Episode 377 - Purple Patches

00:00:00[intro theme playing]

Welcome

00:00:23Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 377 of the parkrun adventurers podcast, a podcast about life if your life is all about parkrun. It is our post-Palm episode. Welcome. My name is Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country.

00:00:39Tony O'Connell: And I'm Toc and I'm coming to you from Bunurong Country.

00:00:43Melissa Ellis: I nearly forgot to say my name then. I got too carried away with doing the intro.

00:00:49Tony O'Connell: Have you recovered, Tony? Well, it was a big, big weekend last weekend. There was lots of parkruns. There was lots of party. There was lots of conversation. And there was lots of catching up with people. The Palm weekends are just full on from Friday afternoon through to Sunday lunchtime usually for us. And it was just an amazing experience. I always love Palm. Come away really invigorated, but you do come away from it fairly tired because it's just so full on. You don't get to stop for a minute. Yeah.

00:01:21Melissa Ellis: I do like Eman's comment about it being much like a wedding with the run sheets and everything, which is very true. It's like you're running off for your photos and you've got to be here by this time and formal dinners.

00:01:35Tony O'Connell: And we're very lucky that we have The Office Lady to keep all those times bang on time and make sure we're all organised. Yeah.

00:01:42Melissa Ellis: I know, how good is she? Those photos we got were great. So thank you again, Sam. I know we gave Vera a shout out in our live recording, but one thing we didn't really get to cover in the live recording because it hadn't happened yet was the dress-up dinner.

00:01:56Tony O'Connell: Oh, how good was it? Some of the costumes, some of the effort that people go to, it's just mind-blowing. And I really love that there's some commonality in themes and there was some really abstract themes there. Some of the people, they grab it and I think – Ollie's costume, like that just took it out for me. That was just brilliant. And it took me a long, long time to work out the connection with flowers. Yeah.

00:02:28Melissa Ellis: Well, that's the thing. And for those listening at home, if you haven't seen the photos, Ollie was Princess Jasmine. And there was the largest collection of sacks of flour that I have ever seen before in one room.

00:02:41Tony O'Connell: And, Mel, we had a beehive as well. I think we had about eight or ten bees. So we had a swarm. So effective.

00:02:49Melissa Ellis: But the winners was my personal favourite, which was Martine and Andrew taking out first prize or best dressed for the second year in a row, coming as Floyd, the pink gnome from Floriade.

00:03:03Tony O'Connell: I think they do a marvellous job. And they make their own costumes too, which is, you know, I cheated a bit this year. I bought a costume. They go to that extra step and make their own. And I think that's a really great effort. And I've got to say, that was judged by the staff at the hotel we're at. So the staff were wandering around during the night, quietly assessing the costumes. And three or four of the staff got together and made a judgment call on it.

00:03:31Melissa Ellis: There was a lot of interest from the general public that were sharing The Venue with us, trying to figure out. I know they were talking to some adventurers in queues to buy drinks or order dinner and trying to make the connection okay. So it's a garden theme. Well, I get the bees, I get the garden gnome, but why is there a genie over there?

00:03:54Tony O'Connell: So, yeah. One of the funniest things I found on the night was – I went up to the bar at one stage and one of the other bees walked up and basically said to the barman, I want some cocktails, make them bee themed. And that was the brief.

00:04:12Melissa Ellis: That was the brief. Well, I hope they had honey. I guess they would have.

00:04:17Tony O'Connell: Yeah, so, no, look, it was a fantastic night. The whole weekend just went off really well. Big thanks. We've said it before, but big thanks to Eman for all his effort in organising things and for being our RD on the day. Looking forward to next year already, Mel.

00:04:34Melissa Ellis: But did you make a new friend? Because this is something I have to remember for next year, Toc. I should have set a personal challenge for all adventurers to make a new friend, meet somebody they didn't already know. Now, I did, but I want to know, did you?

00:04:48Tony O'Connell: Well, I met so many people that I haven't met before. There were... A lot of people that I've met in passing before, some that I've met last year and some that I could not remember a name, so I picked up a tag of Nemo for the weekend. But so many people are like, Ryan Stoddart. Yeah, we turned up at Picnic Point. The first bloke we ran into was Ryan Stoddart. The running guy. The running guy. And I was sort of trying to work out. And he's living in his car, travelling around, doing the parkrun tour, the ultimate tourist. And I had a look at his car and he's got it decked out really well. But he just travels around living in the car, sleeping in the car. I didn't get to see that. Damn it. Well, he had it parked at all the events. I know. Nobody told me. He slept overnight at Highfields. So he was right on the start line at daybreak when we got there at nine o'clock, late daybreak. A couple of the others that jumped out. I spoke a fair bit over the weekend to Rex. Rex Gream, we've never met him before. Yeah, great to catch up. People like Andrew Yateman from the West Side. It was great to put some faces to names. As you know, we go through Dazza's every week. We go through a lot of the posts every week in a lot of detail. We make sure we read them all. And it was really great to actually – Have a face that you could identify with. One of the funniest things over the weekend I found, I was walking at South Toowoomba. I was one of the Tail Walkers. And I said to Jodie and Val, you're going to have to show me who the Bravos are. And Dave sort of put his hand up. He was a Marshal about 20 metres in front of us. And his wife was running past at the time. And it was just – I just timed it to perfection. Perfect. So meeting them – Yeah, how about you, Mel? Who did you meet?

00:06:50Melissa Ellis: I met Clancy and Sam from Armidale and we had mentioned them previously in an episode, I believe, when they got married. Now, I also met Fiona from Fingal Bay and Amanda from Kerang Regional. So, yes, all those lovely people plus many, many, many more.

00:07:07Tony O'Connell: We were lucky to sit down for tea Friday night with Clancy and Sam and had a good chat to them. Yeah. Yeah, no, look, just lots of great people to meet. Had a ball. And one person we forgot to thank on the day, Mel. We went through all our Channel 5 reporters. We went through everyone. We forgot Pippa. Pippa does a huge amount behind the scenes with Streaky September and from time to time with the reports. And Yeah, I'm sorry we missed you, Pippa, but you're not forgotten.

00:07:38Melissa Ellis: Our streak my star. Yes, she is our go-to person when we want to help with something in the motherland.

00:07:44Tony O'Connell: So, Mel, what else is happening in parkrun world?

00:07:48Melissa Ellis: Well, what were we going to talk about next? Are we going to jump out of order? We can. We can go out of order or we can discuss the 5K app and the – you say it.

00:07:59Tony O'Connell: The Voronoi map. That. I know you've only just had a look at it because we were talking about it before we started recording. I'm always late to the party. The 5K app has released a new Voronoi map and it is the best thing since sliced bread for planning adventures. A Voronoi map, for those that don't know, divides the world up into segments and in this case it's around a parkrun. Each parkrun covers a geographical distance. And for me, the quest is to try to join those shaded areas up and try to link your map up. So it's certainly going to be shaping my parkrun travel plans in the future. When it got released the other day, there was a lot of excitement. There was a lot of people both removing the app off their phone and then reloading it to make sure they had the version that had the Voronoi map. But, Mel, a question for you. My Voronoi map... Doesn't quite connect me with Tassie yet. Does yours connect across to Tasmania?

00:09:04Melissa Ellis: It does. I do have a connection to Tassie. Which event is it? Let me tell you, Wynyard.

00:09:10Tony O'Connell: Beautiful. So I'm looking at completing that connection on our trip later in the year when we go to Flinders Island.

00:09:18Melissa Ellis: And I tell you what else, Tony, I'm pretty happy with my big chunk for Coober Pedy. I've got a nice big purple blob in the middle of Australia. Thank you, Coober Pedy.

00:09:27Tony O'Connell: I think my all-time biggest blob that I have on it is from Geeveston, also from Tassie. You get a huge segment because obviously heading south, there's only the Antarctic, so there's not a lot due south.

00:09:42Melissa Ellis: Do you know what, Tony? You could go north to south in Australia if you get Mount Isa. Mount Isa and we're getting carried away, aren't we? Back to the pod.

00:09:50Tony O'Connell: Back to the pod. That is one of the troubles with the 5K app and it has got even worse with the new Voronoi map is all of a sudden you start falling down the rabbit hole and half an hour later you think, oh, I was meant to be doing something. It's great. I love it. It's a brilliant app, brilliant thing and if you haven't got it on your phone I really encourage you to get onto it and have a look at the different functions that the 5k has even down to things like barcodes and being able to look up a barcode for a friend if they forget to bring their barcode to parkrun I've got a very good friend that refers to it as the stalker app and I have promised I would

00:10:28Melissa Ellis: bring that up at some point. So, yeah. And so this is another really good thing. You can follow all your friends if you're in competition with them and they're trying to be snaky and not tell you where they park ran on the weekend or you want to check where they've popped up. Yeah, you just have them added. Yeah.

