Episode 423 - The Hope Song

00:00:00[intro theme playing]

Welcome

00:00:24Simon Mackley: Welcome to episode 423 of the parkrun adventurers podcast, a podcast about life, if your life is all about parkrun. I'm Simon Mackley, and I'm coming to you, as always, from the Quandamooka Country.

00:00:37Melissa Ellis: And I'm Melissa Ellis, and I'm coming to you from Wurundjeri Country. Hi, Simon. Surprise, I'm back.

00:00:45Simon Mackley: So Mel, this is the first time that we've recorded since very early March. So it's actually been eight episodes since we have last recorded. Yeah. I want to start off thanking you and Danny for last week. Yeah, Danny agreed to record in my absence. It was very nice to have the night off and spend with family. But that's why I'm here tonight because I had FOMO and I wanted to record. Yeah.

00:01:10Melissa Ellis: And happy belated birthday. I think we've said it enough times, but anyway, just for anybody who didn't know that you celebrated your 50th birthday last weekend, welcome to the club. So, yeah, it's been a while since we caught up, but we've actually had a nice preamble before we started recording, so now we don't need to do a pod.

00:01:32Pippa White: Exactly.

00:01:33Melissa Ellis: That's it.

00:01:35Simon Mackley: As always, the truth.

00:01:37Melissa Ellis: Yeah, but anyway.

00:01:38Simon Mackley: Where were you last week?

00:01:39Melissa Ellis: Where was I? Oh, okay. Well, start with me. Yeah, why not? Start with me. I had a change of plans. So one of my friends and Peppertree ED, Adrian Hillyer, he was celebrating his 250th volunteer last weekend. So I decided I would head out to Peppertree as it's pretty close. Now, I actually feel a little bit bad because I didn't go to TOC's 250th volunteers milestone but in my defence TOC lives on the other side of the planet to me well not really but on the other side of the greater state and Adrian is like 10 minutes away so I did head down to help Adrian celebrate it was quite a low-key celebration they don't make a fuss out there at Peppertree So he got a shout out from the RD and we took some photos beforehand. But yeah, as you know, Simon, a lot of work goes on behind the scenes when you're an ED. He's the founding ED at Peppertree and he's there most weeks. Even though he's a passionate tourist, he is an adventurer and he gets away when he can. Okay. So it was nice to go out there and share the morning with Adrian and go to brunch at Lola's. They do make a good brunch out there at Lola's in Bacchus Marsh and they are a Collingwood supporting cafe. So, you know, I'm pretty happy and I feel right at home. Well, congratulations, Adrian. And what about you, Simon? Where were you on the weekend?

00:03:09Simon Mackley: I stayed close to home as well. I was at Fodder Forest for my 23rd time. It was a smaller field than normal with only 82 participants, which I'm assuming was because it was supposed to rain at parkrun time, but it didn't rain until after it had finished. So, yeah, quieter parkrun. And I just had to stay close at home because we had a soccer game that was moved because of the weather. from half an hour away to an hour away.

00:03:39Melissa Ellis: Now, we haven't heard from you for so long, so has there been any other parkrun highlights in the interim?

00:03:46Simon Mackley: Oh, gosh. I've just, yeah, I've had to stay close to home. Like I did Redland Bay the previous week, it was, I know it got read out last week, but there was plovers on two of the corners, not plovers, as Danny originally said. I know he realised afterwards. But, yeah, it was like big puddles and plovers and, as I said, a palindromic position token. I can't remember what I got, 22 or something. That's right. We even made you the photo for the pod post, didn't we? Oh, we did. We did indeed.

00:04:16[crosstalk]

00:04:19Melissa Ellis: I was a little bit sneaky. I told the Equal Opportunity employee behind the scenes to use that photo so you didn't know.

00:04:27Simon Mackley: I'm sure you did. So, yeah, so I have stayed close to home. I haven't touristed. Yeah, in a couple of weeks. And I don't actually know when I will be next. Ah. Yes.

00:04:42Melissa Ellis: Oh, well, it was good having you as a host, Simon.

00:04:49Simon Mackley: I'm not going to go to the same parkrun every week. I'm not only going to Shellharbour. I will go to my local one. Shots fired. Shots fired.

00:04:53[crosstalk]

00:04:57Melissa Ellis: All righty. Well, we do have some feedback from our last episode that I, of course, hosted with Danny. And it is from TOC. And it relates to the launch last week in the UK, Park in the Past parkrun. And Danny commenting about... The fact that TOC wrote it was located just to the west of Hope. Hope being a place in the proximity of the parkrun. And Danny said TOC should have said it was near Wrexham. But TOC actually decided to highlight Hope because it's his granddaughter's name. So there's a little bit of an explanation as to why he highlighted hope.

00:05:43Simon Mackley: Beautiful.

00:05:43Melissa Ellis: I don't think we have any other feedback. I don't know that I've made any other mistakes. Oh, I probably did. What did you find that I've made mistakes with? That was a discussion for earlier. All righty.

parkrun news bulletin

00:05:56Melissa Ellis: But, Simon, we've got some stats.

00:06:00Simon Mackley: We certainly do. Let's start across the ditch. So on the 10th of May, across the ditch, we had 59 events. In total, there were 9,967 finishers supported by 960 volunteers. Apparently, torrential rain across the North Island Thursday night and Friday night reduced the numbers. Once again, Hagley was the largest with 607, and Southend only had seven, so it was the most intimate parkrun in New Zealand.

