Episode 342 - 26

Welcome

00:00:23Melissa Ellis: And welcome to episode 342 of the parkrun adventurers podcast. My name is Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country.

00:00:33Oliver Spake: And I am Ollie Spake, and I am joining from Dharawal Country. And we're back. We're back after a bit of a break and after the Festival of Mel. So happy birthday, Mel. How was your birthday?

00:00:45Melissa Ellis: Oh, thank you. I had a lovely birthday. I was very spoilt and had a lot of happy things going on, so no complaints. So thank you, everybody, for allowing me to have a week off and enjoy not be under that extra pressure of getting the podcast out.

00:01:03Oliver Spake: Yeah, look, we do have a supportive community who do reach out and support a number of ways, and I'm glad you're able to enjoy the birthday there, Mel, and I look forward to hearing a bit more about some of your recent adventures because that's what happens when we take a week off, or when we both do. I mean, I had a couple of weeks off recently, and you and Sarah steered the ship remarkably, but... This time we've got a bit of catching up to do. So, yeah, strap in, everyone. We have roving reports to catch up on. We have new roving reports. Our Office Lady is going to bring us the Backyard Ultra world record holder, Phil Gore, who we can't wait to hear from again. And, of course, Club Corner coming up a bit later. But, yeah, I think we just need to get started, Mel. And given it's been your birthday, I think it's time to hear about your parkrun adventures.

00:01:56Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, thank you. I didn't even think to recap the previous week. But it's all about this week. Anyway, Ollie, so I headed to the West Side to join my friends Sarah Jefferson and Matt Stevens for a big adventure. I flew across the country Thursday morning so we could get an early start on our nine-hour road trip up the west coast to Baxter parkrun in Carnarvon on the land of the Yingara people. The attraction in Baxter parkrun, aside from it being, at time of planning, the final event my hosts needed to regain their statesmanship, was that when it launched back in December 2022, it became the most westerly parkrun in Australia and a big attraction for those interested in completing the Aussie version of the Compass Club. Carnarvon is approximately 900 kilometres north of Perth and that meant that our travels took us over and above the 26th parallel, something Sarah and Matt seemed quite excited about but left me slightly puzzled. If, like me, you are new to such concepts, the 26th parallel is a circle of latitude that is 26 degrees south of the Earth's equatorial plane. The parallel divides Australia east to west and also forms the northernmost border of South Australia with the Northern Territory and Queensland. The 26th parallel is between Geraldton and Carnarvon and we stopped to take photos with the brown signs which mark the location. Also of interest is that parkrun policy dictates that all events above the 26th parallel in WA have a start time of 7am and there are now six events that do so, Baxter, Hampton Oval, Bayview Road, Port Hedland, Town Beach and Kununurra. The previous most westerly parkrun, Marina parkrun, is an 8am start as it falls south of the latitude. We arrived in Carnarvon around 4pm on Friday, giving us enough time for a stroll around town, taking in the Fascine boardwalk lined with coconut and cotton palms and numerous local murals before enjoying a fantastic dinner at the Carnarvon Motel's Hot Rock Grill where we were also staying. It was event 30 at Baxter parkrun and we joined a crowd of 29 who gathered as the sun started to rise. Aside from ourselves, most of the participants were tourists coming from as far away as the UK across to East Richmond in New South Wales. I was surprised to recognise a familiar face amongst the volunteers with WA parkrunner Dan Baldwin also in attendance. Dan and Sandy de la Mer are currently the only two WA statesmen having been fortunate to be in the vicinity of Broome when Town Beach launched a few weeks back. Now the course. Starting in Baxter Park, it is a double out and back on cement path following along the Fascine with a short finger on the left towards the tram bridge just before the turnaround point at David Brand Drive. There are toilets available as well as fitness equipment and a playground for the kids. Parking is available although we took a short stroll from our motel and left the car at home. I enjoyed my run immensely with plenty of opportunities to high-five the field as you pass by and one of my quicker times this year. Afterwards, Sarah grabbed a quick interview with local Renee Williamson, which we'll listen to a bit later, and we enjoyed a coffee at the old post office cafe in the main street before wandering the very busy Saturday market. Afterwards, we headed out to discover the Fruit Loop Trail. Carnarvon is known as the food bowl of Western Australia and is abundant with tropical fruits, seafood and fruit and vegetables. Plantations line the banks of the Gascoyne River and the Fruit Loop is a self-drive tour taking you past lush plantations and farm gate shops. There is even a cactus garden to explore. From there, we stopped by the Space and Technology Museum, opened in 2012 by Buzz Aldrin. Here you will find the Sugar Scoop, which is the Casshorn antenna. On the 21st of July 1969, the day of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the Casshorn antenna, which stands beside the OTC dish, relayed Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon from NASA's Honeysuckle Creek tracking station to Perth's TV audience via Moree Earth Station and the first live telecast into Western Australia. Fun fact.

00:06:25Unidentified speaker: Wow.

00:06:26Melissa Ellis: Saturday night we stayed at the Wooramel Station. Now this is 120 kilometres south of Carnarvon on the banks of the Wooramel River. Wooramel Station is a working cattle station that offers camping and tent accommodation, therapeutic artesian bore baths from the Birdrong Aquifer and the Upside Down Cafe. The cafe offers nightly dinner and is a relaxed communal activity with live music while you cook your own food on the barbecue, and there is just so much to like about this experience from the amazing sights of the Milky Way now I haven't seen the Milky Way I don't think since I was a little kid but out there gosh it was really magical to a chance encounter in the artesian bath with a fellow traveller who when we explained we were travelling to do parkrun said she had a friend from Melbourne who is right into parkrun Who, we asked, our eyes widening as we explained the high likelihood that I would know the unnamed friend. Andrew Johnston, she said. And we laughed, as of course, not only do we know Andrew as an adventurer, but I had seen him at Junior's the previous Sunday. Now, I could go on and on, but this is going to be a bumper pod and my recap is already longer than usual. But I do want to say another huge thank you to Sarah and Matt. Despite the fact I didn't get to see Winston on this visit, you gave me precious, happy memories to keep forever. And for that, I am very grateful.

00:07:55Oliver Spake: That sounds like a lovely time. Yeah, very jealous of, well, maybe a bit less than jealous of the road trip, but of the experience overall, Mel. You paint a great word picture there.

00:08:08Melissa Ellis: Oh, I just brushed over everything, Ollie, but I can't say how rich in experience the, I don't know, how long was I even there for? It didn't feel like very long. It was... It was only two nights in the Carnarvon area. I think Sarah wrote down how many kilometres we did in those three days and I've not got it to hand. But anyway, it was a very, very, very long way.

00:08:39Oliver Spake: It looks a very, very, very long way, yeah.

00:08:43Melissa Ellis: 1,860 kilometres return.

00:08:46Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. And listeners... Mel hasn't slept much since she's gotten back, so... Let's all be kind to Mel and appreciate the fact that somehow she's podcasting on fumes.

00:09:01Melissa Ellis: That's right. I got in last night.

00:09:03Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:09:03Melissa Ellis: I got in my house at 1am, not last night, this morning. Yes. And then I was up at half past five to go to work, so... Of course you were. I'm a little bit wired.

00:09:12Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. Well, look, let's keep this thing going before Mel falls asleep on us all. But, look... I can't match that experience. It was a fantastic one. And needless to say, I was local again. I was volunteering at the weekend just gone, Mel. So I'm glad you had a good recap because aside from the fact that I got to take along my barcode scanning buddy, Ava, who now just seems to get a big kick out of coming to parkrun and volunteering, it was stock standard, nice winter's morning.

