Episode 374 - details, details

00:00:00[intro theme playing]

Welcome

00:00:23Simon Mackley: Welcome to episode 374 of the parkrun adventurers podcast, a podcast about life, if your life is all about parkrun. I'm Simon Mackley. I'm coming to you again from Quandamooka Country.

00:00:36Melissa Ellis: And I'm Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country. Welcome back, Simon. Thank you. It's been a month, a wonderful month. How have you been? Ah, good. It's all about Tasmania in my neck of the woods at the moment. They're in the news. They are. They had their new team, their AFL team, officially launch their name, a logo and jumper. So that was exciting today. Officially called the Tasmanian Devil Simon. They're the 19th AFL club and they're going to enter the league in 2028. So it's a little while off.

00:01:11Simon Mackley: It's a long time away. Yeah.

00:01:13Melissa Ellis: Well, you know, you've got to plan these things. We can't rush it. We've got to get it right.

00:01:17Simon Mackley: They've got a new stadium being built at the moment though, right?

00:01:20Melissa Ellis: Well, it's no. No? Okay. They've been promised a new stadium. Right. However, they are a week out of their election, state election.

00:01:30Unidentified speaker: Ah.

00:01:31Melissa Ellis: And there's a lot of people that are unhappy about the current plans for the stadium. So, yes, that is still to be worked out, I believe. But they do have a name. They're going to be the Tasmanian Devils and they've got club colours, red, green and yellow, which are the same club colours as their state jumper. And they've been using those colours since 1908. So they're pretty happy about that.

00:01:55Simon Mackley: No, that's good.

00:01:56Melissa Ellis: And pretty good weather down in the Apple Isle this last weekend. But I will tell you a bit more of that in a moment. We should jump to what we did this last Saturday. I know that's out of order to the pod notes. I've just realised.

00:02:11Unidentified speaker: We can jump in there.

00:02:13Melissa Ellis: I just feel like we should be doing our weekend recap before we get to those other topics.

00:02:20Simon Mackley: So where were you this week, Simon? I was at Scribbly Gums Conservation Park. The full name there. I'm not just going to call it Scribbly. So that's on the lands of the Garampal and Quandamooka people. It was event number 72 with 70 finishers and 12 volunteers. So it's not my closest event, but it is one of my local events. And it was a really good opportunity to fill a gap in my Wilson index. Doesn't increase my index, but at least it throws another one in there. So it was the sixth time I visited there. And I think it was probably the most pleasant temperature-wise. Like I've been there when it's been stinking hot. I've been there when it's been cold. But it was, yeah, it was a really nice day on Saturday there. It was threatening to rain and I think it might have even sprinkled a little bit, but that was nice relief.

00:03:14Melissa Ellis: So a Wilson and working on the P index.

00:03:17Simon Mackley: It is working on the P index as well. It is indeed. So because one of my current P's is in Sydney, number seven, yeah, so North Sydney and I have to actually fill in two up here to take over that one that's about to get – yeah, anyway. Very confusing, but anyway, let's move on.

00:03:39Melissa Ellis: You're like me because I moved from the east side to the West Side. Yes. And all my P index events are over in the east. Yes. So I've had to sort of start from scratch over west. Indeed. Indeed.

00:03:50Simon Mackley: Now, I know you went to Tassie. Tell us all about it.

00:03:53Melissa Ellis: I know. So it was event 552 for this pioneer event in the Apple Isle on the traditional lands of the Kanamaluka people. Launceston parkrun launched on the 10th of November 2012 with 92 participants on the banks of the North Esk River beginning on the levee adjacent to UTAS Stadium. And incidentally, that is where Hawthorne, the AFL team, currently play their Tasmanian games, that stadium cool but this week there were 387 so that proves TOC's point from last week about the growth over the years um 387 participants and during the first-timers' brief I noted tourists from New Zealand and kingsland as well as some grey nomads Looking through the results table, I was struck by the fact that not many people had a running club listed and most that had were local to Launceston. I did notice one which made me smile called OBSTI. Old bloke's still doing it. And also a world tourist, Laurie Snook, who I had a chat to, along with a couple from Owairaka. The course is out and back, which runs for a kilometre along the levee before heading out past Churchill Park Sports Ground to do a loop of the Heritage Forest and returning along the levee. The event has cones for self-seating, but it did appear that most were oblivious to the purpose of the cones despite the announcement during the run brief. An opportunity for parkrun to do some education on that aspect, I feel, as larger numbers increase the necessity for seating for safety, especially on the levee. And especially when children running with parents may stop suddenly or unexpectedly, they would be much safer towards the back of the mob. Conditions were perfect for the run and I was not the least bit perturbed in shedding my puffer. The many comments about the beautiful morning caused me to reflect that I had lucked out on my choice of weekend visit. Time-wise was pretty standard for my current form, coming in a little over 31 minutes, despite it taking me about 30-odd seconds to cross the start line. I'd done a lot of walking around Launceston the previous day and my hips and shoulders were quietly complaining, but they soon forgot their woes and fell silently into parkrun mode. After the event, I found the Grey Nomads and I recorded some audio before wandering off to explore more of the town. Quite often I only book an overnight trip and I admit I was questioning my life choices when I couldn't support Junior parkrun at home this weekend and had to shell out for a second night's accommodation. But then I realised the benefit of having the whole day to enjoy the area without the stress of getting back to the airport. So with no deadline and only myself to please, I stuffed my togs into my backpack and walked the three kilometres to Cataract Gorge to have lunch and spend the afternoon by the pool, soaking in the stunning surroundings. Now I'll tell you a bit about Cataract Gorge. It is a river gorge in Launceston, approximately one and a half K from the city centre as the crow flies. It's one of the region's premier tourist attractions. It's found at the lowest section of the South Esk River. The main entrance leads to a recreation hub to swim, walk, run, dive and enjoy nature and simply relax. From the first base and the network of walking and hiking trails take visitors through the gardens, wilderness and to panoramic lookouts. The inclinator provides access to the restaurant, cafe, shop, kiosk, first base and lawns, swimming pools, toilets and shower facilities and tickets can be purchased at The Entrance for the gorge scenic chairlift. The first basin pool typically opens from November to March each year. So I was actually lucky to catch it still open. Although the dates are subject to change in the event of inclement weather. The chairlift that I just mentioned is the longest single span chairlift in the world with the longest span being 308 metres. And it was built in 1972 and has a total span of 457 metres. So I enjoyed the swimming pool despite its chill and soaked up the sun while slathered in SPF 50. And both evenings I just chilled in my room watching TV and relaxing. And Sunday I headed home with my head bubbling with ideas for future adventures. Well, it sounds like you've been sponsored by Tasmanian Tourism. Yeah. Well, there you go. Now you know what to do in Launceston when you visit. You've got to go to Cataract Gorge and have a free swim. Excellent.

00:08:28Simon Mackley: You don't hear that very often, a free swim.

00:08:30Melissa Ellis: No, I know. I was actually thinking how cool would it be to live here. I did find that army barracks too on my wanders. I was actually staying around the corner. I thought, oh, I could work here. But, of course, the lovely weather I experienced probably isn't a regular occurrence.

00:08:46Simon Mackley: Indeed. Indeed. So I have a little bit to catch you up on. So last week you were talking about Mary Botto being at Kensington parkrun. Yes. It's in Bethesda in Maryland, which is very close to Washington, D.C. And you were wondering whether Sarah from Byxbee was, and you were right in saying Byxbee, was close. Unfortunately not. Byxbee and Kensington are about as far apart as Sydney and Perth. So Mary wouldn't have been talking to Sarah. But yeah, I just thought I would catch you up on that because I knew the answer to that question when I was listening back last week.

