Episode 411 - GPS fails

00:00:00[intro theme playing]

Welcome

00:00:26Simon Mackley: of the parkrun adventurers podcast a podcast about life if your life is all about parkrun I'm Simon Mackley and as always I'm coming to you from Quandamooka Country and I'm Melissa Ellis coming to you from Wurundjeri Country how you doing Simon I'm doing well thanks Mel how about you I'm still sweltering here in meltown I'm melting melting what is melting in meltown I'm

00:00:51Melissa Ellis: We're in a heat wave. You've got floods and we've got a heat wave. The world is upside down.

00:00:57Simon Mackley: Our floods are 2,000 kilometres away, but yes, we do have floods in Queensland.

00:01:02Melissa Ellis: Aren't they at your back door like my fires? Yeah, exactly.

00:01:06Simon Mackley: Yeah, it's just like that. Yes. So what temperature is it?

00:01:12Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, I've missed the news, but it was forecast to be 39 today.

00:01:17Simon Mackley: Oh, okay.

00:01:18Melissa Ellis: And we had a round ballpark that yesterday, a pretty warm night with thunderstorms. Okay. Yeah, so it's pretty hot and sticky and I'm locked away again in the office with the door shut far away from any air con. Anyway, you know, this is what we do. It is. All for the good of the pod. I should get myself a fan. But, you know, if I did that, then I would have the hum of a fan and that would be a problem.

00:01:43Simon Mackley: True that. Yeah. So what's been going on, Mel? What have we been hearing? Feedback from last week.

00:01:50Melissa Ellis: Yes, we do have some feedback, Simon. And one was in response to my being at Sale parkrun last week. Calum Burrell commented on the episode post, Melissa and Nicola Forward twinning with their parkrun choices this week. Nicola headed to Sale Water parkrun and Mel at Sale. So that's a bit of a coincidence. Pretty much so. Yeah, that's...

00:02:15Simon Mackley: Some synchronicity. Yeah. Unintentional.

00:02:18Melissa Ellis: Unintentional because I think bad weather had Nicola going to a plan B. Okay. Whereas I was at my plan A. Anyway, interesting. Yeah. Confusing the listeners that listen to both pods.

00:02:31Simon Mackley: Exactly right.

00:02:32Melissa Ellis: So where did you go this week? Well I was where I said I was going to be at Coburg and that is on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people and I joined fellow adventurers Christine and Eman Vergara, Craig Ryan plus friends Frankie and Nick and Dave for my fourth visit to this inner city event. It was event 450 and we were amongst a crowd of 345 participants including a group running in formal wear and a bridal party and I'm still not sure if they were one in the same group. And the best part was the Steve's bike even made a random appearance. So I was there to wish Christine a very happy birthday and it was lovely to see Argo and Juno who were accompanied on course by their dad while Christine enjoyed a run. We had a cool to mild morning and I was pleased to knock a few more seconds off my most recent time, although not quite as good in reality as the time I was awarded, but what's a few seconds between friends? And it was interesting on the morning, Simon, Christine commented to me to say, I thought it was supposed to be hot today. And because it was only 8am. And I was like, oh, yeah, it's going to be but it's morning because of course, we often start the day with cooler conditions here in Melbourne and it will heat up later in the afternoon. But I think up in further north up your way, you will have a warmer conditions earlier in the day we do we definitely do so sadly I couldn't join the group for brunch as I had a date with my hairdresser across town but funny story I ended up back at Coburg parkrun this morning when I somehow directed my gps back there instead of to work Oops.

00:04:16Simon Mackley: Oh, that's perfect.

00:04:17Melissa Ellis: Have you ever done that? I'm sure I tapped work when I was putting in the instructions and I thought to myself, oh, I've got a nice quick trip to work today. And it took me on a different road, Simon, and I thought, oh, there must be an accident on the ring road.

00:04:34Simon Mackley: Yeah.

00:04:34Melissa Ellis: And then I'm thinking, oh, that's the parkrun. And then I realised, oh, my goodness.

00:04:42Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

00:04:43Simon Mackley: How much extra time did it add?

00:04:47Melissa Ellis: About 20 minutes. I mean, obviously it was in the same general direction or I would have figured it out a lot earlier. Yeah. Anyway, yeah, that was a bit funny. Whoopsie. Anyway, Simon, what about you? What did you get up to on the weekend?

00:05:00Simon Mackley: I returned to Sirromet. So it wasn't exactly my first plan, but, yeah, I decided to go to Sirromet. It was my sixth visit there and, as I say, a last-minute decision on location, this was the perfect example of why you should check the Facebook page before going to an event though. I turn up and everyone who was there early were wearing crazy hats. I knew it wasn't their birthday because that was a few weeks prior. The birthday boy's line rings in my ears. Events may celebrate what they like when they like. So I stumbled across Sirromet's ninth birthday. So happy birthday to Sirromet. But, yeah, I wasn't wearing a crazy hat, and that was noticed the moment I turned up. I ran into the prof and Rasheen, and later I saw Carmel, who's one of the other ambassadors up here. So, yes, I went back to Sirromet. It helped to increase – sorry, it helped to get me closer to increasing my P index for the year.

00:06:05Melissa Ellis: Now, tell me, Simon, would you have actually – if you had known it was crazy hat day, would you have gone to the trouble? Yes.

00:06:11Simon Mackley: I would have tried to find something. I may have gone as very basic as wearing my Christmas visor instead. Right. But I would have tried. Had I known, I would have tried. But had I seen it in the morning, there's no way I would have been looking for anything and waking up the family. LAUGHTER

00:06:31Melissa Ellis: Huh, interesting. Yes. Sirromet is an event I would like to get to one day. Anything on a winery, I'm up for.

00:06:38Simon Mackley: Yeah, I mean, it's a pretty small winery. A lot of their wines actually come from another part of Queensland. But, yeah, I mean, it's nice. It's very hilly. And there was probably only 20 wallabies slash kangaroos. Whereas normally when you drive in, you see like 50 or 60 of them.

00:06:59Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I recall you saying that recently. So you must have been there recently as well.

00:07:03Simon Mackley: Yeah, I think I was there late last year.

00:07:06Melissa Ellis: And so I can think of three. So because we've got Ocean View on a winery and Sirromet. And there's that Two Rivers Wines as well, isn't there? So that's three.