00:09:47Melissa Ellis: That's it. There's a lot to be said for those.

00:09:49Oliver Spake: That's right. There certainly is. But anyway, I guess also while we've been gone, there has been a bit of news in the, well, not just the parkrun world, but the parkrun tourism world.

00:10:01Melissa Ellis: There has, Ollie. So on the 10th of July, 2023, we'll throw that in there for future context, parkrun Global published an open letter to tourists from Chief Operating Officer Tom Williams regarding number challenges. We shared the accompanying Facebook post on our socials, which did cause some controversy. Whilst many adventurers can understand the request and agree, with a touch of sadness, that sometimes we need to think of the bigger picture and the greater good, We acknowledge that there are also listeners who have become angered with the request and also feel that it is not something that we, as an adventuring podcast, should comment on. Ollie, I am happy to go out on my own here by saying that I feel, despite our position as an unofficial parkrun podcast, that we have a responsibility to bring topics to the listener to make informed decisions. We choose to align ourselves with the parkrun ethos and we choose to bring their messages to the community and whether it be good, bad or otherwise.

00:11:01Oliver Spake: Yeah, no, that is right. And we've made no secret of the fact that we support the silent launches and we did lightheartedly use our fine system to spread that message in what we thought was a non-confrontational way. As we now choose not to comment or read out in the pod readers' comments from launches, we will also now omit those relating to Fibonacci's and Nelson events. But that doesn't mean that you, as a listener, are being told what to do. It simply means we're being cognizant of the message we choose to broadcast. Our friends at With Me Now have covered the topic of the numbers challenges quite well in their last episode. And we invite you all to listen to that for more clarity, if you haven't already, than what we can offer. But... It was news I actually caught on the delay mail. Yeah, needless to say, a bit of surprise correspondence from parkrun for me, but not necessarily a surprise overall.

00:11:58Melissa Ellis: And I think it's worth mentioning, Ollie, that parkrun has come under criticism in the past for not putting it in writing when they have particular views on things. They were criticised for never making it public, their stance on launches.

00:12:15Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:12:15Melissa Ellis: silent launches uh and more recently they have said that they're making more effort with their communications to improve and I think this is an example of that where they have come out they have made a statement and they have appealed to the wider population and they've given their reasons so I think they're to be applauded for that as well yeah but with that said And with our content in mind, why don't we move along?

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:12:45Oliver Spake: Yes, that's right. We do have some roving reports as promised to catch up. And what we're going to hear is picking up from our last podcast, episode 341 from Sarah from the West Side over in Malaysia, and then a swather of roving reports to follow. So let's have a listen.

Roving report Sarah Jefferson — Presint 18 parkrun

Talking to Helen Davis — parkrun tourist; completed the Hoff badge, 12 consecutive countries

00:13:14Sarah Jefferson: I'm here with Helen and Steve Davis. It's nice to see you both again. Congratulations on something quite big, I hear. Which one of you would like to explain what you've been up to?

00:13:28Helen Davis: Well, we've just this morning achieved our Hoff badge, which is 12 consecutive countries. And yeah. Wow. Quite a big achievement.

00:13:42Sarah Jefferson: Congratulations. Yeah, quite an adventure. It's been a massive adventure. I'm assuming lots of planning went into that.

00:13:48Helen Davis: In the original eight parkruns a lot of planning went in and then when we got the call to go to New Zealand we had to try and factor that in on top of our big Europe trip and that was due to visiting family that were over from Johannesburg and we thought if we changed one of our parkruns which was scheduled which was doubling up one in Stockholm Sweden that if we change that and went to Austria that would make it a different country And then we only had to add one other country on top of Australia when we got back. So it did take a little bit of jiggling around, but we got there in the end.

00:14:39Sarah Jefferson: Yep. And got a trip into Malaysia. Got a trip. Yep. Got my Malaysia badge. Yep.

Talking to Steve Davis — parkrun tourist; completed the Hoff badge alongside Helen Davis; films parkrun courses

00:14:44Sarah Jefferson: And Steve, what happened at the start? There was a bit of a mix up of countries or something was there with the, at the start of your trip?

00:14:51Steve Davis: Yes, at the start of the trip we did two in the UK, so that made it not consecutive. But having just done 14 countries, we were able to catch up.

00:15:01Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, yeah. What an achievement. Okay, I'm going to put you on the spot. So if you were to pick one of the 12 countries that would rate your highest, or let's say two if you can't pick one, what would be even, I guess, your favourite parkrun experience or travel story? No, yeah.

00:15:19Steve Davis: the best parkrun experience goes down with no question to Vaxjo in Sweden their national unity day national day that we did was just spectacular they normally have 22 27 parkrunners and they were very embracing of all the parkrun tourists turning up they were well planning ahead for us and we actually I think it was 724 parkrunners in the end but it was the most best organised event I have ever been to even on top of paid runs and things like that but 700 people were were seasoned parkrunners so anybody would jump in and volunteer and everybody pitched in and helped and it was just uh you know such a happy event yeah great and do you go around and um do some recording of of courses I hear I did yes I did a few while we were travelling yeah so I'm getting better at it

00:16:16Sarah Jefferson: So video recording just for the listeners at home. So running with like a selfie stick type thing while you run and is the video on the whole time or stop and start?

00:16:27Steve Davis: No, stop and start and then I assemble it into something that's watchable at the end.

00:16:31Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, great. Very unique. Cool. Well, congratulations to you both. What is it, Hoffman? Hoffbadge. Hoffman. Hoffbadge. Congratulations on that. Thank you.

00:16:45Unidentified speaker: Thank you.

Talking to Harry — Local parkrunner and host at Presint 18 parkrun, Malaysia

00:16:46Sarah Jefferson: So this morning I'm here with Harry. Hi Harry.

00:16:49Harry: Hello everyone.

00:16:51Sarah Jefferson: Thank you for being an amazing chauffeur this morning, coming and picking us up at quarter past six in the morning and taking us to breakfast and coffee. Thank you.

00:17:01Harry: No worries.

00:17:02Sarah Jefferson: Congratulations on your 220th parkrun today.

00:17:07Harry: Arbitrary, arbitrary. I am looking forward to 250. I would have been there if the pandemic never happened, but I think everybody else would be saying for the other milestones that they would have achieved as well. Well, I actually had a very good time hosting all four of you here today. And I hope you had an enjoyable experience at our only parkrun in the country. We did, yes. And indeed, I hope and look forward to seeing you all again. And of course, other tourists who are also listening to this podcast. Yes, come and do it. And truthfully, Sarah only wanted me to be on the podcast because I told her I will only listen to the podcast if I'm on the podcast.

00:17:50Sarah Jefferson: That's right. So Harry's we're going to have one more listener next week because Harry will be listening.

00:17:56Harry: of course of course I also want to shout out to Mel uh Mel had been an excellent host when I was there in july and I haven't spoke to her for a while now and I will be giving her a call soon then so shout out to Mel and shout out to other adventurers as well hopefully I will be with y'all next year or the year after for your for your yearly gathering yeah oh that'll be exciting yeah

Roving report Sarah Jefferson — Ome Kyuryo parkrun

Talking to Tony Jennings — parkrun tourist; the man the Jennings challenge is named after (seven parkruns in a row…

00:18:23Sarah Jefferson: perfect well thanks for having us and showing us around Harry it's been awesome no problem take care everyone we're here in Japan at Ome Kyuryo parkrun for event 51 and I've noticed the Australian accent um why are you in Japan

00:18:46Tony Jennings: Two reasons. One is to study Japanese for three months at our local language school. And the other reason is to do 13 different parkruns while I'm here.