00:06:32Melissa Ellis: Meanwhile in Australia on the 10th we had 508 events. 6,266 volunteers supported 69,854 finishers to run 10,988 PBs. We saw 2,961 genuine first-timers and had 4,042 registrations.

00:06:40[15 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:06:55Melissa Ellis: Now, of note, Nhill was the smallest with three parkrunners and Albert Melbourne was the largest with 814. Numbers down at Albert.

00:07:06Simon Mackley: Was it rainy down there on the weekend? Is that why the numbers might have been down?

00:07:11Melissa Ellis: No, we didn't have rain at all down here. We had a nice morning, so I'm not sure. Maybe it's just me not really being aware of the numbers since summer and it seems that it's down. Maybe it isn't. Anyway, that's about all. There wasn't much news that came across my desk this week.

00:07:30[background music]

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:07:32Melissa Ellis: So that being said, it's time to throw to our roving reports.

Roving report Calum Burrell — Lyme Park parkrun

00:07:47Calum Burrell: Good morning parkrun adventurers and this is event 501 of Lyme Park parkrun in this stunning, it's on the outskirts of Derbyshire in middle England but just south of Stockport, just south of Manchester, absolutely stunning view and I'm here with the one and only Streakmeister, go on introduce yourself.

00:08:09Pippa White: Hey Calum. Oh, it's so good to be here. It's Pippa. It's the Streakmeister. And yeah, today's a pretty amazing day. It's my 410th parkrun.

00:08:18Calum Burrell: Yeah, apart from the arbitrary figure, go on, what is it that's happening today? Or what have you literally just done?

00:08:23Pippa White: I've finally, finally made it to my 250th different event. And I am just, I have been so nervous about this. After my Cowell, which was a little bit exciting, in a November time, in Winds, where our first parkrun got cancelled, I decided to wait until the weather was going to be a little bit better. So we're at Lyme Park and it is absolutely breathtakingly gorgeous.

00:08:48[crosstalk]

00:08:48Calum Burrell: breathtaking as well on the hills yeah so it's a one lapper you start on one hill go through the woods it's kind of twisty a little bit you got downhill uphill oh it's basically a beautiful countryside you get fantastic views of Manchester don't you oh it's absolutely amazing but in the first time as welcome it was uh the theme of this parkrun is up no absolutely right

00:09:09Pippa White: yeah oh yes so uh yeah we've had again another parkrun where there's been a faller which is a bit unfortunate it was my friend Daniel who came up so yes uh so he's got um he's left part of his knee on the on the course um but yes it's it's a properly technical course it's probably not the best one to bring a pushchair around um but it is unbelievable it is well and truly in my top 10

00:09:17[crosstalk]

00:09:36Calum Burrell: So, yeah, you've done 250 events in a little over 10 years. You started in 2014, didn't you?

00:09:42Pippa White: Yeah, September 2014.

00:09:43Calum Burrell: And then, obviously, I mean, you did your Cowell literally at the tail end of 2021. So you've managed to squeeze in 150 venues in the space of literally three years. So it's absolutely amazing work. And you do so much with the volunteering as well. So, I mean, there's obviously highlights.

00:10:00Pippa White: you know and very I imagine it's very tricky to kind of actually narrow down what your highlights but go try and put your highlights together um so there are some things I like I do like a smaller parkrun I do like it where there's some community I like the slightly older parkruns where somebody sat on all the uh posters and they sat on the on the signs that's the type of parkrun I love um Some standout ones, I went to the stunning Mura di Lucca in Italy, which goes around the walls of the ancient town there. That's incredible. Another hilly one that comes to mind was Bevendean Down, with the most amazing Tail Walker that we've ever had. I like that. But again, it's community. And I've been to some of the most beautiful parkruns and it hasn't had that vibe. And I've been to some around a bit of scraggy wasteland and they've been absolutely fantastic. I love all of them. But this one is really quite special.

00:10:56Calum Burrell: Yeah. And it's, I suppose, a little bit bittersweet because we know our good friend, Christine, we'd have loved, you know, we'd love to have her to be with us this time. But... Absolutely.

00:11:05[crosstalk]

00:11:06Pippa White: And she hadn't done Lyme Park. So, you know, if Christine's watching, you know, I've done it, Christine. And she would have been absolutely in the car and we would have been celebrating together. So, yeah, bittersweet because I'm missing having that company here. But I stopped and looked around today and that was really good, too.

00:11:23Calum Burrell: yeah yeah but it was yeah fab fab morning again and uh we I just gently strolled around but yeah it's beautiful course and um yeah anything more you want to say to the partners can I say just say it's part of because you've pretty much got me into the parkrun adventurers uh from from a few years ago I think when you I think actually probably run about the time you did your 250 if I started listening to the parkrun adventurers when again you obviously found out that you're doing the Streakmeister thing and yeah you motivate us throughout all of September and from all the parkrun adventurers thank you for everything you do with this being the Streakmeister um But yeah, you're so motivating and yeah, thank you. And thank you for obviously everything you do in parkrun World because you do so much volunteering as well. So yeah, I'm glad we can celebrate this with you and it's an honour and privilege. So thank you.

00:12:15Pippa White: Well, there you go. The next big celebration in our family is Harriet at the beginning of June. Of course, yeah.

00:12:18[crosstalk]

00:12:19Calum Burrell: How she managed to coordinate all this. Go on, you tell.

