Episode 388 - When 3 becomes 5

00:00:00[intro theme playing]

Welcome

00:00:24Sarah Jefferson: Welcome to episode 388 of the parkrun adventurers podcast, a podcast about life, if your life's all about parkrun. My name is Sarah Jefferson and I'm coming to you from Noongar Country.

00:00:35Simon Mackley: And I'm Simon Mackley and I'm on Quandamooka Country. Thanks for joining me again, Sarah. I believe that we might be hearing from you a bit more often over the coming months.

00:00:47Sarah Jefferson: Yes. Simon, I believe this is going to be a little bit of a monthly gig. So I'm always happy to spend some more time talking about parkrun, especially on a Monday. So keep the weekend rolling. So hopefully that suits everyone.

00:01:05Simon Mackley: It's another voice for the pod. It's part of the melting pot of the parkrun adventurers. True.

00:01:12Sarah Jefferson: Simon, should we get straight into it? Let's do it. Where were you last parkrun day?

00:01:17Simon Mackley: I was at Broadbeach Waters located on the lands of the Yuggera people. So I took the opportunity to drive an hour south to Broadbeach Waters where I used to live in the 90s and tackle my penultimate Gold Coast event. So I've got Surfers Paradise only to do now. This made it my 100th Australian event and my 50th in Queensland. The course is quite simple once you're there, but it looks really confusing from the written description. It is yet another picturesque parkrun that flies under the radar. Not many people really talk about it. I was joined by 109 other parkrunners, including my friend, Sean, and coincidentally fellow Sydney North Shore resident who's also moved to Queensland, Sarah Jane, who spotted me in the car park when we're about to leave. And there were 11 volunteers who were superb and very encouraging around the course. Sounds like a great morning. It was.

00:02:18Sarah Jefferson: And congratulations on your Australian cow. Yes.

00:02:23Simon Mackley: Yeah. It's been rolling on for three weeks. So, yeah, two weeks ago I had my 100th event I've been to because I've been to an event where I've volunteered and haven't run. And then previous week was Mudgeeraba for 100. And then, yeah, 100 Australia because I have that one in Futakotamagawa in Japan.

00:02:44Sarah Jefferson: So it's like the birthday month bit. parkrun celebrations.

00:02:47Simon Mackley: Yeah, that's it now. It's all done. You sure?

00:02:50Sarah Jefferson: Yeah. You're not going to pull one next week?

00:02:53Simon Mackley: No, exactly. Well, 50 in Queensland was like, I didn't even realise that until today. So, yeah. That's quite good.

00:02:58[crosstalk]

00:02:58Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, half Cowell in Queensland. I know. It lines up quite nicely.

00:03:01Simon Mackley: Crazy. I thought I'd done, you know, so many in New South Wales, but yeah, 50 in Queensland. Yeah.

00:03:07Sarah Jefferson: So, given you've done 100 on this land now, what do you think your top three Aussie parkruns would be?

00:03:15Simon Mackley: Oh my gosh, you put me on the spot, Sarah. Um, okay. I'm going to break this down a bit. I'm I've only actually parkrun in four or three states and one territory. So I'm going to give you one from each. Let's start in what some call the greatest state. I'm going to say Albert Melbourne, um, because yeah, I hadn't ever run at such a big event. And even though it was huge, I felt so welcome there. I mean, obviously, I know Scott and Joanne Watkins. Mel actually picked me up and took me there. Yeah, we had a great breakfast afterwards. So Albert Melbourne is Victoria. ACT, I'm going to be a little bit biased here and say Coombs. It was one that I used to look after as an ambassador. And community there was definitely what I loved about it, course has changed since since I was last there but um yeah it's a very new estate well it was a very new estate when when I went there then New South Wales this was a little hard um I'm going to say Cowra another one that flies under the radar but this was where I felt when I turned up that I was gonna be the only one there. And then up pulls a police car and the RD jumps out. I loved it. Yeah, it was quite funny. I was like, whoa, what's going on here? And then I spent probably the next three and a half hours park faffing with the Run Director. So yeah, it's definitely the longest I've actually spent at a cafe afterwards. So, yeah, Cowra was great. And, yeah, like I said, not a lot of people. I ended up running in second. And the person in front of me was an Irish triathlete who had just competed at the ITU World Championships on the Gold Coast. So, he was – Oh, wow. Yeah, exactly. Wow. So, I was like, wow, I've come second to a – Second to that. This guy. Yeah. And then Queensland, this is a hard one. Yeah. I'm going to say for community again, Ocean View. That was a really small one as well. I think there might have been eight or nine people there. It is such a hard course as well. So I'm not saying it because of the course. I'm saying it because of the people that run it and made me feel really welcome. And I'm going to say Main Beach because that's where I did my 250. I had people come up from Sydney for it. I had my parents come. My brother and his family came. We stayed right next door in the Sheraton. So, yeah, it was probably the best Queensland event that I've been to.

