Episode 361 - TOC’s budgies

00:00:00[intro theme playing]

Welcome

00:00:24Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 361 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.

00:00:36Tony O'Connell: And I am TOC, and I'm coming from Bunurong Country.

00:00:40Melissa Ellis: Howdy, TOC. G'day, Mel. How are you? I'm good. I saw you out running in your budgies. Ha ha ha.

00:00:51Tony O'Connell: There's a site that we don't want to share with the podcast, Mel.

00:00:54Melissa Ellis: I am, of course, referring to the Ugly Christmas Singlet Budgie Edition.

00:01:01Tony O'Connell: Mel, I've got to say, how good are the budgies? I love it. I love seeing the photos around, but I reckon the Ventoo tops, they're so comfortable, they're great, and they look so... I want to say so ugly, but they look so good. They do. I love the top. I've got so many people coming up to me at parkrun on Saturday saying, where's that top from? Where's that top from? I was thinking, you've missed the boat.

00:01:25Melissa Ellis: Has it closed? Because it was open again for its second... But I think it might have closed last weekend or the end of the weekend yesterday.

00:01:34Tony O'Connell: I believe it's closed.

00:01:37Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, they missed out. But we didn't. Yes, I wore mine as well. I actually went out and bought myself a little pair of shorts in the same colour blue, so I'm all matchy-matchy.

00:01:48Tony O'Connell: I've got the fluoro pink parkrun socks, and I reckon they go really well with it as well.

00:01:53Melissa Ellis: Ah, good tip.

00:01:54Tony O'Connell: Yeah. Good tip. And, you know, I always have reasonably bright shorts, so I've got plenty of options there.

00:02:03Melissa Ellis: You do. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, no, they are good, and I am enjoying wearing mine very much, although I do feel guilty when I turn up to an event and other people are wearing their adventurers tops and I'm, like, not in mine.

00:02:18Tony O'Connell: Too many choices, Mel. Too many choices.

00:02:19Melissa Ellis: Well, they are complementary colours as well. Budgies do match quite nicely with the adventurer Blue.

00:02:25Tony O'Connell: They do. Tell me, Mel, your parkrun day, you had an adventure. Where did you go?

00:02:33Melissa Ellis: Well, thank you for asking, Tony. I flew to WA to do Newcastle Park parkrun. And here's Sarah to give us the details on the traditional lands.

00:02:45Sarah Jefferson: Hi Mel. Newcastle Park parkrun is quite unique in the Toodyay area. It is on the lands of three Noongar tribes, one being Ute, two Baladong and three Whadjuk. This place was distinct and a known area, meaning camping place and it has rights to certain waterholes and Springs.

00:03:08Melissa Ellis: Thanks, Sarah. And the name Toodyay comes from the Noongar word duja, meaning missed. And it was a whirlwind visit. Only landed at Perth Airport in the early hours of Saturday morning, Ubering to Sarah and Matt's house to catch some Zs before an early start out to Toodyay. As luck would or would not have it, the West Side was in the middle of a heatwave, with daily temperatures reaching 40 degrees, which was a bit of a shock to the system. Newcastle Park parkrun was profiled in episode 326, Song Sung Blue, by David Messenger, which included a detailed course description of the two-lab course. It was event 40, with 33 participants enduring the warm conditions, including a few adventurers. As well as myself, Sarah and Matt, there was Chloe Bravos with friend Janet and little Lucy, Ellen Raven and Franz Carroll with Andrew Yeatman volunteering as photographer. Our little group was also joined by a couple of Brendan Peel's friends, Simon McNeill and Barry Wakenshaw, afterwards at the nearby Toodyay Bakery for brunch. I was there to pick up a new event, and, well, WA is a smorgasbord for me, and Sarah was upping her Wilson Index from 39 to 62. Speaking of Windexes, Alan Raven has the highest in WA on 177 and is 12th overall in Australia. Now, Chloe had heard from last week's episode that I was in town and made the trip out for a frond. Andrew Yeatman is trying to volunteer at all events in WA and has so far done 127 volunteers across 30 locations and 87 of them as photographer. Matt picked up second finisher and it's the first time that we had been to an event where the Tail Walker carried a snake catcher. After brunch, we visited the Christmas 360 shop, which is the largest Christmas shop in WA and has over 7,000 items to choose from, and the feel of an enchanted wonderland, and I picked up a decoration to take home for my tree. Also of interest in the town is the Cola Cafe and Museum, a 1950s-style cafe serving retro tucker foot-tapping music and a unique collection of Coca-Cola memorabilia. However, time did not permit a visit on this occasion. Another point of interest for the town is the Avon Descent. The Avon Descent is a full two-day race in a powerboat, kayak, ski or stand-up paddle as part of a single, double or relay team. It's one of West Australia's most iconic and longest-running major sporting and community events. The event began back in 1973 and starts from Northam, 100 kilometres east of Perth, travelling through Toodyay to Perth along the Avon River. It passes through some of West Australia's most picturesque country and offers participants conditions ranging from long stretches of flat water that can test the endurance of the fittest athlete through to rapids, sure to test the skills of all who attempt to navigate the unknown contours. Did I say it was a whirlwind trip? After an enjoyable night at Epicurean at Crown with my hosts, I was back on a plane home just after midnight WA and back in a little over 24 hours. Just crazy.

