Episode 343 - Favourite Things

00:00:00[intro theme playing]

Welcome

00:00:24Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 343 of the parkrun adventurers podcast, a podcast about life, if your life is all about parkrun. I am Ollie Spake and I'm joining from Dharawal Country.

00:00:37Melissa Ellis: And I am Melissa Ellis and I am coming from Wurundjeri Country. Hello, Ollie.

00:00:42Oliver Spake: Hello, Mel. How are you doing? Do you like the new intro?

00:00:45Melissa Ellis: I do. I'm very happy with it. I'm feeling a lot more settled now.

00:00:50Oliver Spake: Yes. And once again, not to take away from all of the great suggestions and contributions, but yeah, the answer was under our nose. What? It was.

00:01:02Melissa Ellis: What have you been up to this week, Ollie?

00:01:05Oliver Spake: Well, I've been watching a little ball bounce around mostly, aside from the usual life activities.

00:01:11Melissa Ellis: One of those round balls?

00:01:13Oliver Spake: One of those round balls, yes. I am firmly fixated on the kick yay now. Yeah. What about yourself?

00:01:20Melissa Ellis: I was going to say, ask me what I did. Ask me what I did. I went to see the Barbie movie. Oh, how was it? My Childhood Revisited. Oh, my goodness. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Absolutely. And guess what? Ken was impersonating me.

00:01:38Oliver Spake: I did see a picture. I did notice a picture. And, yeah, it's not a long bow. It's a direct ripoff.

00:01:51Melissa Ellis: Just shows that I am ahead of my time, Ollie. And I will, for those listeners who don't know what we're talking about, so for Palm this year, our theme for our dress-up evening was Western or West, and I bought myself an old-school Western shirt with the fringes, a black shirt with white fringes. Now, my version was a female version, but in the Barbie movie, Did I not get a surprise when we weren't far into the movie and Ken comes waltzing out of a shop wearing... the male version of the very same shirt.

00:02:28Oliver Spake: Clearly you and Ken shop at the same costume shop.

00:02:31Melissa Ellis: I was a little bit excited. So now I need another dress-up party to go so I can dress as Ken. Actually, fun fact, I actually had the Western Barbie when I was a little girl as well with a little white cowboy girl hat. Yep. But, no, it's a brilliant film. And if you've been living under a rock and you haven't heard about it, It is Australia's Margot Robbie. And is it Ryan Gosling as Ken?

00:03:02Unidentified speaker: Mm-hmm.

00:03:03Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and it is a very enjoyable film for not just children and it's actually got quite some substance to it.

00:03:12Oliver Spake: Okay.

00:03:12Melissa Ellis: And I won't give away plots, but needless to say, the theatre was filled with mothers and grandmothers as well as all a broad spectrum of younger children. Yeah, ranging from little girls to teenagers, including my very own daughter, who perhaps more agreed to accompany me rather than I was taking her.

00:03:43Oliver Spake: That's the spirit.

00:03:44Melissa Ellis: But yeah, there's a lot more to it. Let me just say that. And every other woman that I know who has taken their daughters to see it has enjoyed it immensely. So give it a go.

00:03:56Oliver Spake: Now I'm slightly more disappointed than I was before because naturally Kathy and the girls have plans to go and see it. But before that... Kathy and her folks have got plans to go and see it, and I haven't scored an invitation. Oh.

00:04:15Melissa Ellis: Well, just invite yourself.

00:04:17Oliver Spake: Oh, yeah, that would be nice. No, I think I'm on babysitting duty that night. Of course.

00:04:21[crosstalk]

00:04:22Melissa Ellis: Of course, yeah. Oh, well. You can watch it on Netflix when it comes out.

00:04:28Oliver Spake: Well, that's right. That's right. I'll have to find my brother-in-law and we'll go together.

00:04:32Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Oh, dear. Yeah. But, yes, so that's what I did through the week, which was fun.

00:04:38Oliver Spake: Yes, and it's nice to have some big movies back. I can't remember who I was speaking with today, but they were just noting that they've never seen the cinema that packed in recent years. So it's a good experience to have back.

00:04:52Melissa Ellis: Exactly. The cinema was full.

00:04:55Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:04:55Melissa Ellis: I'm so used to going to the movies and, you know, there's maybe me and – less than five other people sitting in the cinema and you wonder how do they make money how do they make money when it's like that but the popcorn but yeah yeah this was a full cinema the first session that I looked at buying tickets for I couldn't get two seats together that weren't in the front row so I had to look at a different session to get decent seats yeah

00:05:25Oliver Spake: Wow. Well, there we are. It's a podcast all about life, if your life's all about the Barbie movie and the kick yay.

00:05:33Melissa Ellis: But we do have some parkrun to talk about, Ollie.

00:05:36Oliver Spake: We do, we do. And whilst we did have a jam-packed episode last week, our last episode, 342, this week we're changing it up a bit. We wanted to bring back some favourites and just show them a bit of love. So this week whilst we bring you The Birthday Boy and as an extra treat, the informant stats, just not read by the informant. But also, Mel, also the return of Dazza's and the Obi. So please don't forget to let us know if you've missed any of these segments and would like them to feature a bit more regularly. We'd love to hear.