00:10:48Tony O'Connell: It's easy to see. Yeah, I must admit I update my friends list a couple of times on a Saturday just to see people pop up. Yeah. And even having those UK connections that I made while we were overseas last year, I've got a few of them in my friends list and it's great to see where they're popping up and parkrunning. Stalk app.

00:11:06Melissa Ellis: Awesome. But Tony, coming up, we should let the listeners know we've got a sweater of roving reports for you today, even one coming to us from the UK, from a voice we haven't heard from for a while. We've got Rachel and Des is back after his week off. But we haven't discussed our last weekend yet, Toc. Would you like to give us a rundown on your Saturday?

00:11:30Tony O'Connell: Mel, after the big adventure of Palm, we decided to keep it fairly local. We went to the Stump all the way to Inverloch, which is my closest event. While we were having a chat up at Palm, we were talking to Roberta. And I said, where are you next week? And she said, I'm going to Inverloch. I said, okay, where are you staying? I haven't booked that yet. Come and stay at our place. So we had Roberta down and it was fantastic. Roberta got to see the sun at the stump, of course. It was actually a cloudy day, but the sun did break through at parkrun time. And she was lucky enough to be down for a brief showing of the southern lights or the aurora.

00:12:17[crosstalk]

00:12:17Melissa Ellis: Oh, I'm so envious, Roberta. That is a bucket list thing for me to see the southern aurora.

00:12:25Tony O'Connell: So, yep, not only do we have the sunshine at the start now, we're getting the added pressure of a weekly aurora showing.

00:12:34Melissa Ellis: Wow.

00:12:35Tony O'Connell: Which I don't think is going to happen.

00:12:36Unidentified speaker: No.

00:12:38Tony O'Connell: It's like one of those supermarket disclaimers, a little hashtag at the end, not in actual real life.

00:12:46Melissa Ellis: What about you, Mel?

00:12:46Tony O'Connell: Where did you get to?

00:12:48Melissa Ellis: Well, this week was all about staying local, like yourself, and recovering from the fabulous, hectic and overstimulating experience at Palm in Toowoomba. So I looked at my P-Index and programmed Wilson Botanic parkrun into my GPS on the lands of the Bunurong and the Boon Wurrung peoples. This still meant a bit of a drive as Wilson Botanic is in the southeastern suburbs of Melbourne, back in my old hood, roughly an hour and 15 going around the tolls. It was my eighth visit and the final event needed to boost my P index to eight. Yay. And look, I did line up the trip with a hair appointment, catch up with a friend and visit with one of the kids as I am, if nothing else, a multitasker and opportunist. But let me refresh you about this parkrun, which I recorded a roving report from in episode 188, Merry Ugly Christmas. This is a two-lap course set in a beautiful 100-acre botanic park, which was originally a blue metal quarry. Once the quarry closed, the land was donated to the community, redeveloped by the City of Casey and officially opened in 1992. Interesting fact about the park is that fossilised forest remnants were uncovered during excavations, indicating that the site was covered by a tropical forest over 22 million years ago, and these fossils are the earliest known eucalyptus fossils. The park has two lakes, the Anniversary Lake and the Basalt Lake, and a lookout tower with extensive views of the surrounding suburbs. The park also contains an information centre, an amphitheatre, playground, bird hide, barbecues, shelters and rotundas, and toilets. I was the sole adventurer at event 328 amongst a crowd of 75, which is a small gathering compared to many other parkruns in the area, due in no small part to the elevation. Being an old quarry, the event starts in what would have been the basin and snakes upward to the top, giving a total ascent of 115 metres. Being a two-lapper, the hills must be conquered twice, but with which you are rewarded with the downhill return to the finish. Dubbed Wilson's Satanic, it is an old favourite, despite my finish time being well down on my previous best effort. While I didn't spot anyone I knew on course, my car was recognised in the car park, so I did receive a couple of messages inquiring where I was, and I was very pleased to catch up afterwards for a chat with Sarah Hurft and Lola. So I do urge any visitors to Victoria to venture out past the boundaries of Melbourne CBD because the burbs do have some fine offerings. Talk for the willing tourist.

00:15:25Tony O'Connell: It sounds like an almost an adventure, Mel, in your backyard. And it is one of those courses, Wilson Botanic. I do love it for the hills. As you said, lots of elevation, lots of climb, but you are rewarded with some really great flowing downhill sections on that course. And you get to do them all twice.

00:15:44Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and I got a good zoomy photo and the photographer was being one of those, you know, sneaky photographers on that uphill climb. So I zoomed uphill.

00:15:53Tony O'Connell: Zoomed uphill. Well done.

00:15:57Melissa Ellis: But there was more going on in parkrun circles in the last week, TOC, because there was a big announcement that came out of parkrun Global about Event Directors and event ambassadors saying, getting volunteer credits. We need to have a talk about that.

00:16:15Tony O'Connell: Yeah, Mel, there's an email that came out that went out to all Event Directors or to all event emails and ambassadors. And starting from May the 6th, parkrun are going to give all the Event Directors and ambassadors a weekly credit where they – are not on the volunteer list. So if you're on the volunteer list for the week, that'll be your credit for the week. But it's to recognise the hours that Event Directors and ambassadors put in behind the scenes. There's a lot of work that goes on that we don't see and recognise. And I say this is just... probably a small recognition. It's not a financial reward or anything like that. It's a bit of a pat on the back and a bit of a thank you. And I see it as being a nice step towards being recognised.

00:17:06Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I have heard it described as validation and it's probably very long overdue because people like yourself, Tony, that have done so much for parkrun over the years and, you know, there would be hundreds, thousands probably of people just like yourself that have been behind the scenes giving so much of your time, week in, week out, and, you know, probably no doubt had family time interrupted or had to step out of work for a period of time to take calls, even starting new events. The ambassadors are, aren't they, involved in supporting new event teams. So, yeah, it's just, I guess, recognition and validation for all those unseen hours. And, yeah, volunteering at parkrun isn't just on Saturday.

00:17:54Tony O'Connell: No, and for a lot of ambassadors and Event Directors, the volunteering continues all week. As you said, when you have a new event setting up, there's quite often a lot of phone calls. There's a lot of help and support. There's trials. There's equipment to run through. One of the things I point out about it, though, the credits are actually optional. There's going to be a lot of people out there that think, no, I don't do it for a volunteer credit. And that's not why parkrun are giving them. They're giving them... as an acknowledgement of what you're doing. But there's going to be people that it doesn't feel right to have a volunteer credit for something they've put their hand up for and they do happily and willingly. And one of the beautiful things about the system is those people can opt out. They don't have to have a volunteer credit for doing it. So the system's there for both sides.

00:18:42Melissa Ellis: That's sort of a bit like in the 5K app, you can... have your challenges include volunteering or you can switch that off and your challenges only include actual events that you've run in my head that's the same thing yeah very much the same one of the other great things that's come in with this change too Mel

00:19:02Tony O'Connell: is in the past, if we've had an event that's set up, and I know we've had events that have set up, been ready to go, and a lightning storm's come through, and they've had to cancel last minute. I know a couple of events have had water rise between the course check even, and when they've yelled go, the water's risen immediately, you know, in underpasses and that by a metre or whatever and it's no longer safe and they've had to cancel, one of the things that the new system is going to allow us to do is actually give the volunteers that have turned up and set up a volunteer credit for the day. So that's good because in the past it was just, sorry, the event's cancelled and you might have been there and done the Event Day Course Check or the pre-event set up or something and there was no acknowledgement of that, even though you'd done the role, now at least we have that option to recognise that you've been there and you've done what you've offered to do.

00:20:00Melissa Ellis: That's a nice change, isn't it? Good on you, parkrun.

00:20:04Tony O'Connell: Yeah, so anyway, that starts on May the 6th, so it's a couple of weeks away, but I think that's a really positive change, and it is a positive thing that they're acknowledging that there are people out there that put in quite a bit more beyond the Saturday. So, yeah, well done, parkrun.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:20:23Tony O'Connell: And now we're off to some roving reports next, and we've got reports from all over the place.

00:20:25[background music]

00:20:30Melissa Ellis: So let's have a listen to those now.

