Episode 352 - Black and White Army

00:00:00[intro theme playing]

Welcome

00:00:24Oliver Spake: Welcome to episode 352 of the parkrun adventurers podcast, a podcast about life if your life is all about parkrun. I am Olly Spake and I am joining once again from Dharawal Country.

00:00:38Melissa Ellis: And I am Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country. I even stumble over that these days. Fine.

00:00:48Oliver Spake: Almost seamless. Almost. Yeah.

00:00:51Melissa Ellis: Almost. Wurundjeri. I'm stumbling over Wurundjeri lately.

00:00:55Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:00:55Melissa Ellis: I was going to say, somebody pointed out, Ollie, and you weren't here, so we missed it, that last week was episode 351.

00:01:04[crosstalk]

00:01:04Oliver Spake: I didn't miss it.

00:01:06Melissa Ellis: I didn't miss it. You picked it up.

00:01:08Oliver Spake: It was exciting, yeah. But it wasn't me that had picked it up on one of the chat channels, but very exciting. Well done, everyone. 351 for 351. Yes.

00:01:21Melissa Ellis: So here's me thinking I've got nothing to have a quick chat about. There you go. Then I just blurted that out. Didn't even let you finish saying what you were saying. Talked all over you. Sorry, Ollie. It's good to be back.

00:01:34Oliver Spake: But once again, it was great to listen to the episode from last week. So, yeah, I did enjoy that as I was jogging up Saddleback Mountain, talking to my horses and my cows and saying hello to every animal I passed.

00:01:49Melissa Ellis: Ticking off your Bingoe card.

00:01:51Oliver Spake: Yeah, doing my best, doing my best. I will say, yeah, no, let's save that. Let's save that. Look, I believe you had a bit of a parkrun adventure, so let's just jump straight into that, Mel. Jump straight into it. How was your parkrun day?

00:02:04[crosstalk]

00:02:06Melissa Ellis: Okay. I joined Andrew Johnston and Martine Barrot, plus Zoe in a car trip to Seacliff Esplanade parkrun in South Australia on the lands of the Kaurna people. Seacliff Esplanade parkrun is located in the coastal suburb of Seacliff in Adelaide and runs a double out-and-back course with a start location in the middle. We were amongst 261 participants on the morning, which was slightly up on the average of around 190. likely due to the influx of holidaymakers for the school holidays and the lovely weather. The course itself is on sealed pavement and registered an elevation gain of 11 metres on my Garmin, and it was event 230 with RD David Shaw leading a team of 15 volunteers. I was quite happy, registering my quickest post-pandemic time, giving me the hope that I will once again break that 30-minute mark. There seemed to be a few tourists like ourselves out and about and the RD took down our home parkrun names for mentioning in the run report and it turns out it was lucky he did. Now one thing that you would not be aware of is that Andrew and Martine travel with a large white banner which says Chelsea Bicentennial parkrun on tour and it's taken around with any of a number of Chelsea Bicentennial friends for the purpose of having a photo. The banner is named Eric. Eric Banner, what we didn't realise until we had returned to our motel to shower and check out was that Eric had been left behind at the start finish area and unfortunately that meant backtracking in the wrong direction to our journey home to search for Eric for I'm making it out to be way more dramatic than it really was it's dramatic Fortunately, the event team had rescued Eric and tracked us down so we were able to rendezvous at the surf club to retrieve him and took the opportunity to also enjoy an early lunch on the balcony overlooking the beach. Got to be happy with that. Now, there are a few other highlights from the trip that I wanted to tell you about. Firstly, we stopped along the way to visit some big things. The first was the Big Koala in Dadswells Bridge, which features in Australia Post's coin set. Shame none of us thought to bring the coin. We also found the Big Olive in Tailem Bend and the Big Hills Hoist in O'Sullivan Beach. As well, on the drive over, we stopped at Nhill and met fellow adventurers Lynn Hewson and Greg Moore for a free dough of the parkrun course, a coincidence that they were also travelling to South Australia and were only 30-odd minutes ahead of us on the road. I made sure I logged a nottie. Plus, we also stopped. Thank you. Plus, we also stopped to do a spot of geocaching, a brand new experience for Zoe and I, and Andrew was generous in explaining how it all works. Much excitement was felt when Froggy McFrogface was located at the base of a tree in a truck stop somewhere near. Actually, I have no idea. So that's it. Another whirlwind overnight adventure. Oh, and my 27th South Australian parkrun.

00:05:19Oliver Spake: 27. Well done, Mel.

00:05:21Melissa Ellis: Thanks. I'm chalking them up.

00:05:22Oliver Spake: You are. You are.

00:05:24Melissa Ellis: How many left now? Oh, well, sorry. I think they've got 49 active parkruns. So less than half.

00:05:34Oliver Spake: Yeah.

00:05:35Melissa Ellis: 22.

00:05:35Oliver Spake: Not far.

00:05:36Melissa Ellis: Is that the right maths?

00:05:37Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:05:38Oliver Spake: Yep. Yep. And I do love the Eric banner. That's a very nice touch.

00:05:45Melissa Ellis: Eric banner has been going everywhere with me the last few weeks because I've been touring a lot with Martine.

00:05:50Oliver Spake: Yeah. Way to spend a weekend, Mel. You know how to do it. It's exhausting.

00:05:55[crosstalk]

00:05:56Melissa Ellis: But no, it was fun. Oh, and I was going to mention this. So I don't know if it really is a thing. You know how It's more popular in the UK that when they do their 99th something, they get an ice cream cone with a flake in it and that's a 99.

00:06:10Oliver Spake: Oh, yeah.

00:06:11Melissa Ellis: I bought two because I did my 399 and my 199. So that counts, right?

00:06:14[crosstalk]

00:06:17Oliver Spake: Very nice. Well, yeah, I was going to ask if it was a multiplication thing, but no, that's very appropriate.

00:06:24Melissa Ellis: That did occur to me that I should have been actually rather multiplying 99 by and then I thought that was a bit, that's a stretch.

00:06:35Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. You have to seize the moment, seize the link at the time. So very good.

00:06:42Melissa Ellis: Anyway, so I bought, I went to McDonald's and I bought two soft serve cones with flakes in them. I'll post for a photo and then I'll let Andrew and Martine eat them. Because they're not local.

00:06:51Oliver Spake: That's very kind of you. Yeah. I'm a little hungry now.

00:06:56Melissa Ellis: But how was your parkrun at Shalaba? Shalaba? Shalaba, yeah.

00:07:03Oliver Spake: Yeah, well, look, I had, well, two weeks of Shellharbour parkrunning. I have been local to home and have been enjoying it. This Saturday just gone saw me back in the vest and back on the table calling out with some great assistant Run Directors and helpers afoot. But it was, yeah, it was a beautiful morning. Not as hot as the week before. That was a scorcher. Not great marathon running temperatures. You had a heat wave. Yeah, it was summery. It was balmy. But it has been a great time. Thanks, Mel. And good to be sticking around home before some more adventuring comes up next month. But, you know, surrounded by family, by friends, by helpers, some impressive volunteering milestones. And, I mean, mind you, There were many volunteering milestones I noticed through Dazza's, but a shout out to my wonderful crew. There were, in fact, two 75th volunteering milestones that we didn't even acknowledge on the day, but thank you to Karen and Ralph, and a 50th volunteering milestone by Bec. So apparently you can get good help.