00:06:16Melissa Ellis: We would.

00:06:16Oliver Spake: Also, Mel, we'd love to hear about your parkrun day experience. Thank you.

00:06:20Melissa Ellis: This week I headed back to Altona Beach parkrun in Bunurong Country for my fourth visit. Whilst it wasn't my fastest time on the course, it was the fastest post-pandemic time, meaning I haven't run faster than that since February 2020. Wow. I'm on the comeback.

00:06:39Oliver Spake: Well done.

00:06:40Melissa Ellis: I did mention at the end of last week's pod that I was headed there for adventurer Nicola Wright's 250th. And, well, I had that a bit wrong. So sorry about that, Nicola. It was, in fact, her 50th volunteer and her 300th event.

00:06:57Oliver Spake: Oh, fantastic.

00:06:57Melissa Ellis: Yes, and a celebration complete with parkrun cake nonetheless. Also there on the morning was Casey Hyde, known to many of our listeners from her engagement in the tourism socials, and I enjoyed a chat with Casey before the event started. Now, not much else to share from my morning except to say that I realised how much my weekend parkrun guides my understanding of what day of the week it is. Having not spent Friday in transit and being home all day Saturday, I was left continually feeling like Saturday was Sunday and that Sunday morning I should be dotting my uniform and heading back into work. But no, I had another entire day to enjoy, beginning at Eynesbury as RD and a very enjoyable post-event coffee with three of my RDs and Dad, who loves sitting and listening to us brainstorming new ways to reach our target audience.

00:07:49Unidentified speaker: Mm-hmm.

00:07:49Melissa Ellis: We had 22 kids run and walk on the morning, Ollie, which was, despite it being market week at Eynesbury, a welcome surprise and gave us all quite a lift.

00:08:00Oliver Spake: Oh, wonderful. That's a great turnout.

00:08:02Melissa Ellis: Yes, it was. It was. It's big numbers for us because we are a small event, but we are always trying to build and get the word out to the community that we exist. So... I feel like we're on the cusp. I really do. I feel it in me waters.

00:08:20Oliver Spake: And that's great, particularly in midwinter as well. Yeah, I know.

00:08:25Unidentified speaker: Who knew?

00:08:26Oliver Spake: Yeah, it's not the most appealing time for the little ones to be out in the morning, but apparently it is.

00:08:32Melissa Ellis: I know.

00:08:32Oliver Spake: So, yeah, you're onto something.

00:08:35Melissa Ellis: We're going to grow. I can just feel that we're on the precipice. Yeah. Anyway, what about you?

00:08:42Oliver Spake: Well, for me, I was once again close to home. Whilst I was expecting to have my two younger daughters in tow, plans changed once again. They stayed in bed with Cathy staying home and it was just me back in the Run Director vest looking a bit ugly. Mel, I forgot the tutu.

00:09:04Melissa Ellis: Oh, you forgot it. Did you find one?

00:09:06Oliver Spake: I did find one.

00:09:07Melissa Ellis: Good work.

00:09:08Oliver Spake: And then I forgot it. Oh. Yes. Yes. But rest assured, we did have tutu representation. Thank you, Sue. But a lovely sunny morning, a very fast course for some of our parkrunners and parkwalkers out there. Continues to amaze me the PBs of some of our ever-present regulars, our passionistas out They're still there notching up some PBs. And, yeah, mum came along for a parkrun as well before heading back down the coast. So pretty uneventful for me, which isn't a bad thing.

00:09:44Melissa Ellis: Well, very good. I did notice Shellharbour did well again in the frond stakes. So did you have any tourists?

00:09:54Oliver Spake: We did have some tourists, yes. We had some tourists pop up from Frankston, in fact, Mel.

00:10:02[crosstalk]

00:10:02Melissa Ellis: Wow.

00:10:03Oliver Spake: Yes. Okay.

00:10:04Melissa Ellis: Victorians.

00:10:06Oliver Spake: As always, maybe with a little bit of coaxing.

00:10:08Melissa Ellis: That explains a lot, actually. Oh.

00:10:12Oliver Spake: That's right. And look, I am proud to say that my voice held out. I don't know if I sound a little bit croaky today, but I had almost lost my voice after Thursday night's Matildas game. So yeah, it did sound a little strange, me crackling over the megaphone on Saturday morning.

00:10:30Melissa Ellis: We didn't elaborate on that, but they did win their first game of the tournament.

00:10:35Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:10:35Melissa Ellis: Against Ireland.

00:10:37Oliver Spake: Yeah, a slow start to the tournament, but first match, a win, a lot of fun, and yes, as we were saying before we were recording, that was my first opportunity to go to the World Cup, something I've waited many decades for with my brother, and we got to enjoy it with some of our girls.

00:10:58Melissa Ellis: That is fabulous. Yeah. In your own country to barrack for.