00:09:30Melissa Ellis: But how good was I pulling Byxbee out of my memory? I know. Yeah, it was. I know. I impressed myself. But one thing I didn't get right was the periodic table, Simon, and Renata Koch wrote a comment to put me correct and said that TOC was right, the first letter must match and the second letter, if it exists, must be anywhere in the parkrun's name. And each location can only be used once. And she shared her table, the image of her challenge table. And you gave us some information about how to locate that table for anybody who would be interested in also tracking their periodic table.

00:10:15Simon Mackley: So, yeah, if anyone is looking for it, the website is called challenge-chaser.com. And so there's a few challenges on there, including this periodic table. There's another one called the Voronoi, or is it Voronoi or Voronoi, which divides the world up into fragments. It's actually quite a geeky looking thing, but I love it as well. So it puts a parkrun at the centre of something and then you see all these fragments coming out of it. So anybody that's done you know, parkruns on the west coast, you'll see very big chunks between you and South Africa and, you know, on the east coast between us and New Zealand and that sort of thing. So, yeah, it's worth having a look at if anyone is interested.

00:11:04Melissa Ellis: Voronoi, Vinaroi, Anathema, Enema, same, same. But the challenge, and so we should say the challenge was created by Dave Thornton and interactive content created by Mark Pinney.

00:11:19Rachel: That's right. Yeah.

00:11:20Melissa Ellis: So one thing I wanted to discuss, Simon, is that I get vibes from the community online that they feel challenges are only valid if they appear on an app or a website. And I strongly disagree with that. Before the days of these apps, we had our own spreadsheets and we shared the challenges that we were facing. following in the socials and other people sometimes would take them up thinking they were a good idea yeah and nothing was official and nothing they still aren't official but nothing was on any sort of app or or website and it was just all for our own pleasure and interest Like my Pioneers Challenge that has been popular and has been tossed around for years, it's not on any of the apps as far as I'm aware because it is unique to Australia, which is the first event to launch in every state and territory. And now I'm going to take a leaf out of the Office Lady's book and have a crack at the Successors, which is the second event to launch in every state and territory. And while I'm doing that, I'm also ticking off The Iron Decks, aren't I? Because they're all.

00:12:35Unidentified speaker: Exactly.

00:12:36Melissa Ellis: They're early. They're all in the top 100 as well. And incidentally, I've now got 40 of the top 100. Oh, wow. Okay. For the Iron Decks. Not consecutively though. Yeah.

00:12:46Simon Mackley: So how many successes do you have already?

00:12:49Melissa Ellis: Five.

00:12:50Simon Mackley: Oh, wow. Okay. So you're pretty close to getting that done as well.

00:12:54Melissa Ellis: Yeah. So I just need to get Nightcliff.

00:12:57Simon Mackley: Okay.

00:12:58Melissa Ellis: And Rockingham.

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

00:13:01Melissa Ellis: Okay. So I'm dreaming up a reason to go to WA. Okay.

00:13:05Simon Mackley: Do you ever need a reason to go to WA?

00:13:07Melissa Ellis: Well, no. I need a bit more excitement in my life. I need an adventure. Yep. And the third one, oh, my goodness, it's probably – I can't remember the third one.

00:13:20Simon Mackley: Is it in Tassie? Oh, yeah, it's Risdon. Okay.

00:13:23Melissa Ellis: Yeah, it's Risdon. Oh, dear, I'll have to go back to Tassie.

00:13:27Simon Mackley: Oh, no.

00:13:28Melissa Ellis: Oh, dear.

00:13:30Simon Mackley: Okay.

00:13:30Melissa Ellis: Yes. So there we go. Yeah.

00:13:32Simon Mackley: Yeah.

parkrun news bulletin

00:13:33Simon Mackley: So we should jump into news. What do you reckon? Yeah, let's jump into news. You go first. I will. So we're going to congratulate 93-year-old John Day from Cleveland parkrun in Queensland, who today became the oldest person in parkrun history globally to complete 500 parkruns. So it was his 449th at Cleveland and his 474th in the Redlands. He finished in 49 minutes and 36 seconds, which is pretty swift for a 93-year-old. So he's run at 16 different parkruns. He's volunteered 32 times with 31 of those at Cleveland. And his first parkrun was at Cleveland's first ever event on the 4th of May, 2013. There was a video shared by parkrun of John crossing the line and receiving his token. So I know that Brad and Marilyn McCann were there and they saw it and posted in Dazza's with a photo of themselves with John. And four other adventurers were there, which were the prof, Alan, and Rasheen Burrell. Lockie Miners and Anne Croydon. Excellent. That was big news. It was big news.

00:14:47Melissa Ellis: Globally. Yes. And Simon, I especially looked up John's athlete number and you didn't read it out. So he's A514421. Sorry. Yes, I did. Might be important to John.

00:14:59Simon Mackley: I did admit that. You're right. Do we know if John's a listener? He's probably not.

00:15:04Melissa Ellis: But somebody might tell him. He might listen because he got a mention.

00:15:07Simon Mackley: He might. He might. I know in the planning of it, because I was talking to Carmel, who's the ED there, she was trying not to let it get out to him because she thought, because he's not exactly the most out there guy. She didn't want him to not turn up on the day that everyone was trying to celebrate his 500th. So they kept it a bit of a secret from him for quite a while. that they knew he was coming to 500. I'm sure he knew it as well, but he was trying to slip under the radar.

00:15:36Melissa Ellis: And he had a lovely cake in the shape of a 500 shirt in blue. And it did look like everybody was wearing blue to celebrate on the day, including Brad and Marilyn. Yes. Okay, so something else that has happened in the last seven days, which we just missed with our recording last week. The UK likes to announce or put things out on a Monday night after we've recorded. But it was a couple more FAQs, unlike your FAQ that you did the other week. I'm getting them all in there, aren't I? You are. Yeah. So anyway, shall I just read it as you transcribed? Sure. It was titled, Why Has the Most Events Page Gone? And the answer is, over time, we have made many changes to the way we show specific event data, especially that which we feel could raise operational concerns and that may glorify or specifically encourage trends that are not always in line with the parkrun ethos. We realise these things are value add for many, but it is important to remember the direction in which the charity is going. In deciding to remove the performance related data, we also had to consider what remained. Things like the most events list are an exclusive list that are way beyond most people ever featuring in. So what and who does it serve? Given increasing concerns about environmental impact, It doesn't feel right to retain something that celebrates and encourages tourism, particularly when the vast majority of people participate only at their local parkrun. It's also really important to note that personal statistics have not changed. Your own results page remains the same, including times, age grading, locations, finishes, and personal bests. There has also been no change to the results page for events or to the email that you receive celebrating your participation each time you attend. I've got some views on this.

00:17:38Simon Mackley: I'm sure you do. We're an adventurous podcast.

00:17:43Melissa Ellis: I don't know where to start. So one thing that I take exception to, in the most polite way, they make mention that we still receive our results email. Now, that would be... In a lot of respects, the first point of contact for people doing their very first parkrun, that's one of the first things they're going to get confronted with when they complete a parkrun and they get that email. Yep. That compares them to people. That compares their result to the wider running community. Yep. That just is so removed from the message they're trying to sell us. Yes, absolutely. that they don't want to be competitive. And being that they keep saying we are such a small part of the community, the tourists, what harm are we doing to the environment if there's so few of us, if we're such a little part of the population? How are we harming anything? Can't you just let people have their little bit of fun in a little niche way that they enjoy parkrun? We don't know what's going on in people's lives. We don't know how this little bit of joy they get from doing their challenges or doing their tourism, how important it could be for their mental health.

