— open the full-size coverEpisode 415 - Pow Wow to PALM
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Episode 415 - Pow Wow to PALM · 2025-03-06
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Source: https://log.5kadventures.net/transcripts/ep415.html · The Adventurers Log · An independent project, not affiliated with or endorsed by parkrun.
[intro theme playing]
Welcome
Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 415 of the parkrun Adventures podcast, a podcast about life, if your life is all about parkrun. My name is Melissa Ellis and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country. And I'm Simon Mackley coming to you from Quandamooka Country. Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back, welcome back. I feel like I'm singing Welcome Back Cotter, but it's Welcome Back Simon.
Simon Mackley: Thank you. Yes, I'm glad to be back.
Melissa Ellis: Gallivanting all over the world. You've been in Japan. We don't know why. We've been guessing. Would you like to inform us? Where's your note? Where's your permission note?
Simon Mackley: Oh, I had a permission note from my wife. I went away for 10 days with two of my mates. I went snowboarding in Hokkaido. Snowboarding. Snowboarding. Yes, well, I was snowboarding, they were skiing, but yeah. So, yeah, three of us up there, me a great time in the snow and no parkruns on the island of Hokkaido, just for reference. So I went two weeks without a parkrun. So you can imagine how last weekend I was very excited to go back.
Melissa Ellis: Simon, tell us why did you go with your mates snowboarding on some random little island in Japan that has no parkrun?
Simon Mackley: Because the three of us are turning 50 this year. So it was our celebration for each.
Melissa Ellis: Oh my God, you're so old. Oh, shut up. It's okay, you're not the oldest podcaster here.
Simon Mackley: I know. I'm not the youngest either. True that. Yes. So where were you last week, Mel?
Melissa Ellis: I was at Albert, Melbourne on the lands of the Boon Wurrung peoples with Dave and 948 others plus 52 volunteers. As I had anticipated, the event had their Grand Prix track diversion in place and I was also amazed to witness a double funnel event firsthand for the first time and we started off with cloudy grey skies although the hot air balloons floating above were a treat before the briefing we chatted to a UK tourist who kindly took our photo with the event core flute we'll come back to that later And we learned she was in town visiting a friend who was volunteering on the morning. I wish I caught her name. Albert Melbourne, by the way, of a recap for anyone new to the pod, was the first parkrun in Victoria and the third in Australia, launching on the 19th of November 2011. Albert holds the attendance record in Australia at 1,316, set on the 8th of January 2025, with five of its six highest attendances being set this year. Albert Melbourne is one loop of Albert Park Lake located three kilometres south of Melbourne's CBD and an artificial lake used for water sports and public recreation. The area was originally a vast wetlands occupied by the indigenous Boon Wurrung people and a site for regular corroborees. Wikipedia tells me that Albert Park is home to many facilities and features, such as the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre, Lakeside Stadium, which is home of Athletics Australia, Athletics Victoria and the South Melbourne Football Club, Albert Park Golf Course, Junction Oval, several boating, sailing and rowing clubs, restaurants and function centres and events, including but not limited to the Australian Grand Prix and parkrun. Yay, Nicola! Dave ran with me, which was lovely, as he was conserving energy for the Geelong River Run on Sunday and afterwards we decided to leave the car where we had already paid for parking and walk the short distance down to the St Kilda Pier for brunch and to check out the pier renovations, which includes a new penguin viewing platform. Did you know St Kilda has its own colony of fairy penguins? Well, now you do.
Simon Mackley: Wow, what a recap. Thank you. There's a lot to unpack there.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, hang on a minute. Let's like wind back to event core flute because I'm conducting a survey.
Simon Mackley: Yeah. No, it's the selfie frame. I've never heard it called the event core flute, even though it is made of core flute.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, bless Peter Pohlman. He's a stickler. He's technically correct.
Simon Mackley: Oh, no, 100%. We all call it colloquially the selfie frame. We don't actually take a selfie with it. People take a photo of it.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I know. That is the enigma with the selfie frame, isn't it?
Simon Mackley: It is. It's very hard to take a selfie like I have done it, but yeah.
Melissa Ellis: Do you know where I think this originated? There was like virtual selfie frames on Instagram that you would put over your selfie, a frame. Yep. Yes, quite possibly. Do you think it originated like that and then they made an actual physical version of it? Maybe. Yeah, entirely possible.
Simon Mackley: What came first, chicken or the egg?
Melissa Ellis: I don't know. Anyway, yeah, Melbourne, you've been there.
Simon Mackley: Yes, I've been there with you. I've been previously, sorry, I have been another time, but yes, I have been with you there.
Melissa Ellis: Anyway, tell us about your return to parkrun, Simon.
Simon Mackley: Thank you. My return to parkrun was to the recently launched Gainsborough Parklands parkrun on the lands of the Belongan people. There were 247 participants plus 19 volunteers. Being event two and two Queensland launches the previous weekend, there was actually only one stateswoman involved, uh who completed the course and that was jemma um because Burrum Heads this weekend had to cancel because of I think was a king tide and we haven't mentioned it yet but the cyclone that's just about to hit Brisbane um so yeah there was a lot of waves and um yeah they had to cancel for their second event unfortunately Um, the second event at Gainsborough Parklands was definitely a smaller affair than the launch. I can't remember what it had. It was over 400 the previous week. Um, I met some adventurers that I've not previously met and they were Dean Wyrick, Lance and Robin Plain. Uh, plus I saw David Ryan, Gemma Kajasky. Rasheen and Alan Burrell. And I ran with Alan for most of it. So we had a good chat. But yeah, like it's a bit different to Gainsborough Greens. The path is a bit tighter in parts, but yeah, it's going to be an event that people will enjoy.
Melissa Ellis: 405 at their launch, they had Simon.
Simon Mackley: There you go. So they reduced by about 150%.
Melissa Ellis: But we should say that although we call it a launch, they were just relocating. So they had an experienced team that just picked up one week from one location and started down the road the next week.
Simon Mackley: I'm pretty sure that David said that they had – 30 volunteers the previous week. So as you say, they were very well versed in the way of parkrun. They were the same team from Gainsborough Greens and just a relocation. And the facility is much better, parking so much better because you used to actually have to park in residential streets. And I can imagine that the...
Melissa Ellis: Simon, what are you doing?
Simon Mackley: I have a dog beneath me that keeps on going between my legs and trying to bite me.
Melissa Ellis: You're just moving all around the place. So this isn't great audio for the listeners. But no, don't apologise. But I can see you moving all around. I believe you're at a stand-up desk. And yeah, I was just wondering what on earth is going on?
Simon Mackley: I converted to the stand-up desk when he came in here because he was trying to bite me while I was sitting down. So anyway, we can cut all that out.