00:05:16[crosstalk]

00:06:06Sarah Jefferson: Wow. Very impressive. A few that I wouldn't have expected Coombs and I wouldn't have expected Cowra.

00:06:11Simon Mackley: Okay.

00:06:13Sarah Jefferson: Yeah. Interesting. But, yeah, sounds great. And all about, I guess, community and the chats that you sort of had and the people that you've met have really made the event.

00:06:23Simon Mackley: Exactly. Because, yeah, I mean, parkrun isn't always about the most picturesque or You know, there was always memories of something. And, yeah, I'm doing 101 now. It was hard to go through a list.

00:06:36Sarah Jefferson: Yeah.

00:06:36Simon Mackley: Where did you go on your parkrun day, Sarah?

00:06:41Sarah Jefferson: So, on Friday, I travelled north with adventurers Andrew Yeatman and his camera, of course, Tanya Pearton and Matthew Stevens by default to a coastal town called Kalbarri. So Saturday morning, we headed out to the parkrun start point, which is slightly out of town. And we were there to check out Jakes Point parkrun on the traditional lands of the Nanda people. Although I checked with the event team during the week that the event was actually going ahead, as there was nobody on the roster, I was starting to get a little bit nervous when the complete setup took place around 7.53 a.m. So they're around, there actually were two adventurers from the UK who were volunteering. So Malcolm and Sarah Peaty. So Malcolm was telling me that he's basically an undercover adventurer, that he doesn't post a lot. But I did say to him, well, you won't be this week. People will know where you are because I will be letting that slip. Sarah and Malcolm have been enjoying their time in Western Australia and travelling around Australia. And next week they're actually off to tick off their Western compass point and then they will have completed all of the compass points in Australia, which is quite impressive. I know, all the way from the UK.

00:08:06Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:08:07Sarah Jefferson: So as they did Jakes Point parkrun last week, they stepped in to volunteer to free up some of the locals and keep their tourism streak alive. So Jakes Point parkrun sits between the old Western Compass Point Marina parkrun. So that parkrun would be around 150km to the south. And then you've got the current Western Compass Point Baxter parkrun, which sits just a small stretch up the road, 442 k's north of where we were. So we were treated to two breaching whales about 30 to 40 metres offshore that were truly showing off during their migration. And we really enjoyed some hikes through the national park, which honestly look really similar to the Grand Canyon, the beautiful rich colours and the impressive rock formations. So all three adventurers kept their swimming dreams alive here on the west coast, swimming in the Murchison River. But unfortunately, I was planning for winter weather and I wore really long, I wore long tights and they weren't friendly for swimming in. So I feel like I do this every time, Simon. I need to just wear shorts in winter. I don't know. Every time I go hiking, I wear tights and then I can't go swimming. Um, so anyway, they got into the, into the river, which they were all quite, um, thrilled with and the gorges do get quite hot even in the winter. Um, and supposedly in the area they'd actually, um, so normally the gorges in the area, sorry, sorry, would be, um, dried up by now. So you can actually hike through and explore and that's what we were hoping to do. But recently they've actually received more rain in, in a 24 hour period than the entire rainfall for the last year. Um, So lots of the trails are actually cut off. But it means, I guess, that you can, you know, go and have a look at the river, which is quite impressive as well. So great weekend, tiring weekend. I want to say it's just around the corner in WA, but, you know, it still seems like such a long way with nothing in between to get there. But it's ticked off now. Only two more left until I can get my statesman back.

00:10:23Simon Mackley: Oh, wow. Which two are they?

00:10:26Sarah Jefferson: So I've got Broome, so Town Beach in Broome, and Esperance. So, you know, Esperance would probably be the closest around an eight-hour drive. And Broome, I guess it's a two-and-a-half-hour flight or a two-and-a-half-day car trip. So, yeah, the plan is by the end of the year to get those done.

00:10:48Simon Mackley: So how many countries could you drive through in Europe in eight hours?

00:10:51Sarah Jefferson: It's crazy. I'd hate to think about the amount of parkruns you would be able to get to in that timeframe.

00:11:00Simon Mackley: Exactly. My gosh.