00:08:19Melissa Ellis: Very well supported out there at Schlaba. And we'll expect some more heat waves, I would say, Oli, because in the last week, or perhaps it's been the last two weeks, but the Bureau of Meteorology has declared we are going into El Nino. So we are looking at another drought, aren't we?

00:08:39Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right, yes. And, yeah, conditions will be... Yes, back towards that end of the scale that we had a couple of years ago. Gosh, Mel, it's almost like we need a bit of a bureau or weather correspondent.

00:08:55Melissa Ellis: Ooh, we've got some of those.

00:08:58Oliver Spake: We do, we do. That's right. We'll save that for another day. But with all this talk of heat, I think we need to mention water.

00:09:08Melissa Ellis: Oh, yes. Cue me. Presint 18 had a special event. We were tipped off in the socials with this. They're parkrun partnered, with the Community Carnival and Putrajaya Water Festival. The first 100 participants got a free shirt on the morning. The first 500 participants got free breakfast. And that's pretty good because there were 505 people, attending on that morning so that was huge for that parkrun there were a whopping 237 people coming in after the one hour mark so lots of walkers I love that

00:09:52Oliver Spake: Absolutely love that. Yeah. Yeah.

00:09:55Melissa Ellis: So good to see some celebrations going on over there in Malaysia at their one and only remaining parkrun.

00:10:02Oliver Spake: Some great representation. And carrying on the news and discussion, still with a bit of an international feel, Mel, we've got news from Germany. There was a bit of a marathon, the Berlin Marathon, in fact, and marvellous mark. Yeah. Has completed it. He finally got there. And congratulations to Channel 5 News crew's own marvellous Mark for finishing in an impressive time of four hours, 26 minutes and 13 seconds. And, of course, I suppose in side news, Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia also happened to knock off the previous women's marathon record by more than two minutes.

00:10:43Belinda Bosman: Wow.

00:10:43Oliver Spake: Finishing in two hours, 11 minutes and 53 seconds. So just in front of Mark. But what a result and congratulations, of course, to everyone who participated in that one.

00:10:57Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I did have a few people in my list. Especially Mark. Yeah, especially you, Mark. But I had a few people in my social media feed who were over there doing it and answered the question as to why there were people parkrunning the previous day in Singapore because obviously they were en route. Yes. But also just to follow up on last week's episode when we were discussing the notties, I did get a message from TOC giving us an update on how many he's up to. So at the time that he sent me the message, TOC is sitting on 1,193 notties. That's pretty impressive.

00:11:32Oliver Spake: That's very impressive.

00:11:33Melissa Ellis: And I know Johan does it too. And Vilna. And Jackie.

00:11:39Oliver Spake: That's right. Yes.

00:11:41Melissa Ellis: They're all still logging the parkruns. So good-o. But that's enough of that, Ollie.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:11:48Melissa Ellis: It's time for us to listen to our roving reporters. We've got three this week. We're hearing from all corners of the world, shall we say. I think so. If we count WA as the other side of the world, as we do. So let's have a listen.

00:12:00[background music]

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

Roving report Tony O'Connell — Dixon Field parkrun

00:12:14Tony O'Connell: Howdy, parkrunners. TOC reporting in for the Channel 5 News crew. Today we've ventured out west. We've gone to Dixon Field parkrun in Gisborne. Jack and I have travelled up and we've become greatsmen again today. That is, we've completed all the parkruns in the greater state. We'll get out, have our run and we'll have a bit of a chat with someone later.

00:12:37Tony O'Connell: Howdy, parkrunners. We're on the finish line at Dixon Field parkrun, and I'm here with Tom, who's the Event Director. Tom, firstly, welcome to the parkrun adventurers podcast. Thank you. The course today, beautiful sunny day. Give us a little bit of a description about your course.

00:12:53Tom: Okay, so our course is a very, very flat course, which is surprising for Gisborne area because we're just off the edge of the Macedon Ranges. Everyone thinks that Gisborne's a very hilly area, and it is, but our parkrun has elevation gain of around about eight metres. So it's a very, very flat course.

00:13:09Tony O'Connell: And look, I was running with a couple of people from Grand Ridge today who do have a bit of elevation, and both Liz and her husband, they both smashed out all-time PBs today. They said they did comment on how flat it was and how quick it was.

00:13:23Tom: It's surprising, really, because we're still at courses. Well, if you first look on the map online, it looks very complicated, but it's very simple. We have marshals around, but I was just going to say, it's surprising they've got a PB because we've still got a lot of twists and turns, which does slow people down a little bit.

00:13:36Tony O'Connell: And Tom, I heard an interesting story. One of them was telling me that you actually had got Dixon Field up and running while you were living in Sydney before you actually moved down.

00:13:46Tom: No, that's not quite right. No, we just moved back from Sydney and we lived in Melton. So we're doing Toolern Creek. That's sort of our home parkrun. We were involved in helping set up another parkrun up in Sydney. We were at the Ponds and we helped set up Rouse Hill, which is just three k's away. And we sold our house here, downsizing, and we're building in Gisborne. And we originally thought we'd get this up and running around about September, October, once winter finished. We didn't want to struggle through winter, as we sort of are now for volunteers. But yeah, we decided, because we got the funding early through VicHealth, that we'd go ahead and start in mid-May.

00:14:21Tony O'Connell: And hopefully your volunteer numbers will sort of pick up as footy season finishes and netball season and all those.

00:14:27Tom: Well, Gisborne's known for how cold it is, so we're hoping people are still getting out of bed and we're getting an average of sort of 50, 60 runners a week, which is still great. We're always happy to get, even if we had 20 or 30, it's well worth setting up parkrun, getting people out of bed and out and about and enjoying the beautiful Saturday mornings that we have, even in the cold. But look, we think as we get closer to Christmas and it gets a bit warmer, we reckon our numbers will be around about 80, 90 a week, which is just a nice number to have.

00:14:55Tony O'Connell: Yeah, it's a great little local feel number. You've made a couple of comments there about it being cold, but I've got to tell you, we're all sitting around here in T-shirts in glorious sunshine.

00:15:03Tom: At the moment, yeah, but it was half a degree when we arrived this morning and all the fields were white and icy. But, yeah, now the sun's been out, it's a beautiful day. I think I'll take my wind heater off as well. It's really nice. It's a beautiful area and our course now is really prettying up as well because all of the trees are getting buzz on them and getting all green and running around the back of the course along the creek and also through the Botanic gardens. It's really, I think it'll be one of the prettiest. If you want to go to a pretty parkrun... I think Dixon Field is one of the prettiest.

