalby. Yes. There's a D there. Am I sensing a theme? Are you chasing or are you an alpha peteer?

00:32:37Simon: Well, I'm an alpha peteer, but I was telling someone the other day that parkrun's free and it's cheap, but it's not because I've got to go all the way to Geelong to get east for Eastern Gardens and then go to Jells to tick off my J, but then mine's got a Tassie when you're there. So parkrun, parkrun isn't cheap. No, it's great fun. It's great fun. So yes, I tick it all off. But yes, yes, it takes a while, but it's been a great adventure going everywhere.

00:32:59Lyndell Murray: And you went to Western Springs recently when you were in New Zealand.

00:33:03Simon: Yes, I went to Western Springs to do my 200. I saved it up to do there for the family there. So I was going to the Cornwall Park, which is my favourite place to go. And they said, no, no, you need to go to Western Springs to take off your west. So that was good there. So it was great. Yes, there was a lot of tourists there, a lot of tourists, but it was good. Great to do something else, yes.

00:33:23Lyndell Murray: Brilliant. Now, is there anything else that you would like the parkrun adventurers to know about adventuring or your home parkrun here at Robelle Domain?

00:33:31Simon: Well, my home parkrun actually is White Rock, just further over. So I come here occasionally just to better my time each week because I can. But no, just go out and enjoy them all everywhere. Everyone's run exactly the same but different. And it's good. You meet other people doing the same thing around the place. It's really good, actually. Yeah, really good.

00:33:51Lyndell Murray: Fantastic. Yeah, you do meet people. I recognised you on the start line and I couldn't place it. And I've solved the mystery of the lawnmower man. Thank you again, Simon, for your service. And hopefully I'll see you again at a parkrun.

00:34:03Simon: Yes, great. Yes, do them all. Do as many as you can. It's all good. Tick them off the list. Doesn't matter. Once you've got the alphabet done, it's plenty to tick off the list. And all the games to play too. I mean, the other week we had to go to Inverell, of course, to tick off the I for McDonald's Farm. So all the things. It's great. Great. All good. Keep up the good work.

00:34:20Lyndell Murray: Awesome. Thanks, Simon.

00:34:29Oliver Spake: Thank you very much to our intrepid bunch of roving reporters to talk to PK and to Lyndell. Certainly a lot going on, Mel.

Emails

00:34:38Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. Even more going on in our email inbox, Ollie, because it was overflowing this week, as mentioned earlier on. Now, we had a message from Johan saying, Now, Johan was out to help us prove our case that a number of parkrun adventurers could be called a swather. As mentioned, a parkrun adventurer is a person who loves to travel to different parkruns, parkrun is a free weekly time 5K run that takes place in over 20 countries around the world and is a great way to get exercise, meet new people and explore new places. parkrun adventurers are a large group of people who are united by a common interest. They are all passionate about running, travelling and meeting new people. They are also a very active group of people. They are always looking for new parkruns to run and they are always willing to help out at their local parkrun. The word swather can be used to describe a large group of like-minded people. It is a word that suggests movement, momentum and power. parkrun adventurers are a perfect example of a swather. They are a large group of people who are united by a common interest and they are always moving around in their pursuit of running, travelling and meeting new people. Here are some examples of how the word swather could be used to describe parkrun adventurers. A swather of parkrun adventurers gathered at the start line, ready to take on the 5k course. The swather of parkrun adventurers cheered as they crossed the finish line. The swather of parkrun adventurers travelled to different countries to experience different parkruns. So there you go, Ollie. There's more compelling evidence. It's mounting.

00:36:21Oliver Spake: Look, I'm not the one that needs convincing, but beautifully framed there. So thank you, Johan, for your note of support.

00:36:30Melissa Ellis: I do believe that in order for us to get the new meaning of the word swather, because it is actually a word already, but for its new intent and purpose to be added to the dictionary, it just has to be used widely.

00:36:44Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:36:45Melissa Ellis: And I mean, we've got a platform, so, you know, we can make this happen.

00:36:49Oliver Spake: Widely, Asterisk, in a broad range of professionally written and edited materials over an extended period of time. But we're working on that too. Thank you to those that are keeping us honest and to those that are supporting us. But Mel, you did mention we had a swather of emails, so I will continue. Stephen and Jen got in touch with us with a photo of 300 cake and the weather in Bathurst, negative 2.6, but they did say... Hello, Mel, Ollie, and all the wonderful adventurers. Jen and I are back as RDs at our home parkrun of Bathurst for a marvellous couple of events already. Yesterday was our 300th event here in Bathurst, and cake and goodwill was shared all around despite the sunny but cold weather. To cap it off, my youngest son, Joshua, at just 16 last month, ran his 250th parkrun, covering 26 locations and notably 16 70 volunteers. The trials and tribulations of being the son of an ED. He also topped it off with a 40 second PB going under 20 minutes for the very first time. I am a very proud dad who can no longer keep up with his kids. Welcome back, Ollie. Both yours and Mel's Punish entries are both noted and highlighted. Looking forward to seeing you both, plus the swather of over a dozen and increasing adventurers now entered, both at parkrun and The Punish. We've just heard there is a work trip to Queensland in July, so our first step is to extend a day, also either side, and find the local parkruns. Isn't that standard? Take care, Stephen and Jen.

