Episode 389 - What's a Melidex?

00:00:00[intro theme playing]

Welcome

00:00:24Tony O'Connell: And welcome to episode 389 of the parkrun adventurers podcast, a podcast about life, if your life is all about parkrun. I'm TOC and I'm coming to you from Boon Wurrung Country.

00:00:36Melissa Ellis: And I am Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country.

00:00:39Tony O'Connell: Mel, how are you tonight?

00:00:42Melissa Ellis: I am pretty good, nice and relaxed after my little break. So thank you very much to Sarah from the West Side for stepping in for me last week when I was over the ditch.

00:00:52Tony O'Connell: Mel, out of last week's episode, just following up on Sarah from the West Side, I think she made a bit of a geographical error. Yeah, I did notice. Yeah, she said Greg Garner ran at Victory Heights and that was in the greater state. Now, I don't know about you, Mel, and I'm sure you agree, but Victoria's the greater state and Victory Heights is a long way to the north of us.

00:01:14Melissa Ellis: Yes, maybe it was a little confusion over the word victory and Victoria may have tripped her up.

00:01:23Tony O'Connell: Or maybe Simon's just convinced her that Queensland may be the greatest state, but we all know it's Victoria.

00:01:30Melissa Ellis: It is. So, yes, Greg Garner ran in Queensland.

00:01:35Tony O'Connell: Well, also in last week's podcast, there was a call-out for suggestions for the name of the parkrun adventurer's mascot, the plane that we've seen the picture of in the social media. We had a couple of suggestions. Greg Garner chimed in and suggested Zoomy, but the one that gave me a huge laugh was Helen Patricia, who suggested Budgie for the aeroplane. They fly, they talk, and there's a reference to the Ugly. We were talking about it at home and Jacqui's big concern was that that would make the person that's in possession of the mascot a budgie smuggler.

00:02:10[crosstalk]

00:02:10Melissa Ellis: I think it's perfect.

00:02:13Tony O'Connell: And I think some of our UK people may struggle with the reference to budgie smugglers, but I'm sure most of our Australian listeners are going to get that reference.

00:02:21Melissa Ellis: You can Google it.

00:02:24Tony O'Connell: Google it if you dare.

00:02:26Melissa Ellis: And those people that like to dip in the ice-cold water could wear their budgie smugglers.

00:02:32Tony O'Connell: They could indeed, Mel. Not a lot of budgies in the cold water.

00:02:36Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so we don't have to rush into making that decision. Like, we can... Still workshop it a bit? Still workshop it, but I'm liking budgie. He's not a little helicopter, though. He's a little Jetstar plane.

00:02:49Tony O'Connell: It's a strong contender at this point.

00:02:52Melissa Ellis: It is, it is. But tell us, Tony, we haven't heard from you for a couple of weeks. What have you been up to? What did you do on parkrun Day?

00:03:02Tony O'Connell: Well, two weeks in a row now, I have been to Inverloch. And I think it's probably one of the first times I've run two weeks in a row at Inverloch for, well, probably a year. We tend to go there and travel or go and volunteer and then run a week. But I've actually run two weeks in a row. We had family down, so we had to stay nice and close. We talk about Inverloch being always sunny. Yeah. And I'm afraid the parkrun weather guides really let us down. It wasn't wet and rainy, but it's been overcast. And just after parkrun, it started down in Victoria. And I think most of the state was pretty well blanketed by showers all day. But we got through parkrun dry, which was the main thing.

00:03:47Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's good to hear. And you didn't get... What is it if you run the same time two weeks in a row? I actually did, Mel.

00:03:58Tony O'Connell: Oh.

00:03:58Alice: What? Really? I did not know that.

00:03:59[crosstalk]

00:04:01Melissa Ellis: I swear.

00:04:03Tony O'Connell: Really? No, I knew I was going to be somewhere close to the mark, but didn't realise how close. But yes, I did.

00:04:12Melissa Ellis: Excellent. Groundhog Day.

00:04:14Tony O'Connell: Groundhog Day.

00:04:15Melissa Ellis: Congratulations. Is that your first time?

00:04:17Tony O'Connell: That is my first time in about 390 parkruns. Wow.

00:04:22Melissa Ellis: Wow, and you didn't do it like, you didn't cheat?

00:04:26Tony O'Connell: No, I didn't cheat, didn't tweak the thing. I just, I knew I was getting close to it and I had a goal of running about the same time.

00:04:34Melissa Ellis: Okay, so you were hopeful?

00:04:36Tony O'Connell: Yeah, look, I was hopeful. I did slow down a bit in the last half a K because I was well ahead of the time, but yeah.

00:04:43Melissa Ellis: Oh, good for you.

00:04:44Tony O'Connell: We've got a Groundhog Day.

00:04:46Melissa Ellis: That's exciting. Mel, what about you?

00:04:49Tony O'Connell: Where did you get to for parkrun Day?

