Episode 363 - Old Farts and Old Ducks

00:00:00[intro theme playing]

Welcome

00:00:23Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 363 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.

00:00:36Oliver Spake: And I am Ollie Spake, and I am joining from Dharawal Country. After a bit of a break.

00:00:42Melissa Ellis: Ollie, I haven't spoken to you for so long. It feels like it's been quite a while, Mel. How are you? It's been a month. Yes. Yes. I'm good. I'm good. But don't ask me about my day. I've had a day, Ollie.

00:00:48[crosstalk]

00:00:55Oliver Spake: You've had a day?

00:00:55Melissa Ellis: I've had a day. Oh, my goodness. Do not like having to bath the dog before I go to work in the morning.

00:01:04Oliver Spake: Well, it's nice to start the day fresh, but I'm sure it wasn't the proactive approach that you were aiming for.

00:01:11Melissa Ellis: I've got, yeah, I've got escaping Pomeranians in this house. She is not liking the very stormy, thundery weather. We're having very humid and unsettled skies here. And for some reason, for the first time in five years, she's escaping. She's had three baths in 12 days, all due to her trying to dig under different points in my backyard.

00:01:36Oliver Spake: Wow. Oh, it sounds like a bit of a testing Monday, Mel. But hopefully it's a calm night and everyone's a bit more rested and relaxed.

00:01:48Melissa Ellis: I know. What am I going to do with her? Like, this is the problem. I don't know how to. I've tried to block all the exit points.

00:01:58Oliver Spake: Yep.

00:01:58Melissa Ellis: I've been lugging concrete slabs around my backyard. The joys of being a single mum. I only got myself to fix the problem. So I've got all these concrete slabs trying to block the places where she's digging. And so she actually like scurried down the side of the shed. There's this tiny little gap between the side of the shed and the fence line. So I've tried to block that up with big blocks of concrete to let you know in the future how successful I've been and whether I still have a Pomeranian in the weeks to come, get some chicken wire and run it all around the base everywhere but yeah yeah oh goodness yeah no I didn't have a lot of time tonight I'm like that's why we've actually delayed the start of the recording because I was out in the backyard trying to dog proof my um perimeter

00:02:54Oliver Spake: Well, some things must come first. Absolutely. Absolutely.

00:02:59Melissa Ellis: So thank you for accommodating me. And can we know how you've been going and are you well?

00:03:05Oliver Spake: Ah, well, it has some... Yeah, it feels like I've just... Yeah, been away. It's been nice to listen to the pod and great as always to listen to yourself and to Simon and to TOC as well. And thank you in particular for you and TOC for stepping in as I was sick. Yeah, I mean, I've been to Tassie and I've been back and I went to Collingwood too, Mel. I went to Collingwood.

00:03:35[background music]

00:03:35Melissa Ellis: Hooray, another excuse to put the music in.

00:03:39Oliver Spake: Sorry, TOC. But, yeah, came back and, yeah, look, I think I was a bit run down. So I have been a bit unhealthy. The spicy cough did get to me and, yeah, the lung capacity has been pretty low and the tiredness factor pretty high. But that's enough me whinging. I'm fine. I'm doing well, looking forward to Christmas and I've got loads of, you know, excited Christmas events and, you know, absolutely pumped children. I've got one daughter who refuses to take off her reimagined koala Ugly Christmas Singlet. So, yeah, things are pretty good considering.

00:04:31Melissa Ellis: Now tell me, well, firstly, congratulations on your point to pinnacle. Oh, thank you. But how did I go with pronouncing kunanyi?

00:04:39Oliver Spake: Okay. I did listen and I did enjoy your pronunciation. Now, I'm not an expert. I really don't know. I believe it to be kananye. That's me trying to say the Y at the end in the last syllable there, but kananye. But kananye sounds just highly appropriate for my tastes.

00:05:03Melissa Ellis: It sounds like kikye, doesn't it? Exactly. Yeah, it's appropriate. Okay, well, we'll just change it.

00:05:09Unidentified speaker: Okay.

00:05:11Oliver Spake: It was a wonderful time. Yeah, I wasn't in great shape and didn't help my cause by going hiking in, well, on kunanyi the day before as well with my brother. And the day before that, traipsing down to the Hartz Mountains down on, I think it's melukerdee Country, and enjoying a hike down there too. So I was pretty worn out. Yeah, it was really just the thrill and the excitement of the event once again to carry me up.

00:05:47Melissa Ellis: Well done, you. Thank you. Thank you. It was nice to see some familiar faces.

00:05:51Oliver Spake: I didn't see some of our adventurers there, but fortunately they showed up at Shellharbour later in the month.

00:05:57Melissa Ellis: Ah, I was going to ask, did you see Andrew and Martine?

00:06:00Oliver Spake: No, no, somehow missed them. Yeah, somehow we missed one another. I did, however, have two fellow Shellharbour parkrunners also running, so we managed to find each other several times heading up the mountain and I think my highlight was finishing the last kilometre or so with one of the lead runners people from the Brain Cancer Centre because, of course, I was part of the Carrie's Beanies 4 Brain Cancer Foundation fundraising team. And, yeah, one of the key people from the foundation was doing their first half marathon, I believe. And she'd done a bit of training, but not too many hills. And yeah, getting to finish with someone like that was pretty special. And just a huge boost to see the fundraising effort hit half a million dollars as well, which goes a long way to giving people certainty, people like that, giving them an annual income and meaning that the always something that gets me well and truly passionate about participating. And, Mel, the other highlight there was I got to run and meet Nedd Brockmann, who... I've obviously been living under a rock, but for those who don't know, Ned recently, he ran across Australia to raise money and he spent, it was 50 odd days running almost 100Ks a day.