00:19:04Simon Mackley: Exactly.

00:19:04Melissa Ellis: Okay, I'll get off my soapbox.

00:19:06Simon Mackley: It's more than just the tourism. And sometimes we're carpooling. You know, we're not going there most of the time on our own to go and do something. Like when I went down to Queen Elizabeth Casino, there was five of us in a five-seat car. It's not like, you know, we drove five cars down there. So I understand what they're saying about environmental impact, but I agree with you that if there are so few people actually travelling, then I totally agree with you there. And like I said, an adventurous podcast.

00:19:37Melissa Ellis: I had to get an aeroplane, obviously, to go to the Apple Isle, but I walk everywhere I possibly can and I spend money on tourism and that is a good thing for the local economy.

00:19:52Unidentified speaker: Exactly. So, yeah.

00:19:54Melissa Ellis: Anyway, we're never going to win that war, so we just have to suck it up.

00:19:58Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:19:59Simon Mackley: I don't think it's a war. We're not going to win them over is probably what we should be saying.

00:20:04Melissa Ellis: No, but can't we live harmoniously together? Can't they just let us be if we're not having too much of an impact because we're such a small part of what parkrun is? What harm are we doing? Anyway.

00:20:18Simon Mackley: And the final FAQ that they updated, I'm going to say final because this is the last time we're going to talk about this whole stats thing going on, right? So... The question was, where is the actual evidence, which a lot of people have been asking this question. So the response was, parkrun has to be allowed to make its own decisions in line with its mission as a health charity without placing every piece of evidence under public scrutiny. We've referenced our insight, including from regular barriers survey, which tells us that one of the biggest barriers to participation is the misperception of that parkrun is a competitive race and associated concerns of not being fit enough or worry about finishing last. Removing this data is one of a number of ways we can reinforce that parkrun is not a race and that anyone is welcome to participate. For those looking for more quantitative data, top lines from our most recent barriers survey show that in preparing to come along to parkrun for the first time, the parkrun websites are a key source of information with around 60% searching the internet for information on parkrun and more than 30% looking at an event page of their local parkrun. Almost 40% tell us that one of the key things that appeals to them about parkrun is that it isn't a race. That's almost one in two citing that the non-race element of parkrun is what helps them feel able to come along. So, I agree. They do need to be able to make their own decisions, but it seems that they're very happy to share a lot of stats with us on Facebook and things like that. Yeah, I think they're sort of straddling two different sort of areas here. And like, as you were saying about the email that comes out that compares them to other people, that could be the reason why people don't come back for that second parkrun, because they are being given that very stats-based and very sponsor-y email. I obviously have no problem with the sponsors because they are what is fuelling parkrun and paying for the staff and all the events to be put on once they're launched. So yeah, I guess we just have to take it that we're not going to ever find out what the evidence to this is. And you know what? They took away the age grading, right?

00:22:45Melissa Ellis: Do you know, I never even understood how it worked. It meant nothing to me. It was just a weird percentage in my results email. You know what would annoy me? Being told I came 322nd out of 323 people.

00:22:59Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:23:00Melissa Ellis: Second last, they're in black and white.

00:23:02Simon Mackley: Yeah.

00:23:03Melissa Ellis: And that's still there.

00:23:04Simon Mackley: Yeah. And the thing is your age grading is a percentage, but your fastest time may not be your highest age grading. I see. Now I'm lost. Yeah. Okay.

00:23:15Melissa Ellis: None of that means anything to me. Yeah, I want to know if I'm first female because that's always cool. That's a bragging right, right? That's what you get on the socials. I was first in my age category this week. I podiumed. So that can stay. But don't go telling people they came second last.

00:23:34Simon Mackley: Someone has to come second last.

00:23:36Melissa Ellis: Constructive feedback, guys. We still love you.

00:23:39Simon Mackley: Yeah, we're just reporting what's there, right?

00:23:41Melissa Ellis: It's just opinions. Take it or leave it. Don't hate me. But anyway, that's probably enough of us waffling on.

00:23:50[background music]

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:23:52Melissa Ellis: We've got some roving reports to bring you this week. So let's go and have a listen to those now.

Roving report Melissa Ellis — Launceston parkrun

Talking to Nigel and Leslie — Grey nomad travelling Australia full-time; parkrun tourist finishing the Tasmanian events

00:24:07Melissa Ellis: Okay, finished the parkrun here. And I've bumped into Nigel and Leslie. Good morning, guys. Good morning. Now, Nigel and Leslie are travelling around the world. No, Australia. And they've been in Tassie for the last how long? Five months. Five months. And nearly done all the parkruns. Yes, yes, we have.

00:24:27[crosstalk]

00:24:27Unidentified speaker: We're short of five.

00:24:29Melissa Ellis: Okay.

00:24:30Unidentified speaker: Four on the mainland and Flinders Island.

00:24:32Melissa Ellis: And is this your last one here?

00:24:33Unidentified speaker: Yeah, yeah, we're on the boat on Thursday. Okay.

00:24:36Unidentified speaker: Yes, and we managed to do the ZN inaugural and we helped to train the volunteers on their last trial. It's a really good little group, really good.

00:24:47Melissa Ellis: And you said you were helping out, warning the cafe what they were in for? Yes, that's right.

00:24:50[crosstalk]

00:24:52Unidentified speaker: We stopped past on the trial run and said, well, two weeks' time is the parkrun start for good, so get ready for extra people on Saturdays.

00:25:02Unidentified speaker: And when we booked a table for when the inaugural was on, the owner said, oh, I thought it was fortnightly. I said, no, it's this Saturday. She said, I'd better come into work then. Just as well she did because there was a group of motorhome people there And one couple were doing the parkrun, so the rest had to come and wait. Well, that cafe had so many people.

00:25:22Unidentified speaker: She had to call her husband in.

00:25:25Melissa Ellis: Now, it's Val and Steve that our parkrun adventure is that you might have bumped into.

00:25:29Unidentified speaker: You said you met a couple from... We met, well, there was a couple from Wynyard. There was Jill Fish from George Town. And Anita, she's attached to the Queens Domain.

00:25:42Unidentified speaker: And a girl called Simone who's from WA.

00:25:44Unidentified speaker: Oh, Simone Ruth, we met her.

00:25:46Unidentified speaker: She originally came from Hobart, so we met her at Norfolk.

00:25:49Unidentified speaker: So we're following each other now.

00:25:51Unidentified speaker: New Norfolk parkrun.

00:25:52Unidentified speaker: You've recruited some caravanners. Five caravanners we recruited, good for you now well you're off to the great estate which we call oh yes that place over the water the mainland and gonna do some letters of the alphabet yes uh You Yangs on next Saturday and then probably Echuca and then into Melbourne we'll do Jells and then Frog Hollow and we're not sure after that aubrey probably aubrey will be on the list as well Oh, and there's one near Bowral, Southern Highlands, but I'm not sure what that's called. Southern Highlands parkrun. Yeah, and then maybe East Richmond in the Sydney.

00:26:31Unidentified speaker: We've only actually been doing this for a year, but we are now planning our routes around parkruns.

00:26:38Melissa Ellis: That's completely normal, so I don't see what the problem is with that. It certainly is addictive.

00:26:44Unidentified speaker: And if we're in a town that has a parkrun, during the week we'll go and walk it or jog it just to do it.

00:26:50Melissa Ellis: You're definitely adventurers. Do you plan to get to Coober Pedy?

00:26:53Unidentified speaker: Yes, I wouldn't mind doing Coober Pedy.

00:26:55Unidentified speaker: Yes, we've... We've been through there quite a few times. We've actually been on the road now for 21 years.

00:27:01Melissa Ellis: 21 years. That's incredible.

