Episode 355 - Mimosas and Jell shots

00:00:00[intro theme playing]

Welcome

00:00:24Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 355 of the parkrun adventurers podcast, a podcast about life if your life is all about parkrun. I am Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country.

00:00:37Simon Mackley: And I'm Simon Mackley and I'm coming to you from Quandamooka Country.

00:00:40Melissa Ellis: You're back in Quandamooka Country now, Simon. I am back in Quandamooka Country, yes. Because you were down my way on the weekend. Did you run a marathon that I didn't know about?

00:00:50Simon Mackley: No, I did not. I... I didn't know it was Melbourne Marathon weekend when I planned this. I came down for a concert and then stayed on to do a parkrun in Victoria. Tell me about the concert. It's not that exciting.

00:01:08Melissa Ellis: You came all the way to Melbourne.

00:01:09Simon Mackley: Oh, I did. Okay. So my best mate and I have been to a couple of concerts in the cities that we, like he lives in Victoria. Obviously, I was living in Sydney. He came up to Sydney and we saw them there. And then, yeah, I came down this time to see them. So, it's a group called Bliss n Eso. They're touring an album they released 15 years ago.

00:01:30the Birthday Boy: Okay.

00:01:32Simon Mackley: So, yeah, it was a small little venue in Melbourne. Yeah, but it was really good.

00:01:39Melissa Ellis: What type of music?

00:01:42Simon Mackley: Hip-hop, Australian hip-hop.

00:01:43Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:01:44Simon Mackley: That's all right.

00:01:46Melissa Ellis: You can excuse me if I wasn't familiar with the name.

00:01:49Simon Mackley: No, that's okay. They are actually a Sydney hip-hop group, but we'd normally go to a Hilltop Hoods concert, which they're based in Adelaide. But, yeah. Okay.

00:02:01Melissa Ellis: Yeah. That's all right. I like to learn.

00:02:04Simon Mackley: Yeah. As long as you had a good time. I had a great time, and the weather was beautiful on Wednesday. It was the only day it was beautiful. Yeah.

00:02:14Melissa Ellis: Well, you know you get all the different seasons when you come to Melbourne. Life's never boring here.

00:02:19Simon Mackley: Correct. But I think I got the same season for about three days running. That is life, though, yes.

00:02:26Melissa Ellis: You can go back up to your all-the-time hot state and you'll be regretting it. You'll be, oh, I wish I was back in Melbourne. It was so lovely and cool.

00:02:34Simon Mackley: I know. It was lovely and cool. Like when I left on Saturday afternoon, it was 10 degrees in Melbourne and when I arrived into Brisbane, it was 23 degrees.

00:02:44Melissa Ellis: I can remember going to Darwin on my one trip to Darwin and I got off the plane at midnight, blasted with hot air. And I'm thinking it's like the exhaust from the engines or something. Because it's midnight, right?

00:02:59Simon Mackley: Yeah.

00:03:00Melissa Ellis: And then I'm walking along the tarmac and I'm like, oh, no, this is just the temperature here.

00:03:05Simon Mackley: Exactly. Exactly. That's why they have two seasons, dry and wet.

00:03:13Melissa Ellis: Goodness me.

00:03:14Simon Mackley: Where did you get to on your parkrun day this week, Mel?

00:03:18Melissa Ellis: Well, I told everybody at the end of last episode that I had a very big weekend because my daughter was getting married. So I... headed down the peninsula, the Mornington Peninsula, on Thursday of last week. I haven't scripted this. I normally would script my recap, but, yeah, I haven't. I'm going off the cuff. So there you go. But I had a really wonderful time at my daughter's wedding. It's very special to see one of your children get married and see the happiness and the joy and play a bit of a special part in the actual day. So that all went quite well. I'm trying to think if I've got an anecdote. See, this is why I script things. Fair enough. Then I don't draw blanks. But, no, it stayed dry for her wedding. Excellent. Which was good. And the next morning I got up and I joined my sister Cassie for Rosebud parkrun. Weather was not so good for the morning. Yeah. Rosebud parkrun is on the lands of the Bunurong people. And it was blowing a gale. There was spray coming. It was just rain, let's be frank. And the conditions were not pleasant.