00:04:51Melissa Ellis: Well, let's go back two weeks. So two parkrun days ago, as everybody knows and has not yet heard, I was at Balclutha parkrun on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The Maori name for the area is Iwikatea or Iwikatea, literally bleached bones. Balclutha is a major centre for the surrounding farming region and the largest town in the South Otago, about halfway between Dunedin and Gore on the Clutha River. The Clutha River is the largest in New Zealand by water volume and the second largest after Waikato. The concrete Balclutha Road Bridge is the most prominent structure in town, having been built in 1935 after previous wooden versions had failed. The parkrun starts and finishes at the Duck Pond in Naish Park and runs along a grassy floodbank, first travelling west for a kilometre and turning to run eastward to the Balclutha Bridge. Funnily enough, where you run across and back returning to the park to the finish. Now being largely on the floodbank, the course is flat except for when you depart the bridge at each end to turn around and the park has toilets and an aviary full of lovely birds. Due to time constraints, I unfortunately attended alone and not as I'd hoped with the kids, and I was among 26 finishers and claimed first female, which I recall being aware of. However, I still got a nice surprise earlier when I saw my name listed on the event history page. I was blessed to have good running conditions, blue skies, little to no wind and only a slight chill despite the much colder conditions. Sadly, due to their previously mentioned time constraints, I couldn't join the community for brunch. Always a regret when not possible on tourism trips. And I must mention... after our recent discussion about strangest animals seen at a parkrun that there were indeed sheep grazing on the grassy flood bank although they did move clear of the approaching runners when required not a unique animal by any means but very well associated with New Zealand and not one I've had to navigate on a course before So, why were you under such time constraints, Mel? Well, I'm glad you asked, TOC. After parkrun, we headed approximately three hours north, I think it was north anyway, to Queenstown, where we experienced an ice bar and teppanyaki dinner. Perhaps not typically New Zealand activities, but a lot of fun nonetheless. And for the record, both Ezra and I lasted the full hour in the ice bar, enjoying the last 15 minutes with the whole place to ourselves. 100% recommend it. [Te Reo Māori: "bleached bones — the Māori name for the Balclutha area, glossed by Melissa Ellis herself as "literally bleached bones""]

00:07:34Tony O'Connell: Excellent, Mel. That sounds like a great little trip. I like the way that you've got your bridge reference in there. Is that a contender for New Zealand bridges or is it?

00:07:43[crosstalk]

00:07:43Melissa Ellis: I think so.

00:07:44Tony O'Connell: You think so?

00:07:45Melissa Ellis: I think so. Yeah, no, it was quite an impressive little bridge at Balclutha. And yeah, I was quite pleased to have the opportunity to run it. Very friendly team there. What else didn't I say? Well, this week I was at Newport Lakes, which was a repeat for me. I hadn't been there since the inaugural back in whenever that was, but they're nearly to, I think they're nearly to 400. So it was a fair while ago. And as I'd mentioned a couple of weeks back, although I had, although it was only the second time I'd attended, I feel like I'd been there a lot more because it's another event that's often in the longest run, out there at Newport Lakes. I chose it because there was bad weather forecast. It was looking like rain and it was quite windy. So I know that the Newport Lakes is down in a basin, a quarry basin that's been redeveloped. So I thought it would be quite protected and it was. So I felt quite proud of myself. It was a good choice.

00:08:49Tony O'Connell: Mel, having run... Newport Lakes before how did you how'd you find the course it's one of those courses I still look at on the map and think this is going to be like a ball of knotted wool that seems to twist and turn but when you actually run it it seems to be very intuitive it seems to flow very well

00:09:09Melissa Ellis: You would think so. And because, as I'd previously mentioned, I've probably done it four times before. And as much as I said, oh, it runs in the basin of an old quarry, I forgot about the lap of the perimeter that you start with. But it still was and felt relatively protected amongst the woodlands around the perimeter. And at the 4.5 kilometre mark, TOC, you don't know this, but I took a wrong turn.

00:09:39Tony O'Connell: Well, there we go. Maybe it's not so intuitive as I originally thought.

00:09:39[crosstalk]

00:09:43Melissa Ellis: I popped up onto the concrete path before I should have because there was actually a sign down. I think the signs had fallen over and I had a moment of confusion, headed up to the concrete path, continued along for a couple of hundred metres until I realised I'd done the wrong thing. Anyway...

00:10:07Tony O'Connell: Doesn't matter. parkrun with the bonus. Bit of extra distance.

00:10:11Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I came up about 200 metres over. So anyway, never mind. But yeah, it was a nice morning out there revisiting Newport Lakes.

00:10:23Tony O'Connell: Yeah, no, it's a lovely little parkrun. Lovely little patch of parkruns in that area out there. There's a number of them all sort of scattered around. I really enjoy Cyril Curtain just up the road.

00:10:33Melissa Ellis: Yeah, Newport Lakes really doesn't get a lot of mentions, but I think it really is a little gem. You know, it's quite pretty. There's a lot of nature and there's a lot of little mosaic art scattered around along the trail and nice gravel paths everywhere. Little bit of elevation, but not a great deal.

00:10:57Tony O'Connell: When you think of it, running in a former disused quarry, you don't think of the lovely growth. And as you said, the trees, the plants and all that around there and the way they've redeveloped the area that you think it's just a really beautiful little natural hidden little pocket in the middle of a fairly busy suburb.

00:11:16Melissa Ellis: It is hidden. Because Newport is more traditionally, I guess, industrial sort of area.

00:11:24Alice: Yeah.

00:11:24Melissa Ellis: Not associated with parks and gardens, let's just say. So it's unexpected. And I remember the first time I went there, I was like, wow. You know, hidden away.

00:11:35Tony O'Connell: A little gem.

00:11:35Melissa Ellis: That's it.