00:07:37Melissa Ellis: Yeah, this is ringing a bell.

00:07:38Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah.

00:07:39Melissa Ellis: The name didn't jump out at me when you said it. I'm sitting there thinking Nedd Brockmann, Nedd Brockmann. Nedd Brockmann.

00:07:44Oliver Spake: No.

00:07:45Melissa Ellis: Okay.

00:07:47Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, he's a bit of an energised bunny. He can do anything, absolutely.

00:07:51[crosstalk]

00:07:51Melissa Ellis: Is he ex-military or ex-police?

00:07:54Oliver Spake: No, he's an ex-sparky, actually. Oh, right. Ex-sparky from the west of New South Wales, and I think he's only in his early to mid-20s. And, yeah, he – I think his mantra to life is if he's alive and he can do it, then he's going to do it. So, yeah.

00:08:15Melissa Ellis: You were meeting all the celebs. Ollie, well done and good on you for supporting such a good cause too of Carrie's Beanies 4 Brain Cancer. But can I just ask, did you also spruik parkrun and spread the gospel?

00:08:28Oliver Spake: Absolutely, yes. Good on you. Absolutely. I'm sorry to say that I didn't record any roving reports, but, yeah, I did take the opportunity to spruik parkrun. I've almost managed to sign up my younger brother to send him off to Queen's Domain. We'll see how he goes in that respect.

00:08:47Melissa Ellis: You didn't even post in Dazza's. You had one job.

00:08:54Oliver Spake: I did eventually do a post. Kingston. I think I eventually managed one. Yes, yeah.

00:08:59Melissa Ellis: Did you? Yeah.

00:09:00Oliver Spake: I think I did at some point.

00:09:01Melissa Ellis: That somehow escaped me. Maybe you forgot to press send.

00:09:05Oliver Spake: Well, maybe I did. But I did appreciate the call out and, yes, it was nice to tick off rather quietly the half Cowell.

00:09:15Melissa Ellis: Yes. Yes.

00:09:16Oliver Spake: Yeah, very subdued morning that one before more hiking. But very nice to finally make it there after my misadventure the month before. Yeah.

00:09:27Melissa Ellis: Did they do a call out and did you put your hand up and go, Shellharbour?

00:09:32Oliver Spake: Yes, yes, I did. Yes.

00:09:35Melissa Ellis: Cool.

00:09:37Oliver Spake: Always have to represent. Yeah.

00:09:39Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Oh, but.

00:09:42Oliver Spake: I think that's me caught up. I'm not sure there's anything else to report there, Mel. Dropped all the important things like Collingwood.

00:09:52Melissa Ellis: Good. Now, is Lily actually living in Collingwood or no, just close by or you just drove through? No.

00:09:58Oliver Spake: Yeah, I drove down to Collingwood to try and get some hardware items because I was down in Melbourne. I had an adventure to Melbourne, a one-day adventure, and it didn't involve a parkrun. So it had me reflecting. But nonetheless, yeah, she's not all that far from Collingwood, let's say about 10 minutes' drive.

00:10:18Melissa Ellis: Hooray.

00:10:20Oliver Spake: But you had an actual parkrun adventure.

00:10:24Melissa Ellis: I did.

00:10:25Oliver Spake: I understand. And it may have been interstate. It was. Yeah. Where did you go, Mel? What did you do?

00:10:33Melissa Ellis: Well, I was at event 452 of Campbelltown parkrun in New South Wales on the lands of the Dharawal people, which you're familiar with. Yes. With 142 participants and five fellow adventurers, being Lee Cabarita, the That's her poor name. Sally McLaughlin, Bianca Torts, Charlene Harrison and Uber driver Chris Fraser. Campbelltown is an out-and-back course which starts and ends at the Rabie Sports Complex doing a lap of the Green Ovals before heading out along the Bunbury Curran Creek Trail which navigates you through a couple of tunnels before the turnaround which was clearly marked. on the cement with paint. The course runs entirely on concrete path until a very short grassed finish funnel and the event team is one of the friendliest you will come across. I did a little Google of the Rabie Sports Complex to identify which sports are enjoyed there and I discovered it to be one of the largest sporting facilities in the region catering to local and regional cricket. The Campbelltown government website also states that the complex plays host to Campbelltown parkrun. They used a capital P, but we will forgive them. We found a lovely local parkrunner, Cheryl Perrin, as we emerged from the car park, looking around for the start area, who cheerfully directed us towards the briefing spot, inquiring into our reason for visiting and where we were from, introducing us to hubby Tony, who was volunteering, I believe, as Timekeeper. Now, 142 participants is very close to the Dunbar number of 150, the sweet spot for parkrun participation, and this was evident in the general vibe. Obviously, the locals all knew each other and were curious about the six adventurers in their brightly coloured shirts. We happily explained about the podcast and Ugly Christmas Shirts and even got a little shout-out from the RD in the run brief. I spoke to one interestingly dressed parkrunner after the event, which we will hear a bit later on, and I should also mention the warm conditions. Sydney was experiencing a heatwave. Yes. With temperatures peaking around 2pm and reaching a staggering 43.6 before beginning to fall. This meant we were very pleased with the 7am start, which likely bolstered the numbers at Campbelltown with runners looking to beat the heat. We escaped to the nearby Eagle Vale marketplace for coffee in the air-conditioned cafe before we bid goodbye to the girls. I should say how lovely it was to catch up with Lee and Sally, who we spent time with at Palm, plus Bianca and Charlene. The girls travelled an hour in Charlene's minivan to meet us for a front, which was very much appreciated. Now, Ollie, I did also make a note of the Dunbar number for those who might not be familiar with the term. So what I found on the internet when I did a little Google was the Oxford evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar is best known for his namesake Dunbar number, which he defines as the number of stable relationships people are cognitively able to maintain at once. The proposed number is 150.