00:11:03Oliver Spake: Exactly, exactly. I couldn't have imagined it 25 years ago.

00:11:06Melissa Ellis: I looked for you in the crowd.

00:11:09Oliver Spake: Oh, Zali's had people telling her that they've seen her on TV. Not just her little friend that likes to make everything up, but actual legitimate people that, you know, teachers that you would generally believe. Wow. Yeah, we've rewatched it twice. We haven't seen it, so I think Cathy's a bit tired of watching the Matildas Ireland game.

00:11:32Melissa Ellis: Well, I watched it in my lounge room, but Zoe joined me to cheer on the Matildas in the game. Was it the series opener was the first game or was there not consecutive? What does it mean when they're playing at the same time?

00:11:49Oliver Spake: Yes, I know what you're going to say or what you're trying to say and it's lost me as well. And rather than make up a word, yeah, simultaneous.

00:11:56Melissa Ellis: That's the one.

00:11:58Oliver Spake: Yeah. New Zealand did kick off the tournament a couple of hours earlier but it was the first night for both host nations. So yeah, I'm on seventh heaven, in seventh heaven, cloud nine. That's, yeah, my relativities are all gone.

00:12:17Melissa Ellis: Well, shall we move on? Shall we move on to some news and discussion, Ollie?

00:12:22Oliver Spake: I think we should.

parkrun adventure challengelistener challenge

00:12:23Melissa Ellis: So after Pippa's email last week about the name number challenge, I went back through the informants recordings for a reference he made to such a challenge. It was back in episode 269, which was January 2022, where he gave an answer to a question, how many four-letter parkruns are there in Australia? And actually, he gave the wrong answer because he also included Kirra, and Kirra has five letters. But the answer to that, Ollie, which you have uncovered for me, is five, and they are Bega, Lota, Newy, Roma, and Sale. Anyway, it was at that time that a challenge was put to Mr Peter Pohlman to come up with a name for a name number challenge. And to my knowledge, and to that of Peter Pohlman, none was ever decided on. So with Pippa's input, we propose the name to be the adventurer's Pyramid. And Ollie, you like Egyptian stuff, so I figured you'd be on board.

00:13:26Oliver Spake: Absolutely.

00:13:27Melissa Ellis: We probably should re-explain what... this challenge was, this name number challenge, because I don't think we did that last week, and we are a little bit bad about not explaining what we're talking about. I take that as my responsibility. But the idea is, starting with four, you have four four-letter parkruns that you've attended and then it goes to five five-letter parkruns and six six-letter parkruns and so on and so forth. Maybe I did explain it last week. In any case, Pip is up to 13 or close to 13, 13-letter parkruns. So she is building her pyramid upside down, sort of from its... Coming down from the peak.

00:14:16Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:14:17Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah. I guess so.

00:14:19Oliver Spake: We'll work that out. We'll workshop that one.

00:14:21Melissa Ellis: Maybe it's a glacier. Details.

00:14:27Oliver Spake: Details. Details. But I love it. Yes. The adventurer's Pyramid.

00:14:32Melissa Ellis: Yeah. So anyway, that's that.

00:14:35Oliver Spake: Well, Mel, are we ready?

the Informant

00:14:38Oliver Spake: I believe you did miss the informant stats.

00:14:40Melissa Ellis: I missed the informants, Ollie. I keep hoping we'll hear from them. We did get a little bit of audio a couple of weeks back.

00:14:51Oliver Spake: Yes, yep, yep.

00:14:52Melissa Ellis: Mostly just complaining.

00:14:54Oliver Spake: Which is what we miss.

00:14:55Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:14:57Melissa Ellis: funny yeah you do it takes all sorts of personalities in an office doesn't it that's right that's right the Chobani in the office fridge yeah blocks of caramilk the wrong kind of beer no doughnut crumbs anyway I'm digressing would you like to continue and bring us some of the informant stats

00:15:17Oliver Spake: Well, without being able to match those dulcet tones, I will do my very best. So here we go. Australia and New Zealand had 501 combined events out of a total of 1,894 worldwide. Down under, there were 2,280 first timers, 103 junior 10 milestones, 190 50 milestones, 132 100 milestones, 49 250 milestones, and one 500-milestone. 214 people increased their Windex, 39 people increased their I-Index, and 39 people called Bingo. Eight people became statespeople for the first time, five in the Northern Territory, and that included Melanie, Lily, and Ava Ralph, David Lee, and Rafael Yazik bring their total to 780. One in the ACT, Damien Keddie, making $448, and two in Queensland, Janine and Brendan Sellers. Therefore, in the state wars, the latest totals are 49 in South Australia, 12 statesmen in Victoria. Yay! 11 in Tassie, 9 in Queensland, 7 in New South Wales and 3 have made it up to Broome in WA. Across the ditch, there are currently 15 who have completed the North Island and 46 the South Island. 15 parkrunners have completed both islands in New Zealand. Five people joined the Peel Club, every state and territory in Oz, and that includes Peter Black, Roger Millett, Lynn Black, Matt Butler and Chris Lind. Two people joined the Oberg Club, and that is every state and territory in Oz and both islands of New Zealand, and that included George Lewis and Holly Stewart. Well done, everyone.

