— open the full-size coverEpisode 382 - What's in a name?
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Episode 382 - What's in a name? · 2024-06-04
Enhanced transcript — Produced by an automated editing pass — speakers named, sound described, segments marked. NOT yet checked by a person.
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Source: https://log.5kadventures.net/transcripts/ep382.html · The Adventurers Log · An independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by parkrun.
[intro theme playing]
Welcome
Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 382 of the parkrun adventurers podcast, a podcast about life if your life is all about parkrun. My name is Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country. And I'm Simon Mackley, and I'm coming to you from Quandamooka Country. Welcome, Simon. Thank you for the other week, fulfilling, well, you didn't fill in, you were doing your regular week, but thank you for recording with Sarah from the West Side. I enjoyed listening to the two of you very much.
Simon Mackley: It was good. It was a lot of fun to have someone different, as much as I enjoy recording with you.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no. I want to thank Sarah. I want to thank Sarah very much for filling in with me. I was away for a work and so I thought that that would lighten my load a little bit with my responsibilities for the week. But unbeknownst to me, work got in the way more than I anticipated, which was why editing was a little bit later than usual and I ended up having a week off so sorry about that everybody but yeah thank you thank you very much to Sarah she did a brilliant job she did do a good job yeah she's a natural well we finally got to record together because we're supposed to do that when you and Ollie were at the kick yay last year that's right but she lost her voice so good indeed I jumped back in then but that's okay um Yeah, but I do have to raise one thing. Now you said I couldn't claim the university challenge when I went to Armidale, but apparently I can, Simon.
Simon Mackley: No, you can reclaim the Professor Club, not the University Club.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, you're picking at straws. I'm splitting hairs.
Simon Mackley: You're splitting hairs.
Melissa Ellis: Seriously. So, yeah, but there is a Professor – what is it, a Professor Challenge?
Simon Mackley: I think it's, yeah, Professor Challenge or Professor Club or something like that.
Melissa Ellis: But is it the University – oh.
Simon Mackley: No, the University Challenge is definitely the one where it has university in the name. Simon, they're all made up. Correct. A hundred percent.
Melissa Ellis: Yes. Okay. So, if you run one on a university campus, you can become a member of the Professor Challenge. Is that correct?
Simon Mackley: I believe so. And I think it could even be school grounds as well.
Melissa Ellis: Because I've done the University of WA, I've done Armidale, and I think there's one in Victoria on a university campus. And I'm madly trying to think of the name of it. Wendy Glen, you're going to curse me. It's her event.
Simon Mackley: Okay.
Melissa Ellis: And it's not coming to mind. Oh, Sonja Pohlman, you can help me here. Damn it. It'll come to me later in the episode. I'll pop up with it later on.
Rachel: Anyway, it doesn't matter.
Melissa Ellis: I'm claiming Armidale.
Simon Mackley: Altitude or something as well. Like, what is it? Dizzy Heights as well. So, yes, definitely. But there's another club we need to clear up, I believe. I do. I need to acknowledge that what I thought was a club that I'd just come up with, the Milestone Club, apparently it existed in 2017, according to Peter Pohlman. So he told me that it had two different names. One of them was Getting Shirty. And I can't think what the other name was, but yeah, it was in a poll that he put out. So the club existed already. Yeah, as I say, back in 2017, I only added the 25 milestone shirt because that wouldn't have been something that came about in 2017. And then obviously with Jeune launching in April, that was the 500th event.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, I'm glad you've brought up with Jeune. There's been a bit of conjecture about the name of your latest event. Can we have a discussion about that?
Simon Mackley: Sure. What do you want to talk about?
Melissa Ellis: The pronunciation. Now, my understanding is that the area that said parkrun is held in has a lot of streets named after Melbourne Cup racehorses or Melbourne Cup winners. And Jeune, as I'm a Melburnian, I'm well aware that Jeune is a Melbourne Cup winner.
Simon Mackley: Definitely named after racehorses. I'm not 100% sure if it's just Melbourne Cup racehorses. But it's definitely racing horses. So yeah, there's Gunsin Drive. There's going to be Jeune Boulevard, which the houses that back onto the parkrun will be on Jeune Boulevard. But that part of the development doesn't exist yet. But yeah, it's definitely Jeune, definitely named after the racehorses from the Spring Creek development, which is the company that
Melissa Ellis: gave the land for parkrun to be run on and um it's definitely jean excellent so you heard that from the horse's mouth adventurers if you want to be the know-it-alls you can say with confidence it is jean not jeannie yeah Where were you last parkrun day, Mel? Well, I had a fortunate experience. Thank you for asking. After a pretty rough week, I won't lie about that. I didn't go into detail, but being away with work was a bit of a challenge for me mentally and I didn't have a lot left in the tank, which was another reason why I didn't have – what was required to record last week. And when you get advice, when you get professional advice to cut back and to find ways to make your life a little bit easier, you're well advised to take that advice. In any case, my dear friend TOC and his lovely wife Jacqui stepped up and offered a weekend away with them. So I took that gratefully. And I've got to say, it was so nice to accompany them because their company is always wonderful. And Look, Toc took the mental load. He did all the booking, the flights, the accommodation, the hire car. I just had to toddle along with them and everything was organised. And I really did appreciate that. So thank you to Toc and Jacqui. It's not the first time they've done that for me. So, you know, I really do. They're very good friends and I really do appreciate that. But we went to Cronulla, Simon. Now, you, being an ex-New South Wales person, would be very well aware with Cronulla, I would imagine.
Simon Mackley: I very much am. I finished my pirate challenge at Cronulla, to be fair.
Melissa Ellis: And I had done a Freedo of Cronulla, so when TOC threw it out there as a possibility, I was happy to do it, but I knew what the course was. Yes.
Simon Mackley: I'm glad. That's why I asked you and I found out that's where you were going.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah. So, and look, I was probably the sticking point with us going to Sydney because I've already done all the Sydney, the inner city, easy to reach parkruns. Yeah. And my lovely friends, were very kind in accommodating me to find an event that I hadn't done. And so, you know, there was a few and I said, well, look, whatever, out of the ones, as long as I haven't done it, I don't care. And Cronulla was one of them. I'm like, yep, I'm happy to go there. But I'm like, I'm not telling them about the sand dunes.
Simon Mackley: Toc would have loved that.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, of course he did. Of course he did. But being the clever person I am, and we actually did a live, which you would have seen on Saturday morning because I did feel a bit guilty because the fact that I didn't record last week meant that Toc missed his week.
Unidentified speaker: Oh, yes.
Melissa Ellis: Of hosting. So I thought, oh, well, we'll jump on and we'll do a live from Cronulla, which we did do, which was a bit of fun. And then I shifted a bit of workload and I – shoot him off to interview the Event Director Dan because Dan was very engaged with us and we were having a lovely old chat with Dan after the event so TOC had a chat with him and let's have a listen to that now
Roving report Tony O'Connell — Cronulla parkrun
Talking to Dan — Co-Event Director, Cronulla parkrun (NSW)
Tony O'Connell: Howdy parkrunners, it's Toc from Inverloch. We've journeyed up to Sydney town and we've come to Cronulla parkrun and I'm here with Dan who's one of the co-EDs at Cronulla parkrun. Welcome Dan. Thanks mate, good to see you, good to meet you. Yeah look it's been a great little morning that we've had here, we're over at the cafe at the moment, we've just had breakfast. Dan, give us a bit of a history of Cronulla, where did Cronulla parkrun come about, how long have you been involved and what's your parkrun background?
Dan: Yeah, Cronulla parkrun started, I think, November 2015. I had no idea about parkrun until a work colleague of mine, who was a keen parkrunner at the time, and he mentioned that Cronulla was opening up a parkrun. So I came down about five weeks into it. And ever since then, I've pretty well been here most weeks. Just love it. And... I just love the course itself. It's a fun course. Thanks very much. You did it today, didn't you? You did the course today? Yeah, I did the course today.