00:15:34Tony O'Connell: And not only that, Tom, in the Gisborne area, it's not just the parkrun. There's lots of the C&D. You make a weekend of it, come down and visit. There's plenty of other activities around, plenty of places to visit.

00:15:43Tom: That's right. Yeah, we're close to Bendigo. A lot of people head this way when they're either going, you know, Bendigo way for the weekend. They stop off here on the way to Dixon Field and they're quite welcome to do that. It's great.

00:15:55Tony O'Connell: Well, I think it's time to head off for coffee and thanks for the chat, Tom. No problem. Thank you very much.

Roving report David Messenger — Kalgoorlie-Boulder parkrun

00:16:01David Messenger: Hello fellow parkrun adventurers. This is David and today I have finally driven 585km from Perth to Kalgoorlie to complete my NENDY and my 190th location. We travelled up on Friday and checked out the absolutely incredible Super Pit and did a pre-check of the course and found it to be absolutely awesome. It has a great car park with immaculately sealed paths and you pass an epic steel lookout with a spiral steel staircase. There are no toilets at the start but there are two out on the course plus many drinking fountains at almost every track intersection. I was at the lookout watching the sunset wondering why it was so early and it turns out being 585 kilometres further east makes a time difference of 23 minutes earlier than Perth. Really looking forward to tomorrow and hope to talk to some of the locals and meet the event team. It's their event 504, so they've been running for over 10 years.

00:17:06David Messenger: And I'm here with Danny, who's a Kalgoorlie local, or at least he's been here nearly 10 years. And he's going to tell me his parkrun story. Danny?

00:17:14Danny: Yeah, well, my mate Grant used to run a lot of marathons. He said to me, they're starting this new event in Kalgoorlie. And I said, what's that? And he said, it's called parkrun. And you go to the same place every Saturday, do the same distance, and it's at the same time. And I said, jeez, how boring would that be? So anyway, I came along. I missed the first couple, and then I came along. And I've now done 420 parkruns and volunteered about 56 times. It's all about Kalgoorlie? Mostly Kalgoorlie, yeah. Yeah, I've probably done about 10 away somewhere else. I'm a bit of a local, yeah.

00:17:50David Messenger: Well, your way above now, I've only done 281 today. So 400 is a really big, big total. Yeah, I'm pretty impressed with myself, and people were telling me the course has changed where you've now got beautiful paving and you've got markers, so it's progressed over those 10 years?

00:18:08Danny: Yeah, yeah, just quite recently really. We've got a nice surface. Before it was a very rough old surface and now we've got this beautiful tarmac around about, probably about three or four k's of it, yeah, with a nice new tarmac, yeah.

00:18:20David Messenger: Did they have to run an alternative course while the tarmac was being laid?

00:18:23Danny: No, no, they're very clever. They just did it during the week.

00:18:25David Messenger: Oh, okay, it didn't affect you, okay. So what's your next goal you want to do? A certain number of, you want to get to 500?

00:18:32Danny: Oh, 500's the big goal, mate. Yeah, yeah, you definitely want to get to 500, you know. But I love parkrun. I mean, what I really love about parkrun is the fact that you see, you know, it's just a great way to start your Saturday. Yes, yes, I find that too. Yeah, you know, like you're sort of, a lot of people will think struggle on a Saturday. They've been busy all week and then they wake up Saturday and they go, oh, my God. But if you just come to parkrun you get in a positive frame of mind straight away and we always go for coffee after and catch up with your mates and you go home and you're good all day Saturday. It sets up your weekend.

00:19:00[crosstalk]

00:19:02David Messenger: I find that too. It's great. There's doctors who are prescribing parkrun to try and lift the mood of patients so yes, it's well received.

00:19:11Danny: I read actually somewhere where they've done some research and they know that the physical health benefits of parkrun, but then they, to their surprise, they found out the mental health benefits were even better than the physical health benefits. Yes, yes. So it's really a great thing. There just seems to be so much focus out there on who's the best and the champion and all that sort of stuff, whereas here, you just focus on everybody, you know.

00:19:35David Messenger: All right, Daniel, well, thanks for talking to me and best of luck for your 500 in probably about three quarters of a year by the sound of it.

00:19:41Danny: No, I think I'd probably be looking at about 18 months.

00:19:44David Messenger: 18 months? Yeah. All right, well, best of luck with your 500. Thanks for talking to me.

00:19:48Danny: Good, thanks. All right.

00:19:51David Messenger: And I'm here with Alison, who's the Co-Event Director.

00:19:54Alison: Morning.

00:19:55David Messenger: Morning.

00:19:56Alison: How did you find our warm Kalgoorlie day?

00:19:58David Messenger: Well, the sun comes up like 23 minutes earlier than Perth, so we certainly felt the temperature difference from that extra 23 minutes, so I'm not sure this is what I'd want to be doing through summer.

00:20:08Alison: Well, it's pretty nice through summer, and that's surprising when we get more numbers, oddly.

00:20:12David Messenger: Yes, no, it's certainly got an all-weather course, so it wouldn't matter if it's wet, but it's not much shade, so yes.

00:20:19Alison: No, considering with all the big trees around, it's not shaded, so yeah. So we started our parkrun in 2013. We had attended, myself and Nigel had attended a Rockingham parkrun. And then we thought, oh, this could be something that we could do. We had two younger children, two older children. One had special needs and we had the motto that when you do sport, your kids watch. When your kids do sport, you watch. So with parkrun, we thought this is something that we could do together. And my son having visual problems, we thought, well, he could do it as well. He did until he got an adult and then decided that that's just too hard. But the kids have come along. We've been lucky to have our Run Directors, Richard, Louise and Grant, on board virtually. on halfway into our first year and they're still with us today. We've had others that have come on and then moved on. We've had a Run Director that has recently started their own parkrun in Denmark as well so they were just for the short time.

00:21:13David Messenger: I talked to them two weeks ago so they were talking about they went from Kalgoorlie to Denmark go why is there not a parkrun here?

00:21:18Alison: Yep.

00:21:19David Messenger: Yes.

00:21:20Alison: And it definitely changes your life with the atmosphere of the kids and stuff. So we've seen people from our parkrun, because we've been 400km from another one, they've come from walkers, they've ran marathons, half marathons, and you definitely see the change in people through a parkrun. And we see it as a Saturday morning, everybody's your family here, so you're not judged by what's going on or how you're feeling, and it is what it is when you walk inside our gate, we always have that understanding.

00:21:45David Messenger: Yeah, no, it's very inclusive. People always get sort of worried about the term run, but there's all sorts of people, walkers, people with prams, dogs, everything.

00:21:54Alison: And that's the advantage here. A lot of people know that, well, I'm not the runner, but Nigel's the runner and stuff. And then, so they see that there's that avenue. They'll always see that I'm coming in the last and if you joke about I've got to have the toilet stops along the way, which is the advantage, so then they can beat me. But it gives them the clearance that, yeah, walking's okay as well. And we always promote that it's walk, run or what you feel.

00:22:15David Messenger: Yeah, one of the few courses that actually has toilets on the course but also the number of bubblers in tracking sections was quite impressive too.

