Episode 393 - Onwards and Upwards

00:00:00[intro theme playing]

Welcome

00:00:23Sarah Jefferson: Welcome to episode 393 of the parkrun adventurers podcast, a podcast about life if your life is 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 coming to you from Quandamooka Country. Thanks for joining me again, Sarah. It has been another month since we last spoke. How are you doing?

00:00:46Sarah Jefferson: crazy that a month has passed, Simon. I'm going very quickly.

00:00:50Simon Mackley: It is.

00:00:50Sarah Jefferson: But I am better now, Simon. But I haven't been great. I've been better. I feel like I've managed to catch everything that has been going around at the moment. Managed to lose my voice in the time that I haven't spoken to you.

00:01:07Simon Mackley: Okay.

00:01:07Sarah Jefferson: So, thankfully, it's back in time for this. But yeah, onwards and upwards now, hopefully.

00:01:13Simon Mackley: So, yeah, I noticed that you knocked off Town Beach. So, if memory serves me correctly, you only got one in WA left before you become a States person. Is that right?

00:01:23Sarah Jefferson: Yes, that's correct. So... Broome is about a two and a half hour flight from Perth. So I had Broome left to tick off and I've still got Esperance in the complete opposite direction, about eight and a half hours drive from Perth. So at this stage, planning on ticking that one off in October. However, it was nice to head up to sunny Broome recently, escape the winter weather down here and enjoy some sunshine. With the temperatures in the 30s, which was quite nice.

00:01:59Simon Mackley: Nice.

00:02:00Sarah Jefferson: I actually didn't get the chance to do a roving report while I was up there as it was, I actually had no voice during the time. Yep. So I thought I actually might share because we actually haven't had anybody send a roving report in from this parkrun. So I actually thought I might share a little bit about my time up there. So the weekend before last, I headed to Town Beach parkrun in Broome for their event 60. It's on the land of the Yaru people. And the event is actually a five-lap course. So there's three large laps around the park at Town Beach and two short laps. So when I first read the description, I was thinking, this is not going to be enjoyable. However, it's actually really well planned and it's actually, it's quite nice because you manage to see everybody multiple times and sort of, you don't actually really know where anybody's up to, I guess, because everyone's going around so many times around this park. So there were 139 athletes in attendance on the day and I opted to walk. As I said, I wasn't feeling great. So you get to run along the Broome jetty where you can often see the super low tides. So it's quite a high jetty, but there's actually no water under it at all. And the water was still quite far out. And at extremely low tides throughout the year, it's actually the place that you would go to to walk out about a kilometre to check out the wrecks of 15 Catalina flying boats that were sunk in World War II after they were bombed by nine Japanese planes in 1942. And it's estimated that around 100 people died. Therefore, it remains a grave site today. There's also historical memorabilia in the park at Town Beach as well. So lots to read and lots of history to learn about. And straight after parkrun, we headed to the broom markets to check out and try the famous mango smoothie, not the broom smoothie, the mango smoothie and meander around the markets, which I would highly recommend. Having visited Broome many times before, we opted for a more relaxed visit, but there is a lot to explore in this region, including camel rides on and along Cable Beach, seeing a film at the first cinema in Australia, which is an outdoor cinema with deck chairs, a visit to a pearl farm, seaplane flight out to the natural phenomena called Horizontal Falls. So there's a lot to see in the area. And of course, a sunset over Cable Beach. So beautiful part of the world up in Broome. It's just a shame that I wasn't feeling great.

00:04:42Simon Mackley: Yeah, of course.

00:04:44Sarah Jefferson: So, but I do have a bit of a theory, Simon, as to why my immunity has been quite low.

00:04:49Simon Mackley: Oh, do tell.

00:04:51Sarah Jefferson: Yes. So I am actually pregnant. There is another little adventure on the way.

00:05:03Simon Mackley: Congratulations. That's awesome. Thank you.

00:05:07Sarah Jefferson: So I haven't really been sick as such, but I've been, I guess my immunity has been compromised. So I've managed to just catch about three bugs in the eight weeks. So anyway, onwards and upwards now, as I said. Exactly. Yeah, I'm sure I've had everything for the season.

00:05:25Simon Mackley: Well, yeah, I hope so.

00:05:26Sarah Jefferson: Okay. Anyway, Simon, that's enough about me. How are you feeling?

00:05:30Simon Mackley: I'm feeling pretty good. I'm feeling a lot better than I did sort of a week ago after Clint Eastwood Backyard Ultra. So the day after I woke up and felt like a baby, sorry, newborn giraffe. Like I was just, yeah, I was all over the place. But by Sunday night, I was able to walk down from upstairs without going down sideways, which I'd been doing up and down Saturday and Sunday. Yeah. And I was fortunate, well, for me, that most of last week was actually raining when I would normally go out for a run. So I left it until Friday, went out and did 5Ks. And then parkrun day, obviously, I did another 5Ks. And after that, I was feeling a bit sore in the shins afterwards. But that could have been because the course I was on was about 95% concrete, or it could have still been the effects of the Backyard Ultra. But maybe my time was pretty much the same. So Yeah, I'm not feeling it in the shins now, so I think it probably was the concrete path.

00:06:35Sarah Jefferson: And just to remind the listeners, how many laps did you manage to do in the Backyard Ultra?