00:04:39Simon Mackley: Did you get in for the swim afterwards?

00:04:41Melissa Ellis: Did not get in for the swim.

00:04:43Simon Mackley: Because you were wet enough.

00:04:46Melissa Ellis: And neither was my sister very keen for the swim, so it wasn't even brought up. There was no raised eyebrows or rolled eyes or anything. It was just let's – she basically only runs for the coffee. Okay. That's fine. And so she was keen just to get to brunch as quickly as possible. And, look, it wasn't about times this week. It was really nice just to have a relaxed run chat. So that's what we did, just ran and chatted the whole way. And then scooted over the road where I found a theatre-themed cafe wine bar. Oh. So that took my eye. I was, like, pointing to it, trying to get a photo of myself pointing to the wine bar and scooted in there with all the, like, jokes that I would have alcohol for breakfast.

00:05:35Simon Mackley: Yeah.

00:05:36Melissa Ellis: And turns out I could.

00:05:38Simon Mackley: Yay. Yay.

00:05:40Melissa Ellis: After keeping myself tidy and staying sober the night before at my daughter's wedding.

00:05:45Simon Mackley: Well done.

00:05:46Melissa Ellis: Morning mimosas. Yay. Happy with that. Definitely. So highly recommend. Nice one. Yeah. So yeah, pretty cash. Had a pretty, pretty cash morning. And yeah, then just back home. Virginia's Sunday morning where I was RD.

00:06:07Simon Mackley: Excellent. How many kids did you have?

00:06:11Melissa Ellis: Oh, eight.

00:06:13Simon Mackley: Oh, wow, okay.

00:06:16Melissa Ellis: Huge numbers for us. Not really, no. It was a quiet morning at Juniors and we had volunteers from interstate. We had a group of volunteers from over at Thorndon Junior parkrun who came over to experience our lovely little event and help us out. So that was really good.

00:06:39Simon Mackley: SA representing.

00:06:40Melissa Ellis: Absolutely. So we appreciated those guys coming over and helping and was very happy to show off our little bush track. But not much else to say other than that. Simon, so you probably got a little bit more of an adventure going on than I did.

00:06:59Simon Mackley: I did. Yeah, so as I said, I was in Melbourne. I ventured out to Jells, in Wurundjeri Country on the lands of the Bunurong and Woiwurong people. Not those before. They were a mouthful. So I was actually surprised at how good Jells was. The weather wasn't looking great when I was heading out there. So I was just – I was lucky I was just going to take it easy. I had no expectations of time or anything like that. So, yeah, I was just focused on getting my J locked in, And I know that I passed a lot of parkruns on the way there, but it was important for me, living in a state that doesn't have a J, to get that J done. But yeah, so it was about 40 first timers there, apart from me. And it seemed that most of them were from Brisbane as well and were down there for marathon weekend. Yeah, and I actually didn't even hear any international tourists when they called for who was touristing.

00:08:00Melissa Ellis: Doesn't surprise me because it's not exactly an easy parkrun to get to if you haven't got a car.

00:08:06Simon Mackley: Yeah, I Ubered it both ways. And the Uber driver that picked me up, he said to me, when I took this job, I had no idea where I was going. All I could see was it was the middle of a park. And when I got here, I just had to drive slowly and I enjoyed it. And I'm going to come back here and just chill. And I was like, good, I'm glad I've been helpful for you.

00:08:26Melissa Ellis: That was going to be my next question, Simon, because Jells Park is a very large recreational green space in the suburbs. How did you go locating the start point? So I used the 5K app.

00:08:42Simon Mackley: I had a good idea if I headed for – I think it's called Madeline's. Yes. If I headed for that, then I would be close to it. Yeah, and then – Yeah, the Uber dropped me off a little bit before that. And so I was like, oh, okay, I now need to put the 5K app on and do the walking directions. But as soon as I got sort of over the hill a bit, I could see, was it called Yabby Hill, the new playground there, and I could see people bringing things, like bringing the flags from the cars and that sort of thing. I was half an hour early as well. So I was thinking I'm going to be, yeah.