00:17:16Melissa Ellis: And, of course, those stats are current at time of recording.

00:17:21Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:17:22Melissa Ellis: That's the caveat. Yes. I forgot to write that in the show notes. Thank you, Ollie. Well done.

00:17:28Oliver Spake: Well, I can't claim the work behind the stats, of course, but thank you for the opportunity.

00:17:34Melissa Ellis: And thank you to the informants. They are still publishing their spreadsheets every week at the informant.me. And I have started or we have started sharing the page, I guess you would say, every Wednesday once it's been published.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:17:52Melissa Ellis: released on our socials for those people who are interested in such things but now Ollie we have been rabbiting on for almost 20 minutes so now I propose we throw to The Birthday Boy

00:18:00[background music]

00:18:13the Birthday Boy: Howdy, it's the Birthday Boy here with some of the goings on for August 2023. Please excuse any ambient noise, we're just trying something different this week. This month has four parkrun weeks, with week 1 on the 5th, week 2 on the 12th, week 3 the 19th and week 4 the 26th. A reminder first with the standard anniversary caveat. Events may celebrate what they like, when they like, so please check all details with the local source, i.e. their webpage and or their Facebook page. This is especially true for dress-ups, cakes, etc. There have been a few events recently celebrating on a different week to their quote official end quote anniversary week, and that's perfectly fine. Is there anyone joining Main Beach on 12? Still no. Will I get sick of asking this soon? Maybe. Now let's check out the first anniversaries. Across the month of August, we have only two official first anniversaries. Bells Parade in Tassie at the start of the month and Beaufort Lake in Victoria at the end of the month. And now for the parkrun independence events, the 11th anniversaries. This month there are two, and they are in the same weeks as the first anniversaries. They're Claisebrook Cove, Claisebrook Cove, you'll enjoy that Mel, in WA, and Balyang Sanctuary in Victoria. Congrats. For something different this month, as if this hasn't been different enough, try to guess which anniversary number is the most popular. I'll wait. If you guessed that the fifth anniversary would be the most frequent with ten events, congrats. If you guessed the ninth anniversary with nine events, then a pretty good effort. And to celebrate that effort, here they are, the nine turning nine. Singleton, Mt Clarence, Maribyrnong, Lake Joondalup, Hervey Bay, Capalaba, Risdon Brook, Wishart and Victor Harbor. To tell the truth, I only picked the ninths so Mel could chip me about my pronunciations. There are no anniversaries for Junior parkruns until January. Will I also get sick of mentioning this? Who knows? As with all parkrun adventures, the parkrun cancellations page is a valuable tool. See parkrun.com.au forward slash cancellations. The official cancellation page contains information for the coming weekend plus two further weeks. So be sure to check it again mid-month if you're adventuring in late August. Well, see you next month for some more birthday boy banter. And be sure to let Mel and Ollie know if you have any requests.

00:20:45[background music]

00:20:57Oliver Spake: Thank you very much to our birthday boy.

00:20:59Melissa Ellis: Yes, thank you indeed. Now, Ollie, I had never heard the colloquial term chip, but to respond, all pronunciation, all pronounce, oh God, I can't pronounce pronunciations. All pronunciations sounded correct to my ears. Now, I have had to do some digging, but I came up with this reference on Google to chip. British slang meaning to jeer, criticise severely, deride or taunt. But I'm not going to do that to our birthday boy because we want to encourage our birthday boy to continue bringing us content. That's right.

Dazza's

00:21:36Oliver Spake: Someone else who brings us great things, Mel, is Dazza's. And, well, Dazza has been bringing us a lot of great Saturday morning post-parkrun FAF occasions every week. We just haven't been acknowledging it in the same way as we had previously. But, as promised, we've brought Dazza's back for a bit more of a focus. And, look, let me kick off by saying this week at Dazza's he said it's too, too nice to to see you here at Dazza's. Did you too wear a tutu on this tutu day of July? Do come in and share your tutu fun story of the morning or perhaps you have two to share.

00:22:16Melissa Ellis: And can I just add, Ollie, as I am trying to be a bit better at... explaining to perhaps new listeners what on earth we are talking about in this little podcast. For those who might be new or listening in for the very first time, Dazza's is the name of our regular Saturday morning Facebook post where we invite all our listeners to join us in sort of a virtual cafe to comment and bring the news of where they went to parkrun that very morning. Now, not everybody gets to actually attend brunch in person. They might have to rush off for kids' sporting activities or get home to walk the dog or whatever reason. You can't actually go to brunch. You can do it virtually by popping into Dazza's and seeing where all your friends were for the morning and exchanging pleasantries, I guess, Ollie.