00:13:48Oliver Spake: There we go. Well, thank you, Mel. Always insightful.

00:13:54Melissa Ellis: Every day's a school day.

00:13:56Oliver Spake: And you are quite right about that, Hayes. It was a particularly scorching morning, that one. But might I ask, it's a wonderful parkrun, great community there, but why Campbelltown?

00:14:10Melissa Ellis: Oh, yes, the girls did wonder that too, Ollie. Well, I was looking to pick up a Rayfarer event, which is the term for the events that fall within the boundaries of Greater Sydney, I believe. And also it is an iIndex event. So it is within one of the first 100 events to launch in Australia.

00:14:36Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:14:36Melissa Ellis: So sorry, not sorry. Yeah. But also excitingly, if you head over to the Campbelltown parkrun Facebook page, we are cover girls.

00:14:46Oliver Spake: You are. You absolutely are.

00:14:49Melissa Ellis: And us girls were all wearing different versions of the Ugly Christmas Singlet. There was myself in the budgies and a couple, Lee and I think Bianca, in the reimagined original one from last year. Charlene was wearing the original quality and Sally had on the platypus Christmas tree one.

00:15:17Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, there's a real tinsel. There was. Absolutely, absolutely.

00:15:23Melissa Ellis: Yes, so we did stand out a little bit in our colourful clothing.

00:15:28Oliver Spake: Yeah, and I was going to mention, and I can't recall whether or not he may have been Run Director on parkrun Morning, but Bob Prentice, yeah, has been an absolute, yeah, wonderful supporter to parkrun and, yeah, key to the success of Campbelltown parkrun, of course, for the rest of the community. But, yes, I trust that Bob looked after you all well.

00:15:52Melissa Ellis: Yes, my little lum. West brethren out there in Western Sydney.

00:16:00Oliver Spake: Yes. West is best. West is best.

News and discussion

00:16:03Oliver Spake: There's a nice segue there, Mel, in news and discussion, acknowledging, of course, last week's episode being West is best. There was a bit of feedback there with Michael George, writing a comment there saying, you were spot on about the havoc caused to UK parkrun events by the freezing weather last weekend. My home parkrun did go ahead, but many of our neighbours in the north of England were forced to cancel. By the way, 800 plus events in the UK, so not 600. So a huge impact. Yeah. It's good to get that feedback and those updates and, yeah, I was enjoying the reasons for cancellations but obviously hope that everyone is safe and able to enjoy their parkruns again by now.

00:16:54Melissa Ellis: Yes. It's just crazy, isn't it? The UK is always the opposite weather conditions to us.

00:17:01Oliver Spake: Yep.

00:17:02Melissa Ellis: But Ollie, in other news, I got tipped off by fellow adventurer Adrian Hillyer with a link to the new parkrun Pandora. Now, this has just appeared in the UK shop or the global shop. I'm not sure what the right termination, termination, terminology is. Yes. But anyway, it's called Notch and it's its description is celebrate your parkrun milestones and your passion for parkrun with a notch bracelet or key loop featuring engraved notches that tell your story a quick glance at your wrist reminds you of everything you've achieved stylish robust and in a range of colours and materials notch is perfect for the office gym training chilling or going out out Now, I've had a little look at the website. It is very much sort of Pandora-ish where you have a little bracelet which you can put little beads on. Obviously, the beads are parkrun themed. It appears personalised one with your home event. You can have your barcode on one. You can buy a...

00:18:15Oliver Spake: a bead for every country that you've visited and there are of course milestones being both running and volunteering yeah so I mean naturally there are a lot of options there Mel and and particularly challenging if if you do want to add a notch for each event you visit and expensive uh as well I would imagine but once you start adding up um all the events that our adventurers have made it to but um Yeah, it looks quite nice. Yeah.

00:18:45Melissa Ellis: I think, Ollie, I think you'd only get, like for personalising your RV, that you'd get your home parkrun, wouldn't you?

00:18:52Oliver Spake: I certainly would. Absolutely.

00:18:56Melissa Ellis: Yes, I think you would for the personalised one and, like, your barcode. But, yeah, no, I quite like the idea. I do not need another bracelet. No. I do have multiple Pandora bracelets. So I am a fan of the concept and I'm pretty sure they will do well.

00:19:14Oliver Spake: Yeah, I do think so. So, yeah, thanks for the tip-off, Adrian, and... Yeah, would you say just in time for Christmas? Maybe just a little bit too late.

00:19:25Melissa Ellis: I don't think Santa can get it to us in time. I wouldn't think, no.