00:18:55Sarah Jefferson: How amazing. What a cool experience.

00:18:58Tony Jennings: It certainly is. This is my second one. And what an enchanting, beautiful run it is.

00:19:03Sarah Jefferson: Yeah. So would you like to describe the course to the listeners?

00:19:06Tony Jennings: Yeah, we're up in the mountains just on the edge of Tokyo and it's a two lap out and back course which starts with a steep, steep, steep, long, long climb in a beautiful enchanting forest, then sort of winds back down a bit to a turnaround, and then another climb back up, and then back down to the start to turn around again. It's certainly challenging, and I would say it's one of the most beautiful parkruns I've ever done anywhere. And this is, I think, my 193rd different parkrun around the world.

00:19:41Unidentified speaker: Wow.

00:19:41Tony Jennings: So, yeah, it's very good. And for those Nambour parkrunners, my home run, you would love this.

00:19:48Sarah Jefferson: Yes, I haven't done Nambour, but it's not flat either, right?

00:19:52Tony Jennings: Or through the trail? Nambour is the hilliest, steepest bugger of a run you'll find anywhere. It's a killer. My local run is Victory Heights in Gympie, and that's also a lovely trail run. So if you like those sorts of runs, Ome Kyuryo here is right up your alley.

00:20:13Sarah Jefferson: Well, I know that there's a resident emu at Nambour parkrun, but I was pleased to see that the warning sign for bears, I guess the mascot or the animal there didn't come true this morning. We didn't see a bear on course. So that was good. I was a bit worried arriving and seeing a warning for bears sign.

00:20:33Tony Jennings: Yeah, evidently there are bears in these forests, but they don't tend to bother you. But who knows, it would be nice to see one.

00:20:39Sarah Jefferson: Yes, and then run really fast away.

00:20:41Tony Jennings: Yeah, that would be good.

00:20:43Sarah Jefferson: When we arrived this morning, Tony, I did notice your shirt. It was the World Tourist shirt and then it had your name on it. So Tony Jennings, so could you tell us a little bit about a challenge that is named after you?

00:20:57Tony Jennings: Yeah, a few years ago, I went off to Europe, mainly Scandinavia, and I did seven parkruns in a row. And at that time, I didn't know, but I was the first person in the world to have done that. And then a couple of years later, people were talking to me, asking me if I'd done a Jennings. And I was a bit confused because I didn't know what they were talking about. And lo and behold, there was a challenge named after me called the Jennings. So, yes, I'm he.

00:21:29Sarah Jefferson: There you go. Well, it's nice to meet you. Cheers.

00:21:31Tony Jennings: Nice to meet you too.

00:21:32Sarah Jefferson: And aside from that, I hear there's some other crazy things you've done to get to a parkrun. Could you please share a few of those?

00:21:38Tony Jennings: I've cycled from Brisbane to Sydney to do Mosman parkrun. I've cycled from the Sunshine Coast to Bundaberg to do their run. I've kayaked from Mooloolaba down to Brisbane to do parkruns. Travelled on buses overnight in Europe. to catch a parkrun when the local one's been cancelled and been to two of the world's most northern parkruns purely just to run in the coldest snowiest conditions possible and absolutely loved those. They were in Finland and Norway.

00:22:14Sarah Jefferson: Wow, and what a risk that they weren't cancelled. I bet you were watching that.

00:22:17Tony Jennings: Yeah, well, one time in Norway I was going to do a parkrun and at 7 o'clock Friday evening I got a message saying the parkrun had been cancelled. I contacted the Event Director and said, surely not. He said, no, the trail's too slippery. And I said, well, why don't you wear some bruda, which are the grippy... spikes you can put on your running shoes. I said, that's what the locals do and I've been practising in them and he said, no, sorry, it's too risky. So I thought, hmm, Vikings, they're not that tough. But anyway, so that evening I looked around and found out that all the parkruns in Sweden had been cancelled and the closest parkrun was about 900 kilometres away in Denmark, in Copenhagen. So at 10 o'clock that night I jumped on a bus went overnight and ended up half past eight in the morning in Copenhagen for a nine o'clock start.

00:23:13Sarah Jefferson: Just in time.

00:23:13Tony Jennings: So I got there just in time and made some very, very lovely friends there in Denmark. Gert and Ricky Nissen, who I caught up with the next time I went back there and they took me over to Sweden for a run when we did a double. And I met some lovely people in Finland and in Norway. So yeah, parkrun gets you around and you get to meet a lot of nice people.

00:23:35Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, what an adventure.

00:23:36Tony Jennings: Yeah, yeah, for sure.

00:23:37Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, fantastic. Well, we're very lucky to have picked this parkrun that you were at today and to have met you and heard a little bit about your life. So thanks for sharing that with us and enjoy the rest of your three months here in Japan.

00:23:53Tony Jennings: Very jealous. Absolutely. And it was love to meet the pair of you coming from Perth and actually living close to where I used to live. Your home run being Cottesloe and I used to be a member of the Northcott Surf Club and I've done your parkrun. And yeah, I grew up in Perth. Nice to reminisce. Nice to reminisce, yeah. Yeah. It brings back memories.

00:24:13Sarah Jefferson: Yeah.

00:24:13Tony Jennings: For sure.

00:24:14Sarah Jefferson: Well, good luck studying Japanese and ganbatte kudasai. [Japanese: "please do your best / good luck (with your studies)"]

00:24:18Tony Jennings: Ganbatte kudasai. [Japanese: "please do your best / good luck — Tony Jennings echoing Sarah's sign-off back to her"]

Roving report Alison Fraser (King) — Lake2Lake Trail parkrun

00:24:20Alison Fraser (King): Kia ora koutou, it's Alison King here reporting for the parkrun adventurers Across the Ditch and today I'm at Lake to Lake Trail parkrun in Te Anau with a very special guest. [Te Reo Māori: "Hello / greetings to you all"]

Talking to Tom Williams — Chief Operating Officer, parkrun Global

00:24:30Alison Fraser (King): So welcome to the show and to New Zealand, Tom Williams.

00:24:34Tom Williams: Thank you Alison, it's wonderful to be here.

00:24:37Alison Fraser (King): What's brought you to New Zealand Tom?

00:24:39Tom Williams: Oh well I've not been here before at all in fact or with parkrun and so I'd planned to come over a while ago then Covid struck and things kind of stopped and got pushed back and all that kind of stuff so I knew before I knew that my first trip down under after Covid would definitely include New Zealand so and I know the team had been to Rene Rene G and the team had been to the North Island in the north of the South Island and So I gladly came around the south of the South Island.

00:25:08Alison Fraser (King): You've done a bit of a whistle stop tour, haven't you? Yes. Talk us through where you've been so far. Can you remember?

