Episode 346 - Wonder Woman

Welcome

00:00:24Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 346 of the parkrun adventurers podcast, a podcast about life if your life is all about parkrun. I'm Oli Spake and I'm joining again after a while from Dharawal Country.

00:00:38Melissa Ellis: And I'm Melissa Ellis, and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country. Welcome back to the host chair, Ollie. Thank you. Thank you, Mel.

00:00:47Oliver Spake: It's good to be back, but always nice to listen to some wonderful other hosts. Get to enjoy listening to the podcast and not hearing that annoying guy.

00:00:58Melissa Ellis: We don't think you're annoying. Don't sell yourself short. But what we actually didn't just talk about in our pod recording preparation is the fact that we've actually invited Simon and TOC to be regular contributors. So surprise.

00:01:13Oliver Spake: Yes. Guess what? Guess who? Yeah. Of course, you already knew about that.

00:01:17Melissa Ellis: But yeah, TOC and Simon are going to be joining me once a month on a regular basis.

00:01:24Oliver Spake: Yeah. Yeah. And as I say, I really do enjoy listening to them as I have enjoyed listening to so many of our other wonderful hosts and contributors. And as always, Mel, we enjoy listening to you and yeah, hopefully you get a bit of time off at some stage as well, Mel. But yeah, thanks to TOC and Simon for being a part of the team and particularly to all of you for giving me a A little bit of balance as work and family and a bit of kick-out lately has kept me more than occupied.

00:01:57Melissa Ellis: Yes, and welcome to the team, to both of them, and thank you for agreeing to come on board. But, Ollie, it's really weird because, well, I've only been back in Melbourne for three hours so far and I haven't had the usual amount of time to prepare. hair or my notes. I'm a bit OCD and I like to be really organised. So apologies that I don't have my normal level of that. But also I saw you yesterday. Yes.

00:02:25Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:02:25Melissa Ellis: It's kind of like strange.

00:02:29Oliver Spake: It is a little strange. And I can't remember if I saw you a week before or two weeks before. It's been a bit of a blur, but I guess that makes us a bit like the odd couple there, Mel, because your OCD is maybe countered by my, we'll get to that. We'll get to that.

00:02:47Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Let's start moving straight along to the Kiki A. Let's talk about that.

00:02:52Oliver Spake: Oh, that's a dangerous topic to... Have you got the fever?

00:02:55Melissa Ellis: I've got the fever.

00:02:56Oliver Spake: It's a dangerous topic to start with. How long have you got?

00:03:01Melissa Ellis: Well, so look, I was thinking about this on the flight home today because it's Monday night, we're recording. There's another game to go Wednesday.

00:03:09Oliver Spake: So by the time the pod comes out... Then they will have won through to the final. That's right.

00:03:15Melissa Ellis: Right.

00:03:16Oliver Spake: Okay.

00:03:17Melissa Ellis: Do you want to just say the opposite so I can edit in the correct response?

00:03:22Oliver Spake: Yeah, they'll be in the third place playoff, but they will have done spectacularly well regardless and we're proud of them.

00:03:29Melissa Ellis: But we had excitement while we were, well, you were at a match on Saturday night, wasn't it? It was after parkrun Day, but we were both in Sydney. I watched the game at the local pub with the Frasers and Yeah, yeah. It was an amazing experience to be in sort of like in a public place, I guess, and have that level of fixation and interest on the game. Isn't it going off?

00:04:00Oliver Spake: It really is. I should have written down some words because I found it very difficult to put into words, just... how much the weekend gave me, but to see so many people taking joy and enjoying the suspense along the way, the thrills, the ups, the downs, the worry, the sheer panic, all of that, that, you know, that I've been enjoying and, Yeah, yeah, it's just mind-blowing. And I guess a lot of people have expressed it, but what a wonderful team, what a wonderful bunch of humans to be up there and showing the way. So, yeah, there's a few words.

00:04:45Melissa Ellis: I know it's an international game, but I have to be honest, in my life, in my 53 years, I have not really ever had any interest whatsoever in soccer. I have not known anybody who played it even socially. It wasn't something that I was interested in watching until I went to the game a couple of years ago with – was it last year with Harry? That was my first introduction to the international game of soccer. Obviously – knew it was a sport. But I've had the steepest learning curve in the last few weeks. I now can probably name, you know, a quarter of the Matilda's side. I've learnt the rules and I'm just so invested. I spoke to my mum on the phone last night, Ollie. My mum has been watching the soccer. We've got the same favourite player, which is Hayley Raso.

00:05:48Oliver Spake: What a legend.

00:05:49Melissa Ellis: And, yeah, she's tuning in each match as well. And my mother's never watched a game of soccer in her life either. This is how it's gripping the country.

00:06:01Oliver Spake: It really has. It really has. And, yeah, it's been a pleasure to get to enjoy it and to go and attend games. But, yeah, just the thrill of watching it even on the big screen on Saturday night before I went to the Columbia England match, which I was late for kickoff, incidentally, because it just went on. Yeah. But, yeah, the thrill of seeing so many people enjoy it and, yeah, bring on more.

00:06:35Melissa Ellis: Absolutely.

00:06:37Oliver Spake: But, yes, it did lead to a bit of a late night on Saturday night, which made Sunday morning and Sunday's events... All the more exciting, but slightly more challenging too. But I'm getting ahead of myself, Mel. Do I cut myself off from talking about the kick-out now and say, how was your parkrun day? And would you like to kick us off with some of the excitement of the weekend?

00:07:03Melissa Ellis: Well... Like I said, I haven't prepared as I usually do, but obviously we did go to Centennial parkrun, which we had mentioned is quite central in Sydney and it was a 7am start. It was wonderful to meet adventurers Rex Gream, Andrew Blanda and Cherie and Jason Cottell for the first time. Yep. And, of course, to chat to all those adventurers who came out, even if it – even if it wasn't a new event for them or a Wilson number. So more than one person said to me on the morning, Ollie, that they just really wanted to come for the catch-up. And so I just love how the community was motivated to attend just to get together and hang out, catching up afterwards at the Spruce Goose for our coffee and our park faff. So... I took it pretty easy. I had a cruisy run chat with Ingrid, Ingrid Botha. Yep. And, yeah, enjoyed it very much. It is a beautiful course. One lap in a, hmm, almost a Y shape. Is that how they describe it, Ollie?