00:11:02Sarah Jefferson: But yeah, great weekend. And you'll be hearing more about this. I did a roving report with the Run Director. So we'll hear more about the parkrun on the course a little later on.

00:11:12Unidentified speaker: Cool.

00:11:14Simon Mackley: So seeing as you put me on the spot, I'm going to ask you out of your 115 parkruns, and yes, I've done the research as to how many you've done, what are your top three?

00:11:23Sarah Jefferson: Oh, this is not about me. This is about you doing 100 in Australia. No. So now you've put me on the spot. Yep. Okay. So I really enjoyed Nightcliff, in Northern Territory. So the Northern Compass Point. I didn't really know what to expect. I sort of went up there to do the Compass Point, but I mean, it's along the coast. I just love the coastal parkruns. Very scenic, running nice and early and sort of seeing a bit of a sunrise. So I really enjoyed that. I've got to say Margaret River. I think I may have mentioned that on the pod before, just the trails and just, yeah, the greenery. Yeah, really beautiful part of the country. And they have coffee happy hour from 8 till 9 where you get like a $3 coffee. Coffee is really expensive in WA, but who does coffee happy hour 8 till 9? Isn't that when everyone's getting their coffee? Yeah.

00:12:29Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:12:30Sarah Jefferson: That's quite impressive at the cafe at the end there. And I think Queenstown's got to get it for number one. It's just stunning. I know it's not in Australia, but you didn't ask me specifically, actually. No, I didn't. You're right. Yeah. Just so scenic. Just, yeah, the mountains, just the park. It's beautiful.

00:12:42[crosstalk]

00:12:51Simon Mackley: Okay. Where does it run in Queenstown?

00:12:55Sarah Jefferson: I think it's called, is it the Queenstown Gardens, I think? It's pretty much right in Queenstown. The point goes sort of into the lake. Lake Wakatipu? Possibly. Let's go with that one. It is Lake Wakatipu. Yeah, next to the lake.

00:13:01[crosstalk]

00:13:10Simon Mackley: Okay, cool.

00:13:11Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, beautiful scenery. Nice. Yeah.

00:13:14Simon Mackley: Okay.

00:13:15Sarah Jefferson: Yeah.

00:13:16Simon Mackley: And speaking of New Zealand, that was a really good segue without even realising. This pod is going to be late because our illustrious editor is away over the ditch. So, yeah, this will slash has come out late for you.

00:13:31Sarah Jefferson: Yep. But we hope that Mel's having a fabulous time and continues to have a great time in New Zealand.

00:13:37Simon Mackley: Exactly.

00:13:38Sarah Jefferson: Well, something that Mel doesn't need in New Zealand, she's been wearing her beanie, is a bucket hat. So Simon, we have bucket hats, which is very exciting. I know that some of the adventurers have been keen and pushing for the development of a bucket hat for quite some time. It is a reversible bucket hat. And looking at some of the little pictures on there, there's a little parkrun logo, a little barcode, some leaves, a stopwatch, coffee cup, amongst other little things. I think I saw that these are just available in the Asia-Pacific region. So it would be interesting to see, yeah, if we start seeing them pop up around the place. And they do come with a $30 price tag and there's three sizes, which is quite good. Now, I personally love the idea of them, but I'm not sure that it would suit me. And I'm not sure that it would go, not that I'm super fashionable, but I'm not sure that I would wear a bucket hat. I'm more of a visor kind of girl. What are your thoughts, Simon?

00:14:49Simon Mackley: So, yeah, it was totally a surprise when I saw that come out. Yeah. The two sides are very, very different. So the one side that you're talking about is the darker side with the, I guess it's apricot, or I can't remember what colour it was, with all those images. But the other side is like white and looks very colourful waves and things like that. So, yeah, I'm wondering how dirty it might look if you wear it with the parkrun stuff on the outside, because the inside's going to be a bit on Being white, yeah, I don't know. I probably won't buy one. My wife absolutely hates me wearing bucket hats, which is why I sometimes do wear them.

00:15:34Sarah Jefferson: I was going to say, you better not buy it then.

00:15:36Simon Mackley: No, I won't. I won't be buying it, but it's not, yeah, it's not because I don't like it. I think it's a great idea, especially in Queensland, and I'm sure in WA as well. Yeah, but I'm definitely a visor guy as well. Visor for running and a normal cap when I'm not wearing a visor.

00:15:54Sarah Jefferson: Yes, I feel like for running, it probably won't really be applicable. It needs to sort of have a drawstring if it was for running, right?

00:16:00Simon Mackley: Yeah. Good for volunteering, though.