00:06:20Tony O'Connell: That was a big wrap-up.

00:06:21Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and I slept nearly 10 hours last night. Luckily, I didn't have to work today. I was absolutely exhausted from all that. But, Tony, what about your Saturday? I hope you had something a little more restful than myself.

00:06:39Tony O'Connell: Well, I probably had the, I guess, the ultimate relaxed Saturday parkrun. Our forecast was certainly not the 40 degrees that you were being forecast. Our forecast for Victoria was for thunderstorms, for rain, for hail, all sorts of catastrophe weather. We woke up Saturday morning to brilliant sunny skies and we head across to sunny Inverloch where it's always sunny. I should have known that it was going to be sunny. We went to event 424 where there was 112 finishers supported by 11 volunteers. Now, I like to run. I like to run as fast as I can fairly often. On Saturday... I took some time out and I walked at the back of the field and I walked with Jack and with one of our other Run Directors at Inverloch, JJ, and we just chatted and walked and observed the people. Inverloch's a multiple out and backs. You have the runners coming and the walkers coming and people going backwards and forwards. And I've got to say, it was just really good to actually walk the parkrun and just enjoy it and take some time out and just chat. And I found that a really... a different experience because I've I've tail walked and all that sort of thing but just to walk in that you know towards the back end of the field and just chat and take it easy and actually enjoy the day um I'd highly recommend if you if you are someone who just goes and belts out your parkrun each week take some time one week and actually just walk and you get a whole different sense of things at parkrun and I've I've got to say I really did enjoy it oh that's good so yeah you were being the party at the back We were the party at the back, and we should have probably had our adventurers tops on with the party on the back logo, but no, I had the budgies out. So we saw you say that. One of the things, I moved boxes on the weekend on the Charlie Peace Index. Do tell. So it was my 350th parkrun, so I've moved from the box from 300 to 349 across to the box from 350 and up. And as you progress through the boxes, typically the number really drops down. I moved out of a box of 90 and I've gone into a box of 91. It's actually gone up. So you're a dot. I'm nowhere near a dot. I'm a shade in a box.

00:09:14Melissa Ellis: Well, I don't know how much longer my DOT status is going to last. Obviously, it's a long haul to get into a new box, obviously. And I saw Charlie had just updated the chart in the last couple of days. And, yeah, the numbers in my box, I think, have gone up to 40.

00:09:34Tony O'Connell: So once you hit 50, you lose that DOT status?

00:09:37Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I lose DOT status. And there's not a lot I can do about it. Yeah.

00:09:40Tony O'Connell: Yeah, and as you said, I've hit the 350 group. It's either another 50 parkruns or I think I need another 22 new events to go out of my box into another box. And even 22 new events, that's a long haul to be aiming at, particularly in Victoria now where we've run all the events in the state. We've either got to swim to Tassie or do the long haul drive or, as you've done, the long haul flight. Yeah.

00:10:09Melissa Ellis: But a little holiday essay over Christmas will help the numbers. And wherever you're going, I've got an essay.

00:10:17Tony O'Connell: We're going to head up north, up into northern New South, tick a few boxes up that way. We're going to head up to Inverell and chase another eye and do a couple of parkruns up in that area.

00:10:34Melissa Ellis: That sounds good. Now, someone else that was getting extra parkruns, Tony, was the USA this last week. So the USA celebrated their special day last week on Thursday, the 23rd of November, which was Thanksgiving. And 12 adventurers took advantage. At Livonia, we had Helen and Andy Rutter. At Clermont Waterfront, we had Christine Imbert and Joyce Adams. Jamaica Pond saw a visit from Phil Olson and Darren and Lucille Pede. Joe Creason had, of course, our very own Geoff Glaab, Louise Murphy and Sarah Marb. At Perrigo, we had Jill Gardiner and at Darnie Park, we had Steve Milne. Apologise if I have not pronounced those names correctly, but well done to all those in the US who were able to enjoy Thanksgiving parkrun Day.