Roving report Lyndell Murray — Oakey parkrun

00:20:40Lyndell Murray: G'day parkrun adventurers, it's Lyndell and today this is take three to record a roving report while I'm on a rebel tour out to Oakey, instead of being at South Toowoomba where all the cool kids are, for the parkrun adventurers podcast Listener Meetup. God, that was a mouthful, wasn't it?

00:20:59Lyndell Murray: Now, I am here with Bernadette and Bonnie and we're just going to do a quick little piece around the top three reasons to visit Oakey parkrun. Bonnie. Bonnie.

00:21:06Bonnie - Oakey parkrun: Okay, take three, or take four. I'm still sprouting those pies up at Countrywide Pies, parkrun at a pie, guys. Can't run unless you get rewards afterwards.

00:21:16Lyndell Murray: Yep, so Countrywide Pies on the way home. Brilliant. Do they have coffee there as well?

00:21:21Bonnie - Oakey parkrun: Oh, yes. I'm not a coffee drinker, but I like a good pot of tea, so they do well there as well.

00:21:25Bernadette - Oakey parkrun: Brilliant. Now, reason number two? Reason number two would be our friendly people. We're very well known for our friendly course out here. And we also have our resident koala is reason number three.

00:21:37Lyndell Murray: Reason number three is koala, which doesn't start with P like pies and people. No. So we've decided that we're going to name the koala something starting with P. I think so.

00:21:48Bernadette - Oakey parkrun: Sounds like a good idea. We might have a name for him. And how often do we see the koala? Probably fortnightly, sometimes weekly. It's great to come out to see if you can catch a glimpse of him. He changes his position a lot, so you find him anywhere along the course.

00:22:03Lyndell Murray: Brilliant, brilliant. Now, I'm going to add a number four to that list of top three because I think the course here is absolutely lovely. I did not know much about Oakey parkrun before I came here, apart from the fact that it started with O and I was going to get a second O for my alphabet. It was in Oakey and I hadn't done it before. Didn't know what the course was like. What a delight it is. It's a few little loops. It's a three-looper alongside a lovely little river and lots of trees, birds singing and, of course, our yet-to-be-named koala. Alrighty, is there anything else you would like the parkrun adventurers to know about Oakey parkrun?

00:22:40Bonnie - Oakey parkrun: Honestly, I've gone blank. I've got no idea. Come out and join us. Yeah, just come out. It's a wonderful, you know, sad day. Come in the cold weather. That's what I thought I said once before, cold weather. It gets super, super cold. You have beanies and you have those things on your hand, mittens, and you have multiple pairs of socks. But it is so good. Come out in winter. And the hot pie afterwards is even better in winter.

00:23:01Lyndell Murray: Oh, yes. All right. Well, thank you, Bonnie, and thank you, Bernadette, for chatting to me today. This is Lyndell out on the parkrun adventurers.

Roving report Johan Duvenhage — Piggly Wiggly parkrun

00:23:11Johan Duvenhage: This little piggy went to market. This little piggy stayed home. This little piggy had roast beef. And this little piggy had none. But this little piggy cried wee, wee, wee all the way to parkrun. Howdy, parkrunners. It's Johan reporting back from Piggly Wiggly parkrun in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands.

Talking to Greg Beirutti — Run Director and Co-Event Director, Piggly Wiggly parkrun (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)

00:23:31Johan Duvenhage: And I'm here with the Run Director for today as well as one of the EDs, Greg Beirutti. Good morning, Greg. Morning, Johan. All right. It's a bit wet today. It's nice for a change. So we've got drizzle fine and the temperature very nice. Greg, what makes Piggly Wiggly a special place?

00:23:53Greg Beirutti - Run Director and Co-Event Director, Piggly Wiggly parkrun: I think the name itself is quite an interesting one. Worldwide, we get a lot of people coming here from all over the world because they've heard the name and there's a number of articles about strange parkrun names and we always feature amongst them. So we get a lot of people coming for the name itself. And the course gives us a little bit of a rundown about the course. Our course is flat for the first 300 metres. After that, it does get a bit hairy. We run around a huge field to start with in the first kilometre, across a couple of other fields. And then the latest addition has been a forest section. We turn into a forest for about 500, 600 metres, which has created quite a nice atmosphere in the course. And then in the last kilometre we have a little bit of a hill.

00:24:46Johan Duvenhage: Listen, I think he's being a little bit euphemistic there, but let's let it be there.

00:24:52Greg Beirutti - Run Director and Co-Event Director, Piggly Wiggly parkrun: It is quite a stiff hill. It's for about 400 metres. And then a short jog down to the finish.

00:25:01Johan Duvenhage: So in terms of your attendance, is it normally people from around here or do you get a lot of visitors apart from the name chasers?

00:25:10Greg Beirutti - Run Director and Co-Event Director, Piggly Wiggly parkrun: We get quite a mixture. We have quite a large contingent of people from the retirement villages around here who come out and walk. So we've got quite a big regular contingent of people. But we get a lot of visitors too. We're also situated in an area where people can get you quite easily from the main centres. So we do get people coming here quite a lot. And your average attendance is? Since COVID, it's been slowly creeping up. Over the last few weeks, we've been having 250 on average, I think. Today, being cooler and wetter, we will have a smaller crowd. But in recent times, we're looking at about 250.

00:25:55Johan Duvenhage: So the adventurers, we do travel around a bit.

00:25:59Greg Beirutti - Run Director and Co-Event Director, Piggly Wiggly parkrun: Have you been to other parkruns around? Me, myself, yes, I've been to a number of parkruns. Depending on where we go, we always plan our holidays around parkruns, like many enthusiasts. And, yes, I've got family in Johannesburg area, so when we go visit family, we always find a parkrun to do there.

00:26:18Johan Duvenhage: And my bad, I only now see the orange cap. Greg is wearing his tourist cap. So, apart from Piggly Wiggly, if you have to think about one or two parkruns that really made you think, this is wow?

00:26:34Greg Beirutti - Run Director and Co-Event Director, Piggly Wiggly parkrun: Sure, there's a number of them. We really enjoyed running Naval Hill in Bloemfontein before it was closed down. It was quite unique. Umfolozi, the northern hotel, also unique in the game park with the giraffe looking over you. And, yeah, a number of the other coastal venues are great, especially where you have to run on the beach, a different challenge. Those are the kind of things that I enjoy, something different.

00:27:07Johan Duvenhage: All right, thank you very much, Greg. All the best to us weekly week at parkrun.

00:27:10Greg Beirutti - Run Director and Co-Event Director, Piggly Wiggly parkrun: Thanks, Johan, and safe travels back to Ireland. Thanks.

00:27:16Johan Duvenhage: I'm standing here with Brendan, and Brendan is registered at Piggly Wiggly, but he's now running somewhere else. Good morning, Brendan.

00:27:22Brendan - parkrunner registered at Piggly Wiggly, now based in Amsterdam: Hey, good morning. So where are you running these days? Most of them are in Amsterdam.

00:27:29Johan Duvenhage: All right, so tell us a bit more about Amsterdam.

00:27:32Brendan - parkrunner registered at Piggly Wiggly, now based in Amsterdam: Yeah, it's a lovely single lap route through the forest. Started in 2020, just before COVID, and then took a few years off with the COVID rules. And yeah, it's a nice route in the summertime, gets quite busy with, well, relatively like sort of around 200 runners.

00:27:54Johan Duvenhage: So how does the South African parkruns and the Dutch parkruns compare?

00:27:59Brendan - parkrunner registered at Piggly Wiggly, now based in Amsterdam: um overseas they sort of a little bit more running so there's a little bit faster time so there are fewer walkers and it's but it's just taking a while to to grow and yeah so It's still sort of a lot of expats, but it's growing within the local community more.

00:28:19Johan Duvenhage: Okay, so there's a lot of foreigners taking part in the Dutch parkruns instead of the Dutch?

00:28:24Brendan - parkrunner registered at Piggly Wiggly, now based in Amsterdam: Yeah, a lot of people who've had exposure to parkrun overseas.

00:28:31Johan Duvenhage: And the numbers at the parkruns, are they big or small?

00:28:36Brendan - parkrunner registered at Piggly Wiggly, now based in Amsterdam: A lot of the other ones are relatively small, around sort of 50 a week. Amsterdamse Bos is around... 150-ish and on marathon weekend it gets up to 500 or so. So it's still pretty small compared to South Africa.

00:28:52Johan Duvenhage: Alright, thanks. Thank you very much and when are you going back?