00:16:02Sarah Jefferson: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

00:16:04Simon Mackley: True. Yeah. So we have an update as well from Mel. I reached out to her today about this little plane idea that she had. So, she did take it to New Zealand with her, but she will be bringing it back with her. She's going to have it engraved before it starts its journey around Australia and then across to the UK.

00:16:29Sarah Jefferson: So, it has technically been to New Zealand?

00:16:31Simon Mackley: It has been to New Zealand. Yes, it has. Yep. I haven't seen a photo with it, but yes, it has been to New Zealand. Okay.

00:16:37Sarah Jefferson: I did see a photo with it. That's how I knew that she had purchased it. I'm trying to remember if she had the frame as well.

00:16:39[crosstalk]

00:16:43Melissa Finlay: Just like a little mini model plane. Yeah.

00:16:46Sarah Jefferson: Yeah. Yeah. Well, on that, Simon, I do have a suggestion. So I was thinking, I know there was talk, I think it was in last week's pod, as to how this would be tracked or how we would know where it was at. And I was thinking on the base underneath it, we could print out, you know, like a QR code that either links directly to the adventurers page, so that's easy for people to post, or if we really want to get clever, we could actually create its own Facebook page for tracking. And again, with the QR code linking directly there. And I also feel that this plane, it really needs a name, doesn't it? If it's going to be going on all of these adventures, I feel like it really needs a name. So I guess now that we have the little token, I wonder if some of the listeners could put their thinking caps on, and maybe come up with a name for this plane as it starts to zoom all around Australia, across the ditch, and then over to Bushy. Yeah, that's a good idea. Yeah, if anyone has any ideas, we'd love to hear from you here. I don't know if you can think of any, Simon. I'm putting you on the spot again. I can't, so don't even ask me.

00:18:01Simon Mackley: I'm not going to. My creative juices have been used up all today, so that's, yeah.

00:18:03[crosstalk]

00:18:08Sarah Jefferson: But I feel like the listeners have some really great ideas.

00:18:11Simon Mackley: Yeah, exactly. Not plain face. No.

00:18:16Sarah Jefferson: Well, there you go. You're throwing some ideas out already. No, no.

00:18:20Simon Mackley: That's a no.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:18:24Simon Mackley: Well, while we're on it, how about we throw to a very famous person on the pod to do a roving report?

00:18:25[background music]

Roving report Sarah Jefferson — Jakes Point parkrun

00:18:38Sarah Jefferson: Good morning parkrun adventurers. It's Sarah here on the West Side and I am still on the West Side. I've travelled about six hours or six and a half hours north to check out Jakes Point parkrun.

Talking to Melissa Finlay — Event Director and Run Director, Jakes Point parkrun (Kalbarri, Western Australia)

00:18:48Sarah Jefferson: And I'm here this morning with the Event Director and today's Run Director, Melissa. Good morning. Morning. So today is event 43. How's it been going up here in Kalbarri?

00:18:59Melissa Finlay: Yeah, it's been great. We've had some rain over the last few weeks, but it looks like we're going to get some nice clear weather from now on, so it's good.

00:19:08Sarah Jefferson: And I assume you've had quite a few tourists head up recently and check out the course?

00:19:11Melissa Finlay: We have lots of tourists coming through, so we've got a few dedicated locals, but our parkrun's usually full of tourists, so it's good. Get to meet lots of new people.

00:19:20Sarah Jefferson: Fabulous. And were you involved in the setup of the course?

00:19:23Melissa Finlay: Yes, yep. I was the one who initiated it and got it through the whole setup process. Fantastic.

00:19:30Sarah Jefferson: What was the reason behind sort of setting one up here?

00:19:33Melissa Finlay: Just to have something physical for locals to do all year round and being free was a real bonus.

00:19:42Sarah Jefferson: And why did you pick this park? So it's obviously a little bit out of Kalbarri. Jakes Point, would it be about 3, 3.5km out?

00:19:49Melissa Finlay: Yep. The town? Yeah, about that. It's really hard in Kalbarri to find space that doesn't have a road going in. There's a lot of parking lots, so trying to find a 5km track that doesn't have a road was really hard. So this is where we ended up, but this has probably got the best views.

00:20:10Sarah Jefferson: It's stunning. And it's like the Red Rock is quite beautiful, contrasting, I guess, against the ocean.

00:20:15Melissa Finlay: Yeah, and the whales, the dolphins, seals, the whole lot.

00:20:18Sarah Jefferson: I haven't seen any of those yet, but I have seen some white splashes out the back, so I'm assuming they're whales.