00:22:22Alison: Yeah, well we're in the process and we're going to have a big toilet just coming up here at the start line and they're putting in a, I think it's about half a million dollar big playground and barbecue and shades and stuff so that's going to be a bigger advantage right at the start finish line for us as well.

00:22:35David Messenger: Yeah, well, you must be the most professionally laid out course in WA. When I looked at the course, the track you've now got and the markers and the Run Director was telling me the markers to glow in the dark.

00:22:46Alison: Yeah, we just had the local Kalgoorlie prison actually concrete them in for us and also go and paint them glow in the dark, which has been one of my wishes that I wanted to do since we had them installed. But nobody would let me install them as glow in the dark. But they're now glow in the dark, which is good for night times.

00:23:05David Messenger: Yeah, so that might be a good way to avoid the temperature.

00:23:08Alison: Yes, yeah, and we do, you have a lot of people that parkrun here overnight, so, oh, I shouldn't say parkrun, they do the course overnight, so it's very active. And working with the COE bowl that runs the park, they actually said their numbers have really increased here in the park. Reason being, a reason of having the course upgraded, the paths upgraded. I'd been onto the parks, guys, for nine years, saying, Colin, we needed a new path, so... We got a pretty smicko one and we're pretty impressed with that.

00:23:35David Messenger: Yeah, certainly smick. And when I was talking to Danny, he said they did it such that it didn't interrupt your course. So they did during the week or whatever.

00:23:42Alison: Yeah, it was a few words were said to make sure that it was done to non-interruption. So even when the car park was done, they gave us exclusive access. So we had, we was pretty good getting in and having that link with making sure that parkruns not interrupted. So we've got that communication happening pretty strongly.

00:23:59David Messenger: It was a very very professional course and I'd encourage anyone that wants to try something different to come to Kalgoorlie. Certainly it was worth the drive to see the super pit yesterday and then come to this parkrun's been great.

00:24:11Alison: Yeah no it's definitely a good one and now that we've got our coffee vans back that's even better of a bonus.

00:24:16David Messenger: Okay thanks for talking.

00:24:17Alison: Thanks for joining us.

00:24:19David Messenger: Several other people that I talked to after the run told me how their kids had grown up over the 10 years of Kalgoorlie parkrun. and had counted down the days until their 11th birthday when they could run adult free. Just now enjoying some of the many post run cafe options in Kalgoorlie and the results have come in, checking Danny's results and he's in the 70 plus age group and he beat me by six minutes today and his all-time PB is over four minutes faster so something very much for me to aspire to in my parkrun future this is David signing out till next time happy adventuring

Roving report Johan Duvenhage — Jock Trail parkrun

00:25:03Johan Duvenhage: Good morning adventurers, it's Johan checking in from the Mpumalanga province in the Kruger Lowveld region of South Africa, the province of the rising sun. It's scorchingly hot and I'm standing here with Grant and Belinda Bosman as well as Reynard Nieuwenhuis, some of the core team members of Jock Trail parkrun in Graskop. Good morning guys.

00:25:24Grant Bosman: Morning, morning Johan.

Talking to Grant Bosman — Jock Trail parkrun core team; event ambassador for the Kruger Lowveld parkrun region…

00:25:27Grant Bosman: Grant, tell me, when did you start the Jock Trail parkrun? In 2019. Yeah, so this is our hundred and Sorry, yeah, 2019. And this is our 144th event today.

00:25:42Johan Duvenhage: Fantastic. So just give me a brief description of the course. I've run it and my legs can feel it. But it's obviously, it's a very beautiful course. If you can just tell our listeners a little bit of how the course looks like.

00:25:53Grant Bosman: Yeah, so it's very much trail and we run it on part of the Jock of the Bushveld Trail. So there's a lot of history attached to it. It's where... Percy Fitzpatrick and his jock, Staffordshire, it was a Staffordshire Terrier. He went through this area. He was an ox wagon transport rider. And in his younger days, in the 1880s, he went through this area. And so they've plotted the jock trail out through his movement. And there's certain sections where he, very rocky conditions, sandstone features appear and he identified seven sentinels there with different animals and that was only discovered about two decades ago by someone walking through this area that he recognised these sandstone sentinels but yeah it's very much a trail run and you run to the edge of the escarpment with this amazing view and yeah it's quite popular in the area.

00:27:01Johan Duvenhage: So today or this weekend is a long weekend and you expected a bit of a turnout. How did it go?

00:27:08Grant Bosman: Yeah, no, it was very much less than what we expected. Last weekend we had 55 runners, which is big for us. And today we had 34, which is still good for us.

Talking to Belinda Bosman — Jock Trail parkrun core team member, Graskop, South Africa

00:27:24Johan Duvenhage: Belinda, coming to you. So for you, what does parkrun mean for you? You've been involved with it for a while, I guess. What do you feel that parkrun brings to the community in Graskop?

00:27:36Belinda Bosman: Well, it's a very healthy thing even for the children. We've got children from the children's home, the orphanage in town, and even they participate. So mentally it's healthy and I think spiritual as well.

00:27:56Unidentified speaker: Spiritual.

Talking to Reynard Nieuwenhuis — Jock Trail parkrun regular, all of his parkruns run at the one event

00:27:56Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:27:57Johan Duvenhage: So, Reinhard, I saw you gave me quite a run for my money today. How many runs have you done here at Jock Trail?

00:28:08Reynard Nieuwenhuis: 152 or 153 now.

00:28:09Johan Duvenhage: Okay, so you've been running somewhere else as well?

00:28:12Reynard Nieuwenhuis: No, no, no, no. I've been running only on Jock Trail. I told Grant and Belinda, if I do my 100th year, I'll go somewhere else, but I enjoy our parkrun much more.

00:28:25Johan Duvenhage: because it's challenging but that's what I love about it yeah all right guys thank you very much I had lots of fun here in Jock Trail and uh once I do my second round of South Africa in a few hundred years I'm really going to come back and do it again thank you very much thanks for your visit yeah adventures just a few notes in addition now that I've recovered as you could hear from my voice my legs were quite jelly after the run as it was quite a tough course and it was very hot and windy Reinhardt had included some of his unofficial runs at the event, hence him saying that he had done 150 outruns and has run all of his 104 recorded parkruns at the event. Grant is the event ambassador for the Kruger Lowveld parkrun region and he was also the Run Director for the day. Jock Trail parkrun is literally a bit of an outlier in the region, being so much higher than the other events, as the town of Graskop is at 1,400 metres above sea level. And it's actually situated on the escapement of the Drakensberg, looking down on the Lowveld below, where the altitude ranges between 250 and 400 metres above sea level. The name of the town, Graskop, means grassy hillock. The town is well known for several scenic viewpoints towards the Lowveld, the most famous of that being God's Window, a small distance out of town. Other points of interest in the vicinity is the old mining town of Pilgrim's Rest and the Bourke's Luck Potholes in the Blyde River, not to be confused with the similar feature on many of our roads. To the south is Hazyview, one of the gateways to the Kruger National Park, and Sabie, the centre of the timber industry in the area. As you heard Grant mention, the name of the parkrun and the conservancy on which it's located stems from the book Jock of the Bushveld, which is a true story by South African author Sir James Percy Fitzpatrick. This book from 1907 recounts his travels with his dog Jock for long believed to be a Staffordshire bull terrier cross during the 1880s when he worked as a storeman, a prospector's assistant, a journalist and an ox wagon transport rider in the Bushveld region of the then Transvaal. More recently, though, some researchers have indicated that they don't believe Jock to have been a single dog, but a composite of several dogs that Fitzpatrick may have owned. They also dispute that Jock was across with a Staffordshire Terrier, as that breed was only established several decades later, and they instead postulate that the father of the original Jock may have been a Boerboel, one of the iconic South African dog breeds. Well, that's it. Until next time, happy adventuring.