00:28:56Brendan - parkrunner registered at Piggly Wiggly, now based in Amsterdam: In about two weeks.

00:28:58Johan Duvenhage: Have fun there.

00:28:58Brendan - parkrunner registered at Piggly Wiggly, now based in Amsterdam: Thanks a lot.

00:29:00David - Piggly Wiggly parkrunner: Thank you.

00:29:01Johan Duvenhage: I'm here with the Nikes and I'm with David. David has been running parkrun now for about a year.

00:29:07David - Piggly Wiggly parkrunner: Yes, my first parkrun was one year ago. I've done every single parkrun. I've missed about three of them. I didn't really have a choice for those ones. But this year, so far, I've done every single parkrun. Whether I'm on holiday or no matter what's happening, I do the parkrun. And I do different ones every week.

00:29:27Johan Duvenhage: Tell me what makes parkrun nice for you, special for you.

00:29:30David - Piggly Wiggly parkrunner: Since I do different ones, I enjoy the different locations more. visiting different parts of the country and whatnot. And that makes it very enjoyable.

00:29:39Johan Duvenhage: So how many different parkruns have you done?

00:29:41David - Piggly Wiggly parkrunner: I think I'm on maybe 35 by now. Okay. Maybe closing in on 40. We're here at Piggly Wiggly. This is a new one for me also.

00:29:50Johan Duvenhage: Okay, cool. So what did you think of Piggly Wiggly parkrun?

00:29:54David - Piggly Wiggly parkrunner: I enjoyed it. The weather was nice. Not too sunny, nice drizzle. It's fun to run and it's not hot. And the views were very nice, especially the forest. And that last little hill? I actually was pushing towards the end on that hill, and then I sprinted towards the end, so it was very nice. Thank you.

00:30:13Johan Duvenhage: Have a nice day.

00:30:14Unidentified speaker: Thank you.

00:30:15Johan Duvenhage: Well, adventurers, today, due to the weather, attendance was slightly lower, with 108 finishers supported by 13 volunteers. Now, Piggly Wiggly's name is not all it offers. The event takes place at the Piggly Wiggly Country Village on the Highgate Wine Estate in Lions River outside of Howick. Several shops, restaurants and activities provide even more fun after parkrun. It's right on the route of the Midlands Meander, the famous scenic drive through the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, which leads from Pietermaritzburg to the magnificent Drakensberg Mountains. It's a lovely drive past forests through pretty little towns with activities and shopping galore. Howick is predominantly a farming town and supplies the surrounding farms, although tourism is an increasingly important industry. The town is most known for its landmark Howick Falls, where the Umgeni River falls approximately 95 metres over cliffs as it makes its way to the Indian Ocean. The viewing platform above the falls offers some magnificent views, but if you're a bit more adventurous, try abseiling down for the experience of a lifetime. There is also a safe trail which leads down to the pools below. However, the walk is a steep one and not for the faint-hearted, and remember, you've got to walk back up. Several other waterfalls can be found in the area, including the 105-metre-high Karkloof Falls. So, historically, Howick was the place where Nelson Mandela was arrested in 1962, and this is now commemorated at the Nelson Mandela Capture and Memorial Site, a short distance from Piggly Wiggly. Howick is also home to the Midmar Dam, location of the world-renowned Midmar Mile, held every February, which is recognised as the world's largest open-water swimming event, with thousands participating each year. Now, yeah, until next time, happy adventuring!

Roving report Lyndell Murray — Capestone Lake parkrun

00:32:12Lyndell Murray: G'day parkrun adventurers, it's Lyndell and today I am back on the lands of the Cubby Cubby people, again just north of Brisbane and I have made my way out to Capestone Lake parkrun, one of the new parkruns in the Brisbane and South East Queensland area.

00:32:30Lyndell Murray: I've tracked down Brad, who is the Event Director.

00:32:34Brad - Event Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: Along with Debbie.

00:32:35Lyndell Murray: Along with Debbie, one of the Run Directors here. Now, I'm just going to cut straight to the chase and go straight for the elephant in the room here. We're at event number four. You launched a few weeks ago, and it was basically... Queensland's worst-kept secret in parkrun. Is that a fair assessment?

00:32:55Debbie - Co-Event Director / Run Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: It was, yeah. It was the worst-kept secret. Everybody knew about it, even though we tried to keep it on the down low.

00:33:01Brad - Event Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: Well, I mean, they have sort of guidelines on you trying to have what you call a soft launch, I suppose, but you also want to have people at your trial to test the course, and... You put it out to running club people you know and word just spreads and before you know it, it's... I mean, there's a friend of mine who literally the day that I found out the launch date and what it was called, I think it was a Friday, I got confirmation. And I might have told a few people, trusted people. And then the next day he's like messaging me saying, oh, so I hear your parkrun's starting on yada, yada, yada date and it's called this. I'm like, wow. Yeah. Well, that didn't take long. So, you know, within a day of knowing the actual launch date, I suppose because it was anticipated that it was coming, you know, half of Brisbane knew. Half of Brisbane were waiting for it.

00:33:59Lyndell Murray: I think that's a fair assessment, actually. It was a long time in the making. And I remember many, a long time ago, hearing about this mysterious parkrun out at Mango Hill, which is the suburb that we're in. And so I knew it was coming, and I usually have no idea about eBay.

00:34:16Debbie - Co-Event Director / Run Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: And it's a high-growth area, and also it had been a long time since the last launch in Brisbane, so it had been a while, and people like to go to the new ones, so yeah, there's a lot of interest in it for sure.

00:34:28Lyndell Murray: All that being said, the launch went off without a hitch, from what I understand.

00:34:32Brad - Event Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: Yeah, yeah, the launch went pretty well. I think we did get the fastest complaint ever at a parkrun event, however.

00:34:41Lyndell Murray: Literally, five seconds. Should we just move swiftly on, or do you want to dig into that?

00:34:42[crosstalk]

00:34:46Brad - Event Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: No, no, look, there's no point giving that air. I mean, it's nothing that other people haven't had at other parkruns, but it was certainly the fastest complaint we ever got.

00:34:55Lyndell Murray: And I'm sure it's the last because what a great parkrun it is here.

00:34:59Brad - Event Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we've had teething issues with toilets and, you know, people, you know, parking issues here. But, you know, we've done what we can to sort of overcome that.

00:35:12Debbie - Co-Event Director / Run Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: And every week we're getting brand new first-timers that have never done any parkrun that I think are from around the estate. So it's getting around and people are coming and they're having fun, which is great.

00:35:22Brad - Event Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: Yeah. That's the real success, I think, of this parkrun is that I think over the last three to four weeks, we've had at least 50 first timers to parkrun. And that sort of shows that there are people coming from within the local estate area, which is the reason, really, for starting this parkrun up.

00:35:41Lyndell Murray: Brilliant. It was a long time. It was a long time between new events. I personally know there are people here chasing some of those lower Wilson Index events. So you are still going to get visitors for a little time yet.

00:35:54Brad - Event Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: Sure, we will. Yeah, and that's fine. You know, the numbers are coming down, but nothing, you know, that pale in comparison to what we had in the launch, which was 400. And even that was fine. We handled that well. We had... good support there with our regional ambassador Rhonda and our event ambassador Megan was there as well and obviously got Deb on as Co-Event Director, sort of been very helpful and all the Run Directors. It's all been handled very well.

00:36:24Lyndell Murray: I know some people who touristed out here to volunteer at the launch. So on to the course, would one of you like to give a description of the course?

00:36:34Debbie - Co-Event Director / Run Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: Um, so I think Brad has described it the best. It's an out and back with three turnaround points.

00:36:41Brad - Event Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: You tripped that one this morning, didn't you? I like your M. I like your M description. No, no, Deb with her M description. Go on.

00:36:45[background music]

00:36:47Debbie - Co-Event Director / Run Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: It's the funniest shaped M I've ever seen. So you basically start next to the shopping centre and you go around the lake pretty much all the way around and then you loop around three trees and You then come back around the lake and then you turn around almost before you're back at the home start. So you see the finish line and then you've got to turn around again. And then you turn around and then you go back around another tree and then you head back home. So it's a really well laid out course. It's nice and flat. That I think is the thing everybody has said. It's incredibly flat so we get quite a few fast people but we also have a lot of people just walking the course as well. And lots of dogs as well which is always great.

00:37:26Lyndell Murray: Absolutely. And I noticed in the briefing you said only one dog or pram unless your dog is in the pram. So it sounds like you're having a bit of fun with the event here as well. I think the main thing is it's around a lake and it's a really lovely spot.

