Episode 403 - In the Poo

Tribute

00:00:01Pippa White - the Streakmeister: Hello, parkrun adventurers. It's the Streakmeister and it's the wrong season. Sad news this week from the Northern Hemisphere. Towards the end of the summer, Christine Imbert, dedicated parkrun tourist, dedicated parkrun adventurer, found out she had stage four cancer. This Sunday morning, after parkrun day, looking at photos and messages from this parkrun day just gone, she passed away. She bore her illness with dignity and consideration for her friends and family at all times. In 10 years, she completed 461 parkruns at 378 locations. We have to argue about the ones at 16 or 18 countries. Namibia and Eswatini were included in that list, and she and I did 54 together. She was saving Australia and New Zealand for her retirement. Back in September 2019, at the start of my streaky journey, I fell and fractured my back. Somehow she bundled me into a car so I could join her as Timekeeper at her 250th parkrun. We did the New Year Day double in Rome, on the only occasion it was possible, and she got me running again in lockdown when I was feeling so low and alone. She joined me for my most memorable Cowell, where we started possibly a little late, having had to change location with 10 minutes spare. And she joined and made it possible for the Tame Volunteer to do her 100th volunteer location in New Year's Day this year at Milford Haven. We will all miss her so much.

00:01:25[intro theme playing]

Welcome

00:01:57Tony O'Connell: Welcome to episode 403 of the parkrun adventurers podcast, a podcast about life, if your life is all about parkrun. My name's Toc and I'm coming to you from Bunurong Country.

00:02:09Melissa Ellis: And I am Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country. And TOC, firstly, as we have played the audio before the music, the sad news of the passing of Christine Imbert, athlete 1030561 this week. I think it's apt that we are recording together this week, TOC, because we have both had the pleasure of meeting Christine, who was a very well-known world tourist, I met Christine back in September of 2019 in Malaysia when a small contingent of us had travelled in the hope of recording a Malaysia Day special event. Now, sadly, Malaysia didn't go ahead with a special event that year, but we still had a lovely day doing freedom runs at Taman Pudu Ulu and Presint 18 Putrajaya, as well as visiting the Batu Caves, the palace, and experiencing some rather indulgent chocolate pastries, pancakes if my memory serves me correctly hosted by friend of the pod Harry now interestingly also I did look at christine's countries that she'd visited because she had done an awful lot of countries and I noticed that she never actually got back to do an official event in Malaysia but adventurers she had been there and she had definitely completed two of the courses unofficially but you've also had the pleasure of meeting Christine, TOC

00:03:30Tony O'Connell: Yeah, Mel, last year on our big European adventure, I had the pleasure of actually having a good chat to Christine at a pizza night in Copenhagen that Andy Airey organised for about 150 parkrunners. And then a couple of days later at the... Sweden's special day run, the one over in Synkva, or Vaxjo as it's spelt, where a horde of parkrunners descended and we had a truly awesome day. So I had the privilege of meeting Christine a couple of times.

00:04:04Melissa Ellis: And she was a very engaged parkrun adventurer. She was always seen in recent times wearing her adventurer's shirt and she would frequently post in Dazza's. She's going to be sadly missed.

00:04:17Tony O'Connell: She will be, Mel, and she was also very active in a number of other groups as well, and she did weekly polls, like in the parkrun World Tourists, on where are you going this week and that sort of thing. As you said, great picture of Christine floating around in her parkrun adventurers T-shirt, and yeah, you're right, she will be sadly missed.

Emails

00:04:36Tony O'Connell: Moving along, Mel, let's get a smile back on the dolls and, yeah, some feedback from the last episode. First one, we had Michael George messages. And the comment was, I worked for Abbott for over 25 years, some ears pricked up when I heard it stated that Abbott was now owned by a Chinese company. It definitely isn't, but Abbott's Chinese headquarters is in Shanghai, hence the likelihood of Shanghai being chosen as a major.

00:05:17Melissa Ellis: Yes. Well, thank you very much for giving us a bit more information about that, Michael. Somebody has jumped into the show notes, TOC. I do believe it's Simon. And Simon says, I made a mistake and was crossing wires with UTMB and Abbott World Marathon majors. I cringed when I listened back. So thank you, Simon, for owning up to that one. We are thinking on the fly sometimes and we do make mistakes. And once it's out there to the world, it's out there to the world.

00:05:48Tony O'Connell: That's it, Mel. We've got a few dot points that we chat about. And yeah, sometimes thinking and talking is difficult.

00:05:55Melissa Ellis: Yeah, it is. It really, really is. But we also heard from Michael Lyttle and he said, we did a trip to Cormorant Bay back in 2022 and found a perfect reason to visit the local koalas. We had a koala walk up the finish chute, although I've just learned they can get vicious with one of my work colleagues spending a week in hospital after being bitten by a koala. So that's interesting. And I thought, good to mention because friend of the pod, Martine Marrett is a

00:06:22Tony O'Connell: very big koala enthusiast so Martine Cormorant Bay is the place to go for koala sightings and another reason to go there not just because it's a sea that's a little bit funny Mel because much closer to Martine down at Koonwarra they regularly have koalas on the course and about every second week at Inverloch we have a koala sighting on the course as well so lots of koalas around Back in Cormorant Bay, though, we heard from Lyndell Murray. And Lyndell said, I did a roving report from Cormorant Bay back in episode 183, Park Lubbers. And there's a little emoji of a pirate sign there and a laughy face. And I'm sure we can all remember Lyndell's roving report that was completely done in pirate tongues.

00:07:11Melissa Ellis: Oh, yes, that was very memorable. And lastly, we heard from Yvette Turner, and she said, thanks for another great podcast. Please do another round of shirt orders. Would love to have one to wear to Palm next year. And watch this space, Yvette. I'm onto it.

00:07:27Tony O'Connell: That's going to be a big one. Now I've had somebody else also message me wanting a T-shirt. I think Dano wants to get in on the mix as well.

00:07:36Melissa Ellis: Aha! And Dave. Dave needs one. But also, adventurers, if you're out there and you've got an adventurer's shirt that's not being worn anymore, hit us up, let us know, because we might be able to rehome it. Because, you know, sometimes people outgrow their clothing or sometimes people go the other way and they get too big and they don't wear them anymore. So, yeah, if you've got one that's floating around that's not being used, let us know and we might be able to find a match for it.

00:08:03Tony O'Connell: Well... parkrun day just gone. My day, I was RD this week at the Stump and we had a visit from some Queenslanders who had about, instead of a direct flight from Brisbane to Melbourne, they got bumped around by about four different flights. They were flying into Sydney when the Qantas plane went Went bang. They got diverted to Canberra. When they got to parkrun, probably not overly dressed for parkrun, and the reason was their luggage is still somewhere in the ether, still somewhere floating around. Maybe their luggage went to Darwin. But... Inverloch Saturday was a perfect day. The sun was out. It wasn't too hot. I had a gun team of volunteers that just make a Run Director's life really easy. And for those that are out there that run direct, you know if you've got a gun team, a really good switched on crew, your day's just so cruisy. You get to stand around and chat and... do different things that you'd love to do and have the time to do. And when I processed, I had 111 finishes and I only had one yellow line in my results. And that's the closest I've come to a full green screen when I've been processing. Once again, for those that process, you'll know that a green screen means there's a time, an athlete number and a position all lined up. A yellow screen means maybe there's someone as an unknown and a red screen means you have to look at this. I had one yellow line. Best result ever for me.