00:38:31Melissa Ellis: This email came in pretty quickly after I pressed send on my Punish registration last night. By the way, Ollie, I meant to tell you, I've signed up for the Punish.

00:38:43Oliver Spake: Nice work, Mel. Your legs will appreciate that. I got my $5 discount. Oh, yes. Yep. Good work. Just in time for the early bird. Correct. Yeah.

00:38:51Melissa Ellis: Now, we also heard Ollie from Russ Johnson in the continuing saga of, well, it's not really a saga, the continuing story of his coronation-related challenges. Anyway, he said, Hi, Mel and Ollie. Last week my Royal Freyne train arrived at Queen's Domain. On Saturday I rode the Royal train to Prince Philip Island parkrun to register 100 volunteering credits. 250 global locations ran and 100 volley credits done. Is this called a Norman Freyne double? Regards, Russ Johnson, A815695. Now, it's a good try, Russ, but no, you've done a plain old Freyne plus achieved a V100, but well done. Yes. Well done. Absolutely. I shouldn't joke, a plain old Freyne, but it's quite a good achievement and one that not that many Australians have achieved.

00:39:50Oliver Spake: Oh, that's right. That's right. I love the challenge. So, yeah, keep it up, Russ.

00:39:56Melissa Ellis: And for context. Yeah. I note that Russ did reference Norman when he said a Norman Freyne. So a boring Norman is 250 runs and 100 different events. And a super Norman is 500 runs and 250 different events. And both those are named, of course, after our friend with me now, Danny Norman.

00:40:21Oliver Spake: That's right. I'm a long way off that.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:40:25Oliver Spake: obviously not on the uh not on the agenda but um yeah there's some some good ones out there but Mel I'm just looking at our notes and we've got a bit of an update you did mention this in the what's coming up and uh yeah I suppose it's time for a bit of sharing on what's been going on around the parkrun world thanks to Sarah from the West Side so shall we hand over to Sarah