00:37:45Debbie - Co-Event Director / Run Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: coffee close by which is where we are now now on to you guys personally um what is your story with parkrun we'll start with you oh geez what is my story with parkrun um I think I started parkrun about six years ago with a friend of mine we started out at Sandgate no it's more than that was it more than that seven seven years I have no idea. So you're a lifer. Yeah. Initially, I wasn't a fanatic. I just kind of went whenever my friend dragged me along. But when Redcliffe started up, that was near where I lived. And so I started going to that, which is where I met Brad at parkrun. And we just started running together. And then I came on board as a Run Director at Redcliffe and then Brad said, hey, do you want to start up another one with me? And I was like, yeah, why not? Sounds fun and here you are.

00:38:05[crosstalk]

00:38:42Lyndell Murray: And how about you, Brad?

00:38:45Brad - Event Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: I started quite a while ago, probably the first year of Sandgate. Actually, Sandgate hadn't even reached their first anniversary. I actually started for health reasons because I've got diabetes type 2, so I sort of started that to sort of be fit and healthy and ended up doing running training down at Sandgate and then that was Troy and Coach Duran who started Redcliffe and he was like, I'm going to start Redcliffe, do you want to be Run Director? Eventually Event Director of Redcliffe and then I'm a bit crazy so I decided to try and start up my own parkrun. Because I've lived in Mango Hill for seven years, so I wanted to start up one here ever since we moved in here, but there wasn't paths around the lake at that time. But, yeah, it got to the point where it was, and other people were interested in a park around here. So, yeah, here we are.

00:39:40Lyndell Murray: Brilliant. Now, this podcast is for people who like adventuring. We've covered why they should come to Capestone Lake. Right. Do either of you have an interesting story about adventuring to a different parkrun? We've talked a little bit about how you collect parkruns whenever you travel. Any fun adventures? Or would either of you like to name a top three parkruns, not including your home parkrun? Come on, it's easy.

00:40:09Brad - Event Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: I don't think it is that easy. I've done over 80 different parkruns. But, look, I'll go sentimental here because... I've been to Japan. I've done parkrun in Japan. I wasn't at the first event there, but I've been at the first event that was created there. Futakotamagawa, I think it's called. But I went to that event. That was amazing in Japan, being there for that, to do that parkrun. Just for totally different reasons, Singapore parkrun, probably because of the oppressive heat, was just different. And Albert Park, Albert parkrun. Albert Park's really nice. That was just the one completely around the lake. That was fantastic.

00:40:59Lyndell Murray: One big lap.

00:41:00Brad - Event Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: Yeah, one big lap.

00:41:02Debbie - Co-Event Director / Run Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: Okay, Deb, how about you? Okay, so I'd have to say Australia's Standing Stones because that was the first parkrun I did outside of Queensland. My first interstate one. That one was really pretty. It's the highest elevation one in Australia, so I really enjoyed doing that one. I'd have to say as well Redcliffe because that was the first time I ever got a sub 30, which I was extremely proud about. And I'd also have to go with Cairns Esplanade parkrun because, again, oppressive heat up there. Yes. It makes it very interesting to run. Indeed. Yeah. Yeah, so they're my top three.

00:41:46Lyndell Murray: All righty. Well, I think I might wrap it up about there. Is there anything else you would like the listeners to know about Capestone Lakes parkrun? Yes.

00:41:54Brad - Event Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: It's a nice new parkrun. It's scenic. Come out and visit us. I've enjoyed starting up this parkrun and it's here for everyone to enjoy.

00:42:04Debbie - Co-Event Director / Run Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: Everybody's been lovely so far.

00:42:05Brad - Event Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: We've got everything here for it. It's fantastic. It's probably one of the only parkruns, at least that I know of, that's got a nice big car park near it, coffee, amenities. You don't have to walk very far for the start line.

00:42:18Lyndell Murray: Brilliant. You heard it here first. Get down to Capestone Lakes, everybody. All righty, that is it from me, Lyndell, from Capestone parkrun, Capestone Lake. It's definitely time for me to get another coffee. All righty, parkrun adventurers, see you next time. This is Lyndell over and out for the Channel 5 News Crew.

Roving report Mark Scarborough — Gunnersbury parkrun

00:42:40Mark Scarborough: Hello, parkrun adventurers. Mark reporting in for Channel 5 News Crew and... Bit far away from home for this one. We are in London, and I know what you're thinking, oh, he's gone to Bushy parkrun. But no, don't fall off your chairs. First time in London and did not go to Bushy. Gone to Gunnersbury parkrun, which is a beautiful location, actually.

00:43:07Mark Scarborough: And I'm here with Mick, who's regular at Wagi Bridge and Gungahlin parkrun, Riverbank parkrun in Yess. So what did we choose here, Mick?

00:43:20Mick - Canberra parkrunner travelling with Mark Scarborough: Mainly we wanted to find a parkrun that wasn't overly busy and had a solid course, mainly to keep our shoes clean.

00:43:31Mark Scarborough: Yeah, so we did well actually. So we did have some criteria. So we wanted like a path so we kept our nice shoes clean for London Marathon tomorrow. And we preferred like a one lapper rather than multiple out and backs or things like that. And it's something that had a nice view. And this, yeah, this appears to tick all the boxes. So we're going to go do parkrun and have a chat to a few parkrunners.

00:43:58Mark Scarborough: I'm here with Gareth and I was behind Gareth for a little bit on the course today. I noticed he's wearing a 100 venues shirt. What was our venue number today for you?

00:44:07Gareth - visiting parkrun tourist at Gunnersbury parkrun: 125 today. It's such a lovely course. Yeah, it is. Nice one lapper.

00:44:13Mark Scarborough: Yeah, it's a beautiful course here. And I saw on your shirt you got a few different countries. So where have you been?

00:44:19Gareth - visiting parkrun tourist at Gunnersbury parkrun: Obviously here in the UK as the prime country and then South Africa, Poland, Germany, Denmark and Ireland. And in a few weeks, Finland and Norway to come. Yeah, nice. Okay. Which ones have you done in Germany? I've only done one which is Havel Canal. It was on the Unity Day. It's the extra venue day. So that was a very nice trip and took a few jugs of lager.

00:44:44[crosstalk]

00:44:52Mark Scarborough: I was in Germany last year and unfortunately on Unity Day we were in Switzerland so we missed it on that extra day. Very good. So what would be your top three courses that you've visited so far?

00:45:04Gareth - visiting parkrun tourist at Gunnersbury parkrun: Certainly Bushy. It was quite emotional because obviously that's where it all started. It's very nice. one after one napper. Over a thousand people took part in that day and you run with people at the same pace as you so it's quite nice so that you can keep pace instead of some courses that you actually left on your own and you're like a lot tougher. Yeah, okay. And some others? Obviously my local, Panshanger. It's a nice one-lapper, undulating, which is nice to get the variation. And also, with parkrun, it's a nice community, so wherever you go, you're never going to be disappointed with the route. Some are difficult ones, but it's nice when you finish them. Yeah.

00:45:53Mark Scarborough: Cool. All right, well, thanks for your time and good luck with your touristing.

00:45:57Gareth - visiting parkrun tourist at Gunnersbury parkrun: And yourself too, and safe trip back. Yeah, thanks, mate. Okay, cheers. Thanks. Awesome.

00:46:04Mark Scarborough: I'm with Pam, who's the Run Director today. Had a few parkrunners here today.

00:46:08Pam - Run Director, Gunnersbury parkrun: We did. I think, well, the last that I checked, we had over 670. So I think we'll probably be near to 700 today, I would say.

00:46:17Mark Scarborough: It's absolutely incredible and very well managed. The whole funnel was operated really smoothly and quickly. Yeah, it was well managed today.

00:46:25Pam - Run Director, Gunnersbury parkrun: Yeah, well, we had a few problems today. We don't normally. I'm not sure why. We had quite a bit of funnel backup, but I think maybe it was because either the funnel wasn't long enough or we had a lot more runners today than normal. But the Timekeeper was amazing, and so everybody got a time. And we're only one out.

00:46:42Mark Scarborough: Oh, is that right? Well done. No, no, look, from our point of view, like, it was all very efficient, so well done. So, yeah, so here we are in a beautiful parkland. So can you describe the course for us?