00:07:16Simon Mackley: There is Two Rivers Wines, yeah.

00:07:18Melissa Ellis: And there's Nuriootpa. Okay, yep. In South Australia. And there's, it's not called McLaren Vale. What's it called? Shiraz Trail. Shiraz Trail. Yes. So what's that five? Just off the top of my head.

00:07:35Simon Mackley: Oh, and there's got to be some in WA. There's got to, or maybe not. Is there anything in Margaret River that might be a winery?

00:07:41[crosstalk]

00:07:43Melissa Ellis: No, Margaret River, of course, isn't anywhere near Vines. A Goulburn River rail trail in Victoria, in the town of Seymour, actually runs past Vineyard as well, past Vines. So that's six.

00:07:56Simon Mackley: So there might be quite a few of them out there.

00:07:58Melissa Ellis: Yeah. We need a grapist club.

Budgie update

00:08:02Melissa Ellis: the grape escape yes oh the grape escape I like that oh let's tell who do we Reginald Reginald note it down there's a new club in town the grape escape now anyway it's time to talk about budgie we do have a budgie update and well we heard from budgie but we heard from Gareth Gareth Is it Gareth Arnold? Yes. Yes. And he has Budgie in his possession. So there was a Budgie swap and I think it happened at Edithburg Oval.

00:08:34Simon Mackley: Edinburgh Oval.

00:08:36[crosstalk]

00:08:36Melissa Ellis: Or is it at Edinburgh? Oh, you see, it's that silly spelling phonetic thing. Anyway, he has Budgie in his possession. Budgie is now heading across the seas or the airways to the UK. So watch this space. Bye.

parkrun news bulletin

00:08:52Simon Mackley: think that more than just travelling I think he's already in the UK really so you've got inside information I do budgie arrived on Sunday lunchtime in the UK right okay very good excellent so we we look forward to hearing about that very soon yes um but what have we got next um so I saw an article that uh came across my desk the other day that uh said parkrun comes of age six of its best international 5Ks. So they were talking about the free running event turns 21 this year and continuing global expansion makes it an excellent way to see another side of a city. So they picked six. I don't, I'm going to say maybe not the best international, but that is open to interpretation. So obviously London Bushy was one of them. Frankfurt, Nidda parkrun. Milan was Milano Nord. Vancouver, they had Central parkrun in Burnaby. And in Melbourne, they had Brimbank parkrun. And in Tokyo, Hikarigaoka parkrun. So what do you think of Brimbank being put forward as one of the best six international 5Ks?

00:08:57[crosstalk]

00:10:15Melissa Ellis: It's interesting, isn't it? It's very interesting. Look, I've done – I've forgotten how many parkruns I've done. I've done a lot, more than 200, somewhere around the 240. And I would not have Brimbank in my top 10. Not to say it's not a nice course, but there's a lot of very iconic courses around. And I'm actually really surprised because if you're thinking international and you're thinking, you know, what would an international tourist get a thrill from? Well, I'd maybe say I'd put the beaches up there, you know, running along a beach a la Bondi Rescue idea. Or I would say something internationally known like Albert Melbourne Grand Prix tracks where Albert Melbourne parkrun is. So... yeah it's quite unusual and I I really can't quite understand the choice but you know Brimbank is a lovely course it's got a lot of elevation it's got a huge hill which has some lovely views as you run down the other side it has a bit of a Ford so in heavy rain it has a b course that's even harder than the a course um and it's set in a lovely park so There's nothing not to like about it. I just don't think, yeah, to pick one out of six in the whole world, that's a big call. What media outlet did this report, Simon?

00:11:40Simon Mackley: It was the Financial Times in the UK. So the person that wrote it is actually a parkrunner. They seem to have some good background. Like they knew about Russia being on hold because of the Ukraine war. They knew about France being on hold because of the, issues there with certification and that sort of thing they mentioned the word London so they knew that there was this everything inside the m25 so they were definitely sort of they had some some idea there's a bit of inside knowledge there isn't there deep knowledge but why would a financially based media paper want want a profile and not for profit my guess is because it says that it's an excellent way to see another side of a city. So I'm guessing their readers are probably well-travelled people. Right. You know, I totally agree that getting out and running in a new city and getting that little bit lost or going out and running past sites that you know and things like that, I think that's a great way to go and sort of experience a city. And if these people are business people who are always, you know, in and out of office buildings and things like that, Going out and running a city is, you know, a great thing in my mind.

00:13:02Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Again, it's really strange because in Melbourne, everybody goes to Albert Park as the first one, usually, if they're staying in the CBD. And the question I get the most from friends that are coming to Melbourne is, what parkrun do you recommend that I can get to from the CBD? That's not Albert because they say that because they've already done Albert. Yeah. And I always say Studley.

00:13:27Unidentified speaker: Studley.

00:13:29Melissa Ellis: Yeah. Anyway, that's interesting. Thank you for bringing us that little snippet of international news. Now, there was also, Simon, more records this last parkrun day with 29 events breaking their previous largest attendances. So I'm assuming that's in Australia?

00:13:48Simon Mackley: Sorry, that was just in Australia, I must say, yes. I didn't put that in when I wrote it, but yes, definitely in Australia.

00:13:55Melissa Ellis: And some records stood for only one week, but others have stood for over 400 events.

00:14:00Simon Mackley: Exactly. So, yeah, there was a good spread. Actually, probably half of them were in single digits. They'd only broken the record more recently. Okay. But, yeah, one of them was over 400.

00:14:14Melissa Ellis: Was that Karkarook?

00:14:16Simon Mackley: No.

00:14:17Melissa Ellis: Okay, because I saw Chris Roo's – oh, it might be coming up in Dazza's. Oh, no, I bet not.

00:14:21Simon Mackley: Yeah, you might be getting ahead of yourself here.

00:14:22[crosstalk]

00:14:24Melissa Ellis: Yes, well, let's wait for that bit of news. But anyway, what Chris said prompted me to look at Albert because Albert is typically one of the largest in Australia. Yep, definitely the largest in Victoria and recently it's taken out Australia's record so I went to the event history to have a little look at how many people ran this weekend and it wasn't it was still high but I think Albert peaked about three weeks ago around the 1300 odd in the last two weeks I think it's sat somewhere back around 1100 so we've peaked at Australian Open and now we're yeah we're tapering So what do we have coming up next Mel?