00:30:50[background music]

00:31:07Oliver Spake: And thank you very much to our roving reporters coming to us from Dixon Field, Jock Trail and Kalgoorlie-Boulder, TOC, Johan and David. And as you said, Mel, from all corners of the world, and it was nice to hear from the gang, but...

Dazza's

00:31:25Oliver Spake: Mel, we have also heard from a number of people this week at Dazza's. So I think it's time we switch straight to Dazza's, where at Dazza's he said, in Australia, it is National Week of Deaf People and across the world, it is International Day of Sign Languages. Another indication of how inclusive parkrun is, is the way in which deaf runners and walkers are made so welcome. How was your morning? And one such parkrunner being welcomed on our last parkrun day was Rex Gream, who said, Sixth visit to Walcha parkrun. Visited with two friends, one of which is recovering from a serious bicycle accident last year. He is doing parkrun as part of his rehabilitation and appreciated the even surfaces of Walcha paths. Wow. Great group of volunteers and locals who make you feel welcome. Strongly recommend this small parkrun plus good coffee at Cafe Grey's for anyone adventuring in the New England area. And Rex shared the photo of himself and friends in the selfie frame there.

00:32:31Melissa Ellis: Good to hear from Rex. We also heard from Ian and Lydia Knox and they said, nice crew at Braidwood Showground parkrun this morning. Thick fog on the way down. RD understood us well with simple sign gestures. Talwalka on their 111th event. Long circuit drive from Sydney down the Hume and up the Princess via Nowra. Final parkrun in my current age bracket. Next Saturday, different age bracket, 60 to 65. I don't know if that's Ian. I'm guessing that's Ian.

00:33:06Oliver Spake: I think so.

00:33:06Melissa Ellis: And we had a photo of Ian and Lydia in the selfie frame at Braidwood, plus a picture of a toy husky on the card dash showing a fresh three degrees, Ollie. And can I just thank you for putting your note in the italics, even though you're a bit cheeky.

00:33:25Oliver Spake: Sorry, Simon.

00:33:28Melissa Ellis: Listeners, it says in italics because I'm not Simon. We are going to mention that Ian and Lydia were, of course, interviewed by Billo back in episode 349, and we would like to wish happy birthday to Ian, that we assume is the one celebrating the birthday, for this week.

00:33:47Oliver Spake: Now, also checking in to Dazza's was Gail Roderick, who said, Inverell parkrun, where I completed the unofficial Old MacDonald Challenge, E-I-E-I-O, of East Coast Park, or I should say East Coast in this case, Ipswich, Ecco Ripley, Inverell, and Ocean View, complete with all the... emojis of the animals, which I won't read out. But Gail went on to say, walked as I'm still in recovery from surf coast century 50 kilometres last Saturday. And Gail shared a picture in the selfie frame, but well done. And I hope the recovery is going well and feeling better.

00:34:31Melissa Ellis: Nice work. That's a good event, that one. Now we heard from Helen Rubin who said, fantastic morning celebrating my 300th parkrun at the Ponds parkrun. And Helen shared a photo of the fabulous cake and a wonderful shirt.

00:34:47Oliver Spake: That's right. Congratulations. That's right. And this is where I have failed in terms of the notes here, Mel, but, yeah, Helen's shirt went through all of the milestones and different numbers of countries and locations achieved there, with a bit of a plug to Airey Airways and the parkrun adventurers. So congratulations, Helen, and thanks for thinking of us too. Now, Sherry Brandtman checked in and said, beautiful morning at Casula Parklands parkrun. First run post Sydney Marathon. Planned a slow walk, ended up being able to run the whole way. Body recovering better than I thought, met some new friends from Alice Springs and told them all about the adventurers podcast, social media pages and, of course, Dazza's, and a pic in my Marathon Finishes shirt. And Sherry indeed did share the photo in the Marathon shirt. Congratulations. Well done, Sherry. Yeah, well done. Well done. And, Mel, it was remiss of me not to say thank you so much to some of the adventurers and Ponds parkrun familiar faces out there on Marathon Day. It was an absolute boost to see Jo McLean twice on course and Jen Arnold as well.

00:36:05Melissa Ellis: Mm. Ah, excellent.

00:36:06[crosstalk]

00:36:07Oliver Spake: Who I finished just behind. Yes.

00:36:08Melissa Ellis: I was just thinking that we didn't have a conversation about your marathon, but congratulations, Ollie, too. Oh, thank you.

00:36:15Oliver Spake: Thank you. But I'm stealing Sherry's thunder. So, yeah, huge achievement. Well done, Sherry.

00:36:21Melissa Ellis: We had Roberta Winters who said, East Coast Park parkrun for me today. Here's me in a photo with a few Aussies from Sydney and Melbourne. And Roberta shared a photo with Team Aussie. And now Catherine Pirotta said, at Nulkaba.

00:36:37Oliver Spake: parkrun this morning with deaf friend as I've been up since 3 30 a.m for second Saturday in a row to do parkrun away from my home parkrun as I drove two hours and 20 minutes to parkrun which was a bit chilly start to the morning and katherine's photo shared there as a parkwalker herself and the photo frame with the other parkwalker and the Tail Walker and a dragon

00:37:02Melissa Ellis: And we heard from Paul Whelan, the Viking and the Panther, getting the job done. Tick. Happy days, the Green Brothers. And there was a photo of the Viking and the Panther fan. That's right. So we've got a new identity, the Panther. Goodness. Oh, yes.

00:37:23Oliver Spake: Who was responsible for this? Hannah Newton said, surprise parkrun, appearance at Ollie's favourite parkrun. And Han shared a photo of herself, complete with knee strap, plus Karen and the two wonderful junior volleys from the morning.

00:37:41Melissa Ellis: Aww. Aww. Very good. And last but not least, we've got Cathy Crispin. Ended up getting a chance to volunteer as Tail Walker with my pooch while passionistering a Panania parkrun this week. And Cathy shared photo with her pooch plus a smiley face in the selfie frame.

00:38:02Oliver Spake: Yes, a rock.

00:38:05Melissa Ellis: A rock, okay. Yes, a rock. Guess who didn't take enough notice of the photos in Dazza's this week? There's no rock written there in italics.