00:25:12Tom Williams: I can remember just about. So I landed in Queenstown on Thursday morning fairly early and then drove across to Dunedin, went around the Dunedin course, um with Tanya and the team there which was which was incredible and we had a kind of a social Q&A in the cafe all afternoon and then I drove to Balclutha that night to stay with um Rod and Louise and their family and we went out and walked the dog in the morning and walked a bit of the Balclutha parkrun course and then we had a parkrun breakfast um and then where did I drive to from Balclutha I drove to Gore I think to Hamilton park parkrun And met Bridget and the team there, I think it was. Had a walk around their amazing course. It's just amazing course after amazing course, isn't it, around here. And then from Balclutha, we drove to Invercargill. And I met with you and Liz. And we had a big parkrun session in the Seriously Good Chocolate Company. I had to wear a silly hat and make chocolate. And we had a wander around the Invercargill parkrun course, or a little bit of it, and then last night we drove here to Te Anau and just did lake to lake trail parkrun in Te Anau um and it was wonderful yeah what did you think of the course just I was saying to dwight and and saga the the two kind of co-EDs like back in the day you know a long time ago when I was kind of a sort of ambassador style role versus a volunteer and a staff member at parkrun back in the UK. I spend my life, as lots of ambassadors do now, going and meeting people at prospective courses. And you'd always be nervous about, you're meeting these people and they're really excited and you're worried that, oh no, is the course going to be okay? And how do you break it to them if it's not really okay? And how do you work, you know, usually you could kind of find a good course out of most venues, but you'd always be nervous and when you arrived at Oak course and saw it was like perfect you'd be the most wonderful feeling and if I'd been an ambassador helping here it would have just been exactly that you turn up and there's shelter and the car park's right there and there's toilets right there and there's a beautiful scenery with a lake and a lovely out and back gravel course that you probably never have to cancel for ice or anything because it's just a perfect surface underfoot and just wonderful and it was just you know they're you know I do genuinely genuinely genuinely believe that you know all parkrun courses are equal and people get a bit carried away with our course is the most beautiful and all that stuff which always annoys me but of course you know some venues are just made for it where you think great we don't have to worry about how do you get from the car park to the to the start or where are the toilets or what it might be and this is just when you've got mountain and lake views and at the far end there's the takahe bird but you were going too fast to notice yeah the takahe bird the ag as I found we found out the agro takahe bird the tiny little thing with a territory of like a square kilometre or something apparently ridiculous that was pretty awesome though it's like it's a unique feature yes and as we find you know all parkruns are unique yes they certainly are

00:28:12Alison Fraser (King): And from Te Anau today, you're going to do another bit of a drive.

00:28:16Tom Williams: Yeah. Driving over, is it the crown range to, um, Wanaka, which I'm really excited to go and see because, you know, cause of my long time ago now, I guess my triathlon background, um, I think it was challenge Wanaka, wasn't it? It was the, was the big race that I, I mean, I never got to do obviously, but I've always heard lots of great things about Wanaka. So I'm looking forward to going there, meeting the team there. Um, hopefully I'll get to, to run the course and run alongside the lake and then overnight in Wanaka and then uh Queenstown tomorrow see the Queenstown that's Sunday see the Queenstown uh parkrun community hopefully get a look around that course and then fly back to Australia Sunday night back to the UK on uh Monday it's a very big trip yeah it's a big trip yeah it's the longest I've been away from Helen and the kids Helen and I have been together 20 years this year. It's the longest I've been away from her. And Rosie's 12 this year and it's the longest I've been away from the kids. So I do really miss them. I'd like to bring them, but they argue so much. One day. The trauma of travelling all the way here with them.

00:29:17Alison Fraser (King): I know we have talked about, you know, coming back for a family holiday and seeing more.

00:29:21Tom Williams: If I could teleport them here, that'd be great. Or if somebody could bring them here for me, me and Helen could kind of relaxingly travel here without the children and just meet the children here. That'd be great.

00:29:31Alison Fraser (King): I don't know just one final thing you've been part of the parkrun vision is to increase the number of parkruns we have in this country to 100 so you're excited to see that growth here for us?

00:29:43Tom Williams: Yeah really really excited I think New Zealand's in an interesting place really in terms of parkrun development in that it's you know outside of the big four of Australia, South Africa, UK and Ireland you know it's probably next maybe maybe New Zealand and Poland I don't know quite similar in that way but they're they're sort of quite well developed but there's a lot more potential to grow um a lot more potential here than in some of the other those other countries but also because it's quite well developed we can also start thinking about um about kind of increasing this diversity and working around inclusion and so on so we've had conversations while I've been here over the last few days about things like prescribing parkrun you know we have parkrun practices in the UK and and you know medical professionals being prescribed part run we were just talking then about part runs in prisons not we've got no plans at all to bring part run to prisons in New Zealand but you know it's interesting to start having those conversations um and so yeah we it's really really exciting and I think as a global charity we're now in a better position to support the growth of international countries so we're we're in a healthier state financially than we've ever been before so we can We can invest. I think speaking for the Asia-Pacific team, we're now able to waive all the startup fees for New Zealand events and cover the cost of defibrillators, which aren't that cheap, which means if somebody comes to us in New Zealand now and says, I'd like to start a part run, all they need really is permission to use a suitable course, permission to use that course and enough volunteers, and we can support all the rest of it at no cost at all, we're very much looking forward to that growth yeah it'll be great yeah I look forward to coming back with the family once they start behaving um and yeah maybe run maybe taking part in the new zealand's 100th parkrun location that'd be cool wouldn't it it would yeah now on the podcast they do like to ask your top three parkruns including your home park yeah I can't look I can't do that I think um what could I say what are my top three things in parkrun well I tell you what we've always said parkrun's a race not a run I finished first today for the third time so in my entire parkrun life so I finished first um Bolton parkrun inaugural and then Roosevelt Island in the US and here today so they're my first my favourite three parkruns of all time are those those three Bolton parkrun Roosevelt Island parkrun and uh Lake to Lake Trail parkrun

Roving report Sarah Jefferson — Baxter parkrun

Talking to Renee Williamson — Run Director / super volunteer, Baxter parkrun, Carnarvon WA

00:31:57Sarah Jefferson: rebrand park race yeah park race yeah it's coming your way cool thank you so much Tom and let's go and get some coffee definitely thank you very much allison good morning parkrun adventurers it's Sarah here back on the West Side travelling up to carnarvon to Baxter parkrun this morning and this morning I'm here with Renee hi hi Renee welcome to the podcast so renee's one of the rds super volunteers here at Baxter parkrun can you describe the course for the listeners please

00:32:25Renee Williamson: Being a Carnarvon local, it's just normal for us, but it is a really specky part of the state. We're on the Carnarvon Fascine, which is a footpath along a seawall on the river mouth of the Gascoyne River. yeah beautiful scenery this morning we've had you know watching birds dive under the water fish splashing around and a nice beautiful breeze and it's a bit chilly to start off with this morning but it's it was only like 12 degrees or something but um double digits it's good yeah so we do two laps of the course and yeah it's watching the sun come up fish splash in the water it's yeah But it's just normal for us, but no, it is quite specky.

00:33:04Sarah Jefferson: It's a beautiful course, and sunrise was ten past seven and we started at seven, so that was quite nice to watch the sun come up as well. If someone is travelling to Carnarvon, what are some sights, I guess, that they should be, or must-dos, things that they should tick off coming to Carnarvon?

00:33:19Renee Williamson: So Carnarvon, we're sort of in between two World Heritage sites in the state. We've got the Shark Bay World Heritage Area to the south. We've got the Ningaloo to the north. And Carnarvon is like the perfect little hub to sort of base yourself in and to travel out to those spots. To the east, we've got the Kennedy Ranges and further out Mount Augustus. In Carnarvon, we've got the Space and Technology Museum up on the hill. As you see the OTC dish as you come into town, we've got the one mile jetty precinct out there it's full of so much history and interesting stuff and definitely the um the fruit loop or the plantations and stuff along the river you can buy fresh produce from stalls and from little shops that are set up and this time of year from sort of March to October we've got the markets so the hardest part for me of parkrun this morning was the to keep running and walking when I could smell the markets cooking up a storm.