00:08:18Oliver Spake: Yeah, I find it difficult to describe that shape. It sort of bends in on itself and slices itself up. Yeah. But it is a lovely spot there and, yeah, we won't go calling it the prettiest parkrun in Sydney, but it is a particularly nice one. And it was well attended, wasn't it, with so many people attending as visitors to Centennial there on Gadigal land as it was just down the road from the expo for City2Surf. So how convenient. And I was asked whether or not that was part of our planning. Was it?

00:09:01Melissa Ellis: No. Yeah. I can't remember who threw out the suggestion for Centennial, but I didn't really mind and I was happy to do. And then somebody else said, oh, it's really close to the Expo, so that'll be good. I don't think it was the main reason.

00:09:20Oliver Spake: But, yeah, I think as you said and as other people indicated, it was a great location with the intention of being able to catch up with what was hopefully convenient. But it's not lost on me. It wasn't convenient for a number of our adventurers that did make a significant trip and a significant effort to come in, to participate, to volunteer. And to spend a bit of time. So, look, echo what you said. Wonderful to meet. We'll put some new faces to some of the voices and some of the words and to get to run along with a nice fast run, Rex. Yeah. But to run along and enjoy the parkrun with, yeah, with several people getting to chat along the way, even to adopt a parkrunner that was just looking to find some fellow parkrunners on the way there. But I didn't manage to sign Tegan up to the Adventurers Club, Mel, so she disappeared before we managed to sign her up. I don't know if you managed. No. No, I visited from South Bank, but... We'll find a way. If anyone's listening from South Bank parkrun, go and find Tegan and sign her up. But, yeah, it was quite a weekend. Dare I ask you, how was your city to surf? Because, of course, that happened too.

00:10:37Melissa Ellis: Gosh, I know. It's just been a big weekend. And I did do an extra post on Sunday for all those who attended City to Surf to share their photos. Yes. Now, a special mention to Sarah Foley and Caroline Stevenson, who I did manage to grab a selfie with quickly on the morning, who were behind the Wonder Woman Guinness World Record attempt.

00:10:58Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:10:59Melissa Ellis: My understanding is that there were approximately 280 Wonder Woman participating in the attempt and that the record was achieved.

00:11:07Oliver Spake: Yay.

00:11:09Melissa Ellis: I did a Google search and I couldn't actually find anything in the media, in the socials, referencing the results of the world record, but we will bring those to you when we do come across them. We also wish to give Sarah all our very best as she now begins her treatment for her brain cancer. And I'd like to ask you to consider making a donation to the Cure Brain Cancer Fund that the Guinness World Record was being done to support. We will find an appropriate link to add to this week's pod post if you'd like to contribute to that wonderful cause. Wonderful. See what I did there? Yeah. But I was a part of that attempt, joining with fellow Toolern Creek parkrunners, Tracey Donald and Tiani Burton, as well as Shellharbour favourites, Brendan and Em Scholarly, with Nathan and John as well. Can I also say well done to John, who beat me over the line by a little under three minutes, John being a Minnippi parkrunner and 82 years old. That's John Scholarly.

00:12:20Oliver Spake: Yeah, he ain't slow.

00:12:22Melissa Ellis: No, he certainly isn't. And I also found the man with the giant orange moustache, the very one and only Carlos Durkee. And I believe Carlos had many adventurers coming up and saying hello to him on the morning. And you can also find links to Carlos' Movember fundraiser in the comments of last week's episode, 345 Level 2 with a Hoogah.

00:12:48Oliver Spake: Yeah, some great causes. And I can't tell you how relieved I was to see that that attempt was achieved, having not managed to get my costume in order. But you all looked spectacular.

00:13:06Melissa Ellis: Yeah, lucky we weren't one short, Ollie, because we know whose fault that would have been.

00:13:12Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:13:14Melissa Ellis: How was your run, though? It was hard.

00:13:17Oliver Spake: It was really quite hard. I just wanted to walk. But it was nonetheless a great time. We were very fortunate with the weather. Lovely to spot a few familiar and friendly faces beforehand and afterwards and to see all those Wonder Woman costumes as well as some of the other highlights as well and to get to catch up with at least a few of you after the event as well. So... I had a great time also sharing it with Hannah, my eldest, who had been wanting to do it for many years and she has been trying to work up to it despite getting sick here and there along the way and she and James, her boyfriend, they knocked it over and they felt great and I was very proud. So to enjoy that with Hannah and James and my mum was an absolute highlight.

00:14:13Melissa Ellis: I know. Well done, Galen. It was also nice to see Galen again, both on parkrun Day. Actually, I didn't get to see her at City to Surf. Oh, yeah.

00:14:22Oliver Spake: Yeah, true.

00:14:22Melissa Ellis: But how did she go? She did all right? She did.

00:14:25Oliver Spake: She did. She did. So, yeah, Hannah and James came in just under two and a half hours. Mum came in just under two hours and 20. And everyone's a tad sore today, but everyone felt pretty wonderful at the end.

00:14:39Melissa Ellis: How many has your mum done? Was that her first?

00:14:42Oliver Spake: No, no, she has, yeah, she's done a fair few. It might be close to 10 for her. And Mel, I actually worked out how many I've done. You asked me this yesterday and I didn't have a clue.

00:14:53Melissa Ellis: Okay, tell us. 15.

00:14:55Unidentified speaker: Oh.

00:14:56Melissa Ellis: Yeah, what do you know? Excellent, congratulations.

00:14:59Oliver Spake: Including the virtuals, but yes, 15.

00:15:03Melissa Ellis: I was doing a little bit of a poll with some of the adventurers that we saw on the day. So for a start, Stephen Jackson was doing his 38th. So I'm thinking that's pretty impressive. And I do believe he came second in his age category. Brendan Peel, he told me. I got the bus back to Bondi Junction with Brendan. He told me he'd done 35. Andrew Blanda, he thought he was around the 15 mark as well. Chris Fraser did his 19th.