00:09:35Melissa Ellis: Good job. Well done. And that's no good about your tourists that turned up without their luggage. This is why I always, always, always travel on the plane in my runners. Yep. Always, always. Because I think even if I'm in my jeans, I can still run if I've got my runners on.

00:09:54Tony O'Connell: And back when we were being old-fashioned, we always carried our barcode on us as well.

00:09:58Melissa Ellis: I've been really slack with my barcode recently. I have been, I think because I can't wear it permanently because I'm not allowed to wear it at work around my wrist, that is, you know, the wristband. So I've been forgetting it a lot and I'm just a bit lax these days. I just whip out my phone and onto the 5K app and pull it up.

00:10:17Tony O'Connell: Which works until the 5K had their little update issue and no one could find their barcodes.

00:10:23Melissa Ellis: Yeah, correct. Yeah, I would be in trouble, actually, being in a different car without my car keys. Oh, I better not get so lazy. Good reminder. Well, anyway, TOC, this week I was back at the You Yangs on the traditional lands of the Wadawurrung people with Dave for my fifth visit. We had really nice weather. We heard some mopok owls. Mopok, are they owls? Yes, they're like barn owls.

00:10:51Tony O'Connell: I think they're a species of owl.

00:10:53Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:10:54Tony O'Connell: Let's call it that and someone will write in and tell us if we're wrong.

00:10:57Melissa Ellis: I must be getting old, Toc. I'm getting into birds, bird spotting and yeah. Anyway, so that was cool. I'd never heard a mopoke before. Anyway, quite a nice morning. Nothing remarkable. We didn't hang around because I had, again, I had a busy family day, had to get home for, but always good to head out to the Yui's.

00:11:19Tony O'Connell: Yeah, it's a great course out there and sometimes hanging around at the Yui's is not so much of an option because the coffee shop is a long way away from the You Yangs itself.

parkrun news bulletin

00:11:28Melissa Ellis: That is true. Now, news and discussion. I've got a budgie update. He really needs his own tune, doesn't he? So Budgie, he went to Taree parkrun and Heather Hunter joined in at Dazza's and this is what she had to say. Budgie and I joined the front at Taree parkrun. There were a few ring-ins in the photo who thought it was a volunteer pic and she's got a laughing face emoji there. Jan Yates and I took advantage of it being Freedom Day to change Budgie's travel plans. Budgie will have a day trip to the ACT next week with Jan. Then the following week we'll fly to Tassie where Budgie will be handed over to Sherry Brandtman at Seahen. Sherry will then take Budgie to Whitemark Wharf for the transit to WA as planned. And she's got the emoji with the little halo and a... Shocked face and hashtag efficient. And yes, that is super efficient. And I was very impressed with the planning there. Full marks to Heather.

00:12:27Tony O'Connell: Yeah, Budgie's certainly getting around well. Well, on Saturday just past, the global parkrun record was broken by a staggering one second. The all-time male record, that is. Nick Griggs ran a blistering time of 13.44 at Belfast, Victoria, which, although it's in Ireland, given it's got Victoria in the title, I think we'll claim the record for the greatest state. Oh, I think we should. Yes. And as I said, he just pipped Andy Butart's record by one second. Now, Nick's run six parkruns in total and has volunteered at the best ever volunteer role, junior Warm-up Leader. Aww. So that's actually a pretty good record as well, one in six there. Now, what I found a little bit disappointing, though, was parkrun... haven't actually acknowledged the record on any of the socials. I really think that we're taking the inclusivity a little too far. We need to include fast people, slow people. We need to include everybody, and we seem to be... going one direction and not celebrating achievements like this. 1344 is an achievement that should be celebrated and I just think we've missed an opportunity there to celebrate. It's certainly been on every other group that I follow. parkruns all around the world have been reposting from where they've found the source from but I think parkrun really need to be celebrating achievements like this as well as celebrating all the wonderful things that we do in parkrun and all the wonderful people in parkrun this is just one of the things that we should have celebrated yes because the fast people are just as important as the back of the packers

00:14:05[background music]

00:14:13[15 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:14:28Tony O'Connell: Hey Mel, it's Toc here. Looks like we need a bit of an edit. I'm very happy to say that parkrun have come out on Monday, UK time, somewhere in the afternoon and done some social media releases and press releases about Nick Griggs and his record. So I'm really happy to say that they've acknowledged it. They must have been listening to us record because it wasn't out when we were recording. But once again, well done to Nick Griggs. Sensational record and really great to see a record being celebrated. Well done, parkrun.

00:15:02Melissa Ellis: All righty. But what is this I see in the show notes about defibs out at Newborough? Tony, I don't understand.

00:15:10Tony O'Connell: Now, this is a really great news story. When Newborough parkrun kicked off, they had an older defib given to them, which they updated to one of the parkrun defibs so that it matched the pads and the batteries and it made replacements easier and all the rest of that. The old defib, they start beside the tennis club and so they gave the defib to the tennis club to put up. I'm really happy to say that Defib was used on Saturday and it was successful. It gave someone the kickstart it needed. And I just think it's really great that they were able to repurpose their Defib to another organisation and it's worked and someone's alive and out there because of it.

00:15:55Melissa Ellis: That is a really good news story. Good work, Newborough parkrun. And I hope that person continues on a healthy journey too at the tennis club. Maybe they can come to parkrun for their recovery. Somebody tell them.

00:16:10Tony O'Connell: That'd be a great circle, wouldn't it? It would. The defib's gone from parkrun to tennis. The person plays tennis. Maybe they can come to parkrun.

00:16:17Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I have all the ideas. Now, we have to mention the collegiate where it's been causing controversy on the socials, Tony. Capital letters. Hang on a minute. Wasn't there a lot of effort put into branding parkrun all one word or lowercase? What is with this?

00:16:37Tony O'Connell: Mel, I've spent years and years doing media articles about parkrun and always going back to our local papers and asking them, please, it's all lowercase, it's all one word, and, yeah, to see a... set of merchandise release that's come out in all capitals um it just doesn't sit right with me it doesn't look right to me I'm used to the branding being parkrun it's lowercase it's yeah it's what we know the traditionalists are outraged get the pitchforks

00:17:18Melissa Ellis: Even the world's greatest supporter of merchandise isn't getting any. She who shall remain unnamed, perhaps.

00:17:27Tony O'Connell: She who shall remain unnamed but loves her wine.

00:17:32Melissa Ellis: But Tony, I've got a confession. What's that, Mel? I've got new number plates and you can't get lumber plates in lowercase. Oh, no. You've joined the dark side and gone uppercase.

00:17:44Tony O'Connell: I didn't have a choice. Yeah, I'm sure that's what the marketing and merchandise people are saying. We didn't have a choice. We had to go uppercase. Oh, dear. And what are those new number plates attached to, Mel?

00:17:59Melissa Ellis: Oh, my new car.

00:18:01Tony O'Connell: It's a lovely little car, too.