00:06:40Simon Mackley: I did eight and a bit. I started the ninth lap just so that I could tick over the 55Ks. So, yeah, I beat my longest distance by, what, 13Ks? Because, yeah, I'd only ever done a marathon prior to that. Incredible. Yeah. And I pretty much only gave up because my lower back was just so sore. Every time I ran, it was sore, which sounds stupid that it only hurts when I'm running. But yeah, I just couldn't keep up the pace of walking. I thought that I'd be pulling the pin at the end of seven. But my wonderful wife said to me, just go out and try the eighth. And if you don't finish it, you don't finish it. And then I was talking to her, seasoned ultra guy and he said to me okay if you're having that problem best thing to do is just March it out so he said you know be quite consistent you know making sure that you are walking fast but you're yeah you're not you're not running and that seemed to work I did do a few little jogs here and there just because I was worried that I wasn't going to make it back but like the first seven laps I was getting in between sort of 44 and 46 minutes that eighth lap I ended up doing in 55 and then as I say I turned around and went back out again but I only had to do a few hundred metres to get to the 55ks which I was absolutely stoked with yeah well done well done and great I guess you you pick up all of this little bit these pieces of wisdom as you you know out on course talking to all of these people who have been through this before it's invaluable no doubt like the one of the guys that went like so there was two guys that effectively did not finish at the same time. So, um, Ryan Crawford and James Blanton, and I could hear Ryan behind me. Like I'd heard his voice on another podcast and I was hearing him talking to people and like, he was just a wealth of knowledge to, to others. So I was, yeah, I was really soaking that in. I wasn't meaning to be either in front or behind him, but just seemed to be that at certain times he has quite a distinctive, very Australian sounding voice. Hard to miss. Yeah, it was hard to miss. Like there's a lot of people on course that I obviously didn't know their voices prior, but I'd heard Ryan's voice and I knew he was going to be there. Wonderful. Yeah. Yeah. It was like, it was really, really good. I enjoyed the experience. They, so Ryan and James finished, I think it was Monday and then entries for back for the Clint Eastwood open on Tuesday and it's only 65% full. Wow.

00:09:16[crosstalk]

00:09:19Sarah Jefferson: Wow.

00:09:20Simon Mackley: Yeah, exactly.

00:09:22Sarah Jefferson: So straight back on the horse.

00:09:24Simon Mackley: Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, exactly. I mean, the company that does it, AAA Coaching, they do a few different runs in Queensland and that sort of thing. So it was really well organised. Yeah, I was really, really happy with it. I will definitely do another one. I will probably do Clint Eastwood again. And this time I actually came in on the wait list. So the wait list cleared, I think within about a month. I can't remember when I signed up, but yeah, I'm very, very keen to do another one. I've actually been talking to TOC about it a bit and that sort of thing. So I've been trying to see whether he wants to come up and do it with me.

00:10:03Sarah Jefferson: Yes, I was going to say maybe you both should do one together. Are you already on to that?

00:10:08Simon Mackley: Well, his was extremely hilly. So I think that he would appreciate my one being extremely flat. So of the... eight and a bit laps, I think it was a hundred metres of elevation. So it's very flat. Yeah. Perfect one to choose then. Exactly. So yeah, I was pretty happy because I nailed the food. Well, I think I, yeah, I didn't have any issues. Yeah, the pain in my lower back was pretty much the only thing. My calves were getting very tight. But other than that, yeah, I mean, I could have run through that. But yeah, I'll definitely do another one.

00:10:43Sarah Jefferson: Fantastic. Fantastic. So if you were to pick sort of, I guess, a highlight, a key highlight that stood out for you, what do you think it would be? Oh.

00:10:51Simon Mackley: I don't know, getting through that many laps. I think the format's definitely different to a marathon because marathon, you're obviously, or a half marathon, you are just going the entire time. I was probably coming in too quick, you know, with 15 minutes to spare, but I felt like I needed that. And I think the sitting down Some people probably wouldn't like that part of it, but I really enjoyed that part of it. Like, I might have been sitting down for 10 minutes, you know, trying to get food in or get food ready for taking out on the course and that sort of thing. But, yeah, like, I think the pride of doing sort of 55 kilometres and knowing that I could do more was what I would take away from it.

00:11:33Sarah Jefferson: Very impressive. Well, congratulations again.

00:11:35Simon Mackley: Thank you.

00:11:36Sarah Jefferson: OK, well, I guess... We should hear a little bit about this week's parkrun Day. So where were you this week, Simon?

00:11:45Simon Mackley: So I went to Capestone Lakes, which is, sorry, Capestone Lake, which is on the lands of the Turrbal and Gubbi Gubbi people. So I took the rare opportunity of a no soccer Saturday and drove an hour north to Capestone Lake to tackle one of the newest events in South East Queensland. So it was up to event 23. Looking at the course on the web page, it looks pretty simple. But when you're actually there, it's a little bit different because there's an overlapping part of the course. But yeah, it's mostly on concrete, as I mentioned before. It's only the turnaround point that you actually go onto the grass. Yeah, I was joined by 81 other parkrunners, including my friend Sean and one of our regional ambassadors, Rhonda. There were 15 volunteers who were superb and encouraging, and one of those was fellow Ambassador Megan and her daughter Amelia. Yeah, I'd highly recommend putting Capestone Lake on the to-do list and having breakfast afterwards at the very conveniently located Degani Coffee Shop, which was about 200 or 300 metres from the start-finish. Fantastic bacon and egg burger, if that's your jam. And the coffee was really good as well. So, yeah, it was a really good Saturday, to be fair. Sounds like a lovely morning. Yes, it was great. So, where did you go?