Tony O'Connell: Nice flat course, apparently.
Dan: Yeah, it's quite a challenging course. Some of the Sydney parkrunners reckon it's probably the second hardest one in Sydney. It's a fun course. It's got a bit of... A mixture of surfaces. It's got the grass, sand, gravel. Got some hills. Hills, a few hills. Yeah, so it's got nice views. See you guys. Yeah, so I've been doing it since about January 2016.
Tony O'Connell: So for the listeners, Dan, the course itself is an out and back. You take off across a bit of grass and then where do you go from there?
Dan: Yeah, so once you get off the reserve, off the grass, you follow a track. It's kind of a gravelly track which goes over the top of an old sand dune. So... Yeah, it's a bit up and down and at the top of the sand dune there's a bit of sand so then you go out over the top of the sand dune, over a bit of a plateau and then you go down the other side and yeah, just turn around, come back.
Tony O'Connell: And one of the things on the course, I'd say you've got to take a bit of time to look around. You've got to watch your feet because there's a lot of tripping hazards. But you've got to have a look around. You get some really good views from out on course. I actually ducked off the course at one point up to a little lookout and took a sneaky photo because I thought, I'm not going to get out this way again. I'll jump in and take a photo out here.
Dan: Yeah, no, it is a great location. It sort of runs along the, I guess, behind the beach, along Bait Bay here. So you get some lovely views along here. And, yeah, that look out there is on a perfect spot.
Tony O'Connell: And being from Inverloch, where it's always sunny, I'd say I brought the weather up with me. It's definitely, how would you describe it at Cronulla today? Is it sunny?
Dan: No, this is not, yeah. It's probably typical for winter, the first day of winter, obviously. So, yeah. This is pretty typical for winter in Cronulla.
Tony O'Connell: Yeah, we're sitting at the cafe, which is right on the edge of the beach. We're looking out to sea, and I can actually see the rain coming in towards us out over the water. But it's been a great day out there. And, yeah, thanks for having us. It was a great course. I really enjoyed it. I actually like the ups and downs and a little bit of loose sand under the feet. So, yeah, no, great course.
[crosstalk]
Dan: Yeah, it is a good, fun course.
Tony O'Connell: Cheers. Okay, thanks a lot, Dan.
Dan: Thank you.
Melissa Ellis: So thank you very much, Toc and Dan. And, yeah, Simon, that was it. That was our morning at Cronulla. We also got to, as Toc mentioned, enjoy our brunch as the storm cell approached. We got a bit of time out on the beach. It wasn't the beach. I don't know. We went to some lookout. Oh, it was Kamay National Park or something like that. Okay. And we had a walkout overlooking Botany Bay, Captain Cook Memorial or something. Yep. And then it started raining. Okay. And that was it for the day. Sydney just ruined the whole day.
Simon Mackley: Yeah. I did notice that it was extremely wet in Sydney on the weekend.
Melissa Ellis: So wet.
Simon Mackley: Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Anyway, that was my experience.
Simon Mackley: What about yours? Well, I returned to Wishart yesterday. I really didn't have a plan probably until midweek. And I had had the pleasure of speaking to Roberta, the very shy and retiring Roberta, on Wednesday, I think it was. And she said that Brendan and Jodie were coming up and that's where she was going. So, yeah, I was at Wishart for their event 472 on the lands of the durable people. there was 241 people scanned their barcode with 12 volunteers. So yeah, there was quite a few adventurers there. When I turned up, Roberta was talking to Pauline and Russell Taylor, and then Jodie and Brendan turned up, and Parth and Irene were there as well. Bomber candies. Yes. So, yeah, as I say, I had only been there once before. I'd forgotten part of the course, but it has a unique sound to it, which Wishart does. It runs next to some very high tensile power lines, so when you're running out on the first part of it, you hear this buzz, and which was what I remembered of Wishart. I just didn't think that the first leg was so short. And then, yeah, you run out in the opposite direction and come back. But it was an overcast day. I'm not going to say it was cool, but it was... But, yeah, it was a lovely day and obviously seeing people that I knew or knew of was nice. You had a frond, Simon. We did have a frond. We did have a frond.
Melissa Ellis: That's good. I've never heard that about Wishart, that it has a high density.
Simon Mackley: High tensile.
Melissa Ellis: Tensile.
Simon Mackley: So, you know, the high power lines. The hum. Yes, it had the hum or the buzz or, yeah. So that's what I remembered of it from last time.
Melissa Ellis: I didn't know that. Very good. Well, well done. Now, news and discussion, we also want to bring up Sandgate. They have their annual Speed Week, and that is coming up this very Saturday, Simon, organised by the BERT Squad. Do you want to tell us a little bit more about the Burt Squad?
Simon Mackley: So my understanding of BERT is that it stands for Brisbane Elite Run Training.
Unidentified speaker: Wow.
Melissa Ellis: That's not very parkrunny, Simon.
Simon Mackley: They normally are the frontrunners of any parkrun, I must admit. I do know a couple of people in Burt that are very nice people as well. Of course they are. We love our fastrunners. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, they are very focused. But in total opposite to them is the Ernie's, which have been named because of the whole Bert and Ernie thing. So the Ernie's are definitely the less serious, more fun-loving runners. So the Ernie's actually stands for easy running, no intention of excelling. So I thought that was a bit of a cheeky, cheeky name. But yeah, you see the Ernie's at parkruns quite a bit as well.
Melissa Ellis: I love that. That's so Aussie, isn't it? It is. It's a bit like that. I used to be, well, I probably still am really, associate with the slow burners. Out in the southeast there was a running club, the slow burners, and their emblem on their shirts was a snail because they just enjoyed participating and they weren't focused on times or anything, just being out there on the trails enjoying themselves. Yep. They were the slow burners.
Simon Mackley: That's a good name.
Melissa Ellis: I think the Ernie's is pretty similar. Yeah, it is yes they don't take themselves seriously that's for sure but anyway speed week is pretty big out at Sandgate and they often get well every year don't they there's like I don't know ridiculous number of sub 20 and a ridiculous number of sub 18 and yeah so on and so forth so that's coming up yeah it'll be interesting to see uh
Simon Mackley: Yeah, whether there's new names coming out and, you know, they might even break the record. Who knows?
Melissa Ellis: We might. I wonder if Liam Adams might turn up. Ooh. Okay. Oh, we shouldn't probably go there, should we? Sorry if my voice is a bit croaky. It might actually get worse as we proceed with the recording. I didn't actually say, Simon, that I've actually contracted COVID, so I'm not very well.
Simon Mackley: No, exactly. You've done well till now, that's for sure.
Melissa Ellis: I'm not very well, guys, but I'm soldiering on as the good little soldier that I am.
[background music]
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew
Simon Mackley: Well, to give you a bit of a break, how about we throw to the roving reports?
Roving report Tracey Wood — Jeune Park parkrun
Tracey Wood: Good morning parkrunners, it's Tracey in a Tutu and I am out at Jeune Park parkrun at Beaudesert. It has taken me over an hour to get here from the north side of Brisbane and we have arrived here at Beaudesert which is just on the edge of the scenic rim and is on the lands of the Yungaba people. It is an absolute cracker of a morning. It was raining when we left home, but it is gorgeous now. We've got views of the scenic rim mountains. We've seen hot air balloons. We're walking through the fields and we're... Having a look for some wildlife maybe as we go, although there's not many trees around on each side of the path so far, but it's looking great. Okay, so far, let's see, I've just started on the course and it looks like it's on a paddock. They've mowed a fairly wide area so that people can walk through and just follow the path all the way through. And okay, looks good so far. It's a bit wet, but so far not muddy and looking good. Stay tuned.
Talking to Zachary — Marshal at Jeune Park parkrun (Beaudesert, QLD)
Tracey Wood: Okay adventurers, I'm out here on course and I have found Zachary who tells me no I cannot take a shortcut across the field even though it looks like I can but I can't because he's telling me I can't. Anyway, Zachary is marshalling here today but Zachary usually runs and apparently he's fast. Is that right Zachary?