00:11:25Tony O'Connell: It sounds like it was a bit of good fun, Mel. The other thing that was mentioned last week on the pod was Jindabyne relaunching. They have returned for event 123. And as referenced by the Stats Geek, Charlie Pearce, that's two references for Charlie so far. Yeah. It's a pause of 119 weeks that Jindabyne's been out of action. That's from the 14th of August 2021, where they saw nine finishes and five vols, through to the 25th of the 11th, 2023. One adventurer in attendance was Russell Johnson. There were 68 finishers all up, with five recording their very first parkrun. The course remains most as per its original course along the edge of Lake Jindabyne, with the only change being the start and turnaround points. The event still starts at the same park, just at the Jindabyne Anzac Memorial near the statue. The turnaround's moved just a little further along the path to adjust for the change, and it remains a two-lapper. During the pause, of course, the event team ran the alternate event, Jindabyne Sport and Recreation, just up the road, which had a bit more of a hill in it. It was a different location, and that ran for 58 weeks.

00:12:41Melissa Ellis: And welcome back to Jindabyne and the event team. They must feel really good having their original course back up and running now.

00:12:48Tony O'Connell: I think, Mel, that would be one of the longer pauses in certainly Australian parkruns anyway of 119 weeks. So, yeah, welcome back to Indy.

00:12:59Melissa Ellis: Yeah, it's tipped. Yeah, what was it, Stones Corner last week that Simon mentioned it, 109 weeks that it was paused. So unless we can get Harrison Island back up and running, Tony.

00:13:12Tony O'Connell: That would be a long, long break, Mel.

00:13:16Melissa Ellis: Never say never.

00:13:17Tony O'Connell: There was the Irish event that did have over six years.

00:13:21Melissa Ellis: But you've got some news from us about next year, about palm24.

00:13:25Tony O'Connell: We do, Mel. Look, we're not far off finalising the full calendar. Just reminding people that Palm next year, it's the parkrun adventurers Listener Meetup, is on Friday the 12th of April through to Sunday the 14th of April at Toowoomba. Our full list of activities will be released fairly soon, but just confirming that we follow our traditional format where we have a freo on Friday night followed by a meal out and usually somewhere nearby Saturday morning we have our parkrun of course that's the thing that most of us go for followed by the podcast recording that that's what all of us go for said the arvo we tackle another freo for those that are feeling energetic and then we have a fancy dress night out where we're looking at having our own venue booking our own room And having a great night out last year, the costumes in Perth were sensational. People went to a massive amount of effort. It was just so much fun being out for the night. And then Sunday morning, we're going to have another Freedom Run somewhere and follow it up with breakfast. So that's pretty much the format that we've followed for a couple of years, Mel. Mm-hmm. As you know, we moved the location around and really looking forward to going to Toowoomba this time.

00:14:47Melissa Ellis: Yes. So when we say we're going to Toowoomba, we're talking about the general area and the location of the Saturday morning parkrun will be announced shortly.

00:14:56Tony O'Connell: That's correct. Yes, there are a number of parkruns in the Toowoomba area. I think there's four of them up there now. So, yeah, we will confirm all that very shortly. Mm-hmm.

00:15:07Melissa Ellis: Hmm, I'm looking forward to that. The dress-up night is always my highlight because that means the recording's over and done with, Tony. I always get a bit weird about recording live. So we don't record live as in live to the internet, but it's more in front of a live audience.

00:15:26Tony O'Connell: Yeah. And there is something different, Mel, in standing up in front of a group of 40-odd people. And I'm not saying the parkrun people are odd, but 40 people. And, yeah, working through a podcast definitely is different.

00:15:42Melissa Ellis: Well, we've got an extra few people to come on board and help this year because I think the Quizmaster will actually be on location and be able to run the quiz. So that'll be good. Yeah.

00:15:52Tony O'Connell: That'll be the first time the Quizmaster has been in attendance for a couple of years now.

00:15:55Melissa Ellis: Oh, I don't think he's been. Oh, was he at the Beaches?