00:40:59Sarah Jefferson: Hi parkrun adventurers, it's Sarah here from the West Side checking in for the Channel 5 news crew. Not for a parkrun today, actually from my office without a view. I'm recapping some of the points of discussions from a night that I attended over the weekend. It was hosted by parkrun head office. It was called the insights and Q&A session as the parkrun head office headed over to the West Side. So we had two events held in Perth, Currumbine, north of Perth on the Friday night, and then Auburn Grove on the Saturday night. In attendance, we had Renee Gimbert, the Managing Director, Jenny Buzak, apologies if I've got that wrong, Event Support Manager. We had Thea Brown, the Communications Officer, Nikki McCarthy-Hicks, the Volunteer Regional Ambassador, and Glen Turner, the Communications and Health and Wellbeing Manager. So going forward with parkrun for the next five years, they are looking at breaking parkrun worldwide down into the four areas and growing each of them. So the first one being the Asia Pacific, the APAC, the Americas, the UK and EMEA, which encompasses Africa, the Middle East and Asia. So currently the UK actually have 50% of participants with parkrun per week. They also have 50% of the events. So the goal would actually be that the UK would represent 25% of the world's events and 25% of the participation rates. So the goal for our region in the APAC would be to grow the Asia Pacific region, in particular New Zealand and Japan. So watch this space. It was brought up in the discussion that currently there have been a few issues with landowner rights, particularly in Malaysia, which is actually preventing some events that are currently or had currently started, parkrun are looking to work with the owners, however, are looking at alternative courses for the Malaysian events, as it appears that the landowners who are causing those issues actually have quite a bit of parkruns that sit on their areas. There was an issue concerned with parkrun and particularly, I guess, us in terms of adventuring and the carbon footprint. However, 5% were so unique are actually people who adventure to different parkruns and travel, whereas 95% and statistics show that the 95% of people just go to their local parkrun and to their local community each and every single week without much variance of location. Post-COVID numbers, it was asked about and it's a really positive sign that they now back up to around the 68,000 per week in Australia, which is great to see that most states and territory levels are back to their pre-COVID levels, if not surpassing the attendance, which is really positive to hear. There was a chat about the apps. Now, the Challenger app, particularly the 5K app and the Running Achievement app. It was mentioned about these and the importance of them. Now, they know, parkrun HQ acknowledge that people actually really love these apps and it gets people participating in parkrun. So they are supportive of them. They're often not supportive of the way that the data is obtained from parkrun. And there was the floating of the idea in terms of if some of these challenges put too much pressure on local teams. For example, recently over in the UK, we had Nelson 777 attracted 777 people, ironically, and their numbers blew out. So I guess parkrun are tracking these events and if numbers are blowing out and they are not supportive of the teams... they will be looking at specific challenges and I guess asking them to remove specific challenges if it comes to that in Australia. At this point in time, that is not a problem, but that is something that parkrun are actually watching. It was discussed about the change in terms of dogs on harnesses. This is mostly due to incidents that have been reported online and most of the incidents, overwhelmingly most of them, actually were dogs on harnesses as opposed to short leads. And they did acknowledge that most of these were in the UK. As parkrun is one rule for all, they've said that because it's in the UK, it will also be the rule in Australia. Currently, they mentioned about the junior parkruns. They said that they are currently on hold in Australia at the moment as they need to refine things and determine how they are going to be, I guess, manageable going forward as they want. And again, they're not lowering standards in any state and territory depending on jurisdictional laws there. They will just be looking at making sure that they have sustainable rules for all. For example, the Northern Territory has a $200 fee for working with children, and that's not fair to volunteers to actually do that. So watch this space. They're very keen to expand the junior events. However, they know that they need to just work on a little bit of the legislation themselves. at the moment. For all of the RDs and Event Directors out there, please keep logging incidents. Even if you think that it is quite small, they said they are tracking this quite a lot and this is often how changes are made or if things stay the same. So please watch that. They also did say that they, and I don't know if I mentioned it, but I'm going to do a very quick recap, but they did mention growing Japan as well. So I think, Mr Peel, you need to get your passport ready if you wish to attend some new events. As I said, Australia will still be getting new events, but they're really pushing for those international events in our region. And in terms of new events in Victoria, really pleasing to hear that the government is now starting to back some of the parkruns. So they had a deal, the Victorian government had a deal or a partnership with parkrun to create 20 new events in strategically located communities over two years. So really great to hear that they've now got the funding. It's just establishing the team as previously it was in reverse. That is Sarah over and out. Very quick recap of the insights. I hope that you have learned something from that. Over and out.

00:46:50Melissa Ellis: And thank you, Sarah. We appreciate you being our correspondent with your ear to the ground, picking up all the new information coming out of WA, but relevant to the whole region, Ollie.

00:47:00Oliver Spake: Yeah, very much so. And look, it's particularly exciting for those in our neck of the woods, probably a bit further afield than those in Australia, but it will be great to see more parkruns in more places, especially for us little group of adventurers.

00:47:15Melissa Ellis: especially in Victoria. Good news for us. Woo-hoo.

00:47:18Oliver Spake: Yeah, well, as I've noted in the Consolidated Club report recently, it sounds like you could do with a few more parkruns.

00:47:25Melissa Ellis: Oh, yes. Well, you just, you know, jealousy's a curse. And, you know, what is it? Imitation is the highest form of flattery.

00:47:40Unidentified speaker: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Consolidated Club Report

00:47:42Melissa Ellis: Is that my lead into the Consolidated Club Report, Ollie?

00:47:45Oliver Spake: That would be your lead.

00:47:47Melissa Ellis: Okay, let's change the subject. The Consolidated Club Report for Saturday, the 20th of May, 2023, of a total of 427 members, 335 took part on this date at 172 locations. There were two... 200? No, there were 22 events in the UK, four in the USA, two in South Africa, two in Italy, and Singapore, Austria, Poland, Germany, Finland, Norway, and Japan had one. Locally, we had adventurers at 37 events in the greater state, 32 in New South Wales, 31 in Queensland, nine in South Australia, WA and ACT, and the North Island had seven. There was two in Tassie and one in the Northern Territory. South Island was missing this week, so I'm not quite sure where our daily shop were. Were they both volunteering in Volunteer Week?

00:48:39Oliver Spake: Well, our Volunteer Week, but in honour, perhaps, yeah.

00:48:44Melissa Ellis: But we got a match, Mel. A match.

00:48:46Oliver Spake: We got a match.

00:48:47Melissa Ellis: What are you, please tell me.

00:48:49Oliver Spake: Episode 335, and we had 335 parkruns. I've been waiting for that to happen.

00:48:55Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's fabulous. We did.