00:18:03Melissa Ellis: That I took receipt of on Friday. And here's the funny thing, TOC. I was telling everybody who will listen how I'm upgrading my car and getting a small four-wheel drive so I can – head out to all those country parkruns that are on the gravel roads in national parks and in the morning Dave says let's take let's take his car because I knew and I didn't want to get it dirty so I didn't take it so we're going to take it out on the gravel roads as long as the gravel has a layer of asphalt laid on top of it Oh, give me a bit of grace period. It's just very shiny and new. And I'm actually trying to decide if I get a clear coat put on to protect the cheek. Oh, anyway. Yeah, that was a bit funny. But going back to the collegiate wear, I think that perhaps... parkrun is trying to reach out to a different demographic that maybe a demographic that hasn't been interested in buying any of the current merchandise so they've gone completely left field and think that they'll um find something that might appeal I don't know yeah maybe I'm just old and grumpy but it's not my style Maybe they're trying to get hip. I don't know. But, yeah, it's a bit odd, isn't it, the uppercase? Hmm. But that's all our news and discussion for this week.

00:19:35[background music]

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:19:37Melissa Ellis: We've been rabbiting on for long enough, so now it's time to throw to our roving reporters.

Roving report Tracey Wood — Samford Parklands parkrun

00:19:51Tracey Wood: Good morning, parkrunners. It's Tracey in a Tutu, and I had ventured out to Samford Parklands parkrun. This parkrun is fairly new. I think it's the seventh event today. I found it relatively easy enough. Obviously, it's in Samford Parklands, where there are a lot of facilities nearby, balls club, tennis club, etc., etc. Okay, I've got my volley vest on. I'm park walking today. Let's go find someone to talk to. All right, parkrunners, I'm here at the start line. No, it's actually not the start line. Is it the start line? No, it's the briefing area. I found another parkwalker called Kate who tells me that her home parkrun is Central Lakes, but she likes to do a lot of touring, but she's never heard of the parkrun adventurers podcast. Oh, my God. So embarrassing. Sorry. So I think I may have signed her up to the parkrun Adventurers Club. You're a bit of a tourist, Kate. Tell me about that.

00:20:49Kate - Samford Parklands parkwalker and parkrun tourist: We just like to tourist around, try different parkruns. We check the course and the weather beforehand. Yeah, we did Toowoomba Picnic Point last weekend. We've done Chinchilla. We just like getting out, seeing the country, picking up some missing letters on our alphabet challenge and some missing numbers on our Fibonacci and Prime numbers.

00:21:10Tracey Wood: Oh, my goodness. Sounds like a definite parkrun adventurer. Okay, what's on your radar? What's on your touring calendar?

00:21:17Kate - Samford Parklands parkwalker and parkrun tourist: We have Nambour, I think, is our 444. We have Mitchelton coming up. We've got Harmony Boulevard coming up and we're planning a trip to New Zealand next year where I've already picked three parkruns out to do.

00:21:31Tracey Wood: You wouldn't be happy to be going to New Zealand in April, would you?

00:21:34Kate - Samford Parklands parkwalker and parkrun tourist: No, September.

00:21:36Tracey Wood: So tell me, what parkrun number are you up to? How many have you done so far?

00:21:41Kate - Samford Parklands parkwalker and parkrun tourist: I think today will be number 89 for myself and 21, 22? 22. 22 for my husband. I've just roped him in this year.

00:21:50Tracey Wood: Well done. Sorry, what was your name? James.

00:21:52Kate - Samford Parklands parkwalker and parkrun tourist: James.

00:21:53Tracey Wood: Lovely to meet you. And how many volleys? You've got the parkwalker vest on this morning. How many volleys for you?

00:21:57Kate - Samford Parklands parkwalker and parkrun tourist: Today will be number 12 for me and it's number one for him.

00:22:01Tracey Wood: Good on you. Well done both of you and thank you for volunteering and thank you for chatting with me.

00:22:05Kate - Samford Parklands parkwalker and parkrun tourist: That's okay.

00:22:07Tracey Wood: Hey team, I've found the running guy here. Very quick question. Ryan, what's on your radar? Where are you off to? What are you doing? What state are you conquering now?

00:22:16Ryan - visiting parkrun tourist, 'the running guy': I've just been in Tassie for five months, and in that time, four more new ones have started in Queensland. So I've come back to Queensland to tick off those ones. So I'm at Samford today, and in a couple of weeks' time, I'm off to Mackay to do the two up there. Oh, sorry, what are their names? We've got Seaview parkrun, just north of Mackay, and Moranbar, Binder parkrun.

00:22:38Tracey Wood: Right, and will you be going back to Tassie?

00:22:40Ryan - visiting parkrun tourist, 'the running guy': Yes, there is a new one starting in Tassie very, very soon, so I'm going to head back early next year to do that one.

00:22:46Tracey Wood: Excellent. Go you. Cheers, Ryan.

00:22:48Ryan - visiting parkrun tourist, 'the running guy': Thank you.

00:22:50Tracey Wood: Okay, parkrunners, I'm out on the course with Sarah. Sarah, congratulations on your 50 today. Well done.

00:22:58Sarah - Samford Parklands parkrunner celebrating her 50th: Thank you. It's a fabulous day.

00:23:01Tracey Wood: Now, for the listeners at home, can you tell me where your 50th have been today?

00:23:06Sarah - Samford Parklands parkrunner celebrating her 50th: I am wearing the Running Guys Vintage 50th T-shirt.

00:23:12Tracey Wood: And how did you get into parkrun, Sarah? Did Ron and Guy actually tell you about that? Did he drag you in or did you discover this cult? I'm sorry, group by yourself?

00:23:23Sarah - Samford Parklands parkrunner celebrating her 50th: I first started with the Springfield Runners Group and then I think they told me about the parkrun. So I started off at Augustine Heights parkrun and that one is no longer. Thank you.

00:23:39Tracey Wood: And what about touring? Will you be following Ryan on to various adventures, chasing challenges? Have you got any challenges or things you want to achieve?

00:23:50Sarah - Samford Parklands parkrunner celebrating her 50th: I am about eight, runs away from my alphabet challenge being completed and next year I'll be joining Ryan on his adventures

00:24:04Tracey Wood: Excellent. And I have to say congratulations on the secret wedding in Tasmania that I wasn't aware of until the briefing this morning. Neither was I. Stay tuned for further details about that. There could be something happening in New Zealand next year. Cheers. Thanks, Sarah.

00:24:23Sarah - Samford Parklands parkrunner celebrating her 50th: Thank you.

Roving report Lyndell Murray — Samford Parklands parkrun

00:24:25Lyndell Murray: G'day, parkrun adventurers. It's Lyndell, and today I have travelled just north of Brisbane, about 30, 35 minutes north-west of the Brisbane city, and I'm on the lands of the Yuggera people out at Samford Parklands parkrun. I think I've got that right. I better fact-check that with Trish.

00:24:41[crosstalk]

00:24:43Trish - Event Director and Run Director, Samford Parklands parkrun: No, it is all correct. Lands of the Yuggera people, Samford Parklands parkrun. I know, we're complex.

00:24:50Lyndell Murray: Not as complex as some. I think I'll be right with that one, Trish. Now, Trish, you were today's Run Director. Are you also the Event Director for this event?

00:24:57Trish - Event Director and Run Director, Samford Parklands parkrun: Yep, I am. I'm with Paul Delaney, so two Event Directors. But, yeah, run directing, learning Minecraft at the moment.