00:20:23Melissa Finlay: They're whales. They're definitely whales. And we did have some dolphins riding the surf earlier today as well, so they're always good fun. Beautiful, beautiful.

00:20:31Sarah Jefferson: And the actual course itself, can you describe the course?

00:20:35Melissa Finlay: Oh, really easy course. No, that's not what people say. It's a nice course to run, but it's relatively flat, but it's got that incline in it that you don't really notice until you're running it and then you can really feel it. But other than that, it's not too hilly. It's not hilly at all. It's just got that gradual incline across it. And it's all the way along the coast, so it's pretty spectacular. And a two-lap course at that. Two-lap course, yeah.

00:21:05Sarah Jefferson: And this podcast is all about people who like to go on adventures. So if people were wanting to put Kalbarri on their tourism map, why should people come to Kalbarri?

00:21:14Melissa Finlay: If you like adventures, Kalbarri is like your place to go. We've got the inland gorges where you can do the loop trail, you can see nature's window, you can see the sky walk, you can go down and do Z-Bend, which that's a really challenging walk and that's amazing, have a swim in the Murchison River down there. And then you've got your coastal gorges where you can go and you're walking right along the cliff face there. So it's a bit scary, but it's absolutely beautiful. And then, yeah, you've got your snorkelling in town. You've got your surfing. You've got the world-class break at Jakes Point. So there's always something to do. You can go abseiling as well. We've got abseil tours. You can go and pull a cray pot on the lobster tours. So there's... Kalbarri is an adventurer's dream.

00:22:01Sarah Jefferson: And a good stop on the cosy people are keeping on going north, I guess. I guess lots of people stop in here.

00:22:05Melissa Finlay: Yeah, it's an easy day drive from Perth, so it's good to come up to and have a lovely time. We've usually got pretty good weather as well. Yep. Yeah, it's beautiful this morning. Yeah.

00:22:18Sarah Jefferson: Well, I think breakfast is calling. But thank you so much. Such a beautiful course. And hopefully, yeah, there'll be some more adventurers up here soon. Yeah, sounds good. Thank you so much. Thanks. So this week we only had one roving report from my adventure up in Kalbarri and it was really lovely to chat to Melissa Finlay, the RD, and hear all about how that parkrun has been tracking.

00:22:25[background music]

Dazza's

00:22:52Sarah Jefferson: All right, so moving along to Dazza's. This week Dazza has said... This week is NAIDOC week and the parkrun adventurers acknowledge Indigenous Australian as the traditional owners of the land on which we live, learn and run. We have their lengthy and continuing connection to country to thank for many of the waterways, bushlands and spaces we have the privilege of running, walking or volunteering on or near on Saturday mornings. Come on in to Dazza's, let us know whose country you're on this morning and tell us how it went. Now, I must admit, Simon, that I was initially a little bit nervous when I heard the photo challenge that was set by TOC last week. Do you remember years ago, and I'm sure I had just finished uni, so it was quite some time ago, and there was the planking challenge going around that everyone was getting involved in. And so in my mind, I went straight back there and I was thinking about people balancing on things that weren't really stable and doing things that weren't really safe. But as I was having a little look through Dazza's, of course, the listeners are more sensible and creative and intelligent. And they did impress me with all of their ways to tackle this challenge this week in a safe way.

00:24:08Simon Mackley: Definitely. Yeah, there was a lot of creativity there. So, yeah, the first one we have from, I think it was 136. We heard from Tracey Leeper, who was in South Australia. She said, my fastest parkrun of 2024. And the first time I've run the full 5K at parkrun in I don't know how long. South Australia Peel Club, tick. West Beach parkrun Compass Club, tick. And there was a photo with Tracey holding the frame above her head, but upside down. Well done, Tracey.

00:24:41Sarah Jefferson: From Victoria, we had Greg Garner. Unfortunately, couldn't get a picture with the frame at Victory Heights Trail parkrun for their 200th event today, but did get a picture with the next best thing. And there is a photo of two or two and two zeros. So 200 balloons upside down. So I thought that was very creative indeed.

00:25:02Simon Mackley: It was. Next, we heard from Heather Hunter. So she said, I woke up early, so had time to travel further afield in search of fellow adventurers, after scrolling through the Friday post finally met the og ol Sam in person and so many other adventurers including Luke Andrew Linda Catherine and a few others I'm sure at ABGMA parkrun on durable country and after three years with only one time remaining I finally finished stopwatch bingo congrats Heather and there was a tiny that's great yeah teeny tiny Heather standing atop the Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan frame. Well done, Simon, as well, remembering that.