00:19:29Oliver Spake: Yeah, never mind. Meanwhile, across at the Aussie parkrun tourism page, I should say, a post from David French. So, look, there have been a few running events recently, happening around the traps of late, and this particular one in the snowy. So David said at Jindabyne for the Ultra Trail Cosi Series, did 27 kilometres and fronted for Jindabyne parkrun. Friend David came with me, first parkrun ever. Very friendly organisers, and what about the guy that just finished 169 kilometres trail and came to parkrun straight after?

00:20:08Melissa Ellis: Wow. I had a little look at the results of Jindabyne parkrun. I just thought maybe a name would, you know, of a trail runner, a parkrunner might pop out. There was no Tony O'Connell in the results, so no name did pop out to me. But I thought we'd mention this, Ollie, because if anybody out there knows who that crazy parkrunner was, I actually almost thought it might have been the running guy, you know, the Insta running guy. But his name didn't pop out at me either. So I really want to know who it was. So if you know, anybody out there knows, could you drop us a line or comment somewhere so we can find out who the crazy parkrunner person is? But, yeah, they're getting very good numbers out there at Jindabyne too with their relaunch.

00:20:57Oliver Spake: Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's great to see. Good to see them back there. And I am slightly distracted because I am simultaneously trawling through the results.

00:21:10Melissa Ellis: Good. You can tell me how many people are at Jindabyne and that saves me Googling.

00:21:15Oliver Spake: Well, there's another familiar name in the results there, one Stephen Jackson, right?

00:21:21Melissa Ellis: I know, I saw that. I did wonder if it was, but I don't think he runs that distance.

00:21:26Oliver Spake: No, no, no. And also not with the right home parkrun stats there. So, yeah, not the same, but it did make me look twice.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:21:37Oliver Spake: But, Mel, speaking of looking twice, let's revisit something that we were talking about just a little earlier. You did allude to having a bit of audio from your visit to Campbelltown. So I think it's time we catch up with your roving report from Campbelltown parkrun.

00:21:45[background music]

Roving report Melissa Ellis — Campbelltown parkrun

Talking to Billy — Campbelltown parkrunner celebrating his 250th milestone; Campbelltown Joggers member…

00:22:03Melissa Ellis: I came here at the finish line and I have found Billy. Billy celebrated his 250th milestone today. Good morning, Billy.

00:22:09Billy: Morning. How are you going?

00:22:11Melissa Ellis: Good. Congratulations on your 250th.

00:22:13Billy: Cheers to that. Thank you.

00:22:14Melissa Ellis: Now, you dress quite uniquely this morning. Would you like to tell the listeners about your attire?

00:22:20Billy: I got a fancy, fancy green dress. It's very tight fitting and there's a lot of sweat.

00:22:26Melissa Ellis: How was it to run in?

00:22:28Billy: Hot.

00:22:29Melissa Ellis: Hot. And did you choose green because it's the 250 colour? Yes, that's right, yep. Excellent. Now tell me, is this what you would wear on a normal week?

00:22:39Billy: Nah, nah, nah. Nah, I use it in my Campbelltown Joggers shirt, but I've got the visor and the buff UTA 50. Oh, I see, a UTA runner. That's a 50 finisher.

00:22:46[crosstalk]

00:22:51Melissa Ellis: So you're a bit of an ultra runner.

00:22:53Billy: Yeah, ultra trail.

00:22:54Melissa Ellis: Yep. So tell me about, I got told you like to wear a tutu as well.

00:23:00Billy: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, when the tutu runs on.

00:23:03Melissa Ellis: Yeah, a bit of fun, like to make people laugh.

00:23:03[crosstalk]

00:23:05Billy: Yeah, just a bit of fun. That's what it's mainly all about.

00:23:08Melissa Ellis: That's it. So how long, well, you've been doing parkrun for 250 events. Where did you start here?

00:23:13Billy: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I'm one of those unique ones where I started running when I was really young and at Campbelltown Joggers, my PB's are 41 minutes for 10k and people are like, really? But at the moment I'm running like, trying to get under 50, but yeah, so, but that was in 1992, so a very long time ago.

00:23:37Melissa Ellis: You do most of your runs here at Campbelltown?

00:23:39Billy: Yeah, yeah. I'm part of Campbelltown Joggers, yeah.

00:23:41Melissa Ellis: Okay.

00:23:42[crosstalk]

00:23:42Billy: Yeah, 99.9% of them are all here.

00:23:44Melissa Ellis: Yep, so we're an adventuring podcast. Have you ever done a different parkrun?

00:23:48Billy: Yep.

00:23:49Melissa Ellis: Where have you been?

00:23:50Billy: Oh. Wagga, Wagga Wagga, Studley in Melbourne. Aha.

00:24:00Melissa Ellis: You're the one that knows Kanes Bridge.

00:24:01Billy: Yes, yes. A lot of bounce in that bridge.

00:24:05Melissa Ellis: There is.

00:24:06Billy: Yeah, and a lot of the local ones. Done the beaches in Newy, Newcastle.

00:24:10[crosstalk]

00:24:11Melissa Ellis: Good, great, great event. Yep, yep. Get your feet wet.

00:24:15Billy: I can't remember all the rest of them now.

00:24:18Melissa Ellis: Okay, so how was your run today? It was good? You happy with your run?

00:24:18[crosstalk]

00:24:20Billy: Hot? Nah, nah, rubbish. Trying to get some fitness back into me again after a little bit of holidays.

00:24:25[background music]

00:24:29Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Alrighty, well thanks for talking with me today and congratulations again.

00:24:33Billy: Too easy, thank you.