00:12:24Pippa White: So at present, Harriet is on track to do her V500 on her birthday on the Netherlands Extra Day in the Netherlands. Yeah. Which is turning out to be a bit bonkers because I'm on holiday in France. So a friend I'm with, we're getting the night bus from Le Mans in France over to Maastricht to be picked up to go off and do a parkrun and get back on the bus. So, you know, what could possibly go wrong with that? Well, good luck with that. So, yes, it's going to be a few months of celebrations. Brilliant. But Harriet makes a good cake, so I'm absolutely delighted.

00:12:43[crosstalk]

00:12:49[crosstalk]

00:12:52Calum Burrell: Oh, actually, the flapjacks. I have to say, the flapjacks are absolutely superb. I have to get a photo of the flapjacks for the parkrun adventurers to see.

00:12:58Pippa White: We'll stick them in our photo.

00:12:58[crosstalk]

00:13:00Calum Burrell: Was that you that made them?

00:13:01Pippa White: Oh, Harriet made them.

00:13:01Calum Burrell: Oh, Harriet made the flapjacks. Absolutely, yeah. The icing on top of the cake, absolutely. Yeah, jam in the middle. Yeah, lovely jammy flapjacks. What do you reckon, Phil, to the flapjacks? Oh, gorgeous, yeah. G'day.

00:13:07[crosstalk]

00:13:15Pippa White: Anyway, the Tail Walkers are here, so let's go and cheer the Tail Walkers in. Yeah, absolutely. Brilliant to catch up with you as well. Brilliant.

00:13:17[crosstalk]

00:13:21Calum Burrell: Okay, thank you, Pippa, and thank you, Phil.

Roving report Ali Sheppard — Potternewton parkrun

00:13:24Ali Sheppard: G'day, adventurers. Ali from the UK here, and I am in the gorgeous Potternewton Park, which is in Leeds, in Yorkshire, Leeds, Leeds, Leeds, which is in the north of England. And I am here, so... Last week, if you listened to the pod, you will have heard a co-presenter of Mel, which was Danny Norman from With Me Now. And I am here with Nicola Forward, who is the other co-presenter of With Me Now and the one who does all the work. Hello, Nicola.

00:13:57Nicola Forward: Hello. Good morning, adventurers.

00:13:59Ali Sheppard: But I'm not going to interview Nicola. Nicola today because there's somebody that's far more important here today and that is another forward and that is Poppy Forward. Good day Poppy. Good day Ali. So Poppy, it's been a very special day today. Why has it been so special today?

00:14:20Poppy Forward: Well, today was my 250th parkrun. Yay!

00:14:24Ali Sheppard: Your 250th parkrun. And you are how old? 12. That is amazing to get to 250 parkruns at the age of 12.

00:14:34Nicola Forward: Poppy thought that nobody was coming this morning. I didn't let her know that anybody was coming, apart from the one friend from school she knew could come. And she was like, I wish some other people could join me. And then there's been so many people here this morning. I think you've had a fantastic day, haven't you? Yeah, it's been absolutely amazing.

00:14:44[crosstalk]

00:14:51Ali Sheppard: So, can you describe today? So, we're in a gorgeous park and you arrived at the park.

00:14:56Poppy Forward: And then I saw my friend from school and I was just like, so glad he came. And then I saw Faith and I was just like, no way. That's your parkrun friend? Yeah, I was just like, what? How is she here? She lives a few hours away. Yeah. I was like... what thank you so much for coming then I saw my other friend Cora and she's from my school and I was like oh my god she came and then I just saw all of my parkrun buddies and I was like no way and it was just so fun because we had like a party at the back so it was amazing so so many people came and what you didn't realise is that your mum had come early and she put up pictures

00:15:09[crosstalk]

00:15:33Ali Sheppard: of you all round the park. So as we went round and round the park we saw pictures of Poppy parkrunning all round the world. Because you have done, this is your 250th, but you started How soon after your fourth birthday did you do your official parkrun? Do you know? On my first birthday?

00:15:55[crosstalk]

00:15:55Poppy Forward: On your first birthday? No way! Because it was a Saturday, yeah. But then the next week I was like, oh, I'm not doing it. You were like, that's too far. Yeah.

00:16:01[crosstalk]

00:16:04Ali Sheppard: Brilliant first. Yeah, it's not that great. So you'd actually probably done a lot more than 250 because you did a lot more before you were officially allowed to parkrun in your own. Because I actually did two parkruns, I was looking up, with you before you were four. Oh, wow. So I did Kesgrave and I did Woodhouse Moor. Oh, wow. But that was before you were allowed to run. So you've done parkruns and you've done parkruns in... so many different countries and the last few weeks you have been somewhere very exciting where have you been Japan Japan and did you parkrun in Japan of course we went for three weeks did four parkruns four parkruns so how did you do four in three weeks there was an extra one wasn't there was an extra day it was greenery day so yeah they had an extra day and that was on Sunday so then like we got double weekend and did you enjoy Japan yeah

00:16:24[crosstalk]

00:16:52[crosstalk]

00:17:02Poppy Forward: Yeah, it was amazing. Pretty hard being a vegetarian, but the culture, even the weather was, like, favouring us. It was, yeah, just gorgeous. Amazing.

00:17:12[crosstalk]

00:17:12Nicola Forward: And there were a lot of Australian tourists there, actually. Yeah. We had loads of adventures, didn't we? Yeah.

00:17:18Ali Sheppard: So you've parkrun in Japan, in the UK, in... Sweden, Denmark, Norway.

00:17:24[crosstalk]

00:17:25Nicola Forward: Germany, Poland, yeah. Australia. Australia, yes. Singapore, New Zealand. Oh, my God.