00:16:00Tony O'Connell: Oh, I can't recall. I know. He was at Shellharbour. Missed the Mount Barker and Hobart. Anyway, Mel, moving along, I need to correct a mistake that I made in my roving report last week with the name of a parkrun, and that's not good at all. The new parkrun at Seymour is actually called Goulburn River Trail parkrun. I think I called it Goulburn River Rail Trail parkrun. I think that's because so many of the newer Victorian events in the last little while have all been rail trails. Yeah.

00:16:35Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:16:36Tony O'Connell: Yeah, no, Goulburn River is actually a Goulburn River trail parkrun. As I said last week, it's a beautiful little event. Yeah, just needs a little bit of support.

00:16:46Melissa Ellis: Thanks for bringing us that roving report last week too, Tony. Yeah.

00:16:50Tony O'Connell: That was my pleasure. It was great. And thank you for the advice to take Bushmans.

00:16:55Melissa Ellis: Oh, did you? They're bad, aren't they?

00:16:58Tony O'Connell: Yeah, the mozzies were pretty thick. We had the Bushmans on. We weren't getting attacked. But yeah, Pete, the RD up there did bring a big can of Aerogard along and he was passing it around quite happily.

00:17:10Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, excellent advice.

Dazza's

00:17:13Melissa Ellis: Now, we don't have any roving reports this week, so we are going to move straight on to Dazza's. And this week, Dazza said, yesterday was International Fairy Bread Day and Dazza isn't ready to stop sprinkling hundreds and thousands everywhere yet. So come on in, tell us about your morning, place your order and accept that whatever you ask for, it will be sprinkled. And just some of the many comments were.

00:17:37Tony O'Connell: And leading the way was Fiona Mullin. With Rex Gream celebrating my 50 slash 50, thanks for visiting Fingal Bay parkrun. Love that the new shirt matches your shoes. And the picture that accompanied that comment was a photo of Fiona and Rex by the flag showing Rex with his adventurers shirt and matching shoes. And just for reference, the 50 runs or the 50-50 references, 50 runs and 50 volunteers all achieved on the same day. And I did a bit of digging, Mel, and... Fiona's actually completed 11 different volunteer roles, including about a dozen as Run Director of an event. So, yeah, great statistics there.

00:18:21Melissa Ellis: Nice work. Now, we also heard from Cherie Cottle. Return visit to Blue Gum Hills parkrun for me with sprinkles of rain and a photo of Cherie resting on a rather large white tractor tyre with the parkrun symbol and arrow painted to indicate direction.

00:18:39Tony O'Connell: Right, next one we have Sheridan Davis. Touristed down to Surfers Paradise parkrun and volunteered as Tail Walker for their event 377. Turns out it was also their eighth anniversary. It's a lovely location for a park walk, and thankfully the rain showers held off. And the pic was of Sheridan Surfers Paradise in the selfie frame. And just a comment, happy birthday, surfers.

00:19:02Melissa Ellis: Yes, happy birthday to you and good park walking to Sheridan. Now we heard from David O'Brien. He said, ventured to our park, parkrun on Tassie's East Coast with some sprinkling of raindrops. I was listening to the adventurers podcast on the way there and all I could hear in my head while I was running was a Collingwood theme song. Thanks, Mel. And David didn't share a photo, but you're welcome, David. Now, the Office Lady did reply and I will mention that Office Lady is wonderful, does most of the replies on our behalf in Dazza's, but she did say to this one, maybe the boss took forever a bit too seriously with good old Collingwood forever. This comment is not endorsed by management and The Office Lady takes full responsibility for its content.

00:19:49Tony O'Connell: Right. More Collingwood. Oh, no. Moving along, let's go overseas so that we escape the football reference there. We heard from Johan. In the midst of a massive heat wave, it was sprinkles of another sort at Zuurfontein parkrun in South Africa, a somewhat strange course close to the Oliver Tambo International Airport, ideal for a fly-in or a short layover. 193 finishes, almost half of the inaugural number of 374, but still a very strong tourist contingent with chatter indicating the Z was the big attraction. And the photo was a very interesting one, Mel. It took me a while to work it out, but it's actually a close-up of the sweat on Johan's arm. I know.

00:20:41Melissa Ellis: Thanks for sharing, Johan. And I think we should be inserting another apology. Was it Zuurfontein that we got wrong last week with its reference to its location? I don't know. We got something wrong to do with South Africa, but that's not unusual for us.

00:21:00Tony O'Connell: I think there were two in South Africa last week. There were two launches in South Africa last week.