00:24:41Melissa Ellis: And Billy, well, he really was a bit of a character. And what he didn't mention, Ollie, in the audio was that he'd been dared to wear a dress and if he went ahead with running in a dress at parkrun, he was promised a free brunch. So Billy was very pleased with himself that he was getting a free brunch after parkrun. So I hope you enjoyed it, Billy. It was lovely to meet you.

00:25:08Oliver Spake: Yes, yes, very well done and well earned, yes.

Dazza's

00:25:13Oliver Spake: Ah, but in the absence of any emails, Mel, I think it's time to go straight to Dazza's.

00:25:15[background music]

00:25:20Rachel - Club Corner contributor: Yep.

00:25:25Oliver Spake: So this week, Dazza said, Tuesday was International Volunteer Day. Dazza loves volunteers. And we all love how dedicated to volunteering our listeners are. Thank you all for your contributions to parkrun. How was your morning?

00:25:41Melissa Ellis: And first of all, we heard from Greg Garner, who was over in New Zealand, Ollie, and he said a lot of firsts this morning at Queenstown parkrun. First overseas parkrun, first New Zealand parkrun, first queue. Made sure I thanked all the volunteers because without the volunteers, this and all the other parkruns can't go ahead. And we had a photo of Greg in his adventurous shirt in the selfie frame.

00:26:06Oliver Spake: Well done. We also heard from Ian and Lydia Knox up in Queensland saying, no volunteering this morning, but yay, next Saturday volunteering. Koala posed with ugly koala this morning at Kirra parkrun. That's almost a koalafied frond. And yes, doing that justice was the photo of one of the lovely koalas there and another koala that was a little more ugly and a parkrun shirt.

00:26:36Melissa Ellis: I think that Kirra koala is called Splash.

00:26:38Oliver Spake: Splash, yes, yes, that's it. From memory. Yeah, and the style suits, yes.

00:26:44Melissa Ellis: We also heard from Brendan Scholarly who was in Queensland as well and he said volunteered this morning at the OG after doing pre-event course check, park walked with dad from Minnippi and my auntie who was a first-timer from Surfers Paradise before refreshments at Southport Surf Life Saving. Club. Club. And Brendan shared a photo of himself with John and the newest member of the family in the parkrun ranks with selfie frame and parkwalker vests.

00:27:17Oliver Spake: Yes. Now, Mel, we also heard from Val Warwick, who on this occasion was in Victoria and said... Great estate. Can you imagine, Dazza, just how excited this old duck was to come out of the toilet at Studley to find Jacqui and TOC? I was so excited that our landlady had extended our departure time to midday and that we could breakfast at the boathouse with them, Dan and Alicia. All the best, TOC and Alicia, for your ultra at Buller tomorrow. And there was even more excitement for me when Jodie Maisie sent me a pic of my brother and sister-in-law with a frond at Southern Highlands Botanical Gardens. Definitely a good day where it rained during the briefing and breakfast, but not during parkrun. After yesterday's heat, it's now cold in Melbourne and... So a nice warm hot chocolate would be appreciated. Thanks, Dazza. And Val shared the photo at the Studley Boathouse of herself, Steve, Dan, Alicia, TOC and Jacqui.

00:28:22Melissa Ellis: Very good. And poor old Val and Steve had a cancelled flight on Saturday evening. They weren't able to get home until, no, I think it was Sunday.

00:28:33Oliver Spake: It was Sunday night. Yeah, that's right. That's right. So... I guess, yeah, the retrospective looking back at the comments with the misadventures that followed. But I'm glad Saturday morning was a great time and a great day. And also well done to TOC and Alicia for their efforts at Buller.

00:28:55Melissa Ellis: Yes. Now, we also heard from Georgina Devine coming to us from New South Wales. Saved my energy for a swim instead by taking the easiest volley role at the Beaches today and arguably also the role that receives the highest amount of praise, sitting in the shade of a beach umbrella and cutting the tops off Zooper Doopers. And Georgina shared a couple of photos with us, a view from her volley position on the beach and the esky of Zooper Doopers. And that was, of course, at the Beaches.

00:29:27Oliver Spake: It was at the Beaches, yeah. Yeah, yeah, that would have been nice. Over in the UK, Bernadette Bennett reported in saying the volunteers were worth their weight in gold today at Thorp Perrow parkrun in North Yorkshire as we soft Aussies battled five tough kilometres of cold, rain, mud and puddles. And Bernadette shared the evidence there are some very wet looking shoes in the mud.

00:29:56Melissa Ellis: It was. You could hardly see the shoes. It was just like feet and mud. Now, we also heard from Cathy Mudge, who was also coming to us from New South Wales, and she said, made our dog Harley his very own milestone shirt out of my daughter's old one. He loves parkrun, and now he can fit right in. And there was a photo of Harley in a white Junior 10 milestone shirt, and I looked up where they park ran, and it was also at the Beaches.

00:30:23Oliver Spake: At the beaches, yeah. And I think this is about the time of year where we start throwing in a few predictions for the future. So there's an interesting thought in that one. So thank you for sharing. And Harley looked fantastic. Now, moving on, David O'Brien, who was at sea? And said, Ollie-inspired parkrun morning freedom run on the Pacific Explorer. Ten times 500-metre laps of Deck 7, plus around three kilometres of ship moving, dodging passengers, shuffleboard players and watching dolphins keeping pace on the starboard side. And... provided was the evidence there of an eight point something. I can't recall quite what the distance was, five kilometre freedom run. Well done, David.