00:25:52Sarah Jefferson: From the West Side, we had Alana Troring. Sorry, Alana, I hope I've got that right. I ran today on the lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people at the University of Western Australia parkrun. A two-lapper on campus, but there is so much to see, much better than expected. Lots of great local tourists and a welcoming core event team. Bonus, it was about 500 metres from our hotel. And there was a photo posted of a peacock and the koi pond. See, Mel, the koi pond is there. And you can even see some koi in the picture. So it does exist.

00:26:30Simon Mackley: And speaking of Mel, we heard from Mel Ellis from New Zealand. So she said, my first Aotearoa New Zealand parkrun at Balclutha. Blue skies, bridge, first female. It's not a race. Cup is full. And Mel was balancing on one foot on top of Balclutha's selfie frame.

00:26:52Sarah Jefferson: Nice to hear from Mel across the ditch. Yes. And from the UK, we had Yvette Turner. Fantastic morning at Bushy parkrun. We caught the tube to Waterloo, then a train to the charming village of Teddington and walked through the park to the start. Hubby came 785th, and I was 1,004th out of 1,394 runners. Lovely group of super organised volleys on the course and managing the three finish channels. We met the Co-Event Director, Andy Haworth, when we asked about his bushy park tee. Great coffee at the pheasantry, then back on the train to London. And Yvette is kneeling on top of Bushy's pop-up. Sorry. Impressive numbers over there. It's crazy, Simon. I've never actually been to an event that large.

00:27:48Simon Mackley: No, it blows my mind. Definitely.

00:27:52Sarah Jefferson: All right.

Emails

00:27:54Sarah Jefferson: So we actually have a few emails this week, which is quite exciting. The first one comes from Michael Blain, the Des Connor Junior parkrun RD. Hi, Mel and Co. Thanks for another great pod this week. I have been lucky to get in and listen early this week rather than over the following weekend, which is the norm to me. With the Professor Club, I think there needs to be the accommodation of the two of the Australian Junior parkruns, which are run on school facilities. Bellevue Park Junior parkrun on the Gold Coast is hosted by Bellevue Park State School and Des Connor Park Junior parkrun in Brisbane is hosted by Marist College in Ashgrove. So of course, 15 years and above can only volunteer at these events. So the Professor Club, could have two subclubs. You could become a junior professor club member by doing all of the 5K and 2K events. Or you could become a volunteer Professor Club member by doing the 5K events and volunteering at the 2K events. It does sound a little confusing, however. Thanks for all of your efforts of you and the team, both in front of the microphone and behind the scenes. A thoroughly enjoyable podcast. So, Simon, I quite like this idea. I just wish I was young enough to join the Young Professor Club, because I think that sounds quite fancy. But I think it sounds quite like it makes sense to me. Michael, I think that makes sense.

00:29:33Simon Mackley: Yeah. Yeah, good idea. Adding the two junior events makes, yeah, a lot of sense.

00:29:38Sarah Jefferson: Great idea.

00:29:40Simon Mackley: And we had an email. Well, we actually had a – I had a message from Andrew Royce who sent – I sent this through via email. So on the weekend, Adrian and his partner Lynette – had a wedding pop-up, I guess, at Wishart. Adrian, for context, he was the founding ED of Wishart. He was also the founding ED of Mansfield, Queensland, I believe, too. This was actually said by the RD on the day. Welcome to Wishart, wedding parkrun number 478. We are gathered here today to celebrate the sacred union next week between Adrian Royce and Lynette Ferguson, and the other sacred union between parkrun and our wonderful volunteers. We stand here to honour and celebrate the love shared between Lynette and Adrian, and he went on and named all of the volunteers on the day, and parkrun, as they come together to put on the fluoro, surrounded by their closest 250 Wishart parkrun family and friends. Adrian and Lynette would like to thank those parkrun tourists who've travelled from as far as Newcastle to be here today. It makes their day even more special that you made the journey. Should anyone present know of a milestone that is being celebrated, speak now or forever hold your peace. Adrian and Lynette have provided me with their vows that they've written for each other and would like you to join in saying we do. Do you, Lynette and Adrian and parkrunners, take Wishart parkrun to be your 5k course this morning? to stay left, to have dogs on a tight handheld leash and to keep kids under 11 within arm's reach? Do you vow to bring your barcode or miss out on being scanned and give back your token at the end? Do you vow to honour each other, other PATH users and our neighbours who are still in bed and call out, how good is this at the end of the ceremony when I pronounce our couple as husband and wife? It's now time to exchange the position tokens. And then they went through and they gave their tokens to each other. And then it finished with, by the power vested in me by parkrun head office and Lee, our Event Director and face of the Griffith Uni trail run, I now pronounce you husband and wife. And then said, let's parkrun.