00:21:06Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I know, but I don't know if there was one the week before. I've now forgotten which one we got wrong. It was like the reference to its location.

00:21:13Tony O'Connell: They've had three in November so far, three launches.

00:21:17Melissa Ellis: Yeah, okay. Well, I'm sure if any adventurers are going to go there, they all can use Google Maps and not rely on our information. Now, Andrew Yeatman, who I mentioned earlier in my recap. He said Newcastle Park, parkrun, Men's Mental Health and Movember Run. And he shared a photo of himself in his volley vest with his blue hat and tutu and his Movember Mo. So thanks for volunteering, Andrew. Andrew does take really good photos.

00:21:50Tony O'Connell: Right now, moving back into Australia for my reports, and we've got one from Bill Barker, a family frond hundreds of miles apart. A great birthday gift, a little emoji of a present, for me with my girls doing their first parkrun. Definitely better than hundreds and thousands. And Bill sent a collage of three photos. One was showing one of his daughters in the selfie frame at Ballina Coast, Bill in the selfie frame at San Remo, and the second daughter and a friend in a selfie frame at Menai parkrun. I love those little fronds that gather, even if they're hundreds of kilometres or maybe a thousand kilometres apart.

00:22:28Melissa Ellis: That's beautiful. The girls went to parkrun in the morning for their dad on his birthday.

00:22:33Tony O'Connell: And they've done the first one. That's lovely. Yeah.

00:22:36Melissa Ellis: I hope they enjoyed it. Now we also heard from Andy Airey who said 19 of the Airey Airways posse flew from Bristol, Stansted and Luton to Edinburgh and Glasgow on Friday to then drive 500 kilometres to Thurso, the furthest parkrun on mainland UK to celebrate Jenny McBain's 250th unique event. Quick visit to John O'Groats, then reverse trip. I thought I'd blend in with my tartan hat. And he did a TOC-style selfie. And he did, complete with tartan hat, with his group in front of the Thurso pop-up. I hope that's how you say it, Thurso. Does that sound right?

00:23:17Tony O'Connell: That sounds right, yeah. Mel, I've got to say the only thing that I've got to object to with that TOC-style selfie reference is the picture of Andy's actually got some fake hair on the side and I don't have a lot of hair up top either.

00:23:34Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, you could.

00:23:36Tony O'Connell: I need a tartan hat. Right, staying over in the UK, we heard from our friend Pippa, Pippa White. Hi, Dazza. I had the best parkrun. It was my fastest in ages. It was my first time as a VI Guide, and I didn't break my runner. The weather was fab, and now I have three whys. Coffee and cake with all the hundreds and thousands, please. And Pip didn't put a photo in, but I know that Pip was at Yarborough Leisure Centre parkrun. And well done, Pip, on the VI Guide. It's a great role. I've really enjoyed that. And it's really great to see people out doing it.

00:24:11Melissa Ellis: Yes. Thank you for volunteering. Thank you for being brave and trying such a volunteer role such as a VI Guide. But doing your fastest in ages, wow.

00:24:23Tony O'Connell: While VI guiding, that's incredible.

00:24:25Melissa Ellis: Yeah, that must have been some visually impaired runner that you were assisting.

the Obi Award — Cherie Cottle

00:24:31Melissa Ellis: So well done. But now that's it for Dazza's, Tony, and you will have the envelope because that's the boy's job. I don't know why it just happens to be that way.

00:24:43Tony O'Connell: Right, Mel, I do have an envelope here. I'll open it up. And our winner this week is... Cherie Cottle.

00:24:45[background music]

00:25:00Melissa Ellis: Congratulations. And yes, nice photo there of Cherie, as I said, with a large tractor or truck tyre. Must be a bit of a turnaround point or spot on the course, I'm guessing, over there at Blue Gum Hills. I have not been to Blue Gum Hills, so I can't talk from experience.

00:25:21Tony O'Connell: I think, Mel, if you were looking at a course indicator, that's something that you'd be able to see from a long, long way away. So it would be a very standout that tractor tyre painted white.

00:25:33Melissa Ellis: Yeah, hopefully, because not like me, I tend to run with my mind on a million things. And I had to get called back at Newcastle Park on the weekend by, luckily, by a couple of fellas that were running behind me that noticed that when there was a turn on the course, I kept running and I heard them yell, shout out to turn around and walk a few strides back and take the correct turn. So, Oh, can't blame the event. There was a sign. Didn't see it. There was a sign.