00:17:32Ali Sheppard: Yeah, and you probably don't remember Australia and New Zealand because I think you were four when you did.

00:17:35[crosstalk]

00:17:39Nicola Forward: Yeah, that was in Poppy's top ten, her first ten, sorry, her first ten parkruns. So her tenth parkrun was in Singapore after having done New Zealand and Australia. Yeah.

00:17:50Ali Sheppard: Yeah. So Potternewton Park is hilly. It is three laps and it's very lovely. And I remember in lockdown, you did a little film. The two of you did a Facebook Live coming around Potternewton Park when we couldn't parkrun. And you were dressed as Harry Potter. And to my shame, I've only just got the joke four years later. Yeah. So then you were Harry Potter in Botanical Park. You've forgotten all about that, haven't you?

00:18:22[crosstalk]

00:18:26Poppy Forward: You've forgotten all about it.

00:18:28Ali Sheppard: You were going around with a spell and putting spells on people.

00:18:32[crosstalk]

00:18:32Nicola Forward: You had your wand and your cloak, didn't you? Mm-hmm. Yeah.

00:18:36Ali Sheppard: Gryffindor. You've had an amazing day today, but thinking back over those 250 parkruns. So one of the things that on the parkrun adventurers podcast, they ask people is if they can think of maybe their three, not necessarily their three most favourite, because that's always very difficult to say what your three favourite, but three parkruns that are particularly memorable that you liked a lot, uh Fountains Abbey because I just think it's beautiful and it's like one of mum's top 10 so Fountains Abbey is in in North Yorkshire that's right so because people listening to this are in Australia and they might not know where it is so Fountains Abbey is a beautiful abbey and of course UNESCO World Heritage Site UNESCO World Heritage Site and what are all these like pop-up balloon thingies and thingies

00:19:17[crosstalk]

00:19:27Nicola Forward: Oh, we went when there was a huge, amazing art exhibit, didn't we?

00:19:31Poppy Forward: Yeah, there were, like, balloons, like, the size of, like, the whole... Yeah, yeah, the size of the house.

00:19:36Ali Sheppard: Yes.

00:19:37Nicola Forward: They were unbelievable.

00:19:38Ali Sheppard: So, Fountain's Abbey is one. What are the others? Bere Island. Bear Island. You were with us for that one, Ali. I was with you for that one. That is amazing. It's a little tiny island off the west coast of Ireland. And I was actually asked what my top three parkruns were. And one of them was Bear Island. Because we had such a fantastic time there. It's so beautiful. And you're just on the roads and you're looking out at the sea. Yeah. And it's just beautiful. And how about your third one?

00:19:45[crosstalk]

00:19:59[crosstalk]

00:20:05[crosstalk]

00:20:10Poppy Forward: Sunshine Beach. And where's Sunshine Beach? In Japan.

00:20:13Ali Sheppard: In Japan! And what's special about Sunshine Beach?

00:20:17Poppy Forward: It's just such a lovely community. Everyone we met there was just outstanding and just so lovely. And the location is amazing because you run around this lake and it's like... Lake Biwa. Yeah, the shores of Lake Biwa. Yeah. And that's gorgeous as well. Beautiful.

00:20:34Ali Sheppard: So, your advice to you as a 250th parkrun veteran.

00:20:42Nicola Forward: It's actually Poppy's 150th different venue today as well.

00:20:45[crosstalk]

00:20:46Ali Sheppard: It's your 150th, so you've tied the two together. That's amazing. So, your 150th different occasion, 250th parkrun. So if this was going out, if somebody's listening to this and they've never been to parkrun before, what would you say?

00:21:03Poppy Forward: Jay, get out there because it can change your life for the good. You meet amazing people. You have such a great time. And you don't have to run. Just do whatever you want for your comfortable and you'll have a great time. That's fantastic. That's wonderful.

00:21:15[background music]

00:21:16Ali Sheppard: Thank you so much, Poppy. Thank you. Thank you, Nicola. And that's a wrap, Adventurers. Bye, adventurers. Bye, adventurers.

00:21:21[crosstalk]

00:21:32Simon Mackley: Okay, we're back from our roving reports. So we heard from Calum, who was celebrating Pippa's 250th different event at Lyme parkrun. And we also heard from Ali Sheppard coming in from Potternewton parkrun. And she was celebrating Poppy's 250th parkrun and her 150th different event. I really enjoyed how chatty Poppy was with Ali. She was certainly... giving a lot of feedback, not just yeses and nos that I kind of would expect from a pre-teen.

00:22:07Melissa Ellis: This was a great roving report and I was interested to know or to hear that they had done four parkruns in Australia and two in New Zealand. So that sent me on a deep dive to find out what the four Australian and two New Zealand parkruns were. So I can tell you the New Zealand ones were Cornwall Park and Blenheim. Okay. And the four in Australia were St Peter's, Chelsea Bicentennial, Cairns and Noosa. So covering three states on their visit to Australia. Now, that's not the only interesting bit. Because Chelsea Bicentennial is in the greatest state, I thought to myself, oh, I wonder who was there on the day that they visited. So I went and looked at the participants for the 4th of February 2017. Of note, there were four adventurers there on that very same day. Martine Barrot and Andrew Johnston were actually in attendance that day. Funnily enough, they've also just been in Japan.

00:23:14Simon Mackley: Yeah.