00:25:04Lyndell Murray: I think you did a ripper of a job, particularly of that briefing. Thank you. That was probably one of the best briefings I've heard. Bloodmaster!

00:25:10Trish - Event Director and Run Director, Samford Parklands parkrun: We're aiming to have fun. We're just aiming to have fun and make the briefing something that people actually want to turn up for because it helps us communicate the safety messages if we're entertaining and there's a reason and a bit unpredictable in a lovely way. So the last couple of weeks, the Run Director before me has been singing to the crowd.

00:25:25Lyndell Murray: I was going to ask you because she did say that you had a new PA and it's become a karaoke tool.

00:25:29Trish - Event Director and Run Director, Samford Parklands parkrun: Has there been a song briefing? There has been a song briefing. And my teenage daughter, we had a junior takeover in January, and she's asked, can she Run Director? I'm like, if you do every volunteer role and you give me three months, you can. So I put a bit of play on her. Don't tell parkrun HQ. No, don't listen to this. Okay. But she has been planning a song to do the run, and I'm like, God knows what will happen, but we'll get there.

00:25:52Lyndell Murray: That sounds like an absolute highlight. Now, the other thing that I just wanted to make sure, you said in your briefing that we weren't allowed to leave children. Have you had any children show up in your lost and found?

00:26:01Trish - Event Director and Run Director, Samford Parklands parkrun: No, I've had no children, but I have in my past accidentally taken someone else's child home. So I wanted to be sure today that we don't get any leftovers. I've got four of my own. It's more than enough. So no, no leftovers. We're good. Some jumpers.

00:26:13Lyndell Murray: Brilliant, brilliant. Now, tell me about Samford Parklands parkrun. Event number seven today, so it's a bit of a newie. Yeah, we've still kind of got our L plates on.

00:26:24Trish - Event Director and Run Director, Samford Parklands parkrun: And a number of our volunteers have never parkrun before. They've had no parkrun exposure. I haven't either. So this is very much that we continue to learn and we just started with a very strong community focus so that we had room to learn together but to keep in mind that the learning's fine if it's all about the community.

00:26:42Lyndell Murray: Yeah. And I am sensing a strong sense of community. I'm actually interviewing you at a breakfast that you've put on for your volunteers. So how lovely is that?

00:26:52Trish - Event Director and Run Director, Samford Parklands parkrun: Oh, look, we've had to take... It's been about more than 18 months to get us to launch. That idea of 5Ks that doesn't cross a road or driveway sounds great in a semi-rural area, but it's actually a bit more complex out here. And so I've spent the last 18 months just trying to build a really strong volunteer base... We've had that many open meetings in the community, coffees, to try and introduce the parkrun concept and get people on board in advance. I have no parkrun background. So prior to thinking and putting in the paperwork to do a parkrun, I'd never done one. I went to a funeral of a friend's dad down at Corumban. And he was well into his 70s and the place was packed, hundreds and hundreds of people. And I was just like, as we get older, often our funerals get smaller. And it really struck me. And I just said to Ali, Ali, where have all these people come from? She said, oh, they're all parkrunners. And her dad had done something like 300 parkruns. And he'd become such a fixture in that community that he knew them and cared about them. They knew him and cared about him. And I came home and I was thinking about that a bit back here. And we have this little group in Samford called the Samford Strollers. Twice a week, they stroll together. But you have to be retired. Every Tuesday, every Friday, I'd look out my office window and I'd see them walking past in their red shirts, laughing and talking. And I thought, I'd like that. And I thought about the parkrun of Robbo down at Corumban. And I just thought, well, I'm not retired. I can't join the Samford Strollers. But we could put a parkrun on. At that point, I had no idea what was involved, really. I hadn't done one. But I reached out, I got the paperwork, and I put it in and then I thought I probably better buddy go and do one so I made the mistake of turning up to Ocean View I'm a hiker I do long hikes I'm happy with that turned up to Ocean View beautiful but a winery very distracting so so I did one and I thought okay I think I get it and now we go so I think sometimes the beauty of coming at things with no experience is I don't have any pre-conceived ideas. So it was just, can we build community? I don't actually care what the top number through. I'm not measuring how many people come through each week as a sign of success or not. Just measuring, are we encouraging and are we encouraged? And if those two things happen, brilliant, we've had a great time, just um periodically we've done like a sausage sizzle in the lead up or something so volunteers get to know each other because if they know each other they form friendships I form friendships and we've got all the more reason to come back and do this together so that's really the concept behind why we do it the way we do it Trish I think I've got something in my eye now oh my god that's a remarkable story that's beautiful well look it's um I've been really encouraged by the stories of all the different people in parkrun like I love the fact that we've got volunteers that have never had a borough parkrun and they've got the bug and they walk into the local community and someone recognises them from parkrun and they've got a new friend. But I also love seeing the accomplishments of people that are going for their PB. Whatever that is, there's no right or wrong. It's just what you want it to be. We had a running guy turn up today, Ryan. His story, like sharing that, I think there is a wealth of stories and inherently parkrun's wired to bring out the best in people if you create the space for it. And so I just think, I listen to everyone and go, you're all pretty cool. And it's my job, I think, then is to be of service. So, and then the run directs and other event directs pull and just create that space for people to give what they have to give as they're able to. And it works out.

00:30:16Lyndell Murray: Incredible. Now, Samford... we usually get a bit of a course description. Can you describe the course? Have you completed the course, Trish? No.

00:30:23Trish - Event Director and Run Director, Samford Parklands parkrun: Well, I've walked it a lot. I course check it and I've set things up, but no, I haven't actually run it yet. I hike on a Sunday, so I tend to just do this on a Saturday. But look, we start out on the banks of the South Pine River. We go under the underpass today, one of the runners came to me before and said, there's platypus in the creek, you can see it. I was like, great. Come past the creek, cook up, go along a paddock, see the cows. When we planned the course, because we all live out here, cows are normal, we didn't think about it. The degree of excitement about those potty cows is hilarious.

00:30:52[crosstalk]

00:30:54Lyndell Murray: Took a cow fee today, which is a cow selfie. Yeah, there's a lot of cow selfies happening.

00:30:59Trish - Event Director and Run Director, Samford Parklands parkrun: The only injury we've had on the course is someone reached through the barbed wire fence, knowing they shouldn't, to take photos of the cows and scratch themselves. That's it. And I laughed. He said to me, my fault. But we go out there. We turn. Two trees turn. We come back. We circle the soccer speedway. It's a local soccer club. And we come back by the South Pine River and we do that all again. So two laps. Two sets of cow fees. Yeah, two sets, two opportunities you can get your angles right um so that works out well but it's I also love the fact that the cows in some ways people who are intent on running their best time some of them will stop and just take because it reminds us and it's a course with a great visibility of other runners like when you're on you can actually see down to the people at two trees and see the soccer speedway and that is encouraging so yeah I think it's turned out to be a better course than what we ever conceived in that sense there's benefits until you do it you don't know sort of thing so yeah so it's been good fun

00:31:50Lyndell Murray: Brilliant. Now, the other thing that's important to the adventurers that listen to this podcast is coffee and breakfast. There's plenty of coffee and breakfast places out here. Samford is a little village outside of Brisbane, so its own little community and plenty of coffee spots.