00:38:16Oliver Spake: I'll just mention. No, no, I'm just exclaiming, just exclaiming. But thank you, everyone, for popping into Dazza's and sharing with us your parkrun Day mornings.

the Obi Award — Ian and Lydia Knox

00:38:30Oliver Spake: Mel, do you have the envelope this week? No. Okay. That must be me then. You must be. Hey, look, after the conversation last week, which was around, I guess, you know, being a bit more sustainable and not just buying hordes and hordes of Post-its willy-nilly, which is how I heard that conversation.

00:38:49Melissa Ellis: Oh, that wasn't how it was intended. I was just explaining my random scrap paper.

00:38:55Oliver Spake: No, no, no. Well, I was very impressed with your approach. I've got a whiteboard now.

00:39:02Melissa Ellis: Oh.

00:39:02Oliver Spake: I just thought I'd like to put it out. I've got a whiteboard. It's covered in scribble, but it's not on the desk. Right.

00:39:09Melissa Ellis: Okay. We've got a budget for the office, have we?

00:39:13Oliver Spake: That I didn't know about.

00:39:16Melissa Ellis: Because I'm saving all this money with my scrap paper, you've been able to buy a whiteboard.

00:39:21Oliver Spake: That's right. That's right. Oh, you'd be proud of me. Good work, Ollie. So I have a magnet on the whiteboard. I'll take the magnet off and, yes, there is the envelope. So it's easy to spot. I'm really liking this new clean office feeling. I think it could really take. Anyway, the Obi this week. The Obi this week goes to... It goes to Ian and Lydia Knox. APPLAUSE At, well, the second week back of Braidwood Showground parkrun, and it's wonderful to have them back as well. So congratulations, Ian and Lydia, and welcome back, Braidwood.

00:39:45[background music]

00:40:13Melissa Ellis: Hurrah, hurrah. Excellent.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:40:16Melissa Ellis: Well, there's more celebrations to come, so it's time now for us to hear from our birthday boy.

00:40:20[background music]

00:40:30the Birthday Boy: Howdy, it's the Birthday Boy here with some of the goings on for October 2023. Let's start with something special. German Unity Day in 2023 falls on the 3rd of October. Check out www.parkrun.com.de forward slash special hyphen events, to see which of the 50 plus events in Germany will be operating on that day. Each country has a version of the special page following the above naming convention. Back to Oz, and this month we have four parkrun days with week one on the 7th, week two on the 14th, week three is on the 21st, week four is the 28th of the month. October is the parkrunningest month in Oz, with nearly 50 events, so way too many events to list them all, but I will highlight a few. A reminder first of 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, et cetera. After the excitement of New Farm last month, we don't have any 12s, but we do have a batch of 11s. All are in the back half of the month with Kingscliff NSW and North Lakes Queensland on the 21st and Kawana Queensland on the 28th of the month. There are a big bunch of 10s in October, but one needs a shout out, Darwin in the Northern Territory. This was the first event in the Northern Territory and the 47th to begin in Australia. The opening of Darwin meant that parkrun was now open in all states and territories. Cue the Peel Club being possible. For something different this month, we have six events all turning six. Portarlington and Bannockburn Bush in Victoria, Urunga in New South Wales, Cloncurry Queensland, Kangaroo Island in South Australia and Railton in Tasmania. We also have eight events turning eight. WA has Champion Lakes, Queensland has Petrie, Paradise Point Highfields and Hamilton Island. Slightly confusingly, Hamilton in Victoria opened a week later, and New South Wales has Grafton and Port Macquarie. Now, let's check out those first anniversaries. Week one has Coober Pedy Oval, South Australia, and Nolens Park, Victoria. Week four has Scribbly Gums Conservation in Queensland, and that's it. We'll be back next January for the next Junior parkrun celebrations. 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. Well, see you next month for some more birthday boy banter. And be sure to let Mel, or the boys, know if you have any requests.

00:43:45[background music]

00:43:54Oliver Spake: And thank you very much to our birthday boy. And Mel, is parkrunningest a word?

00:44:04Melissa Ellis: Well, I didn't invent it this time so I can't get in trouble and you didn't invent it so the birthday boy is going to be in the bad books with the Office Lady.

00:44:13Oliver Spake: No, no, big tick from me, big tick.

00:44:16Melissa Ellis: So October is busy with birthdays, isn't it? Yes. It's not only parkrun's having birthdays in October though, Oliver.

00:44:23Oliver Spake: I sound like I'm in trouble.

00:44:28Melissa Ellis: I just wanted to take the opportunity to point out to everybody, I'm still a little way away, but your birthday is coming up. You are going to be having a milestone birthday and going up an age category. Is that not correct?

00:44:41Oliver Spake: That is indeed not not correct.

00:44:45Melissa Ellis: So. On a parkrun day as well.

00:44:49Oliver Spake: So, yeah. Double good. Yeah. That's right. I've been told I'm not allowed to run direct either. So yeah, I might go out for a little jog. I don't know. I'll find a nice parkrun nearby.

00:45:01Melissa Ellis: Now, you might find that you need to check your letterbox this week because you might have a parcel in the mail and it might be referencing your birthday, but you need to open it before this Saturday.

00:45:12Oliver Spake: Right.

00:45:13Melissa Ellis: There's just a little tip. Don't go, don't, we go on one of these people that says, I'll save it and open it on the day of my birthday because I need you to open it.

00:45:21Oliver Spake: Oh, gee, that's setting a great example for my daughter who I continue to tell. No, it's not your birthday till Thursday. Yeah, all right. Yep. That one too. Sure. Do as I say, not as I do. All right. I'm intrigued. Right. Okay. This wasn't in the script.

00:45:38Melissa Ellis: No, it wasn't in the script. And you won't be here next week. So I can't wish you a happy birthday next week.

00:45:42Oliver Spake: That's true, yes.

00:45:44Melissa Ellis: Yes, so we'll just jump in now and say that we hope that you have a very happy milestone birthday.

00:45:50Oliver Spake: Thank you very, very much. But let's continue to talk about good things.

Consolidated Club Report

00:45:56Oliver Spake: Mel, how are we going with the Consolidated Club report?

00:45:59Melissa Ellis: The adventurers Consolidated Club report for Saturday the 23rd of September 2023 of a total of 467 members. 368 took part on this date in 11 countries across 192 locations. In the UK, there were adventurers at 24 events, four in the USA, two in South Africa, one in Canada, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and Singapore. Locally, we had adventurers at 47 events in New South Wales. Victoria and Queensland had 38, South Australia had 12, WA had nine, there was five in Tassie. ACT, North and South Islands all had two and one in the Northern Territory. Now, Ollie, our recruitment drive hasn't gone as well as I had hoped. It doesn't look like we're going to make our goal of 500 by the end of streaky September.

00:47:01Oliver Spake: 23 to go.

00:47:02Melissa Ellis: 23 to go, yes. We can make a mad scramble, but perhaps 23 or 33. I think we need to look at your maths a little bit. That's the maths.