00:34:12Sarah Jefferson: Definitely wanted to turn off and get a feed, but finished strong. Well, on my list today is the Cactus Garden out near the Fruit Loop. South River Road, yep. Yeah, pretty excited to see that. And obviously Baxter Park is the Western Compass Point in Australia, which is pretty exciting. to tick that off once again for me. But lots of people I assume have been visiting to get that compass point.

00:34:35Renee Williamson: Is that correct? Yeah, that's right. So we started in December of 2022 and the first couple of weeks were just sort of locals. And after that, we've pretty much had visitors here every single week since then. People who've had their statesmanship, but then once Baxter parkrun started up, they've had to add this one as a notch in their belt. But lots of visitors coming here. We're told today that there's people here who've been international. They've been to eight different countries during parkrun. And, yeah, ticking Carnarvon off the list, so... Yeah. I haven't actually done any other parkruns, but this is my favourite and definitely recommend.

00:35:11Sarah Jefferson: Definitely, and I'd agree with that. To get up here to tick off your Western Compass Point and to explore the huge area that is up here and the World Heritage Area. Thanks, Renee, for talking to us today. No worries. Thanks for coming to Carnarvon.

00:35:32Melissa Ellis: And what a great lot of roving reports featuring Sarah, Sarah, Sarah and Alison. Of course, we heard from Helen and Stephen Davis. Stephen, our 3D printer extraordinaire. And, Harry, I hope you're listening. I hope you're doing well, and happy birthday for the other day.

00:35:51Oliver Spake: Of course, of course.

00:35:53Melissa Ellis: And we also had Tony Jennings there and the coup, Ollie.

00:35:57Oliver Spake: Well, yes, Tom Williams, very topical, but with a bit of a different take on his top three. Do we accept it? Fastest. Was it first finisher? Yeah, first finisher top three. Yeah. That's how you weasel out of a question.

00:36:14Melissa Ellis: It made it easy for him to choose three, I think.

00:36:17Oliver Spake: That's right, yeah. No, I think perfectly reasonable.

00:36:20Melissa Ellis: But, yeah, Tom, it's not a race.

00:36:23Oliver Spake: But also nice to hear from Renee and Sarah Harper-Baxter.

Emails

00:36:28Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, we've got mail.

00:36:30Oliver Spake: You've got mail.

00:36:32Melissa Ellis: And first up, we've got an email. We received this a couple of weeks ago and it's been languishing at the bottom of our in-tray and has made its way to the top. So it's Johan who said an index or a club. Howdy, Team parkrun adventurers. Following up on my email of last week, I did do some further thinking. As you may recall, I use references to both index and club as I really wasn't sure which would be best. But taking into account the majority of clubs chase a specific number of runs, events, things, etc., I'm pretty sure that this is not where I was going. Every number should count and have value. And it is also not about reaching a specific count first for naming rights or ever. I may have been a bit reluctant to call it an index because most of the parkrun indexes are sometimes very complicated, giving the impression that an index should always be multidimensional. But some basic research indicated that an index is, in simple terms, just a number showing change in level of something. So I'm happy with calling the number of different volunteering locations the Adventeering Index, AV Index, because it shows the progression from volunteering at zero events and over time will show the change from that somewhat undesirable state to where parkrun adventurers are able to spread their love for volunteering as they adventure all over the world. How long that takes and if that index count eventually is 1, 5, 10, 33, 55, 74 or 100 plus is up to each and every one in their own good time and ability. Hope that makes sense. Have an awesome week, Johan. Nice. So a bit more clarity there, Ollie.

00:38:16Oliver Spake: Yes, I like the Adventeering Index. I like its fluidity, Mel. But naturally, I'm very early in my progression through that index, but there are some wonderful adventuring volunteers out there that I'm sure could recount some great experiences.

00:38:34Melissa Ellis: I was just going to say, I think you were away when we discussed that, weren't we?

00:38:37Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:38:38Oliver Spake: But I do recall it, yes. Okay. But, Mel, we've got some more mail. We've got quite some more mail. But another thing we have been inviting feedback about in our recent episodes is what is our intro, our summary, our mission? And we've had some great feedback, but we've also heard from Heather Hunter with another good suggestion, Mel. Who said, hi? Hi. Mel, Ollie, and the esteemed Office Lady. I went to the Facebook page to double-check the email address to send a first draft suggestion for an intro and noticed the page description, screenshot attached. Podcast about life, if your life is all about parkrun. We love a parkrun adventure. Is that new? If not, it seems a perfect intro to the pod, far better than my overly wordy attempt. I'll include it for your amusement anyway. And there's a laughy, smiley face emoji there. And said attempt is, welcome to the parkrun adventurers, where we discuss everything parkrun related, but mainly parkrun tourism or adventuring, as we like to call it. While not an official parkrun podcast, we hope to enhance your parkrun experience by sharing your stories and helping you connect with other parkrun adventurers through this pod and our social channels. I'm not always a responsive listener, but I thoroughly enjoy every episode. It's usually an hour a week when I'm guaranteed to smile from start to finish. Thank you for all your time, effort and fuel budget. Heather Hunter, a 760611.

00:40:16Melissa Ellis: How funny. It's been there staring us in the face, Ollie, all along.

00:40:21Oliver Spake: Well, it's good to explore these things and then have such realisations.

00:40:29Melissa Ellis: Thank you, Heather, and thank you for writing in. But we also heard from Bec Bailey, Ollie, and this came to us via Messenger, and it answers my question a couple of weeks ago, again, when you weren't here, where Sarah and I rather ashamedly didn't know the name of the place Bec was overlooking in her photo. And it reads, hey, team, great pod once again. Just thought I'd help answer some of those questions you had regarding my last message. I did the classic four-day Inca Trail hike, which has views of Inca ruins all along the trail and finishing with the iconic Machu Picchu, the one that was in the picture. Machu Picchu is a 15th century Inca citadel located in the Sacred Valley of southern Peru and is 80 kilometres northwest of Cusco City. It is often referred to as the lost city of the Incas and sits 2,430 metres above sea level. It is one of the seven wonders of the world and the second one I have visited. And in brackets, the Coliseum in 2015 being the other one. For reference, Mount Kosciuszko is the highest point in Australia at 2,228 metres and... Aoraki. Thank you. Mount Cook in New Zealand is... 3,724 metres. The highest point along the Inca Trail is a section known as Dead Woman's Pass at 4,215 metres above sea level. Since listening, I have zoomied on top of Rainbow Mountain, 5,036 metres above sea level and stood on top of... I can't say that. A mountain in Bolivia.

00:42:18Oliver Spake: Chacatea? Chacatea? Something like that.

00:42:22Melissa Ellis: Thank you.

00:42:22Oliver Spake: 5,400 metres. Bec, you can correct us later. Sorry, I'm interrupting.

00:42:28Melissa Ellis: Yes, Sarah, I am looking at one day going to base camp in the next few years, and we'll have to see if any of this high altitude helps with the Schlaba Hills on my return in August. I haven't been running over here, but a week after my return in Australia will actually be my first city to surf. Thanks for the pod. Love listening on my travels. Bec reporting from Uyuni Salt Flats in Bolivia.

00:42:50Oliver Spake: Well, thank you, Bec. And, Mel, I have just realised that my pronunciation of Aoraki comes from reading the signs in New Zealand, so I've got no idea as to whether that's correct or not.

00:43:02Melissa Ellis: That's your made-up-in-your-head pronunciation. That's right. That's what you were telling me.