00:11:36Tony O'Connell: Yeah. Mel, a number of episodes ago, there was a conversation.

the Melidex

00:11:40Tony O'Connell: I can't remember who initiated it, but there was a thing that came up, and I'm going to call it the Melidex. Okay. And it's the number of times that you've been out and run with Mel. Oh. So does that all of a sudden make sense when you read it in the show notes? Oh. Yeah, our friends that are with me now talk about D-indexes and N-indexes. Well, I've got the Melidex going here. Mel, I've looked up our stats. Did you know we've attended parkrun on 56 occasions together? Wow. Wow. 56. 56, which really surprised me. That's starting way back at Berwick Springs in July 2014, when we didn't know who each other were. We probably didn't talk. We probably didn't even... I think on that day, I was probably timekeeping and you ran... Now, because that was when I was learning the ropes for Inverloch. And our parkruns together so far cover the Greater State, being Victoria, Tassie, South Australia, West Australia, the ACT, Queensland and New South Wales. We're only missing a parkrun together in the Northern Territory.

00:12:57Melissa Ellis: When are we going to Katherine?

00:12:58Tony O'Connell: Well, I think we've got to organise a road trip because we get the Peel Club in running together.

00:13:04Melissa Ellis: Wow. Oh, good on you for figuring that out.

00:13:08Tony O'Connell: So, yeah, 56 separate occasions. That's heaps. Yeah.

00:13:11Melissa Ellis: I don't reckon I would have ran that many times. Well, maybe Jackie. But anybody else? Can anybody else look that up and tell me if you've ran with me more than 56 times?

00:13:27Tony O'Connell: It's interesting, Mel, we ran the first time together in July 2014 and the second time wasn't until June 2015. So it was a year in between. And that was probably about when we started to work out who we were. And yeah, then there was a fair string of events following on from there. So anyway, there's a challenge. Is there anyone out there that's run with Mel more often than 56 times?

00:13:54Melissa Ellis: Oh, you?

00:13:55Tony O'Connell: Yeah, there's another challenge.

00:14:00Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and we're completely stealing that idea from Danny and Nicola, but hopefully they don't mind.

00:14:04Tony O'Connell: Completely.

Statesmen update

00:14:06Melissa Ellis: Now, we also are going to mention that Sarah said she's only two events off becoming a WA statesman, Tony. And that got you thinking.

00:14:20Tony O'Connell: It did, Mel. And I thought, how many statesmen are there out there? And our very own Dawn has come up with all the answers for us, as Dawny does. Thank you, Dawn, um in the greater state there's currently 24 statesmen there's two in kingsland a whopping 63 in South Australia five in west Australia 27 in Tassie and there is currently zip zero and zilch in New South Wales we don't have a statesman in the New South Wales at the moment and Both ACT and Northern Territory have many, many statesmen, so they haven't been listed because they only have a smaller number of events.

00:15:01Melissa Ellis: Hmm. Wow, that is impressive. So yeah, we're doing pretty well. We've always been really strong in Victoria with the tourism community, haven't we?

00:15:11Tony O'Connell: Comparatively, when you look at it, Mel, we're fairly fortunate. We have 111 events in Victoria. So to become a statesman, you've got to have the 111, but we only have a few that are fairly remote. So from our place, it's a nine-hour drive, I think, to get up to Mildura. Portland's probably a... seven hour drive, eight hour drive. The Queenslanders, there's two statesmen listed at the moment, but a couple of their events do have a fair bit. Weipa, especially if you're coming from Brisbane, it's a cut lunch and three days in the car to get up there. Tassie has quite a few, but obviously being a smaller area, but they have 22 events and they have 27 statesmen. But the challenge in Tassie, of course, is to get across to Flinders Island to do Whitemark. So it's not the easiest one to get to either. So, yeah, just some interesting numbers now.

00:16:08Melissa Ellis: And of course, WA are always pointing out how difficult it is to get to the remote.

00:16:16Tony O'Connell: To get way up north. And some of those events are way, way up north. And especially if you look at some of the really remote ones like Kununurra, which is on the Northern Territory border, and it's not really close to...

00:16:29Melissa Ellis: too much at all it's a you know probably a a travelling way wayside stop but if you're going from broom across the top end yeah no and kudos to all those adventurers that do manage to tick off all those ones they're the passionate ones

00:16:48Tony O'Connell: Of interest, Mel, across Australia, we also have 324 in the Peel Clubs. That's people that have done every state and territory in Australia. So eight different states or territories, 324 of them. And we have the Aussie Pioneer Club. So the people that have done the first event in each state or territory. And there's only 16 in that.

00:17:12Melissa Ellis: Oh, I'm in that.

00:17:15Tony O'Connell: Well, there we go. There's one that you're in that I've got a fair way to work on still.

00:17:20Melissa Ellis: Well, I'm pretty sure I am. I believe I am. I'm working on my way on the Successors as well. And that's probably something I should have thought about when I went to New Zealand because probably I wonder if anybody's done the first events in New Zealand and the second event in New Zealand and on the North and South Island.

00:17:39Tony O'Connell: There's something to think about. So how many of the Successors do you have to go, Mel?

00:17:44Melissa Ellis: I think only two. I think I just have to get to Rockingham.

00:17:48Tony O'Connell: Yep.

00:17:50Melissa Ellis: And whatever the Northern Territory one is, which I think it's Nightcliff. Is it Nightcliff?

00:17:55Tony O'Connell: Yeah.