00:13:14Sarah Jefferson: So, I stayed super close to home this weekend as I had a funeral to race to at 10 a.m. Sadly, so I headed to South Beach Recreation Reserve parkrun for their event 142 on the lands of the Whadjuk people. So this was actually the event of the Sunday 2023 Palm. So I won't go into the course description in too much detail because lots of the adventurers have actually completed it themselves, except to say that you do need to run on beach for about 800 metres, which I personally actually don't mind and I quite enjoy, but lots of people are not fans of that. It was the first time that I'd actually been well enough in a few weeks to jog, which I really enjoyed, but my body was feeling it, that's for sure. I guess for me, there's just something about the coastal runs that I really enjoy and they're definitely my favourite. We're really lucky in Australia that we have so many beautiful coastal parkruns. Matthew Stevens was in attendance as well. And as he is far, far faster than me, he actually managed to get in and get into the ocean for a swim afterwards just to keep up our West Side swimming on a Saturday morning. And he said it was very invigorating. So take that what you will. Unfortunately for us, there was no time for breakfast or coffee. A quick dash home after parkrun was required, but still great. We were pleased to get out and enjoy parkrun morning, that's for sure. Yeah, good. Good that you got out there. And unfortunately, yeah, you had a funeral on Saturday. It was unfortunate. Those things are always unfortunate. But good that I guess we could attend and pay our respects as well. Exactly right.

00:14:31[crosstalk]

00:14:59Simon Mackley: Exactly. So we should move on to news and discussion. So, yeah, I want to talk about supporting the 5K app. So this was actually something I meant to talk about two weeks ago, and then I forgot about it and realised when I was listening back in the car driving around. We reference the 5K app often on the pod and find it a very useful tool, as I'm sure you do as well. But after the unfortunate outage a few weeks ago, there are a few people who put one-star reviews on for the 5K app and were less than complimentary. So a few that I read had said that they loved the app, but it stopped working. So I think, yeah, it's a little unfair for them when, yeah, they hit a snag. It was only down for a few days. I don't think it's fair for them to have had these reviews on there. And I saw a comment from them on the app saying that they would really like for those people to go back and change their thing if they do enjoy the app. So I want to put a call out. Next time that you're using the app, why not go in there and drop a review of how you actually feel about the app? And if you feel inclined, they do have a Patreon page. And why not support them by joining their Patreon supporters? Because, yeah, like I find it such a useful tool. And for a free app, I think it's, yeah, it would be really good for them. I mean, they still get 4.9 on the Apple store. So they are getting a lot of good reviews. But, yeah, they did have that unfortunate incident. So, yeah, it'd be good if people did support.

00:16:35Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, awesome. That's really good advice, Simon. I know for me, I spend lots of time on the app and I really enjoy going on there, checking out challenges, checking out where my friends have been up or what my friends have been up to and planning future events. So it's a really good reminder to leave a review. And as you said, it's free. It's quite phenomenal what they actually offer for free. And we all benefit a lot from this. I mean, I was annoyed. I actually went in and I mean, I have my barcode on my my watch, but I did what Mel did and actually deleted it. And I thought, oh, well, maybe that will reset it. Now I've lost everybody, but anyway, I can re-add those. But I definitely didn't get on there and write a negative review, but good reminder to go on and put some positive words on there because I guess also they don't know what they don't know. So it is nice. And generally people don't hear if they're happy. It's when people are unhappy that they hear. So good reminder.

00:17:32Simon Mackley: That's exactly right. Yes, 100%.

00:17:35Sarah Jefferson: All right.

Budgie updatetravelling baton

00:17:36Sarah Jefferson: And we have an update on little Budgie. Yeah. Budgie's been busy adventuring around. So for some of the eagle-eyed adventurers, you may have spotted Budgie. Budgie was at Penrith Lakes parkrun last Saturday and there was a photo with the adorable Juno. It was posted with a selfie frame, Budgie in her hand with a cheeky smile on her face and And I do wonder if there is an adventurer handover. So I actually went on and had a look as to how many adventurers were at Penrith Lakes parkrun on Saturday. And there were five in attendance. So I'm guessing that there was a budgie handover and maybe a budgie was smuggled away for a new event, for a new adventure next week. So stay tuned. I'm excited to hear where budgie has landed next.

00:18:28Simon Mackley: Me too. Yeah, I can't wait. So we've got an update on the Bingoe card as well. Well, a bit of an update. So the Bingoe card building is still ongoing. It'll definitely be ready for the start of September. And so I would expect that Mel and TOC will be talking about it next week, that being the last pod before we start September.

00:18:49Sarah Jefferson: Crazy that it's nearly September.

00:18:50[background music]

00:18:52Simon Mackley: I know, exactly. Start of a new season.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:18:56Simon Mackley: So I think we should throw across to our roving reports.

Roving report Tracey Wood — Mitchelton parkrun

00:19:06Tracey Wood: Good morning parkrunners, it's Tracey in a Tutu and I'm here this morning at Mitchelton parkrun. Mitchelton parkrun is on the lands of the Turrbal people and it's located on the north side of Brisbane. It's one of the older Brisbane parkruns, it's been going since June 2013. I'm here today, I'm tail walking today with Melissa. How are you Melissa?

00:19:30Melissa: I'm very well thanks Tracey.