00:32:05Trish - Event Director and Run Director, Samford Parklands parkrun: Yeah, so one of our foundation spots was the Long Yard Larder, which is obviously our park-run home. And the wonderful thing about that is that the owners, one of them is Julie Holden, has become our bi-weekly Timekeeper or finish token. She's got the bug well and truly. And so we go there as a default, but we've got such a great community of coffee shops that the overflow comes up the road. So there's about seven. My kids work at three of them or something, so you'll meet one of mine. My young fella tells me, he's not a young lad, Will tells me he gets recognised for parkrun when he volunteers and then he's up to work and parkrunners come through and go, hey, I just saw you at the finish line. So great for the Samford community. We are a great day out as a community. There's lots of beautiful adventures to have in this region. So we're seeing a lot of people come and make a day of it.

00:32:52Lyndell Murray: Well, I don't know what else to say, Trish. What a wonderful chat that I've had with you today. I'm really, really struck by your story and how you got into parkrun. I love that. I think it's absolutely beautiful.

00:33:04Trish - Event Director and Run Director, Samford Parklands parkrun: I should say the other Event Director actually is a dedicated parkrunner who's got quite a bit of speed, Paul. So he brings the nous around how the run actually needs to work from a runner's perspective because I'd just be merrily going, look, platypus. But Paul's going, that angle needs to work for a runner. So it's been great. But, yeah, the story of Samford Parklands parkrun is very much a community story because without these volunteers that are prepared to do it every week, it doesn't matter what mad idea I have on a Monday morning. They're the ones that deliver it week in, week out, and they're the ones that are encouraging all the runners as they come through. So it's great.

00:33:15[background music]

00:33:39Lyndell Murray: I've had a lovely time here today. Thank you so much for talking to me. Thank you to the volunteers for... sparing you from their party to talk to me. And thank you so much for what you're building here in Samford. It's absolutely wonderful. Thank you.

00:33:53Trish - Event Director and Run Director, Samford Parklands parkrun: Thanks for your time. Thank you. We appreciate it. Hope to see you here soon.

00:33:57Lyndell Murray: All righty, parkrun adventurers, that is a wrap from Samford Parklands parkrun. I'm sorry, Simon, I was a bit over the five minutes, I think, with that little chat with Trish, but I have to say, I think it's worth it. That story that she told about how she got involved in parkrun is possibly the best that I have ever heard. So hopefully you guys all enjoyed it as well. Okay, that is the Channel 5 News crew out from Samford Parklands.

Roving report Ruth Perkins — Meijo Koen parkrun

00:34:25Ruth Perkins: Good morning parkrun adventurers! This is Ruth Perkins and I'm in Meijo Koen parkrun today in Nagoya and we're very very grateful that it happened today because there has been a big typhoon and the weather is very very rainy, heavy rain and today I'm here with the Run Director, in fact the Event Director. Can you tell us your name please? Yes, Yuko Seiki. My name is Yuko Seiki. Brilliant. And have you been involved in parkrun for a long time?

00:34:58Yuko Seiki - Event Director, Meijo Koen parkrun, Nagoya: I'm having my parkrun for five years, almost five years.

00:35:02Ruth Perkins: Oh, that's amazing. It's a lovely parkrun. It's a beautiful view of the castle and many things going on in the park. Have you travelled to other parkruns? Yes, of course. I've been to Oiso Undo Koen and what else?

00:35:21[crosstalk]

00:35:21Yuko Seiki - Event Director, Meijo Koen parkrun, Nagoya: Odakaryokuchi, Shirahama Koen.

00:35:24Ruth Perkins: Wonderful. And do you have a favourite parkrun from the ones you've been to?

00:35:28Yuko Seiki - Event Director, Meijo Koen parkrun, Nagoya: Well, of course Meijo Koen parkrun.

00:35:33Ruth Perkins: I can see why. Oh, lovely. So is there anything you would like people to know about your parkrun?

00:35:43Yuko Seiki - Event Director, Meijo Koen parkrun, Nagoya: As you said, there is a castle, famous castle, Meijo Nagoya castle. And there are also lots of sightseeing places, famous places in Nagoya. So I want many people to come to Nagoya and enjoy this place.

00:36:05Ruth Perkins: thank you and I'm sure they will we're very very grateful so grateful that you've been able to run today so uh thank you very much have a nice day everybody well what a morning we have had it has well on the way over there was definitely a bit of rain and then suddenly there was a lot of rain uh we were going through big puddles and keeping our fingers crossed we turned up a little bit earlier to help with the setup in the end it turned out there really isn't much set up for this park when it is four laps around the park and quite simple to follow there are lots of toilets around lots of things to see and it's pretty easy to get to from the centre of Nagoya it's not far at all so I would highly recommend coming here and you can share in the joy and the beauty of parkrun in Japan this was my third parkrun I've done in Japan now and I just have to say it's just an amazing experience just everyone is so friendly and welcoming So that is me done for Japan for now. And I will be back in the UK to somewhere near-ish Manchester. Thank you for listening.

00:36:13[crosstalk]

00:37:30[background music]

00:37:44Tony O'Connell: And Mel, there was some fantastic roving reports there. Bit funny having two roving reports come in from the one parkrun on the same day. But we heard from Tracy and she was signing up new adventurers and possible hints of things to happen or maybe not. We heard from Lyndell and listening to the amazing ED and RD on the day, Trish, the Samford Parklands parkrun is now on my bucket list. The community there just sound absolutely amazing. I love the way that she built up the community over 18 months before they actually launched the parkrun. And the idea of taking some cow fees, that appeals to me a little bit. And we also heard from Ruth coming in from Meijo and And she was talking to Yuko, and it sounds like the typhoon might have made things pretty wet over in Japan. We don't hear a lot about it on our media, but I know it certainly affected a couple of launches over there as well as some of the parkruns.

00:38:41Melissa Ellis: Oh, good work. Yes, nice to listen to all those. Thank you to our roving reporters.

Dazza's

00:38:46Tony O'Connell: And now, Mel, we're going to head across to Dazza's. And this week, Dazza's said, today is World Freedom Day. Now, it's unlikely you did a freedom run today, but hopefully you had the wind through your hair and the sun on your face. Mind, maybe you even put your arms out and zoomed a little bit. Feel free to come into Dazza's and tell us how your Saturday morning was. And this week's listener challenge was to use the name of a Melbourne Cup horse. And some of the people's responses were really clever.

00:39:17Melissa Ellis: Did you like that one? Now, first, we heard from Jo McLean coming to us from New South Wales. And she said, Photo with Rocky, or maybe it's a Baystone, was a highlight and apparently my fastest time for 2024. It was just a dash, but bravo to me. And there was a pic of Joe and Rocky. And yes, Joe managed one, two, three, four, five references to Melbourne Cup horses.

00:39:52Tony O'Connell: Right, yeah, next we're going to head across to the UK and our friend Calum Burrell had a fab morning at Macclesfield parkrun and a frond formed with Lee Stott, Lindsay Burrell, Sadiq, Sid Moore and Gabby Lipschen. And there's a photo of Calum zooming to the finish.