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:15:05Melissa Ellis: Well Simon we've got some roving reports for you so we're still playing catch up so this is this week's selection.

00:15:10[background music]

Roving report Alison Fraser (King) — Gordon Carmichael Reserve parkrun

00:15:23Alison Fraser (King): Kia ora koutou adventurers it's Alison here reporting in from across the ditch and today I have come to Gordon Carmichael Reserve parkrun And Gordon Carmichael Reserve is in Tauranga on the North Island of New Zealand and it was one of the 13 parkruns to launch in 2024. And I'm going to be having a chat with Leslie who is the Event Director and also today's Run Director. Thank you so much Leslie for an awesome parkrun experience today. Welcome onto the podcast. Thank you. Could you tell us how did Gordon Carmichael Reserve come about? What was the instigation behind it? [Te Reo Māori: "Hello / be well, all of you — adventurers"]

00:16:01Leslie: Well, it's in my neighbourhood and I like to come here for a run because it's just so beautiful around the ponds and the nature here is just so beautiful. So I run here and I had this brainwave that it would be really cool for a parkrun. And yeah, that was a year ago. And yeah, here we are now. It was event 43 today. Big field, well over 100. That's awesome.

00:16:26Alison Fraser (King): Yeah. Helped by one of your neighbouring parkruns not being on today for another event.

00:16:30Leslie: Yeah, thanks to the Spratters from Gordon Spratt.

00:16:36Alison Fraser (King): What's your parkrun story, Leslie? How did you get into parkrun in the first place?

00:16:41Leslie: It was about... year 2000 and I was encouraged to parkrun by the Achilles group which I'm a member of and Achilles is for people, athletes with disabilities and because I've only got vision in one eye I joined Achilles and then they said come to parkrun and there was a group of about a dozen of us coming along as a group and that was the beginning of something that's turned into now being a Event Director so you mentioned 2000 was it 2020 because you know there was no parkrun in 2000 so just making sure that oh 2020 yeah yeah yeah yeah they probably started going pretty soon after that in England yeah yeah it was about 2004 they began in England yes yes um tell us about your involvement with achilles what's achilles done for you as a runner Um, it's given me the confidence to get back into running because, um, I've been a runner since, um, 2000. That's, um, the year I started running, doing half marathons, um, And then when I lost my vision in 2016, I lost confidence and then joined Achilles, which means that when I run, I have a guide by my side and we're held together by a tether. And so the guide keeps me on the straight and narrow and just gives me the confidence to run. I run on my own, but in a big event, there's people everywhere and it's a bit daunting, so...

00:17:19[crosstalk]

00:17:31[crosstalk]

00:18:16Alison Fraser (King): my guide is um is my right hand man or lady there are quite a few achilles members who come to parkrun which I think is awesome to see you know as parkrunners for everyone and so having those guides available for people who are less confident yeah means it's open to you as well yep yeah that's right and the athletes and groups all around the country do the local parkruns so

00:18:42Leslie: Yeah, so it's a good partnership between Achilles and parkrun.

00:18:47Alison Fraser (King): And as someone who has had a guide, what makes a good guide if anyone's thinking that they could possibly do it?

00:18:54Leslie: basically it's really easy and it's just being there and the person that they are guiding will say kind of what they need them to do whether it's just to get through the start with the big group of people and then when they're on the straight and narrow um straightforward like myself I've got one eye that works so once we're through the tricky bit and I'm okay other other achilles members have zero sight or have zero hearing or we have members who have autism and basically any any challenge that people face achilles gives them the confidence to take part um yeah and so guiding is just being there and yeah just working together excellent can you describe this course for our listeners before I ask you about adventures and what's Gordon Carmichael Reserve like as a parkrun well I think it's the only one in the world that is a small letter q so picture a letter q with the sort of circle bit and a stick bit and the course takes in the whole of a letter q and you do it twice um so that is what's unique and we've got about three ponds that we run around with Heaps of species of waterfowl. We had an ornithologist here and he counted, I think, 24 species. And of course, all the botanists spot all the local native flora. Yeah, so it's just beautiful. Yeah.

00:20:32Alison Fraser (King): it is very peaceful anyway lovely place to come and run so it must be great to run during the week oh absolutely yeah um and it's sort of half past six in the morning it's very peaceful and then it gets busy with regular walkers dog walkers so yeah great area great area and you mentioned that you have done quite a lot of running races with your guide what about parkruns have you done many different parkruns around New Zealand or elsewhere

00:21:00Leslie: I'm a bit of a coward really when it comes to going too far afield. I've walked a parkrun in England but not on parkrun day so is that not a parkrun or a freedom run freedom run right yes because I did the course in Orpington in Kent um but yeah in terms of New Zealand I've only been to four so I'll be over to Rotorua soon you've been to four so one of them will be Gordon Carmichael we don't count that anyway so we always ask people to pick their top three so which are your top three well okay well my my top one apart from us of course is Whakatane Gardens And I've actually volunteered there 20 times in the last year because we've got a holiday batch over there. So basically, I kind of alternate weeks at Gordon Carmichael and weeks at Whakatane. And then I began back in 2020 at the Tauranga Central parkrun down at the Historic Village. And then the other one I've done is Papamoa, Gordon Spratt. Yeah. Yeah. So, yep, they're my locals.

00:22:05Alison Fraser (King): Excellent. Well, thank you so much for your time today. And as I said before, an awesome parkrun. It's my third time today, but I'll be back because it is a lovely place.

00:22:15Leslie: And bring your friends.

00:22:17Alison Fraser (King): I was here for the launch, actually, and I brought my son and he was on finish tokens. But he's almost a teenager now, so he prefers to stay in bed.

Roving report Ruth Perkins — Belvoir Castle parkrun

00:22:25Ruth Perkins: yes as they do thank you so much thank you right good morning parkrun adventurers this is Ruth Perkins and I'm uh talking today with the lovely people of Beaver castle parkrun and uh if you look up Beaver castle parkrun you might be a bit confused that nothing necessarily comes up but if you look up belvoir parkrun, the Castle parkrun, then you might have a bit more luck. So I have got with me today, the ED who sadly is leaving today. This is your last ever today. And this is Andrew. So Andrew, you've been involved right from the start.