00:19:32Tracey Wood: Now Melissa tells me she's fairly new to parkrun. She's only been doing it for two years, but she's become quite addicted to it. Melissa, why do you keep coming back to parkrun?

00:19:43Melissa: Community and fitness and mental health for me.

00:19:47Tracey Wood: That is absolutely awesome. And are you a bit of an adventurer as well? Do you like going around to different parkruns and touring and seeing and doing the coffee things and whatever?

00:19:58Melissa: Yeah, I think that's one of the fun things about it is that you can tour and meet new people and see new places, run in places you've never been before or would never have gone to. So, yeah, fantastic.

00:20:12Tracey Wood: Now, putting you on the spot, has any parkruns stood out for you that have been iconic or fun or you've done a PB or something else that just made it memorable?

00:20:27Melissa: So I think Bunyaville, I did my 50th and they made me wear a tutu running through the bush wearing a tutu. So that was a little iconic. Cleveland's a lovely run. And the day we went there, there was a fellow doing his 500th run and they really made a big fuss out of him. He was 93, I think. It was brilliant. So yeah, just a great community spirit. And South Bank's always iconic as well, running through and seeing the city. Yeah, brilliant. Absolutely. And where are you touring to next? Ocean View, I think, is the next one we want to do. So you're a sucker for hills then, is that it? I don't mind a hill.

00:21:07Tracey Wood: Have you done Nambour? Can I tell you about Nambour? I haven't done Nambour. Would you like to know about Nambour?

00:21:13Melissa: Yeah, I'd love to know about Nambour.

00:21:16Tracey Wood: To be continued. Okay, team, I'm walking back. I'm heading back to the start now. I'll head back there and talk to the RD. To be continued. Hey team, I'm on the way back and I found James who was marshalling. Good morning, James.

00:21:33James: Good morning.

00:21:34Tracey Wood: How's it all going today?

00:21:36James: Wonderful. Beautiful winter's morning, starting to warm up a little bit.

00:21:40Tracey Wood: Okay, so can you tell me about your parkrun story? Yeah, I know you did five minutes ago, but can you share it for the listeners today? How did you get into parkrun?

00:21:48James: I started running again because of some friends signing up to a triathlon. I used to run when I was younger and then my knees started to hurt and decided, well, knees must hurt because of running, so let's stop running. And because of signing up to the triathlon, I was like, well, I guess I have to run a little bit. And yeah, from there started parkrunning and haven't looked back since.

00:22:11Tracey Wood: And what is your role today?

00:22:13James: I was a Marshal.

00:22:15Tracey Wood: And can you tell the listeners about Mitchelton parkrun Course? Because I haven't already and it might be easier for a local to explain.

00:22:23James: Mitchelton's glorious. It's depending on how many people there are. Some weeks can be a little bit busy and a little bit of a bottleneck at the start. But once you get out onto the course, it's glorious. Runs in amongst the trees. Concrete path the whole way, goes over a number of creeks and beautiful scenery. It's an out-and-back course. There's a couple of local legends that are always at the end of the course that volunteer. A couple of old boys that sit on the chairs that everyone knows and says hello to as you turn around the tree at the far end. Beautiful course.

00:22:53Tracey Wood: Any problem with snakes out here?

00:22:55James: Sorry, snakes? I haven't seen one.

00:22:58Tracey Wood: Okay, well, that's good to know. And what about other wildlife? We're not far from the creek, so... Yeah, definitely always lots of birds.

00:23:06James: You can hear the birds. I guess when I'm running, I'm not really looking up into the trees for anything else, but generally just the birds is all I notice. Awesome. Thanks for chatting with me.

00:23:18Tracey Wood: Hey team, I've just finished Mitchelton parkrun, crossed the finish line, got my barcode scan and I'm talking with Denise, who is the RD of the day. Good morning, Denise. Good morning.

00:23:29Denise: How are you? I am well. How did it all go today? I think we had a beautiful day, nice blue skies, no wind, so it was fresh, but it was a lovely day for a nice flat run here at Mitchelton. We had 330-odd runners. We had an amazing front runner this morning, just under 15 minutes, so we've had some really good success today. Oh, that's exciting. Is that a course record? Actually, I'm not sure about that. Maybe in my time it would be pretty close, but I wouldn't know, yeah, the PB for here. And how long have you been RD here? I've been RD since January, so it's only been, what, eight months now? But I've been involved in Mitchelton for just over a year and, yeah, it's a nice way to give back to the community.

00:24:17Tracey Wood: That is awesome. Okay. Well, thank you very much for chatting with me. You have a good day and thank you.

Roving report Johan Duvenhage — Hilton parkrun

00:24:23Johan Duvenhage: my goodness yes that's lovely you have a good day too good morning parkrun adventurers it's Johan I'm back in the natal midlands it's a beautiful morning uh natal kwaZulu-Natal is well known for very mild winters although if it drops below 20 here people tend to put on their jackets I made a surprise visit to Hilton parkrun today and I will tell you a little bit later why I did that but first I'm here with Thandi Zilewe. Good morning Thandi.

00:24:56Thandi Zilewe: Good morning Johan.

00:24:57Johan Duvenhage: Right so Thandi is one of our parkrun celebrities in South Africa being one of the few that's done more than 500. Thandi how many parkruns at how many events?

00:25:08Thandi Zilewe: 538 parkruns at 131 events.