Zachary: I do love running, but I'm not that fast. I can do a sub 20, but I'm not as fast as some of those guys out there, guys and girls that absolutely go at blistering paces in their spikes.
Tracey Wood: Zachary, can you tell us your parkrun story, please? How did you get into parkrun? Who do you know? Why do you like coming here? Tell us all about it.
Zachary: My parkrun story is more that I've always seen parkrun as a great opportunity for the community to get runners together, to just enjoy going out together on a Saturday morning, to chat, to socialise and so on. So I've always just loved endurance sports and I've always seen parkrun as a great opportunity to really bring that endurance community together and just work on health and fitness and friendship.
Tracey Wood: And now how many parkruns have you done? And you're obviously volunteering, so how many volunteers as well?
Zachary: Four parkruns I've done. But I think I've volunteered more than that, a lot more than that, that I've actually volunteered at than I've actually run at. Wow.
Tracey Wood: Good on you. Now, I can't help looking, but you've got a beautiful companion here today. Can you tell me about this lovely doggy next to you, male, female, and what's his or her name, please?
Zachary: Yeah, lovely dog is called Boy, and he's an Australian Kelpie, and he loves going for a run as well and just is helping me marshal at the moment, except I'm pretty sure he's getting very jealous of seeing all the other dogs run by wishing that he could go out there.
Tracey Wood: Does he beat you across the finish line?
Zachary: Oh, he's great. People say Kelbys can run forever. He proves them wrong. He's great for the first three Ks. I call it my dog intervals, where he can do a 3.30 pace for about the first two. Then he slows down and slows down and slows down. And by the finish line, he enjoys a little trot across the finish line.
Tracey Wood: Oh, good on you. Well, thank you for volunteering as well, boy. Thank you for keeping your own company. And I better keep moving because I'm only on my first lap. I might see you on the second, hopefully.
Zachary: Thanks for chatting with me, Zach. Yeah, thank you as well.
Talking to Anthony — Jeune Park parkrunner and baker of the course-famous cookie
Tracey Wood: Okay, team, I'm out here on course. I found Anthony. Now, I've just finished one lap and I've been hearing about a cookie. Apparently, there's a group of Mundoolin residents who have bribed a neighbour along so that she can get a cookie. Now, it's not just any cookie. You need to hear about this cookie that Anthony makes. Anthony, how are you?
Anthony: I'm well, thank you.
Tracey Wood: Can you tell me about this cookie? Now, I heard about it before and I thought, well, where do you buy one? But Anthony makes them. Anthony, tell me about this awesome cookie.
Anthony: Well, I think everyone else here can tell you how good they are. But let me just tell you how amazing I am first. So... It's a New York-style chocolate chip cookie with chocolate ganache filling. So I think they're about 150 grams each, and when you break them in half, they just ooze out chocolatey goodness.
Tracey Wood: Oh, my goodness. All right, people, you need to come to Jeune Park parkrun, ask for Anthony, tell him Tracey sent you, and you'll get a cookie. No guarantee.
Talking to Shelly — Event Director, Jeune Park parkrun (Beaudesert, QLD)
Tracey Wood: Okay, parkrunners, I'm just about to finish, but I've picked up Shelly, putting the chain up at the gate on the way through, and I'm heading to the finish line. Shelly, how did it all go today? wonderfully excellent as always fantastic seems like a nice group of volunteers here very friendly bunch oh we've got an awesome group of volunteers absolutely amazing group of volunteers now this is Jeune Park parkrun's fifth event how long did it take to set up Tracey we've actually tried to get parkrunning but is it since 2015 so what have been the barriers to getting it here
Shelly: The barriers have been actually meeting the guidelines for parkrun Australia. So we've had to do a lot of research in relation to a course and meeting their guidelines. So we were lucky that we've got a developer um Spring Creek development who have donated us the land now in conjunction with council and we've been able to now get parkrun up and running so yes we do have a paddock because it is a paddock there's definitely no concrete paths or anything like that but that's the joy of coming to a country town and running in a paddock absolutely for the listeners out there could you describe the course please As I said, it's a paddock, so you go out and around in the paddock. It is grass. It's going to get wet. It's going to get cold in winter. We're in a bit of a gully or a valley.
Tracey Wood: Excellent. Oh, and hold tight. We've got to finish. Oh, sorry. I've got to come first. Oh, hang on. Thank you. Thank you, Bollies. All right. Got my barcode. Excellent. And what would you like the listeners at home to know about Jeune Park parkrun? What do you want to tell them?
Shelly: Look, come out and experience the country life. Basically, it is a cross country. It's a paddock. It's cross country. It's flat. You can take prams out there. It's just beautiful. It's beautiful scenery. We've got kangaroos. We've got cows.
Tracey Wood: Yeah, typical country. Excellent. Thanks for chatting with me and thanks for having us. No worries. Okay, team, this is Tracey in a Tutu signing off from Jeune Park parkrun, getting my J today, finishing my first alphabet. Woo! Also finishing my volunteer alphabet. Woo! And just having a great morning because there's always coffee involved. Cheers. Have a good day, folks. Bye.
Roving report Janet Reid — Whyalla Foreshore parkrun
Janet Reid: Good morning parkrun adventurers it's Janet here calling in from Whyalla Foreshore parkrun up in South Australia on a beautiful sunny morning clear blue skies we couldn't have asked for a better day results are processed and we are sitting here post parkrun coffee and breakfast chatting with Event Directors Julia and Kristen and Mel So, let's get started.
Talking to Julia — Co-Event Director, Whyalla Foreshore parkrun (SA)
Janet Reid: Morning, Julia. How did this morning go? Today went really well, Janet. Thank you. Happy with the turnout? Yes, it was a comfortable amount. Good. You've made a few adjustments to your start line. How did that work this morning?
Julia: It worked really well, actually. Yeah, better than expected. Good.
Janet Reid: Yeah, we might just have to revisit if we have that amount of numbers again.
Talking to Kristen — Co-Event Director, Whyalla Foreshore parkrun (SA)
Janet Reid: And Kristen, tell me, how are you going with your volunteer team?
Kristen: Our volunteer team is very, very healthy. We've got some great volunteers. They're all happy and bubbly. We get a lot of good feedback on them to say that, you know, people say it's a typical country parkrun because we're all so outgoing and friendly and welcoming and cheer everyone on.
Janet Reid: Yeah. Oh, I can vouch for that. Yeah.
Talking to Mel — Co-Event Director, Whyalla Foreshore parkrun (SA), a local, not a roster Melissa
Janet Reid: Mel, what can you tell me about your beautiful parkrun?
Mel: Look, we have the best parkrun because we go out onto the sea, onto a jetty that's a doughnut jetty. So there's no other round jetty in South Australia. So not only do you get to run out on a jetty, but you get to run out onto a jetty that's round and you might see some sea life. You might see dolphins. I don't know if there's any dolphins out today. I wasn't out there, but yeah, so we have the best.
[crosstalk]
Janet Reid: You were doing a great job as a Marshal today. All of you, run directing, marshalling. It was amazing. I do like the way you're working with council as well. It was great to see them out helping you with the fencing for the construction work that's going on. That was really great. So we're on event number seven now. How do you think it's growing as a community?
Julia: I think it's growing as a community because we're getting new locals every week still. And we're still getting messages or feedback from other people that they want to come along, but it might not be the right time. And like we say, it's every Saturday. We'll still be there and we'll be waiting for you.
Janet Reid: Beautiful. And I love your Facebook posts as well. They're always so welcoming and encouraging. And those sunrise photos that you're posting for someone who doesn't like to get up early in the morning. It's really great. So where would you like to see your parkrun in 12 months time?
Julia: I'd like to see it with probably a stable 100 people. Yep. Participants. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'd also like to see some of the footpaths repaired. But that's ongoing and we know what's happening.