00:23:15Melissa Ellis: I checked out the events they did on the weekend, but they didn't cross over with Poppy and Nicola. But how amazing would that have been if that had to be in the case? So also at Chelsea Bicentennial that day was Gary Murphy, one of our original roving reporters and the instigator of Palm Concept. And volunteering that day was Dawn Branton, our very own Dawny. There you go. I think Dawn actually was also in Japan for Greenery Day, but she did not appear in any of the results for Nicola and Poppy. Also, going over to Calum's, I've got a request for Calum. Calum, can you please put your phone on airplane mode when you record? Because we keep getting little beeps coming through in your audio. So put it on airplane mode. Thank you very much.

00:24:14Simon Mackley: I don't know how many times when I was listening to it that I was going, where's that? What just went off?

00:24:19Melissa Ellis: I thought it was me. Public service announcement. That's what I was going to say. Mind you, I don't do it myself, but my phone's always on silent. So I don't tend to have, maybe I just don't, maybe I'm just not as popular as Calum.

00:24:32Simon Mackley: That's entirely possible.

Dazza's

00:24:34Simon Mackley: Entirely possible. Shall we pop over to Dazza's? Let's. This week, Dazza said, it's trust your intuition day. Sometimes we can make all sorts of plans for parkrun, only to change them at the last minute. Or sometimes you'll deliberate on the hows and whys of getting somewhere, only to choose the one with a silly name. Whatever force guided you to and through parkrun, come on into Dazzler's and tell us all about it, and follow your heart when ordering. And so this week the listener challenge was to add hashtag D-O-R-B to the post, which was Dolly or Bev.

00:25:10Melissa Ellis: And you know what? I didn't even get that right when I did my comment. I did hashtag DOB, so I was dobbing instead of daubing.

00:25:19Simon Mackley: Fair enough.

00:25:20Melissa Ellis: I had one job.

00:25:21Simon Mackley: I don't think you were the only one. I have seen others that did the same thing. They probably copied me. They may have. They may have seen it and gone, oh, that's the thing for this week. Yeah.

00:25:34Melissa Ellis: Yeah, anyway.

00:25:35Simon Mackley: Who did we have first, Simon? Well, we'll start off in Queensland with Tracey Leeper. So intuition had me swap this week's running plans for volunteering to Ashgrove parkrun, which proved a great choice as my legs were feeling the after effects of yesterday's physio visit. Didn't have time to see if there was a hashtag DORB today as I was too busy barcode scanning, including adventurers Kate, James and Pauline, and Tracey posted a photo of herself. And the other Barcode Scanner at Ashgrove parkrun, she was wearing an adventurer shirt and another adventurer in the background of the picture.

00:26:14Melissa Ellis: We also heard from our friend Yvette Turner coming to us from New South Wales. On Friday, we trusted our instincts. The bigger parkrun would be running and drove three hours to get there. And what a beautiful morning for a parkrun. It was chilly and I had numb feet, but the sun was shining and the welcome and conversations with the volunteers and other attendees was warming. Bega parkrun is so nice and runs alongside the Bega River. It is a simple out and back on mostly gravel paths with some paved surfaces at the start and end. A brunch of us? A bunch of us had breakfast at Evolve Cafe afterwards. We really enjoy adventuring to these smaller parkruns. Since we are in dairy country, I'll have a chocolate and caramel milkshake, please, Dazza. Hashtag DORB. Hashtag if you know, you know. And there was a picture of Yvette and Bill in this selfie frame. How funny, Simon. Remember our trip to Bega?

00:27:11Simon Mackley: I was about to say, she's saying how cold it was. Try going in July.

00:27:17Melissa Ellis: Try camping in Bega in July. That's true. Yes, you did. Simon, that is the coldest parkrun I've ever been to. And I have never before or since ran with numb toes.

00:27:30Simon Mackley: I would fully agree with the numb toes. And I remember that there was like the grass. was like crystals because the sun was reflecting off the frozen grass.

00:27:41Melissa Ellis: Yes, bicycles. And the cobwebs were beautiful because they were all frozen too.

00:27:47Simon Mackley: They were indeed. I remember specifically anyway. Yes. When you were reading that, I was thinking, geez, it's a cold May. Soft. Exactly. Next we heard from Lynette Anne from the Greater State. Morning, Dazza. In keeping with the well-posh theme, I'll order a cup of tea and hold my pinky out. Woodlands Historic Park parkrun, very last-minute decision. Woke up at 5.25am and left home at 5.30am to get Wilson 100 done. What a beautiful course. Yep, inclines, but beautiful trees and good track. Welcoming crowd and the... hands in the air emoji, hashtag D-O-R-B.

00:28:34Melissa Ellis: That would be a high five emoji, Simon.

00:28:37Simon Mackley: Oh, is it? Okay. Maybe it is, yeah.

00:28:40Melissa Ellis: High five? No. I don't know. Okay. It's two hands up.

00:28:44Simon Mackley: Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're right. I'm wrong. There was a picture of the track. Anyway.

00:28:49Melissa Ellis: Next, we go to Renata Koch, also in New South Wales. My intuition told me not to change my plan, which was to check out Parramatta parkrun's new course, as I had not been there since New Year 2024. The course is very nice and it will be even better when the trees grow taller. But what was even nicer this morning was that Luke and Sam picked the same parkrun for their family day in Sydney. And what's better than walking at parkrun? Walking and talking. Hashtag DORB. And there was a picture of Sam Renata and Luke. And, of course, Sam is our very own original OG Office Lady.