00:40:10Melissa Ellis: Very good. Now, we also heard from Yvette Turner and she said, I was away this weekend getting up to hijinks at a scrapbooking retreat. So I decided to nimble foot it to a parkrun I had not done. Casula Parklands parkrun. It was shocking that I could not find anyone to come with me without a fight. Almost needed a lantern at 6am, I left that ethereal mists of Stanwell Tops and headed off to parkrun. I listened to the adventurers podcast during my 40-minute drive and heard about the Listener's Challenge for the week. I met the efficient RD and other volleys, including a young man doing his first ever parkrun as a Timekeeper. So saintly! With a vow and declare that I would run the whole way, my heartbeat was rising fast. After 5k with just a dash to go, I crossed the finish line to the applause of the volleys at the finish line. The victory was mine and also belonged to every other attendee at this lovely parkrun. Gee, I love parkrun and the parkrun community. And there was a photo of Yvette in the selfie frame and she did a good job with all those references to the horses.

00:41:23Tony O'Connell: Mel, I can't believe that Yvette managed to cram 12 horses into that. Good job on counting them. That's almost as big as the Melbourne Cup field in itself. It is. Well, we get across to WA and we heard from our friend Abdul and a cracker of a photo, but we'll get to that. Mundy Regional parkrun number 222 and number two in a 2-2. And a big kudos to Abdul who ran the hardest parkrun in Australia dressed as a giant turd. The photo, Mel, it's worth going to Dazza's and just having a scroll through and finding that photo alone.

00:41:50[background music]

00:42:03Melissa Ellis: Abdul likes to take the challenging, what would you call it, dress-up options. I remember him being interviewed years ago, early days in the parkrun adventurers podcast. I believe he ran a parkrun in, was it Flippers? And goggles?

00:42:21Tony O'Connell: I think you actually might be right there just thinking about that now. Yeah. But, yep, get into Dazza's, have a look. Awesome photo. That's the shit of a photo, it really is.

00:42:31Melissa Ellis: Do I have to beep that? Next we heard from Tracy Jensen coming to us from the Greater State and she said, Ran at home today at Portland and I was one second off my PB. Wish I had far-lapsed legs to help me snag an all-time PB. There was no pic, but...

00:42:49Tony O'Connell: That's a message that I've typed in there.

00:42:51Melissa Ellis: It is. Where does Tracy listen to the pod?

00:42:56Tony O'Connell: That's a question, Mel. And for those, you'd need to go back to the back catalogue and have a good listen to work out where Tracy listens to the pod.

00:43:03Melissa Ellis: Oh, I know now. I remember. Are we going to tell him?

00:43:08Tony O'Connell: No. No, no, they've got to listen to the catalogue. And I reminded Tracy that last weekend while we were down in Portland. Right, going across to the UK, and we heard from Ruth Perkins, a very elegant, very mindful, very demure morning for me, pacing 30 minutes at Harrogate parkrun's 600th event. Lovely to meet and interview E.D. Ted Welton. There was cake. And a... I think it's a happy face. And there's a picture. We think it's Ruth and Ted with the pop-up.

00:43:43Melissa Ellis: Very good. And a Melbourne Cup reference in there for Ruth. Next, we heard from Fiona Mullen coming to us from Queensland. She said, adventured to Ecco Ripley parkrun and met up with Jan Weir. Congrats on doing 2-2-2 today. And Tracy Leiper. Dragged my sister along without a fight for her four-and-a-half parkrun. That's correct. She piped halfway last time. I know. How shocking. And there was a photo of Fiona, Jan and Tracy in the selfie frame. So yes, only four and a half parkruns has her sister completed.

00:44:17Tony O'Connell: Yep, but Fiona managed to cram two Melbourne Cup references into that as well. She did. Rightio, Queensland. And we're with Mark Walls today. The temperature was rising fast this morning as I decided to take a gold trip to Central Lakes parkrun to complete my Pirates Challenge anyway. No Peter Pan this morning, but met another adventurer, Errol Poole. And there's a pic with Mark with the selfie frame.

00:44:47Melissa Ellis: Very good. And he managed two, oh no, three references there. Rising fast gold trip and Peter Pan. And good old Errol.

00:44:55Tony O'Connell: Yeah, and we'll stumble over that one and the editing will hide everything.

the Obi Award — Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa

00:45:03Melissa Ellis: Okay, but I do believe you have an envelope, an Obilope even.

00:45:10Tony O'Connell: An Obilope, Mel.

00:45:11Melissa Ellis: Oh, I might need a photo of this Obilope. We haven't done the photos for a few weeks.

00:45:15Tony O'Connell: We've got so many Melbourne Cup references in there and that was the challenge this week. But let's open the envelope and see who our winner is. Who was first past the post this week?

00:45:29Melissa Ellis: And the winner is...

00:45:34Tony O'Connell: Abdul. And the giant turd costume.

00:45:43Melissa Ellis: Well done. Good job. We love a dress-up here at The adventurers.

00:45:50[background music]

Club Corner

00:45:51Melissa Ellis: Someone who doesn't like a dress-up, that is Reginald. So let's have a listen to what Reginald's got to say this week in Club Corner.

00:46:06Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III: This is Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III, with Club Corner, where we talk about the what and why of parkrun clubs, and I am coming to you from Arrernte Country. Today I am feeling special, as one should. The nomenclature around this special topic has changed over time. What was once special days or special events is now referred to as additional parkrun days. But irregardless, the result is the same. Each year there are two days where event teams may choose to hold a parkrun on another day. For all events, January 1st is when they may choose to host an additional event. On January 1st each year, aka New Year's Day of the Gregorian calendar, If parkrun ventures into a culture and community that celebrates a different calendar, HQ may need to think more deeply about this option, and they have pre-empted this in their official documentation somewhat by not referring to January 1st as New Year's Day. Yes, the website pages for special events do, but that is because they are local documents. Moving on. The other day that events may host an additional event varies by region slash country. These days include Christmas Day, December 25, in Australia, France, when they return, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, and United Kingdom. The following day, the second day of Christmas, is when Poland may partake. Working backward through the months of the year, we have the United States with Thanksgiving in November. Then German Unity Day is in October, which is in, let me check, yes, in Germany. Malaysia celebrates Malaysia Day in September, Singapore their National Day in August, and Canada with Canada Day in July. We now have bulk countries aligned on Ascension Day, as it was threatening to become a greater burden to those regions than intended. These include Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The outlier is the Netherlands who currently retain Wit Monday as their option. To round out to the batch of nationalistic days, we have Japan with Greenery Day in May and South Africa with Freedom Day in April. Perhaps our Southern African correspondent can provide insight on other Southern African countries like Eswatini and Namibia. The contemporary rule from parkrun HQ is that all additional events are to be held at the same time as regular, no time shifting. I dare our illustrious hosts to reminisce on the days gone past of New Year's Day doubles and triples dot dot dot. That is not a scab at which I will pick. I shall conclude today with an imploration of you, dear listeners. Please do not already ask events what they are doing to Christmas Day. Your innocent inquiry is but one of dozens and possibly scores that the event team fields. Rest assured that you will know the answer, there is a timetable, and events have a cut-off date by which they must declare. Please do them the courtesy of waiting until then. Your desire to adventure does not entitle you to an answer before then. I am sure that our pod hosts will keep an information flow on how things are progressing on the front of additional days. And remember, in parkrun life, all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun, so stay tuned for our future club corners.