00:47:11[crosstalk]

00:47:13Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:47:17Melissa Ellis: I think we'll open that up till the end of the year and that might be a little bit more realistic to make that goal.

00:47:23Oliver Spake: Ah, nothing better than a flexible goal. Absolutely. Yep.

00:47:27Melissa Ellis: Now, internationally, our largest front, there was two events, each having three adventurers. Newbiggin-by-the-Sea. I am assuming that's in the UK because it was Helen and Andy Rutter and Claire Winnisick. And also Southampton. Three adventurers were at Southampton, Stuart Tamsin and Maughlin Smith. Locally, our largest front was at Schlaba with Chris Fraser, Blake and Julie Wells, Paddy, Louise Aitkin, David Foster, James Thomas, Gavin Cooper, Kristen and Delvene McKenzie, and Michael Gentle, plus all the volunteers. Good work, Schlaba.

00:48:07Oliver Spake: Plus all the volunteers. Nice to get a mention this week.

00:48:10Melissa Ellis: And Paddy's so famous now, he just has one word. He's like pink and Adele. He's just Paddy.

00:48:18Oliver Spake: That's right.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:48:19Oliver Spake: He absolutely is.

00:48:20Melissa Ellis: Now, Ollie, this next section, all the fun of the launches that appeared in the last week, but one from two weeks ago, because we did miss one last week. Sorry, Poland. No offence.

00:48:31Oliver Spake: That's right. I appreciate you saving it for me. So welcome to the parkrun family, Zalew Wrzesiński.

00:48:41Melissa Ellis: Good work, Ollie.

00:48:42Oliver Spake: Yeah, that's right. Don't ask me to say that again. I apologise to all of our fluent Polish speakers as well. But, yes, 189 participants in that first week, 67 in the second week, and being a flat course on asphalt along a reservoir with two turnarounds.

00:49:06Melissa Ellis: Yeah, hairpin turns they describe to them in their course description, which that's what I just assumed is the turnaround because it looks like a straight line out and back kind of.

00:49:16Oliver Spake: Yeah. Can I take the next one, please, Mel? Oh, please. Oh, yeah. Excellent. Excellent. So coming to us from Austria is Stadtpark parkrun in Graz. And 51 participants at this one, three laps of a city park, which starts and finishes in the former traffic garden.

00:49:38Melissa Ellis: I guess that's relevant to people who know the area.

00:49:41Oliver Spake: And I should have said Graz, not Graz.

00:49:44Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay.

00:49:45Oliver Spake: But, yeah, I'll keep trying.

00:49:47Melissa Ellis: Let me take the next one for you, Ollie. Okay, thank you. It's Riverside parkrun in Kamloops in Canada. They had 38 participants. Their course is made up of an out-and-back section and a loop around Riverside Park and is situated adjacent to South Thompson River. So welcome to Riverside parkrun.

00:50:06Oliver Spake: All right, must be my turn again. So coming to us from Poland also, except this one was this week, was Pałac Książęcy, is my attempt at, sorry, sorry, sorry.

00:50:20Melissa Ellis: You've just got to say it confidently, fast and confident, and everybody will think that you know what you're saying.

00:50:27Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, that's true. Sixty-nine participants, though, joined for event number one, and their course is a one-lapper, starting and finishing at the Prince's Palace in Żagań. Didn't look up that pronunciation. I apologise. Flat terrain with a slight incline at the start.

00:50:47Melissa Ellis: And we've got three coming to us from the UK. The first one is Clarence parkrun. They had 252 participants. That course is at Clarence Park in Bury, would it be, Bury, and is two laps of the front section of a park followed by two laps of the upper field.

00:51:06Oliver Spake: Bury. Bury. No, I can't do it with the accent, but one of my favourite football commentators, he can say the word Bury. But, yeah, I'll just stop butchering every language I can come across now. LAUGHTER

00:51:22Melissa Ellis: But I'll take the next one too because it is five arches in the UK. 77 participants attended that event. The entire route consists of a flat tarmac path utilising the old Somerset and Dorset Railway. This path passes by Woodland Fields and through the five arch railway tunnel. So that's sounding kind of cool. It does. That gives me a bit of a segue to interrupt our little broadcast to say that Wallaby Track is coming back with their original course. Their tunnel's been closed because of floods that happened quite some time ago. They've had to be running an alternate course, and I believe Wallaby's coming back possibly this week.

00:52:04Oliver Spake: Welcome back, Wallaby Track.

00:52:06Melissa Ellis: Well, it's not that they haven't been. It's just they're getting to use their tunnel again.

00:52:12Oliver Spake: Well, yes, yes.

00:52:13Melissa Ellis: But anyway, five arches, that sounds like a cool event.

00:52:16Oliver Spake: Yeah, we need to see some pictures from that one, I think.

00:52:18Melissa Ellis: Now the last one, Sence Valley Forest Park, UK, 147 participants. The event is in Ibstock. Probably said that wrong. One lap on a mixture of gravel paths and grass trails alongside lakes and through woods. That also sounds lovely.

00:52:38Oliver Spake: It does, doesn't it? Welcome to the parkrun family, everyone. There's a lot going on in the parkrun world.

00:52:47Melissa Ellis: Yes. Now we just need some more in Australia, please.

00:52:51Oliver Spake: But look, Mel, I did catch in last week's podcast, of course, that it's uglies time. It's time for ordering the uglies. And yeah, I'm very excited about that. So thank you for the reminder. And this is another reminder for everyone that hasn't ordered them yet, like myself. Your time is running out.

00:53:14Melissa Ellis: I know. I better do that before I go away this weekend. I'm going to put it in my diary for Thursday, order uglies.

00:53:22Oliver Spake: Yes, yes, because orders close Sunday, the 1st of October, if I'm not mistaken.

00:53:30Melissa Ellis: And that's this weekend.

00:53:32Oliver Spake: Yes, that's very, very, very soon.

00:53:35Melissa Ellis: So don't miss out. Don't have FOMO and forever wish you were the proud owner of a couple of very cute little ugly budgies.

00:53:44Oliver Spake: They're horrendously cute. But, yes, I did skip an item on the run trick because, well, I am dodging it somewhat.

Streaky September

00:53:53Melissa Ellis: Aha, how is your streak going?

00:53:55Oliver Spake: Yeah, I had another hiccup, Mel. What? I have been out, but, yeah, suffice to say the habit is not strong. I have been enjoying getting back out there in the morning to have that time, to have that peaceful time and to make the most of things. Alas, it has been, let's say on average, six of the seven days. So I will be looking to resume my streak in a few days' time, but I am thoroughly enjoying and appreciating all of the camaraderie and enthusiasm and encouragement from everyone. How's your streak going?

00:54:37Melissa Ellis: Oh, my streak is intact.

00:54:39Oliver Spake: Well done.

00:54:40Melissa Ellis: I am very proud. I'm still going. Yes, my three Ks a day. I've done it for today, did it as soon as I got home from work, before I started preparing the pod notes. I'm still short 2,000 steps, so I'm going to have to rectify that before I go to bed, but... Yeah, no, streak is safe, and I was swooped twice on my streak tonight.