Melissa Ellis: Okay. No, not at all. It's all good. So it was a nice morning out there, but it was the weather. Yes, let's talk about the cyclone because... I think that Queensland might be looking at a whole bunch of cancellations this week because the cyclone is being touted to hit a lot further south, I believe, than cyclones usually hit on the coast. And houses down that way aren't really cyclone-proof. And there's a lot of talk about people needing to have cyclone plans in action. Stock up on your toilet paper. Get your batteries. Yep. Fill up the jerry cans. I don't know. What else do you need?
Simon Mackley: Yeah, I'm going to go and get another gas bottle for the barbecue so that I can actually cook if the power goes out. Yeah, it's yes. 100% you're saying like what you're saying is true, that the cyclone is due to hit much further down the coast. In Brisbane, we don't normally get cyclone coming across the coast. We might get the remnants of something. But yeah, it looks like Thursday I think they said lunchtime, I might be wrong with the timing, but the current way they're thinking it's going to go is it's literally going to go across the city of Brisbane. And we've been warned that anything south of where it hits is going to get between 400 and 500 millimetres of rain, and north of it will get somewhere of about 100 millimetres of rain. It could be that us and the Gold Coast get that massive amount of rain and the Sunshine Coast gets 100 mils, which is still a lot of rain.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so potentially we're going to have damage to courses with flash flooding. You also are potentially going to have power outages and roads cut for supplies to be delivered, which is why you need to be stocking up before it hits, I'm guessing.
Simon Mackley: Yep. So, like, I could... quite easily say that the ones around me, Redland Bay, if it hits pretty hard, it will be inundated. Fodder forest will be probably underwater because it runs around mangroves and things like that. Yeah, like I'm seeing lots of maps of rivers swelling and all sorts of things. So I would say I'm planning, I'm going to, wreck what I was going to say later but I'm planning to go to Sirromet I may not be going to Sirromet because I've been there when it's been extremely muddy previously and um I actually Logan River will probably be inundated as well because it's Kedron Kedron as well yeah there'll be yeah we'll see what happens but um yeah I would say there's going to be a lot of courses that might be a lot of parkruns cancelled on the way beautiful one day yeah beautiful almost every day
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, but they never mention about the cyclones. No, we wish you the best. We're only joking and we hope everybody's safe. Keep safe and don't go out unless it's absolutely necessary. Yes, I won't. But, Simon, we've got some feedback from last week's pod. We heard from Kathy Crispin. She emailed in, so I thought I would put the email up here. And she said, hi, Mel and TOC. Thanks so much for the call out this week following our posing poser ballerina pick in tutus at Panania for our ninth celebration. What an exciting day we had and so lovely to finish off the week with the week's Obi. And she had a celebration emoji and a... Feeling loved emoji. Loved this week's podcast after a week of chaos at work. And the best news is tomorrow is parkrun day. So I can head back to play Passionista with Rocky at Panania again tomorrow. Looking forward to my upcoming excursion to Inverloch to run the half marathon. I'll be getting outstanding value for my money as back of the pack runner. Also looking forward to Inverloch parkrun and meeting TOC. Have a great week all. And so thank you very much, Cathy Crispin, for writing into us. And yeah, you're welcome.
[crosstalk]
Simon Mackley: And we've had some news from overseas. It seems that France has been wiped from the parkrun map over the last couple of days. So I guess this means that there's no way forward for a relaunch of France in the near future. And France will join Russia, Iceland and Zimbabwe, being countries that are now closed of parkruns. So I wonder if this adds to TOC's total of we were here, is he the kiss of death? And TOC looks like he's been in the notes and he said no.
Melissa Ellis: I don't think TOC's done a parkrun in France. He probably was planning to before his initial overseas trip. Europe trip, yeah. I think that they were already on pause then potentially.
Simon Mackley: I'm pretty sure they were. Yeah. I mean, I don't think they've come back since COVID.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, but I think they were on pause before COVID.
Simon Mackley: Yeah, maybe they were.
Melissa Ellis: Okay. Just thinking. Anyway, so apparently they've been wiped from history now.
Simon Mackley: Another eraser of parkrun history. Hmm.
Melissa Ellis: interesting but that's sad uh they do I believe have their own not parkrun that still goes ahead in France we might hear a little bit about that in the future weeks I might have something up my sleeve there okay um Yeah, it's sad because they were popular and we probably should go over again the reason that France parkrun has come to an end was the requirement, the government requirement for anybody partaking in a parkrun fun run to have medical clearance which means that it's just not feasible for people to get that sort of a clearance on a weekly basis to do a weekly fun run as parkrun was reclassified as which is a shame because it's definitely you know a health initiative so I guess I'm guessing these unofficial ones that are going on they're um Flying under the radar.
[crosstalk]
Simon Mackley: Well, they're not organised, I guess. It's just a group of people running together. Yep, yep, yep. There's no overarching organisation or that sort of thing. But we wish France well and hopefully there is some sort of something on the horizon down the track to bring them back.
Melissa Ellis: I hope so. But we've got other news, Simon, and this was exciting news. So congratulations to our friends Claire and Jack Corkill, who announced the birth of their daughter, Amelia Wren Corkle, who was born on the 22nd of February 2025. Great news. I don't, think that Claire ended up getting to her 50th volunteer in her volunteer era, but there's a pretty good reason why.
Simon Mackley: Oh, very much so. Yeah. Congratulations, Claire and Jack.
Melissa Ellis: We were super pumped when we spotted the announcement. So that's exciting. I can't wait to see her pop up at parkrun soon with her parents. Yes. In other news, budgie. Simon, we're holding that over. We've got budgie news and that is coming up in our roving reports. Yes.
Simon Mackley: And as we've had the last couple of weeks, we've got some news from New Zealand from our over-the-ditch correspondent. There were 10,581 finishers and 55 parkruns in New Zealand this past week, supported by 934 volunteers. The largest was Hagley with 787 and the smallest was Hamilton Park with 22. Cambridge celebrated its eighth anniversary and Taupō and Morrinsville Recreation Ground were cancelled. It was announced this weekend that Porirua parkrun will be returning on November 19.
Melissa Ellis: uh but the good news is that Ara Harakeke parkrun will remain open which was the one that was in its place so there's an extra parkrun hooray hooray for all the parkruns yay all righty and across Australia we had six new attendance records spread across most states and territories they were Lake Joondalup in wa Cascades on Clyde wetlands in Victoria Umbagong District in ACT, Whyalla Foreshore in South Australia, Macquarie University in New South Wales and Sky River Path. But that was a launch, so shh.
[background music]
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew
Simon Mackley: All righty, it might be time to throw to our roving reports that we alluded to earlier.
Roving report Ali Sheppard — Black Rocks parkrun
Ali Sheppard: G'day adventurers, Ali from the UK here and I am in the... G'day!
Calum Burrell: Hello parkrun adventurers, it's Calum and I'm at Black Rocks parkrun. G'day!