00:23:05Andrew: Yeah, we started Belvoir Castle parkrun sort of mid-21, planning the courses and getting all approvals from the castle and from parkrun HQ to get us going. And then we went live beginning of 2022. And today is our third birthday. So we've been going three years. We've done 150 events. We've pretty much been on most weekends, but we've had a few cancellations. But yeah, we've grown over the time. We've got two courses here at Belvoir Castle parkrun. Our summer one that we're on from Easter through to sort of October time and then we flip to our winter course which is in the stunning grounds that we're on at the moment and we stay over from that period and hopefully we might get longer on the grounds course this year so I'll have to wait and see.

00:23:50Ruth Perkins: Oh, yes. I have to say this course we've done today was absolutely thrilling. I really enjoyed the undulations of the course. There is an absolutely amazing downhill start, really exhilarating. And you get a cheeky look at the castle as well, close up on that start line as well, don't you? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, really good views. And I've also got with me today Ross and Karen, who are the new co-EDs for the event. So what are you looking forward to with your new roles?

00:24:24Ross: I think just building on what sort of Andrew started really for me. We're a small but well-loved parkrun. So really keeping that spirit and for the years to come.

00:24:37Karen: Yeah. And how long have you been involved, Karen? I was involved fairly early on. So some of the Zoom calls that Andrew mentioned in the briefing earlier, I was involved with and the takeovers and that side. So, yeah, I was here for the first event back in January three years ago. And I think RD a few months after that, I think it was on that side. So, yeah, I've been around for quite a while. So, yeah, looking forward to keeping things going.

00:24:58Ruth Perkins: Brilliant. Wonderful, thank you. And we've also got Darren here as well, who is one of the ambassadors for the parkruns locally. So have you come to Belvoir Castle parkrun often?

00:25:11Darren: Yes, well, I helped Andrew with setting up initially, a bit of a unique experience doing everything via Zoom meetings and the lockdown period, which I'm sure we all remember. So it's a great little parkrun to get going. I've had a few challenges along the years and it's a bit unusual having the split course, as you said, but I think it works really well. Pulling in decent numbers at the moment. Everyone seems to enjoy it. I would say hilly as heck, but the views make it worth it.

00:25:41Ruth Perkins: Yes, I think on the way up to the start line, I asked you if it was Yorkshire hilly or not. And you said, well, maybe not quite Yorkshire hilly, but hilly enough.

00:25:48Darren: Yes, not far off. If you're used to a nice flat, smooth parkrun, you're in for a surprise.

00:25:57Ruth Perkins: So how about your parkrun histories? Has anyone here done a bit of tourism, maybe travel to other parkruns?

00:26:04Andrew: Yeah, I think that's how I certainly got involved in Belvoir Castle parkrun. I think I'd probably hit sort of mid 200 parkruns before I started joining here, but haven't done as many since. But part of my plan now is I've stepped down from being ED. I'm going to be sort of reintroducing.

00:26:20Ross: retracing my routes of doing particularly local ones and running to see if I can do them any quicker thankfully I've got a dog to help me pull me along these days as well now so he'll be he'll be joining me every Saturday morning doing a parkrun because he loves a parkrun as well oh gorgeous how about so I start I'm relatively young to parkrun I started two years ago and Beaver was my very first parkrun so I started here and I started then doing a little bit of volunteering for a while and then sort of emigrated to RD and then co-ED. But yeah, unfortunately I don't get out on parkruns as much as I, running as much as I used to. But it's, yeah, I still very much enjoy it.

00:27:06Ruth Perkins: Yeah, well, everyone's so grateful for the volunteering that you do and for you stepping up as a co-EDs as well. That's wonderful. So how about your parkrun background? So it'll be nearly 10 years, I think, in April I've been in parkrun.

00:27:21Karen: I've done a lot with the family, actually. Started out with my kids, they were about seven, junior parkrun, and they really graduated on, not here today because teenagers side of things uh we're very much into the tourism and the alphabet that kind of thing as well but very opportunistic I think when we're out on holiday our family's very used to us planning all of our outings around where we might get to a new parkrun so yeah it's been a great great impact for us as a family wonderful and how about uh you Darren

00:27:49Darren: I've been parkrunning for about 12 years now. Before this, before I became an ambassador, I was the ED at Rutland Water, which is about 15 miles away from here. So once I've done that for a few years, I stepped up as an ambassador. Yeah, like Karen, done a fair bit of tourism, trying to do the alphabet, mostly my partner's behest. She's the challenge seeker there. And in fact, she's away doing an inaugural this morning with a V.

00:28:18Ruth Perkins: Oh, is it a vicar's by any chance? Don't tell anyone.

00:28:23Darren: It's running now. I think we can. I think we're glad to say.

00:28:24[crosstalk]

00:28:26Ruth Perkins: Oh, wonderful. So last very, very tricky question. Other than Belvoir Castle, have you got favourite parkrun? Obviously, you're not allowed a favourite, but you know.

00:28:37Andrew: Other than Belvoir, I think for me, it's Fountains Abbey up in Ripon, Yorkshire. Beautiful, beautiful course.

00:28:43Ruth Perkins: Brilliant. Okay, so Fountains Abbey for Andrew.

00:28:46Ross: Eden Project, I think, for me.

00:28:49Ruth Perkins: Oh, I'd really love to go there. Thank you, Ross. And Karen? Poole parkrun. What do you like about Pool parkrun? I don't know anything about it.

00:28:56Karen: Very, very flat. Oh! And I used to go to that park a lot as a child. So yeah, really nostalgic. And then as an ambassador?

00:29:05Darren: I'm going to have to say Rutland Water because I helped set it up. It was my baby for a long time. So yeah, and they've got a great team there as well.

00:29:14Ruth Perkins: Wonderful. Thank you so much for chatting with me today. And I hope you enjoy the rest of your third birthday celebrations. Thank you very much. Cheers. Thank you.

Roving report Lyndell Murray — Tamborine Mountain parkrun

00:29:23Lyndell Murray: G'day parkrun adventurers, it's Lyndell yet again and I have ventured south of Brisbane to the lands of the Yugambeh people and I've got a bit of elevation today. I'm up on Tamborine Mountain at Tamborine Mountain parkrun and I've got Jim who is the Event Director. Is that correct? Correct, yes. Going okay so far? I've got all my facts correct so far? Yep, you're doing a great job. Great start. Alright, Jim, tell me a little bit about Tamborine Mountain parkrun.