00:09:20Melissa Ellis: Oh, you were on Brisbane time.

00:09:22Simon Mackley: Yeah, an eight o'clock start in Melbourne is like seven o'clock here. So it was, yeah, it was very, very similar, but yeah. But yeah, I always try to get to an event early if I don't know where I'm going, just to make sure that I don't miss it.

00:09:38Melissa Ellis: I do try to get there early too. And my sister was not so appreciative of that as we stood sheltered behind a building in the strong winds. She's like, why are we here already?

00:09:48Simon Mackley: Yeah.

00:09:49Melissa Ellis: There's nobody here. Yeah.

00:09:53Simon Mackley: I'm normally pretty good with it, but I've got to say when I went to Casula a couple of months ago, I was totally at the wrong end of the park thinking, where is everyone? And then I realised when I could see people two and a half kilometres away that I was going to have to run very quickly to get there.

00:10:11Melissa Ellis: Horror. Exactly. I realised when I looked at the Consolidated Club report, Simon, that you had a friend.

00:10:19Simon Mackley: Yeah, there was definitely a parkrun adventurer there, who you have reliably told me her name is Andrea, but I unfortunately didn't get to speak to her.

00:10:28Melissa Ellis: No, but Jells is Andrea's home parkrun and I've come across and I have met Andrea at You Yangs earlier last year. So shout out. Hi, Andrea. I know she's a listener.

00:10:40Simon Mackley: So unfortunate you didn't get to meet her, Simon. Yeah, I didn't get to speak to her. I was actually standing very close to her at one stage, but yeah, I didn't actually, yeah, I didn't get to speak to her. But she was, yeah, she was talking to a lot of people and it sounded like she hadn't been there in a while because she was catching up with some of the regulars. Very good.

parkrun news bulletin

00:10:57Simon Mackley: Very good. So let's have a look at news and discussion. So last week, parkrun released the Christmas Compendium. Calling it Christmas Compendium, it is obviously New Year's as well. So both Christmas Day and New Year's Day, they're going to fall on a Monday this year. So remember that every event team is under no obligation to put on an event on that day. And any events that don't state their intentions by Monday the 11th, sorry, on Monday the 11th of December will appear on the compendium as not taking place. So check after that date at parkrun.com.au forward slash special dash events slash. Or you can also see it on the 5K app under utilities and then in special events.

00:11:48Melissa Ellis: I didn't know that. Yeah.

00:11:50Simon Mackley: Yeah. So I actually had a look today to see how many have said yes and how many have said no and how many are undecided. So, so far, like as of two o'clock this afternoon, there was 47 that have said yes to Christmas Day already and 40 that have said no. 50 have said yes to New Year's Day and 35 have said no. So there's still quite a lot of events that haven't stated whether they're on or not. Or they might not have even seen the email yet.

00:12:20Melissa Ellis: That's actually pretty good numbers, though, considering it was like only been available to update for a week. Exactly.

00:12:28Simon Mackley: Yeah, it's only been out for a couple of days and we already know, you know, what's that, 87 we know either yes or no for Christmas Day and 85 for New Year's Day.

00:12:39Melissa Ellis: Great. I'll have to jump on after we finish recording and check if the event that I've got earmarked for New Year's Day is declared yet.

00:12:47Simon Mackley: Ah, okay. Interesting. You know, I had a little scout around to see if, yeah, events that I... have my eye on whether they're going ahead or not. But yeah, most of them have not actually stated.

00:13:03Melissa Ellis: So since you've moved to Queensland, Simon, have you got your regular, do you do Christmas Day parkrun?

00:13:09Simon Mackley: I've never done a Christmas Day parkrun. It's always kind of been a rule in our house that Christmas Day is a family thing. It's not the day I can sneak out. Whereas New Year's Day is always the day I can sneak out because no one's on it. So, yes, I've never done a Christmas Day one.