00:17:56Melissa Ellis: Because I've done Darwin.

00:17:57Tony O'Connell: Yeah, I think Nightcliff might have been the second one up there. Yep. I'm only one off my Aussie Pioneer. I've got to get up to New South Wales. To St. Peter's, I think it was up there, was it? Yeah.

00:18:10Melissa Ellis: It is St. Peter's, yeah. Yeah. But now I've got the South Island, Tony. I'm only one off in Oberg. So I've got to get myself to the North Island.

00:18:23Tony O'Connell: Yep. Yeah. Challenges, Mel, challenges.

00:18:26Melissa Ellis: I know, but that's what we're here for. That's what the adventures are all about, and that's where the fun lies. Now, we haven't actually got any roving reports this week, so it looks like, listeners, you're in for a shorter pod.

00:18:40Tony O'Connell: That's probably not too bad after the last time you and I got together and we had our individual monologues, Mel. People are probably quite happy about that.

00:18:48Melissa Ellis: Yes, we'll keep it a bit briefer this week, and that's less editing.

Dazza's

00:18:53Melissa Ellis: So we'll jump straight over to Dazza's.

00:18:58Tony O'Connell: Well, this week Dazza said, today marks 55 years since humans first set foot on the moon. Perhaps you took one small step at a time in a leisurely walk or maybe a giant leap that was made towards a milestone. Whether you rocketed around or felt very leg strong or you just enjoyed the parkrun buzz, come into Dazza's and tell us all about it.

00:19:20Melissa Ellis: And first up, we heard from Ellie Shepherd coming to us from Wales in the United Kingdom. And she said, first time I've seen a train on a parkrun course. Okay, it was only a land train, but still, lovely morning at Swansea Bay parkrun in sunny Wales, where the forecast rain held off until we were park faffing in the cafe. And Ellie shared a photo of the said train. Now, it looks like it was one of those little kiddie trains that... gives their children a little ride around parks. Is that what you thought?

00:19:53Tony O'Connell: That looked like very much that, Mel.

00:19:57Melissa Ellis: Yeah, but that's still an interesting obstacle to possibly have to navigate when you're running your parkrun.

00:20:02Tony O'Connell: I wonder how that runs through the risk assessment. Mel, I'm... I was about to say staying in the UK because our show notes say that this one's in the UK.

00:20:14Melissa Ellis: Oopsie, what did I do?

00:20:16Tony O'Connell: But I'm going to say we're back in Australia. Maggie Lewis. Maggie Lewis. We had a moon and a rocket emojis. And the comment was, well, my 88-year-old mum is a bit of a rocket with a speedy finish today. Together we visited S.S. Koopa Trail parkrun, lovely course along the Pumicestone Passage at Bribie, which is Bribie Island for those playing at home. Amazing volunteers are all smiles and eager to help. I remember the moon landing so well, I even got half a day off school. And there's a picture of Margie and her mum by the water.

00:20:56Melissa Ellis: We also heard from Pippa White back in the UK. And Pippa said, might not have been a milestone, but the Tame Volunteer and I finally managed Muncaster Castle parkrun, second attempt for me and third for the Tame Volunteer, and it was unbelievably magnificent. Three hot laps and a bonus walk with the Tail Walker. And there was a photo of Pippa and the Tame Volunteer by the castle that actually was written as TV, but I...

00:21:24the Birthday Boy: I happen to know that that stands for the TAME volunteer.

00:21:27Melissa Ellis: And I believe congratulations is also in order for the TAME volunteer who graduated just recently from some sort of university because I saw the photos.

00:21:39Tony O'Connell: And well done to the TV. Now, coming back to New South Wales, Sonja Pohlman. And Sonja's comment was, a whale of a time at the Beaches this morning. And Sonja posted a video. And you've got to get on and go and have a look at Dazza's and have a look at this video. From the beaches course, Sonja sent in a video of a whale breaching in the distance. And that's one of the most amazing things I reckon I've seen at a parkrun course. I love whales. So well done, Sonja.

00:22:10Melissa Ellis: Yeah, lots of people go whale watching and don't get to see anything so yeah that's incredible really incredible now we also heard from Pauline Taylor also coming to us from Queensland and Pauline said lots of adventurers represented at Kedron parkrun on a chilly Brisbane morning to celebrate Shortsy's life there was a lot on social media showing photos of all the wonderful things that they had There was a cake that I saw, TOC. There was lots of his medals on display. I think maybe perhaps still offering for anybody to take as a memento if they so wished. I actually wished I had an opportunity. I spied an Anzac one in one of those photos. I thought, oh, that would have been a nice memento. But anyway, adventure is... were pictured in the selfie frame at Kedron and I did note they were one of the largest fronds they didn't take out largest from this week but uh the frond that was listed was Dave Moss henny koza Michael Blain Pauline and Russell Taylor Michaela reese Kelly tims and the Belinda fairy now also present in the photo but not listed because they volunteered was Erica Leota, Tracey Wood and Lyndell

00:23:30Tony O'Connell: And Mel, I think it was really touching. I saw a number of other tributes to Schiltzie because they were running a bit of a tribute to Schiltzie last weekend. And I saw a number of other events such as Zeehan in Tasmania where a number of people wore yellow ribbons with Schiltzie's barcode number on it. So I saw that at a few different events around. So I thought that was quite a touching little reminder.