00:43:06Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. But, yeah, look, having seen a lot of Bec's photos and experiences over in South America, I must admit, and having not been on social media a lot lately, I think one of my reasons for wanting to avoid those pictures is I'm insanely jealous. As a Tintin fan growing up, the lost city of the Incas, was something I always wanted to go and visit and just looks amazing.

00:43:34Melissa Ellis: It absolutely does. And thanks for clearing up some of those questions for us, Bec.

00:43:39Oliver Spake: That's right. But Mel, let's keep going. We also heard from Jason Andrews who said, Hey, Mel, Ollie and the Office Lady, just a quick note regarding the podcast intro chat. I just want to throw a suggestion into the melting pot. There have been a few excellent readouts of what parkrun adventurers or adventuring means to the listeners. But being a podcast, I feel you need something punchy. So on to my suggestion. the podcast about parkrun and the places it can take you. Now I've sent that, I can stop thinking about it and head off to Dixon Field to increase my Wilson Index to 10. Hope you enjoy the week away from the pod, but very much looking forward to the next instalment. Cheers, Jason.

00:44:22Melissa Ellis: That's another good option. I like that, the places it can take you. Punchy's good.

00:44:28Oliver Spake: Yeah, punchy.

00:44:29Melissa Ellis: Yeah, we're looking for punchy.

00:44:31Oliver Spake: Well, it gives me less chance to fall over myself, so that helps.

00:44:36Melissa Ellis: And lastly on the emails, Ollie, we have a last-minute edition from Pippa White. And the title of this one says, I am squared from four to 13. Now, it will become apparent what she means. Hi, Mel, Ollie, Sam, and the team. I have finally made it from four four-letter parkruns all the way to 13, 13-letter parkruns. I have 11 14-letter parkruns so far. Thank you for the challenge. Love, P. So that's amazing that she's got that far.

00:45:11Oliver Spake: What a collection, Pippa.

00:45:12Melissa Ellis: I have to admit, Ollie, I have been tracking this one too. I've got a spreadsheet. Well, you know, don't we all? But I've got a sheet for this particular challenge. And every week I diligently open it up and add the parkrun of the relevant week and its letters in its name. But I haven't got very far because I haven't got four four-letter parkruns.

00:45:37Oliver Spake: Of course, yes.

00:45:39Melissa Ellis: And if it's an index, you know, it sort of helps if you have the first one.

00:45:45Oliver Spake: Given the progression, yes, yeah.

00:45:48Melissa Ellis: But I'm working on that and I should add my third four-letter parkruns very soon.

00:45:53Oliver Spake: Oh, it's a bit of mystery there, Mel. I'm intrigued.

00:45:57Melissa Ellis: Intentional.

00:45:59Oliver Spake: Okay. Well, look, thank you, Pippa, and thank you everyone who wrote in from the suggestions to the experiences and just the impressive feats. It has been nice to catch up and hear from you all.

Level 2 with a View

00:46:14Oliver Spake: But speaking of catching up, as promised, our Office Lady did a bit of catching up with our shipwreck parkrun co-ED Phil Gore, who just happened to run 102-odd laps in the Dead Cow Gully Backyard Masters Ultra there. So I think it's probably time to hand straight over, after which we're going to hear from Rachel with Club Corner.

Interview Phil Gore — Backyard Ultra world record holder (102 loops); Co-Event Director, Shipwreck parkrun

00:46:46Sam Schroder: Hello listeners, it's the Office Lady here in the comfy chair on level two with a view and today I'm chatting with Phil Gore, the brand new world record holder for the Backyard Ultra format. You might recall I interviewed Phil back in episode 279, a couple of weeks after he'd won Herdy's Front Yard Ultra with a run of 50 loops. Things have got a bit more serious since then, but let me start by saying hello Phil and welcome back to the parkrun adventurers podcast.

00:47:15Phil Gore: Hello, Sam. Thanks for having me.

00:47:17Sam Schroder: Our pleasure. Congratulations on your amazing win at the Masters. For those listening who are not familiar with the model, with the Backyard Ultra format, can you briefly tell us a bit about it?

00:47:30Phil Gore: Yeah, so basically it's a 6.7k loop and you do one loop on the hour every hour. If you fail to finish it in time or you choose not to start the next one, then you're out. And the race just keeps going and going until there's only one person left.

00:47:46Sam Schroder: And in your case, your world record took you four and a quarter days to run 102 loops or yards, depending on which country you're running in, I think, which is kind of mind boggling. One of the things that a lot of people are curious about is when you're running for that long every hour on the hour, how do you manage really basic things like eating, sleeping and showering? Could you explain a bit to us about how the routine works?

00:48:14Phil Gore: Yeah, so a crew is really important. So they kind of look after everything else and I just need to focus on running. I'm also very methodical with my planning. So I have every hour mapped out. It's got what I'm going to eat that hour, you know, I've put in when I'm going to have a shower, when I'm going to have a sleep, all of that's all planned out. And I only really need to think kind of those two or three laps ahead and just look at what's on the plan. My crew knows what's on the plan so they know what sort of food they need to prepare for me. So, yeah, I just go out and I do my run. And while I'm out there running, my crew is either there prepping my food or prepping the things I need for my shower or prepping the things I need for my sleep. And so when I come back in, it's just, you know, we're just ready to go, do what we need to do in that 20, 15-minute period and get back out there again.

00:49:03Sam Schroder: So I can understand the idea of a 20-minute period of time to get a shower in, but how do you get a sleep in in 15 or 20 minutes?

00:49:12Phil Gore: Yeah, I think there's a bit of a knack to it. Like I've been doing these events sort of three years now. This was my ninth one. And each event I do, it just seems to get that little bit easier. Yeah. Uh, so meditation helps and noise cancelling earphones help. And it's just, it's just about, I kind of don't put that pressure on myself to have to sleep. It's just about lying down, closing my eyes and meditating. And then if I sleep, then that's the bonus. And yeah, as I said, the more that I've done these events, the more often I'm actually getting into that sleep stage. So it's not a lot of sleep, but it's any little bit that you can get help.

00:49:50Sam Schroder: That's very impressive. So as I said, the world record is an astonishing 102 loops and you achieved it at the Masters with an assist from Sam Harvey, who's from New Zealand. And his previous PB was 46 loops. So he clearly went a long way over... what he'd done before. Can you tell us a bit about the experience of that pointy end of the event where Sam was way out of his comfort zone? And I would say you were well and truly honed in on chasing that world record.

00:50:21Phil Gore: Yeah. So Sam's PB, it was in the 40s or 46, whatever it was, just because he was kind of in a similar situation to me in Australia. He just hadn't had that assist to push him further. So When he came into the event, I certainly didn't underestimate him. I knew that he had the potential to go a lot bigger. But, yeah, as it kind of got to those sort of in the 90s when it was just down to the two of us, there were a few laps where his crew had talked to my crew and had asked me to run with him just to get him through to sunrise. So, yeah, I dropped my pace back and ran with him for a little bit. Helped get him through. Sunrise came up. He seemed to improve a little bit. But then a few laps later, he was kind of struggling again. So, again, I dropped my pace back with him. We were kind of nearing on that world record. So, yeah, I thought I'd drop back with him just to make sure he was kind of safe to continue through each lap. I didn't want him sort of collapsing while I was well off ahead. So, yeah, we worked through the laps together. We got to equal the world record. And... Yeah, I think as much as his mind wanted to keep going, his body was done and so he tapped out at 101 and I went on to get that one more lap needed to break the world record.