00:13:28Melissa Ellis: Well, back when I lived in the southeast, it was tradition that Berwick Springs parkrun... did New Year's Day and Frog Hollow parkrun did Christmas Day. So the two events quite close together were sort of the only, the first two probably in the area to launch. So they shared between them those two events. So I always went to Frog Hollow. And when I came over to the west, Toolern Creek does Christmas Day. So that is my traditional enjoyment to go Christmas morning to Toolern Creek. Cool. And I've been doing it for so long that it's just normal for Zoe that I'm next off to parkrun quickly in the morning.

00:14:12Simon Mackley: She doesn't come with you?

00:14:13Melissa Ellis: No. I think she did a couple of times. Okay. But no, not now she's a teenager. Those days are gone. But, Simon, there was another change that happened recently. And it's the most events table around the world has had amendments to how many different parkruns that you need to complete to appear. Now, Australia has doubled from 20 events to 40 and the UK from 20 events to 50. New Zealand, however, has dropped, I believe, from 20 to 10.

00:14:50Simon Mackley: Yeah, when I was looking at this list, there was actually no country that was as 20 anymore. So 20 used to be that line in the sand. Across the board. So now every country seems to have a different number. So some of those smaller countries have a much lower number. Yeah, but it was an interesting move. I don't know what's behind it.

00:15:13Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, I'm safe.

00:15:16Simon Mackley: Me too. You're very safe.

00:15:18Melissa Ellis: I wonder if they changed anything for the other metrics, like largest groups, for example. Okay, yeah. But, yeah, I wouldn't know. I haven't looked for a while. But, yeah, a few changes going on behind the scenes, it would seem. Yeah.

Dazza's

00:15:40Simon Mackley: Let's look at Dazza's. So at Dazza's this week, Dazza wants to celebrate everything today. It's Adventure Day, Dessert Day, Chess Day and Universal Music Day. Come on in, tell us about your morning and place your adventurous, sweet, strategic or melodic orders. So just some of the 173 comments are Helen Rutter. Today got WI13 at Ashington Community Woodland parkrun. That's a mouthful. And completed North East England Region. Caught up with a few friends, including adventurers Graham and Claire, plus Elliot Lyne and Park Faft for a while. And to top that off, I got 71% age grade, which was my fastest run post-pandemic. And there was a picture of Andy, Helen, Elliot, Claire, and we don't know who the other person was, with the Ashington Community Woodland pop-up sign.

00:16:42Melissa Ellis: Yes, and Claire also posted with another photo from the same event with a larger group of people. So it looks like it was quite the meetup. Nice. And you did know that WI13 is their Wilson Index, right, Simon?

00:16:56Simon Mackley: No, I thought it was like their postcode because they have like SE3. Okay. Okay.

00:17:02Melissa Ellis: I'm assuming it's Wilson Index.

00:17:04Simon Mackley: Yeah, that makes sense.

00:17:08Melissa Ellis: Unless telling us postcodes is a new thing. We also heard from Craig Ryan. Rebecca and I completed our pilgrimage to Bushy parkrun. Rebecca was very excited with a relatively round finishing position of 1,200. We highly recommend anyone who is thinking about doing Bushy to go and complete it. You won't be disappointed. And we had a photo of Craig and Rebecca over there with the Bushy pop-up sign. Looks like they're having a ball over there, those two. So very jealous. 1,200 is huge.

00:17:44Simon Mackley: And I take it that Rebecca probably wasn't last either.

00:17:46Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I don't know. Let me pop over quickly and have a look at the Consolidated Club report.

00:17:52Simon Mackley: I'll keep going with the next one. Sorry. Adrian Royce. So I know Adrian quite well, actually. So he said, I proposed to my sweetheart at Wishart parkrun. Take a look at this video to see her response. Now, he has kind of glossed over something. It was also Adrian's 500th parkrun. So I was unfortunately in Melbourne. I wanted to be there to celebrate with Adrian, but yeah, it looks like he had a fantastic time. So he attached a link to his photo, which shows his rather musical proposal.

00:18:26Melissa Ellis: I did watch this, but we also had Michael Lyttle, who said, we touristed to Wishart this morning for Adrian Royce's 500th and John White's 250th. We were also lucky enough to witness a wedding proposal. Congratulations to Adrian and Lynette. So it was quite the video. I did have a look, and he was singing to a Kermit the Frog song. And, yeah, made his proposal to his new fiancée. So there you go. There's lots of that going around, isn't there?