00:23:54Melissa Ellis: Yes, and I have seen in the socials that that yellow ribbon with Shiltsy's barcode number on also travelled to some of the parkruns that he hadn't managed to get to.

00:24:07Tony O'Connell: Yeah, a couple of the Queensland events. So Schiltz was almost back to being a statesman when he just couldn't quite get around the last couple.

00:24:09[crosstalk]

00:24:14Melissa Ellis: Yeah, that's beautiful.

00:24:15Tony O'Connell: Anyway, Mel, heading to the USA where everything seems to be happening in the media at the moment. And we had Rex Gream, one of our favourites. And Rex said, this was the day when I set foot on my first international parkrun at Byxbee parkrun. Was accompanied by 20 American family members who were experiencing parkrun for the first time. Some of whom I think may become regular parkrunners when they're so close to a parkrun, parkruns can be very scattered here in the States. Byxbee is a two-lap, out and back on a gravel path, nice course except for the lack of shade. It attracted people from all countries with a large Aussie contingent, which was appropriate as Run Director Scott is an expat. Great volleys, especially the lady at Marshall One who cheered with much enthusiasm all the way through. Very enjoyable, as it was a great experience. And there was a picture of Rex with his adventurer's top holding up a sign saying, I ran a Byxbee parkrun with the pop-up.

00:25:20Melissa Ellis: Yeah, that made me happy. Well done, Rex. Fancy getting 20 of your family to go to parkrun.

00:25:26Tony O'Connell: And 21st time, and I'm just thinking, Rex, there's got to be an opportunity there for a big jump in the... The parkrun adventurers Members Club.

00:25:39Melissa Ellis: Get onto it, Rex. Now, next we had Dan O'Connell coming to us from the Greater State, and he said, Hey, Dazza, a giant leap was made toward a milestone at Kirkdale Reserve parkrun, my 17th time being Run Director and celebrating my 50th volunteer. And Dan shared a photo of himself in the selfie frame saying, with the 50 volunteer cutout. I'm not sure if all the countries have those, Tony, but I don't think I've seen them being used internationally, but here in Victoria, well, not Victoria, but here in Australia, we do have the little shirt cutouts.

00:26:14Tony O'Connell: We have the little cutouts. A lot of events had them early on and had them laminated. So they sit in the tub. I know down at Inverloch, we had them for a long time, but we've gone across to the more traditional running cape because they make you go faster.

00:26:30Melissa Ellis: Sounds good to me. Yeah, well done, Denno.

00:26:32Tony O'Connell: Right, moving up to the ACT, Mel. We had Ian and Lydia Knox. A couple of hours or so away from sunny Sydney, a very wet Tuggeranong parkrun where I completed the capitalist status. And that's all of the ACT parkruns. They tell us they never cancel due to wet weather. And there's a picture of Tail Walker Ian holding up an umbrella in the volley photo.

00:26:57Melissa Ellis: And now across to South Australia, I won't say down because I've learned that lesson before. We heard from Rhianna Witt Gamble and she said, we ticked off another new event at Kingston in SA. 150 different events for me, mum's 50th and my sister's 25th volunteer as well. Very windy here this morning and we were the only tourists out of 15 people. Loved it though. Very friendly. Such a great parkrun. We'll have to come back again. And there was a picture with Rhi, her sister Jen and mum in the selfie frame at Maria Creek Reserve parkrun.

00:27:35Tony O'Connell: Mel, so many milestones in that one little post just there alone. Heading down to our friends in Tasmania and our friend Charles Gregory. Today I failed to take a giant leap through an enormous puddle in the middle of Launceston parkrun course. There was no going around it. Wet shoes for everyone. And there was a photo of a wet looking area at the Launceston parkrun.

00:28:00Melissa Ellis: I didn't actually know how to describe that photo because it isn't their briefing point. It's more where they congregate to give the volleys. I don't know what you call it. They go off to do the brief to the crowd, but it's not where they sort of congregate where everybody joins together.

00:28:23Tony O'Connell: Yeah, I'm not sure, Mel. The one time that we went along to Launceston parkrun, I turned up, I think, in a Batman costume and there weren't many other costumes there. So we sort of had a bit thinking about ourselves at the time. It was their anniversary, so there was a theme. I just don't rock up in Batman costumes.

00:28:49Melissa Ellis: Now, this is our final one, and it is Stuart Brandwood coming to us from the UK. And he said, circumnavigating the planet to Princes in Liverpool, UK. We welcomed Bill and Yvette Turner from Canberra this morning. They didn't actually know about your pod, so we made sure they are aware. Hoping the shout out will be a nice Easter egg for them, if they start listening following now this was a bit funny and I'll you'll hear why in a minute so there were pics from Bill and Yvette on the post and pictured with the Princes pop-up and one of Bill and Stuart which described them as two RDs But Yvette actually came back and commented on last week's pod post and she said, Hello, I listened to my first podcast this week. I am a member of the Facebook group but had not explored the podcast. I was so surprised to hear my post about attending Bushy read out on the pod. What a fun surprise! Hubby Bill and I are travelling overseas at the moment and on our first weekend away we went to Germany to parkrun, then the Netherlands, followed by Bushy and Liverpool yesterday. Going forward, Southampton is planned for next Saturday, Courthouse Lake in Minnesota USA the week after, followed by the Singapore Special Run and Normal parkrun the final week of our travels. On your favourite parkruns, I've been to Cowra, Coombs and Nightcliff and agree with you, they are all great. Especially Nightcliff, when after many flight delays, our flight from Canberra got in after 1am on Saturday morning, but our luggage did not. I put out a request on the Nightcliff Facebook page and the RD, Karen and other volunteers bought our shoes and running clothes to wear. I really enjoyed the podcast and will catch up on the previous ones and continue listening. So that was really nice. A little bit of a story happening there. But I did find it amusing when I first read Stuart's post that Bill and Yvette didn't know about the pod because we know about Bill and Yvette.