00:23:10[background music]

00:23:12Oliver Spake: That's right, and inspiration for future parkrun adventures. Music

00:23:20Melissa Ellis: Yeah. So we started off this week. This is a selection of the posts that we had on the morning. And the first one we're bringing you comes from Erica Leota, who said, skipped the tutu, but wore my Ugly Christmas Singlet for Weipa's seventh birthday. They even had pass the parcel for when you went over the finish line. And Erica posted a picture of herself in her reimagined ugly singlet under a balloon arch with the selfie frame. Now, the balloons were lovely colours of orange and purple, which matched her adventurous top.

00:23:57Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's some adventure. And happy birthday, Weipa.

00:24:00Unidentified speaker: Yes.

00:24:01Oliver Spake: Now, also in the state of Queensland, Belinda Taylor said, lots of adventurers turned up to support Jill Gardiner's 500th at Zillmere. And Belinda shared with us the group photo with all the gang and Jill with 500 balloons in blue and two adventurous shirts and two uglies could be seen as well.

00:24:22Melissa Ellis: And that wasn't 500 actual individual balloons. That was big number five and two big number zeros in blue.

00:24:32Oliver Spake: It's a good clarification to make. I was thinking that's almost a song, but yeah.

00:24:39Melissa Ellis: Oh, let's not revisit the singing. We also, oh, I'm glad I got this one. We also heard from Lee Cabarita. That's her poor name. Sally, Bianca, Dave, in brackets, babe, and I went to Wentworth Common and Coffee at 47. Happy Ugly Christmas Day, beautiful people. And there was a picture of three girls in three different versions of uglies. And shout out to Babe. I don't know where he was and why he wasn't in the photo. Perhaps he took the photo.

00:25:10Oliver Spake: Perhaps. Now, Mel, we also heard from Marg Prowse who said, wore my tutu for my 200th parkrun and 50th volunteer today as Tail Walker at Wallaby Track parkrun. And there included was Marg in the selfie frame with red milestone T-shirt and red tutu. And congratulations and thanks for volunteering, Marg.

00:25:32Melissa Ellis: We also heard from Janice Whittle, who said cold morning at Inverell with frost on the grass and a temperature of minus two. And she shared a picture of Keegan, Keegan is her dog, in a red tutu on the frosty grass, proving how cold it was.

00:25:50Oliver Spake: Now, Tony O'Connell, one of our Channel 5 News crew, of course, TOC, reported in saying combining all the good things, ugly Christmas and tutu day with a love heart smile emoji there. And the photo included had TOC on the stump in a pose wearing his Ugly Christmas Singlet and red tutu.

00:26:12Melissa Ellis: He does like that pose. That's his I'm a little teapot pose, I believe. And TOC was also RD, I think, first time back at Inverloch after his European vacation.

00:26:22Oliver Spake: And I did say singlet. It is, in fact, the shirt vintage. I should get that right, but yes.

00:26:28Melissa Ellis: Now, Ollie, Samantha Roberts said Ecco Ripley parkrun for their second birthday. And, Ollie, Samantha looking great there in black and white with white tutu in the selfie frame. Black and white, that's good colours. Go Pies.

00:26:45Oliver Spake: Now we also heard from Jo McLean who said, Hey Dazza, RD duty's at the Ponds today for Christmas in July and Tutu Day. Lots of dress-ups and a snow machine. And a collage of photos from Jo there showing all the gang at the Ponds representing in their Ugly Christmas Singlets or shirts and very festive tutus. You guys sure know how to do it.

00:27:10Melissa Ellis: Ollie, I so wanted to get to the ponds this year.

00:27:12Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:27:13Melissa Ellis: I really, really did. I would have loved to have been there for this event. I had circled it on the calendar after last year, seeing that they had their snow machine. They know how to do Christmas in July at the ponds. So I'm just going to have to try for next year now. But we also heard from Barbara Doby, Dooby Doby, who said two tutus on a tutu day, volunteering at Wentworth Common parkrun and mixing it up a bit by volunteering for FIFA, FIFA, FIFA, WWC 2-3 on the other days. Now, Barbara and friend shown there with their parkrun flag in red tutus and the tutu FIFA WWC 23 volunteer shirts, which is World Women's, what's the C?

00:28:04Oliver Spake: That's it, the Women's World Cup.

00:28:06Melissa Ellis: Ah, okay, Women's World Cup. Thank you.

00:28:09Oliver Spake: Yeah, and thank you for volunteering, Barbara, especially for volunteering at both events. Two of my favourite things. Well, three of you include volunteering. Now, over in the UK, we heard from Karen Hurrell, who said, celebrated my sixth parkrun birthday by tail walking at my home parkrun, Haigh Woodland, in northwest England. Heavy rain, mud and puddles, so had a waterproof on over my Ugly Christmas Shirt. And Karen included the selfie with the event pop-up sign and Ugly Christmas Shirt showing.

00:28:45Melissa Ellis: Isn't it in the middle of summer over there? Yeah.

00:28:47Oliver Spake: I guess it's one of those balmy summer storms that we get, right?

00:28:51Melissa Ellis: Fair. Okay. We also heard from Maria Wicks. Is that how you would pronounce Maria's surname, Ollie?