00:15:33Oliver Spake: Yep.

00:15:34Unidentified speaker: Wow.

00:15:35Melissa Ellis: And it was my eighth. So there you go.

00:15:38Oliver Spake: Some healthy totals. Now, I should be outing Brendan's scholarly here, but I'm going to get the number wrong if I do that. So, Brendan, so I can report it in next week's pod, my self-appointed homework is to reconfirm the number of city to surfs that you have done because I believe that is also a high number.

00:15:56Melissa Ellis: Yeah. And there was many, many more adventurers out there. We don't really have a total of everybody, but I did make the Channel 9 news footage. Of course. In my Matilda's beanie.

00:16:08Oliver Spake: You did. You did. Yeah. What a touch, Mel. It was impressive that you managed to complete the Wonder Woman costume with a Matilda's touch.

00:16:17Melissa Ellis: Yeah, well, aren't they just the epitome of Wonder Women in my eyes? Very fitting.

00:16:23Oliver Spake: Very fitting.

00:16:24Melissa Ellis: I tell you what, though, it's damn hot to run 14 kilometres in a beanie.

00:16:28Oliver Spake: I don't know. I don't know how you did it. I wanted to run in my Matilda's shirt and I was a bit concerned about that. I was hot in my singlet. I almost took off my glasses to cool down. So running in a beanie, I think that makes you a Wonder Woman for sure.

00:16:44Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I'll take that.

parkrun news bulletin

00:16:46Melissa Ellis: But we should move on, Ollie, news and discussion for this week. Now, I have been alerted to a new big thing that's been installed at the Seven Creeks Park in Euroa in the Great Estate. It is a giant magpie sculpture and this coming right in time for swooping season. I was actually swooped last Wednesday on a walk around my local area for the first time for the year. It started.

00:17:13Oliver Spake: Well, you do love magpies, so you must be happy.

00:17:17Melissa Ellis: It's not even swoopy September that it started. But, yeah, there you go. So anybody on the tourist trail heading out to Euroa, keep your eye out for that new art installation, three metres tall, I do believe.

00:17:30Oliver Spake: Wow, that is a big one, yes. Yeah.

00:17:33Melissa Ellis: Giant metal magpie.

00:17:36Oliver Spake: Now in some other news and... Everyone will have seen this, I trust. But just in case you haven't, the portal is open for ordering your adventurers shirts. And particularly special news is the kid sizes are now available as well. So orders will be closed on the 31st of August. and shirts will be made to order once orders are closed. So delivery will be approximately five weeks after that. But if you did miss out or if you would just like more and you would like to be a part of it, then jump in. Do let us know by email if for any reason you have any questions, but that portal link is there and available.

00:18:21Melissa Ellis: Yes, and special thank you to the Office Lady for organising another run of our shirts. And people are starting to notice them out in the field, Ollie, and I think that we're getting a bit of brand recognition. So I just wanted to get another run of the shirts before we get into that later part of the year where everybody just starts to focus on Christmas time.

00:18:43Oliver Spake: Also a very special time. But, yes, thank you very much to our own Office Lady Wonder Woman.

00:18:49Melissa Ellis: Now, in other news, last week I forgot to mention that Singapore was having their special day. Their national day was held last week on Wednesday the 9th of August and there was three adventurers running at East Coast parkrun, East Coast Park, parkrun rather, at event 357 with 222 participants and tourists from Denmark, Malaysia, South Africa, UK, Japan and Australia. I'm pretty sure I spied Harry's parents in the volunteer photo too. And the adventurers in attendance were Leonie Butler, Heather Morgan and Helen Davis. Now I do assume Steve was there too. Pretty sure I saw him in the photo. But yes, another special day going on. They only had one event running out of the three on their special day.

00:19:39Oliver Spake: So very well attended. But, yeah, happy National Day, a belated one to Singapore.

00:19:44Melissa Ellis: And I think it was an attendance record too.

00:19:47Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah. It must have been a wonderful morning.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:19:50Melissa Ellis: But, Ollie, now time for us to throw to our roving report. So we've got two coming to you this week, one from Sarah and one from Lyndell the Legendary.

Roving report Sarah Jefferson — Patawalonga River parkrun

00:20:10Sarah Jefferson: Howdy parkrun adventurers, it's Sarah here from the West Side checking in from South Australia this morning. I've come along to event 108 at Patawalonga River.

00:20:21Sarah Jefferson: Thanks for the correction there and I'm here with the ED this morning. Greg, morning. Morning. Thanks for having us this morning. Beautiful course. We had PK out here for your event 15, I believe, checking in. You've just celebrated your second birthday. How's things going?

00:20:36Greg: Yeah, no, really, really good. Like I said, we've built a nice little community here over the last two years. We've got a regular group of poor volunteers who put their names down to help out every week. We've got people who will turn up even if they're not running, help with set-up and things like that now. So they get a volunteer credit for that that they otherwise probably wouldn't have thought they'd get. We've recently managed to get one of our regular volunteers, Sharon, to help us out by taking on the Volunteer Coordinator role. And she's actually just done her 25th volunteering stint today as well. So congratulations to Sharon on reaching that wonderful milestone. Yes, it's been really, really good.

00:21:23Sarah Jefferson: Beautiful vibe here this morning. We've got some music in the background that you can all probably hear. You did compete with an aeroplane and the traffic next door. I noticed you came prepared. You've got your microphone.

00:21:25[music]

00:21:34Greg: Yes.

00:21:35Sarah Jefferson: But can you just quickly describe the course to the listeners?

00:21:38Greg: Yeah, so I guess it's a... double sort of dog leg um course so you go out um run down one side of the river do a turnaround you come back up you go across the river and then you run down the other side of the river you turn around again come back across and back to finish where we started it's a very flat course beautiful um estuary you call it the estuary the river it's a river it's technically classified as a river um sometimes called a lake depends on who you're asking and uh and what you're you know, what your preference is, but yeah, generally it's classified as a river and it's part of, I guess, a larger river system, hooks into the Sturt River as well, which in itself hooks into the Onkaparinga, so it's quite a connected system and it sort of outlets here into the beach at Glenelg, so...