00:55:03Oliver Spake: Oh.

00:55:04Melissa Ellis: So, I mean, it is a little bit scary, but I know that it's just Daddy Magpie protecting his little babies, and that just signals to me that I'm going to have cute little baby magpies all around the neighbourhood, so I'm pretty happy about that.

00:55:19Oliver Spake: Yeah, there's a bit of love there. That's lovely.

00:55:21Melissa Ellis: Hmm. But we've got to listen to Pippa. Pippa sent us her audio. Yes. So let's have a quick listen to that now.

00:55:36Pippa White: Hi, parkrun adventurers, and we are so almost there. We're so close to the line. My Sunday streaks have to happen before I get to juniors. So six o'clock in the morning, the alarm goes off, it feels awfully early and it's currently really, really dark. So I had to change route this morning because it was just too dark to do my usual one. But I got out, I ran, legged it through a shower. I was slightly late for the first call for juniors, but I was there before we started and I wasn't needed till the end. Anyway, so I got my streak in, happy with that. And I've been sitting trying to figure out this whole, we're nearly at the end of the month, what's a good picture? And I was watching the juniors today because I was in the funnel and I was a Number Checker and Funnel Manager. And the first few kids are really, really, really super focused. They've got 2K in there. We had a young lady who nearly, nearly, nearly took the first finisher today, chased up by a boy who just out sprinted her at the end. Absolutely fantastic job by her. And then I started watching some of the other kids. And as we got past the first 10 kids, That last 50 metres worth of sprint is just too much for some of them. And you get these kids who just stop and they are so close to the end. And that's where the role at juniors, the Funnel Manager and the Number Checker, as well as the timers and any other volunteers around. Come on, you're so close. You can absolutely do this. So to those of you who are feeling like a junior, who's almost got to the end, but just can't quite see the way over the line, we've got you. Come on, you're so close. Come on, come on. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Come on. A little bit further, just a little bit further. And for some of those kids, this is an activity. It's their only activity that they do. They don't really play football because they don't like it. Or they like cycling, but they can't do it. You know, this is their activity. This is their physical activity. And the beauty of having Junior parkrun just at two kilometres is that kids are getting active and seeing a sense of achievement as they get to the end. And our role is to gently, gently encourage them to get to the end of the line. Second bit I'm going to put in there, just in that same line. Yesterday, I was at parkrun. Went to do a little bit of touring, quite close, and ended up talking to a lady before we started. Her name is Anne. She's on a losing weight, getting fitter plan. So we started, we chatted, I went off and ran, and then I walked back and went and found her. And she was like, well, why have you done that? I said, well, you know, we connected. I've done my run, but I've come back to walk and talk. And we had a lovely chat. And it was the first time in her events that she'd actually managed to scan a barcode. She didn't quite understand what to do. And I guess all of us will recognise that at a time. And her observation, she's not really bothered about collecting the numbers or the places. She's just loving being out with a group of people. And, you know, we'll get her in there eventually. She's started now. She's got her first congratulatory email and congratulatory text. But it's that getting up, getting going. Either you're somebody who needs it, who absolutely needs to have that, like our first finishes at junior, so need to have the achievement. Or you're that person who's like, oh, If I really got to get to the end, in which case I'm encouraging you. But you might also be that person who's enjoyed Streaky September for getting out in community, having a super time with other people and you're not really bothered about collecting times or dates. Whoever you are, whichever you are, I hope you're still having fun. But we are so close to that line. So come on, let's get over it. Happy streaking.

00:59:30Melissa Ellis: And thank you, Pippa. We are so, so close to the end of the line and streaky September. So close that the end is Saturday.

00:59:39Oliver Spake: Yes, very, very close. And I'm seeing those two stars remaining on the Bingoe card, Mel. Fantastic job this year, everyone, at filling out the Bingoe card. Do we have room for one more level up?

00:59:55Melissa Ellis: I think we do. Can you remember what it was we just discussed?

00:59:59Oliver Spake: Colours.

01:00:01Melissa Ellis: Colours, Ollie.

01:00:03Oliver Spake: Yes. I suppose this flows in nicely to the whole theme of looking forward because, well, you and I have something to be excited about. Our team's in the final, Mel.

01:00:12Melissa Ellis: I know. I know. You're on board the black and white army.

01:00:17Oliver Spake: That's right. So, everyone, there is one more level up.

01:00:23Melissa Ellis: You all have to barrack for Collingwood.

01:00:25Oliver Spake: Yes, that's right. No, this final level up is to streak in your colours. So if they happen to be black and white, Mel and I will be very happy. But should they be another colour, then by all means, go for it. And we look forward to seeing many, many colours out there. And should you not have a sporting affiliated colours, well, maybe it's your favourite ugly colours. I'm not sure. But well done, everyone. You're that close.

01:00:55Melissa Ellis: I'm going to streak in my Collingwood jumper.

01:00:59Oliver Spake: I will not be able to streak in my Collingwood jumper because I do not have one. Maybe it'll be a Matilda's shirt. It'll be a Matilda's shirt.

01:01:08Melissa Ellis: Ah, yeah, good work.

01:01:10Oliver Spake: Yeah.

01:01:10Melissa Ellis: Get another wear out of that.

Sign-off

01:01:12Oliver Spake: Yeah. But, Mel, as we said, looking forward, so before I tell everyone that I'll be at Shellharbour parkrun once again, where will you be this coming parkrun day?

01:01:24Melissa Ellis: I'm joining my friends, Martine and Andrew, again. They're going to get really sick of me. We are going to Batemans Bay.

01:01:33Oliver Spake: Down the road. I know. Down the road.

01:01:36Melissa Ellis: Oh, so close and yet too far.

01:01:41Oliver Spake: Well, I would love to have come and joined you at Batemans Bay. It is one of my favourites, but I have a birthday party for Ava to attend and host.

01:01:52Melissa Ellis: I'll forgive you if you wear black and white.

01:01:58Oliver Spake: Well, I guess that is Saturday, isn't it? Yes. Understood. All right.

01:02:03Melissa Ellis: All righty.

01:02:04Oliver Spake: That will be an exciting parkrun day. Look forward to hearing all about that one, Mel.

01:02:08Melissa Ellis: I'll tell TOC and you can listen.

01:02:10Oliver Spake: Excellent.

01:02:11Unidentified speaker: Excellent.

01:02:11Oliver Spake: It's a deal.

01:02:13Melissa Ellis: But that's it, Ollie. I will see you in a couple of weeks. I hope you have a really good birthday.

01:02:21Oliver Spake: Thank you very much.

01:02:22Melissa Ellis: And enjoy all the surrounding festivities attached to that. But everybody else, as always, you can contact us via Facebook, parkrun adventurers on Facebook, or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. And that is it for another week. And we'll see you all next week for more adventures.

01:02:35[outro theme playing]

01:03:37Unidentified speaker: Bye.