00:31:01Tony O'Connell: Well, if my memory's correct, I think we've mentioned Bill and Yvette several times on the pod. So it's quite funny that they've only just started listening to the pod. Yeah. I know.

00:31:12Melissa Ellis: We knew they were overseas.

00:31:16Tony O'Connell: We knew they were overseas. They didn't know we existed.

00:31:20Melissa Ellis: Well, they will now. They will now. So, anyway, that's it this week for Dazza's.

the Obi Award — Rex Gream

00:31:27Melissa Ellis: Do you have an Obilope?

00:31:30Tony O'Connell: Mel, I have the Obilope here. Fabulous. Excellent. Well, our winner is, out of our Obilope, we are giving the Obi this week to... Rex Gream, all the way from USA.

00:31:50Melissa Ellis: Hooray. Well done, Rex. You deserve it, getting all those family to go to parkrun. Good on you. You might have changed some lives. Hooray.

00:32:03Tony O'Connell: Congratulations, Rex, and we do look forward to seeing a massive spike in the number of parkrun adventurers on next week's Consolidated Club Report, all from the USA.

the Birthday Boy

00:32:14Melissa Ellis: But for now, it is time for us to throw to the birthday boy.

00:32:15[background music]

00:32:24the Birthday Boy: Howdy, it's the Birthday Boy here with some of the goings on for August 2024. August is the most populous month this winter. We have 40 events on the books, plus a few that are even closed, and they're spread over five weeks of anniversaries. Yep, it's another five parkrun month. For August, I'm picking up on some of the recent clubs that have been highlighted by Mel, Simon and TOC. And I'm starting with the People Club. There are eight people events celebrating. They are Bill Rose Sports Complex, New South Wales, turning five. Chelsea Bicentennial and Wilson Botanic, Victoria, both turning 8. Harris Avenue and Hervey Bay, Queensland, turning 5 and 10 respectively. Jake's Point in WA is turning 1. And Port Lincoln and Victor Harbor in South Australia are turning 7 and 10 respectively. What else do we have? Well, we've got Eastern Gardens turning six. They're in the Explorer Club. We have Greenbank in the Rainbow Club turning seven. And we've got the bonus member of the Miner Club turning 11. It's Cairns. Ooh, Balyang Sanctuary is turning 12. And can you guess why that one is exciting? It's a double barrel. It's a successor parkrun in Victoria, but also the 10th event to launch in Oz. So it's a milestone event. If that's your general wheelhouse, then you could also head to WA for Claisebrook Cove. They are turning 12 and they're a pioneer event of WA. To finish up the shout outs, let's head to the other event turning one this month with Harmony Boulevard parkrun in Queensland. They're turning one in the first week of August. Finally, an anniversary reminder that events may celebrate what they like, when they like. So please check all details with the local source, i.e. their webpage and or their Facebook page. This is especially true for dress ups, cakes, et cetera. And if you don't know where any of these named parkruns are located, then head to the event map on parkrun's website and type in the event name and see what pops up. Head to parkrun.com.au forward slash events. And while you were there, you can click on the same menu in the parkrun Aus event page and you can end up on the parkrun cancellations page. All the other ways to go to parkrun.com.au forward slash cancellations. Well, see you next month for some more birthday boy banter and be sure to let Mel and Co know if you have any requests.

00:35:05[background music]

00:35:17Tony O'Connell: And thank you very much to our birthday boy for that great little wrap-up on what's coming up next month. It's interesting to see, Mel, that eight of the events that are in the People Club have birthdays.

00:35:28Melissa Ellis: That's right. And I liked a little shout-out to Balyang. That is one of my little sentimental events in Victoria, another underrated, I would say, course, because it's really quite pretty along the river there down in Geelong. Oh, what's the river called again? Do you remember?

00:35:46Tony O'Connell: I don't, Mel.

00:35:47Melissa Ellis: Okay. Is it the Barwon?

00:35:50Tony O'Connell: It might be the Barwon River because that is the major river that runs through Geelong. Anyway. Well done, Mel. Your geography is so good.

00:35:57Melissa Ellis: Go me. So that was the event where I've achieved statesmanship for the very first time. So I'm very, I have a little fond connection to Balyang. And yeah, as the birthday boy said, you get along there and you tick off a couple of challengers. So, well, you get an event in a couple of challenges with the successor and the milestone event. So, yeah, it's the event that keeps on giving.