00:25:13Johan Duvenhage: Oh, that's fantastic. So how did you get to parkrun? What made you start that first one and where was that?

00:25:20Thandi Zilewe: I read it from the newspaper, community newspaper. And I thought, okay, it includes walking. I can go because I'm not a runner. So I decided to take that leap of hope Thinking that, okay, I may or may not finish. But to my surprise, I finished my first parkrun on the 16th of June 2012.

00:25:47Johan Duvenhage: So that's almost 12 years ago, more than 12 years ago. Yes, 12 years ago. Fantastic. So over the years, what is the most memorable thing that you can think of that happened at parkrun? Or why is parkrun special for you?

00:26:01Thandi Zilewe: parkrun is special for me because my health improved, and my weight went down and I was more energetic at work. So on realising all these things, I said to myself, this is for me. So that kept me in the parkrun and the parkrun friends and the community that you get there is has no words to describe it it's fantastic so they kept encouraging me until they even brought me into touring because I was not a tourist at the time so you're bringing up touristing and uh so the parkrun adventurers are also obviously are people that like to tour um and uh

00:26:47Johan Duvenhage: One of the questions that my friends in Australia quite often ask the people that they interview is what is their three most favourite parkruns that they've done? I am personally not a big fan of that question. So let me rephrase it a little bit and say, where have you gone in your 131 events that you will never forget?

00:27:09Thandi Zilewe: Being a trail person, I think I like where there's a lot of trail in the parkrun. So most of the parkruns will find that they combine the road, the trail, as well as grass. But now to choose one is very difficult. I agree that that question is not easy, a good question to ask a person because now my answer will not be what is inside but now of I can think of is Sterkfontein Sterkfontein yes one of our tough ones yes I like Sterkfontein but I've recently done Barberton I think I also like Barberton fantastic and during the tours have you met anybody that absolutely stand out for you Many. One of them is Johan, who opened a parkrun near home. So I had to go and do Zastron just because it's near my home and I never thought we would have a parkrun in such a small town. But Johan put it up. Another person, I would say Bruce. For bringing parkrun into South Africa, I'm very grateful. And meeting Bruce in person was out of this world for me. And now being friends with Bruce makes me think I'm also a legend.

00:28:35Johan Duvenhage: Fantastic. Thandi, it's awesome to see you today. Thank you very much. And we're looking forward to number 600 somewhere next year.

00:28:44Thandi Zilewe: I hope so. God's willing is.

00:28:47Johan Duvenhage: Thank you very much, Thandi, adventures and the reason why I'm in Hilton today is because there's another adventure here today. Morning Wilna van Eminus.

00:28:57Wilna van Eminus: Good morning.

00:28:58Johan Duvenhage: And the reason why Wilna is here today is for event number 99 and I drove all the way from Bloemfontein to bring Wilna a flake. Congratulations and we're looking forward to 100 events.

00:29:09Wilna van Eminus: Thank you Johan. It's great. We are looking forward to the 14th of September at Emerald Resort for that lovely 100 events.

00:29:18Johan Duvenhage: Good luck.

00:29:19Wilna van Eminus: Thank you.

00:29:21Johan Duvenhage: Hilton parkrun, one of several in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, is a double-ap course within the grounds of Grace College. It starts with a flat warm-up around the sports fields and then continues downhill to the plantation area, following the perimeter fence and then a winding meander through the plantation area. Normally a very scenic route, unfortunately for the view, the plantation was recently harvested, so currently it does resemble something from Mad Max. The route is next to the very busy N3 main route between Johannesburg and Durban, and the constant stream of truck divers join in the parkrun fun by laying on their truck horns with abandon as they pass the runners. Until next time, ambakasle! [Zulu: "Until next time, hamba kahle! ("go well" / "farewell")"] [translation uncertain]

00:29:55[background music]

00:30:09Sarah Jefferson: And we're back from the two roving reports that we had this week. So Tracey's one was actually lost in the ether for a week or two, but we now have it. So it was great to hear Tracey heading to Mitchelton parkrun. I always really enjoy hearing Tracey sort of get around to speak to lots of people on the morning. I really enjoy that. You do a great job of that, Tracey. And Johan as well, coming to us from Hilton parkrun with a special guest. So I really liked that Johan had actually rephrased our question that we often ask people when we're interviewing to where have you run that you would never forget? I thought that was really, really powerful and really great. So thanks, Johan.

Dazza's

00:30:59Simon Mackley: Yeah, definitely.

00:31:00Sarah Jefferson: All right, in Dazza's this week, Simon, this week, Dazza has said, it's International Geocaching Day. Geocaching is all about getting outdoors, going to new places and getting souvenirs. Sounds familiar? Did you venture out today? Or maybe home is where the park is. Whatever you got up to, come on into Dazza's, grab a coffee and let us know how you went. So we had 103 comments in Dazza's this week. And first of all, coming to us from Tasmania, we had Val Warwick, who said, definitely weather for ducks today at Lake Wallace parkrun. What a stunning place to parkrun. The magnificent gums housed a lot of different birds, but no swoopers, fortunately. The lake was full of water, swans too.

00:31:53Simon Mackley: And we heard from Belinda Taylor, who is in South Australia. She said, Dazza, I went to Coober Pedy. Eight-hour drive yesterday, eight-hour drive back to Northern Territory today. One to tick off the parkrun bucket list. Saw lots of beautiful wedge-tail eagles, but no emus.