00:27:03Unidentified speaker: We sold up from Sydney in 2003. Yep. But we only started parkrun a year ago because some other caravanning friends told us about it when they were staying next to us at Tannum Sands.

00:27:14Unidentified speaker: Yes, at Tannum Sands. And so they started us off. Now we've overtaken them. LAUGHTER

00:27:19Melissa Ellis: So do you have your own grey nomad community that you keep contact with?

00:27:24Unidentified speaker: Just a few, say a handful of people that we've made friends with. We've made friends with three sets of people over here. One couple that were recruited, they've gone back to the mainland. They're now in Western Australia. They're going to farm, sit for five months. There's another couple.

00:27:39Unidentified speaker: They left just the day before yesterday.

00:27:39[crosstalk]

00:27:41Unidentified speaker: Yes, they're not parkrunners. And another couple we met, we were custodians at the CMCA park at Geeveston. They were recruited. We got them recruited. They're moving to Launceston. And there was another lady. I don't remember her name.

00:27:55Melissa Ellis: Well, one question we like to ask people when we record is to name your top three parkruns. Are you going to be able to do that? Not including your home, but I guess you don't really have a home parkrun. Tannum Sands is lovely.

00:28:06[crosstalk]

00:28:07Unidentified speaker: It is a lovely parkrun.

00:28:08Melissa Ellis: Not including that one. Give us a top three.

00:28:11[crosstalk]

00:28:11Unidentified speaker: Actually, I didn't mind this one.

00:28:13Unidentified speaker: I didn't mind Queens Domain.

00:28:19Unidentified speaker: Bellerive wasn't too bad, even though they're hills.

00:28:22Unidentified speaker: Well, Bellerive's actually being run back to front at the moment because they've had some building work going on from where they started, so they start from the finish.

00:28:29Unidentified speaker: Okay.

00:28:30Unidentified speaker: Or a bit further than the finish and go back to the building works and come back.

00:28:35[crosstalk]

00:28:35Unidentified speaker: Okay. Wangaratta wasn't too bad.

00:28:36Unidentified speaker: Yeah, that runs along the river.

00:28:38Unidentified speaker: Cohuna.

00:28:38Unidentified speaker: Cohuna's good on the Murray.

00:28:40Unidentified speaker: Not too bad. Very good.

00:28:41Unidentified speaker: That's the trouble. There's lots of them.

00:28:42Melissa Ellis: They're all beautiful in their own way, aren't they?

00:28:45Unidentified speaker: Originally, I said, am I allowed to hide at parkrun? No. That was more on the dam.

00:28:47[crosstalk]

00:28:50Melissa Ellis: That's because of the hill, isn't it? That's because of the hill.

00:28:53Unidentified speaker: Well, not just that. By the time we get back to the dam wall, you forget how long the dam is.

00:28:59Unidentified speaker: And I battle by the time I'm at the base of that hill to actually walk up that hill. Yeah. You know what it's like. It's just long and it's never ending. Yes. And it's just that, not steep, but that incline. Yep. And you get near the top and you think, oh, it's finished. And then you just go and it goes. A little bit more on down. Okay. But we're fitter now, so maybe it'll be a different matter.

00:29:23Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, enjoy your travels and good luck with the rest of your grey nomading. Yeah, all the best. Thanks for talking to me.

00:29:29[crosstalk]

00:29:31Unidentified speaker: Thank you very much. And thanks for this parkrun. It was great.

Roving report Tracey Wood — Des Connor Park junior parkrun

00:29:36Tracey Wood: Good morning, parkrunners. It's Tracey in a Tutu and it's second parkrun day. Yes, I'm here at my junior parkrun home, which is just fantastic. It's so good to be here. We're seeing all the kids this morning. So great to be a volunteer. If you haven't volunteered at a junior parkrun yet, please organise your relevant children's card and get yourself along.

Talking to Rory Marriott and Hilary Marriott — UK parkrunner and volunteer visiting Australia; 1,003 parkrun participations and 974…

00:29:57Tracey Wood: Now, speaking of volunteers, I found two international visitors this morning. Can I ask you, what is your name, please?

00:30:04Hilary Marriott: And where are you from? Hi, my name is Hilary and I am from the UK.

00:30:11Rory Marriott: And I'm Rory. I'm Hilary's husband. I'm also from the UK.

00:30:15Tracey Wood: Excellent. And what brings you to Australia?

00:30:18Rory Marriott: We're here on holiday. A friend of ours who used to live in England came back to Australia this time last year and said to us, you need to come along. So we thought, might as well.

00:30:30Hilary Marriott: Have you enjoyed your holiday so far? It's been amazing. You know, it's been great experiences. We were up in Cairns for a few days, went and saw Barron Falls. That was amazing. Loads of rain up there, so it was really big.

00:30:41Tracey Wood: Excellent. Now, Rory, can you tell us your parkrun story? How did you become involved in parkrun?

00:30:47Rory Marriott: Mine is actually quite a strange story. So before parkrun, I was involved in what's known as Toastmasters International, which is a public speaking organisation. And... One new year, I decided I'm going to run a 10K race. I hadn't run before, put it out on Facebook saying, who wants to participate? So many people came back and said, yes. I had no choice. There was no way that I was going to be able to drop out. And then one of the Toastmasters put a post on Facebook saying I've just found out about this thing I'm going to be doing it every Saturday from now on which was my first introduction to parkrun and the strangest thing about that is that my friend didn't do a parkrun for another year in total has now completed two parkruns whereas I've done slightly more because I'm pretty much a very frequent visitor to parkruns anywhere that I am

00:31:43Tracey Wood: Yeah, I believe you've got a few interesting stats. Would you like to share those with the listeners?

00:31:49Rory Marriott: So my stats are officially I've now taken part either running or volunteering at 1,003 parkruns. I've volunteered, today is my 974th volunteer credit.

00:32:05Tracey Wood: Wow, that's pretty awesome. When do you estimate to hit the magic 1,000 mark for volunteering?

00:32:11Rory Marriott: You're making an assumption that I've pre-planned it all and that I know that on June the 22nd I will reach my 1,000th. And because it's June the 22nd, it's a tutu day.

00:32:21Unidentified speaker: It's a tutu day!

00:32:22Rory Marriott: So it is almost compulsory that we have to have fancy dress. I purchased my tutu yesterday, which is really fantastic because I hadn't expected to get it in Australia. But we was out shopping after we'd done... Gainsborough Green Skycrans. And went into the shopping mall, just saw the most beautiful tutu go in, so I had to purchase it.

00:32:45Tracey Wood: I have to ask, what colour?

00:32:47Rory Marriott: It is multi-coloured.

00:32:49Tracey Wood: I'm loving it. And can I come to your June 22nd event? This sounds awesome.

00:32:54Rory Marriott: You're most welcome. There might be one or two at Rendlesham Forest in the UK. I have no choice. I have to do it there because a certain lady that I'm married to is the Event Director there.

00:33:05Hilary Marriott: Would that be you, perhaps, Hilary? Yes, that's me, and I can guarantee there will be lots of cake at this event as well.

00:33:12Tracey Wood: Okay, folks, write that in your diary. June 22nd at Rendlesham Forest parkrun, 2-2's compulsory. Now, Rory, obviously you like volunteering. Do you have a favourite role? Why do you keep doing this?

00:33:28Rory Marriott: I keep doing it because it just gives me a great sense of accomplishment every time I do it, particularly at Juniors. Juniors is the event that you come along to and it doesn't matter how miserable you're feeling, you will leave it with the biggest smile on your face possible. That smile normally lasts at least that Sunday. At events like today where record attendance, over 350 little people running around having fun, The smile will last a good few days this week, so it's going to be fun. As for my favourite role, I've done almost all of the roles. The only roles I've not got credit for so far is Sign Language Support and the pacer. I'm not likely to pace very much nowadays. My favourite is absolutely every single one of them. I don't have a favourite.