00:22:31Sarah Jefferson: And sometimes there's dolphins, I believe?

00:22:32Greg: Yes, yes. So generally around springtime, the dolphins tend to come in. They like to breed in the river. It's a safe environment for them. There's no predators. They just come in through the weir and... Yeah, they hang around in here and have their babies and then they go off again once they've sort of grown up a bit. So, yeah.

00:22:54Sarah Jefferson: Beautiful. And I believe there's something exciting happening in November. Can you please fill us in?

00:22:58Greg: Yeah, so my other half and I, so she's the Co-Event Director with me here. We will have been married for 16 years in November and we've decided to renew our vows. And so because parkrun's become such a big part of our life, we've decided to do that here at parkrun on the 4th of November. Love that. So it'll be a bit of a wedding theme on the day, you know, try and encourage people to dress up and stuff. And Rachelle and I will tail walk that morning and when we've finished and come across the line, We'll have a celebrant here to do the officiating and, yeah, have a proper sort of vow renewal. Wonderful.

00:23:37Sarah Jefferson: So there'll be lots of white dresses on course on the 4th of November? Quite possibly.

00:23:41Greg: And everyone's invited? Yeah, absolutely. Anybody who wants to come down, yeah, more than welcome to join us for that event. Yeah, it should be a good day. We try and see whether or not we can get some extra food trucks and things like that down here for the day as well. We do normally have a little coffee van here, a little blue coffee van. She's over in Europe at the moment having a well-earned break during the horrible winter over there in the nice warmth of the summer but um so yeah so she'll hopefully be here for that and and we'll see if we can get some other food trucks and stuff down here for that day as well sounds like a great morning yeah hopefully we'll be thank you well thanks for having us this morning and thank you for all you do for parkrun no worries and um happy anniversary for November thank you thanks

00:24:27Sarah Jefferson: This morning I'm here with Sharon who's celebrating her 25th volunteer this morning.

00:24:32Sharon: Well done. Thank you, thank you. It's all very exciting. I love this parkrun, I love the parkrun family. I've got adult children who are all runners so to me this is a really important role to support, none of my children run here by the way um that's a shame yeah that's right they run at other parkruns um every now and then they'll come and make a guest appearance um I really enjoy being involved in a volunteer role something I've done all my life in different volunteer roles but this is probably one of my favourites because you get to talk to some awesome people um my main role is Volunteer Coordinator I'm just trying to get people every week just to fill our volunteer spots Sometimes it's tricky, especially when it looks like it's going to bucket down with rain. But no, I absolutely love the family here and the role. That's really good fun. So they won't be getting rid of me anytime soon, let's just say. I'm sure they're very happy with that.

00:25:24Sarah Jefferson: Well, thank you for all that you do for parkrun. You made us feel very welcome when we arrived here this morning. You did a first-timers briefing before the first-timers briefing, so thank you for that. And congratulations once again. Thank you, and thanks for coming.

Roving report Lyndell Murray — Wishart parkrun

00:25:38Lyndell Murray: G'day parkrun adventurers, it is Lyndell and today I am back on the Kikie Trail. I'm at Wishart parkrun. I'm here for their ninth anniversary and it is another World Cup themed parkrun anniversary. I've gotten into the spirit, I'm wearing my World Cup shirt. Not from this World Cup, but from the Women's Cricket World Cup a few years ago. So it got a bit better than last week. Now, the athlete's foot is here, as well as Brooks, to celebrate the anniversary. Some of parkrun's key sponsors. I'm going to have a run and then see who I can check in with afterwards.

00:26:22Lyndell Murray: Alrighty, I have caught up with Event Director and today's Run Director, Lee. How are you going today?

00:26:29Lee: Very well, thank you, Lyndell.

00:26:31Lyndell Murray: That is the way. Now, anniversary today, World Cup theme. We had a few interesting costumes today.

00:26:38Lee: Yeah, it was great. We saw it, thought with both the Netball World Cup and the... Football World Cup for the women. It was a great opportunity for people to wear their colours and we saw lots of different countries represented this morning.

00:26:54Lyndell Murray: Yes, now you've got one, I think she's a regular parkrunner here who was all kitted out in her French kit and she said at the briefing that if they didn't win she wasn't going to come back. Do you reckon that's true or do you think she will come back?

00:27:07Lee: No, she's a rusted on parkrunner that one. Did her first marathon this year at the Gold Coast and yeah, she'll be here next week, win, lose or draw.

00:27:17Lyndell Murray: That is good to hear. Now, ninth anniversary here. How long have you been involved? What is your story with Wishart parkrun?

00:27:27Lee: So I'm the second Event Director at Wishart. The famous Mr Adrian Royce started Wishart parkrun in 2014, and he's got his 500th run coming up in a few weeks, actually. So that'll be exciting for him. I've... just about done my 300th run and probably 220 of them here at Wishart maybe a few more 65 odd volunteers and so I just love it and I've formed part of a group of 14 Run Directors here at Wishart we've got an amazing group of volunteers that support those Run Directors and it's a pleasure to be a part of it

00:28:07Lyndell Murray: You're smiling ear to ear right now. Now, something that I did just want to ask you about in the briefing, at the end of your briefing, you encourage the parkrunners to do something in particular. Can you tell me about that?

00:28:21Lee: So that was started by Adrian himself as well. Adrian's a bit of a character. But I think it probably takes you back to the roots of why people... why you run and and and what we encourage people to do here at Wishart is as you're heading around the course on any given morning take time to have a look around and think to yourself how good is this and uh I won't lay claim to to uh creating that that was uh from Adrian um but I think it's important to think to yourself how lucky we are to be able to get out and run regardless of your time and uh in such a beautiful environment like we've got here at Wishart So take time, have a look around and enjoy your surroundings and enjoy the people and have a smile.

00:29:05Lyndell Murray: Good on you, Lee. I loved that because I try to think that as much as I can in my life in general. But I think that quite a lot at parkrun, how good is this? How good is it? And it is great here. You said look around on the course. The course is a lovely tree-lined course. Tell us a little bit about that.