00:51:40Sam Schroder: Yeah, just amazing. And was that kind of an agreement? Like were you getting him to the 101? Like was that a sort of pre-decision that you both made?

00:51:52Phil Gore: We kind of just take it lap by lap. Yeah. I knew that he wanted to get to the world record. For me, you know, I thought it would be pretty cool to get to the world record as well. And, yeah, when he came in having breathing difficulties at lap 98 and then I was actually quite surprised that he lined up to run lap 99 and I just thought, you know, we'll just take this one lap at a time. You know, if you're prepared to keep going, I'll stay with you and see if we can get you through this lap. And then if we can get through that lap, then we'll look at the next lap and we'll just sort of see how long you can hang on.

00:52:26Sam Schroder: Yeah, and that's kind of the whole point of the format really, isn't it? Just line up for each lap and see what happens.

00:52:32Phil Gore: Yeah, I think you really need to break it down into those just one lap at a time, especially when you get to the pointy end. You don't want to overwhelm yourself thinking too far ahead. Like for me, it's like I had the world record as like a point on my plan, but it was never like I have to get there. Like it wasn't like an end goal. It was just like I'll just keep taking it lap by lap and eventually if I keep following the process, you know, we'll get to the world record when we get there. But you can't sort of rush these things.

00:53:00Sam Schroder: No, that makes sense. Now, I know that a lot of our listeners were pretty much glued to their phones or computers over the four and a quarter days, me included, that you ran around in circles. I saw you say at the presentation that, not meaning to brag, but you could have gone out and run another loop. You were acknowledging the point that it is the assist that leaves absolutely everything out there. So I'm curious, Phil, how far did your plan actually go?

00:53:25Phil Gore: So, yeah, my plan went up to 143 hours. And the reason I have it go so far is because I want to have it at a point where I don't think the event's going to go to. Because if I had my plan, for example, to the world record, then once we're past that world record territory, you know, I haven't got a plan of what I'm going to do then. I don't have the food I need for those laps. So my attitude's always been, you know, Just plan well beyond where you think you're going to go because with this event, you just don't know how far it's going to go. So you don't want to get to a point where you thought was, you know, an adequate point to plan to and then, you know, be in new territory and not have a plan for it.

00:54:08Sam Schroder: Now, in an interview on New Zealand television, Sam said he's going to Biggs, which I might ask you to explain to us in a moment. But he said, and I quote, I know I'm going to win it. Personally, I found that a bit hard to listen to, Phil, because I feel pretty confident that you're going to win it. But Sam's just gone on and won Crazies Backyard Ultra a few days ago with 43 yards. What impact does Sam's confidence have on your own training and preparation for Biggs Is he your biggest threat? Or do you think there's still a whole lot of potential for even bigger numbers to be achieved by that worldwide backyard community?

00:54:46Phil Gore: Yeah, he's certainly confident. But yeah, it doesn't change how I approach my training or my strategy. I've always been about just worrying about my own plan, worrying about myself and not getting caught up in what other people are doing, how well they're looking or even how they might look like they're suffering because you just never know. They could be in that point where they're really, really suffering, but they've still got another 10 or 20 laps in them. So it's always just focus on my own thing. My crew just focus on what I'm doing. Don't get caught up in everything else. And as long as I keep doing that, as long as I keep following my process, then I can only ever do the best that I can do. And that's not going to be affected by anyone else's performance.

00:55:37Sam Schroder: Yeah, that makes sense.

00:55:38Phil Gore: Yeah. As far as going into bigs, there's certainly going to be a lot of competition there. So I think the Belgians who had the world record before I broke it, so Ivo and Merijn. When they got to 101 and they both chose to tap out together, they certainly had a lot more left in the tank. So I think they're probably going to be the biggest competition. But there's going to be people in other countries who – They might have only done 40, 50, 60 laps, but they've got their national record. So they just haven't had that assist to go further than that. So as we saw with Sam, the most that he could have done in New Zealand was 46 laps. just because he didn't have that assist there. There's going to be plenty of other people in the same boat in other countries who, you know, their PB is their national record and coming to the world stage and to be able to run with people like myself and Sam and the Belgians that they're going to have that opportunity to run that far again. And just having that big number of athletes who have, you know, done over that 70, 80 and even 90 and 100 mark, there's definitely the potential for it to go really big.

00:56:53Sam Schroder: Yeah. And it's called Biggs. Can you tell us what is Biggs?

00:56:58Phil Gore: So Biggs is the original backyard where the guy Lazarus Lake came up with the concept. So it's actually in this guy's backyard. And so it kind of just started out as a sole event. And then as the format's kind of grown and been replicated all over the world, so it's in about 50 different countries now, that Biggs backyard kind of became the home of of the World Championships. So every second year, your top runners from all around the world head over to Tennessee to Biggs Backyard to meet up and fight it out to see who can be the last one standing. And when is that? That's in October.

00:57:35Sam Schroder: And how excited are you exactly?

00:57:37Phil Gore: Yeah, so this has been a run that's been on my radar for a while now. So I actually try to get there um about two years ago and just with the the whole COVID climate and stuff at the time it just proved impossible to to get there and get back so I had to um even though I had at the invite I had to turn it down but yeah that this whole like sort of two-year period since then it's just been that's been the focus to to get over there and get to compete at big so

00:58:07Sam Schroder: Very exciting. Phil, I know I speak for all of our listeners and I reckon I speak for the whole of Australia when I say the very best of luck for you at Biggs in Tennessee. We'll all be cheering you on and I look forward to chatting with you again after the event to hear how it all went. Thank you so much for joining me today.

00:58:25Phil Gore: Awesome. Thanks for having me.

00:58:26[14 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

Club Corner

00:58:40Rachel: 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. Today isn't really about a club, but rather more about what we do at parkrun. Today I'm going to talk about 22 and what it might mean to you. Each parkrun country is a little idiosyncratic, and within countries we have traditions and activities that are special, and specific, to each event. Whether it's Zooper Doopers in summer, or onesies in winter, some have a PB bell and others wear capes, each event can do different things. One parkrun activity though that is growing in its commonality within Oz, is wearing a tutu on any Saturday that is a 22. And in a stunning piece of scheduling, July 2023 sees us hosting another parkrun day on a Saturday that is a 22. Why does some wear a tutu? Because it sounds funny, and we love Richie Benaud. We don't know of any courses that have pushed for 22 laps, but surely we can all get behind a tutu on 22. Maybe Mel and Ollie will share some of the parkrun sights that they have seen. And remember, in parkrun life, all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun, so stay tuned for our future club corners.

00:59:49Melissa Ellis: And that was great to hear a little bit more about Phil's experience at the Backyard Ultra, and we wish him all the best. In October, we will all be glued to our seats again, for Big's Backyard. But, Ollie, Rachel's asked us about our tutu experiences.

01:00:07Oliver Spake: Yes, and we're just referring to the parkrun tutu experiences here, aren't we?

01:00:12Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Do you have other sorts? Maybe this isn't the platform.

01:00:17Oliver Spake: Well, palm23 was one of those.

01:00:20Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah.

01:00:24Oliver Spake: But look, I suppose on a sad note, I did have a favourite pink tutu that I had acquired for parkrun and was put into use every year when we had a pink theme at Shellharbour parkrun. I don't know what my girls did with it, but it's gone. Oh, you've lost it. I've lost it. I've lost it. But that's why, of course, I was very fortunate to be able to borrow a tutu last year when we had our frond the day before the punish at Bathurst parkrun.

01:00:55Melissa Ellis: Oh, that was a tutu day.