Nicola Forward: Hello, I'm also here, it's Nicola Forward with me now.
[crosstalk]
Danny Norman: G'day, it's me, Danny Norman from With Me Now podcast as well.
Ali Sheppard: What's going on? it's chaos it's chaos good chaos good chaos yep we are all here so Nicola and Danny from with me now and um Calum and myself we are at Black Rocks parkrun hang on we're not the only people here
Nicola Forward: That's true. Well, we're people. There's some aeroplanes.
Ali Sheppard: Yes, yes, we have Budgie. Budgie. And Budgie's friend. And Budgie's friend. I don't know, has Budgie's friend got a name? I don't know.
[crosstalk]
Danny Norman: I don't think so. Come along for the ride.
Ali Sheppard: Budgie seems to be a German. That plane doesn't fly to Australia. That's maybe Rudolph. We are having the official handover of Budgie, who has made his way around Australia and then to various other places and now is being handed over, the other side of the world, so Budgie should be upside down.
[crosstalk]
[crosstalk]
Danny Norman: In the middle of England. Oh, yeah, there we go.
Ali Sheppard: Upside down Budgie.
Nicola Forward: He's been up on holiday to Scotland last week and he's being handed over here in Derbyshire to Danny.
[crosstalk]
Danny Norman: In the Peak District, yeah.
Nicola Forward: And then Danny, what are you doing with it, Danny? Bouncing it straight over.
Danny Norman: Bouncing it straight over. I'm not taking it home. It's going to go to Ali. It's going to go to London Way anyway, I guess, isn't it? It's going south at some point.
[crosstalk]
Ali Sheppard: Yes, yeah.
Danny Norman: And Ali's now going to take it off my house.
Ali Sheppard: And then we might go to Palm Park, where the lecturers listen and meet up. Oh, wow. In New Zealand, Queenstown, New Zealand, so it can fly along the course. That would be so cool. Yeah, it would be really cool, really cool.
[crosstalk]
Danny Norman: How long till that? Is it a couple of months?
Ali Sheppard: A month. It's on August, not August, April the 12th.
[crosstalk]
Danny Norman: Yeah, so not very far.
Ali Sheppard: April the 12th. I'm not jealous of Sol. Do you know where it's March? I still think it's February. First of March today. First of March today, St. David's Day. Yep.
Danny Norman: Oh, that's why. Thank you. That's why. That's why this is where Daffodil ran ahead.
[crosstalk]
Ali Sheppard: It's St. David's Day.
Danny Norman: Okay, now I got it. It all makes sense.
Ali Sheppard: So somebody has to do, though. Somebody has to say, Danny. Mm-hmm. How did you find it?
[crosstalk]
Danny Norman: How did I find it? Very much Google Maps. Yay! I parked at different car parks. Most of you are down here at the National Stone Centre's car park. And I parked actually at the Black Rocks parkrun car park itself, which is a kilometre walk away. Yes.
Nicola Forward: A kilometre? Is it that far?
Danny Norman: It's 0.8 miles according to Google Maps. Oh, wow. As I walk from there to here.
[crosstalk]
Nicola Forward: You really did find it with Google Maps.
Ali Sheppard: I literally did.
Danny Norman: I wanted to make sure I was going in the right direction. So Black Rocks is an area.
Ali Sheppard: Are we in the picture?
Calum Burrell: Peak District, yes.
[crosstalk]
Ali Sheppard: Absolutely, the high peak. Oh, is it?
Calum Burrell: Just south of Matlock.
Ali Sheppard: Just south of Matlock in the... In Derbyshire. Derbyshire? East Midlands. Come on, there's a question.
[crosstalk]
Calum Burrell: Is this north?
Ali Sheppard: Are we in the north? So people from the north will say this is the north. It's north of the Watford Gap, isn't it? It's definitely north. Do you think?
[crosstalk]
[crosstalk]
Danny Norman: Yeah. It doesn't take very long for Nicola to get down here from Leeds. It's not in the Midlands. I think we can use it in terms of if I have to go nearly three hours to come up north and Nicole only has to do one.
[crosstalk]
Ali Sheppard: I always use Birmingham.
Nicola Forward: Yeah, I look at Birmingham.
Ali Sheppard: Birmingham, so it's above that. So, yeah, we're definitely in the north of England for people from Australia trying to picture where we are. And it's a beautiful, beautiful day. And there are some amazing black rocks around us and the...
Nicola Forward: Incredible gritstone outcrop. The birthplace of climbing. What? It's incredible. Is it? Yeah, you should go and have a look. There's a few boards up by the Black Rocks themselves. There's an incredible view from the top. And there's people climbing there now. It's a really famous spot. Right, right. I'm going there after this.
[crosstalk]
[crosstalk]
Danny Norman: It's going to be a particularly tough one as well, isn't it?
Nicola Forward: But it is some of the most challenging routes in the UK. They've got letters and numbers, haven't they? There's one route there that's only ever been climbed three times because a fall from the top would be quite fatal. Oh, yeah, because it's fatal.
[crosstalk]
Danny Norman: There's a fatal climb, so they don't really do it.
Nicola Forward: I think the most recent one was in 2020. But, yeah, it's only ever been climbed three times. So you should definitely, before you leave... Go up there.
[crosstalk]
Danny Norman: Become the fourth person to climb. LAUGHTER
Nicola Forward: Or not. Or not. But yeah, you can't come to Black Rocks parkrun and not go and enjoy the rocks. I think people think it's the area. It's not. It's an actual black rock. It's an actual black rock. Yeah. Okay.
[crosstalk]
Ali Sheppard: Okay. Well, we'll do that. The parkrun itself was just, was like an out and a back and then another out and a back and then a triple out and back, out, back, out, back. And do you know why it was that? No.
Danny Norman: I do know. Go on, Danno. Let us know, Danno. People are going to hear this twice. So you go out for a kilometre and slightly your eyes are up. Yes. Did you go any further than that turnaround?
[crosstalk]
Ali Sheppard: No.
Danny Norman: No, because it suddenly goes down. It's sharp down. A huge hill. I looked on my car because I wondered about it and then you can see this massive drop. you would have been effing and jeffing and swearing. We only went half a kilometre down there and it was, yeah, it's a bit of hard work.
[crosstalk]
[crosstalk]
Ali Sheppard: Well, at the start, we saw there was a Marshal wearing a Marshal bib who was coming from the really, really, really big hill on the right. Yeah, well, that's the same hill. And he was coming down that hill and everybody looked at it and went, do we have to go up there?
Nicola Forward: So the team here really, really wanted a flat parkrun. So obviously we're in the Peak District. It's very hilly, but it was important to them that it was a flat parkrun. It's more accessible, etc. Yeah, no, it's brilliant.