00:29:53Jim: This is our 10th year we've been going. Our 10th anniversary is next week. So, yeah, we started off with help from Main Beach, I think it was. They came up and been going ever since. We're not a huge parkrun. We average about 40 runners each week. Just a small community, but we get up to 70, 80, sometimes 130 during holidays. So, beautiful run. It includes bush runs over a bridge, round through the Tamborine mountainside. There's a little bit of elevation, so it's not an easy run. And normally, you know, it takes a couple of extra minutes on a flat run normally to what you're usually to do, but it's a great run and it's good to get up here on the mountain every Saturday.

00:30:37Lyndell Murray: Absolutely, yes. So it is like a cross-country course with stairs. I love my stair climbing. I was pretty happy to see a set of stairs on the course that you have to do twice. Yeah.

00:30:47Jim: That really tests you out, doesn't it? It sure does.

00:30:50Lyndell Murray: And there is a bit of elevation, but probably a bit cooler up here on the mountain in the summer.

00:30:54Jim: Yeah, it's five degrees cooler than the bottom of the hill and we always get a good breeze. So it's definitely a nice time of the morning to run up here. And a lot better than running down the bottom. So... The people that do the drive come up another 500 metres in elevation and you're up the Tamborine.

00:31:11Lyndell Murray: Brilliant. Now, we did have a bit of a bigger crowd here today. You mentioned that it's your birthday next weekend, so that'll be the 1st of February celebrating the birthday. But this weekend, Australia Day weekend, you've got a running event on tomorrow and that maybe has boosted your numbers today. Yeah.

00:31:29Jim: Yeah, there's probably a lot of locals not running today because they're saving themselves for tomorrow. So we've got the Tamborine Mountain Marathon on Australia Day. This is the first time in a couple of years we've run it due to COVID and other issues. We've got 50 teams running plus 30 individual runners. So it kicks off at 5am for the marathon and 6am for the team events and sort of runs all day. Starts here at the Tamborine Mountain Sports Association Centre and goes down Hartley Road around Main Western and back West Road back to the Sports Centre.

00:32:02Lyndell Murray: So it's a looped course. It's a little bit like a backyard ultra in a way. It's what, seven loops of six kilometres or something? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

00:32:08[crosstalk]

00:32:09Jim: A few hills as well, so a few gullies and bridges and up and down, cross creeks and that, so yeah.

00:32:16Lyndell Murray: A little bit like this parkrun. So for those adventurers who would like to team up an event with a parkrun, this is an ideal one to keep in mind.

00:32:24Jim: Yeah. Every year on Australia Day, we usually try and have it on the Sunday, you know, just as a local event for the runners down here on the coast.

00:32:33Lyndell Murray: Yep. Now, Jim, tell me a little bit about your story with parkrun. Event Director here, but not the founding Event Director. You took over a little while and got into parkrun running, I understand.

00:32:45Jim: Yeah, I did my first parkrun at Tamborine 10 years ago and I've just kept doing it ever since. It's just a good way to spend a Saturday. Yep. And... Yeah, it's just a good, once a year, last Event Director held for reasons she had to retire, taken over from Bruce, so yeah, for the last couple of years, so yeah, it's good fun.

00:33:04Lyndell Murray: Yeah, absolutely brilliant. Is there anything else that you would like the parkrun adventurers to know about Tamborine Mountain parkrun?

00:33:13Jim: It's a great run. It's cross-country and it's a good way to get around and see a bit of country and come up here and enjoy the mountain air and have a really great run. Great coffee afterwards? Yeah, down on Main Street, something to eat, so get together, a bit of talking, meeting new people and that sort of stuff, so it's great.

00:33:33Lyndell Murray: And there's lots to do up here in Mount Tamborine. There's microbreweries and lots of other walks and things you can do.

00:33:38Jim: Yeah, there's plenty of bushwalks, you know, there's probably half a dozen bushwalks around, Witches Falls, the Knoll and so forth around and there's the cauldron, there's wineries and plenty of places to eat and get out and about and enjoy the Tamborine Mountain atmosphere.

00:33:57Lyndell Murray: Brilliant. Put it on your to-do list, Adventurers. Well, thank you, Jim. Thank you for talking to me and thank you for everything you're doing here for the parkrun community and the Mount Tamborine community as well.

00:34:05[background music]

00:34:09Jim: No, thank you very much. It's great to get it out there.

00:34:21Simon Mackley: Back from our three roving reports, we had Alison at Gordon Carmichael Reserve, Ruth Perkins at Beaver Castle, and Lyndell at Tambourine Mountain. So Alison was talking to Leslie, who is the RD on the day and Event Director, and great to hear about how Achilles enabled Leslie to get back into running as well. It was very good to hear. Belvoir Castle parkrun. So Ruth interviewed the outgoing ED, Andrew, and the two new co-ADs, Ross and Karen, plus parkrun ambassador Darren. She was busy? Yeah, I know, very busy. Seven minutes and she got in, what, four people, so very well done, Ruth. And Lyndell was talking to Jim up there at Tamborine Mountain and, yeah, I

00:35:07Melissa Ellis: fully agree that that is a great cross-country parkrun to do another parkrun that is on my wish list I've got a few up in Queensland and I did it did get me thinking Simon do we have a musical club because tambourine mountain now I know I know you have pointed out it's not spelt the same but it sounds the same and that's all that matters in my book but what other parkruns could potentially join a musical club don't know and what could we call it

00:35:38Simon Mackley: Would it be a band or would it be a choir? No, choir is singing.

00:35:42Melissa Ellis: Ooh. I don't know. I hadn't thought that hard about it. But surely we've got a parkrun with drum in the name. Surely.

00:35:53Simon Mackley: Yeah. Or maybe there's a UK or Irish one with harp. Or sound?

00:35:59Melissa Ellis: Sound, yes. Because sound can describe a geographic feature, can't it? As in Milford Sound? Yeah, Milford Sound, yeah. I don't know. But I think there's potential. I'm coming up with all the good ideas.