00:32:00Sarah Jefferson: I love that. I like that parkrun allow for all of these different, yeah, creative spins. I think it's great.

00:32:07Simon Mackley: Yeah, exactly.

00:32:08Sarah Jefferson: The atmosphere, yeah, would have been really upbeat and really, yeah, great on the morning.

00:32:12Simon Mackley: I actually haven't seen any photos from it, but they did ask people to bring flowers from their garden and, yeah, dress up like they were going to a wedding and that sort of thing. So, yeah.

00:32:21Sarah Jefferson: Beautiful. I wonder if they were channeling some of the European parkruns with the Prosecco after the parkrun. Oh, that would have been nice. I feel like they definitely needed that.

00:32:31Simon Mackley: They deserved it, yeah.

Club Corner

00:32:33Sarah Jefferson: All right. Well, we might keep the celebrations rolling and we might throw to Rachel.

00:32:40[background music]

00:32:51Rachel: 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. This week's clubs sound like musical titles, perhaps from Sondheim or Bernstein dot dot dot dot, but we promise you that there is no singing involved. Today I'm going to talk about new. No, not new, but new. You know, not what you knew, but what's new. Then we will venture all about town. So, new. It's very simple. Events that start with the word new, so that means New Farm, Newborough, Newcastle Park, Newport Lakes and not to be confused with Newcastle Park, it's Newy. And in a quirk, there are two successor parkruns in this group. Do you know which? Mel, I'll let you back announce which two they are, to save me from going on and on about nothing. The club is called, It's What's New. And yes, if you are a West Wing fan, that's a reference. It's time for a joke. Say, did I ever tell you I invented a new word? It's plagiarism. The best part is that anyone can copy the joke and it will still be funny, moving on dot dot dot our other club is for any event with town in the name which extends to ville or borough or berg as a suffix and it's being called on the town the first and most obvious of the club members are Campbelltown georgetown Jamestown Golf Course Town Beach and Westbury Town Common parkruns the villes are Bunyaville, Dawesville and Parkville And the boroughs and bergs are Coburg, Edinburgh Oval and Edithburgh. So all up that's 11 events, and they are spread through Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia. Or I could have made that easier by saying everywhere except Northern Territory and ACT. Shall we have some small town jokes? Why did the computer move to the small town? It wanted more bite-sized adventures. How about, my town is so small that our McDonald's only has one golden arch. Or for something more rural, why did the kangaroo stop drinking coffee? It made him too jumpy. And remember, in parkrun life, all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun, so stay tuned for our future Club Corners.

00:35:00Simon Mackley: And we're back from Rachel, who went through the It's What's New and All About Town. So that's events that start with new and any event with town, ville, borough or burgh. So, yeah, as Rachel said, New Farm and Newy are two that are actually in the Successor Club as well. So you get a double bang with those. And there's 11 in the On the Town Club. And I love that it's spread across all of the states and only misses out on our two territories.

00:35:32Sarah Jefferson: True. There's work to be done in those two territories then.

00:35:36Simon Mackley: Exactly, yeah.

00:35:37Sarah Jefferson: In the future. So I don't know about you, Simon, but I've got in the – It's What's New Club. I've got three of the events, so three being New Farm, Newy and Newcastle Park. And on the Town Club, two events including Dawesville and Breauville. So I wouldn't have known about the borough, or I wouldn't have thought about it, the borough and the ville. So I thought that was quite clever. That's pretty impressive.

00:36:06[crosstalk]

00:36:07Simon Mackley: I've only got two.

00:36:09Sarah Jefferson: Okay.

00:36:09Simon Mackley: Yeah, I've only got New Farm, which I did with you. And Bunyaville.

00:36:14Sarah Jefferson: And what about the It's New Club?

00:36:16Simon Mackley: Did you say that? The New is New Farm. So I've got one new and I've got one in Ville. So, yeah, I need to pull my socks up with that. Yeah, I'm now listening.

00:36:26Unidentified speaker: That's right.

00:36:30Sarah Jefferson: All right.