00:31:17Melissa Ellis: We need a colloquial term for that. I reckon he's done a shippy.

00:31:20Oliver Spake: A shippy or a cedo. Yeah.

00:31:24Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah, a cedo. Yeah, cool. Anyway, we also heard from Jonathan Morgan coming to us from South Australia. He said volunteering at a wet and windy Thorndon Junior parkrun and shared a photo of the Junior Volley crew with their brollies and the Junior parkrun flags. Thank you for volunteering on a wet Sunday morning so the kids could enjoy their parkrun.

00:31:48Oliver Spake: Absolutely. And over in the west, on the West Side in WA, Andrew Yeatman saying, Old farts do Tamworth Wetlands parkrun. Alan Raven, Franz Carroll, Kev Murphy and Nick Swallow. Rare week where WA leading Windexer Alan wasn't able to add to his 185 index.

00:32:11Unidentified speaker: Hoo-hoo.

00:32:13Oliver Spake: Volunteer 129, location 32 for me as photographer. And the photo there was of the old farts, self-proclaimed, with the selfie frame.

00:32:24Melissa Ellis: Old farts and old ducks, Ollie. There's a pod title. I'm just going to write it down.

00:32:35Oliver Spake: Well, I'm sure whoever's in our pod episode picture will appreciate that title. Absolutely. What have I done?

the Obi Award — Jonathan Morgan

00:32:48Oliver Spake: I believe as the male co-host of the pod, I have the envelope.

00:32:53Melissa Ellis: Yes, this is the new rule. Please do the honours.

00:33:00[background music]

00:33:00Oliver Spake: Okay. And the Obi this week goes to... Jonathan Morgan. Thanks for Jonathan and the team for keeping everything going for the juniors, as we said, despite the elements and looking pretty fab in doing so, that bunch of volunteers there.

00:33:25Melissa Ellis: Yes, and we'll use any opportunity we can to give a shout out to Junior parkrun.

00:33:32Oliver Spake: Absolutely.

00:33:33Melissa Ellis: But thank you, everyone.

00:33:34Oliver Spake: for sharing with us your parkrun adventures and volunteering contributions and all the other wonderful milestones at Dazza's. Stay tuned for a bit more of an update when we get to the Consolidated Club Report.

Club Corner

00:33:50Oliver Spake: But right now, Mel, I think it's time for Club Corner. So let's pause and have a listen.

00:33:54[13 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:34:07Rachel - Club Corner contributor: This is Rachel with Club Corner, where we talk about the what and why of parkrun clubs, and I am coming to you from Arrernte Country. Today I'm going to loop back and talk about designing a parkrun course. There are a few key tenets when designing a parkrun course, and excuse us while we go deep with some parkrun naff. The basics of parkrun. All 5k parkrun courses are 5km in length, and junior parkrun are 2km. There are core restrictions with parkrun course design, noting that these restrictions have evolved in the decade plus of parkrun, and are still evolving, so some legacy events are grandfathered in with their existing courses. and others are asked to redesign today we are talking about 5k parkrun and the core requirements for a 5k parkrun are that there are no roads no driveways no car parks are you noticing a theme here the desire from parkrun for no vehicular impacts no pun intended next to the nice to haves typically based around facilities like having access to toilets to bubblers aka drinking fountains and to have sufficient car parking and or public transport ideally there is a local population within walking distance Event design needs to take into consideration the start and finish area especially, as well as choke points on course. The course design also needs to take likely participant numbers into account, and different types of courses can cope with participant numbers differently. E.g. participant volume for a single-lap course is much higher than an out-and-back or multi-lap course. As well, course design has volunteer impacts, e.g. a course with branching paths needs marking each week, or a martial. Course setup should be replicable and as quick as possible. It is very draining on an event team to be spending 30-60 minutes each week setting up cones, plus picking them all up. You need bags or trolleys to carry the gear, plus has different requirements of the Tail Walker, if they are picking things up as they go, and for equipment storage. Not all events have access to local storage, and as such, gear needs to get in and out of vehicles, and people have different vehicle capacities. Prospective event teams get assistance from a variety of parties, including their core team, local ambassadors, neighbouring events, and experienced parkrunners. And we thank those volunteers helping shepherd new events into the fold. The second last step in course design before submission to parkrun World HQ is measuring the prospective course with a wheel, as we all know that GPS watches are indicative only and cannot be relied upon for exact measurements, especially if the course has any bends or turnarounds and tree cover. This is also a great opportunity to make a map of the course, as a Strava record can be exported into Google Maps, the format required for an event page. The final step in contemporary course design is taking a full walkthrough video. It's better for World HQ than reviewing a map in isolation. It allows everyone to be on the same page as far as possible risks and course impingements. When everything is in place, event teams typically host a number of trial events, which are held on course, but perhaps at non-parkrun time. These trials are exactly like a regular parkrun, but results are not official and so do not increase a participant's event count. There is a test result processing system where teams can practice loading results. And there you have it. Course designed from thought to practice. And remember, in parkrun life, all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun. So stay tuned for our future club corners.

00:37:23Melissa Ellis: And how good is it to have Rachel back, giving us the lowdown on the thoughts behind course designing? There's so much to consider, Ollie, and it is a big effort for events to get the course approval these days and tick all those boxes.

00:37:40Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah, it certainly is. And I mean, we'll talk about the launches in a short while, but I was reading with interest some of those course descriptions and reflecting on that.