00:36:13Simon Mackley: We'd love to hear from the listeners as well as to what they think. Sorry, to tell us if there's any

00:36:19Melissa Ellis: musical based parkrun names or Reginald can let us know if it actually already exists because unsurprisingly I'm probably not the first person that's thought of it probably not

Dazza's

00:36:31Melissa Ellis: In any case, Simon, it's time for Dazza's. And this week, Dazza has said, today is change your password day. Passwords are like parkruns. Some are very simple. Some are really quite complex. And some demand a lot. Come on in to Dazza's and let us know if you kept it simple this week or had something quite complex. We're all friendly in here. Just keep your mother's maiden name to yourself. I like that. Our, um... Equal Opportunity Employee is coming up with some crackers, isn't he?

00:37:02Simon Mackley: He's doing very well.

00:37:03Melissa Ellis: Now, first in the door at Dazza's was Claire Corkill, and she needs a seat anyway. She's coming to us from the ACT, and she said, another week in my volley era, five weeks straight and counting. This week is Barcode Scanner at Tuggeranong parkrun, finishing off my tour to Canberra. In brackets, volleying at each event. Got to stay motivated somehow. Three more volleys to 50. Will I hit it? before baby arrives and surprise everyone the corkles are expecting so it's very exciting that we will have another little podcast baby hopefully very soon and safely and Claire shared a photo out at Tuggeranong a volley pic proudly displaying her big belly and Tuggeranong is of course in the ACT if I hadn't already said that And I like it how she's in her volley era. Sounds very Tay-Tay, doesn't it?

00:37:58Simon Mackley: It does indeed. Yeah, I've got to say, I thought I'd missed the memo that Claire was, that she was pregnant. But obviously that was news to you as well.

00:38:09Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, actually, it wasn't news to me, but I don't think they'd made it public. Yeah, fair enough. I was aware, but I wasn't going to say anything on the podcast. It's not my place. But Claire's come in and she's told us all now so we can talk freely.

00:38:25Simon Mackley: The cat is out of the bag.

00:38:27Melissa Ellis: And Jack is tasked to let me know the happy news.

00:38:32Simon Mackley: Anyway, who have we got next? We have Wendy Pallant coming from the UK. Wendy said, Sign Language Support at Bramhall Park today. First time they had a Sign Language Support volunteer. So she attached a photo of the briefing with the Sign Language Support. Incidentally, there were four adventurers at Bramhall, so keep listening for the largest international Frond.

00:38:57Melissa Ellis: I'm glad you got that one because I would have said Bramhall.

00:39:00Simon Mackley: Oh, okay. Maybe it is.

00:39:02Melissa Ellis: I'm sure you're right. Next, we heard from Andrew Blanda coming to us from New South Wales. I was Timekeeper at Cooks River today for their 10th birthday edition. We had an extra couple of unofficial volley positions yesterday, baker and cake support with mini cupcakes to celebrate the occasion here are the volleys and Cooks River rds tucking into the cupcakes and there was a volley photo showing said volunteers and rds and I spied a dirty cheetah friend of the pod Paul Rainbow who incidentally is a pretty snappy photographer very very good photographer next we heard from Tracy leaper

00:39:42Simon Mackley: The three-hour drive to Tin Can Bay yesterday was simple once I actually got going. The complex thing was that my car and phone having a disagreement about Bluetooth, which caused multiple false starts because I wanted to listen to the latest episode of the podcast on the way. So it looks like it's not just you that we're having problems with GPS.

00:40:03Melissa Ellis: Mine was user error.

00:40:05Simon Mackley: Fair enough. She said, great to catch up with other adventurers. Where's Mitchell parkrun? sorry, Wes Mitchell Park, parkrun, including Aunty Greg, friend of the pod, stopped at Traveston on the way home and got a selfie with Matilda, as mentioned in the podcast numerous times recently. And she posted a photo, a selfie of herself and Matilda.

00:40:30Melissa Ellis: And would you like to tell listeners who Matilda is, Simon?

00:40:34Simon Mackley: Matilda was the mascot from the Commonwealth Games in 1982 in Brisbane. And yes, Matilda has kind of moved around Queensland a little bit.

00:40:46Melissa Ellis: Fabulous, and she's a big thing, and we love big things. Next, we heard from Charles Gregory. He's on a streak of getting mentioned in the pod. Hicks coming to us from Tasmania, and he said, made it to Whitemark Wharf parkrun to tick off the last location for my Tassie statesmanship. And he shared a photo of the start area out there at Whitemark Wharf, and that is very worthy of being mentioned on the pod because it's no mean feat when you live in Tasmania to get across to that island Don't we know very well.

00:41:17Lyndell Murray: So good job.

00:41:18[crosstalk]

00:41:18Melissa Ellis: Congratulations, Charles.

00:41:21Simon Mackley: Yes. Next we heard from Chris Roos. Hard to get khaki this week. I thought I was keeping it simple, but the record attendance of 642. made it pretty intense. We trialled the Number Checker roll and that made processing the results a little simpler.

00:41:36Melissa Ellis: There was no pig though. Wow. Oh, that's a lot of people out at Karkarook. Good on them for coping with that. Number Checker roll, that would be interesting. I actually have no idea how that works. I'm sure Reginald or Rachel have mentioned it, but interesting. I think somebody goes along and they kind of mark something The number with the time somehow? Do they record it? Just wait until Reginald in a few minutes because he actually tells you all about it. Oh, dear. Okay. And I did listen already. Oh, never mind. Okay. All right. Moving right along. Next, we heard from Billo coming to us from New South Wales. I also managed to complete the parkrun adventurers Challenge. Heard of it. And there was a photo from the 5K app proving that Billo did such a thing. But Billo needs to please explain. Billo was out at Rex Jackson Oval, as evidenced by Sue Keen's post. Rex Jackson starts with an R, so I'm thinking that the adventurers Challenge is spelling out the letters of the adventurers. Would you think that might be the case, Simon?

00:42:52Simon Mackley: So, Billo, you need to get back in touch and explain to us, you know, like we're five years old. And last but not least, we heard from Helen Rutter in the UK. Well, maybe not so much the UK. Had a fantastic birthday run at Old Railway Trail, Llangollen. Started rubbish but got better and got a very pleasing time. Hubby says it's my Herbie birthday, 53. Clapped out but speedy. I did actually have a giggle at that. And there was a photo of Helen and Andy with the pop-up.