00:19:03Simon Mackley: Yeah, I love, like, they were all dressed up as well.

00:19:05Melissa Ellis: Yes, lots of blue. Indeed.

00:19:08Simon Mackley: Blue for the 500s.

00:19:11Melissa Ellis: Congratulations, Adrian. And can I just add for Rebecca Ryan coming 1,200th at Bushy, there was 1,328 runners. Wow. So she was far from last. Definitely. There was another 128 people after her.

00:19:29Simon Mackley: That's a lot of Tail Walkers. Next we heard from Mark Scarborough. So he said, Wöhrder See parkrun, Nuremberg, Germany. my 50th different parkrun course. Amanda, the ED from Riverbank parkrun, was also here. So there's a photo of the Scarboroughs and friends with a selfie frame in front of the lake. And congratulations on your Cowell, Mark.

00:19:55Melissa Ellis: Yes, well done, marvellous Mark. I'm assuming that Amanda might have been one of those people in the The selfie frame photo, but I wasn't sure, so I couldn't say. Sure. We also heard from Heather Hunter. I adventured to Albert Melbourne parkrun this morning with almost 700 others. They welcomed 55 first-time ever parkrunners. And Heather shared a photo of herself with Albert the Black Swan, the mascot, in the selfie frame there in front of the lake at Albert Melbourne. And fun fact, adventurer Thomas Martin was also there. Well done, on your first finisher at Albert Thomas that's like no mean feat seriously out of 700 people so we'll claim him adventurer Thomas Martin but also Felicity Castellan and Kay Anthony were also there and there were 689 so big numbers for Albert but that's of course because of the marathon weekend one of the easiest parkruns to get to if you're staying in Melbourne CBD definitely it would have been much closer for me to get there than to Jells but yes But you've already done it because I did it when you came.

00:21:03Simon Mackley: You have. So next we heard from Sue Smith, mini frond at Chipping Norton for their 200th event. So Sue shared a photo of a mini frond at Chipping Norton, Chipping Norton's 200th event. And Andrew also added a photo in his new adventurers singlet with his adventurous blue car. The other adventurers were Louise and Gustav Garbers and Natalie Wilson.

00:21:29Melissa Ellis: I was pretty happy to see Andrew post that photo of him in his car. I think he calls his car Bluey. I don't know. Ah, okay. Yes. And his new singlet that's just arrived in the mail. Yeah, my shirt arrived while I was away. I wish I'd had it with me.

00:21:44Simon Mackley: Would have been handy. Would have been, yes.

00:21:48Melissa Ellis: Now, lastly, we heard from Claire Corkill. Cupcakes for Jack Corkill's 250th at Mount Penang. Woohoo! And there was a photo there of Jack with a green 250th cupcake. So well done, Jack. Nice work, Jack.

the Obi Award — Mark Scarborough

00:22:01Melissa Ellis: Okay. Have you got the envelope? Yes, I do. Oh, good. I do. It is on my desk. I don't need to look for it because I'm organised. I am not casting shade on any of my co-workers at all. No, not at all. But anyway, I shall announce the winner this week. The Obi goes to Mark Scarborough over there at Wöhrder See parkrun. Hooray.

00:22:20[background music]

00:22:36Unidentified speaker: Yay. Yay.

00:22:42Melissa Ellis: Well done, Marvellous Mark. Are you coming home? When are you coming home?

00:22:44Simon Mackley: I was about to say, when are the Scarboroughs coming home?

00:22:47Melissa Ellis: Where's our roving reports from overseas? No pressure. Just kidding, just kidding, just kidding.