00:29:29Simon Mackley: Next we heard from Chris Gore coming to us from Lake Claremont in WA. Hey, Dazza, our plans went off perfectly today, catching up with our parkrun adventure friends. We went to Lake Claremont parkrun. We could not have asked for better weather as we tackled the two-lap course around the lake, one big lap and one smaller one. It is a picturesque run on a mixture of grass, limestone and sealed paths. The golf course is right next to parkrun and it has a wonderful cafe where we had a pleasant park faff afterwards. Hashtag B-O-R-D. Biff and Dolly. Yeah. Or maybe it's Bolly and Dev. And so in the photo was Cam, Brenton, Sophie, Matt, Hadley, Chris, Karen, and Sarah. Very good.

00:30:22Melissa Ellis: Cam. Okay, now we go to Jo McLean coming to us from Tasmania. Wait, Jo's out of her zone. Even though I've not long got a cue to complete my alphabet and wanted a B to finish staying alive, my instinct took me to Queen's Domain parkrun and I got to run with my running buddy from Sydney who moved here three years ago. So fabulous to run and faff with her again. Lovely course too. Thanks for the recommendations, Ryan Stoddart. Thumbs up. And there was a picture of Jo and her running buddy in the Queen's Domain event. Core flute. There was a missed opportunity there, Mel.

00:31:01Simon Mackley: It's Jo McLean at Queen's Domain. Oh, yes. Anyway, we'll move on. Okay. Next we heard from Alison King coming to us from Puarenga in New Zealand. Hey, Dazza. Flat white, please. I had a wonderful parkrun day at my home of Puarenga where I was run directing. There were no shouts of hashtag DORB, but I did meet two visiting South African parkrunners who know Johan. I did preface our chat with, I know South Africa is massive and I know it's a long shot, but Graham and Evelyn are in New Zealand for one parkrun day only and chose Puarenga. I'm confident that they had a great time. And there was a picture of Alison, Graham and Evelyn.

00:31:04[crosstalk]

00:31:47Melissa Ellis: Next, we heard from Maria Wicks coming to us from the UK. Hey, Dazza, I took my new parkrun adventurers buff to Pymmes parkrun today. There were goslings on the start line and I got a course PB and my fastest time this year. Enjoyed a tea in the sunshine with touring friends after. As always, an Earl Grey tea with oat milk, please. Hashtag Dorb. And there was a picture of Maria with the Pymmes pop up wearing her adventurers buff. I assume that's Pimms and not Pimes. Could be either either.

00:32:19Simon Mackley: I think it's Pimms. I hope it's Pimms. Next we heard from Monty Slade from Ross-on-Wye in the UK. They trusted my timekeeping at Ross-on-Wye parkrun. Hashtag D-O-B, and Monty's thumbs up with the flags and the pop-up.

00:32:37Melissa Ellis: Okay, and now the last one we've got is Martine Barrot, who was, as I mentioned previously, in Japan. And she said, hey, Dazza, starting from Kyoto, plan A for Andrew Johnston, Eric Banner and I was to travel to Heijo kyuseki Rekishi koen parkrun in Nara. And don't laugh, Simon, because I got this and I did my best. However, just... Just as our train arrived in Nara, Nara, parkrun was cancelled. Sad face. Plan B became an expensive 30-minute taxi ride to Fukakitaryokuchi in Osaka, arriving at 7.59. And there's a shocked face and a wind emoji. Locals were lovely, very welcoming. Dazza, we should have listened to my instincts and chosen this park ride in the first place. Dazza, can I please have a caramel milkshake? Hashtag daub, and there's a picture of Martine, Andrew and Eric at that parkrun.

00:33:41Simon Mackley: You did very well.

00:33:41Melissa Ellis: Would you like to say it, Simon? No, no, you did very well.

00:33:47Simon Mackley: The first one I would have struggled with also, but, yeah, I think you nailed the second one, the Fukakitaryokuchi.

00:33:54Melissa Ellis: Okay, go me. I should just keep practising.

the Obi Award — Renata Koch

00:33:58Simon Mackley: Do we have an Obilope?

00:34:00Melissa Ellis: We do have an Obilope. It was filled in this week by the office staff. I shall just grab it and open it up. And this week's Obi goes to... Renata Koch! Hooray! Hooray! out there at Parramatta parkruns new course. I don't know which one I did. I've done Parramatta, but I don't know if I did it. I must have done an old course.

00:34:05[background music]

00:34:35Simon Mackley: I've definitely done an old course. I went many New Year's Eves ago. I mean, years, days ago when we could still do two.

00:34:42Melissa Ellis: You know, I probably was there very early 2024 too. But anyway, well done. And that's Dazza's for this week.

Club Corner

00:34:52Melissa Ellis: Now, Simon, we don't have any emails to discuss, so we are going to throw straight to Reginald.