00:32:10Sarah Jefferson: We heard from Jodie Macy coming to us from Victoria, who wrote, Hey Dazza, I did my geocaching by attending another new location, Lake Claremont parkrun, What a lovely course and achieved the souvenir of 99th parkrun. Wow. Next week will be huge. I'm excited. And I've just realised, Simon, although Jodie comes from Victoria, Jodie actually was visiting us over here in the west. So Jodie was actually in Western Australia and on the West Side this week. Okay.

00:32:42Simon Mackley: Excellent. So, he's up to 99.

00:32:44Sarah Jefferson: Just before I get told that I don't know my geography very well. But sometimes when you read things, you realise.

00:32:53Simon Mackley: Fair enough.

00:32:53Sarah Jefferson: At that time.

00:32:54Simon Mackley: So, well done, Jodie, on your 99th. I know you've been very excited about the 100 when I met you at Wishart. So, yeah, I know that's upcoming. So, next we heard from Bec Bailey. So she said, home is definitely where parkrun is today. It was nice to be back at the beautiful Shellharbour slash Voldemort and durable country. Heading back home now for some podcast listening and uni assignments. I have an event next weekend in Newcastle, so plan to get my feet wet next Saturday. I know where that's going to be. And she also said, go the Swans.

00:33:28Sarah Jefferson: Go the Swans indeed, I say. All right, so we heard from somebody else on the West Side. So Andrew Yeatman said, Old Bards and Tanya do Woodbridge Riverside parkrun with a duck, minus Mr Wilson, who is off chasing his Wilson number 213. And we heard from another Bailey.

00:33:51Simon Mackley: So Tanya Bailey said, Hi Dazza, in Invercargill this week, achieving our tourist with our 20th different event. Very wet, but a lovely course through the park and gardens, post-parkrun, 8 out of 10 cheese scone at the Cheeky Llama Cafe. Lovely bird song from bellbirds and tuis.

00:34:11Sarah Jefferson: Nice. I'll actually have to remember that recommendation of Cheeky Llama Cafe. Simon will be headed to Invercargill in September. Oh, lovely. Next month. Next month. Yes, next month. Crazy. Yes. So I'll have to remember to check that out.

00:34:26Simon Mackley: Cool.

00:34:27Sarah Jefferson: Thank you, Tanya. And we heard from Gareth Arnold all the way from the UK. He said, hey, Dazza, made the UK fam get up early and visit parkrun with me on the latest spot of international tourism. Three grassy laps, scattering pigeons and dodging dog walkers whilst Granny spotted great tits, blue tits, bearded tits, teething in the bushes. Or maybe she was commenting on some of the characters doing laps with me. Who knows? We did spot a... Think that's an eagle on the drive home. Sunday, I volleyed a junior parkrun, Wilton Park Junior parkrun, where there was more pigeons and a few geese cheering the kids on. I did look up and learnt about the little tits. I'm going to start that again. So I did have a look up. I looked up that I wasn't being stitched up for this one, Simon. And there is the cute little bird called a little tit.

00:35:28Simon Mackley: There is indeed.

00:35:30Sarah Jefferson: So thanks, Gareth, educating me on birds.

00:35:33Simon Mackley: And one thing you had skipped over, he put emojis in for where he actually was. So I know where he was. So those little emojis there, which was like a sun behind a cloud and a raining cloud and a bee. So he was actually at Wetherby parkrun.

00:35:50Sarah Jefferson: Clever. I did miss that.

00:35:51Simon Mackley: Yeah.

the Obi Award — Gareth Arnold

00:35:51Sarah Jefferson: Good pick up. All right, Simon, have you got the envelope this week?

00:35:55Simon Mackley: I have the Obilope. And it goes to... Gareth Arnold. Gareth Arnold.

00:36:09Sarah Jefferson: He made a tit of himself. He did indeed, and me reading it out.

Emails

00:36:17Sarah Jefferson: All right. So, moving on, Simon. We actually have mail.

00:36:22Melissa: You've got mail.

00:36:23Sarah Jefferson: We have two emails. We have not one, but two emails this week. And the first one comes to us from Stephen Warwick. He says... Hi there. Some years ago now, there was a lot of discussion on the blog about sausage rolls as adventurers were posting their ideas about the best sausage rolls around our country. As this went on for some time, I decided that it was time to set myself a sausage roll club challenge. No, it wasn't how many different types of sausage rolls I could discover on our touristing. And no, neither was it about how many I could eat at one sitting. In fact, in the community-run cafe in Kingarup, WA, where, alas, there is no parkrun, they were so large that I could only eat one. That community-run cafe, called the Store Cafe 6343, would still rank as having the best in the country. So what was my challenge? It was to use the acronym of Sausage Roll for participating in events, volunteering and doing a freedom run for each letter. After our visit to Lake Wallace in Eden Hope today, that was the run in Misty Rain. I've now completed this challenge, but I still have many more challenges before me, most of which I probably won't be able to complete before my running shoes are hung up forever. Athlete ID A2382406. What a great idea. So Stephen has actually tried different sausage rolls when he's been on a run, freedom run and volunteered. So I thought this was really clever, Simon.

00:38:00Simon Mackley: Yeah, so what he's done is he's spelled out the word sausage roll and he's got a different event name, for every single letter in all runs, volunteers and freedom runs.

00:38:11Sarah Jefferson: And it's great to see there's actually a few WA parkruns coming up to the University of WA, Applecross, Geographe Bay. And in fact, actually lots of different places in Australia are represented there as well. Not just Tassie either.