00:29:24Lee: Yeah, well it goes through three different parks here at Wishart and they're all interlinked by the Bulimba Creek Trail which runs a big way through Brisbane, this trail, and we get to share a small part of that here. So mostly tree-lined Wishart, so it's beautiful in summer, a lot of shade. We share the path with a few scrub turkeys at the moment and... So it's nice being in the middle of Brisbane, but being surrounded by so much bushland. And yeah, it's a nice undulating course, a few little twists and turns, a little bit of incline in some small bits. It's what you could probably call a technical course in a way. For real runners who are looking to get a PB, you might not get it at Wishart, but you'll certainly get a nice challenge in a beautiful environment.

00:30:15Lyndell Murray: Indeed. Okay, is there anything else that you would like the parkrun adventurers to know about Wishart? We've covered the course, we've covered the vibe here. Anything else?

00:30:24Lee: It's probably one of the ones that people like to know about is toilets. There's no toilets right at the start. But they're only 800 metres away in two different directions. There's a couple of different options there. There's good coffee close by afterwards. And that's really, really important. But probably from my point of view at Wishart, we've just got such a great community. Stay around for five or ten minutes afterwards and have a good chat to the people. It's a wonderful community here at Wishart. The course is, I think, one of the nicest courses here in Brisbane with the bushland that you run through. But we all say that about our own courses. But yeah, just take some time and connect with the people here. There's some wonderful people. Got some really young regulars right up to a regular here who's 84 years of age, comes every week. So an amazing community to be a part of. So if you come here, take some time to connect with some of the people and say g'day and introduce yourself and enjoy it.

00:31:28Lyndell Murray: Good on you, Lee. That is brilliant. Thank you so much for talking to me. And thank you for what you do for the community here at Wishart and the contribution that you've made to Wishart parkrun and parkrun in general.

00:31:40Lee: Excellent. Thank you very much for your time.

00:31:44Lyndell Murray: Alrighty.

00:31:45Lyndell Murray: I have caught up with Julian, and it is the first ever parkrun today. How are you going? How was your experience?

00:31:51Julian: It was good, but, you know, it's been 10 years since I've seriously exercised in any formal fashion. So I got some shin splints, so I realised I needed to slow down. I tried running for a while, but it went to fast walking instead. So, yeah, first time exercising. I'm surprised I actually did as well as I did. So, yeah, so...

00:32:12[laughter]

00:32:12Lyndell Murray: You did great, you're still upright, you're still breathing, you're still smiling even and laughing.

00:32:16Julian: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I've heard that these are good events. My sister goes to them quite regularly, so she's always said, oh, you should go, you should go, you should go. And then I've been having some lower leg problems and I went to a podiatrist and he said, there's really nothing wrong with your feet. It's more that you're carrying too much weight, so that's causing issues when you walk. But it's all about the weight, not about the feet. And he said, have you ever thought of doing parkruns? And this was only on Wednesday. And I thought, you know, I've heard about them. I've heard they're good fun. I've heard that they do challenge you a little bit, which is good. So I thought, I'll have a crack and see what happens.

00:32:57Lyndell Murray: Good on you. And you know what? What I liked about you, Julian, is that I pulled up and this isn't my home parkrun. I'm a tourist. And as we were walking down to get into the briefing, you just came up and said, hi, you look like you've done this before. And you were immediately open to just having a chat.

00:33:13Julian: Yeah.

00:33:14Lyndell Murray: And that's what parkrun's about too. So good on you.

00:33:17Julian: Thank you very much. Yeah, no, it's just I felt like if I'm going to do something, I tend to sort of go, OK, I've Let's get into it. Let's find out what I need to know and then go from there. So, yeah, I mean, and she looks, folks, she looks like a serious runner. So I knew she'd done more than 10 years ago. And more than me, so yeah.

00:33:42Lyndell Murray: Well, I'm a bit of a toddler at the moment. I'm just walking a lot and running a little bit, just like you, Julian.

00:33:47Julian: Yeah, and it is, for me, because I am... I'm approximately 18 kilos over what I should be for my age. I'm 62. And so... You know, I realised that I can either go nuts and kill myself or I can actually take it step by step and make this part of my regular week. So make it a make it a habit, not a not a have to do kind of thing. And, you know, nice and early on a Saturday morning. I've still got the rest of the weekend to do the stuff I need to get done. So, yeah, it works for me as opposed to a gym, you know, or something along those lines where you've got to go after work or before work and, yeah, that sort of thing. This is sort of just, you know, an easy beginning because I do need to, as I say, lose about 18 kilos. 15 would be happy. Nice. So, yeah.

00:34:35Lyndell Murray: Nice. Now, you've spoken to me today. I'm not going to be here next week. Have you spoken to anyone? Have you made any other new friends? What?

00:34:42Julian: I turned up at the line and one of my co-workers who I work literally on the opposite desk from me is here and it's his home run so yeah so I'll catch up with him during the week and then yeah if he's here he says he's here pretty regularly so yeah I sort of do know somebody which I didn't know I knew so that's good yeah that's terrific now you're going to talk to your mate during the week are you going to come back next week Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Next week, yeah, shouldn't be a problem. I do travel for work, so sometimes Saturday mornings is a little bit hard, but, you know, yeah, shouldn't be too much of a drama.

00:35:15Lyndell Murray: Well, if you're ever away on a Saturday, there are parkruns all over the place. Maybe we've got a tourist in the making.

00:35:22Julian: Yeah, well, you never know. And that's what I liked about parkrun. When I looked at the website, because I looked up the website and did whatever I needed to do, and I saw, okay, so they're everywhere. I mean, I've got family in Canada. I've got family in England. So you never know.

00:35:37Lyndell Murray: All right, you heard it here first. Julian, adventurer in the making, thank you for talking to me today. All the best with your parkrun journey. Hopefully I'll see you at another one. Yeah, hopefully. No worries.

00:35:50Julian: Thanks very much. See you.

00:35:59Oliver Spake: And thank you very much to Lyndell and to Sarah. It was nice to hear from some of the RD and, well, ED team. And congratulations, Sharon, on your volley milestone.

00:36:13Melissa Ellis: And, Ollie, I just note too that ED Greg out there at Patawalonga River ran his vows in November at parkrun. Now, where was he? Where was he when we needed him during palm22? Yeah.