[crosstalk]
Danny Norman: It's not entirely pancake flat, although, yeah. Yes, it's pancake flat. It's as flat as you're going to get, yeah. No, absolutely. Do you know what? I would have liked all of us to have gone down beyond that kilometre just for giggles, because I would have been at the end all laughing, and you literally would have been, like, expleting, going, oh, my goodness, that's one of the toughest. But, no, it's more inclusive to have it this way.
Calum Burrell: I love railway trails. I do love a good railway trail, and there's another one of those, isn't it?
Ali Sheppard: And there was a little railway trail... but there was no, like a miniature railway, but there was no train on there.
[crosstalk]
Nicola Forward: And this whole area that we're in, the area surrounding the National Stone Centre is an SSSI. Yeah. 330 million years in the making. Wow.
[crosstalk]
Danny Norman: So it's a pretty cool area. Why do you always have the information to hand to now? And when it comes to usually our most park-on-pedia stuff, you just go and copy and paste the first paragraph on a Tuesday morning.
[crosstalk]
Nicola Forward: Because you make me do long show notes. If I was just in off the fly, then you know.
[crosstalk]
Danny Norman: You come and go, right, I'm now going to tell you about my day.
Nicola Forward: That does all the work. Exactly. It's all coming out now. Danny's like, where are we? Oh, whoops, I parked in the wrong car park. I actually know the things.
[crosstalk]
Calum Burrell: And it links in with Arthur's seat because that was done millions of years ago as well, which is where I was last week. Where you were last week.
[crosstalk]
Nicola Forward: We were in Scotland last week, weren't we?
Ali Sheppard: Yes, stunning Scotland. Yes. Anyway, we can chat about this for ages, but I think for Mel's... Editing sanity, yes.
[crosstalk]
Nicola Forward: For her editing sanity, we will call that. We'll go and chat to Budgie about Budgie's Scottish adventures also. We will. And so I think we'll call that.
[crosstalk]
Danny Norman: Hello, Mel. Hello, Scotty. Hello. Not Scotty. TOC, TOC, TOC. I was going to say, hello, TOC, try again. It's Simon this week. It's Simon. Two S's, that's why. But do you know why I said Scotty? Because I gave him kudos on his job just a little while ago. That's why. He's in my mind. There you go. Adventurers on the brain. Everyone else on the adventures.
[crosstalk]
Ali Sheppard: Yeah. Brilliant. So I think that's a wrap.
Danny Norman: Yes.
Ali Sheppard: Yeah. Thank you.
[crosstalk]
Calum Burrell: Take care. Bye. Bye.
Roving report Calum Burrell — Black Rocks parkrun
Calum Burrell: Morning parkrun adventurers, it's Calum and today team Borelli have come to Black Rocks parkrun event number seven and it's absolutely stunning scenery the Derbyshire Peak District bang in the middle of England so last week was in Scotland this week I'm in England but a little bit special we've got one of the I'm gonna have to introduce yourself I think actually Good morning, adventurers. This is Monty Slade. Welcome. Right, fantastic. It is the Monty Slade, so more than just a thumb and a puff.
Monty Slade: So what brings you to Black Rocks today? Well, I would say obviously Google Maps. Hey! But no, I've come to meet up with lots of friends. Quite a number of ambassadors have come down and they suggested I came and met them. And it's such a beautiful part of the country in the Derbyshire that I thought, let's come along and run along the old railway line.
Calum Burrell: absolutely I mean it's a great out and back and it's very sociable isn't it you get to see everyone at least two or three times and the morning's been stunning it's a crisp you know it's March the 1st so it's still cold it's the first day of the meteorological spring I believe it is but so yeah Still gloves of weather, I would say.
Monty Slade: Definitely still gloves of weather, although it's always shorts, but definitely gloves of weather today.
Calum Burrell: So I believe you're a bit of, so obviously you're in the ambassador team. So you've had a bit of a, you've been to different areas, have you?
Monty Slade: I've done all sorts of areas. Currently, I'm more in the West Midlands than I have been previously. But I get round and help out lots of ambassadors doing various things in the areas. Brilliant.
Calum Burrell: So, was it in the East Anglia section? I used to be in East Anglia, yes.
[crosstalk]
Monty Slade: And that's why I know all the ambassadors who are here today. But now I've moved away from Cambridgeshire, I now live in Herefordshire, and so I've joined a different group of ambassadors there.
Calum Burrell: So tell us about your parkrun journey. So where did it kind of start and to where you are now?
Monty Slade: Well, way back in 2010 is when I first started doing parkrun and it was down in Cambridge. I used to go down to Cambridge every day, and gradually realised that it was a long way to go just for a 5k run so we gradually set up a local parkrun in Huntingdon and then I was asked to help out setting other parkruns up in the area and we set up parkruns throughout Cambridgeshire and gradually I moved up the the ranking in the ambassadors and helped to look after other ambassadors.
Calum Burrell: Right, so at the moment you're kind of looking after other ambassadors at the moment, is that the same kind of thing that you did then that you're doing now?
[crosstalk]
Monty Slade: No, I've moved on, I do other things now in parkrun, which often help with the critical incident line, which is what I mainly do. Okay, and which is your home parkrun now? It's Ross-on-Wye, but unfortunately it's been Ross Under Wye the whole of this year. Because the weather's been so atrocious that we've had to cancel and cancel and cancel. Oh, no. But hopefully we'll be on next week. Fingers crossed. Okay. So I've got to ask you top three. Come on, what's your top three then, Monty?
Calum Burrell: Ah, right. Um... Eden Project. Oh, wow. Have you done the Eden Project? No. Oh, you've got to do the Eden Project. Well, funnily enough, Nicola Forward, who's here today, we've seen her video of Eden Project, and it does look in a complete stunner. It's absolutely fun. Holyrood. You've done Holyrood.
[crosstalk]
[crosstalk]
Monty Slade: Yes, I can vouch for that. It's such a lovely single loop.
Danny Norman: Yeah.
Monty Slade: Challenging, I have to say, going up a mile, along a mile and down a mile. And I suppose it has to be Huntingdon, which is one of the ones I set up a long, long time ago. Absolutely perfect place for a parkrun. Brilliant.
Calum Burrell: Yeah, well, I've got quite a few other people that are going to be celebrating today, or at least... Well, yeah, I was in my tutu today, so it was... The parkrun closest to my birthday. You're a week late though, aren't you? Yeah, I was wearing my tutu last week as well. But again, parkrun closest to my birthday. First to me, each category. All very arbitrary, of course. We do like that word once in a while, don't we? But I feel there's all sorts happening today. But what are your top three? My top three? Oh, blimey. Well, I have to say Heaton Park. Because Heaton Park... was where I had my pre-wedding parkrun before I married Lindsay back in 2017. So there's that. Well, Burnage is my home, so I won't say Burnage, but I do obviously love Burnage. Lyme Park is just an absolute stunner. And the one that always grabbed me early on in 2015 was Conwy. It's so lovely. Out and back on the estuary, head towards the castle to go down the estuary. It's superb. But yeah, no, thank you for asking that, Monty. And it's lovely to meet you as well.