00:28:58Oliver Spake: That's how I try. Yeah.

00:29:00Melissa Ellis: Looks like it's missing a vowel, but I'm guessing it's not. Anyway, Maria said, I toured to Canons Park parkrun with some club mates and introduced them to Christmas in July and the Ugly Christmas Singlet. I think it confused a lot of the folks there. And Maria shared a photo again with the event pop-up.

00:29:18Oliver Spake: in the quality vintage Ugly Christmas Singlet Ollie a particularly cute ugly vintage that one yes but over in the USA we heard from Geoff Glaab who said last minute decision to break out the ugly one more time and I'm glad I did a fun morning tail walking with the entire family And Jeff's photo there in his Ugly Christmas Singlet, an orange tutu. And family, Pepper included, tail walking at Joe Creason. And Pepper is, of course, the dog.

00:29:52Melissa Ellis: Yes. Now, the last word today, Ollie, it goes to our dear friend, Janet Reid. She said... Had tutu much fun aboard the mothership today. Tutus and uglies and parkrun and a hot drink at Dazza's. Can life get any better? A skinny flat white, please, Dazza. Hope that you and all the adventurers had a wonderful morning. And Janet shared a photo of herself in her tutu, Ugly Christmas Singlet and ugly Brooks runners at the start line of Lochiel. Now, I did notice another photo that Janet shared in social media of the start line at Lochiel, and it looks like their water tank's been painted.

00:30:37Unidentified speaker: Ooh.

00:30:37Melissa Ellis: You know, usually they have the chalk. Yeah. The chalk drawings on their water tank that their lovely local artists individualises depending on the occasion, but it looks like it's got a mural on it now.

00:30:49Oliver Spake: I haven't seen this.

00:30:50Melissa Ellis: Hmm. Well, you'll have to stalk Janet.

00:30:53Oliver Spake: I will.

00:30:55Melissa Ellis: But anyway, do you know what the exciting thing, Ollie, about bringing this version of Dazza's back, do you know what it means? It means, I'm not going to give you a chance to, I'm going to answer.

the Obi Award — Erica Leota

00:31:06Melissa Ellis: It means that we get to award an Obi again.

00:31:09Oliver Spake: We do. And just as well because I have a lot of envelopes on my desk. I can't even see the Post-its. Do you know which is the correct envelope? I'm just picking the top. No. Oh, well, yes. Yeah, no, there is one that has been highlighted. It's got a bit of orange highlighting on it there. So let me open the envelope.

00:31:30[background music]

00:31:32Melissa Ellis: Okay.

00:31:34Oliver Spake: And the Obi goes to... Erica Leota.

00:31:39Melissa Ellis: Erica Leota. Fabulous. And so she has deserved that Obi for getting herself all the way to Weipa to celebrate their seventh birthday. I think I got a feeling that I might have seen that that was a coincidence that Erica maybe didn't realise it was going to be Weipa's birthday. So what a happy coincidence to be accidentally crushing the birthday.

00:32:08Oliver Spake: And colour coordinated too. Absolutely.

00:32:12Melissa Ellis: Good work, Erica.

Consolidated Club Report

00:32:13Melissa Ellis: Now, Moving from Dazza's into our next section, Ollie, would you like to hear?

00:32:19Oliver Spake: I would love to hear about the Adventurers Club in the report. Thanks, Mel.

00:32:24Melissa Ellis: The adventurers Consolidated Club report for Saturday, the 22nd of July, 2023. Of a total of 437 members, 346 took part on this date in eight countries across 182 locations. In the UK, there were 26 events. South Africa, Netherlands and the US had two and Austria and Ireland had one. Locally, we had adventurers at 43 events at, in, around New South Wales.

00:33:01Oliver Spake: You really hung on there.

00:33:03Melissa Ellis: I know what's going on. What's going on, Victoria? Where have you all gone? I'm trying to figure it out, can't figure it out, run out of excuses, run out of reasons, run out of rationale. I don't know what's happening. I was home. Where was everybody else? I think Dawn was in Queensland. I know Dawn was in Queensland. Anyway, I digress. Queensland, there was 33 events. Victoria had 30. South Australia, 13. 11 in WA. 7 in the ACT. 5 on the North Island. 4 in Tassie. And the Northern Territory and South Island had 1. That gives us another bowling strike.

00:33:47Oliver Spake: Woo-hoo. Oh, dear.

the Frond — Zillmere parkrun

00:33:49Melissa Ellis: Now, the largest frond was indeed at Zillmere this week with 11 adventurers in attendance. There was Michael Blain, Russell Pauline and Belinda Taylor, Barbara Luther, Michael Schultz, Lance Plan, Fern Patterson, Louise Clements, Tracey Wood and Belinda Land. Now, they were all there for a very special reason, Ollie, which was noted earlier in the show notes, which was that Jill Gardiner ran her 500th parkrun. And she drew the who's who of Queensland parkrunning out to support her. Jill runs in the 55 to 59 age category. I hope you don't mind me saying that, Jill. I don't even know if she's a listener. But she finished in a tiny 22, 24 in fifth position and nabbed first female.