00:26:01Tony O'Connell: Righty-o, Mel.

the Birthday Boy

00:26:03Tony O'Connell: I think moving along from Bill's having his birthday and having his girls do the birthday, I reckon we should throw across to the birthday boy and hear who else is having a birthday. Oh, let's do that.

00:26:10[background music]

00:26:20the Birthday Boy: Howdy, it's the birthday boy here, with some of the goings on for December 2023. December has seven, yes, seven parkrun days, with week one on the second, week two on the ninth, then the 16th and the 23rd, plus a special day for Australia on the 25th, and the final parkrun day on the 30th to conclude 2023. Hot tip, there are no anniversaries on the 30th this year, so no pressure for cake that day. The 25th of December is Australia's special parkrun date. Each country can pick one date. The 25th of December is also the special parkrun day for Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, and the UK. The 26th is the special parkrun day for Poland. So if you are a listener in Europe, perhaps you might squeeze in another parkrun. Poland's special day is the sneaky seventh possible parkrun in December of 2023. A reminder first with the standard anniversary caveat. Events may celebrate what they're like, when they're like, so please check all details with the local source, i.e. their webpage and or their Facebook page. This is especially true for cake, dress-ups, etc. To know what event is taking place on a special day, and spoilers here, this includes the 1st of January, then head to parkrun.com.au forward slash special dash events. You will see a list of all events currently in operation in Australia, and then two columns populated with ticks and crosses. If an event is showing as blank, that means the decision is not made yet, and you should check back another day. A tick in a column means yes, it's on. Please note, you should also still check the event page closer to the 25th or the 1st, as an event could still cancel a bonus event for any of the usual reasons. Across means that event is not on, and please don't whine. These special days are optional for event teams. No one loses anything by an event not going on. Rather, we gain something when an event is hosting for Christmas or New Year. Anyways, back to regular proceedings. Is there anybody joining Main Beach, New Farm, or Albert, Melbourne on 12? Nope. How about any parkrun independence days?

00:28:55Sarah Jefferson: Yep.

00:28:56the Birthday Boy: Torrens in South Australia is turning 11. There are another 30 events celebrating in December of 2023. So let's check out the first anniversaries. We have five events this December who are turning one, but only two are open to the public. Baxter in WA and Lake Wallace in Victoria. The other three events are on custodial estates. There are no junior event anniversaries in December, but soon, very soon. The spread of anniversaries in December ranges from 1st to 11th, so there can be no 12th party in the 12th month. And as there is so much spread around in the month, I chose at random my shout out, Nathalia Showgrounds in Victoria. They are turning 11th. 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 out again mid-month and again at the end of the month, owing as there are so many possible parkrun days in December. Well, see you next month for some more birthday boy banter. And be sure to let Mel and the rotation of co-hosts know if you have any requests.

00:30:20[background music]

00:30:31Tony O'Connell: And great to hear from the birthday boy there, Mel. I've done a little bit of digging following up his reference to the Christmas compendium. And as at the date we're recording... There's 184 events have announced that they are going ahead on Christmas Day in Australia. And on New Year's Day, there's 189 events confirmed. And just a reminder to people that events still have a couple of weeks to confirm. I think the 11th of December is the date they're all asked to confirm by. But that's some really good numbers, some good spread of events all around Australia. So hopefully people can get to a parkrun reasonably close to them if they want to go on those special days.

00:31:12Melissa Ellis: Excellent. Yes, that's not bad out of all the events so far.

Consolidated Club Report

00:31:17Melissa Ellis: But now time to look towards the adventurers Consolidated Club Report for Saturday, the 25th of November, 2023. And of a total of 512 members, 406 took part on this date in eight countries across 196 locations. In the UK, there were adventurers at 25 events. There were four in the US, two each in Canada and South Africa, and one each in Poland and Austria. Locally, we had adventurers at 41 events in the Greater State and New South Wales, 38 events in Queensland, 12 events in WA, 10 in South Australia, six in the ACT, the North Island had four, the South Island had two, and there was one in the Northern Territory.

00:32:09Tony O'Connell: Some really good numbers there, Mel.

the Frond

00:32:11Tony O'Connell: And for our fronds internationally, we had three at Quakers Walk in the UK. They were Stuart Henderson, Charlie Marriott and Matthew Wateridge.

00:32:21Melissa Ellis: And locally, there was a frond of 14 at one event, which was Shellharbour. There was Chris Fraser, Malcolm Peaty, Julie and Gordon Turner, Kristen McKenzie, Martine Barrot and Andrew Johnston, David Foster, Galen Hanna and James, Luke Schroder, Sue Keane and Catherine Pirotta. And special mention, there was a frond of nine at The Ponds and six at two events. One was Newcastle Park, of which I mentioned the members earlier, and the San Remo, which is in New South Wales.