[crosstalk]
Monty Slade: Is it time for coffee?
Calum Burrell: I think it is time for a coffee. I think Calum and Monty, over and out.
Roving report Alison Fraser (King) — South End Reserve parkrun
Alison Fraser (King): Kia ora koutou, Alison here reporting in from across the ditch and today I am at South End Reserve parkrun in Pauanui which is on the Coromandel Peninsula and this parkrun started last year again one of the 13 to launch in 2024 and I'm with the founding Event Director Neil so welcome to the podcast Neil thanks Alison yeah thank you so much for putting on an amazing parkrun beautiful scenery Can you tell us about South End Reserve parkrun? [Te Reo Māori: "Hello / greetings to you all (addressed to three or more people)"]
Neil: Yeah, well, as I say, it's beautiful scenery. We run all the way along the beach frontage on the grass, so we can look at the sea on one side and staring at the mountain down the end. Great scenery. It's all grassy tracks. Some people complain it's a bit Lumpy and bumpy, but... Adds to the challenge. Exactly, exactly. Just been going, well, I think it's our 15th run. I think it was our 15th run today. So we go from big holiday numbers from 184 down to a little... group of 30 or as small as that's actually been 18 but yeah big variance lots of local volunteers on board which makes my job easy yeah so It gives us the flexibility of not having to be here every single weekend, not that I've missed many.
Alison Fraser (King): But you've got, today there were three generations of your family volunteering today.
Neil: Yeah, that's right. My mum's taking her martial role very seriously. It's a there and back course and she's down on the end of the course, making sure everyone goes around the pole correctly. Yeah, I had to coerce her to get her involved, but she's loving it and has come back every single week, so it's good. And my youngest daughter, Lily, is our head reporter and takes the role of Run Director and any role we give her, really, she loves it.
Alison Fraser (King): Do you want to give us a little bit of the back story to Pauanui parkrun or South End Reserve parkruns? I was just keen on starting a running group myself and just to add a bit of
[15 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]
Neil: camaraderie and community sort of spirit. And then I discovered parkrun, that's exactly sort of what their motto is. So I thought, well, don't start something that's already not broken. So I added a parkrun to the Coromandel.
Alison Fraser (King): Had you done a parkrun before you started?
Neil: Yes, I've done two before, but only to get me... au fait with what parkrun is actually about but I'd actually had my application um granted before I'd actually done any and then I thought I'd better learn about it so yeah yeah and what do you think of what parkrun has done for Pauanui as a community oh the community is loving it I have um People that aren't even involved just coming up and saying, oh, thank you for starting this. So that's always a buzz. People thank you for bringing it to the community. It's a very community-orientated place, and locals are...
Alison Fraser (King): keen for new events and other events and they are great on supporting different events yeah we've just been to the cafe and I was talking to one of the locals here and you know for anyone who doesn't know anything about Pauanui who's probably never even heard of it um wouldn't really blame you if you hadn't because it's only got like a resident population of what 800 I think so yeah and then in the holidays so Christmas New Year time it's swelled to something like 16 000
Neil: Yes, something like that.
Alison Fraser (King): So this is a real holiday destination isn't it? It is. Like Aucklanders have their holiday homes here.
Neil: There'd be probably only one in ten houses occupied here and then holidays it's double up families in the houses.
Alison Fraser (King): But it's got a beautiful beach that's about two and a half kms long, you've got Mount Pauanui to climb up, you've got Good surf beach. Saw people out surfing today.
Neil: Great surf today. Lovely cycle trail from Pauanui to Hikuai, which hosts a Pauanui half marathon. I think they're in their fifth year now. That's an awesome event.
Alison Fraser (King): So it's a great little community to come and visit.
Neil: It is, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Alison Fraser (King): Well, thank you so much for starting the parkrun here, Neil.
Neil: Thanks, Alison. Appreciate it.
Alison Fraser (King): Being a great host. And, yeah, we've really enjoyed our trip up today.
[background music]
Neil: And it was great to have you here today, too. Yeah. Exciting. Thank you.
Alison Fraser (King): No worries. Thanks very much.
Melissa Ellis: And there we go with our roving reporters, Ali Sheppard and Calum Burrell with Danny and Nick Nick from With Me Now Pod at Black Rocks parkrun, I believe it was, Simon. Yes, and also Calum interviewing Monty Slade, the enigma that is Monty Slade. It was good to hear from him and learn about what he does behind the scenes as an ambassador, a regional ambassador and all the different roles that he undertakes. I think the regional ambassadorship was a previous thing and I think... potentially he's involved on different levels now and also allison coming to us from South End Reserve over in New Zealand thank you very much allison but the big news coming out of that Simon is that budgie did in fact make it to Danny he was transported by Nicola to a little mini powwow that they had there at Black Rocks and he was, I guess he was handed over to Danny, but the fact is now he's been handed over to Ali Sheppard and he's heading for Palm. Yay! What serendipity. It is because this is amazing because Budgie actually did, Budgie's first parkrun. In New Zealand at Balclutha with me back in July. And I actually purchased him on my trip to New Zealand last year. And the fact that he's going to be returning with Ali, I think that's perfect.
[crosstalk]
Simon Mackley: It's very good. Is Balclutha the closest one to Queenstown? All.
Melissa Ellis: quite close no it's not it's they're both on the South Island yep okay it wouldn't be the closest uh there would be well I know there would be Gore that's closer in Wanaka um but I'm not super good with my South Island geography yet but I'm getting there uh but I think what we're gonna have to do is retype the instructions for budgie because I've got a plan Simon
Simon Mackley: Okay, what's the plan?
Melissa Ellis: I don't think Budgie's ready to retire yet. I think he's got a bit of life left in him and I think he needs to tour New Zealand.
Simon Mackley: Great idea.
Melissa Ellis: great idea it seems like a great idea I don't know that we've got the adventurers in location we might need a bit of help recruiting from allison and our friends on the South Island our baileys yeah but I thought that yeah it would be nice to see how far and wide we can get budgie on the South Island and for those that are wondering and I know it was mentioned by our friends over in the UK that Budgie actually has been travelling with a friend, a German backpacker he picked up along his travels.
Simon Mackley: From Lufthansa?
Melissa Ellis: Yes. Yes, a Lufthansa plane that hasn't been named. Maybe we need some suggestions because I'm always looking for ways for our listeners to engage with us. So we need some suggestions to name Budgie's German backpacker friend.
Simon Mackley: Yeah. I think that's a good idea.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, so I might see if I can write up his new guidelines so that when he lands at Palm he can take off again. But that's good. I'm really pleased. And thanks to Gareth who took him across to the UK as well.