00:49:40Tony O'Connell: Mel, always great to hear from Reginald with Club Corner. This week's focus on the special events, and I've been pretty fortunate to have done a couple of different countries on their special event days. But yeah, Australia's one that... I've only done one Christmas day where I've actually finished parkrun. I think I've been Run Director on nine or ten Christmas days. It's my little gig that I really enjoy. How about you? Have you...

00:50:09Melissa Ellis: done too many I've done many of the special days at all well I do do Christmas day every day since I first started parkrunning my family thought I was going completely crazy and were not impressed about either having to do Christmas presents early so I could get to parkrun or wait till I got back but yes I do Australian special day every year and New Year's Day The best way to start the year is running a parkrun. But as I said earlier in the introduction, I have not managed to do a special day overseas because the one and only one I attempted to do was not held. It was not held after I booked my trip. Through no fault of their own because it's completely optional, of course, and I took a punt and it didn't pay off. But I still had a lovely holiday, so that's what matters.

00:50:59Tony O'Connell: And sometimes we lose track of that and it is the holiday that adds. The parkrun's a great thing to get away to, but it's the holiday and the experiences too.

00:51:07Melissa Ellis: Yes, I still had, and I have to, and I've still completed two Malaysian parkrun courses, which I'll have in my memory forever and ever. And one day might even get back.

00:51:16Tony O'Connell: You've done more than I have.

Consolidated Club Report

00:51:18Melissa Ellis: Yes. Now, the adventurers Consolidated Club report for Saturday, the 9th of November 2024, of a total of 712 members, 528 took part in six countries across 268 locations. Now, in the UK, there were adventurers at 55 events. There were nine in South Africa, one in Germany and one in Norway. Locally, we had adventurers at 49 events in... It was a tie between Queensland and New South Wales on 49. Victoria was 47. Australia had 21. South Australia, 12. Tassie had 10. That is big for Tassie.

00:52:00Tony O'Connell: That's a lot of events.

00:52:02Melissa Ellis: Really big. I wonder what took. I reckon it must have been cheap flights to Tassie on sale for that weekend because, yeah, wow. The ACT, there was five. There was four each on the North Island. There was four each on the North and South Island and one in the Northern Territory.

the Frond

00:52:22Tony O'Connell: And Mel, our largest international frond came to us from Macclesfield in the UK. And there, as we may have heard earlier, was Lee Stott, Sadiq Damour, Gabby Lipshin and Calum Burrell. And no doubt Lindsay. And Lindsay would have been there probably volunteering.

00:52:41Melissa Ellis: Correct. Now the pilgrimage this week. Nobody at Bushy, TOC.

00:52:49Tony O'Connell: No one out of our 700 members, Mel. We've got to work on that number.

00:52:55Melissa Ellis: But we did have fronds, largest fronds in Australia. There were 11 at the Ponds, 10 at Shellharbour, but two events had a front of eight. They are going to be the ones that I highlight. One of them was our very own Albert Melbourne, and we don't have Albert Melbourne popping up in the largest front very often. And there was Russell Johnson, Adrian Homburg, Jane Brien, Anthony Patterson, Julie Doolin, Sue Gittins, Amanda Lake and Jonathan Morgan. So a little South Australian reunion happening there with three names that I know very well from volunteering over at Thornton Juniors. Now, also, we heard from Tuggers. Well, we didn't hear from them, but they also had a front of eight. And that was Kristy Hill, Anthony and Faye Powell, Rebecca Gordon, Rosie Aloe, Peter Thomson, Kevin Pickup, and Gary Labretton. So yay!

00:53:54Tony O'Connell: And we had a comment from Amanda Lake, an absolutely stunning day at Albert Melbourne's parkrun. And there's a photo of Amanda and a friend with Albert the black swan in the selfie frame. And we also had Jonathan Morgan who posed at Albert.

00:54:10Melissa Ellis: Yes, Albert is synonymous with photo opportunities at Albert Melbourne.

00:54:17Tony O'Connell: It is, and also becoming synonymous with big numbers. So, yeah, quite a big parkrun now.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:54:23Tony O'Connell: Well, launches this week. We had a plethora of launches. We had launches everywhere and right across the world. And I'm going to kick it off with Workman's Beach parkrun, which is in Australia. It's up at Agnes Waters in Queensland, which is a coastal town in the Gladstone region. Our course is described as a mixture of gravel, grass and sandy tracks and participants turn around at Chinaman's Beach. The launch was attended by 181 people and supported by 19 volunteers.

00:54:57Melissa Ellis: I think parkrun must have heard me last week when I had a little whinge about there not being any launches happening in Australia because we had another one in the Greater State, and it's Emerald Lake parkrun. And this is an out-and-back course, and it fills a void in the Greater State. Starting near the Puffing Billy Visitor Centre at Emerald Lake, this course follows the Puffing Billy Railway line to the turnaround, then back. And they had 198 who completed week one and 12 volunteers. I thought I would let you know that Emerald is situated 44 kilometres southeast of the Melbourne CBD in the Shire of Cardinia and Yarra Ranges. Emerald Lake is also known as Lake Tregowan. And Puffing Billy is a heritage steam operated railway, which opened in 1900. And henceforth, there is your history lesson.

00:55:51Tony O'Connell: Well done, Mel. Now, jumping across and talking of history, we're going to go across to Rinko Park parkrun in Japan. There was 43 finishes here, and what's amazing is they were nearly outnumbered by the 20 volunteers at week one of Japan's newest event. The course starts on flat cobblestone roads with views of Yokohama Port to your left and Yokohama Bay Bridge beyond that, then turns around on a paved road beyond, offering views of the Ferris Wheel and other sights, It's a beautiful circular course that takes you around four times before returning to the start. So it's a four lapper.

00:56:30Melissa Ellis: A four lapper.

00:56:31Tony O'Connell: Along the foreshore, yeah.

00:56:33Melissa Ellis: I'll forgive them because they've got a Ferris wheel. Now next we heard from Sabine parkrun in Italy. This is Rome's third parkrun and it opened in the northern suburbs. It's three laps of a park near the Coconut Bar in Rome. It's had 27 finishers and eight volunteers and this will be welcomed by the many tourists to Rome.

00:56:56Tony O'Connell: Righty-o Mel, my tongue twister this week. Coming to us from the USA, Ryan Bonaminio parkrun. That's a good job. That was a lot easier than what I thought it was going to be. Located in the Los Angeles community of Riverside near the University of California, this double out and back attracted 33 finishers with 18 of these being the first time ever. So that's over half the crowd. It was their first ever parkrun and they were supported by four

00:57:26Melissa Ellis: fabulous volunteers good job now okay everybody gonna be ready to laugh at me with this one this is Cockermouth Greenway parkrun in the UK now after my attempts at saying Yarmouth the other week I do wonder if this is Cockermouth So I did reach out to a few people, Tony, and clarify if it was Cockermouth or Cockermouth. And it is, I believe, Cockermouth. Would you agree?

00:58:03Tony O'Connell: It is. And listening to the description on one of the YouTube videos that was taken by one of the crew at the start line, yeah, I think you're right.

00:58:10Melissa Ellis: Are you going to tell the listeners about your rude joke?

00:58:18Tony O'Connell: Best leave.