00:32:55Tony O'Connell: Well, we had a couple of adventurers crack some milestones this week. Happy to announce that Fiona Mullen, a 106.8992, ran the 50th milestone. And Jennifer Arnold, a 213.7896, completed the 250 milestone. So welcome to the Milestone Club, guys.

00:33:18Melissa Ellis: Well done. Yes, Fiona, we read earlier in Dazza's. I wonder where Jen ran hers. I wonder if that was at Bathurst. But we also have PBs to announce. So Gavin Porter, a 4-2-3-1-2-2-0, ran a PB at Cleethorpes, which was 19 minutes and 52. Karen Hamilton, 2-5-1-7-7-5-2, ran a PB at Picton at 20 minutes 58. And Adrian Heawood, 6-5-3-1-1-7-0, ran a PB at Beaufort Lake at 24 minutes 31. So well done to those adventurers.

00:33:58Tony O'Connell: Yeah, certainly some great times there, Mel. And just remember that if you'd like the parkrun adventurers to track your achievements, you can add the Adventurers Club as one of your five affiliations on your parkrun profile.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:34:12Melissa Ellis: Now, I do believe we had a launch in Australia this week, TOC.

00:34:17Tony O'Connell: We did, Mel. And we had one in the Northern Territory. It's been a long time since we've had one in the Northern Territory, but it's great to see the dots on the parkrun map slowly inching their way south. Let's see if we can get that connection down through the centre. Well we head Katherine Hot Springs. Katherine is 320 kilometres southeast of Darwin down the Stuart Highway and this week for their launch there was 105 finishers and they were assisted by 12 volunteers and one of the great things to see there was 32 of the people that finished were actually first time to parkrunners so obviously there's attracted a bit of a local interest already and The course itself, Mel, it's an out and back on a concrete path starting at the hot springs, which funny enough is their name. And they head north along the Katherine River. They cross the iconic Katherine River Bridge. And funny enough, I think they get to one side of the bridge. Then they turn around and return to the start, making it the out and back course. So welcome to the family, Katherine.

00:35:22Melissa Ellis: And I do believe that's the only one that we were aware of or able to locate in the world for this last week. And Tony, you mentioned a couple of weeks ago that you have a list, your destination list. Well, this one is going on my destination list.

00:35:38Tony O'Connell: This one's on the bucket list, Mel. It's going to take a little bit of an adventure to get to it. 320km from Darwin. It's almost a road trip and do... Uluru and up through there on the way. The harder it is to get to, the more I want to do it. So Mel, I'm just thinking, could you plan, let's go back to Contiki Tour here. Could we do a couple of week Contiki Tour where we pick up the likes of Coober Pedy and Katherine Hot Springs on the one trip?

00:36:11[crosstalk]

00:36:12Melissa Ellis: I'm in.

00:36:12Tony O'Connell: How good would that be?

00:36:16Melissa Ellis: Just put me on the list, put me on the bus. They're my two top destination parkruns.

00:36:21Tony O'Connell: Yeah, I'm just thinking that'd be a magical little trip, wouldn't it? Yep.

00:36:25Melissa Ellis: Yep.

00:36:27Tony O'Connell: With a couple of very popular big items on the way too. You get the big rock.

00:36:31Melissa Ellis: Oh, there's that rock. There's that rock in the middle of Australia somewhere.

00:36:35Tony O'Connell: That big rock.

00:36:36Melissa Ellis: I've seen people post photos. Apparently the thing to do is watch the sunset and stuff. Yep.

00:36:41Tony O'Connell: And you can do that now halfway between two parkruns.

00:36:45Melissa Ellis: Wow. Okay. Now it's sounding even better.

Sign-off

00:36:49Tony O'Connell: So Mel, what's your plans for next week?

00:36:53Melissa Ellis: Oh dear. I knew you were going to ask this. I haven't recovered from last week yet, Tony. And I don't know, I have to stay local. See, nobody believes me that I've backed off my touring. Actually have. If you count the last four weeks, I probably will have only had one crazy adventure granted it was a big one but yeah this week we'll be somewhere Melbourne metro ish um probably looking to uh increase my uh p index count somewhere so yeah I can't give you an answer for that I may have to fess up in the Friday post well I I think

00:37:35Tony O'Connell: Crazy adventure is one way of putting it. Spirit adventure is another. A 24-hour trip to Perth or to WA to run a parkrun and head home. For a lot of people out in the real world, they'd think we're crazy. For a lot of people that listen to this podcast, I think a lot of people are thinking, oh, that's a good idea.