Consolidated Club Report

00:36:32Sarah Jefferson: So the adventurers Consolidated Club Report for Saturday the 13th of July is Of a total of 662 members, 492 took part on this date in nine countries across 247 locations. So in the UK, there were adventurers at 48 events, six in South Africa, three in the USA, one in Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Netherlands. And locally, we had adventurers at... Queensland, in Queensland, we had 51 adventurers. We had 43 adventurers in Victoria, 38 in New South Wales, 18 on the West Side, 14 in South Australia. On the North Island, we had eight. Tassie, there were five. South Island, there were four. ACT, three. And the Northern Tree, there were two.

00:37:32Simon Mackley: That's a bowling strike. It is.

the Frond — Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan (largest Australian frond, 13); Tamworth Castle Grounds (largest international frond, 8)

00:37:36Simon Mackley: And our largest international frond, we had eight at Tamworth Castle Grounds. And they were Denise Evans, Debbie and Andy Airey, Charlotte Minchell, Cameron and Sammy Gerrish, Nadege Rutter and Kim Leonard.

00:37:53Sarah Jefferson: And we did have two people making the pilgrimage all the way to Bushy Park this week. We had Yvette and Bill Turner.

00:38:01Simon Mackley: Fantastic. It's nice to see another pilgrimage. Definitely. And largest frond in Australia. So again, taking out the largest frond is Australian Botanic Garden, Mount Annan, with a frond of 13. So we had Sam and Luke Schroder, Bill Troy, Catherine O'Connor, Sheila Sharma, Andrew Blanda, Linda Coe, Heather Hunter, Caleb Rosey, and Laura Amos, Catherine Pirotta, and Kevin Bigup.

00:38:32Sarah Jefferson: And it was nice to see that Sam and Luke are now participating. I know that they've been volunteering for the first two weeks. They have. Pleasing to see. And remember that you can add the Adventurers Club as one of your five affiliations on your parkrun profile.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:38:49Sarah Jefferson: All right, and Simon, we had three launches this week. So sorry, TOC, you've missed out on saying the launches again. The first one that we had was Guild parkrun, located in a closed facility in the UK. So the course description was quite brief. You need to run or walk five kilometres. This week we saw 33 finishes with an amazing 13 volunteers and there were 11 first-timers.

00:39:17Simon Mackley: Fantastic. The next one was Alby Gård parkrun, which is located in Alby, Norway. So the course description is... Oh, no, I'm reading it in Norwegian. Hang on. It's like, go you. No, keep going, Simon. Two laps with a stunning ocean view and smooth gravel roads, mostly flat with small hills. Start and finish is outside the Alby Cafe. So they had... Five volunteers looking after 63 finishers with an amazing 40% or 25% being first-timers ever. Even stranger is that the first five finishers had never been to parkrun before. So that's pretty impressive.

00:40:05Sarah Jefferson: Wow, that is impressive indeed. And the third launch we had was the Promenade in Abermaw. So located in Barmouth, I hope I pronounced that right, in Wales. Yes. The course starts on the promenade opposite the leisure centre. Two laps, each an out and back loop on the north end of Barmouth. I feel like I should be saying that. Barmouth, yeah. Promenade. Barmouth, thank you. This week saw 106 finishes with five being first timers and looked after by 20 volunteers. All right, Simon. So moving along.

Sign-off

00:40:45Simon Mackley: Yeah, so the challenge for this week, there will be no challenge. And that's because the pod will be out late due to editing. So please post, but there's not going to be the requirement this week to fulfill a challenge. Where are you going to be on this next parkrun day, Sarah?

00:41:06Sarah Jefferson: So I'm actually undecided, which is quite unlike me. So I'm contemplating whether I venture home. As an adventurer, I don't get home to Cottesloe very often unless I'm run directing, or whether I head to somewhere locally to tick off a Wilson number. Matt will be working, so I will be solo this weekend. Yeah. Yeah, so I guess I'll just see what I'm feeling like and where this Saturday will, yeah, where it leads me. What about you, Simon? Where are you headed?

00:41:41Simon Mackley: I am undecided, but it's undecided between two things. I may go to Surfers Paradise and knock off my last Gold Coast event, or I may just volunteer locally. I'll see how the weather holds up on Friday night and make the decision in the morning. Good to have two different options. Yes, exactly. And I'll have to look what's actually available for volunteering locally as well. Well, it was really good having you come on the pod again, and I'll see you in a month's time. As always, you can contact us via parkrun adventurers on Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week. We will see you all next week for more adventures.

00:42:20[outro theme playing]

the Obi Award — Melissa Ellis

00:43:35Sarah Jefferson: You all thought that we had forgotten to hand out the Obi this week. But Simon, have you got the envelope?

00:43:42Simon Mackley: Indeed I do, Sarah. The Obi this week goes to... Mel over the ditch. Yay!