[crosstalk]
Janet Reid: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So one question we always like to ask in our interviews is your top three parkruns, which may be a bit difficult for you because we're newbies. But let's just see. Perhaps tell me outside of Whyalla Foreshore, what would be your favourite parkrun? I'll start with you, Mel. Put you right on the spot.
Mel: My favourite? Favourite one? I liked Clare. Very nice. Why was that? Just because you're going through, you can see the wineries, well, the vines and things like that. So, yeah, I like Clare.
Janet Reid: And you've got that cheeky hill. It's there, but it's not there. Sneaks up on you.
[crosstalk]
Kristen: Sneaks up on you. Kristen, what about you? Do you know, I like the Port Augusta parkrun. It's an out-and-back course. If you want to do... Sorry, if you want to do a fast time, it is an out and back course, but it is just nice and smooth and it's wide. You've got lots of room for people, like multiple people. So it's a really good, and the people there are lovely.
[crosstalk]
Julia: Lovely, yeah.
Janet Reid: They're very welcoming. What about you, Julia?
Julia: I'm going to have to back Kristen up on that one. Their volunteers were amazing. They accepted us to come in and shadow them for our coaching and training. And again, it's an out-and-back course and it's flat and you see the beach and everything. But there is one parkrun I would like to go that I keep following is Belair.
Janet Reid: Oh, yeah. It's a beauty. It really is. So to wrap up, girls, last thing, one word from each of you. What does parkrun mean to you?
Julia: community. I love it! Love it!
[crosstalk]
Kristen: Beautiful! It's just a welcoming family community. It gives you such a good vibe. Yeah, love it. And people coming out, that wouldn't normally do it. Absolutely.
Janet Reid: Well as we're ending Volunteer Week, let me thank the three of you for the incredible effort you've put into getting this event up and running and for parkrunning with us. So, welcome to the family and look forward to looking at next week's posts. Thank you.
Roving report Calum Burrell — Clarence parkrun
Calum Burrell: Good morning parkrun adventurers it's Callum and yes they have apparently allowed me back to do another rovering report. Today I'm hoping to do Clarence parkrun and Clarence parkrun is located in the town of Bury which is 10 miles north of Manchester. So last time I was at that event which was back in February it was a particularly muddy run And so today, after a bit of wet weather in midweek, we could be looking at similar conditions. Today I want to walk around, so I've got a bit of a calf niggle. So I'm going to try and catch up with at least one of today's Tail Walkers. So I'll speak to you hopefully when I'm mid-event. Thank you.
Talking to Cameron Storey — Tail Walker at Clarence parkrun; Event Director, University of Western Australia…
Calum Burrell: So parkrun adventurers, we are at Clarence parkrun and amazingly for the third Saturday in a row in sunny England, we've got a nice sunny day and I'm here with one of the Tail Walkers today is Cameron Storey. So you might recognise Cameron because he has been on once or twice and I did a little bit of... read up or at least some investigative journalism by listening back to episode 282 and by pure coincidence it might actually be thank you Marshall it might actually be podcast 382 you might be on so a bit of luck a bit of numbers aligned there but what brought you to Clarence today?
Cameron Storey: So what brought me to Clarence today is I'm in the UK for a year and uh tomorrow is the great Manchester run so I'm in Manchester this weekend and uh thought I'd come and visit Callum but uh you're doing something else what you know you're doing well you've done a number of things whilst you've been away but uh what is it you're actually what's your actual milestone today well milestone today is my 100th volunteer I'm currently uh tail walking we're about just over three kilometres into the course and uh
Calum Burrell: Oh, we've gone the wrong way. I just realised we've gone the wrong way. We've actually got lost. We've actually got lost. We're carried away. We're just thinking, because there's two Tail Walkers. There's a bit of a moment in parkrun history for everyone. We've lost mid-parkrun. I just wondered where our other Tail Walker was and she's actually gone the right part of the course and we've just taken a little extension. But it just goes to show you, you can be distracted and you can get yourself lost at parkrun, but we'll skip over that. So I've noticed that you're obviously on a bit of a run streak and also the other thing I noticed on your last time you were on the podcast, or one of the last times you were on the podcast, you were doing your 400th parkrun. I think it's 488 today, isn't it? Yeah.
[crosstalk]
Cameron Storey: I think 487 or 488. Well, I think it's 488. I believe the milestones will be coming at University of Western Australia parkrun sometime in August. Oh, nice. It might be a bit far for me, I'm afraid. I'm sorry.
[crosstalk]
Calum Burrell: But I'll be there in spirit like you were with your dad because you missed your dad's, didn't you?
Cameron Storey: Yeah, I missed my dad's 500s. I was still over here in the UK. He was doing his back in Perth. But I managed to catch him for his 499th in Milan, in Italy.
Calum Burrell: Oh, nice. So you have done quite a few.
Cameron Storey: You're the king of tourism, really, because you've... Is it 11 countries you've done? Yeah, I've got my 11th country. It actually would have been last weekend during... I went to Norway to Stavanger parkrun, and I'd like to apologise to Mel for going to Amager Fælled parkrun and giving you quite an awful tongue twister. So just for clarity, it's Amaga... I have no idea. I'm going to get fired. I'm going to get fired. All I know is that AE is sort of in...
[crosstalk]
Calum Burrell: I'm going to get fired. Okay. All right, there you go, Mel. So, yeah, I say a gloriously sunny day, perfect conditions. It is one of our... I mean, there is a little bit of mud on the course today, but it could have been a heck of a lot worse. It's probably a good time to come to Clarence. I mean... There's lots of coincidences with this because when I was listening back to episode 282, the episode called Cass Castleton, who are you seeing in there?
Cameron Storey: Hopefully going to see Cass Castleton in two weeks in Queens along with Darren and some other parkrun adventurers and parkrun world tourists.
Calum Burrell: So, yeah, so on that very same episode, I think it was the Office Lady was interviewing Cass Castleton. And lo and behold, your dad gets a mention in that as well, because obviously Cass came to stay at yours, didn't he? Yeah. So it's a very small world situation. And I think, another thing, you're on a tourist streak, I think, I'd say you're on your 402 years ago, you're on your tourist streak, I think, is it something like event 44 of your tourist streak?
[crosstalk]
[crosstalk]
Cameron Storey: Oh, it must be something along those lines, I've been trying to do a different parkrun every week while I've been in the UK, seeing as there's an absolute abundance of them and I've run out in Western Australia.
Calum Burrell: So, again, just run through how long you've been in the UK for now and why you're over here and...
Cameron Storey: So I'm studying at the University of Western Australia. That's where I'm Event Director of a parkrun there.
Calum Burrell: And I think you might have hosted the Palm there. I believe I did host Palm in 23. Let's avoid the mud. Let's go this way.
[crosstalk]
Cameron Storey: Oh, it's a big mud. But I'm over here on a university exchange at the University of Sheffield just to be back home in my native UK for a little while and explore parkruns, watch some football and... Yeah, big match today, isn't it? Oh, it's the FA Cup final today.
Calum Burrell: OK, I did my prediction for Eurovision for the last roving report. What's your prediction for United versus City? That's Manchester United versus Manchester City for those that need to know.
Cameron Storey: Well, at the end of full time, it's going to be a 1-1 draw. And my Manchester United will be winning on penalties. There we go, you heard it here first.
Calum Burrell: So let's see if we can keep the prediction streak running.
Cameron Storey: How accurate was yours last week?
Calum Burrell: I actually was spot on with my prediction for the Eurovision. Who was the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest? I predicted Switzerland, thank you very much. So I think, anyway, good luck with the football today. Yeah, let's hope for a united win. It's going to be an uphill struggle, like lots of things are in life. Lots of uphills in the parkrun world as we're coming up one now. Not as big as in some places. But the other coincidence I noticed is... is going back to your podcast two years ago, one of your favourite parkruns is the first one you did, which is Bramhall Park. The third thing you have in common with me is that we both did Bramhall Park as our first parkrun. So there's another coincidence. So out of your travels, what have been your three favourite, say from the last...