00:34:36Oliver Spake: Oh, as you do.

00:34:37Melissa Ellis: So I was impressed.

00:34:39Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:34:40Melissa Ellis: Jill has run 148 of her 500 events at Zillmere. She's done 81 unique events across six countries and volunteered 242 times. Now, one thing I like about Jill is she is a juniors volunteer too.

00:34:57Oliver Spake: Well done, Jill. Congratulations and thank you very much for volunteering. Yes.

00:35:02Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. Now, I have lost track. I haven't been on top of all the numbers of it. parkrunners that are homegrown and have achieved 500. So my list is not complete. So I can't tell you what number Jill is in achieving that status in Australia. But in any case, it's still mighty fine. And we should also mention, Ollie, seeing as I'm on the task this week, that anybody can add the Adventurers Club to their parkrun profile as one of their five clubs they affiliate with.

00:35:36Oliver Spake: That's quite right.

00:35:36Melissa Ellis: So if you haven't already done it, please feel free to join us. It's free and we accept everybody. We're not fussy. If you are an adventurer, if you listen to this very pod, you can join us. It doesn't have to be your primary account. You can still keep your, whatever it is, your first allegiance. That could be a Zoolander or you could be, what else do we have? The Dirty Cheaters.

00:36:02Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. We've got the 530s, we've got Running Mums. Absolutely. There are plenty out there.

00:36:08Melissa Ellis: You don't have to drop them. You can just add us to the pile. So feel free. You're welcome.

Sign-off

00:36:15Oliver Spake: We've come to that point where we're looking ahead, Mel. We are looking ahead. And we did mention previously, as in our last podcast episode, that there will be a bit of a get-together come City to Surf weekend in Sydney. And that's just around the corner. That is the weekend of, well, Sunday, August 13th. But, of course, parkrun Day is Saturday, August 12th. And the reminder is that we are having a bit of a frond. So if you fancy a nice early parkrun or volunteering, Centennial parkrun is a great place to be. And I just, I suspect you'll see a few friendly and familiar faces with, as I mentioned last week as well, bib pickup for City to Surf. If you still need to do it at that stage, it's just down the road at Moorpark.

00:37:11Melissa Ellis: Yes, and don't forget that it's a 7am start at Centennial. And if you're wondering what a frond is, let me explain. In adventurers terminology, we have our annual meetup, which we refer to as PALM. Now PALM is an acronym that stands for parkrun adventurers Listener Meetup. And as a result, any subsequent meetup that involves a group of adventurers, we refer to as a palm frond, hence the term frond. You're welcome. Now, Ollie, I want to check in to know how you are going sourcing your Wonder Woman costume and do you need help?

00:37:56Oliver Spake: That's a helpful reminder. Yeah.

00:38:00Melissa Ellis: I think he needs help, Brendan, just saying.

00:38:00[crosstalk]

00:38:05Oliver Spake: M. I need to get on to that. Yes, I definitely need to get on to that. Thank you for the reminder. I blame it on the distraction, but, yeah, no, I want to be in that club.

00:38:16Melissa Ellis: don't go using your world cup excuse but I take it on board now it's also timely to let everybody know that this is the last time we're going to be speaking to you before city to surf you're not going to be back oh yes yeah recording prior to city to surf you're uh flitting off yeah that's right having a bit of a round the world

00:38:41Oliver Spake: a stretch around the country around the country yes yeah um and alas yeah no New Zealand in that equation but uh I've got a couple of kick yay matches to go to and um sad to say that logistics and and work um and travel just yeah kind of making life a bit complicated in that respect well it won't just be me though that's missing next week Mel

00:39:08Melissa Ellis: This is the exciting bit.

00:39:10[crosstalk]

00:39:11Oliver Spake: On that note, yes.

00:39:12Melissa Ellis: I'm not going to be here either. But don't fear, Adventurers, we aren't leaving you with no podcast. We are going to have Simon and Sarah stepping in for us. Yes, we are passing the keys to the Ferrari.

00:39:25Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:39:25Melissa Ellis: We are no longer the new kids.

00:39:28Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:39:28Melissa Ellis: Oh, that makes us the parents.

00:39:31Oliver Spake: That's okay. I've grown into that role.

00:39:36Melissa Ellis: And I'm going to be joining Ollie at Stadium, whatever it's called. I don't know, the soccer one with the funny roof.

00:39:42Oliver Spake: Do you know what it's called? Yeah. Well, I think in this tournament it's known as Melbourne Rectangular Stadium. Really? Which is a spectacular name.

00:39:50Melissa Ellis: It's not very well known in Melbourne, I have to say. But in any case.

00:39:53Oliver Spake: It's AAMI Park, yes. Yeah. AAMI Park, the bubble stadium. Yeah.

00:39:59Melissa Ellis: Right. Well, that's where I'm going to be, cheering on the Matildas who are playing Canada. And I'm very excited. I'm also going to my first World Cup, I think.