00:34:25Tracey Wood: Okay. You can't see this at home, but I'm just nodding my head along with this. I can so relate with this. Now, can you tell me, Hilary, I might ask you for a change. How does Des Connor Park Junior parkrun differ from the Junior parkrun in the UK? By about 250 kids. But apart from that, the smiles and the joy and the fun is still there, isn't it?

00:34:49Hilary Marriott: Oh, absolutely. You know, it's just amazing. As Rory said, just watching little people run around, doesn't matter what you're wearing, doesn't matter how you're doing it, walk, skip, jump, cartwheel, go backwards, however you want to do it. High-fiving, fist-bumping, you know, it's all just a wonderful experience, joyous feeling to be part of that and you know be supporting the children and there was a lovely young lad just at the end I was sort of saying bye to everybody's all walking past me saying you know have a great week you know well done everybody and this young lad just said thank you volunteer and I just it just makes your day you know it just makes your day. What role were you on today?

00:35:28Tracey Wood: I was marshalling at number eight. Number eight okay so just a bit of a background for our listeners at home we have 14 marshals required for our junior park and it's sort of like a paperclip design where kids run up and back and then inside and then repeat it all again. Also as Rory mentioned we broke the attendance record today with 358 children. Now, can I ask you both, did you enjoy the morning? This is the second time you volunteered here at Junior parkrun. Have you enjoyed being part of this?

00:36:03Hilary Marriott: It's been wonderful. Thank you so much for having us. It's been great. And we, you know, just to confirm for everybody, because you do have to have a blue card to be able to volunteer at Junior parkrun in Australia. And we were lucky enough and fortunate enough to be able to get our cards the morning before the weekend of, you know, the first, like last weekend. So yeah, so it was, we feel really fortunate to be part of it.

00:36:27Tracey Wood: Rory, any last words?

00:36:30Rory Marriott: My last words will always be, if you're around and about on a Sunday morning, the best place to be is at a junior parkrun. And if you're out and about on a Saturday, without doubt, the best place to be is your local 5K parkrun.

00:36:46Tracey Wood: Excellent. Look, thank you so much for chatting with me. And so lovely to have you both here in Australia. We've really enjoyed having you here. And thank you. Thank you, Tracey. Have a good day.

00:36:55Unidentified speaker: Thank you.

Roving report Paul Kitching — South Para Reservoir parkrun

00:36:58Paul Kitching: Good morning, parkrun adventurers. It's PK checking in for another roving report. This time I am at the South Para Reservoir parkrun here in South Australia. First time I've ever done it. Bit of a drive to get here, but hey, it's never too far to go to parkrun, right? Let's get out there. It looks like a beautiful course. It's in a reservoir, funnily enough.

00:37:19Unidentified speaker: And let's go and check out and see what it's like.

00:37:22Paul Kitching: I'm now out on the course.

Talking to Debbie — Volunteer photographer and regular at South Para Reservoir parkrun

00:37:24Paul Kitching: What a fantastic course it is. And I've caught up with Debbie, who is volunteering as photographer and doing the course as well. How are you going, Debbie?

00:37:31Debbie: Yeah, great, thank you. Great morning.

00:37:32Paul Kitching: Yeah, isn't it stunning? So this is my first time here. What a beautiful course. This is your home course?

00:37:39Debbie: Yeah, pretty much, yeah. I tend to do this one most because I love the scenery and it's nice to just walk and enjoy it as well.

00:37:44Paul Kitching: Isn't it stunning? Yeah. How many, you don't have to quote the exact number, but how many, how long has it been around for?

00:37:51Debbie: This one? Yeah. It was pre-COVID. Yeah, right. Yeah, I couldn't tell you exactly, sorry.

00:37:54[crosstalk]

00:37:57Paul Kitching: Yeah, we've been trying to get here for a long time. Some of our crew are doing their Radelaidean. Sorry, we're all doing our Radelaidean, which is basically, I think it's the 60 kilometre radius. Is that it? I can't remember. I'm up with all those stats. I need to check. Tracey will be able to tell me that one. But I think she's completing her Radelaidean today. I'm getting close to doing mine. Oh. I think it's 29 parkruns around Adelaide. And so that was one of the reasons we decided to come out. Lovely. What numbers do you usually get here?

00:38:26Debbie: It varies. Winter, it can be quite low because of the cold. But summer, it's a nice cool one. So we tend to get a few more, probably around the 50, 60 mark, I guess. Love it. Yeah.

00:38:35[crosstalk]

00:38:36Paul Kitching: I love it. It's a beautiful course, as you said. Why do you do parkrun? And what does parkrun mean to you, I suppose? run I love parkrun um gets me out the house gets me out of bed mental health fitness yeah all of that yeah yeah and social aspects I love it yeah speaking of which some the chatty people behind us which I'm hoping you can hear us but that's great I love it is there the Tail Walkers um yeah and I love it community too isn't it isn't it I know and the fact that we get to come up here and after this we'll go and have breakfast locally all those things we know and love of

00:38:48[crosstalk]

00:39:00[crosstalk]

00:39:08Debbie: for local little cafes. Yeah. Yeah.

00:39:11Paul Kitching: I love it. Well, I'll let you keep doing your job. Thank you so much for everything you do for parkrun.

00:39:15Debbie: No worries. Thank you.

00:39:16Paul Kitching: Thanks, Debbie.

00:39:18Paul Kitching: A second ago I was talking about the Radelaidean course and I said, oh, Tracey will know about that. Tracey. Yes. Can you remind me again what the Radelaidean is?

00:39:29Tracey: So the Radelaidean is all the parkruns within 60km of the Adelaide Metro CBD.

00:39:35[crosstalk]

00:39:36Paul Kitching: 60km radius.

00:39:37Tracey: 60km radius.

00:39:39Paul Kitching: And you've done them.

00:39:39Tracey: This is my last run at South Para Reservoir.

00:39:42Paul Kitching: Well done, mate. Congrats. What was your first?

00:39:46Tracey: Mount Barker. Yeah.

00:39:48Paul Kitching: Yeah, it was. Booyah. Oh, congrats. What's the next challenge you're going to try and achieve?

00:39:52Tracey: Oh, maybe the S's, the snakes alive. Oh, okay. We just, we got our stain alive. What's that? The BGs.

00:40:00[crosstalk]

00:40:00Paul Kitching: Oh, the BGs.

00:40:01Tracey: Yeah, we got that a few weeks ago. Look at you smashing.

00:40:03Paul Kitching: Well, congrats.

00:40:04Tracey: States person next.

00:40:06Paul Kitching: Good stuff. States person, do you reckon?

00:40:08Tracey: Oh, jet setter. Jet setter next.

00:40:10Paul Kitching: What's that?

00:40:11Tracey: Five countries. Oh, wow. And I've done three.

00:40:12[crosstalk]

00:40:13Paul Kitching: Oh, my God.

00:40:14Tracey: We've got Norway and Sweden coming up.

00:40:16Paul Kitching: Yeah, you do. Well, congrats. Thanks for everything you do for parkrun.

00:40:19Tracey: Thank you. Love it. Yeah.