00:46:53Pam - Run Director, Gunnersbury parkrun: Yeah, well, the course, it's a one-lap course. You go off down a hill. It's a beautiful old park, beautiful trees, museum. Historically, I think it's from 1600. The footpaths are not great, but it's just a lovely, lovely course. It's... a museum there's a bandstand there's lots of different things to run by and lots of flowers lots of trees it is beautiful a boating lake another pond and then we have a nice uphill finish which compared to some parkruns it's probably not a hill but to us it's a hill

00:47:31Mark Scarborough: Yes, it's a bit similar to our, to my home parkrun, where it's a little steep incline on the way back, just to let you know you're alive, so it's good. And how long have you been Run Director here for?

00:47:41Pam - Run Director, Gunnersbury parkrun: Oh, that's a very good question. I think probably about 11 years, probably, something like that. Excellent. Yes.

00:47:49Mark Scarborough: And how long have you been parkrunning for?

00:47:51Pam - Run Director, Gunnersbury parkrun: I started January 2012. Yeah, okay. Yeah, so, what's that? 12 years this year, yeah.

00:47:59Mark Scarborough: All right, well, thank you for having us at your parkrun. It was wonderful.

00:48:02Pam - Run Director, Gunnersbury parkrun: And where are you visiting from in Australia?

00:48:04[crosstalk]

00:48:04Mark Scarborough: Canberra.

00:48:04Pam - Run Director, Gunnersbury parkrun: Canberra? Oh, I see.

00:48:06Mark Scarborough: Yeah, so we're here for the London Marathon.

00:48:08[crosstalk]

00:48:09Pam - Run Director, Gunnersbury parkrun: Oh, are you running it tomorrow? Yes. Oh, all the best. That's brilliant. That's really good. I wish you all the best. All right. Enjoy.

00:48:17Mark Scarborough: I'm here with Kate who, this is a Funnel Manager volunteer position you're doing?

00:48:22Kate - Funnel Manager volunteer at Gunnersbury parkrun: Yes, I've never done it before so hopefully I'm doing a good job but yes that is my role.

00:48:27Mark Scarborough: You're doing a very good job cheering people through and encouraging them to move forward. There's quite a few parkrunners here today so this isn't your home parkrun so where is home parkrun?

00:48:35Kate - Funnel Manager volunteer at Gunnersbury parkrun: So my home parkrun is up in Newcastle. Um, I'm originally from Somerset, but I kind of, I'm trying at the minute I'm on a 20 week tourism streak, so I'm trying to keep it going as much as possible. And I think especially anywhere that you go that's new or on a mini break or whatever, you know, there's a parkrun. So it's just such an easy way of seeing like local spaces and kind of getting out there. Um, so yeah, I've never, I've never done this one before, but the team here have been amazing and they've been so welcoming and it's a massive parkrun. Maybe it's cause it's the marathon, but,

00:49:05Mark Scarborough: really solid turnout yeah so Mick how many would you say was the average here uh 550 I think was the average and we came in at 33 minutes today and was 560th yeah and there was still probably you know 800 more people behind us I'd say all right so you didn't run today you volunteered so what brought you to London today

00:49:29Kate - Funnel Manager volunteer at Gunnersbury parkrun: So I'm running the marathon tomorrow. And so I basically was saying, I'm just trying to rest the legs. I'm in that stage of whatever you do, you feel like you're doing it wrong, whether you kind of run, whether you rest, that sort of thing. But yes, I'm trying to kind of tick off as many in London as possible. And it's just such a beautiful park. And yes, that's kind of why I'm here. But yeah, I mean, I'll report back tomorrow how the marathon went, but that's the plan anyway.

00:49:53Mark Scarborough: Cool. All right. Well, best of luck for tomorrow. Thanks for volunteering.

00:49:56Kate - Funnel Manager volunteer at Gunnersbury parkrun: Perfect. Thank you so much. It's been an absolute pleasure. I've loved it. So fantastic.

00:50:00Mark Scarborough: Alright parkrun adventurers, that's us done here at Gunnersbury parkrun. We're now going to go find some coffee and breakfast and take it easy for the rest of the day. It's Mark reporting out for the Channel 5 News crew.

00:50:10[background music]

00:50:23Melissa Ellis: And thank you very much to our roving reporters. That was Johan at Piggly Wiggly speaking to RD Greg, Brendan who is from Amsterdamse Bos, and David who's been running for a year. And then we had Lyndell at Oki doing her Rebel Tour and then at Capestone Lake. I have trouble with that word. I always want to say Capiston. I don't know why. Talking to ED Brad and RD Debbie. And Marvelous Mark Toc. He's sneaky, sneaking over there to the UK in London out at Gunnersbury, not at Bushy.

00:51:03Tony O'Connell: No, no. And Marvelous Mark was over there for the running of the London Marathon. And some of the social media pictures I've seen him put up, he looks like he's had a ball of a time over there with one of his mates.

00:51:15Melissa Ellis: I know. How good is it? He won that entry, I do believe. I'm not sure if he mentioned that in his roving report or not. He was probably concentrating on roving report stuff.

00:51:23Tony O'Connell: But anyway. So he actually won an entry for two people and he had the agreement with the friend that if either of them won it, they'd take the other one. So yeah, well done, Mark. Great experience. Yes. Good stuff.

Dazza's

00:51:36Tony O'Connell: Anyway, Mel, we're going across and meeting our good friend Dazza. This week, Dazza said, welcome to Dazza's, our post-run cafe of choice. Come on in, place your order, and tell us about your parkrun morning. Mel, we're going to start... our one of our couple of our 160 comments for the week we're going to start in New South Wales with a lady I think we've met before but I'm not too sure Sam Schroder I'm not sure if that name rings a bell I think she's related The Office Lady but I'm not sure Sam said this week, greetings from the terrace. We have completed the challenge. The avenues, the beaches, the entrance, the ponds and the terrace. And there's a selfie of Luke and Sam on the grass by the water.

00:52:03[crosstalk]

00:52:25Melissa Ellis: Well done. That is a popular challenge. I don't think I've got – oh, I've got the beaches, and hopefully one day soon I might tick off the ponds. But, yeah, that's a good challenge. Well done. To the Schroders. Now, we also heard from Ingrid from New South Wales, and she said, Dozpoint in the buff.

00:52:44Debbie - Co-Event Director / Run Director, Capestone Lake parkrun: Hee, hee, hee.

00:52:46Melissa Ellis: And Ingrid was, of course, referring to herself wearing her brand-new adventurer's Buff, and there was a selfie for evidence. And we've still got some for sale, but they're selling like hotcakes.

00:52:59Tony O'Connell: Yes, Mel. I saw the Office Lady put up a post tonight, and about half of them went in about 15 minutes. So if you're looking for a parkrun adventurer's Buff, you better jump in fairly quickly. Yes.

00:53:11Melissa Ellis: Yeah, they're probably all gone now by the time this comes out. And, of course, the Office Lady used the very same selfie of Ingrid in the buff for the promotion. So international active wear model she is too now.

00:53:26Tony O'Connell: Well done, Ingrid. Up in Queensland still, and we've got a West Sider in Queensland, Chris Gore. Hi, Dazza. Well, we're still touring around Queensland this week. Karen and I attended the Ipswich Queensland parkrun. It was another beautiful sunny morning as we made our way around Limestone Park. This parkrun completed the Old MacDonald Challenge for us. Karen also achieved a Queensland parkrun PB, and we both come in number one in our age group. And there was a selfie frame photo of Team Gore in their adventurous top showing the grass start finish area of Ipswich, or as Wesley called it, parkrun Switch.

00:54:10Melissa Ellis: I love that little reference, parkrun Switch. I always think of that now when I hear Ipswich. Now we had Martine Barrot coming to us from the Northern Tree. She said, Andrew Johnston, Eric Banner and I touristed to Katherine Hot Springs parkrun. It's a flat out-and-back course on a concrete path above the Katherine River. At the end turnaround, you run across the historic railway bridge. Both Andrew and I joined the Peel Club and it was Andrew's arbitrary 300th parkrun. And Martine shared an image of the said railway bridge. So good work, guys. No mean effort to get up there and get to Katherine because you've got to fly into Darwin, no doubt on one of those ridiculous o'clock flights. And then a bit of a drive, isn't it, I think?

00:54:58Tony O'Connell: It's about a three-hour drive. I saw Martine and Andrew up there and I thought, oh, they must have done all the other Northern Territory events and that was the long drive. But no, they did the hard flight into Darwin and the big drive down to Katherine to tick off the Peel. So well done.

00:55:14Melissa Ellis: Mm-hmm.