Dazza's
Simon Mackley: Yep. Um, we've heard from Dazza's this week, as we do every week, and this week Dazza's, it's World Compliment Day, parkrun is great for compliments, whether it's a well done as you pass someone, or you did great afterwards. Not to mention reminding the volunteers what a super job they're doing. Wherever you were, you looked fabulous. Come on into Dazza's and let us know where you spread positivity. And save a little bit of that for Dazza, it's also National Barista Day.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, and Simon, I must say, when I did cross the line out at Albert Melbourne, I got a little well done mail from Scott Watkins. So that was really nice. First in the door this week at Dazza's was Sarah Maas. She's coming to us from Queensland. I think, correct me if I'm wrong, Simon, because you know my geography isn't always great. But she said, post parkrun debrief gives me the opportunity to say thank you to anyone who has given me a cheer on course or afterwards. It holds a magical power that gives me a boost of energy. When I'm not struggling for air, I pass on this magical energy with a well-done, keep going or my fave, solid effort, all while thinking about my post-parkrun coffee. And the photo is of me having a rest after tackling the ups and downs of Ocean View parkrun. And Sarah used the emoji as requested in last week's pod of a car.
Simon Mackley: Perfect. Perfect. We also heard from Dan O'Connell. The surname might be familiar to most of you. Wishing I could have taken Puffing Billy instead of driving to Emerald Lake Park on this morning. Photo at the end of a challenging alternative course necessitating many compliments given and received with fellow Kirkdale Reserve RD Isaac. And Dan and a friend were in the selfie frame and he used the car and train emojis.
Melissa Ellis: Now I've just realised the friend was Isaac.
Simon Mackley: Right, okay. I should read the posts more closely when I do the show notes.
Melissa Ellis: Next we heard from Janet Reid coming to us from South Australia and she said, hello, Dazza. Did that sound like Janet? This morning, I left the mothership Lochiel. Yes, yes, you read that correctly. And drove to Nantu Wama parkrun, where we met up with fellow South African Aussies, Caro Vos and Cheryl Van Stratton-Smith. The best hugs ever. Such a pretty course. Horses, sealed paths, trail, bridle path, trees, birds and lots of laughter and chatter. Not to mention the fabulous follies. Without them, we wouldn't have this catch up. So grateful to each one of them. My cup is full, but if you still have an empty cup, a flat white would go down a tree. Thanks, Dazza. I hope everyone had a great parkrun day. And there was a photo of Caro, Janet and Cheryl in the event core flute. And she used a car emoji. So well done, Janet.
Simon Mackley: Well done, Janet, indeed. And we have a short one from Adrian Hillyer coming to us from New South Wales. He said, road trip to chase a queue. Kevin, hashtag did a thing. And Adrian shared a photo of himself and Kevin in the selfie frame. A photo of Kevin with the parkrun alphabet flag and a photo of his red car in front of Parliament House with a car emoji.
Melissa Ellis: Yes, and that's his red F-150 in the photo. Pretty snazzy. Well done, Adrian. And well done, Kev. Now, Yvette Turner came to us from the ACT. We love hearing from Yvette. This morning I was up early and driving in my car as I was volunteering as Timekeeper at Coombs parkrun. I gave out lots of compliments and words of encouragement as people crossed the finish line. It was great to see so many friends at parkrun this morning and some of us had a yummy breakfast and a great catch up afterwards. On this National Barista Day, a big thank you to Dazza for opening the cafe every Saturday morning and giving us the opportunity for a virtual post-parkrun experience. catch up and there was a photo of vet in the selfie frame in her volley vest and she used the car emoji well done very uh very good work doing the compliment and the national barista day And thank you for the thank you.
Simon Mackley: And next we heard from previous pod host, Scotty Trickett. He said, I got a what a cutie at Kirkdale Reserve. But I'm pretty sure they're referring to Fletcher the Wonder Dog, who was definitely not attached to my waist. And there was a picture of Scotty and Fletcher at Kirkdale Reserve.
Melissa Ellis: It's nice to hear from Scotty. Thank you for popping into Dazza's. It is. Next, we heard from Peter Thomson coming to us from Singapore. And he said, enjoyed the honour of dipping my giant lid, complimenting the volleys at Bedok Reservoir, a boutique circular lap off the lake that has just been resurrected from something called a COVID pause and he used emoji of a train a plane and a tram I think because they're all kind of those sort of looking emojis but it's sometimes there's crossover anyway this is big news Simon we didn't know this Peter's brought all the news. Bedok Reservoir is back, bringing Singapore's events to five.
Simon Mackley: Exactly, which is amazing.
Melissa Ellis: I never thought that was coming back, so that's great. It is great news. And Peter was also wearing his adventurers shirt. We think he's from the ACT. We did stalk you a bit, Peter, to try to figure that out. There's a lot of Peter Thompsons, though.
Simon Mackley: Next, we heard from Ruth Perkins, all the way from the UK. She said, hi Dazza, sorry I'm late. Prison parkrun for me at Black Combe parkrun in HMP Haverigg. First prison to have a parkrun. Had some good chats with the inmates, a few a marathon training and planning to cover the marathon distance by running 46.5 laps of the parkrun route. And there was a picture of Ruth with a group and the event pop-up.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, I'm guessing that was Ruth outside of the prison. And I'm wondering, I was just musing as to who the people were in the photo. And I wondered if Ruth might have been part of a group of people that gained an invite into the prison and they were those people or they were, in fact, maybe the volunteers, the prison staff. Yeah. We were unsure, but anyway, that's pretty special.
Simon Mackley: Very special. And I'm sure Ruth can tell us what we, yeah, who was in the photo. She could. When she next checks in with us.
the Obi Award — Peter Thomson
Melissa Ellis: Yeah.
Simon Mackley: Do you have an obelisk, Mel? Again, I've got the obelisk. I know.
Melissa Ellis: I know. This is exciting. Wait on, wait on. It was in my drawer and I've got to open it. This week's Obi goes to Peter Thomson.
Simon Mackley: Well done, Peter.
Melissa Ellis: Well done indeed, bringing us all the breaking news, which we appreciate very much.
Emails
Melissa Ellis: Now, Simon, we had an email.
Simon Mackley: You've got mail. We did have an email. We heard from Lynn Black, who said, hello, podcast hosts. Very clever trying not to work out. She's playing it safe. Playing very safe. That's good. She said, I've just finished listening to each and every pod in the back catalogue. What a wealth of adventures, just so much informative content, peppered with fun and laughter. Thank you so much for all your effort, time and dedication each week. It's super appreciated. And here's to many more. Happy parkrunning. Cheers, Lynn Black. That was, yeah, nice to hear. I think Lynn's from the Great Estate. Oh, okay. Of course she is.