[crosstalk]
Cameron Storey: last year you know in your current streak obviously you've done some crackers in Italy haven't you obviously Mura di Lucca is a world famous parkrun tourist venue as it's one big lap of the town along their city walls I'd also have to give shout to Holyrood parkrun I was born in Edinburgh and I'd love to do Holyrood I just have to say that on record it's a big lap of Arthur's Seat where the last mile is all downhill with a lovely view of Edinburgh Castle. I know, what have you heard? I will give a shout to, although I did Fountains Abbey, Fountains Abbey's lesser appreciated local cousin, Conyngham Hall in Knaresborough. Alright, okay. A lovely little town around a hall... over the river and around the field on the other side of the river. It's a fantastic course that's less appreciated due to the proximity to possibly one of the best parkrun locations in the country. I'm glad that you said that when that Fountains Abbey tourist, who was actually from Fountains Abbey, wasn't around, wasn't in here, short, so well done.
Calum Burrell: So, no, that's brilliant. So... Remains for me to say, thank you for being Tail Walker today. And thank you for sharing one or two of your part run journey with us whilst you've been across in Manchester. Thank you, Marshall. And yeah, I think probably I've probably done another. Yeah, I've done over seven minutes. So thank you for that, Cameron. And I'm going to call it a wrap now. And yeah, over to Mel and whoever's with Mel today. Thank you. Thank you, Cam. And thank you to the volunteer team at Clarence parkrun. Today was their event 28. And thank you to Andrea, who is the Run Director. Only a second time of being a Run Director and she did a superb job. Together with myself and Cam, there was Susan, who was the other Tail Walker, and just to point out that the park is in Clarence Park in Bury and it's two laps on the tarmac around the main kind of park and then it goes on to fields where there's rugby fields and then there's a wooded area so there's like two big laps that you do around the fields and the wooded area before coming back to do a three quarter lap of the tarmac and so yeah it's a great addition to the Manchester parkruns and I'm going to spare you from a song today but I just wanted to say I appreciate everyone who gave me feedback with the roving report last time so Calum over and out
Roving report Alison Fraser (King) — Pokkinen parkrun
Alison Fraser (King): Kia ora adventurers, it's Alison here. I have come up on an overnight train from Helsinki to Oulu to run Pokkinen parkrun which is the world's most northerly parkrun. I decided to get the night train because it combined transport with accommodation But I am feeling a little bit tired. Got in at quarter to six this morning. I was met at the station by my friend Gary. Went back to the hotel where he and some other parkrunners were staying. And now we were about to wander just a little bit down the road, around the corner, to go to parkrun. So I'm going to try to catch up with the Run Director for this morning and so we can hear all about this amazing event. [Te Reo Maori: ""Kia ora" is a Te Reo Maori greeting meaning "hello" or, literally, "be well" — so: "Hello adventurers, it's Alison here.""]
Talking to Chris — Run Director, Pokkinen parkrun (Oulu, Finland)
Alison Fraser (King): I'm with Chris, who was today's Run Director. So welcome to parkrun adventurers, Chris. Thank you. Thank you very much. How did you end up in northern Finland?
Chris: Well, to cut a long story short, I met my partner in my hometown. I moved to northern Finland. I studied here and ended up living and working here. I've lived here for more than 10 years now.
Alison Fraser (King): So I thought you must have been here a while because you were doing a bilingual run brief this morning.
Chris: Yeah, we consider that to be quite an important thing. We want to encourage local runners to come out and local walkers, local joggers to come and support us. When we started out, it was mostly based around the university. A lot of our runners were international students. So it's been very good that we've had a good response from local runners and walkers as well.
Alison Fraser (King): What's the story behind, is it Pokkinen parkrun?
Chris: Yeah, we have a gentleman called Sylvester to thank for that. He is a professor of mathematics and he was based at the university here. He experienced parkrun in the US and wanted to bring it here when he moved. So he set it up and I was fortunate enough to get involved with it from a very early stage. He's since moved on to Jyväskylä where he's set up a second parkrun, which is Mattilanniemi, near me. So, yeah, that's basically how it happened.
Alison Fraser (King): And was this your first experience of parkrun or were you a parkrunner beforehand?
Chris: I have been involved in parkrun before, just purely as a runner, when I got a chance to go back to my hometown in Yorkshire. I was able to run there but it was very infrequent and I did consider trying to set one up here in Oulu when I first moved but it just seemed like a lot of work so I have Sylvester to thank for that that he actually was able to do it himself and we were able to get involved as well.
Alison Fraser (King): Have you done many other parkruns in Finland?
Chris: I've done the parkrun in Tampere a couple of times. We have family down there, so I've been able to do that. But yeah, I'd like to build on that and maybe go down to Jyväskylä and also to Helsinki and do those parkruns as well.
Alison Fraser (King): For the benefit of the listeners, can you describe the course to us?
Chris: Yeah, well, firstly, I'll just say it's the world's northernmost parkrun. We get a Quite a wide range of weather. We get beautiful wintry, snowy weather. Sometimes as cold as minus 30, though we don't run in those conditions. And we get beautiful short summers as well, where you can experience a northern Finnish summer. We have... It's mostly based around parkland and we have a lot of open water. There's a river with a dam structure in place so that's quite unique. I think that there aren't many parklands that actually run over a dam. What else?
Alison Fraser (King): It was an out and back?
Chris: Yes, more or less an out and back with a small detour, but yes, mostly through parkland around waterways as well.
Alison Fraser (King): Do you get many tourists coming here so they can say they've run at the most northerly?
Chris: Yes, yes, we do. We do have a small issue that it usually requires at least one flight and maybe two and a long train journey as well. So that does put some people off. But yeah, I think it's been quite a unique sort of selling point for us to have the world's northernmost park. And we try and be welcoming and sort of encourage people to come along.
Alison Fraser (King): Well, I made the overnight train trip, arrived at quarter to six this morning and I have to say it was completely worth it.
Chris: Oh yes, thank you. We've had a lot of good feedback. It seems to be a nice experience for people to come up here and do something a little bit different.
Alison Fraser (King): So any adventurers who like to be a bit more adventurous should make the trip up here to tick off the most northern park.
Chris: Oh yes, absolutely. Whilst we still hold that position, I'm pretty sure we'll get one in Lapland at some point.
Alison Fraser (King): Oh really? Yes. Well, we'll keep our fingers crossed and then we'll all have to come back again, well thank you so much Chris for an awesome parkrun day here in is it Oulu yes yes uh Pokkinen parkrun yes thank you very much And that rounds off my adventures to Finland. I would definitely recommend getting up to Oulu. If you are in the country, it is the most northerly parkrun in the world. So you can tick off your global compass challenge. But yeah, it was just a lovely little park after the parkrun and coffee and just general park faff. I actually went back around the park once, run course with some of the other parkrunners from this morning just to have another look at the snow that was left over and take photos of the big Oulu sign walk around the reservoir it really is a lovely little parkrun so please do stick it on your bucket list along with all those others that we have heard about so that's it from me I will be back again soon hopefully with another parkrun adventure
[background music]
Melissa Ellis: Thank you very much to our roving reporters hearing from Tracey, Janet, Calum and Alison. And great to hear from Janet at Whyalla. We always love to hear from Janet. Calum, Simon, talking to Cam's story. That was interesting. And also can confirm, Calum, that it is episode 382, so exactly 100 episodes from when Cam was last on. A bit of synchronicity there. And I accept your apology about Cam, about Amager Fælled, right? I still can't say it. Anyway. And, yes, the prediction for Manchester United winning the FA Cup came true.
Simon Mackley: Unbelievable.
Melissa Ellis: And also, I guess, Simon, it was interesting hearing from Alison at Pokkinen. Yeah. Their world's most northerly parkrun.
Simon Mackley: How good would that be? That's got to be a bucket list.
Melissa Ellis: Up there in Finland, I think?
Simon Mackley: Yes, Finland.