00:34:55[background music]

00:35:09Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III: This is Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III, with Club Corner, where we talk about the what and why of parkrun clubs, and I am coming to you from Arrernte Country. Today is parkrun adjacent, we are taking a trip into Eurovision, and talking about countries who also parkrun. Can we find a possible Eurovision winner from amongst these select few? Spoiler, probably, end spoiler. There are more countries who do Eurovision than do parkrun, something that parkrun HQ should rectify. The number of countries varies by year, but this year there are 37 countries taking part. And this is a timely pod, because the 69th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Basel, Switzerland on 13-17 May 2025. Ignoring closed and banned countries, we have 13 possible contenders to pick from for this year's possible winner. Let us go Eurovision parkrun. In alphabetical order, we can choose from Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, and United Kingdom. From the ever-reliable Eurovisionworld.com, and their odds page, the rankings at time of preparation are Sweden is the top favourite, followed by a popular alternate in Austria, then some rough outsiders in Netherlands and Finland. Frankly, we have daylight to the rest of the countries, with United Kingdom, Italy, Ireland, Australia, Germany, Norway, Lithuania, Poland, and Denmark all at a 1% max chance of winning. Sorry, Aussie fans, but do yourself a favour and head to YouTube and to the Eurovision Song Contest page, aptly titled Eurovision Song Contest all one word, and give the songs for this year a listen. At the very least, listen to our own Aussie adventurer from Go-Jo with Milkshake Man. From my own perspective, of the other park-run countries, only Germany has made my personal all-time list. Yes, I have a nearly five-hour Eurovision playlist. Pardon, you want my all-time top three Eurovision songs? You tell me yours, then I will tell you mine, winky face. And remember, in parkrun life, all non-Milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun, so stay tuned for our future club corners.

00:37:33Simon Mackley: Okay, and we're back from Reginald, who was telling us about the Eurovision countries that also have a parkrun. So 13 countries in total. And just for your reference, it starts tomorrow. Eurovision, that is, not parkour.

00:37:49Melissa Ellis: Yes, very interesting that Reginald is a Eurovision passionista, much like our previous co-host, Ollie. So I look forward to seeing Ollie's dress-ups this year because he always dresses up for the Eurovision finals.

Consolidated Club Report

00:38:06Melissa Ellis: now the consolidated club report Simon for Saturday the 10th of may 2025 of a total of 784 members 561 took part on this date in 12 countries across 299 locations in the UK there were adventurers at 58 events there was 10 events in South Africa three in the USA Italy Japan and Poland each had two and Canada Germany Ireland and Sweden had one Locally, we had adventurers at 57 events in New South Wales. Oh, look, just one behind the UK this week. Queensland had 51. The Greater State had 49. There was 19 in the West Australia. There was 19 in West Australia, 16 in South Australia. ACT and Tassie tied on eight, seven on the North Island, two on the South Island, and one in the Northern Territory.

00:39:03Simon Mackley: Bowling stride. Hooray!

the Frond — Lyme Park parkrun — largest international frond (seven); Shellharbour parkrun

00:39:06Simon Mackley: Okay, our largest international frond this week came to us from Lyme Park in the UK. There were seven people, seven adventurers there, who were Nigel Arnold, Pippa White, Lee Stott, Gabby Lipshin, Calum Burrell, Phil Corker and Karen Hurrell.

00:39:24Melissa Ellis: I know who else would have been there. Lindsay. Oh, of course.

00:39:28Simon Mackley: Probably volunteering. Absolutely.

00:39:32Melissa Ellis: Now, there was no pilgrimages this week. Not one. No one. Zilch. Never mind. Danny would have been running around there. So we'll just claim him again. Largest frond. Well, the largest frond was actually at Shellharbour. And they had 12. But over at Lake Claremont, there was a frond of nine. We did hear from them in Dazza's. And it was Chris and Karen Gore, Cameron Storey, Andy and Christiana Charlet, Sarah Jefferson, Brenton Pullman, Matthew Stevens and Hadley and Rosemary Knight. I don't think Hadley's counted in the nine. And Cameron Storey, that explains who the Cameron was that I was wondering.

00:40:15Simon Mackley: You're confused about it.

00:40:16Melissa Ellis: I was wondering if it was Caveman Cam because we haven't heard from him for a while. But it was not. But remember, you can add The Adventurers Club as one of your five affiliations on your parkrun profile. Nicola Forward. It's easy to do. And if you've already got five, you can just ditch somebody else.

Watching the numbers at Alice Springs Telegraph Station parkrun

00:40:36Melissa Ellis: But, Simon, it's time for my favourite segment. Sing it. Watching the numbers at Alex. I said it again, Alex. Watching the numbers at Alice Springs Telegraph Station parkrun. Yes. this week for event three there were 156 parkrunners nine more than week two there was 59 first timers with 35 of those having recorded their very first parkrun ever This week there were 52 people who returned to record either their second or third parkruns. Hooray! No adventurers have yet visited.

00:41:18Simon Mackley: I'm surprised. I mean, I know it's expensive to get there, but I'm surprised week three we still haven't seen one of our avid adventurers there.

00:41:26Alice: Hmm.

00:41:28Simon Mackley: They're still planning. I'm sure they've booked. I'm sure there's people booked and just haven't gone yet.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

00:41:35Simon Mackley: Shall we jump into launches? Because there were a lot. There were, weren't there?

00:41:41Melissa Ellis: We've got a little run on launches at the moment.

00:41:44Simon Mackley: We do, and they're not just in Australia, rather. Let's kick off with Brickfields parkrun in the UK. So launching with 329 participants, with 28 starting their parkrun journey, supported by 28 volunteers. Brickfields Park parkrun is in Twerton near Bath. Its course is two laps of Brickfields Park on the grass for one kilometre, followed by a route along Linear Park with a tarmac surface as far as the Devonshire Tunnel. This part of the route is undulating and gradually uphill. Just before the tunnel, the route heads left for a short out and back in Bloomfield Green, heading back along Linear Park to Brickfields, with a short finish within the park on a grass surface.