00:40:09Oliver Spake: You are? Yeah. Yes, that's right.

00:40:11Melissa Ellis: I've been to a soccer game before, though, haven't I?

00:40:13Oliver Spake: That's not a World Cup. That's right.

00:40:15Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:40:16Oliver Spake: Well, to my knowledge, but, yeah, this is our first World Cup in Australia.

00:40:20Melissa Ellis: Because I went with Harry.

00:40:21Oliver Spake: You did?

00:40:23Melissa Ellis: What did I go to with Harry? That was a friendly, wasn't it? It was an exhibition.

00:40:27Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah, that was a friendly match.

00:40:30Melissa Ellis: Yep. Anyway, I can't mention Harry. He won't be listening. He only listened last week. But that's exciting, isn't it, Ollie? So you'll have two new voices next week, listeners.

00:40:41Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:40:42Melissa Ellis: So be nice to them.

00:40:43Oliver Spake: Yes, and we look forward to being listeners as well. We'll almost double the listenership.

00:40:48Melissa Ellis: I was going to say that will be exciting, but I'll already have listened a billion times by the time I've edited it.

00:40:55Oliver Spake: Yes, yes.

00:40:56Melissa Ellis: So watch your ums and ahs, kids.

00:40:58Oliver Spake: That's right, that's right. Yeah, not like a pro like me. I never say um. So, Mel. Where are you going to be parkrunning next week?

00:41:08Melissa Ellis: This is exciting. I'm back adventuring again. I am joining the Office Lady and her Luke and I'm heading to Sydney and we're going to head up to Newy parkrun, Ollie. Now, I've done a Freedom of Newy at Palm, whatever it was.

00:41:25Oliver Spake: 2019. 2019.

00:41:26Melissa Ellis: Yes, that one, was it?

00:41:27Oliver Spake: Mm-hmm. Yep.

00:41:28Melissa Ellis: Okay. Well, I believe you because. Thanks. Yeah. You were there, so you were there.

00:41:34Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:41:35Melissa Ellis: And I'm a bit excited about that because guess why? It's a four-letter parkrun.

00:41:41Oliver Spake: Oh. Yes, yes, that's it. You're on the pyramid.

00:41:47Melissa Ellis: I am. I'm working on the pyramid. But what about you, Ollie? Where are you going to be? Where is your kick yay World Cup opening?

00:41:54Oliver Spake: Well, I'm going to be up in Brisbane for the kick yay on Thursday night for the Matildas against Nigeria. And I've managed to drag Cathy and Zali and Ava along for the trip. Hannah has caught a bit of World Cup fever and has a serious case of FOMO. But alas, she won't be there. However, yeah, okay, getting to the point, I'll be on the Gold Coast. I'll be on the Gold Coast before I fly to Sydney and catch the train to Melbourne. So, yeah, I'll be somewhere north. That's exciting. I haven't decided which event. I mean, Varsity Lakes is perhaps the frontrunner. Kirra? I don't know. Yeah.

00:42:36[crosstalk]

00:42:40Melissa Ellis: You wouldn't have a V, would you?

00:42:41[crosstalk]

00:42:41Oliver Spake: I wouldn't have a V, no. That's right.

00:42:43Melissa Ellis: That's exciting.

00:42:45Oliver Spake: But I'll just be happy to be there. I'll be happy to be there.

00:42:48Melissa Ellis: Okay.

00:42:49Oliver Spake: So, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I should be a bit more certain, but I am a bit indecisive there, Mel.

00:42:56Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so listeners, don't turn up at Varsity Lakes and expect him there because he might change his mind, I think is what you're saying.

00:43:04Oliver Spake: Oh, dear. Maybe I actually should post in the Friday post and say where I'm going.

00:43:10Melissa Ellis: That would be nice. You should.

00:43:11Oliver Spake: Yeah. Okay. There's my planning commitment. And for all of you listening, after the Friday post has come out, sorry I forgot to. Okay.

00:43:24[crosstalk]

00:43:26Melissa Ellis: So you can't get away with that.

00:43:27Oliver Spake: That's right. And for the record, since I won't be around after that, I'll be run directing the week after.

00:43:32Melissa Ellis: Okay. Yes. You're going to be gone for two weeks. Yep.

00:43:35Oliver Spake: Yes. But I'll be back the following week. That's right.

00:43:37Melissa Ellis: Yes. All righty. Well, I think we're done. Are we good? Is that our last drinks?

00:43:43Oliver Spake: I think so. Definitely into injury time there, Mel.

00:43:46Melissa Ellis: Time on. Time on. That's all right. We've padded it out. We've done well since we had no roving reports and no emails. But we've still managed to fill a podcast. How do we do it?

00:43:58Oliver Spake: With some help from some old friends. That's right.

00:44:01Melissa Ellis: Yeah, just like in Cheers. Anyway, as always, listeners, you can contact us via Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week and we'll see you all next week. No, we won't. Simon and Sarah, we'll see you all next week for more adventures.

00:44:15[outro theme playing]

00:45:15Unidentified speaker: Bye.