01:00:56Oliver Spake: That was a tutu day.

01:00:58Melissa Ellis: Yes.

01:00:59Oliver Spake: I believe so anyway.

01:01:00Melissa Ellis: It was.

01:01:00Oliver Spake: Yeah.

01:01:03Melissa Ellis: That was perhaps the reason we were all in tutus. No, I'm pretty sure it was. Yeah.

01:01:07Oliver Spake: Yeah.

01:01:08Melissa Ellis: What about you? Tutu experiences? I've worn that many. I've got them in every colour of the rainbow. Worn on many, many, many occasions over the years. I just thought everybody didn't. I didn't know it was an Australian thing.

01:01:24Oliver Spake: No? Well. Hopefully we can export it, you know, like Vegemite and Tim Tams and all those good things.

Consolidated Club Report

01:01:30Melissa Ellis: Absolutely.

01:01:31Oliver Spake: Speaking of good things, though, how are we doing in the Adventurers Club report?

01:01:36Melissa Ellis: Well, the adventurers Consolidated Club report for Saturday, the 15th of July, 2023, of a total of 437 members, 347 took part on this date in nine countries across 182 locations. Wow. There are adventurers at 24 events in the UK, three in South Africa, and one each in Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Norway, and the USA. Locally, we had adventurers at 41 events in Queensland, 37 equal in Victoria and New South Wales, 12 in South Australia, seven on the North Island, the... The WA. Five in WA. ACT and Tassie had four each. Three on the South Island, which was helped out by Alison and Tom Williams.

the Frond — Jordan Fuessel, Brendan Peel, Greg Moore, Nicola Wright, Dawn Branton, Wendy Glen and Lynn Hewson — at Kilmore Racecourse Walking Track parkrun

01:02:27Melissa Ellis: The largest frond this week came to us from the greater state at Kilmore Racecourse Walking Track, where seven adventurers took to the field. Jordan Fuessel, Brendan Peel, Greg Moore, Nicola Wright, Dawn Branton, Wendy Glen and Lynn Hewson.

01:02:43Oliver Spake: Well, equal, huh? 37H. Yeah, we both got pipped.

01:02:48Melissa Ellis: Now we have to band together and Queensland is the common enemy.

01:02:52Oliver Spake: Is that how it works? But it's not a competition. Not a competition. That's how it works. Yes.

01:02:58Melissa Ellis: I'm only kidding.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

01:03:00Oliver Spake: But no launches in Australia while we were away.

01:03:03Melissa Ellis: No, but we had one in New Zealand two weeks ago, Ollie, and because we didn't do a pod last week, it hasn't been mentioned. So I thought we'd better make note that Gordon Spratt Reserve on the North Island had event two this last Saturday.

01:03:18Oliver Spake: Welcome to the family.

Sign-off

01:03:19Melissa Ellis: But moving right along, being that the time is ticking away, it's time to look forward, Ollie. Looking forward to City to Surf and announcing where we're going to be for our frond on that weekend.

01:03:33Oliver Spake: Yes, because I believe technically we haven't announced it, have we? We've maybe muttered a thing here or there. So would you like to do the honours, Mel? No.

01:03:42Melissa Ellis: I can't actually remember. We might have said it, but in any case, on Saturday, August the 12th, if you are in the general vicinity and would like to come along and join us, we will be at Centennial parkrun.

01:03:55Oliver Spake: Yes, which is very handy because bib collection, if you don't already have it, and if you're doing the city to surf, it's just down the road in Moore Park, And I have just seen a reminder today advising people to try and get there early on the Saturday if they do want to collect their bib and can't make it on a day prior. So very handy that Centennial starts at 7am.

01:04:19Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah, don't forget, go a bit early. I paid for postage, so hopefully my bib will be turning up in the coming weeks.

01:04:28Oliver Spake: That's absolutely right. Yeah. So that's coming very soon. But what is coming even sooner?

International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day

01:04:34Oliver Spake: It's Ugly Christmas in July, this Saturday.

01:04:36Melissa Ellis: Yes. So everybody get out your Ugly Christmas Shirts and singlets and wear them along to your local parkrun. We want to see Dazza's flooded with ugly while everybody celebrates. Don't forget to stick your tutu on too because it's the 22nd. Do some colour matching.

01:04:55Oliver Spake: So many things. Yeah.

01:04:57Melissa Ellis: I think I'll go with my latest edition ugly T-shirt, which was the reimagined that I got this last Christmas.

01:05:05Oliver Spake: Yeah, I feel that I haven't honoured my gingerbread enough, so maybe I'll have to try for that one.

01:05:10[laughter]

01:05:10Melissa Ellis: I dare you to find a brown tutu.

01:05:19Oliver Spake: It doesn't sound easy, think I've ever seen one just quietly thanks for stitching me up now yeah no that's uh that's going in the long list of failed challenges for Ollie but uh needless to say I will be festive and um yeah I'm looking forward to that uh mind you it's a bit bit of a I guess conflicting emotion because right now I just I just want to wear my matilda's shirt because I'm getting slightly distracted with the world cup so I will enjoy pausing that for a bit of festivity, though.

01:05:54Melissa Ellis: They did play in Melbourne while I was away, the Matildas. Did they not play France and win? They did. Is that what we might term a friendly?

01:06:03Oliver Spake: That is what we might term a friendly. That's exactly right.

01:06:06Melissa Ellis: Oh, look at me learning the lingo.

01:06:08Tony Jennings: Oh, you're all set. You're all set.

01:06:11Oliver Spake: I'll be having to ask you to calm down and stop yelling at the ref.

01:06:16Melissa Ellis: Yeah, just wait till I get my beanie.

01:06:19Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right.

01:06:20Melissa Ellis: Please don't be sold out.

01:06:21Oliver Spake: Please don't be sold out. But, yes, so, yeah, Olly and perhaps even Mel will be slightly distracted with the FIFA Women's World Cup that's getting underway down under and across the ditch. But, Mel, there's some more excitement with your festive wear and your tutu, and that is – where are you going to be wearing it, sorry?

01:06:43Melissa Ellis: Well – Every week can't be a big adventure, Ollie. This is the thing. Yes. Sometimes, sometimes we have to come back down to earth and this week I will be visiting Altona Beach parkrun. So I will be staying relatively in my general area and working on my P-index. and celebrating a fellow adventurer's 250th. So Nicola Wright, who is one of our adventurers, is going to be, yes, chalking up that milestone at Altona Beach.

01:07:19Oliver Spake: I am a big fan of your staying local, Mel. I hope that you enjoy it. A sleep-in of sorts, perhaps.

01:07:26Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

01:07:27Oliver Spake: I'll be doing the very same. I think I might have at least two of my girls in tow this Saturday, so I wonder if I can make them festive.

01:07:34Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah. What kids don't want to pretend it's Christmas?

01:07:38Oliver Spake: Yeah, my 10-year-old that's going on 16-year-old maybe. But, yeah, we'll see. We'll see.

01:07:46Melissa Ellis: Give her some jingle bells or something.

01:07:48Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, that's right. Hannah will come and help. Come on, Hannah. Okay. Okay. But, yeah, so I'll be at home. I'll be run directing before I go interstate after that. Excellent. Yeah. Look, that was a bumper-packed catch-up there, but I think it's time we call it, Mel. Yep. And as always, everyone, you can contact us. You can contact us at the pod whenever you like via Facebook in the socials or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. But that is it for another week, and we'll see you all next week for more adventures. Happy, Ugly Christmas in July, everyone.