00:37:59Melissa Ellis: Is it mathematically possible is what you have to ask yourself, people.

00:38:03Tony O'Connell: And do you leave yourself enough time that it's not the panic drive trying to get to somewhere?

00:38:08Melissa Ellis: Oh, I'll tell you what. I've got to tell you, I was getting a little bit nervous in the back seat of Sarah and Matt's car when I was looking at the arrival time that the Google Maps was saying at about 7.52. It doesn't leave a lot of room for error. Yeah. I usually have a bit bigger buffer than that, but I was not complaining. I didn't have to drive. I was being chauffeured and they did a brilliant job at getting me there on time.

00:38:40Tony O'Connell: Like all tourist adventurers, when you're looking at your destination parkrun, you do need to open the web page and have a look at the start time. You were getting a little bit closer at 7.52, but I was planning a bit of an adventure at Christmas, and one of the parkruns I opened up, I was thinking, oh, yeah, 8 o'clock, I've got time to drive from here if we stay here. And I opened up the page and thought, oh, it's a 7 a.m. parkrun. Yeah. And that'd be heartbreaking to travel so far and have the people packing up and the Tail Walker crossing the line and everyone saying, we're going for coffee. So I do suggest if you are travelling, particularly if you're travelling interstate, make sure you have a good look at the start time of your destination parkrun.

00:39:30Melissa Ellis: Yeah, especially over the holiday season. It's a good reminder to all adventurers to keep that in mind when they're on holidays. Yeah. If you're in a different state, you need to confirm start times. Yeah, that sounds like maybe a nightmare that I may have had in the past. I'm sure I've had that dream that I've rocked up at parkrun and I'm late.

00:39:48Tony O'Connell: Not just in a different state though, Mel. We do have some... Events that are exceptions within states, such as within Tassie with Devonport, there's a couple like that. So you do need to have a look when you are touristing.

00:40:01Melissa Ellis: Correct. And you know what else I had a weird experience was, okay, granted I hadn't had many hours sleep, but I woke up in WA on Saturday morning, open up my social media, which of course is the first thing I do in the morning when I wake up, and see Facebook posts of people

00:40:19Tony O'Connell: at parkrun already and you're like what it's just that time delay thing this this is how the UK feels when they see when they wake up and we've all had our parkrun day well you get to experience not just parkrun for an hour or two in the morning but you get to experience parkrun then for all day if you're in the UK but what about uh you Tony where where are you going to be Well, we're in the same boat as you. We haven't actually decided on a location this week. We'll possibly be venturing down to Melbourne. So we might go and revisit one of the parkruns that we've done in Melbourne and see if we can catch up with some friends down in Melbourne. But maybe I'll have to jump in on the Friday post as well and... and post which way we're headed when we decide.

00:41:05Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's a good idea. And speaking of which, I remember I did tell Mr Oliver Spake, and we actually haven't mentioned why Ollie's not here today. We probably should have done that. And also thank you, Tony, for stepping in on Ollie's week to record because Ollie's sick. Ollie couldn't record tonight. He is not feeling well. And he was supposed to post the other week, how he went at Kingston when he ran in Tassie. And I completely forgot last week when I recorded with Simon to congratulate him on his half Cowell because he ran his 50th unique event.

00:41:41Tony O'Connell: Oh, well done, Ollie.

00:41:43Melissa Ellis: So I'm glad that we've quickly remembered before we wrapped up this week. We wish you to get better soon, Ollie, and congratulations not just on your half Cowell but for mastering the Point to Pinnacle again up Mount Tassie. I think that's how you say it. It's Mount Wellington, but they call it. Yeah.

00:42:06Tony O'Connell: I can never work out how to pronounce it.

00:42:09Melissa Ellis: Oh, well.

00:42:09Tony O'Connell: Yep.

00:42:10Melissa Ellis: Everybody can send in if I've done it wrong.

00:42:15Tony O'Connell: There, so, Mel, we will post where we're going to be on Friday night and, yeah, hopefully catch up with some adventurers out there. And, as always, you can contact us via the parkrun adventurers on Facebook, our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week. We'll see you all next week for some more adventures.

00:42:35[outro theme playing]