00:58:18Melissa Ellis: Now, this three-lapper of the Cockermouth Greenway kicked off this week. Located in the Cumbria region, just south of the Scottish border, week one was attended by 137 participants. Of note, Cockermouth was the home of Fletcher Christian, leader of the Muni on the Bounty. And Cockermouth is so named because it is at the confluence of the River Cocker as it flows into the River Derwent.

00:58:46Tony O'Connell: Very well done, Mel, and I'm glad the notes fairies put your name beside that one.

00:58:52Melissa Ellis: Yeah, thanks for stitching me up.

00:58:56Tony O'Connell: Now, we've got one that was due to launch last week, but ended up launching this week. And so I thought we'd give it an honourable mention. It was the Heiwa koen Kurashino mori parkrun in Japan. As I said, they were meant to launch last week, but they were delayed by a typhoon warning. And we heard from Ruth earlier with the effects of said typhoon. Interesting. It starts and finishes at the Satayama House in the Forest of Living in Peace Park. 36 finishes and 13 volunteers.

00:59:33Melissa Ellis: Wow, so that was a nice round-up. Japan, UK, USA, Italy and Australia.

00:59:40Tony O'Connell: And unusually, nothing in South Africa. They've been featuring quite prominently lately.

00:59:46Melissa Ellis: Yeah, but they've had their turn.

00:59:48Tony O'Connell: Yep.

parkrun adventure challengelistener challenge

00:59:50Melissa Ellis: Oh, we have to have a challenge, Tony. We have to have a challenge for the listeners for next week. What are we up to? Are we up to using another emoji?

00:59:59Tony O'Connell: I think we might be, Mel. I'm trying to think off the top of my head.

01:00:05Melissa Ellis: Oh, no, the poo emoji.

01:00:09Tony O'Connell: In honour of Abdul, let's have a... Let's see the creative ways that we can get the turd emoji into a conversation politely.

01:00:23Melissa Ellis: That literally just popped into my head until I brought that up. I had no idea what we were going to do. Oh, that's funny. Okay, so, Toc, what have we got to look forward to?

01:00:36Tony O'Connell: Well, Mel, I'm working on a couple of things. We have our big trip to Whitemark Wharf in a few weeks, which is going to be absolutely awesome. Looking forward to that. But I'm working on my longer range, the New Year's Eve, where we're going to fit the three parkruns into the couple of days that we're over there or a week and a half that we're there and trying to plan my third event. I know that we'll be going to Yokine and to Quinns on New Year's Day the week after, still playing around with options.

01:01:11Melissa Ellis: Well, that's a fun problem to have.

01:01:13Tony O'Connell: What about you, Mel? What are you looking forward to?

01:01:15Melissa Ellis: Well, I've got another idea. I know, I'm full of them. But this one is I am going to propose a Victorian event frond at the 10th anniversary of the Bellarine Sunset Run on the 8th of February in 2025. I know it's a little far away, but we can start planning because, you know, you've got to be organised. Now, this is basically because I'm planning to attend the event. And I thought, seeing as everyone is always nagging for something in the greater state, this would be a fun event to choose. Plus, it's out west, and it's a local event to support which is also where there happens to be a parkrun so if you're travelling from further afield and fancy hitting up a regional coastal Victorian parkrun and town area why don't you think about coming down to the Greater State for some of our nice warm weather in February and what do you think TOC have you done this event before

01:02:13Tony O'Connell: I have Mel, it's an absolute ripper. I've done the half marathon, you run out to a point and back but basically you run past a caravan park and the caravan sites are almost right on the walking track and I found people in the caravans were setting up food tables so there was like a mobile aid station that went for about a kilometre long. There were people cooking barbecues and offering you sausages, there were people with chips out, there was all sorts of things. Great little event and there's plenty of parkruns in the local area. So if you're an alphabet chaser, you can come down and do an E at Eastern Gardens. You can do an O at Ocean Grove. You can do a P at Portarlington. You can do a B. There's just so many options in the area. So yeah, great little event, great community event. And they may or may not have a cider stall at the end.

01:03:02Melissa Ellis: They do. Yes, that's the best bit. There's booze. So it's one of those events that starts in the evening, which, you know, I'm not really a fan of doing the evening running thing, but they have music and it's just an amazing vibe down there and people dress up. That's another good thing. Come along and just walk the 10K, dress as a pirate.

01:03:23Tony O'Connell: Abdul, come on over to Victoria Headdresser.

01:03:26Melissa Ellis: Come to Victoria, and yeah it can be a little bit warm but you're right on the beach and the people in the caravan park they have their hoses and they squirt you as you run past so it does start at Portarlington and it basically runs from the Portarlington pier to the St Leonard's pier and back well that's the 21k they also have a 10k if you're not as keen on doing a longer distance in the heat or there's a 4k which I think is intended for the kids but I've seen plenty of adults take part in that too and you do actually run along the entirety of the Portarlington parkrun course yeah yeah exactly you do that's right you're welcome anyway so that was my big brainy idea so because we have uh we've we support every year the city to surf up in New South Wales and the punish and I thought it's time we had one down here that we get behind And yeah, I know Dion who runs the event and I believe you know Dion as well.

01:04:27Tony O'Connell: Yep, I certainly do.

Sign-off

01:04:28Melissa Ellis: But, TOC. Next parkrun Day. It's time to look at next parkrun Day. Where are you going to be, Mel? Oh, me? Well, I've got a weekend away. I do not get a new event because I have been to this event, but it's a regional event, area and I actually didn't spend much time there the time I did go up to do it and it is Louis Hamon Park parkrun I was there in February of 2021 and it's in the town of Numurkah and I think I just did a dash up and a quick brunch and headed home last time so I'm looking forward to spending a bit of time up in numerka and actually checking out what's to see up there fun fact Mel I was actually born in numerka oh Actually, you were there the day I went. I remember.

01:05:17Tony O'Connell: That wasn't the day I was born, just for clarity.

01:05:24Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

01:05:25Tony O'Connell: Well, our plans for this week are still up in the air. I have not decided. We have lots going on with a home being built and some other things. And it's sort of a late last minute decision each week. So... We might work on a peon deck somewhere. We might look at a Wilson somewhere, although they're getting a long way further away. Or we might just rock up the envelope if we have to race back and spend another weekend installing itchy insulation bats.

01:05:57Melissa Ellis: Or you could go to your birthplace.

01:06:01Tony O'Connell: I could do that. It's only a short five-hour drive.

01:06:04Melissa Ellis: Fair enough. I think it's a good three hours for me.

01:06:08Tony O'Connell: Just up the road.

01:06:09Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Anyway. Alrighty. Well, next week, the cool kids are back and that's not us.

01:06:15Tony O'Connell: We're the oldies. I'll speak for yourself.

01:06:19Melissa Ellis: Hey, there used to be a time that I was the oldest parkrun podcaster and now I'm not. Thank you. I appreciate that.

01:06:27Tony O'Connell: My pleasure.

01:06:29Melissa Ellis: Yes, no, next week you've got Sarah and Simon. So thank you to them for stepping in and over to you guys. But thank you for joining me again, TOC. Great to chat to you.

01:06:40Tony O'Connell: Always good to chat, Mel.

01:06:42Melissa Ellis: And as always, everybody, you can contact us via parkrun adventurers on Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That is it for another week, and we'll see you all next week for more adventures.

01:06:45[outro theme playing]

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