00:42:34Melissa Ellis: Fabulous. Now, we also had Hidden Vale parkrun in Australia. Oh, I haven't really got myself across this one yet. This is all news to me. Hidden Vale parkrun is located in Spicers Hidden Vale, Grandchester, Queensland, and had 202 participants, 25 genuine first-timers and 14 volunteers. Fabulous. The course is out and back on a wide, maintained gravel trail. The trail has a slight climb to the turnaround point. Unfortunately, dogs are not allowed at this event. Simon, this does not tell me where this parkrun really is in this very big, grand state of Queensland. Can you please narrow it down?

00:43:15Simon Mackley: It is southeast of Toowoomba. If you know where Ipswich is, it's west of Ipswich. It's southwest of Brisbane and it's southeast of Toowoomba.

00:43:27Melissa Ellis: Okay.

00:43:29Simon Mackley: Got it. So I know you've been between Brisbane and Toowoomba, but you would have probably not gone past this part.

00:43:35Melissa Ellis: No. What's next?

00:43:37Simon Mackley: Next launch was at Loughmacrory parkrun in the UK. So located in Loughmacrory Walk and Nature Trail, Omagh in Northern Ireland. It launched with 60 participants, 13 doing parkrun for the first time and 14 volunteers on the day. The course consists of two clockwise laps of the GAA pitch, followed by two clockwise loops of the lock, finishing on a short path by the big chair, which I'm assuming everyone knows what the big chair is.

00:44:09Melissa Ellis: Did you have to do any research to know how to pronounce that, parkrun, or are you really clever? Or did you do it wrong?

00:44:16Simon Mackley: I've just gone with what I think it is.

00:44:20Melissa Ellis: That's dangerous.

00:44:20Simon Mackley: After being to Northern Ireland, I do have an idea of how things should be said, but I know I'm probably murdering it as well.

00:44:29Melissa Ellis: I'm just going to preface my next one with that. It was Mother's Day in Australia yesterday, and so I didn't have my usual time to prepare the pod notes. I do appreciate the office staff helping out, and I probably haven't done my research as I would have liked. Anyway, Lurgan Park parkrun, Simon. Thumbs up from Simon.

00:44:55Ali Sheppard: I'm going with that.

00:44:56Melissa Ellis: 96 participants with only two first-timers and 15 volunteers. And it is in Craigavon. Craigavon? I'd say Craigavon, but Craigavon might be right. Craigavon, yeah. Yep. In Northern Ireland, interestingly, it's only 60 kilometres from the other parkrun that you just said, Loughmacrory parkrun, that launched the same day. This is a two-lap course run anti-clockwise on tarmac paths.

00:45:26Simon Mackley: Short and sweet course description there. Next, we're heading over to the USA. So we are looking at Shaw Cherry Hill Farm parkrun. So launching with just 14 participants, two of those were first-timers and they had 10 volunteers. Shaw Cherry Hill Farm parkrun is located in Gorham in Maine, USA. It's an out-and-back course which begins on the Burley Lovett Trail. The course is mostly flat on the front half with some rolling hills and a scenic wide bridge crossing. Sounds lovely.

00:45:59Melissa Ellis: But there was another one in the USA this week, and it was Three Rivers Heritage Trail parkrun, located in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Three Rivers Heritage Trail parkrun had 31 participants, seven volunteers, and 19 first time ever to parkrun, including the first finisher. Out and back run on the North Shore section of the Three Rivers Heritage Trail, looping around right before the Science Centre and back to the start point. Don't let the name fool you. It's on the other side of the Allegheny River from downtown Pittsburgh. Anyway, that's right. One, two, three, four, five, six. I thought we had seven. Definitely only six.

00:46:42Simon Mackley: It didn't launch. So I think it was a late scratching. They're planning to launch this weekend. But the picture of the course that I saw this morning was that it was underwater. And I mean really underwater. It wasn't just puddles here and there. Like the course was very wet.

00:47:01Melissa Ellis: No worries. Well, so far this year, we have it on good authority that there have been 59 launches across the 19 weeks, an average of 3.1 new parkruns per week globally. The UK has had 18, Australia has had 17, and there's been six in the USA. Alrighty. Simon, where are you going to go next week? Have you already told us?

Sign-off

00:47:24Melissa Ellis: I feel like you have. No.

00:47:25Simon Mackley: I haven't. Well, I don't think I might have prefaced it, but I'm going to be staying close to home because we have another soccer game that is an hour and a half away this weekend, and it starts at the same time. So I will be racing home from parkrun and taking Jackson. to his soccer game. Where are you heading to?

00:47:47Melissa Ellis: Well, I've decided to take Friday off work and go for one of my long road trips. So I'm going to drive to South Australia. I don't know which park I'm going to choose yet. Probably the closest one, which is still not very close. So I'm looking at a seven and a half hour drive, probably. Okay. Have you done Drage yet? I have done Drage. Okay. That was my previous South Australian NENDY. Okay. So I'm probably looking at maybe the Avenues. Okay. Or Myponga Reservoir. There's just to throw out a couple of names of events I haven't yet managed. I don't know where I'll stay. Probably my regular haunts somewhere. Anyway, that's the rough...

00:48:37Simon Mackley: plan for me and as I mentioned before Sarah is going to be well I didn't mention it but Sarah is going to be joining me on the pod next week and we will go through whatever happens this weekend good job Simon thank you for joining me tonight no problem thanks for having me back yeah we didn't sack you no no I know that it's just been palm and like yeah we had a break as well so we have missed recording together for Two months.

00:49:09Melissa Ellis: Okay. Everybody, 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, and we'll see you all next week for more adventures.