00:36:26Oliver Spake: Hey, there were some wonderful renewals and other special events at palm22, weren't there? Oh, there were. Yeah, that's true too.

00:36:36Melissa Ellis: That's right.

00:36:38Oliver Spake: There's another Palm.

00:36:39Melissa Ellis: Lyndell the Legendary doing an awesome job as always.

Dazza's

00:36:42Oliver Spake: That's right. But I'll tell you what, Mel, who's also been doing a legendary job, an awesome job, a wonderful job, Dazza. And, yeah, a particularly good cause this week. But Dazza this week said, this week is Rail Safety Week and the theme is Expect the Unexpected. This got us thinking about crazy transport adventures to get to a parkrun. Did you catch a train today? Come on in and tell us all about your journey to parkrun. And fittingly, the first one we've got for you doesn't actually reference transport, but we thought it was noteworthy. It was Graham Wilkinson popped in from the UK to say, no crazy transport story for my visit to Agnew parkrun on Saturday, although the park does contain a miniature railway. But with regard to expecting the unexpected, how often do you expect to have a volunteer turn up to your junior parkrun for the first time on a week when you're the RD and think, oh, I recognise that face. And the photo of course was of Graham and said volunteer who just happened to be one Paul St. John Hewitt.

00:37:51Melissa Ellis: That would be pretty amazing. I would be pretty chuffed if he turned up unexpectedly at my junior parkrun. Hint, hint, hint. And we heard from the Quizmaster, Simon Mackley, and he said, my head has just stopped spinning from a quick trip to Sydney to celebrate my great friend Dorota's 250th. And Simon shared a photo of Dorota running in a 250 cape with her little son, Josh, and her cheetah friends. Sorry I couldn't be there, Dorota. I sent Simon.

00:38:24Oliver Spake: What a job he did. Yeah. Nice job, Simon. Good supporting. Now, we heard also from Kathy Mudge, who said, didn't catch a train, but I drove a long way to Cobar parkrun on my way to Mundi Mundi Bash near Broken Hill. No frame, but there was a nice sign. And the photo shared was of Kathy with Cobar's sign.

00:38:45Melissa Ellis: Now, one thing I didn't get to do was figure out what Mundi Mundi Bash is, but I wonder if it's some sort of outback car rally or something like that, do you think?

00:38:54Oliver Spake: Sounds like it. Mundi Mundi Bash is a musical event, I believe. It's a musical festival, but I understand that it does incorporate camping, campervanning and whatnot. But, look, I just happened to be chatting with some workmates recently about it and You should check out the line-up. Well, we should have checked out the line-up and now it's past tense. Kathy, I hope you enjoyed it for us because it would have been fantastic. Have you checked out the line-up, Mel?

00:39:25Melissa Ellis: No, no, but I want to pin that Mundi Mundi bash and let's come back to that. Remind me at the end.

00:39:32Oliver Spake: All right. All right. Post it. Yep.

00:39:35Melissa Ellis: Don't write a bloody post-it. We also heard from Andrew Turner, and he said, had a great run at Southsea parkrun in Hampshire with the better half and Herbie, a school friend who I'd never parkrun with before. It is a flat run along the foreshore with views across the Solent to the Isle of Wight. There was a tailwind for the first half, which became a leg-sapping headwind all the return. A handy south for the compass challenge, but I don't think it counts as a C. A C? He put the letter C slash SEA for the pirate challenge. And Andrew shared a photo of himself, his better half, and Herbie by the beach. Now, actually, I think this is a perfect line.

00:40:20Oliver Spake: level up for the pirate challenge, Ollie? I think so, yeah. I think it's quite fitting, quite fitting indeed.

00:40:28Melissa Ellis: I think anyone from the UK needs to level up their parkrun challenge at Southsea, just like we like to do here at Shipwreck Creek. Is it Shipwreck Creek? No, it's just Shipwreck.

00:40:40Oliver Spake: Yes, that's right. But staying in the UK, we heard from Calum Burrell, who said, a fabby flake. At Fountains Abbey today, I was doing my 99th different run, jog, walk location, while Lindsay did her 300th volunteering occasion. And Calum shared the photo of Lindsay scanning Calum's barcode at Fountains Abbey. What a picture and what an achievement. Thank you for volunteering, Lindsay, and congratulations.

00:41:13Melissa Ellis: We also heard from Johan Duvenhage and he said, we went off the rails with joy as Wilna van Eminis went green at Paarl parkrun yesterday and he shared a photo of Wilna and himself and friend in front of the 250 flag and Wilna was holding a 250 mug. They have these great flags over there in South Africa, yeah, that they use for their milestones. So congratulations. We wanted to wish a special congratulations to Vilna. Yeah. I must find out if it's the V pronunciation or not.

00:41:49Oliver Spake: Yeah. Mel, I like this one. Greg Moore came in and said, getting on the Matildas bandwagon at Phillip Island parkrun. And the photo was of Greg's son, Ruben, in the selfie frame holding a Matildas flag till it's done.

00:42:06Melissa Ellis: Yes. Excellent. Well done. Go, Tildas. We also heard from Fiona Hinch, Hinchliff, Hinchliff. I want to say Hinchcliffe, but it isn't, is it? It's Hinchliff. We joined Maitland parkrun this morning volunteering as Tail Walker with Catherine Pirotta and my little helper. And Fiona shared two photos of herself with her little green dinosaur friend. So very cute.

00:42:34Oliver Spake: Yes. David Ryan reported in saying, three flights for us yesterday to get to Presint 18 parkrun in Malaysia. After 90 minutes waiting for baggage, they finally let us know it was still sitting in Singapore. It wasn't doing parkrun in the heat in jeans and a dress shirt, so we had to track down a clothes store. Surprisingly, we found a shop at the airport that was open at 10.30pm and it was selling a Wonderful morning out. Our next challenge is a half marathon tomorrow. Still no baggage, so we'll be shopping for shoes and more clothes tonight if the bags don't arrive. Oh, David. But David shared a photo of himself with a group of friends in the selfie frame, and one of them is Harry.