00:43:26Melissa Ellis: Mostly I'm disappointed that I didn't know about Herbie birthdays when I was 53. I liked the, like, yeah, it came up as soon as I read it.

00:43:36Simon Mackley: I was like, yeah, we know what a Herbie birthday is. Would never have thought about it though.

00:43:39Melissa Ellis: Was Herbie, is that the number Herbie had painted on the bonnet?

00:43:42Simon Mackley: Yes.

00:43:43Melissa Ellis: Yeah.

00:43:44Simon Mackley: It's a bit 53.

00:43:45Melissa Ellis: Okay. Damn it. What a missed opportunity. Oh, well.

the Obi Award — Wendy Pallant

00:43:51Melissa Ellis: Simon, do you have an Obi post?

00:43:54Simon Mackley: Yes, I do. Let me just wrap the envelope and we tear it open. And we have the Obi goes to... Wendy Pallant. Wendy Pallant.

00:44:05[background music]

00:44:15Melissa Ellis: Congratulations, Wendy. Hooray. Sign Language Support. What a very useful volunteer role that is. So congratulations. Quite unique. Yes.

Emails

00:44:29Melissa Ellis: But, Simon, what do we have next? We have mail.

00:44:33Simon Mackley: You've got mail. Kia Ora Adventurers. Another record-breaking parkrun day in New Zealand today with 12,741 finishers at 56 parkruns. We had one launch, East Otago High School. This is in Palmerston, about 45 minutes drive north of Dunedin on the South Island. Not to be confused with Palmerston North, which is on the North Island. It's the first New Zealand parkrun to be based on a school. They had 83 finishes. There were also 12 new attendance records, including Force, who set a record last week, and a total of eight who set a new record in January. Hamilton Lake ran out of tokens and manually processed 501 to 515. It's lucky it wasn't more than that. Their neighbour, University of Waikato, was cancelled this week due to works on the path. That would explain the increase. And Palmerston North equaled their record set last week of 454. We're going to need some more events to keep up with that growth. And that was from our friend of the pod, Alison. [Te Reo Māori: "Hello / be well, adventurers"]

00:45:41Melissa Ellis: Thank you for providing that once again, Alison.

00:45:45[background music]

Club Corner

00:45:45Melissa Ellis: Now, we've got something that I've already pre-empted, but it's always good to hear from Reginald and hear what they've got to tell us today.

00:46:01Reginald 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. Our volunteer journey continues on the Finnish side of the Finnish line. Hmm, does that mean that we are in Sweden, or Norway, or perhaps even Russia? They each share lines with Finland... No. Moving on then. Today I am going to talk about finish tokens open bracket, previously known as numbers close bracket, and finish token support. The finish token volunteer is a very clear role, they are a person or persons who hand out position tokens to all participants. They work as a team with the Timekeeper, and this team may be supported overall by a Number Checker volunteer, but more on that role another time. The finish token volunteer may also have a buddy with the role of finish token support. The how of handing out finish tokens is fascinating, with styles varying according to the size of the event and the number of finishes per minute. At smaller events, the volunteer may choose to hold the token out to be taken by the finisher. At larger events, perhaps a finish line marshal may organise finishes into single file, with a flat outstretched palm, ready for the finish token volunteer to place the token. If there are multiple finish token volunteers, then they typically have a small stack each, say 50 at a time, and they step forward and back to be the person slapping tokens down into people's outstretched palms. The finish token support volunteer assists the finish token volunteer by managing the stack or stacks of finish tokens. Some events use small stacks of tokens, others use large knitting needles, and some have engineered contraptions produced on a 3D printer. For sure there are multiple containers and rubber bands involved, so the finish token support volunteer does the fiddle work and gets the tokens ready for distribution. And remember, in parkrun life, all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun, so stay tuned for our future Club Corners.

00:48:19Simon Mackley: And we're back from Club Corner with Reginald. And I think that I'll let you up the garden path, Mel. What Reginald did talk about was the finish tokens and finish token support. And whilst I've done the finish token role many times myself, the different ways that people try to receive their token is is something I'll never get used to. I find it a very interesting role, that one.

00:48:43Melissa Ellis: Really? Like, how? How do people try to receive their token? Like, what are they, open their mouth? What do they do?

00:48:49Simon Mackley: No, okay. So I try and put it out, like, put it out sticking up so that they can just take it as they go past. And some people put their palm out, like Reginald was talking about, and then I'm having to think about, I don't know. I just find that quite often... I'm trying to sort of dictate how they're going to receive it and they want it a different way.

00:49:12Melissa Ellis: Oh, Simon, I really think you're overthinking it.

00:49:16Simon Mackley: I might be, but I don't want to screw up the roll and drop the tokens and that sort of thing. So I might be overthinking it.

00:49:24Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's interesting.

Consolidated Club Report

00:49:26Melissa Ellis: Now, Simon, the adventurers Consolidated Club Report for Saturday, the 1st of February, is it? Yes, the 1st of February, 2025. Now, I know you've been waiting because, you know, it's the highlight of the recording. Of a total of 744 members, 569 took part on this date in 11 countries across 277 locations. In the UK, there were adventurers at 58 events. There were seven. In South Africa, two in Poland and the USA, and one each in Denmark, Japan and Sweden. Locally, we had adventurers at... 47 events in Queensland. Yay! 45 in New South Wales, 43 in Victoria, 22 in Western Australia, 16 in South Australia, 12 in Tassie, 8 in the ACT, 7 on the North Island, 4 on the South Island. That's a lot for the South Island. And 1 in the Northern Territory.

the Frond — Shellharbour parkrun — largest frond of the week, 12 adventurers

00:50:28Melissa Ellis: But what about International Frond, Simon?

00:50:30Simon Mackley: Well, I'm glad you asked, Mel. there was an international frond of four at two different events. One of them was Alice Holt, where we had Ewan Borton-Lynn, William Borton, Nicholas Stott, and Alexander Borton-Lynn. And at Bramhall, which we mentioned earlier, we had Colette Goldthorpe, Lee Stott, Gabby Lipschen, and Wendy Pallant.

00:50:56Melissa Ellis: Hey, I just noticed there's Lee Stott at one and Nicholas Stott at the other. And are they related?