00:38:25Simon Mackley: Yeah.

00:38:26Sarah Jefferson: So, Simon, I guess if you were going to be inspired by Stephen's idea and pick something like this, he's got the sausage roll club challenge. What do you think your food of choice would be?

00:38:35Simon Mackley: I think to make it parkrun related, it would probably be a bacon and egg roll challenge. So, I'd spell out bacon and egg roll and see what I could actually put in there. I think I've probably got a lot of them, but there's obviously some letters in there that would be harder to get.

00:38:53Sarah Jefferson: So you're saying you've already eaten a bacon and egg roll at those parkruns. You're quite confident.

00:38:58Simon Mackley: Yes, bacon and egg roll is normally my go-to. It is normally my go-to. Okay. Yeah, I think there's only one letter. I'd have to go through my list, but I think the one letter that I'd struggle with is O because I've only got one. So that would be the O in bacon, but I'd need another O for roll.

00:38:59[crosstalk]

00:39:18Sarah Jefferson: I don't know if that's – I was just going to say I don't know if that's quite – Isn't it you want to go and try more bacon and egg rolls, right? Oh, totally. So you want to get out and not go, oh, I've already done all of that. Go and try them again.

00:39:32Simon Mackley: Sure. I could go and, yeah, increase my re-index and, yeah.

00:39:36Sarah Jefferson: Fair enough.

00:39:38Simon Mackley: Yes. What about you? What do you think you would do?

00:39:42Sarah Jefferson: So I'm a non-bacon eater. So mine definitely wouldn't be a bacon egg roll. And I don't eat meat either. So it wouldn't be a sausage roll either. I guess if I was to pick something, it probably would have to be an acai bowl. So it would have to be the acai bowl club challenge.

00:39:58Simon Mackley: Very short in letters as well, so that's quite strategic.

00:40:02Sarah Jefferson: But also a few vowels, so I may struggle with that. Two A's, one I. Invercargill might be too cold for an acai bowl. You've got an I, though. You've done Ipswich. Did I have an acai bowl, though? I don't think I did. No. I think I had eggs on toast. Oh, no, you didn't.

00:40:17[crosstalk]

00:40:19Simon Mackley: You did.

00:40:20Sarah Jefferson: That menu had about 500, and I'm not even exaggerating, 500 meals on the menu, literally.

00:40:28Simon Mackley: Anyone who's been to a Cafe 63 in Queensland can totally relate to that because that menu is absolutely huge.

00:40:36Sarah Jefferson: It was very overwhelming, but I'm not sure that there was an acai bowl there. Anyway, I love that idea, Stephen.

00:40:42Simon Mackley: Yeah, no, it's a good one. It's very good.

00:40:44Sarah Jefferson: Well, that was great.

00:40:45Simon Mackley: Very creative. So the other email we had this week was from David Messenger. So he was following up on the question that Mel posed last week as to how many Ks or sorry, parkruns starting with a K there are in the world. And he was able to tell us that the answer in currently open parkruns is 69. So there have been 81 in the past. So some of those have closed after COVID and I noticed that a lot of those were in South Africa, about five of those were in South Africa. So we've had some close, some didn't come back after COVID. One of them's a restricted facility and one of them was a swapping of a K. So Killarney in Ireland changed its name to Killarney House. So we lost a K and gained a K. So I guess that's equaling it out.

00:41:39Sarah Jefferson: There you go. I know David Messenger always keeps a very neat and tidy spreadsheet.

00:41:43Simon Mackley: He does indeed. Yes. I'd never seen his spreadsheet until today and it was very easy to work out what he'd done there.

Club Corner

00:41:50Sarah Jefferson: All right, Simon, we might throw to Rachel.

00:41:55[background music]

00:42:07Rachel: 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 we are approaching an ending I am running out of different clubs to highlight dot dot dot so be sure to submit some ideas for me to ramble about but I am not out yet today I'm going to talk about tree folk about some gardens and being on the streets Tree Folk is a collection of tree names and wood, so it's got exciting things like Blue Gum Hills, Oakey, Scribbly Gums Conservation, Peppertree, and Woodlands Historic Park parkruns. But also less exciting things like Applecross and Orange. This is not a diss on those events, rather the long string being drawn to make them fit a club. There are 13 events so far that fit the bill. Garden, is similar to Tree Folk, but focused on flowers and garden events, like the various botanics, Mansfield, Benalla and Southern Highlands, and then things like Eastern Gardens, Rosebud and Wildflower. Cute yes, but very niche. There are 9 events so far that fit these bills. The last one is, On the Streets, which sounds vaguely like something from Lin-Manuel Miranda dot dot dot, but has nothing to do with events that run on roads' winky face. We have Bayview Road, Harris Avenue, Jubilee Way, Nathan Road Sports Ground, Old Thompson River Road, Ridley Place Foreshore, and the avenues. Pretty neat, actually, but we need some crescents or highways. Now, to wrap up, you know that things are a bit light on when I resort to jokes, but Mel does love them, so here goes. Why don't skeletons ever cross the road? Because they have no guts. What's a footpath's favourite type of music? Music concrete. What do you get if you cross a cactus with a Sesame Street character? Prickle me Elmo. And remember, in parkrun life, all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun, so stay tuned for our future club corners.