Consolidated Club Report

00:36:22Melissa Ellis: um but the consolidated club report for Saturday the 20th of july 2024 out of a total of 665 members we are growing 469 took part on this date in eight countries across 239 locations in the UK there were adventurers at 48 events so they took the gold there were six in South Africa and the USA and one in the Netherlands Japan and Italy Locally, we had adventurers at 43 events in the greater state, taken out silver, and Queensland and New South Wales had 41. West Australia had 19, so they pipped South Australia this week with 16. There were seven in Tassie, six on the North Island, and three in the ACT.

the Frond — Rex Jackson Oval parkrun (18 adventurers)

00:37:12Tony O'Connell: Mel, our largest international frond, and I'm tipping this is going to change next week. We're looking back, we've got six events in the USA. I'm going to call it the green factor. And I reckon next week, our biggest international frond is going to be in the USA. Wow. The challenge is on, Rex. You've got to get stuck into it. But for this week, the largest front was at Liverpool, where we had Bill and Yvette Turner, Steve Milne and Ruth Perkins.

00:37:44Melissa Ellis: Hang on a minute. Old mate who wrote into Dazza's and was the one that... Stuart? Stuart? You're the one that told Yvette and Bill about the podcast and you're not an adventurer?

00:37:56Tony O'Connell: He might be an adventurer. He might have been volunteering and not show up.

00:38:00Melissa Ellis: Oh, of course. Okay, I'll let him off the hook.

00:38:03Tony O'Connell: And it's interesting seeing Steve Millen's name up there because I follow Steve on Strava. Oh, nice. Welcome, Steve.

00:38:11Melissa Ellis: Okay. Now, the pilgrimage talk. No adventurers at Bushy, so it's a bit disappointing. Up your game, adventurers. But our largest frond in Australia and New Zealand is 18 at Rex Jackson Oval in, where is it?

00:38:36Tony O'Connell: That'd be in New South Wales.

00:38:38Melissa Ellis: It must be. And there was Jack and Claire Cork or Bill Troy, John Pointon, Darren and Lucille Pead, Mark Weber, Mike Scott, Debbie Ho, Peter Abela, Renata Koch, Mark Hibbard, Sue Bannister, Amy Kent, Michael Gentle, Patty Oshimo and Sam and Luke Schroder. And Sam came to Dazza's and she said, spontaneous giant frond two weeks in a row. Missing from the pick is Mark from Lawson, who I spotted thanks to his excellent parkrun adventurer shirt. Rex is another fabulous trail parkrun to add to the collection. And there was a photo with nearly everybody in the front.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:39:17Tony O'Connell: Mel, last week, Sarah gave me a little bit of lip about not getting many launches on my shift. Cheeky. So I contacted my friends at parkrun Global and said, hey guys, you've got to give me some launches this week to make me look good. And now we've got a few and the first of them is Dereham parkrun in the UK. This parkrun's run on a mix of grass, trail and hard surfaces. And this week they had 151 finishers and they were supported by 37 volunteers. So that's one volunteer to nearly every four finishers. So I reckon things must have run pretty smoothly with a volunteer contingent like that.

00:39:59Melissa Ellis: Oh, wow. Yeah, that is a lot. But that's great. And next up, I get the fortune of saying the Japanese launch. So let's give it a crack. Shibamata koen kadan. Close to Tokyo, Shibamata Park flowerbed parkrun runs along the Shibamata Riverbed. Why did you put that in there three times? It's a double out and back, and the launch had 53 finishes, kept on track by nine volunteers, and curiously, 39 or 74% of the finishes were male. [Japanese: "Shibamata Park flower bed — Melissa Ellis gives the gloss herself in the following line, "Shibamata Park flowerbed parkrun""]

00:40:32Tony O'Connell: Mel, I was going to take on those difficult pronunciation ones, but unfortunately, alphabetically, that one was the second one alphabetically, and you put the name blocks in of who had to read them, so I thought that was pretty funny. Well, our third launch for the week was at Three Brooks parkrun. And this is a really interesting one because this parkrun's located just one and a half miles from the former parkrun, Little Stoke. And listeners may recall Little Stoke. It was the one that was infamously shut down by the local council, um event one saw 414 finishes supported by 55 high-vis heroes attempt to double out and back course and one of the comments on Facebook that I read was um describing about the cancels in the area and this one is apparently a different parish but some of the same councillors. County Council owns both Little Stoke and the Three Brooks courses, but the Parish Council had the final say over the Little Stoke usage. The County Council had the final say over the Three Brooks parkrun. So it depends which side of the line I think you fall on. Mel, as to who's the boss?

00:41:45Melissa Ellis: Well, that's nice that there's a parkrun that's returned to that local area.

00:41:50Tony O'Connell: It's really great to see one in that area again. And there's a few parkruns surrounding it. So, yeah, it's really good.

00:41:56Melissa Ellis: And the fourth launch for us to tell you about is the Plains parkrun in the UK. And this course runs along the Plains Nature Reserve and Densborough Greenspace. It is principally a trail route on a mixture of hardcore paths and grass with a short section on tarmac. Parts of the course will be muddy even in summer, apparently. 226 finishers and 27 volunteers squeezed into the 35 car parks available at this event. 35 car parks?

00:42:25Tony O'Connell: Not a big car park there, Mel. You want to get in there early. Volunteers probably filled most of them.

00:42:31Melissa Ellis: Oh, so that's 35 car spaces.

00:42:34Tony O'Connell: 35 car spaces for the whole event. Because you know what my brain thought?

00:42:38Melissa Ellis: Like there's a car park here and then down the road there's another car park and then like 35 of them around.

00:42:48Tony O'Connell: No, 35 spaces.

00:42:49Melissa Ellis: Okay. So out of interest, this one has sets of stairs on a trail section of the course. Now, did you not mention to me something else about the stairs? Yes. Is there three sets or more than one?