00:22:55[background music]

Birthday Boymonthly anniversaries preview

00:22:56Melissa Ellis: Anyway, I think it's about time we have a listen to the birthday boy. Music

00:23:09the Birthday Boy: Howdy, it's the birthday boy here with some of the goings on for November 2023. November is another busy month for parkruns, not as many as October, but there are still 40 odd events celebrating something. This month has four parkrun days with week one on the 4th, week two on the 11th, week three is on the 18th and week four the 25th of the month. A reminder first, with the standard anniversary caveat, events may celebrate what they like, when they like. So please, check all details with the local source, i.e. their webpage and or their Facebook page. This is especially true for dress-ups, cakes, etc. Is there anyone joining Main Beach and New Farm on 12? Yes, woohoo! Albert parkrun, Melbourne joins the 12 Club as the third event in the nation and begins the second state of parkrun in Australia. So does that make it the second best state versus Queensland, i.e. not the greatest? Mel, not that it's a competition. Now let's check out the first anniversaries. We have Jurien Bay Foreshore in WA on the 11th, and Prince of Wales from Victoria on the 18th. Welcome to the one club. In November, we have three events celebrating their parkrun, Independence. We have South Bank and Sandgate in Queensland, plus Launceston in Tasmania. Congrats. To round out exciting anniversaries, we have the 10s, three this month, Maitland, New South Wales, Diamond Creek, Victoria, and that great little lollipop course, Minnippi, Queensland. Now, along with Catering Tasmania from last month, we have events in November that were delayed from starting earlier in 2020. We have Our Park Tasmania, Garvey Park WA, and Centenary Queensland. all getting their chance to start. 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 and who knows, hopefully, Ollie, know if you have any requests.

00:25:40[background music]

00:25:51Simon Mackley: And thanks for that birthday boy. So Albert parkrun Melbourne gets another mention in the pod this week. So turning 12 in November. And I can't believe that it's been a year already since PAL and Jurien Bay launched. That's, yeah, that doesn't feel like a year ago at all. And birthday boy, I'm sorry to disappoint that it's actually me on deck and not Ollie. But, you know, you get what you get. You don't get upset.

00:26:23Melissa Ellis: Life is like a box of chocolates.

00:26:25Simon Mackley: Exactly.

Consolidated Club Report

00:26:27Simon Mackley: So how is the Consolidated Club Report looking, Mel?

00:26:31Melissa Ellis: I'm glad you asked, Simon. The adventurers Consolidated Club Report for Saturday, the 14th of October, 2023, of a total of 477 members, which incidentally is the same as last week. So no growth, no growth. We did not go up. 366 took part on this date in seven countries across 191 locations. In the UK, they were adventurers at 30 events. So that's huge. That's huge for us in the UK. It's going to be bigger. Sorry?

00:27:05Simon Mackley: Sorry, I said it's getting bigger.

00:27:06Melissa Ellis: It is. There were two in Italy and the USA and one event in Germany and South Africa. Locally, we had adventurers at 41 events in New South Wales, 40 events in Queensland, 36 in Victoria, no one in WA, eight in South Australia, the ACT and North Island had six, Tassie had four, South Island had three and two in the Northern Territory. And Melissa has learned that you should not pop a tic-tac in your mouth just before recording. Sorry. Anyway, how were our international friends, Simon?

00:27:53Simon Mackley: I'm glad you asked, Mel. So internationally, Ashington Community Woodland had four, which was Patricia and Andy Rutter, Graham Wilkinson and Claire Vinicich. And we had four also... at Wöhrder See in, was it Nuremberg, where the Scarborough family were.

00:28:13Melissa Ellis: Fantastic. Now, locally, there was a Frond of nine at Shellharbour and there was a Frond of six at two events. Campbelltown in, is Campbelltown in New South Wales? Yes, it is. Okay, thank you. There we had Sam and Luke Schroder, Roberta Winters, Jan Yates, Sherry Brandtman and Amy Miller. And in the Great Estate at Parkville, Tracy Jensen, Adrian Homburg, Scott Trickett, Julie Wells and Julie and Gordon Turner. So there you go, Shlaba people down there helping the numbers and touristing at Parkville.

00:28:53Simon Mackley: Wow.

00:28:55Melissa Ellis: Now, we also had PBs, adventurer PBs even. There was one, Caroline Richardson, a 5-4-1-6-9-6-7 runner PB at Elliott Heads Beach at 25.38. Congratulations, Caroline. Well done, Caroline.