Consolidated Club Report

00:37:50Oliver Spake: Absolutely. But for now, Mel, very interested to hear how is the Adventurers Club going?

00:37:57Melissa Ellis: Well, the adventurers Consolidated Club report for Saturday the 9th of December 2023 of a total of 519 members, 409 took part on this date in nine countries across 216 locations. We are growing and we've exceeded our little goal of 500 for the year. Hooray! Now, in the UK, there are adventurers at... 32 events. That's an all-time high, I think, for the UK. In America, there were three. Two in South Africa, one in Germany, Italy, Singapore and Sweden. Locally, we had adventurers at... 47 events in the Greater State, 45 events in Kingsland, 42 in New South Wales, 11 in South Australia, 10 on the West Side, 6 on the North Island, 5 in Tassie, 4 in the ACT, 3 on the South Island, 2 in the Northern Tree, and that is a bowling strike.

00:38:59Oliver Spake: Oh, a great performance. Well, and...

the Frond — Helen and Andy Rutter and Claire Vinicic (largest international frond, Darlington South Park)

00:39:04Oliver Spake: Yes, internationally. We had our largest front over in Darlington South Park in the UK, and that front consisted of Helen and Andy Rutter and Claire Vinicic. Locally? We did have a frond of seven at three events and there's some familiar events here, but our frond at the Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens was the noteworthy one there, including Bec Bailey, Billo, the Office Lady, Herluke and Asher, sporting a wonderful adventurous shirt, I might say, Jodie Maisie and Brendan Peel. We also had, not to be missed out, of course, Fronds of Seven at The Ponds and Shellharbour. We did have Frond of Six at two events, and we've heard about Campbelltown, all of the fun there, and also at Karkarook, and Frond of Five at two events, including Ginninderra and Studley.

00:40:04Melissa Ellis: Adventurer PBs. There was Louise Murphy, A4558187, who ran a PB at Warren County Armco of 24 minutes, one second. Congratulations, Louise. Now, Adventurer Milestones, we had Hayley Oh, I forgot how you told me to say it. Olly Bowyer? Bowyer. Bowyer. Bowyer. Hayley Bowyer. Sorry, Hayley, A2928404, ran her 50th milestone at Ipswich. We had Simon Aruz, A2173087, ran his 100th milestone at Karki Parki. We had Johan Duvenhage, A1351758, ran his 250th milestone at Durbanville. Now, Johan even came to Dazza's and said, much appreciation to the volunteers at Durbanville parkrun South Africa for making my 250th milestone run a pleasure and for friends from near and far joining me. Also, Johan shared a photo with me today, on private messenger, but it was of a coffee mug that he must have received, I would say, as a gift from one of his friends and it's got a photo of himself on it and 250 as well, so signifying his milestone. Wonderful. Congratulations. But we also had Karen Hurrell. A 3672068 ran her 250 milestone as well at Haigh Woodland. And Karen also popped into Dazza's and said, very wet, even though I wore a waterproof over it. So congratulations, everybody.

00:41:49Oliver Spake: Yes, yeah, yeah, some very impressive milestones. A big congratulations. But, Mel, we do have someone else who has been a long supporter of the podcast and member of the Channel 5 News crew, also who reached a 250th milestone at the weekend at the one and only Mount Barker parkrun, which was, of course, the host location of Palm 2020. And that was a 2158063, PK himself, who notched up the 250 and was well and truly cheered across that milestone by the crew at Mount Barker. And I understand that he is also closing in on the 100 volunteer spots. So well done, PK.

00:42:38Melissa Ellis: Congratulations, PK, but you need to join the Adventurers Club.

00:42:43Oliver Spake: Yeah, otherwise it's a bit more work for us. But, of course, everyone, remember, if you would like us to track these achievements, you can add the Adventurers Club as one of your five affiliations on your parkrun profile. It's easy, but if it's not as easy as we make it out to be, just sing out. Send us an email or a message and we'll do our best to help you along. And I think, you know, we...

the Informant

00:43:09Oliver Spake: We've always benefited from great support and another one of those longstanding supporters of the podcast has, of course, been the informant. And we might not hear from the informant, but there's a reminder that you can, of course, still access all the stats from the informant midweek. for parkrun day just gone so if you'd like to track your stats via the informant check out www.theinformant.me for all the stats

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:43:41Melissa Ellis: Now, moving along to launches, Ollie. Yes.

00:43:45Oliver Spake: And you're up. I'm up. I'm going to read some of these out. I've saved one for you just because I know you're a fan of the West, but I'll get it started and say we had a launch over in the UK and that was Battlestead Croft. They had 114 finishes, but it seems that all of them had parkrun before. Battlestead Croft is a three-lap course predominantly on grass around Battlestead Croft, which is the grounds of Burton Rugby Football Club. The start and finish both near the clubhouse. Note that parts of the course may be uneven and muddy, especially in the wet weather that we've heard about lately, and close to a water course and vehicle access route, noting that no dogs, unfortunately, are allowed at the event.

00:44:33Melissa Ellis: We also had a launch a new event over in Centennial Park Dunsborough in WA. They had 124 finishes, 25 of which recorded their very first parkrun. This course initially heads south from the start finish area and follows the path along the picturesque shores of Geographe Bay Road in Dunsborough. It also states that after the first turnaround, you will head north and pass the start finish area before turning around again and returning to the finish. The start finish is adjacent to the small car park and toilet block in Centennial Park, which is only 250 metres from Dunn Bay Road and the Geographe Bay Road roundabout. The course does veer off the path for a short section in front of the toilet block and around the perimeter of the car park before joining the path again. So, oh, it's a different little course description but quite detailed.