Melissa Ellis: She didn't add her parkrun ID, but I've got a feeling I'm climbing her.
Simon Mackley: Okay, fair enough.
Club Corner
Simon Mackley: I think it must be time that we threw over to Reginald.
[background music]
Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III: This is Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III, still not a sir, with Club Corner, where we talk about the what and why of parkrun clubs, and I am coming to you from Arrernte Country. Do you think of numbers when you think of parkrun? Aside from a 5, what numbers do you think of? Or if a non-antipedian, perhaps you care about 3.1 miles that is. Back to whole numbers. If you are a junior hack a 2k parkrunner, then aside from a 2, your numbers are 11, 21, 50, 100 and 250 being the wristbands coloured blue for the half marathon, green for a marathon, orange for an ultra marathon, then silver then yellow. For the 5k people, hark your mind back to club corner number 1, from early 2023, and know that it is all about the shirts. After you complete your first 5k, then you have 10 for junior parkrunners, moving on to 25, 50, 100, 250, 500, and now the 1000. Well, what about in the names of parkruns? What about Presint 18 parkrun, Putrajaya in Malaysia? It has a 1 and an 8, and in fact an 18. Or we could think about Lake2Lake Trail in New Zealand or Gongendo 2gou kouen in Japan for 2s. We could stretch to a three and a four, but not in that order, with Cycle Route 43, Ystalyfera from the UK. And that is it. We currently have four parkruns with numbers. I wonder if anyone has collected all of the possible numbers in parkrun. What a strange bingo that is. There are many unofficial, non-milestone oddities, so stay tuned for future Club Corners.
Melissa Ellis: And Simon, Reginald's still in denial about being Sir. He doesn't want the title. He really doesn't.
Simon Mackley: Well... I'm sure there's sirs that don't want to be knighted. Well, they need to actually say no before they get knighted. I don't think they can throw it back in the Queen's face.
[crosstalk]
Melissa Ellis: Oh, that's true. It's too late.
Simon Mackley: Yeah.
Alison Fraser (King): Oh, well, bad luck, Reginald.
Melissa Ellis: Now, Reginald was talking about numbers being the numbers at Junior parkrun in the wristbands and the numbers at 5K parkrun with the shirts. both volunteering and running as my dog runs into the office. And event numbers. This one was interesting, Simon. Event numbers in the names. And there's only four in the whole wide world. And they are Presint 18, Putrajaya, Lake2Lake Trail in New Zealand. Oh, Gongendo Second Park in Japan and Cycle Route 43 in the UK. So if you have those four parkruns, you are in a pretty exclusive club.
Simon Mackley: Very exclusive club. It's good that they're not all in one country either, so that's... No!
Melissa Ellis: It's an international club, and I love that.
Simon Mackley: Yeah, it's actually mostly APAC, with Malaysia, New Zealand and Japan, and then, you know, a token UK one.
Melissa Ellis: It's an alliance. Is it a Commonwealth? No, is... no.
Simon Mackley: It's not in the Commonwealth, but Malaysia, New Zealand and the UK definitely are.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, we can't get a clean sweep, can we? We'll keep talking about that.
Consolidated Club Report
Melissa Ellis: But you know what else I really like, Simon? And that's the adventurers Consolidated Club report. And this week, Saturday, the 1st of March 2025, of a total of 758 members, 550 took part in nine countries across 272 locations. In the UK, there are adventurers at 54 events. There were five in South Africa and two in Poland, Ireland, Japan, Singapore and the USA. But locally, we had adventurers at 51 events in New South Wales. So they were silver. There were 45 events in Queensland, 42 in Victoria. South Australia had 19. They pipped West Australia this week, who were on 18. Tassie had 10. The North Island had 9. ACT had 8. South Island had one and there were none in the Northern Territory.
the Frond
Simon Mackley: And our largest international frond was at Black Rocks in the UK where we had seven. There was Phil Corker, David Irwin, Danny Norman, Steve Milne, Calum Burrell, Pippa White and Ali Sheppard. And we had a few comments about this unofficial powwow, mini powwow, whatever it is. So first we heard from Ali Sheppard who came into Dazza's and said, arrived by car but picked up a plane or two in the form of Budgie and friend. A fabulous morning which turned into afternoon at Black Rocks parkrun in the Peaks District. And there was a photo of Calum and Ali with Danny and Nicola with Budgie and they used the plane and car emojis. We also heard from Monty Slade, who said, we all did great at Black Rocks parkrun for a wonderful morning along the High Peaks Trail with a few adventures, but was it the biggest frond? The answer, Monty, is yes, it was. And he had a photo of the frond with Monty's signature thumbs up.
Melissa Ellis: But Calum also posted team Borelli were sun catching for the second consecutive week to bookend my birthday. Today was the turn of Black Rocks in Derbyshire, Derbyshire, Derbyshire, where a wonderful frond was formed. And Calum shared a photo which may just have captured a rare glimpse of Monty himself. Cats out of the bag, Monty. But hang on a minute. There's a name missing from that largest international frond.
Simon Mackley: I thought that too. And I was going to mention it. Feel free. There's a pod host who was also there that is not mentioned there, meaning that they're not in our club.
Melissa Ellis: Aw, Nicola, we welcome you.
Simon Mackley: If you already have five clubs, Nicola, you now need to choose which one you're dropping. Wow. Warm.
Melissa Ellis: Now, I need to ask, Steve Milne, is that Tiny Steve?
Simon Mackley: I don't know. It might be.
Melissa Ellis: We better find out, otherwise I have to edit this out. Hopefully it is. I don't know. I have no idea. Keep talking. Fill in. Fill in. Anyway, okay, the pilgrimage. Everybody, in lieu of a bushy pilgrimage this week, we've got Geoff Wiffen, who was at Bannockburn Bush. Hooray! It's as close as Bushy as we're getting.
Unidentified speaker: Yes, they are.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, Simon, that could be an innuendo. And moving on swiftly, the largest frond was 15 at one event and that was Lake Claremont. This is why Western Australia was pipped by South Australia this week because all the Australians were at Lake Claremont. We had Clint Slomp, Chris Carvell, Jeanette Chang Wani, William Ong, Matthew Stevens, Lloyd Syndrome, Andy and Christiana, Charlotte, Ellen Raven, Franz Carroll, Britton Pullman, Andrew Yeatman, Sharon McBlain, Rosemary Knight and Sarah Jefferson. And Sarah Jefferson came to does us and she said congrats to Andrew Yeatman and Matthew Stevens who both completed their 250th parkruns today at Lake Claremont parkrun. Andrew even had a fan club who made him this sign. And Sarah shared a photo of Matt and Andrew who was holding the sign that said 250. I don't know what it said, but it was a 250 sign. I'm sorry. It's late. Congratulations, guys. Yes. Did you do your research, Simon, while I was trying to fill? No, we don't know.