00:29:12Simon Mackley: And we had some adventurer milestones. So the following people ran milestones. As we mentioned earlier, Jack Corkill, a 3-8-1-3-3-8-6. He ran his 250th. We had Malcolm Peaty, A5738522. He ran his 100th milestone. And Natalie Burke, A1445243, ran her 50th milestone. And remember, if you'd like us to track these achievements, you can add the Adventurers Club as one of your five affiliated clubs in your parkrun profile.

00:29:49Melissa Ellis: Absolutely, certainly can.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:29:51Melissa Ellis: Now, Simon, we had a few launches as well. In Australia, there was a new event called Two Rivers Wines in New South Wales in Denman, which is approximately 250 kilometres north of Sydney. Now, the course is a single lap, at Two Rivers Wines, which I believe is a winery, run entirely on trail paths. The description states that it has stunning panoramic views of the Hunter River and there were 114 participants, of which 25 ran their very first parkrun.

00:30:28Simon Mackley: That's an awesome start, 25 newbies. We had one in the UK called Aston Hall. So that's in Birmingham. The course is two times two laps of adjacent fields. The first two laps around the main field are a mixture of grass and pavement before crossing through a set of gates to complete two laps of the smaller field, which is a mix of grass, uneven woodland ground and a small stretch of pavement. It had 67 participants and one person running for the very first time.

00:31:01Melissa Ellis: Now, there was actually three all up this week in the UK. Now, the second of those was Tamworth Castle Grounds. This is in Tamworth Staffordshire, and it says the course is run on a mixture of concrete and tarmac paths. It consists of two laps. The majority is flat with one small incline and decline. The route provides views of both the rivers Anker and Tame, the castle and the snow dome, as well as passing all the planets in our solar system. 200 participants with five running their very first parkrun. Now, I thought that was quite an interesting course description with castles and snow domes, not to mention solar system, Simon. What the actual? It seems crazy.

00:31:44Simon Mackley: And to see two rivers as well, like two. It must be like on a peninsula or something. I don't know, but it sounds fun. It sounds fun. It sounds like it's going to be very scenic. And the last one we had in the UK that launched was called Worden parkrun, and that is in Worden Park, Leyland. It's a two-lap course starting adjacent to the Folly Coffee House. The course description mentions football pitches, single track through woodlands, a mini railway and a maze. and may not be suitable for buggies. They had 217 runners and eight of those were completing their very first parkrun. Sounds like lots of adventures to be had over there in the UK.

00:32:25Melissa Ellis: I know, they're so lucky. Three in one weekend. They're still filling gaps. I know.

00:32:32Simon Mackley: Wrecking people's voronois or whatever they're called.

00:32:34Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I can't say that word either. I'm just happy I'm still a dot. Yeah, excellent. I'm glad to hear it. Now, gosh, Simon, it's going to be a short pod this week.

00:32:48Simon Mackley: It will.

00:32:49Melissa Ellis: We haven't got anything scheduled for looking forward, but obviously we do have something to look forward to next week. Those of us who are attending the Panorama Punish event and heading up to the area of Bathurst. I mean, the great car race was just two weeks ago.

00:33:08Simon Mackley: I think so, yeah.

00:33:10Melissa Ellis: It wasn't last weekend, was it? No, because we mentioned it in the pod last week. There was the Kiwi reference because it was the winner with the not very Kiwi sounding name. See, I remember these things.

00:33:22Simon Mackley: Van Gisbergen.

00:33:24Melissa Ellis: Yes. But, yes, so we'll all be heading off for our little frond up at Bathurst for the Panorama Punish. If you are in the vicinity, please feel free to join us at Mount Panorama. For the punish, I'm sure you'd be welcome to run volunteer or spectate. You won't be able to come, will you, Simon? Because you live in Queensland now.

Sign-off

00:33:50Simon Mackley: I do, and I'm going to a wedding this weekend. So, yeah, I definitely will not be attending. Where are you heading, though, on this next parkrun day?