00:43:02Tony O'Connell: There is a couple. Sorry, Mel. Yes, there is a couple of sets of stairs on the trail section. And they're grassy stairs with sloper fronts. So they're quite an unusual set. So it's obviously not a course that you'd want to take a pram or buggy along to.

00:43:21Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah, no. Maybe you go down the stairs. How do you know you go up them, TOC?

00:43:27Tony O'Connell: Because the comment that the person that posted that I read in the UK tourism group said, terrorists, murderers set to climb.

00:43:36Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's a bit cruel, isn't it? Who designed that course? Can't you do it backwards and go down them?

00:43:46Tony O'Connell: It was interesting to see that three of the parkruns this week launched in the UK and one in Japan. Nothing in Australia or South Africa that seemed to have had quite a few launches so far this year. So, yeah, stay tuned. Looking forward, Mel, what have we got to look forward to?

00:44:05Melissa Ellis: We've got Ugly Christmas in July to look forward to this Saturday, Tony. So bring out your festive best for the 27th of July. And we are looking to see heaps of retro fluffies, koalas and all other varieties, especially budgies.

00:44:22Tony O'Connell: Yes, very much the budgies, Mel. And if anyone wants any further info, you can hop across to the Ugly Christmas Day Facebook group.

parkrun adventure challengelistener challenge

00:44:31Tony O'Connell: Yes. Mel, it's probably time for us to issue a challenge. We need to put a thinking caps on. We need the listener challenge because we have people like Bill and Yvette that are regular posters that don't listen. So let's see if we can throw a challenge out for the listeners to confuse those that don't listen to the podcast.

00:44:52Melissa Ellis: No pressure, Bill and Yvette. We need to see you in Dazza's this week.

00:44:56Tony O'Connell: And you need to come up with the challenge.

00:45:01Melissa Ellis: Yes. So we have had a suggestion by one of the Level 2 With A View office members, staff Tony and that was to post in your Dazza's comment something with an emoji that represents an Olympic sport so you can you can be creative with what you use I'm sure I've seen a curling emoji

00:45:30Tony O'Connell: Well, I'm sure there's emojis for swimming and I did see the French minister for sports swimming in the Seine last week.

00:45:37[crosstalk]

00:45:37Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah.

00:45:38Tony O'Connell: Didn't say take a mouthful of water, but I saw him swimming.

00:45:41Melissa Ellis: Or it could be a basketball or it could be a soccer ball or it could be a horse because there's equestrian.

00:45:50Tony O'Connell: isn't there yeah there is plenty of opportunity there Mel here let's see if we can get some good lateral thinking and some good creative ideas to come out and uh yeah see if you can come up with an emoji that's going to stump us and we have to try and work out what its connection with the Olympics is oh yeah true that because the Olympics the whole point of this is we're opening ceremonies coming up isn't it for Paris it is Yeah. So the Olympics are on in about a week. And yeah, we're all, well, I'm looking forward to it. I enjoy watching the Olympics, watching sports that you only watch every four years for two weeks. And I don't know whether the sport sometimes goes into hibernation or we go into hibernation, but...

00:46:34Melissa Ellis: I'll get ready for the diving so I can critique how good their splash was. And we can get excited about all the parkrunners that are competing. But that is a story for next week.

Sign-off

00:46:47Tony O'Connell: And speaking of next week, Mel, do you have any parkrun plans for this Saturday?

00:46:53Melissa Ellis: Of course I do. Do you even know me, bro? But so, yes, often I am a little bit unsure. I think I'm going to head to Maribyrnong. I haven't been I've been backing off on my tourism. I did just go to New Zealand. So it's my at home weekend this week. And yeah. Maribyrnong looks as good as anywhere. What about you, TOC?

00:47:20Tony O'Connell: Fun fact, Mel, the last time I did Maribyrnong was the last day that they had the lead bike roll available. So I put my hand up and went down and did lead bike at Maribyrnong.

00:47:31Melissa Ellis: That's good. And in the news, you know how they had all those terrible floods from the Maribyrnong flooded? And I think it's the Anglers Tavern that is like just across the way from the other side of the river from where the parkrun starts. It is. They've just reopened.

00:47:46Tony O'Connell: Oh, cool. Mel, my plans this week, I have no plans so far. I would love to jump in the car and do a little interstate trip, maybe just across the border, maybe McLean Beach, which I believe is one of your favourite little events. Yes.

00:48:01Melissa Ellis: It is. I rate it highly, but just don't get stuck in the toilet. Take a screwdriver. There's my advice.

00:48:06Tony O'Connell: Take a screwdriver. So, look, it could be an interstate trip or it could be back to Inverloch or somewhere local, maybe Great Southern. Just depends. Let's see what the weather's doing and I'll pop something up on Friday night's post.

00:48:20Melissa Ellis: Okay. And next week happens to be the Monday is the fifth Monday of the month. That's a blue moon and that means Ollie's back next week. So, don't forget to tune in for that and hear us. what he has been up to since we've last heard from him. And thank you for joining me, TOC, again this week.

00:48:42Tony O'Connell: My pleasure, Mel. It's always good to pop in and have a chat on Level 2.

00:48:46Melissa Ellis: But as always, everybody, you can contact us via the parkrun adventurers on Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. We love emails. That's it for another week. We'll see you all next week for more adventures. It's Saturday.