00:40:23Paul Kitching: And that's another parkrun done. Another adventure completed. Tick. Lots of fun out here at... South Para Reservoir parkrun. Come and see it. Come and do it. It's a beautiful, beautiful part of the world. Reminded me a bit of Kaipo because there's quite a bit of forestry. It's a bit of a trail run and a beautiful community. Yeah. It's, gosh, hard to describe where it is. It's north of Adelaide, northeast of Adelaide. It took us about 50 minutes to get here. We live in the foothills surrounding Adelaide. So, yeah, it's not that far really. Hey, but... you know what, have car, we'll travel to parkrun and love it. Thanks for listening and keep loving parkrun. PK out.

00:41:00[background music]

00:41:17Simon Mackley: And those were some pretty cool roving reports. First we heard from Mel all the way from Launceston. We then had Tracy with Rory and Hilary Marriott. And then PK at South Para Reservoir in SA. And I believe we have a correction on what a Marriott is from last week, Mel.

00:41:41Melissa Ellis: Oh, something else I got wrong. I'm always getting something wrong.

00:41:44Simon Mackley: So...

00:41:45Melissa Ellis: But...

00:41:45Simon Mackley: You go for it. Yeah. No, no. Tell us. Tell everybody. Marriott is 100 different event volunteers. So named after Rory. Different locations that should be. Oh, okay. Sorry. Different. Yes.

00:41:59Melissa Ellis: Because there isn't 100 volunteer positions. Yes.

00:42:04Simon Mackley: Yes. 100 different events has a volunteer.

00:42:08Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Yeah. That's my understanding. Yeah.

00:42:10Unidentified speaker: Okay. Okay.

00:42:11Simon Mackley: Let's hope we get it right this week.

00:42:12Melissa Ellis: If we get it wrong again, there's more content.

00:42:15Simon Mackley: There is, indeed.

Dazza's

00:42:16Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:42:16Simon Mackley: Okay, so we heard from Dazza again on Saturday. He said, the alarm on Saturday morning is so much more welcome than any other day. How early did you get up for parkrun day today? And where did you go? So the first, well, one of the 133 comments as at five o'clock this afternoon was from Rory Marriott, a super early 4.45 for a holiday in Brit to go and time keep at Gainsborough Greens. And it was a photo with Rory and friends in a selfie frame.

00:42:48Melissa Ellis: I expect one of those was Hillary, but I wasn't sure. Now, we also heard from Joanne Blackbird coming to us from the Great Estate. And she said, Dazza, I made the most of the ultra cheap V-Line fares, $10 anywhere in Victoria. And in return, everything fell into place. Had to be in Castlemaine Saturday PM for a family thing, but also wanted to tick off another Vic event. Cohuna was the lucky event and it was the Cohuna show weekend. So no accommodation. I googled, searched, hunted, and voila, Condorook, 23 kilometres up the road, has one bus a day that departs at 7.05am and gets to Cohuna at 7.26am. Perfect. Perfect. So it all worked out for me. I loved the parkrun, explored Cohuna, caught up with the family and got home today carefree and well-travelled with a green tick emoji and a smiling face and a lovely photo of Joanne by the water with the selfie frame. She's a woman after my own heart.

00:43:53Simon Mackley: That could not have been more perfect, that bus. Arriving at $7.26.

00:43:58Melissa Ellis: So good. Problem solved. All the problems.

00:44:02Simon Mackley: Exactly. Love your work. And obviously, travelled quite cheaply as well for a $10 fare anywhere in Victoria.

00:44:07Melissa Ellis: Oh, I wish my weekend was that cheap. I bet.

00:44:12Simon Mackley: Next, we heard from Lyndell the Legendary, and she was in Tasmania as well. I told you. It's all about the Apple Isle. It is. So she said, on my fifth visit to Devonport, I finally got to do the parkrun. Usually I'm at the Devonport Triathlon looking at parkrun. This time I was at parkrun looking at Devonport Triathlon. I love officiating at the Devonport Triathlon, if I said that enough times, but it was nice to sneak in a parkrun on this visit and a heart emoji came So there was a picture of Lyndell in her apricot shirt giving the thumbs up by the Devonport flag.

00:44:54Melissa Ellis: Yeah, very good. I'm glad she finally got there because she's such a good volley. And I do see her year after year travelling and being in Devonport and not being able to do it. So that worked out well for Lyndell. Finally. Finally. And I'm sad that I didn't get to cross paths with her, but we were in different parts of Tassie. Yeah. Now we also heard from Ian Thompson. I wouldn't be surprised if this is his first visit. Well, he says that himself. Been listening for a little while now. Figured I'd say hello this week as well as adding the adventurers to my profile. Yay! Got up at 6.10 to hit the road via a more scenic route on the A36, taking in foggy Salisbury instead of the motorway to Ashton Court in Bristol. Was totally worth a two-hour drive plus meeting friends who weren't expecting us for their cow. And there was quite an interesting photo of Ian displaying some cupcakes and and very bright pink shorts.

00:45:57Simon Mackley: There you go. Next we heard from Renata Koch. So she said, the alarm clock was set for 6.12, even if I was not going very far from my Perth hotel, only to University of Western Australia. Despite getting lost and later found, I absolutely loved the twisted course through the beautiful university campus. 200th parkrun, sixth parkrun anniversary, challenges completed, parkrun and compass. And there was a picture of Renata in the UWA selfie frame.

00:46:28Melissa Ellis: Oh, so she was going for her U to complete the parkrun name.

00:46:34Simon Mackley: And the West in compass point. Yes. Excellent. As in the word West.

00:46:40Melissa Ellis: And she got lost. Yes. I wonder if she saw the... The pond. The koi pond. I'm going to go back one day. Now, we heard from Jonathan Morgan coming to us from South Australia. Nice cool morning for a jog at the Avenues parkrun, followed by hanging out at the Tree Climb Adelaide Cafe. No pun intended. And there was a photo of Jonathan and Anthony Patterson there in the selfie frame at the Avenues. Cool.

00:47:09Simon Mackley: Obviously knocking off another the the from last week. Oh, yes. Unless he's already got it. Next, we heard from Cherie Cottle. So, Panboola Wetlands parkrun celebrating their 100th event. Sleep in for us as we were staying only 400 metres from the start. Love this course now in my top five faves. And there was a picture of Cherie and Jason in the selfie frame displaying the 100 on Cherie's milestone shirt.

00:47:38Melissa Ellis: Yeah, cool guys. So that represented New South Wales and now representing the ACT, Greg Garner. Was an early start as I had to catch a bus from the city to Ginninderra and I wasn't sure where I was going. So I wanted to leave plenty of time in case I got lost, which thankfully I didn't and arrived 30 minutes early. I didn't have a milestone shirt to honour Stephen, but wore my adventurous shirt instead at my first ACT parkrun. And Greg posted a photo of himself in his adventurous shirt there at Ginninderra with the selfie frame. Wonderful. That's a nice sentiment. To end with, Simon, and I didn't add to my already very long report... On my weekend, but I actually did stop for lunch in Launceston and tune in to Stephen Jackson's memorial service. Okay. Funeral, I guess, funeral service that was streamed live. So a very amazing man, achieved a lot over his lifetime.

the Obi Award — Stephen Jackson

00:48:46Simon Mackley: But... Do you have the Obilope?

00:48:49Melissa Ellis: I've got the Obilope this week, Simon.

00:48:51Simon Mackley: You do indeed.

00:48:53Melissa Ellis: So there's a little break from the norm in me announcing it. So this week, the Obi goes to... Stephen Jackson. So we're issuing posthumously the Obi this week, Simon, for a man who was a big adventurer by heart and contributed a lot to the parkrun community. And it's just our little way of paying tribute.

00:48:55[background music]

00:49:30Simon Mackley: Definitely.

00:49:31Melissa Ellis: To Stephen and his association with Bathurst parkrun and the Panorama Punish.

00:49:37Simon Mackley: A very worthy recipient this week.