Melissa Ellis: Do you reckon they get the northern lights? Do they get the northern lights in Finland?
Simon Mackley: Yes, definitely. Well, if far enough north, yes. Probably further down south. I don't know. Yeah. I'm going to say yes. Yes. Yes, you can see the Northern Lights from Finland. As to where in Finland, I'm not sure.
Melissa Ellis: Well, that's just bumped it up my bucket list then. Yeah. Add that to my Southern Lights interest.
Dazza's
Melissa Ellis: Yeah. But anyway, of interest also, Simon, is Dazza's. And this week, Dazza said it's dinosaur day. Did you fly around the course like a pterodactyl? Run like a velociraptor or maybe enjoy a nice walk like a T-Rex. Come on in and tell us all about your morning. And this week we had in the vicinity of 120 comments.
Simon Mackley: We did. And first off, we are going to go to Norway. So up in the Nordics from Jamie Humphreys. He said, I ventured north to Løvstien parkrun in Bergen, Norway. A double out and back course with some undulations. One of the hills was aptly named Monster Hill. The RD described the course as brutal and it was. Amazing views over the city that were literally breathtaking. Lucky nobody required the defib as the RD had said we'd have to get up and come back to the start line to use it and he wasn't going to run it out to us if we needed it. Smiley face. And there was a picture of Jamie with the pop-up, some Norwegian flags and a nice view of the town in the distance.
Melissa Ellis: I don't know if that's really going with the regulations. Probably not. Aren't we supposed to say with the defib that we've got a defib at the start-finish line and we know how to use it?
Simon Mackley: And we're happy to use it if we need to.
Melissa Ellis: Anyway, we also heard from Andy Airey coming to us from somewhere in the UK. And he said 24 of their Airey Airways posse went to Reading in the UK to watch Deb Airey finish her periodic table. It was meant to be last month, but they cancelled due to flooding. I think she's the 15th to finish it. And there was a photo of Deb with the Reading pop-up and a framed periodic table. So I'm assuming that had also the names of all the events that she'd achieved.
Simon Mackley: So good work, Deb. Definitely. That's quite the achievement if there's only 15 other people, sorry, 14 other people with it. We also heard from Dave Tozer who came to us from Wales. He said, we headed to Cwmbran parkrun Wales and there was a picture of Dave and Janet standing in their adventurous tops with the Cwmbran pop-up.
Melissa Ellis: Good pronunciation, Simon. You've done your homework. I did not deliberately give you the Welsh one. It's just how it worked out. Sure. And I really think they need to buy a few vows. They definitely do. We also heard from Claire Winozik, and she also is from the UK, and she just said Darren Peet's 300th. And there was a photo there of a group of people which showed them holding Australian and UK flags with the pop-up at Valley parkrun.
Simon Mackley: Congratulations, Darren. I believe that Darren's actually only one alphabet letter off finishing his sixth alphabet.
Melissa Ellis: For those that chase those alphabets.
Simon Mackley: Doing more than one, yes. Yeah. Well, good work. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Next, we heard from Joe McLean from Queensland. Said, enjoyed running along the edge of the canals at Surfers Paradise parkrun this morning. It's in the arts precinct and there were some outdoor sculptures that looked like dinosaurs. Warm enough for a swim afterwards, Sarah Jefferson. The east is up for a past... post parkrun swim challenge and there was a photo of Joe's feet in the water.
Melissa Ellis: I like this one. I liked that Joe was having a little bit of banter with Sarah from the West Side about this swimming business because they're skiting over there in WA that they're swimming still every week and Kingsland's coming back.
Simon Mackley: They're firing back. Well, yes. I mean, I don't think it was any different here. We just weren't skiting about it. We don't see the need because we live in, you know, such a great state.
Melissa Ellis: Oh. Shots fired. We could swim down here. I'm sure I could swim at Inverloch. Oh, I'm sure you could. If I wanted to get hypothermia. No, thanks. Anyway, next we heard from Garth Dowling, and he was coming to us from the greater state. And he said, finally completed my Fibonacci sequence at Trebeck Reserve parkrun today with my number one touristing buddy, Bill Lodwick. Was a very fresh three degrees before setting off with plenty of fog to cloud the vision as first timers there. And there was a photo of Garth and Bill in the selfie frame. Garth actually... He took out number one token too. So good job, Garth. Wow. It's not a race, but Bill, he was wearing some very bright socks. I think Toc would be impressed with those very bright socks.
Simon Mackley: Oh. Good job. Toc's seen the post then. And lastly, we heard from Andrew Yeatman. So he said, Edinburgh Oval parkrun with these old dinosaurs. Wilson Index 186 for Alan Raven and run number 450. Now off to the beach to keep the swim streak alive. Hashtag West is Best. So there was Andrew and the old farts with the Edinburgh Oval selfie frame.
Melissa Ellis: The old farts being the dinosaurs. They're self-proclaimed. You can't, like, get upset with us for calling them old farts. No. They call themselves old farts. And Andrew's jumping on the bandwagon there with the West is Best and the swimming bizot. Exactly. And I noticed the Office Lady requested photographic evidence of the said swim.
Simon Mackley: Oh, okay.
Melissa Ellis: Which was provided. Okay. All right. That's good. Anyway, that's it for Dazza's.
Simon Mackley: That is. That's not short and sweet this week. It definitely is. It's quality over quantity. Correct. So how about we throw to Rachel?
the Obi Award — Deb Airey
Melissa Ellis: No, we need to do an Obilope.
Simon Mackley: We do need to do an Obilope. I probably need to put my camera on so that you can see who has been chosen.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay. Well, I'm not putting my camera on, Simon. You don't need to. Because I am all disgusting and COVID filled. So I'll just take a photo of you. There it is. Oh, it's covering your face. I know.
Tracey Wood: Lucky me.
Melissa Ellis: I've got it. It's fine. You can put it down. Okay. All righty. So would you like to make the announcement?
Simon Mackley: Sure. And the Obi goes to Andy slash Deb Airey.
Melissa Ellis: Hooray! Yay! Yes, that really goes to Deb Airey for finishing her periodic table, which we think is pretty special and we liked the photo. Yes, we did.
[background music]
Club Corner
Simon Mackley: How about we throw to Rachel now? Sure, you can do that now.
[14 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]
Rachel: This is Rachel with Club Corner, where we talk about the what and why of parkrun clubs, and I am coming to you from Arrernte Country. Today I'm going to talk about something risky. Well, actually, just about risks. And frankly, this week's topic is risky, as it looked to be great when it began, but sorta drifted away. Oh well, that's the risk you take... But I digress, and irregardless, let's push on. I was doing some parkrun reading the other day, as is my want, and I was struck by the approach of parkrun Global to risk. If you have ever organised a public event, you know that you should do a risk assessment to try and foresee the unexpected, and frankly, also the expected, and then commit in writing what you may do about mitigating that risk. Now, I am not commenting on parkrun Global's approach to risk, rather just a bit of fun with what they anticipate as possible risks for Australia. Every parkrun country has a base template, something for new events to build upon, rather than reinvent the wheel. This also provides some consistency. With 450 plus events in Oz, you can imagine why that would be important. Now, to the fun bit. If you start an event in Oz, there is a base risk to consider about snakes, and also a risk about kangaroos. Only in Oz, eh? Mind you, there is also a risk about ice cream vans on course, so you know, good to see we are thinking about everything. And that's a global risk, ice cream, ice cream, you scream, everybody ice cream. The other quirk is that although other countries have extreme or very extreme weather as a risk, could be hot or cold weather, but Oz has only extreme heat not cold... Geez, snakes, wildlife, heat, why ever would people come to parkrun, winky face. How about to redeem myself from this risky topic, I include a few risky jokes. Yesterday I robbed the board game store, it was a risk that I was willing to take. Or, when I become a lawyer I want to defend a penguin. Just so I can say the words, your honour, clearly my client is not a flight risk. Or maybe, why don't vegans take risks? Because their life could be at stake. Anyway, it's time to remember, that in parkrun life, all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun, so stay tuned for our future club corners.