00:55:15Tony O'Connell: Now, moving down to Tasmania, Laura Amos. Latte, please, for this long-time lurker, first-time poster. Visited Bellerive parkrun with the family to pick up my 40th different event. And there's a bit of a party emoji. And finally feel like a true parkrun adventurer. Husband and daughter picked up PBs as a nice little bonus. And there's a family photo of them in the selfie frame. And I think they're looking straight at the sun, Mel. They've got full sunshine in Tasmania.

00:55:47Melissa Ellis: Excellent. And thank you for popping into Dazza's, Laura. 40th different event. That's not finally being a true parkrun adventurer. That's very impressive. Good work. And coming to us from the West Side is our favourite West Side-ian. Sarah Jefferson. She said, back home this week. Happy ninth birthday, Cottesloe parkrun. Yes, there was cake and a swim in the beautiful Indian Ocean afterwards. Still cracking 30-degree days here in WA. Hashtag West is best with the sun emoji. And a lovely beach selfie of Sarah in a 250 shirt. Show off.

00:56:25Tony O'Connell: 30 degrees, Mel. I think we're not going to see that for at least six months. Maybe longer. January. January.

00:56:32Melissa Ellis: We're not going to see that until January. I'll race you to WA.

00:56:38Tony O'Connell: Well, we're going to go a long way north and a fair way east at the moment. And we're going to go to Japan. And we're going to hear from Alana Tureg, second Japan parkrun and an international Y for Yodogawa. And that's between Osaka and Kyoto. And the photo, I think, is of the Yodogawa crew doing a setup and it shows quite a few different people with a bit of a city in the background and a path and people appearing out of the long grass. This is a very pretty photo.

00:57:11Melissa Ellis: Nice aspect. It was.

00:57:12Tony O'Connell: Bit of a sunrise in it as well. So, no, it's quite a beautiful photo.

00:57:16Melissa Ellis: And I'm not sure if Alana's either posted before in Dazza's, but definitely not a name that we hear a lot of. So, thank you for popping in.

00:57:23Tony O'Connell: Not one that jumped out. I'll keep going with the international theme. Mark Scarborough from the UK says, Come to London for a week but didn't go to Bushy! Exclamation mark. And that's a very unusual thing. We were part of the Gungahlin Gunrunners, so we come across to Gunnersbury parkrun. And the picture is Mark and a mate with the Gunnersbury pop-up. And just as we said before, well, he won the entry into the London Marathon and he's had a ball running it.

00:57:54Melissa Ellis: Now, next, still with an international flavour, we heard from Calum Burrell coming to us from Italy. Now, I just made that assumption, Tony. I haven't actually been to Italy. So Treviso parkrun, can you confirm it is in Italy, correct? Yes. Yes. Quick, Google it while I read. Team Burrali were feeling the love at Treviso parkrun, our first parkrun outside of the UK. So make mine a cappuccino, Dazza, inspired by the visit of a caravan of alpacas on the course. And there was two pictures that Calum shared. One was a selfie with the alpaca caravan and one was Calum and Lindsay in the Treviso selfie frame. So that must be the – is that the collective term for a group of alpacas, a caravan, or is that what it's called when they're in a line trekking or something? I don't know.

00:58:44Tony O'Connell: I'm not sure, Mel. I'm just too busy confirming that Treviso is just north of Venice in Italy.

00:58:50Melissa Ellis: Hooray. I'm not completely useless when it comes to geography.

00:58:54Tony O'Connell: Well done, Mel. Let's try this one. We're back in the UK again with one of our favourites, Pippa White. Hey, Dazza, I'm finally sitting down after a glorious parkrun day. And there's a picture of Pippa in the Abbey Park pop-up showing some of the glorious UK blue sky and sunshine. And just as we're going into our colder months, they're coming out into summer. So I'm probably looking forward to seeing lots of photos from that side of the world with a bit more sunshine than we're likely to get down here.

00:59:27Melissa Ellis: And it was good to hear from Pippa, just as we've been thinking of her and remembering how we'd forgotten to mention her. And she popped up in Dazza's, so that was nice.

the Obi Award — Alana Turi

00:59:37Melissa Ellis: Now, there must be an Obilope. Has it made its way back from Toowoomba?

00:59:44Tony O'Connell: It has, Mel. I have the envelope here and I'll just open our envelope. Mel, our winner is... Alana Turi from Japan. Thank you. And, Mel, as we said before, it was really a great photo of the crew over at the parkrun setting up. It had a little bit of everything in it. And, yeah, jump into Dazza's and have a look.

00:59:55[background music]

Emails

01:00:16Tony O'Connell: Yes.

01:00:17Melissa Ellis: Now, we have an email this week, TOC.

01:00:21Greg Beirutti - Run Director and Co-Event Director, Piggly Wiggly parkrun: You've got mail.

01:00:23Melissa Ellis: And we heard from Brett Bailey and he said, hi team, congratulations on another great palm. Thanks for the live stream. We watched enviously from this side of the ditch. It's hard to believe it's a year since we saw many of you in Perth. It was nice to see and talk to many of you also on Bec's phone on Saturday afternoon. The photos from the Saturday evening function were awesome and amazing costumes once again. We were surprised and very excited to hear palm25 is planned for New Zealand. We are looking forward to it already and will help out in any way we can. It will be sad not to be listening to Ollie on the pod, but we are enjoying the new format with the rotating presenters. We will catch up with Ollie next time we visit Wing Dang. We have a special Pegasus Star Wars Day on May the 4th, so you can expect to have a roving report following that. Love your work, Brett and Tanya.

01:01:15Tony O'Connell: And, Mel, it was a bit funny. We were at Toowoomba parkrun doing the freedom run on the Saturday afternoon and Bec bounced up to me and said, here, talk on my phone. And I had a look at the Tanya's on the phone on a FaceTime. So I had a chat to Tanya and Brett while we were at Toowoomba parkrun and then the phone disappeared and went off to talk to somebody else.

01:01:37Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I'm pretty sure I said hello too.

01:01:41Tony O'Connell: Just one thing there. We're not saying goodbye to Ollie altogether. Ollie still will be popping up on the podcast.

01:01:47Melissa Ellis: He will. Once in a blue moon. You might want to check the connection settings in the Google Home app. Siri's not so sure.

01:01:59Tony O'Connell: Maybe Ollie's planning something.

01:02:01Melissa Ellis: It's Big Brother. They're listening. Or it's Rachel.

01:02:05[background music]

01:02:07Tony O'Connell: And Mel.

the Birthday Boy

01:02:09Tony O'Connell: Going from our emails, we're going across to the birthday boy.

01:02:18the Birthday Boy: Howdy, it's the Birthday Boy here with some of the goings on for May 2024. There are so very many chances at cake and or party this month. There are 46 events having anniversaries in May, including seven of the ever exciting first anniversary, which are frankly your best bet at cake. So let's focus on them. In week one, May the 4th, aka Star Wars Day, we have Parkindula Reserve and O'Connors Beach. In week two, the 11th, we have Narooma Wetlands and Dixon Field. Week three is a bit shy, so maybe take a break on the 18th, maybe volunteer, maybe bake your own cake or celebrate something arbitrary. Week four finishes off with a flurry on the 25th, and we've got Woodlands Historic Park, Maroondah Dam, and Kilmore Racecourse Walking Track. Do you know the locations of any of these first anniversaries? No? Then I recommend you look at the parkrun Australia map, www.parkrun.com.au forward slash events. Now, if you are lucky enough to be in Japan, they will be celebrating Greenery Day on May the 4th. Now, it's not an additional parkrun because it's a Saturday, but also, There may even possibly be a chance of cancellations owing to community events occupying their spaces. So, be sure to check. Now, in case you were wondering, Greenery Day is a part of Golden Week, which is the holiday season at the beginning of the consistently warmer weather in Japan. Golden Week includes four major holidays in the space of one week, and it's a time when most families go on vacation. So expect things to be busy with loads of domestic tourism plus internationals. Now, as always, the standard reminder. Events may celebrate what they like, when they like, so please check all details with the local source, i.e. their webpage and or their Facebook page. This is especially true for Stormtroopers, Jedi, Grogu or Mandalorian. In May, we will have Westerfolds Junior parkrun, celebrating their anniversary on the 26th. Yes, the Sunday, they're a junior event, and they are turning six. Or is that Sith? Hmm. As with all parkrun adventures, the parkrun cancellations page is a valuable tool. See parkrun.com.au forward slash cancellations. The official cancellation page contains information for the coming weekend plus two further weeks. So be sure to check it again mid-month. Well, see you next month for some more birthday boy banter and be sure to let Mel and the team know if you have any requests.