00:43:25Melissa Ellis: Yes. Familiar face. He's just popping up all over the place at the moment. Yes. And fun fact, Ollie, I actually met David and his wife at Ginninderra many years ago when we were touristing over Easter to get our G. That was April 2017. I usually don't forget a face. And I've got the selfie to prove it.

00:43:45Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:43:47Melissa Ellis: But lastly, we heard from Samantha Roberts. No train here, just a quick car trip up the road. Milestone for me today. Done my first parkrun in four months without the aid of a walking stick or friend. And she said, insert happy dance with a smiley face. And there was a picture of Samantha crossing the finish line. Now, I looked up where this was. It was at Yarrabilba.

the Obi Award — Lynsey Burrell

00:44:10Melissa Ellis: Yes. Should I even ask if you can find the envelope? No.

00:44:15Oliver Spake: I can find the envelope. It's this different colour one. No, hang on, give me a second. Yes, yes, I do have an envelope.

00:44:23Melissa Ellis: Good. All right, well, don't keep us in suspense.

00:44:26Oliver Spake: Okay. And the Obi goes to... Lindsay. Lindsay.

00:44:42Melissa Ellis: Calum, but Lindsay. The 300 volunteering occasion gets the Obi. We don't care if it's not a real thing. It's pretty impressive in our eyes. That's right.

00:44:53Oliver Spake: But congratulations on your flake nonetheless.

00:44:56Melissa Ellis: Yes. Yes. Taking nothing away.

00:45:00Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. Thank you, everyone, for joining us in Dazza's this parkrun Day just gone and over the weekend. But Mel, other people that joined other parkrunners around the globe, there were plenty of them.

Consolidated Club Report

00:45:14Oliver Spake: So how are we looking in the Adventurers Club?

00:45:17Melissa Ellis: The adventurers Consolidated Club report for Saturday, the 12th of August, 2023. Of a total of 448 members, 359 took part on this date in nine countries across 167 locations. In the UK, there were adventurers at 26 events, three in the USA, and South Africa, Malaysia, Ireland, Netherlands, and Singapore each had one. Locally, we had adventurers at... Drumroll. It was a tie. Victoria, New South Wales, both on 33 events. There were 31 in Queensland. SA had 14. WA and the North Island, six, five in the ACT, three in Tassie and one each on the South Island and Northern Territory.

the Frond — Jesmond Dene parkrun (largest international frond, 4 adventurers); Centennial parkrun (largest local frond, 21 adventurers)

00:46:05Melissa Ellis: Largest fronds internationally, Jesmond Dene in the UK had four adventurers with Helen and Andy Rutter, Cass Castleton and Claire Winyerzyk. Locally, the largest frond was at Centennial with 21 adventurers being Jack and Claire Corkill, Chris Fraser, Craig and Rebecca Ryan, Rebecca Bailey, Oliver Spake, Sherry and Jason Cottell, Rex Gream, Joe McLean, Jen Arnold, Stephen and Joshua Jackson, myself, Ingrid Botha, Andrew Blanda, Gaillyn Cooper and Peter, Sonja and Oscar Pohlman.

00:46:40Oliver Spake: And what I didn't mention was that it was particularly nice to be started by Em. So thank you, Em and Brendan, for volunteering. But how about that Shellharbour style launch, hey?

00:46:50Melissa Ellis: Huh?

00:46:52Oliver Spake: The Timekeeper, Mel. Oh.

00:46:55Melissa Ellis: Right.

00:46:56Oliver Spake: Yes. Okay. Yes. I understand.

00:46:59Melissa Ellis: Oh, and Helen did post about her frond in Dazza's with photos of the frond of four with the pop-up sign herself at the finish line in her adventurers shirt and Shaun the Sheep, which I assume must be one of those public art trails like TOC was discovering during his UK vacay. But he was chasing morph. Anyway, seems to be lots of those things to explore.

00:47:22Oliver Spake: Yeah. Yeah.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:47:24Oliver Spake: So, yeah, lots going on and more launches, Mel.

00:47:27Melissa Ellis: Five, we believe, across the world this week, thanks to our informant who's had a quick look for us tonight. Now, I do believe they are as follows. Butter Trail in Canada, Corner Brook Stream Trail, also in Canada, and three in South Africa, Lynnfield, Onderstrand, Onderstepoort. Onderstepoort Campus in South Africa and Red Point Church. And we also noticed a couple of interesting things about a couple of those South African ones, Ollie.

00:48:02Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah, look, there are some interesting course maps in there.

00:48:06Melissa Ellis: Yeah, Onderstepoort Campus, it looks like it's around a university campus. So perhaps one of those university challenges.

00:48:16Oliver Spake: Yes, we know someone that will be thinking about that one. Don't we, Alison?

00:48:23Melissa Ellis: Well, it doesn't have a university in the name.

00:48:25Oliver Spake: True. Yeah, yeah, sorry. Yes.

00:48:28Melissa Ellis: I wonder if an O is a thing. Oh, oh, Johan, isn't an O a thing in South Africa? You haven't got an O. O. I'm sure Johan was looking at getting an O while he was over in Australia. There we go. I could have it wrong. But I think that's my memory. Anyway, also Red Point Church seems to be quite interesting bowl of spaghetti course.

00:48:51Oliver Spake: That's right. A couple of turns in there and a whole lot more.

00:48:55Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:48:56Oliver Spake: Yes.

00:48:56Melissa Ellis: So if you're interested, yeah, check out those course maps on the event pages. But, yes, five more baby events.

00:49:04Oliver Spake: Welcome to the parkrun family.

Sign-off

00:49:06Melissa Ellis: But looking forward, Ollie, time to look forward. September is upon us.

Streaky September

00:49:10Oliver Spake: Yeah, I mean, you were mentioning the magpies, but something else comes to mind when we talk September, doesn't it? It's that time. Well, it's nearly that time. It's getting close to that time. It's almost streaky September.

00:49:26Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so we need to get our thinking caps on so that we can put together a Bingoe card. So we're on it. Never fear, adventurers.