Melissa Ellis: And thank you to Rachel. She's bringing us lots of news and discussions lately. And the risk assessment, Simon, bringing up that Australia has unique risks that other countries don't have. Have you, in your experience starting new events or as an event ambassador, come across any unusual things in risk assessments?
Simon Mackley: Yeah, I was actually just thinking about that. So magpies is one that normally comes up. I know with Jeune Park parkrun, we had to add magpies in there, but a very interesting one they have, they've actually got a bat colony, which is very close to the finish line. So we had to move it around a little bit to avoid the bats. So yeah, there's bats hanging in the trees and there's a bridge right under them that you're not allowed to use during parkrun time. Any other questions? hour of any other day you can use the bridge but for some reason you can't use it at parkrun time So you have to walk around a small lake to get to the start. But, yeah, bats I think is the most unusual one I've seen.
Melissa Ellis: It's interesting. We have a couple of events in Victoria that also have bats. I can – Bairnsdale comes to mind. You run underneath bats in the trees at Bairnsdale Park, right? Okay. And also Eastern Gardens down in the Geelong greater area. They also have a colony of fruit bats there.
Simon Mackley: yes or flying foxes is that the correct same thing yeah yeah yeah flying boxes yeah and that's what yeah these are flying foxes as well yeah very good yeah so um I'm not sure that I've come across to those Darwin ones have crocodiles in their risk assessments I don't know but that one in um northern Queensland what was it TYTO Wetlands that had to be moved because of the crocodiles so it restarted as Something.
Melissa Ellis: And I wonder if there's South African ones. Maybe Johan can give us information about the South African ones that have some interesting wildlife.
Simon Mackley: Yes. Actually, in one of the launches this week, I would really love to hear about that one once Johan goes there.
Consolidated Club Report
Melissa Ellis: And you know what I've just realised, Simon? What's that? I didn't update the Consolidated Club Report stats from last week. What are we going to do?
Simon Mackley: Well, let's just say refer to the website.
Melissa Ellis: COVID brain. Can I claim COVID brain? Sure. I didn't do it. So we had a Consolidated Club report. And I'd like to thank very much our Belinda Fairy, who's been coming in and doing the Consolidated Club report now for me. Yes.
Rachel: Oh, for the last few weeks.
Simon Mackley: Yeah, it's been very helpful.
Melissa Ellis: Thank you, Belinda Fairy. I do know that the UK topped the leaderboard and I know that the greater state came second. I can tell you that much.
Simon Mackley: Oh, okay.
Melissa Ellis: Fair enough. Other than that, please refer to our Facebook post.
the Frond — Itchen Valley Country parkrun (largest international frond); Bungendore Common parkrun (largest Australian frond)
Melissa Ellis: But what we do know is the largest front, international front, Simon.
Simon Mackley: Yeah, it was at Itchen Valley Country parkrun and there were six adventurers there who were Heather Morgan, Helen Davis, Alison King, Linda Boziak, Hilary Fraser and Victoria Knight Phillips.
Melissa Ellis: Wow. I think some of those ladies, it's about time they came home. Actually, I think Helen's on her way home. Okay. But, yes, some Aussies over there still enjoying their time. Is Dawny back yet? Dawny's back, yep. Okay, cool. Pretty sure. Okay. Yep, yep, yep. And I think Heather, I was told recently, Heather's on an extended trip working in the UK, so she's not coming back anytime soon. But power to her. I need one of those jobs, Simon. Yeah. The largest frond this week in Australia was 11 at Bungers. Yes. Which is Bungendore Common in New South Wales. But we do kind of think of it as in the Canberra region. Yeah. We had Jack and Claire Corkill, Nick Graney, Neil Scott, Peter Abela, Ian and Lydia Knox, Diana Marshall, Vincenzo Coco and Sam and Luke Schroder. Ian and Lydia actually came to Dazza's and they said quite a few dogs pretending to be dinosaurs at Bungendore Common parkrun this morning. A good choice for a chilly parkrun on the first day of winter. And there was a photo of the group, which we used this week for the Consolidated Club Report, thanks to the Belinda Fairy. And you've skipped over something as well. Was there anyone at Bushy? No. No. Nobody this week.
Simon Mackley: Jeez, just when we start this new thing and nobody goes.
[crosstalk]
Melissa Ellis: Out of the thousand. Oh, but you know who there was? There was actually, they're not an adventurer, but they are. So I'm going to claim her. She is a regular Eynesbury Juniors volunteer. Okay. And she was at Bushy with her husband representing MCR.
Simon Mackley: Oh, okay. And MCR, I take it, is Melton City Runners?
Melissa Ellis: Yes, that is correct. And, Simon, it's Suzanne Aquilina. Suzanne and her husband, Charlie, over there at Bushy representing MCR. Suzanne, if you are listening, you need to sign up to the Adventurous Club.
Simon Mackley: That's what I was about to say. Remember, you can add the Adventurers Club as one of your five affiliations on your parkrun profile. Yes, and if you need help, get in touch.
Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"
Melissa Ellis: Now, Simon, we've had a few launches. We've got a few launches to cover, and there was a couple the week previous. So we're covering off for the past two weeks.
Simon Mackley: We are.
Melissa Ellis: Now, we had two weeks ago Lake Pacawa parkrun in Plover, in Wisconsin, the US, and this course follows along Lake Pacawa and it launched, as we said, on the 25th of May with 26 participants, so quite a small launch. Yes. These days, 13 of those were first-timers, so that's a 50%. Ha-ha, look at me go with my maths. And I can tell you that week two had 11 finishes.
Simon Mackley: Wow, so it almost halved. Sorry, more than halved, should I say. We also had another one in the US, which was Halsema Trailhead parkrun. So that's located in the Jacksonville to Baldwin Rail Trail in Jacksonville, Florida. In the first week, they had 97 participants and 17 volunteers. And then in the second week, it dropped back to 31 participants. and seven volunteers so it's a straight out and back course heading west on the 12 foot wide fully paved and mostly shaded asphalt rail trail two and a half k's to a single turn around and back
Melissa Ellis: Now, next, we had Tollgate Farm Park, parkrun in baqʷab in the US. Now, Tollgate Farm is a historic 410-acre farm in North Bend, a city in King County, Washington in the United States, on the outskirts of Seattle metropolitan area. I was quite interested with this one, Simon. It's three loops on a gravel trail with views of Mount Si. The course is on an area that is known to the Snoqualmie tribe as baqʷab, Snoqualmie Prairie. So it's a little bit of a tongue twister. I hope I've got close to saying it correctly, where camas and other traditional foods and medicines were tended by traditional burning and harvest practices. So a bit of a native... and area like we also acknowledge here in Australia. And they had 100 finishes and 22 of those first timers.
Simon Mackley: Wonderful. The next one we have is, it's not exactly spelt like this, but it's called the Promenade parkrun in Brecon, Wales. So it looks like it says Y Promenâd. It's a two-lap course on tarmac and grass riverside. The start and finish are near the main car park. They had 112 participants and 44 volunteers. So I'm guessing that must be a bit of a curly one if they had 44 volunteers for the first week.
Melissa Ellis: Goodness, that's a lot, isn't it? It is. Now, we also had Terra Nova parkrun South Africa. Suda freak, Simon. Indeed. The course is at Terra Nova Park. Wow. Trichardt. Trichardt is a town on the N17 National Route in Gert Sibande District Municipality on the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa. And I'm sure Johan will correct me. You know I did my best, Johan. The village is 34 kilometres west of Bethal and 32 kilometres east-southeast of Leandra, adjacent to Secunda. It's a figure-eight route with panoramic views of the town and farmland. They had 138 participants, 32 of which were first-timers.