Emails

00:49:40Simon Mackley: Now, Simon. You've got mail. We do have mail. We have mail from Michael Blain. And I think he's throwing a little bit of mud. So rude. He has said, Mel and TOC, apparently other people don't exist. Joking. Thanks for the shout out at Dazza's on the pod this week for achieving my Kingsland statesman. He gets a point for using my terminology. He can have that point. Now to add to Mel's feeling of being just a little geographically challenged, Mel had a slip of the tongue when she said, I achieved Statesman Hamilton parkrun. Now Hamilton parkrun is in the weird little state at the bottom end of the Australian mainland, something two Victorians should know. And I suspect you've both been there in your adventures. However, to get my Kingsland Statesman, of course, I had to do an event in Kingsland, not Victoria. So I actually trail walked at Hamilton Island parkrun, presumably surrounded by more ocean than Hamilton, Victoria. Thanks for another great entertaining episode, Michael Blain. And he said, P.S., I unfortunately can't make Palm, even though it's only two hours up the road, taking my 16-year-old daughter to the Australian Athletic Champs in Adelaide the same weekend, happy and disappointed at the same time. Do you take that on board, Mel? You might have missed Ireland.

00:51:15Melissa Ellis: Yes, I know. I did. And you know what? Anybody else wants to come up here and have a crack at being a podcast host and getting everything right, go ahead.

00:51:26Simon Mackley: Exactly.

00:51:27Melissa Ellis: I make mistakes all the time. I'm always leaving the park bit when the parkrun names actually also have park like Underwood Park. I'm sure I did that last week as well. I just said Underwood parkrun instead of Underwood Park. I do that a lot. And it's just because I'm trying to read and.

00:51:44Simon Mackley: I totally understand.

00:51:45Melissa Ellis: Broadcast at the same time. And it can be a little bit challenging. Nothing's done on purpose or intended to be offensive. Of course. Like calling an event mistakenly by a Victorian name.

00:52:01Simon Mackley: I think there's about five Hamiltons as well. I think there's one in Canada and I think there might even be one in New Zealand. Yeah, of course, New Zealand, yeah.

00:52:03[crosstalk]

00:52:09Melissa Ellis: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So anyway, thank you very much for your feedback, Michael.

Club Corner

00:52:15Melissa Ellis: we love getting emails uh and uh yeah sorry we won't be catching up with you in kingsland but somebody that we do have that very rarely makes a mistake that always comes through with the goods is Rachel so let's have a listen to her

00:52:25[background music]

00:52:32[14 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:52:46Rachel: 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. I am starting today with a friendly reminder that challenges existed way, way, way, before the various apps which some people used to track them. So, with that in mind, I am going to continue with my review of historic challenges, the niche things that people love when collecting their clubs. Do I know how many people are doing these? Nope. Do I know how many people have ever completed them? Nope. Does that even matter? Nope. So, onward and upward, and let's begin with one of the funnest clubs, the eponymous Park Club. There are about 20 events with park in their name, ranging from the obviously named events like Chaffey Park parkrun or Norlands Park parkrun through to Picnic Point Parklands parkrun. Yes it's slightly confusing when you tell people you are collecting parks, as it's not about where the event is, but what the event is called. Also, you need to ignore the park part of parkrun, winky face, but not the park part of parkland, smiley face. Similar in situation to parks we have, reserves, and there are more than a dozen reserve named parkruns, e.g. Oaklands Estate Reserve or South Beach Recreation Reserve. Again, nothing to do with the physical location. And the final club this week is, ovals, with Northparkes Oval being a prime example. There are only five oval named parkruns in Oz, but you need real dedication as they are spread throughout SA, WA and NSW. You may have noted that some of the previous examples cross a few clubs. We included alliteration and explorer. So that's something to bear in mind with your event hunting. And that's your lot for the week. And remember, in parkrun life, all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun. So stay tuned for our future club corners.

00:54:30Simon Mackley: And there we have it. Rachel teaching us more about the clubs. So she's talking about park club, reserve club and oval club, which I had to go and have a look at how many I've done. I seem to have three reserves and a park. How many have you got, Mel?

00:54:46Melissa Ellis: Well, I didn't look up the park, Simon, but I did note I have at least two ovals and I did a quick count, pulled up my spreadsheet quickly, 13 reserves.

00:54:58Simon Mackley: Unbelievable.

00:54:59Melissa Ellis: We like our reserves here in the Great Estate. Definitely sounds like it.

00:55:05Simon Mackley: I know you had two in New South Wales and that's the only place I have reserves as well is Cowpasture, Werrington Lakes and Whalan.

00:55:13Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay. Yeah. But it's not something that I actually track. So, yeah, it was a matter of going back through my spreadsheet and manually counting them up quickly in the ad break. Indeed. But...

Consolidated Club Report

00:55:33Simon Mackley: I was going to say, how did we go with the adventurers Consolidated Club report? Yeah.

00:55:37Melissa Ellis: Well, thank you for asking, Simon. The adventurers Consolidated Club report for Saturday the 16th of March 2024 of a total of 602 members. 462 took part on this day in eight countries across 218 locations. In the UK, there were adventurers at 38 events. There were two events in South Africa, Poland and Ireland, and one in the USA and Singapore. Locally, we had adventurers at 44 events in New South Wales, 41 events in the Greater State, 35 in Kingsland, 16 on the West Side, 14 in South Australia. Tassie, the ACT and the North Island each had six. There were three on the South Island and one in the Northern Tree. So, interestingly, the UK came third bronze place again this week.

00:56:38Simon Mackley: Beating Kingsland again.

00:56:39Melissa Ellis: Knocking Kingsland off the table. And I do track West Australia and South Australia because they're often – Around the same in one week, South Australia is ahead. And the next week, the West Side is ahead. So that's an interesting little, but they're always around the same around the 15, 16 different events. So yes, very interesting.

the Frond — The Ponds and Capestone Lake (10 adventurers each, Australia); Marine Parade, UK and Benguela Cove, South Africa (3 each, international)

00:57:04Melissa Ellis: But what about our international fronds, Simon?

00:57:07Simon Mackley: Well, I'm glad you asked, Mel. Internationally, we had Marine Parade UK with three. That was Cameron and Sammy Gerrish and Kim Leonard. And we also had three at Benguela Cove in South Africa, where we had Johan Duvenhage, we had Wilna van Eminus and Mary Langebrink.

00:57:31Melissa Ellis: Excellent. What about in Australia? Our local froms this week, Simon, were 10 adventurers at two events, The Ponds and Capestone Lake, nine at Shellharbour, and seven at Dolls Point. They were Andrew Johnston, Martine Barrot, Andrew Blanda, Jan Yates, Sue Smith, Wayne Whiteley, and Chris Horowitz. And Ingrid Botha as RD.

00:57:56Simon Mackley: Wonderful.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:57:58Simon Mackley: Encouraged by discussions last week, this week parkrun launched three new events. So as Mel just mentioned, Capestone Lake parkrun in Kingsland, which is located on the north side of Brisbane, just east of North Lakes parkrun, and this was a huge launch. There was 400 finishers and 20 volunteers, and finishers included Mossy and Schultzy. So the course is a scenic out and back course with turnarounds and uses paths around the lake. The course starts and finishes at the same location and is predominantly done on concrete paths with some grass at the turnaround point.

00:58:39Melissa Ellis: So 400 finishes at a launch. That's quite big numbers, Simon. Was this not a secret, this one?