00:45:31Oliver Spake: Yes, yes. Now, in South Australia, Belair National Park had 320 finishers, 35 of whom were recorded as first-timers. And this parkrun, Mel, is an out-and-back, course primarily following the birdie loop clockwise um with a 500 metre teardrop turnaround loop uh before before following the birdie loop again back to the finish at the start point and I should mention the start finish is located adjacent to the escape goat goat shed bike hire and cafe on the side of the old Belair golf course important to note and I wish I had my um My pronunciation right on this one, so I'll just jump straight in. To assist in combating Phytophthora and other introduced plants, so hopefully someone is a botanist and knows what I'm trying to say, soils and seeds, parkrun participants are required to remain on all marked trails and are strongly encouraged to clean all footwear prior to entering the park, particularly after rainfall.

00:46:46Melissa Ellis: I would think that started that as phyto.

00:46:48Oliver Spake: Phyto, yeah.

00:46:48[crosstalk]

00:46:50Melissa Ellis: Phyto, phyto, thora. Yeah.

00:46:53Oliver Spake: Anyway, someone will tell us. That's right. And last but not least, in Queensland, Palm Creek parkrun had 20 finishes. All had parkrun before, but this event runs along Palm Creek. It's a two-lap course on a sealed concrete surface. So welcome to the family, you four.

00:47:13Melissa Ellis: Three in Australia.

00:47:15Oliver Spake: Yeah. Yeah, we've been saving the best till last, huh? Very good.

00:47:19Melissa Ellis: Welcome to all those new parkruns.

International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day

00:47:21Melissa Ellis: That's right. Now, looking forward, Oliver, next weekend.

00:47:27Rachel - Club Corner contributor: It's a big one.

00:47:27[crosstalk]

00:47:28Melissa Ellis: Very close. I should say this coming weekend. It's. Ugly Christmas Singlet and Shirt Day on the 16th of December. Now, if you pop over to the Ugly Christmas Singlet and Shirt Day, there is actually an event that you can click that you are going, which I think then allows you to tag yourself there, which is something I always forget to do, and then I try to go and tag myself an event, can't figure out why I can't do it. But, yes, please, everybody, wear your Ugly Christmas Singlets to parkrun on Saturday. It doesn't have to be this year's one. It can be previous year's, join a tinsel get photos share them with us share them with the Ugly Christmas Singlet and Shirt Day page event and uh yeah hashtag the buggery out of it that's what I say do we start a hashtag of in our budgies oh yes um also I just wanted adventurers to know there is still Ugly Christmas Singlet visors for sale. So if you go over to the most recent post on their event page, you will find reference to how you can order those. So there's still some left. If it's not too late, I think you can express post them. They're not coming from overseas. They're just coming from the greater state. So it's very possible that you could still get one in time for Christmas. You're welcome.

00:48:54Oliver Spake: It's going to be a big weekend and very much excited about us.

00:49:06Melissa Ellis: You're very good at those acronyms, Ollie.

00:49:09Oliver Spake: But another reason why it's going to be a big week, Mel, is next week's episode will be our last for the year.

00:49:18Melissa Ellis: Yes, just for the year, everybody.

Sign-off

00:49:19Melissa Ellis: Don't panic.

00:49:20Oliver Spake: Yeah, didn't mean to pause there. That's just me catching my breath. as we will be having a short summer break. So we will be back next week and we will be back again next year, but in between there will be a bit of a break. So, yeah, we will be recapping all of the fun from Usked and, yeah, looking forward to the excitement towards our Christmas and New Year parkrun Day special days and all of the parkrun Days in between. So, yeah, there's a lot to look forward to there, Mel, but maybe I'm getting a bit ahead of myself and I should ask you, where do you plan on being ugly?

00:50:04Melissa Ellis: Well, I've got an acronym for you, Ollie, and that's NFI.

00:50:08Oliver Spake: I see.

00:50:11Melissa Ellis: Can I get away with that? Absolutely.

00:50:13Oliver Spake: Absolutely. Absolutely.

00:50:15Melissa Ellis: I don't know. I don't know. So, yeah, I haven't scheduled next week. I've got a teenager at home, so I'm not sure how far I will get. It may depend what I end up doing for the rest of the day, if I've got any exciting plans on. And, yeah, I just don't know. So, yeah, I can't give you any intel on that at this stage. But please tell me where you will be.

00:50:41Oliver Spake: I will be at Shellharbour and I intend on being as ugly as possible whilst run directing and I will most certainly be dragging any of the family around who have their uglies at hand to come and join. So I am looking forward to that.

00:51:01Melissa Ellis: Are you going to have all your buffs on all your extremities?

00:51:05Oliver Spake: I'll have to pull them all out. But, yes, yeah, why not? Why not?

00:51:10Melissa Ellis: Who knows what sort of weather we'll get? We never can know. We might have torrential rain or we might have hot weather. I do not know.

00:51:18Oliver Spake: That's right, yeah. So, yes, yes, some parkrun fun to look forward to. But in the meantime, as always, everyone, you can contact us via parkrun adventurers on Facebook. or our email which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com that is it for another week and we'll see you all next week one last time this year for some more adventures so

00:51:40[outro theme playing]