Simon Mackley: And we've got another one in South Africa, and this was the one I was alluding to earlier. So this was Emerald Resort parkrun. It's located in Vanderbijlpark, South Africa. The event starts at Emerald Resort Animal World Game Drive Starting Gate. It's a one-lap course on a flat jeep track through the nature and game world of the Emerald Resort, next to the river and other scenic views. They had 565 participants and 28 volunteers. Oh, my Lord. Yes. So that was a big launch.
Melissa Ellis: I don't know if I'm surprised about the numbers at the launch or the fact that it's in South Africa and it's next to a river and they might have hippos.
Simon Mackley: Yeah. I wonder if hippos are on their risk assessment. Maybe. The fact that it starts next to the game drive starting gate, I was like, this sounds amazing. It sounds amazing to us. It's probably like to the South Africans.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah. Giraffes. Whatever. Giraffes. Now, we also had Bay East Garden parkrun in Singapore, and this brings the events in Singapore to four. Double out and back in Bay East Garden Park along the edge of Marina Bay. They had 108 participants and six first-timers. Yay, finally another one in Singapore. That's great. And I heard that the other one is coming back soon.
Simon Mackley: Oh, really? Okay.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, the one, the fourth one, the previous fourth one that closed.
Simon Mackley: Was that Bishan or was it West Coast?
Melissa Ellis: No, no, no, Bishan's still going. No, it's something else. I don't know. I don't remember the name.
Simon Mackley: Okay. All right. And the last launch we had last weekend was Rex Jackson Oval parkrun in Helensburgh, New South Wales. So we finally got an Aussie one in there. So it's double out and back. It had 103 participants, 21 first-timers. It's interesting because it's named after a corrupt politician jailed for accepting bribes. This is very interesting, Simon.
Melissa Ellis: I wanted to have a discussion about this. parkrun's determination to stick to naming regulations was It is questionable when some public areas are named after questionable historical figures. Yes, definitely. That have ended up in jail. And as a result of this, we're getting a lot of parkruns named after men. Where's the equality?
Simon Mackley: That might come down to councils naming things. I don't think that's so much a puzzling thing, but I agree with you.
Melissa Ellis: It might not be parkrun's fault, but it does raise the question.
Simon Mackley: No, understandably. It reminds me, though, there is another one in New South Wales, which I am of the understanding was named after someone that was a little questionable as well. So, yeah, I don't want to see this pattern continue, but I guess we'll see what happens going forward. Thankfully, we haven't got Ned Kelly parkrun. Or was that guy the backpacker murderer? What? In the National Park west of Sydney. Oh. Ivan Malat. Ivan Malat.
Melissa Ellis: I don't think they're naming parks after Ivan Malat, Simon. There's no Ivan Malat National Park.
Simon Mackley: No, there's not.
Melissa Ellis: Goodness me. Okay, let's move on. Yeah, I think we should. So here's something else I want to do, Simon. We've noticed in our socials that we have a lot of engagement, but sometimes it's apparent that not all the people that are on our socials are actually pod listeners. Mm-hmm. So I wanted to sort of gauge who actually listens and who doesn't. So listeners, jump in on this. This is a little bit of fun. We're going to ask you when you come to Dazza's on a Saturday to do your social post, we want you to drop an emoji in there just as an in-joke so that we know you listen. So drop a little ear emoji just as a little indication to us that you listen to the pod because not everybody is. And we want to gauge how many of our audience are actually listening to what we say.
Simon Mackley: Yeah, because you never know. You might not be listening and we call you out and you're not getting the glory.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah. And if you don't listen, we're not going to call you out anymore.
Simon Mackley: Exactly. We know who you are.
Melissa Ellis: We know.
Simon Mackley: We know who some of you are.
Melissa Ellis: We're trying to figure it out.
Unidentified speaker: Anyway.
Simon Mackley: Come on, I was acting tough then.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, okay.
Simon Mackley: Oh, we know who you are. We know who you are. All right. And coming up, we've got Longest Run is approaching in Australia. So head over to the Longest Run Australia Facebook page to see all the dates. And the ones that we're aware of is this weekend on Sunday, there's actually going to be four in Victoria. Yay. Yay. So there's a Melbourne North Australia, a Gippsland, a High Country and a South East. Then the next weekend, it looks like we have a WA edition. Then on the 23rd, we have a Southern Sydney. And then on the 30th, there's an SA.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah. And you know what's missing? Sydney usually has two. It does. So I'm assuming that in the coming weeks, another one's going to pop up. And there's no Kingsland there, Simon. Where's Kingsland?
Simon Mackley: I don't know what's going on with Kingsland. I haven't heard anything there. And I am aware that Paul Rainbow is not going to be organising one this year. Oh, well, that explains why one of the Sydney ones is missing. Correct. He put it out maybe two weeks ago saying that he doesn't have the time to be able to put it together. And if anyone wanted to do it and take it over, he was happy to give them anything they needed, you know, to move it forward. But, yeah, this year there's too many things on his plate. Which you would understand.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah. But it's still going strong in Victoria with four events. So it's still very popular down this way. I don't think I'm going to be out there doing anything. I don't think I will be recovered enough.
Simon Mackley: Probably not, yes. No.
Melissa Ellis: But somebody else that we want to mention, Simon, when we're talking about being poorly is our very own Shiltsy. Now, Shiltsy has been in hospital and not doing too well. So we just wanted to give him a shout out and say we're thinking of you. We hope you're doing okay and we hope that you are able to get back to parkrun. Exactly. Yeah.
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Simon Mackley: Where are you going next parkrun day, Mel?
Melissa Ellis: Oh, I, you know, I don't know. It's my home week, so I don't have an adventure planned and, you know, well, I've got COVID, so I don't know. Maybe I won't go far. Maybe I'll stay local and I haven't decided where, Simon, so I'm pretty boring, don't ask me. But what about you?
Simon Mackley: I'm tossing up between two closer events. So I might go to Meadowbrook, which I haven't been to for a very long time. I did that only once prior, which was on a New Year's Day double. And I think there was about 600 or 700 people at that one because it was the second one of the day. So I'm either going to Meadowbrook or I might go to Underwood. They're both about 30 to 35 minutes from me. Yeah, because we've got a Jackson's got a soccer game on Saturday earlier. Well, further away. So we need to leave earlier. So I need to stay closer to home as well.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah. So I've got a couple of points to speak about that now.
Unidentified speaker: Yeah.
Melissa Ellis: The first one is Meadowbrook. You know, that's not a parkrun that we hear very much about because that's not even a name that I recognise. Okay.
Simon Mackley: You've heard of Logan River though?
Melissa Ellis: Yeah.
Simon Mackley: It's very close as the crow flies to Logan River.
Chris: Yeah.
Simon Mackley: It's yeah, from, from my memory, it's in a park that has, has little Lakes that you run around and you run out into like a little bushland area. Um, Like I say, I haven't been there for quite a long time and it was stinking hot when I went there the last. So I'll be able to talk about it next time.
Melissa Ellis: I just think it's interesting because having been involved, not hosting the podcast, but we're in our ninth year and I've been a listener from the start and I've heard about a lot of parkruns. And, you know, Meadowbrook just isn't a name that I'm familiar with. So I will be very interested to hear more about Meadowbrook. So perhaps I'm going to push you to lean towards that event so that we can hear it. And also, congratulations on your alphabeteerism. Thank you. Is that a word?
Simon Mackley: Yeah, that's what I did, yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so you did that just the other week with Dorota?
Simon Mackley: I did indeed. We went to Zillmere to finish it, so she has been very patiently waiting for me to get, well, I was getting my J, which I got in October, and then my Q was early this year. So, yeah, she patiently waited for me to actually be able to do the Z. And very cheekily, she's going off to Europe in a few weeks' time. And she's going to be doing another Z. So she had to get it done before she went.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, very good.
Simon Mackley: Excellent. So well done for that. Thank you. Well, it might be time to wrap it up. So, as always, you can contact us via parkrun adventurers on Facebook or our email address, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week. We'll see you all next week for more adventures.
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Unidentified speaker: Bye. Bye.