[crosstalk]
Simon Mackley: I was trying to. Yeah, I don't know.
Melissa Ellis: Okay. Toggle, no.
Simon Mackley: Steve Milne has a lot of flags. A lot.
Melissa Ellis: We also had a frond of 11 at Gainsborough Parklands and nine at Shellharbour.
Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"
Simon Mackley: What about launches, Simon? We had two launches this week, and the first of those was in the USA. It is called Old Town House Park parkrun. There's a mouthful. And that's in South Yarmouth, Massachusetts, USA, launching with 29 participants, 15 of which were first-timers, so just over half, and 10 volunteers. Old Town House Park parkrun is a mostly flat course that The course consists of an out and back on paved paths around Old Town House Park and along the Cape Cod Rail Trail, which that definitely appeals to me. I like the idea of Cape Cod and a rail trail.
Melissa Ellis: Well, Cape Cod sounds American, but Yarmouth definitely doesn't because doesn't the UK have a Old Yarmouth something? Yes.
Simon Mackley: Well, I think this is the influence. Massachusetts has that influence of probably where the Brits came across into America.
Melissa Ellis: But the second launch was in Australia and it was Sky River Path parkrun. This one, surprised me, was not on my radar, knew nothing. It's located in Coonabarabran, New South Wales. Or is that Cheersabarabran? That's your joke, Simon. It is. People can blame you for that. The launch had 85 participants, of which 31 were brand new to parkrun and 12 volunteers. The course comprises of three out-and-back laps on a mixture of grass and concrete along the Sky River Path, following the Castlereagh River. The start and finish are close to parking and amenities.
Simon Mackley: Yes, so I'm thinking you call your Victorian event Cooney, Coonawarra, so you might have to be careful because there's a Cooney now in New South Wales.
Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, no, because it's a Skyy. Well, our parkrun is actually called Coonwara parkrun and yours is called Sky River Path. It's not mine. Careful. I forget. You used to be in New South Wales.
Simon Mackley: Yeah, that's nowhere near where I used to live.
Watching the numbers
Melissa Ellis: okay all right well we wish them well but in our ongoing segment that we are calling watching the numbers at petunia island at event eight there were 238 participants so yeah it's definitely stabilising there we've had yeah a couple of
Simon Mackley: or two 246s, a 247 and now a 238. So yeah, I think they are settling into their numbers.
Melissa Ellis: They are settling in quite nicely around that Dunbar number, aren't they, Simon?
Simon Mackley: They are.
Palm news
Simon Mackley: So we have a little update on Palm. Palm news. Palm news, yes. I've had agreement over the weekend from Lyndell that she will step into the Quizmaster shoes for Palm, which means I better get working on questions and most importantly, the answers.
Melissa Ellis: Very good. And in other Palm news, I've planned my costume. Hooray. Because, guys, if you are coming to Palm, you need to get onto this because the dress-up night is a really huge part of the weekend and everybody goes out, all out, so you don't want to be turning up with a half-arsed costume because you'll feel embarrassed.
[crosstalk]
Simon Mackley: And after TOC's thing last week, we don't want to have half your ass coming out of your costume. No.
Melissa Ellis: No, we can't. No, no arses. And don't forget your undies. Exactly. Just as a reminder, the theme for the dress-up night is Queens. Interpret it as you will. And the Friday night will be a walk up Queenstown Hill, followed by a night at Winnie's Pizza. But that's not the dress-up night, parkrun is at Queenstown parkrun following up with a recording on the Saturday arvo the pod recording will take place Saturday afternoon at the Queenstown bolo and the dress up is going to be Saturday night at smith's craft beer so there's your reminder it's getting close we're only four weeks away even less by the time this pod comes out indeed um
Simon Mackley: I said, indeed. And then I'm going like this.
Melissa Ellis: Oh my goodness.
Simon Mackley: Yeah, you were looking away and I'm just going like this.
Melissa Ellis: I thought you had a fly.
Simon Mackley: No, okay. All right, let's move on. So some late breaking news, and this is probably why TOC was in our notes, check out our Facebook page for another possible merch release.
Melissa Ellis: If you are interested, are we going to tell them what it is, Simon?
Simon Mackley: Well, we can.
Melissa Ellis: No, because TOC didn't say so. He just is saying for them to go to our Facebook page. Go to our Facebook page and look for a post. That's cryptic. That is very cryptic. That is very cryptic.
parkrun adventure challengelistener challenge
Melissa Ellis: Now, continuing on the cryptic theme, our listener challenge this week is to run in the buff.
Simon Mackley: That's going to, yeah, that's going to be interesting. Run in the buff. They might be connected. They may just.
Melissa Ellis: So I don't know how many listeners we have that aren't on Facebook and I don't know how many followers we have on Facebook that don't listen. I suspect one is tips heavier than the other. Anyway, we shall let people sort themselves out. But next parkrun day, Simon, let's start with you. Where are you going to be?
Simon Mackley: Well, after our earlier discussion, I was planning to go to Sirromet, but it will all be dependent on the weather that we receive in the next couple of days. What about you Mel?
Melissa Ellis: But is Sirromet not on the side of a hill and all the water will run off?
Simon Mackley: Yes it's on a hill, it's also muddy. But it will be, yeah I mean who knows, who knows how Sirromet will look. Right okay. Yeah because if, if I go to one of the more coastal ones there's the bigger possibility that they'll be
Melissa Ellis: inundated with water and all that sort of thing so yeah we'll see what happens see where I go I suspect up your way Simon it's just going to be a matter of watching the cancellations and seeing what is available on the morning exactly now where am I going to be I've got an adventure Dave and I are taking a road trip and we're going camping and we are going to head to the Queanbeyan rodeo and while I'm there I might do Bungendore Bungers! I've been waiting for a long time to get up and do Bungers because I was holding off for the Queanbeyan Rodeo itself.
Simon Mackley: Awesome. I'm sure that will be a fun weekend away.
Melissa Ellis: I think it will. Dave doesn't know what he's got in store for him.
Simon Mackley: Well, he will quickly find out.
Sign-off
Melissa Ellis: He will. And next week, well, thank you for returning, Simon. I'm very grateful for you coming back. Thank you. No problem. It was great to hear from you again. And I am assuming you're going to be back in two weeks' time with the lovely Sarah Jefferson, who's returning from her pod maternity leave, I believe.
Simon Mackley: Exactly. We'll be recording with Sarah. We have set that up already. So, yeah, the return of Sarah. So yeah, next week it'll be you and TOC, obviously.
Melissa Ellis: Yeah, we will be back.
Simon Mackley: And that's it. Yep. So as always, you can contact us via parkrun adventurers on Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another week. We'll see you all next week for more adventures.
[outro theme playing]
Unidentified speaker: It's free. It's free. It's free.