00:51:03Simon Mackley: I wonder. When I was reading it, I was thinking the same thing. I've heard of Nicholas Stott, but I haven't heard of Lee Stott.

00:51:11Melissa Ellis: Interesting. Now the pilgrimage. Bushy. No one. Just deer. And I did my research and I can confirm that the deer have been there before. I hope so.

00:51:23Simon Mackley: That's where they live, isn't it?

00:51:24Melissa Ellis: You're supposed to laugh, Simon. I am laughing. The deer live there. I know.

00:51:32Simon Mackley: Oh, dear.

00:51:33Melissa Ellis: Now, the largest frond. We had a frond of 12 at our very own and much-beloved Shellharbour, and we had a frond of nine at Emerald Lake. So I'm highlighting this one as it was Garth Dowling, Donna Anderson, Lyndell Murray, Thomas, Joshua, Daryl, Charlotte, Vicky and John Smith. Now, Vicky Smith came to Dazza's and she said, family got together at Emerald Lake parkrun. We probably made a large frond. Thanks for the best date and memories. And Vicky shared a family photo. Now, interesting thing about this event is that Vicky, aka Nana of Nana and Pa fame from Eynesbury Juniors, was regaining her Victorian statesmanship. And not only that, Simon, she was celebrating her 70th birthday. Amazing. It is. Happy birthday, Vicky. Much love to Nana. And we also had a frond of 8 at Chermside, which is in Queensland. It is. And I should say Emerald Lake is the greatest state. It is. And remember, Adventurers, you can add the Adventurers Club of one of your five affiliations on your parkrun profile. It's easy to do. There's a link in your parkrun emails to your official profile. Don't try and do it through the 5K app. That's not how you do it.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:52:54Melissa Ellis: What's up next, Simon?

00:52:56Simon Mackley: Well, we had some launches in the past week. So the first one we had was at Midleton Greenway in Ireland in Midleton, County Cork. The closest parkrun is almost 20 kilometres away. It's an out-and-back course and it launched with 636 participants.

00:53:18Melissa Ellis: Wow. That's big.

00:53:20Simon Mackley: That's huge. That's very big for a launch course.

00:53:23Melissa Ellis: Ooh. Okay, so next we had the one that Alison told us about earlier, which was East Otago or Otago High School in New Zealand in Palmerston on the South Island, north of Dunedin, as was mentioned earlier. And it is a three return laps of the school sports field and they launched with 83 finishes.

00:53:46Simon Mackley: Good numbers. And last but not least, we have one in Australia, which was Drage Reserve parkrun in South Australia. And it's located about one kilometre from the mothership Lochiel. It had 85 participants. It's a flat figure eight course and their course page says great for prams. Good to know. Yes.

00:54:10Melissa Ellis: All righty. So also, Simon... I've just been taking a little personal interest in Birtinya Island after we mentioned it last week TOC and I how it had launched with good numbers and that week two and week three had seen the numbers remain high so I had a little peek to see how it did this week and event four saw 246 participants so that was a drop from the first couple of weeks back under 300. So I shouldn't say back under, but down to under 300. So maybe they're starting to settle a little bit. So we should start tracking these trends with launches, I guess.

00:54:52Simon Mackley: So it almost halved in the fourth week. So starting off with 461 and getting down to 246. It's almost halved.

00:55:00Melissa Ellis: Yeah, correct. Yes. All righty.

parkrun adventure challengelistener challenge

00:55:04Melissa Ellis: Now, Simon, a listener challenge. Would you like to tell the listeners about their challenge?

00:55:09Simon Mackley: This week we would like you to add into your Dazza's post an emoji. And because the weather is steamy in many of the states in Australia currently and those annoying little things

00:55:21Melissa Ellis: flies are hanging around we would like you to put the fly emoji into your Dazza's post this week please yes and try and be clever you can use the word fly in many different ways it doesn't have to be literal use your imagination because that's what we like and we'll take the cleverest ones and probably read them out next week Now, it's at that time of the pod where we look forward to next week, Simon. Do you want to go first?

Sign-off

00:55:49Simon Mackley: Sure, I'm happy to go first. So I will be at Scribbly Gums and I will be trying to bump up my count to increase my P-index that I mentioned earlier when I went to Sirromet. So by the end of the year, I will have reached a new P-index. Where are you heading, Mel?

00:56:07Melissa Ellis: Well, we've been telling you for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks that we're going to be having an event, the Bellarine Sunset Rundown in Portarlington. And I am going to be at Portarlington parkrun on Saturday morning. I'm going to walk because I'm going to do the sensible thing and save my legs. Not Dave. He thinks he's going to run both. So we'll see how that works out. Now, the last time I visited Portarlington parkrun was just one occasion and that was back in October 2017. Now, we also have a team for the Bellarine Sunset Run. If you haven't joined already, you're quite welcome. Of course, just come down and say hello and cheer or maybe even volunteer. I'm sure Dion would be very happy to have more volunteers. And I think that is about all we want to say about that. I'm looking forward to it. TOC's going to be there. Craig Ryan's going to be there, the Belinda Fairy and adventurer Kelly are going to be there. Hopefully we get a few more that we don't even know about.

00:57:08Simon Mackley: And it looks like next week is going to be yourself and TOC, Mel. So I look forward to hearing that next week.

00:57:16Melissa Ellis: Yes, we'll be able to bore you all silly with our adventures from the sunset run. But that's it. Thank you for joining me, Simon.

00:57:23Simon Mackley: No problem. I will not see you next time we are supposed to record. I will see you in a month's time because I will be in Japan the next time we were supposed to record.

00:57:35Melissa Ellis: And did you tell me you were not going to be able to pick up a parkrun while you were on this holiday?

00:57:40Simon Mackley: There are no parkruns on the northern island of Japan, so I will not be parkrunning for two weeks straight, unfortunately. No way!

00:57:50Melissa Ellis: Way young. Oh, well. Yes. Well, commiserations. Thank you. Sounds terrible holiday. I hope you have fun. And that sounds so insincere. No, I really do mean it. I hope you have a nice holiday despite the fact that you can't parkrun. Yes. And I look forward to hearing about it when you return. Now, adventurers, as always, you can contact us via the parkrun adventurers on Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week. We'll see you all next week for more adventures.