00:58:49Simon Mackley: I knew this was coming up. I didn't know it was going to be called Capestone Lake. I knew it as Mango Hill, which is sort of the area that it's in. I know that Capestone Lake is a new development and the developer, I believe, financed it. I don't think it was the biggest secret, but it certainly wasn't widely sort of communicated. It has been two years in the making though. So, Because it is a new development, it's kind of taken a while to, you know, to get it going. But the two EDs that started the original sort of interest are the ones that launched it on the weekend.

00:59:29Melissa Ellis: Okay. Welcome to the family, Capestone Lake. Yes. Now, Simon, over in South Africa, we also had the aforementioned Benguela Cove. We hope we're saying that right. We know we probably aren't. Located in the southwest corner of South Africa. And if it isn't, Johan will tell us. Near Betty's Bay parkrun, Benguela Cove launched this week with 226 finishes supported by 26 volunteers. The start finish is very close to a winery apparently. The Benguela Current is the broad northward flowing ocean current that forms the eastern portion of the South Atlantic Ocean gyre. Oh my gosh! Now, there's a little note added to the side here. Who did this research?

01:00:14Simon Mackley: I did that research because I had no idea what that was.

01:00:18Melissa Ellis: Okay. So for those following along at home, a gyre. In oceanography, a gyre is any large system of circulating ocean surface currents, particularly those involved with large wind movements. Gyres are caused by the, oh, my goodness, coriolis. Coriolis. Oh, effect, planetary vorticity, horizontal friction and vertical friction determine the, oh my, circulatory patterns from the wind stress Curl. What? Next time you write these things, you can say them yourself.

01:00:54Simon Mackley: And you know what? I'm going to explain what that is. Coriolis effect is the, when you flush the toilet, it goes around in one direction. Like, you know how it swirls around? That's the Coriolis effect.

01:01:05Melissa Ellis: Okay.

01:01:05Simon Mackley: So that's what the ocean's doing off this new parkrun in Benguela Cove.

01:01:09Melissa Ellis: Every day's a school day. Exactly. So we have our La Nina and El Nino and South Africa has this.

01:01:22Simon Mackley: No, this has got nothing to do with it. It is. It's weather patterns and ocean currents. It is. It's ocean currents. Yes. And that's what El Nino is, winds and ocean currents. Okay, sure. I'm gonna ask okay but el nino and el nino move these currents sorry these currents obviously move but they are located in certain parts of the world so this guy goes between south America and South Africa or sorry, the western side of Africa and goes around in a circle. So there's five or six of them around the world that just because of the vast expanse and wind and currents and things.

01:02:05[crosstalk]

01:02:06Melissa Ellis: So they're always there. It's not seasonal. Correct. Is that what you're telling me?

01:02:09Simon Mackley: Exactly right.

01:02:10Melissa Ellis: We've gone far too deep into this.

01:02:11[crosstalk]

01:02:12Simon Mackley: Far too deep. Yes. Thanks, Johan.

01:02:16Melissa Ellis: I will continue. The course is a mix of gravel tracks and vineyards with a short single track section along the lagoon. Start and finish adjacent to the car park.

01:02:26Simon Mackley: And the third one to launch this past weekend was in Germany. It's called Prestelsee. So this new German event is located south of the town of Mannheim, home of Neckarau parkrun, halfway towards the French border. For their launch, they had 90 finishers and 18 volunteers. The course is a one and a half kilometre lap counterclockwise around Lake Preston. Then a 1.8 kilometre lap through the adjacent community forest back towards the lake. And then finally another lap 1.7 k's clockwise around the lake on paved forest paths and gravel paths.

01:03:08Melissa Ellis: You know what we didn't count up this week? The people doing their very first parkruns.

01:03:13Unidentified speaker: Oh no. That's my fault.

01:03:16Melissa Ellis: But that parkrun, I see that as pretzel, pretzely. It's the pretzely parkrun.

01:03:23Simon Mackley: So pretzel C you see is pretzel C. Pretzely. It's pretzely. Pretzely. Okay, sure. Go along with your bag of pretzels. Well, the course sounds very pretzely as well.

01:03:35Melissa Ellis: Now it's time for me to remind everybody that you can add the Adventurers Club as one of your five affiliations. Affiliations, or affiliations on your parkrun profile and if you need help just yell out now looking forward Simon oh we've got an announcement and guess what I didn't put it in the notes we forgot all about it we forgot all about it it's the box what's in the box what's in the box we're gonna tell you uh I don't really know how to build the anticipation do we have a drum roll Oh, yeah, we got, oh, yeah, yep. Now, The Office Lady has been very busy behind the scenes because she thought our merch range could do with updating. So we are very excited to add more. some adventurous buffs. Yay! Yay! And to those who are coming along to Palm, you are in luck because that is where they are going to be available. The box of buffs is coming to Palm and when you are there, you can purchase one for the price of $12. Indeed. And also, if you had noticed recently, the Office Lady posted a photo for those that are coming to Palm stating the particular shirts we were suggesting you could wear to the Freedos and the recording and such events on the weekend. And the background to that picture is the print of the buff. So a little teaser. It was there under your nose all along. Ta-da! So no more secrets and the Learjet can get parked away.

Sign-off

01:05:29Simon Mackley: Indeed it can. Where is the Learjet taking you this week though, Mel?

01:05:34Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, nowhere exciting. It can't be an adventure every week, I know. I have to work. I got told I have to work. But I am allowed to go to parkrun and I will be at Puckapunyal. Yay! So I'm counting my blessings. It's a little win. But, Simon, what about yourself?

01:05:54Simon Mackley: I am going semi-local. I'm going to go to Capalaba, which is about a half-hour drive away. And I probably haven't been there in about two years, so I'm going to give that another crack. But before I record again with you and before Palm, which is the next time I'm actually going to see you, I'm going to Japan. Simon! Japan! I'm going to Japan.

01:06:21Melissa Ellis: Can you say the name of it?

01:06:22Simon Mackley: Futakotamagawa.

01:06:26Melissa Ellis: Have you been practicing?

01:06:27Simon Mackley: I don't have to practice. Oh, well, I'm very impressed. Well, I've got to say that I found out. So coming up to Tokyo Marathon, some parkrunners in Japan decided they were going to profile some of the Tokyo parkruns. They did a YouTube thing on it. And apparently all of the parkruns in Japan call themselves by like a three-letter name. So Futakotamagawa is just called FDG.

01:06:53Melissa Ellis: Oh, I wish I'd known that.

01:06:55Simon Mackley: Exactly.

01:06:56Melissa Ellis: Can you please compile a list before to bring back for us for future reference?

01:07:02Simon Mackley: Of the three letter names or the, yeah, sure.

01:07:04Melissa Ellis: Yeah, because then we can sound like we're hip and cool and we know the lingo and it'll be easier to pronounce. But can we also expect some audio?

01:07:14Simon Mackley: Do you know what? I will record some audio because coincidentally, I'm actually meeting up with someone, who I met at Mossman parkrun, I think it was six years ago. And, yeah, I will interview her. Oh, secrets.

01:07:28Melissa Ellis: Well, this is all very exciting. You kept that very quiet. I did. You're sitting there looking so pleased with yourself. Dropped your little bomb.

01:07:37Simon Mackley: So I'm in Futakotamagawa one week, South Toowoomba the next week. But to be fair, I will not be doing a parkrun in between Capalaba and Futakotamagawa because we arrive into Osaka too late at night for me to go the next morning.

01:07:52Melissa Ellis: So how come you're going back to Capalaba?

01:07:57Simon Mackley: Just because it's one I haven't done in a while.

01:07:58Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay, fair enough. Very good. Well, thank you very much for joining me again. I shall see you at Palm. You will. How excitement. I know. And as always, everybody, you can contact us via parkrun adventurers on Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week. We'll see you all next week for more adventures. Bye.

01:08:15[outro theme playing]