00:48:58Oliver Spake: So, yeah, thank you, everyone. You've made my night.

the Frond — Picnic Point Parklands and San Remo parkruns (fronds of six); Philips Park, UK (frond of four)

00:49:04Melissa Ellis: And on the frond front, Ollie, there was even a frond of six at two events, Picnic Point Parklands and San Remo, both in Australia. So Sherry Martin, Ian and Catherine Greenstreet, Barbara Luther, Belinda Taylor and Carmen Roll, all at Picnic Point Parklands, parklands and buzz dayton Susan frederick and dexter roddick Sally Gutierrez Richard all at San Remo being passionistas Now I want to give a special shout out to our UK frond of four at Philips Park with Pippa White, Christine Imbert, Cass Castleton and Karen Hurrell. That was a big frond for the UK, but congratulations to Cass because he completed his 500th run and 250th unique event. So that's a super Norman.

Sign-off

00:49:58Oliver Spake: Super Norman. Done it in style. Congratulations, Cass. Absolutely. Certainly a lot of parkrunning. And I guess with all of that recapping that we've done, it's time to look forward, Mel. We do have another exciting week coming up next week. It is National Reconciliation Week next week. So we'll obviously have to celebrate that. But as for your parkrun plans, do you have parkrun plans? Well,

00:50:22Melissa Ellis: I do. I'm going to be somewhere in South Australia, a yet-to-be-determined location. Okay. But I have a flight, a very early flight on Friday, so I'll have the whole day to explore and figure out what I'm going to do. Okay.

00:50:39Oliver Spake: Very nice.

00:50:40Melissa Ellis: And what about you?

00:50:40Oliver Spake: A few options there for you. As for me, I will be somewhere in New South Wales. I'll be somewhere in Sydney. Kathy and I are heading up to Vivid, which is the annual lights show up in Sydney and walking around looking at the lights the night before. So, yet to work out whether that means I will make it out to a new event, which is a bit of a drive out of the city, or if it's a return to one of the handy inner city events.

00:51:10Melissa Ellis: Well, you know what you do, Ollie, you check all their event numbers, see if you've got any missing Wilsons to fill in.

00:51:16Oliver Spake: Don't think we've got any 11s close to the CBD, but that's all right.

00:51:21Melissa Ellis: Oh. Yeah, well, you know, fill in the high numbers. Yeah, that's right. It'll come to fruition at some point in time.

00:51:27Oliver Spake: The long game.

00:51:28Melissa Ellis: I always remember that time I came up and did the Sydney longest run. You gave me a lift back to the airport. Vivid was on that weekend.

00:51:37Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, that's right. That's right, because we were driving across the bridge. Yep, I do remember that. That was a hilly one, wasn't it?

00:51:46Melissa Ellis: Yeah, do not recommend that.

00:51:49Oliver Spake: And I think last week when we spoke about the longest run on that subject, I was a little uncertain as to the plans for Sydney's own longest run. There's subsequently been confirmed Sunday the 11th of June, which is the long weekend here.

00:52:06Melissa Ellis: Excellent. Falling in line with Melbourne.

00:52:08Oliver Spake: That's right. Yeah, falling in line with Melbourne, offering up the double if there is indeed the, what is it, the Sydney to South Coast option later in the month. But I think, as promised, we'll have to do a recap of those longest runs. What do you think, next week?

00:52:24Melissa Ellis: Oh, sounds good to me.

00:52:26Oliver Spake: All right, let's do it. But, Mel, I think that's it. That's it.

00:52:32Melissa Ellis: All right. Well, as always, everybody, 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.

00:52:43[music]

Interview Dave — Perth parkrunner

00:53:54Unidentified speaker: G'day, I'm here with Dave. Dave, how are you enjoying your WA parkrun? Yeah, it's a very nice course. One of my favourites in Perth for the scenery. It's the second time we've done it. Being Perth locals, we like to adventure around as much as we can with the available parkruns. And yeah, this is definitely one of the best. Absolutely. So, top three parkruns in WA, go. Shelley is my favourite. It is pretty. It's pretty, flat, easy, fast. Bibra Lake is good fun. Oh yeah, great playground. It's a good playground, yeah. The third, it's going to be tough. I would say, I think again for the scenery, Rockingham.

00:54:43Paul Kitching: Oh, Rockingham. Along the ocean.

00:54:44Unidentified speaker: Very nice at Rockingham, isn't it? Yes. I'm spotting a theme. A bit of river. You like the water? Yep, absolutely. It always motivates me. I feel like I'd do better if I see a swan. I haven't seen a swan yet today. How about peacocks? Have you seen the peacocks? Not yet here. No, we have a couple at our home run at Aveley. So that's always nice to look out for them. Lucy, my baby in the pram, has a song to draw the peacocks out.

00:55:12Simon: Oh, really?

00:55:13Unidentified speaker: Yes. I don't know how successful it is, but yeah. I'll definitely see the peacocks before we leave here. Fantastic. Well, thanks for the chat, Dave. And I'll catch you around at Palm. I look forward to it. Thank you.