00:43:58Simon Mackley: Okay, so we're back from Rachel, who was talking about tree folk and the 13 events. In that one, gardens, which has nine events, and on the streets. As Rachel said, she's running out of clubs to ramble on about. So can we please help her out and submit some ideas, or else we are going to hear more of those horrible jokes, and this will turn into Rachel's joke corner. So...

00:44:26Sarah Jefferson: submit some ideas of things that Rachel can talk about I secretly like the jokes though Simon I always do have a bit of a laugh out loud some of them are good some of them are a little bit yeah anyway but yes I guess email in to us and let us know if you have some ideas exactly

Consolidated Club Report

00:44:44Sarah Jefferson: Okay, so heading over to the Consolidated Club Report. So the adventurers Consolidated Club Report for Saturday, the 17th of August, 2024. Of a total of 672 members, 479 took part on this date in 11 countries across 255 locations. In the UK, there were adventurers at 50 events.

00:44:59[14 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:45:13Sarah Jefferson: We had five adventurers in South Africa, three in the USA, two in Sweden and Ireland, plus one each in Italy, Norway, Malaysia and Japan. Locally, we had adventurers at Queensland and Victoria. We had a tie, Simon, 46 events. Lucky it's not you and Mel recording. We had 44, in New South Wales, 22 in Western Australia, South Australia had 10, so go the West Side, more than doubling South Australia. Tassie, we had seven, the North Island and the ACT, six, and the South Island and the Northern Territory had one. Excellent. So I think that's a bowling strike.

00:45:55[background music]

00:46:03Simon Mackley: I believe it is.

the Frond — Chermside parkrun (frond of seven)

00:46:08Simon Mackley: So our largest international frond, we had eight at Hanworth and they were Ian and Alexander Thompson, Andy and Helen Patricia Rutter, Claire Winnesage, Nicola Stott, Ali Sheppard and Jenny Dimmick.

00:46:24Sarah Jefferson: And headed to Bushy this week or doing their pilgrimage. We actually didn't have anybody this week, so maybe next week. But our largest frond, the largest frond this week was actually at Chermside with a frond of seven. We had Neil Cullen, Nicole Robinson, Simone Biddle, Belinda Cafe, Fern Patterson, Tracey in a Tutu Wood and Liz Adamson. Excellent.

00:46:52Simon Mackley: So remember, Adventurers, that you can add the Adventurers Club as one of your five affiliations on your parkrun profile.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:47:00Simon Mackley: How many launches did we have this week, Sarah?

00:47:03Sarah Jefferson: So we did have one launch this week, Simon, and it comes to us all the way from Norway. So Ankerskogen parkrun, located north of Oslo in Norway. So it's a five kilometre course and we've got participants completing two and a half laps along paths within the park area. The event is on a gravel road and is mostly flat, with the exception of a small hill at the bottom of the trail. This week saw 90 finishes, including 50 first-time ever park finishes. Wow. With an amazing 10 volunteers. So thanks, TOC, for reminding me that it is a five-kilometre course. I always love it when you put those in.

00:47:49Simon Mackley: And interestingly, I didn't read this, like I've read this today and then I've just heard you say it. It says the event's run on a gravel road. So I hope it's not actually a road. I hope it's closed off. True. I'm sure it is. True. Gravel park. Yeah. That's interesting.

Sign-off

00:48:05Simon Mackley: So looking forward, I think for the challenge this week, what do you reckon that we go with the word Paris? Because we have the Paralympics starting next week. Sounds good. So the word Paris. So drop the word Paris into your Dazza's post this coming week. Sounds good. Where are you heading on your next parkrun day, Sarah?

00:48:28Sarah Jefferson: Okay, well, this Saturday... I'm headed to Newcastle Park parkrun for their event 79. So I'm going Wilson chasing this weekend. I believe it will take my Wilson index from 78, I believe, up to 95. So I've been subtly and quietly ticking them off where I can. So definitely have to head out there for that. Excellent. What about you, Simon? Where are you headed to?

00:48:59Simon Mackley: My plan is probably Underwood Park. So I have been there before, only once before. So, yeah, I think I might do that and try and keep my tourist streak going, which is getting further and further away. So, yeah, that will be where I am at. Sounds great. Well, thanks for joining me for another week. And I will speak to you again in a month's time. And as always, adventurers, you can contact us via parkrun adventurers on Facebook, or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week. We'll see you next week for more adventures.

00:49:30[background music]

Streaky September

00:49:49Pippa White: Hello, parkrun adventurers. And as we get towards that change in the seasons, it's time to start thinking Streaky September and the practicalities of it. So you've heard what it's about. It's that 30 minutes of intentional exercise. It's around two kilometres walk running. It's a little bit more if you cycle. It's probably a bit less if you swim or it's some yoga. It's that whole intention of getting out and doing intentional exercise for a month. In the Southern Hemisphere, this is a spring start and you're getting excited about the weather improving for us in the UK. And the Northern Hemisphere, it's as we need to keep that impetus of a good summer of running to keep us going over the winter. So the job for this week is to find your streak saver. It's that place that you can, that route you can go for a walk in on the day where it's all gone a bit pear-shaped so you can get out, and walk two kilometres, crawl two kilometres, look at the trees, look at the bugs, and actually get out with the rest of us and have some fun staying fit. So look for it, find it, and you know it's there for the bad days. Otherwise, it's time to start embracing that joy of exercising in company with a whole bunch of people around the world and having fun in September. Here goes.

00:51:13Alice: You know what that means