00:49:36Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. That's right. So look, here's your opportunity. If you have suggestions, you want to see things on the Bingoe card, you wish to suggest those for consideration, then please send us an email and we'd love to hear. But Mel, I'm conscious some people may not have a clue what we're talking about with the Bingoe card and Streaky September. Sounds fun. What's it all about? I hear you asking. Well, Streaky September is something that has been long associated with this podcast and started by our fellow and original hosts, Scotty and Mel. And... Look, it's completely voluntary. It's just for fun, just for kicks. And it's something that every September we promote, we do, we share with all of you. And really, it's quite simple. All you need to do is complete two kilometres or more. You might walk it, you might run it, you might ride it, you might do something other incredible kind of activity that is your equivalent. But two kilometres is our benchmark. And the fun of it is that you can connect with other adventurers and other streakers who are enjoying that. There has been for a number of years now a Facebook group affiliated with Streaky September that has carried on the fun for an incredible amount of time for those impressive people that don't seem to be able to give up streaking, Mel.

00:51:04Melissa Ellis: I know, yes.

00:51:05Oliver Spake: Is it a support group?

00:51:06Melissa Ellis: Yes, there's a bunch of diehards and every September they get updated with all us wannabes who get on the bandwagon and flood their feed for the month with all our photos. But that's the idea, jump onto the Streaky September group and interact and share your photos every day of your streak and support each other to be active.

00:51:33Oliver Spake: Yeah, keep listening in. So you have 24 hours every day, 24 hours to complete your streak. But if that's not enough fun for you, that's where the Bingoe card comes in.

00:51:45Melissa Ellis: B-I-N-G-O-E. Yeah, and if you do wonder why it's spelt with an A on the end, it just is because Scotty couldn't spell.

00:51:54Oliver Spake: It just is. And that will be providing you your challenges, your level ups, and we... I don't know. I don't know if we can promise fun, but we'll certainly try. So stay tuned for that Bingoe card.

00:52:08Melissa Ellis: Now it comes time to look forward to next week. Where will you be, need we ask, Oliver?

00:52:16Oliver Spake: Well, I guess, you know, in the weeks gone by, I have had a visit home, but I didn't even mention I did complete, you know, little old me, my 49th different event. So I'm trying to earn my stripes with this Here Adventuring podcast and do an adventure now and then. I made it to Varsity Lakes up there in, is it Bundjalung Country?

00:52:40Melissa Ellis: Oh.

00:52:40Oliver Spake: I can't. Sounds impressive. I should have done my research but up on the Gold Coast there. Yes. Yeah, I had a lovely time there. But on my travels, that was the only adventure I managed. So it's home again. It's home again for me this weekend. We will have another one in the team run directing this weekend because we've finally rounded up Bec Bailey and she's putting on the RDS.

00:53:05Melissa Ellis: Excellent. Well, I am going to be heading back to Diamond Creek parkrun, which probably is on Wurundjeri Country because it's out in the Westerfolds area, out that side of town. So I will be attending there to meet up with Craig Ryan. He is running his 250th. So if you are in the general vicinity or you feel like coming and joining the fun out at Diamond Creek, you're most welcome.

00:53:34Oliver Spake: And happy 250, Craig.

00:53:37Melissa Ellis: Yes. So anyway, housekeeping, housekeeping. Housekeeping.

00:53:42Oliver Spake: Well, funny you say that. I've got a post-it here that says Mundi Mundi Bash. Did I write that down?

00:53:48Melissa Ellis: Did you look it up? Yes. Yes, I did.

00:53:51Oliver Spake: You'd like to know who's performing or who performed?

00:53:54Melissa Ellis: Oh, no. Oh, that's right. Yes. So I've had an idea. And the idea was, I haven't run this past you yet, but you love it when I do this, right?

00:54:08Oliver Spake: Yeah. I say gay.

00:54:10Melissa Ellis: Yes. I think we need to create a master document listing festivals and events of interest that you might be able to align with your parkrun tourism goals. So if we create a document like through our adventurer's email, like we can do a Google Doc, can't we? And then we could pin it, to Facebook, I think, on our page, and we could add things. Like, for example, every August, the second Sunday of the month is City to Surf.

00:54:45Oliver Spake: It is?

00:54:46Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so that could be under August. So if you were thinking, if you had the second weekend in August free and you wanted to know where might I go to adventure, oh, maybe I'll choose a Sydney event and I can double it up with City to Surf. Also, there's one in... Oh, Sonia, I've forgotten what it's called, Jumpers and Jazz. Is that what it is in Warwick? I think it is.

00:55:10[other]

00:55:10Oliver Spake: You can hear the tapping in the background here. I'm looking. Yep, that's right.

00:55:16Melissa Ellis: There's all sorts of festivals in towns all over Australia. Let's collate them all into a document that we can use as a reference material so that if we want to go on a trip in August, let's say what's on around the country in August and, yeah, maximise our adventuring experience. So that was my idea. Yes, and we can add the bash.

00:55:40Oliver Spake: That's a great idea. So I suspect we might get a few suggestions.

00:55:45Melissa Ellis: Yes, so let us know.

00:55:46Oliver Spake: Which is an invitation, yes.

00:55:47Melissa Ellis: Yes, please, write in and help me to start to compile this one. Ollie, can you write somewhere that dash?

00:55:56Oliver Spake: Hang on a second. Not just on your post-it note. I'll just grab a post-it.

00:55:59Melissa Ellis: No, no, no, no, no, no.

00:56:01Oliver Spake: Oh, in the notes? Yes. Yes, okay, okay.

00:56:05Melissa Ellis: Gosh, because you've got those post-its everywhere.

00:56:10Oliver Spake: Is there a problem?

00:56:13Melissa Ellis: Well, it does sometimes become problematic.

00:56:16Oliver Spake: Oh, sorry.

00:56:17Melissa Ellis: Because last week it was like an announcement that was like not expected, but it's out there now.

00:56:26Oliver Spake: Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Good point. About April the 13th? Yes. Yes. Yes. Well, I mean, I suppose it was getting time, so it was good to let people know when Palm would be. But Mel, does that mean that we shouldn't tell them that it's going to be in Toowoomba?

00:56:47Melissa Ellis: As always, you can contact us via Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week. We'll see you all next week for more adventures.

00:57:49Unidentified speaker: Bye.