00:34:01Melissa Ellis: Well. Being that last year when we attended, we went to Bathurst parkrun, this year we are going to attend a different event, obviously, to adventure and get a new event, and we're going to go to Orange. Now, I don't know anything about Orange other than its name, so I haven't even looked it up. I'm just going to discover it when I arrive.

00:34:25Simon Mackley: Oh, you're in for a treat.

00:34:27Unidentified speaker: Good.

00:34:27Simon Mackley: You're in for a treat indeed. Yeah. It's apparently a lovely town. I've got a friend of mine they used to work with now lives out there. But yeah, it's full of wineries and food and all sorts of things.

00:34:39Melissa Ellis: Excellent. I'll be able to adventure and find out all the things and maybe they've got something giant for me to investigate. I don't know. What about you, Simon? Where are you going?

00:34:49Simon Mackley: I will be heading to Kirra because as I just mentioned, I'm going to a wedding on Saturday afternoon for one of my cousins and So yeah, I'll be doing Kirra for, I think it's the fourth or fifth time. It's a flat one right next to the ocean. It's, yeah, I love going to Kirra actually. So I'll be running there from the accommodation and then running it and then running home.

00:35:11Melissa Ellis: I have done Kirra and I did enjoy it. So I agree. It's a nice one. Are the koalas still there?

00:35:19Simon Mackley: I'm sure they are. The last time I drove past, there was definitely at least one still there, but I'm sure there's still more along there.

00:35:26Melissa Ellis: Very good. So for those listening, they have some large koala statues that must have been a feature of some sort of event or festival in the past because they were scattered all around the city. Maybe it was like one of those expos you have up there. What are they called?

00:35:45Simon Mackley: Yeah, I don't know what it actually was for. I do know what you're talking about, but I'm wondering whether it was for the Commonwealth Games or

00:35:53Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah. Might have been. I don't know.

00:35:56Simon Mackley: Maybe I'll have to get back to you on that.

00:35:58Melissa Ellis: I remember the one I particularly wanted to see was one painted in camo pattern.

00:36:02Simon Mackley: Oh, okay.

00:36:03Melissa Ellis: That's very close. I think that's the one near the turnaround point. Okay. The second turnaround point or the first one? Oh, the second. When you're on your way to the finish line.

00:36:14Simon Mackley: Yeah. I'm trying to look it up, but I can't see what's actually... What's the name of the big festival they have in like a...

00:36:22Melissa Ellis: Not every year, but ECHA, MECHA, ECHA?

00:36:26Simon Mackley: Ekka's the Royal Easter Show equivalent in Brisbane, but that's every year, which is just short for the exhibition.

00:36:35Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay. Well, then don't listen to me. Clearly, I don't know.

00:36:38Simon Mackley: I'm trying. Animals with Attitude Gold Coast Sculpture Trail. So there's 40 of them. And yeah, they were put there between 2013 and 2015, and they remain on public display across the Gold Coast, Brisbane, and northern rivers of New South Wales. Oh, okay. I've got the whole wrong state. No, you've got the right state. It was a fundraising initiative for Currumbin Wildlife Hospital. Oh, excellent. They're definitely at Kirra, like 100%. Yeah, they're definitely there, but there seems to be a lot more. Oh, there's one actually inside Gold Coast Airport as well. Okay. Okay. So, yeah.

00:37:17Melissa Ellis: Well, there you go.

00:37:18Simon Mackley: So it was a fundraiser. There we go.

00:37:20Melissa Ellis: Listeners, if you're in the vicinity of that parkrun or that area, see if you can spot a koala. Play spotto. Play spotto this weekend. But, gee, Simon, I've run out of things to talk about.

00:37:35Simon Mackley: That's okay. It was a quick job for you this week. It was indeed. It was indeed. Well, that sounds like it's it. As always, you can contact us via parkrun adventurers on Facebook or at our email address, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week, and we'll see you all next week for more adventures.

00:37:50[outro theme playing]

00:38:09Unidentified speaker: Side by side they stick together to uphold the Magpie's name. See the barrackers shouting as all barrackers should. Oh, the premiership's a cakewalk for the good old Collingwood.