01:05:10[background music]

01:05:21Melissa Ellis: And thank you very much to the Birthday Boy, bringing us all the news of all the anniversaries coming in the month of May. But what I did love was the Star Wars puns. They were funny. So good work, Birthday Boy. He's setting a precedent now.

Consolidated Club Report

01:05:38Melissa Ellis: But what we also have is the adventurers Consolidated Club report for Saturday, the 20th of April, 2024. Of a total of 619 members, 470 took part on this date in 10 countries across 238 locations. In the UK, there were adventurers at 51 events. There were three in South Africa, two in the USA and Ireland, and one in Japan, Malaysia, Italy, and the Netherlands. Locally, we had adventures at 53 events in New South Wales, 44 events in Victoria.

01:06:13Tony O'Connell: 43 events in Queensland.

01:06:16Melissa Ellis: 16 events in South Australia. The West Side had 15. The North Island had seven, six in the ACT, four in Tassie, and the Northern Tree and the South Island had two.

01:06:32Tony O'Connell: And Mel, our largest international front this week was over in Southampton in the UK with three people. It was Stuart Tamsin and Morglan Smith.

01:06:41Melissa Ellis: Hooray! But locally, our largest front was... There were 10 at Shellharbour. There were eight at the stump and the ponds and there were six at Capestone Lake. So I thought I would read out the ones from Capestone Lake. That was Michael Lyttle, Chris Hood, Grant Oliver, Cherie Martin and Janet and Dave Tozer.

01:07:04Tony O'Connell: That's a couple of really good fronds there forming, Mel.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

01:07:07Tony O'Connell: And moving from fronds across to launches. Mel, I spoke about launches probably a month or so ago and how we'd had a fairly slow start to the year. And parkrun talking about doubling the number of events and doubling. And I reckon they listen to the podcast. I think we've got an audience there. Yeah. The slow start to the year, we had 17 parkrun launches between January and March, so over about a 13 or 14-week period. The first three weeks of April since our big exclusive about the slow launches, we've seen 11 launches across the world, and seven of those have been in Australia and New Zealand. And in the last two weeks, we've actually had three parkruns launch in Australia with foreshore in the title. So there's going to have to be another club out there, I think, starting to rival the beaches and maybe you do all the foreshores, then you go to the beach. I don't know. We'll have to have a think about that one and get it right.

01:08:10Melissa Ellis: I think it needs to be the fish and chip challenge because don't you have fish and chips on the foreshore?

01:08:15Tony O'Connell: That'll do. Yeah. But the pace of launches is definitely picking up. And, Mel, where did we have launches this week?

01:08:22Melissa Ellis: Well, the first one that we're going to discuss was Jubilee parkrun Tenterfield in Queensland. Now, did you hear what I nearly said? I didn't say it, though. No. This is causing a little bit of conjecture in the socials. Just today I was reading about Jubilee Way saying, hang on a minute, when we launched we wanted to be called something else and got told we couldn't because it clashed with another event and now there's Jubilees all over the place. Anyway, we can have that discussion another day. Event 1 saw 69 finishes supported by nine volunteers, 13 of which were first time ever to parkrun. The course is described as two laps on a mix of grass and concrete paths. The course follows the perimeter of Jubilee Park, then along the Tenterfield Creek and around the inside of a maintained cricket pitch. And the course is reasonably flat. So that's all I've got to say about that.

01:09:20Tony O'Connell: And moving across to the west now, we have Esperance Foreshore parkrun launched this week. Esperance, for those playing at home and not geographically challenged, is in the southern part of Western Australia, in the centre of Western Australia. on its southern extremity. Launching this week, Esperance is a two and a half kilometre out and back of the Esperance foreshore commencing near the car park at the Rotary Wishingwell and extending north two and a half kilometres to a turnaround and then returning to the start. The course is entirely on a path and it'll take you past the tanker jetty along the foreshore and back. Week one saw 120 finishers, 22 volunteers and a whopping 58% of the finishers ran their first parkrun ever. Mel, I think that's got to be one of the largest first timers to parkrun at a launch that I've actually seen.

01:10:14Melissa Ellis: You're getting a bit fancy with that. I just usually count up how many people have – you've given a percentage. Don't go getting too clever. Now, we also had over in New Zealand Moana Point Reserve parkrun. Now, this is Waikato on the North Island, I am led to believe. It is an out and back along the estuary in – now, this is one of those – Yeah, thanks. For those playing at home, TOC's got a great big smile on his face and he thinks it's hilarious because now I've got to try and say either Whangamata or Whangamata. And I never know with New Zealanders if their WH is supposed to be an F or not. Anyway, I've got a feeling it's going to be a Whangamata.

01:11:02Unidentified speaker: But anyway.

01:11:04Melissa Ellis: Oh, I'm going to get hate mail. Anyway, it's mainly on grass with 69 participants at event number one and 12 recording their first parkrun. So, yay, New Zealand.

01:11:15Tony O'Connell: Mel, aren't you happy now that you suggested we read those out holding out ink? Moving across to the UK, they've had another launch over there at Wakehurst, which is in West Sussex. Course is described as two laps of botanic gardens surrounding an Elizabethan mansion, difficult terrain for buggies and no doggos allowed. a massive 423 participants at event one with 10 people scanning their barcode for the first time.

01:11:46Melissa Ellis: I thought that was interesting. Large numbers for a launch, but such a small amount of first timers.

01:11:54Tony O'Connell: It was. When you compare it with Esperance with 120 finishers and 423, From memory, it was 67 or 68, first time to parkrun as ever. I guess geography-wise, Esperance is located a fair distance from its nearest parkrun. Chances are, if you have a look at Wakehurst, it'll probably have many parkruns surrounding it.

01:12:19Melissa Ellis: It does make me wonder if it's been an event that's been created to try to take pressure off surrounding parkruns that might be getting very large numbers.

01:12:29Tony O'Connell: Yeah, possibly, Mel. One of the ways I quite often use as a bit of a judge is you go onto the homepage of a parkrun and they give the nearest events and quite a few of our events don't have any because it only goes out for a certain radius. You have a look at the UK ones and they might have 20 or 30 events listed within that radius. So yeah, it may be one that's setting up to help try and alleviate some pressure.

01:12:54Melissa Ellis: I actually looked at an event just in the last couple of days. I was looking out of interest and I can't recall which event it was. And I went to the homepage to see where the closest events were and there was none listed because it actually caused me to think, oh, has that been removed too? But apparently not. You're telling me they're still there. Yep. Okay.

01:13:17Tony O'Connell: All righty. So, Mel, at Palm, we got to announce a parkrun going live while we were recording. And in fact, we mentioned the two Australian parkruns live during the pod that launched. But congratulations also had to go to Montalto Estate in the UK, Kambaku Golf Club in South Africa, and Scarborough in New Zealand. They also launched...

01:13:42Melissa Ellis: on the same day and we just overlooked those in our excitement of recording palm welcome to the family and remember adventurers if you want to you can add the Adventurers Club as one of your five affiliations on your parkrun profile if you need help with that just give us a shout But looking forward, Tony, next week, what have we got coming up? You've got a little surprise for us.

Sign-off

01:14:09Tony O'Connell: Next week, Mel, I thought I'd get a guest and have a bit of a chat and it became a bit of a yarn. I actually really enjoyed the chat. Next week, I'm really looking forward to Travis from Run the World comes along and has a good chat with us.

01:14:25Melissa Ellis: That's going to be good. I look forward to hearing from Travis. We have heard from Travis in the past. So it'll be interesting to see how Run the World has grown since we last checked in with him.

01:14:37Tony O'Connell: Mel, it's coming up to parkrun Day. Where are you at next weekend?

01:14:43Melissa Ellis: Well, it's another local one for me. And I think you know where I'm going, Tony. It's funny that you have to ask because I'm going to Puckapunyal. Back to Puckapunyal. And I might be seeing some friends there, might I?

01:14:58Tony O'Connell: Possibly, Mel, possibly. I think I'm booked in on the volunteer roster and I'm not sure exactly the role. I've offered to actually run direct at Pucca, but I might be timekeeping or I might be doing something else. It just depends where they want to squeeze me in. That's very good. But no, the O'Connells are heading to Pucca.

01:15:18Melissa Ellis: Hooray. And me too, with a special guest, who I'm not going to tell you. Well, I told you, but I'm not telling them. They can find out next week.

01:15:29Tony O'Connell: As always, you can contact us for our 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.

01:15:35[outro theme playing]