Episode 446 - Show us your weed

Episode details · 257 speaker turns · sound cues from audio analysis

00:00:00[intro theme playing]

00:00:23Melissa Ellis: Welcome to episode 446 of the parkrun Adventurers 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.

00:00:35Tony O'Connell: And my name is Toc and I'm coming to you from Boon Wurrung country.

00:00:39Melissa Ellis: Coo-ee, Toc.

00:00:40Tony O'Connell: Coo-ee, Mel, and welcome back to the boss's seat. How are you?

00:00:44Melissa Ellis: Oh, thank you very much. I am well, and I have been enjoying sitting in the background and watching all of you guys do all the hard work. You've been doing such a good job of it too, and I'm sure nobody's missed me, so that's just fine.

00:01:00Tony O'Connell: Mel, I'm sure you've been enjoying your long service leave. Yeah. Much deserved long service, Lee, but it's great to have you back. It's been too long since we had a chat. As this is known, peeling back the curtain, we regularly have a catch-up beforehand, and it's been really good to have that catch-up beforehand. Oh, thanks. What have you been up to, Mel?

00:01:21Melissa Ellis: Well, since I was last here, which was episode 441, that was mid-January, I have enjoyed new events at Queen's Domain in Tassie, Victory Road Reserve, Cruickshank Park and Rokeby Crossover Rail Trail in Victoria and Alice Springs Telegraph Station in the Northern Territory. As far as the Vic events go, I am all caught up again on my greatsmanship and I'm sure you will have or will soon profile all of them, Toc. So I'll fill you in a bit on my Northern Territory trip. It wasn't deliberately planned to stop me from attending Palm. There were other reasons for going when we did. However, its timing did mean I prioritised parental responsibilities over a third week away from home, which is why I missed my first Palm. Sad face. Visiting the Red Centre has been a dream, and I'm still marvelling at the amazing time I had. I was very lucky that my travelling companion had lived in the NT for eight years, so I had a private tour guide, which I do feel so very lucky and appreciative of. The centre was flush with greenery, which did not diminish its beauty, with the recent rain topping up local water holes and causing the Todd River to flow, which is usually dry. We spent 10 days in Alice Springs and Yulara, and despite recent flooding, we had perfect weather to do many tourist activities, only missing a few things due to flooded roads. Fortunately for us, Alice Springs Telegraph Station parkrun, which had been cancelled due to aforementioned floods the two weeks prior to our visit, was back up and running, for which we were sincerely grateful. So, yeah, the first Saturday we were there, we went to Alice Springs and did parkrun, and then we returned the second week where Belinda volunteered as timekeeper and I tail walked. Unexpected was the accidental frond with Lockie and Nicola Miners en route to Palm, and it was so wonderful to enjoy brunch with them at the adjacent Telegraph Station cafe and swap travel stories. The parkrun itself was running its recently approved B course, which meant two loops of a shortened out and back along the Todd River. There were lots of puddles to splash through, which didn't seem to bother anyone. Thanks again to the wonderful community there, truly welcoming and friendly. I look forward to returning one day.

00:03:40Tony O'Connell: Sounds like an amazing trip. The last time I was in the Todd River, it was bone dry and I actually went in the Todd River Regatta, a beer can yacht regatta running up the dry creek bed.

00:03:51Melissa Ellis: It is very famous, isn't it? The Dry River Regatta, where I believe people, it's like the Birdman Rally, only without water, isn't it?

00:04:01Tony O'Connell: It is, yep. You make a boat out of beer cans and basically have running races with people that have celebrated the contents of the aforementioned cans and it's very entertaining.

00:04:15Melissa Ellis: So I felt very lucky to see the Todd River flowing and we only missed water cascading off Uluru by a couple of days, I think. There were some roads closed which stopped us going to some of the places we had planned to go to but we still filled our days and did lots of tourist things and it was just absolutely wonderful. I segued around Uluru so bucket list tick.

00:04:41Tony O'Connell: And the photos did look amazing Mel. They really made me want to head back up that way again.

00:04:48Melissa Ellis: So good that Queen Mary and King Frederick of Denmark decided they would copy.

00:04:55Tony O'Connell: You're a trendsetter.

00:04:56Melissa Ellis: I know. Anyway, that's enough about me. What have you been up to?

00:05:01Tony O'Connell: Well, I'm only going to recap the last couple of weeks. We've heard all about Clare Valley on the last podcast, and I'm sure everyone knows all about that, how awesome that place is. The week after we came back, I decided to do Victory Road Reserve in Clorinda in Melbourne. It's an outer southeastern suburb. It's a two-lap... figure of eight course and it's on an old reclaimed tip site where they've basically they've got the mounds they've got the grass and they've just planted the trees it's very open and exposed at the moment but i can imagine in five or ten years that park's going to be in a stunning park in the middle of the town a number of parkrun adventurers and they were in attendance there and I think the Consolidated Club report for the week actually had a picture of us all so I won't run through everyone that was there but a great little course a little bit elevation on gravel just be careful if you're going to Victory Road there are no toilets and there's no toilets within a few kilometers so be prepared last week Jack and I did a quick trip over to Rokeby Crossover Rail Trail parkrun. I know Mel, you did it the week before and it'd be interesting to get your thoughts because we ran it in a light drizzle, so most of the trip over drizzled, but it was beautiful. It's a rail trail. It's an uphill for two and a half kilometers and you turn around and you just bomb downhill, so that's a great thing. Sensational gum trees all around you, so um for those that know Beau Miles, Beau Miles lives up in that area and he's done a movie along the rokeby rail trail so you know look out for that um but we didn't hang around afterwards there are a number of adventurers there but i just shoot through really quick because it was an hour and a half from home and i had to be at work showered and at work by 10 30. so it was a a quick run in the car parkrun fresh and uh raced home so that was pretty well our couple of weeks so what do you think of Rokeby, Mel?

00:07:05Melissa Ellis: Well I wanted to add something I did Rokeby with my daughter who lives in nearby Warragul so my third child Madeline has started running so I'm very excited that she joined me for her fourth parkrun there was a few many years ago I think she's been to Berwick Springs Timboon Anyway, it doesn't matter where she's been. Anyway, we were discussing that I was going to Rokeby in the week prior to my visit and she sent me a screenshot from their parkrun photos. It was a screenshot of Beau Miles and his daughter with the selfie frame. And I've gone, oh, Beau Miles. And she's like, like in all in caps, I get this message back, you know, Beau Miles. And I'm like, oh, he's been on the podcast. Yeah. How do you know Bo Miles? She's like, he's a famous YouTuber, Mum. She was very impressed. So I was like, oh, getting some cred there for knowing who Bo Miles was. Agree, absolutely stunning course on granitic sand. Is that what you would also describe it as?

00:08:13Tony O'Connell: That is how I would describe it perfectly.

00:08:16Melissa Ellis: So wear your long socks, tourists, when you come from interstate. It has been noted by some friends of mine that Victoria is very well known for its granitic sand. And there may not be quite as many courses like that interstate. And it does get in your socks.

00:08:31Tony O'Connell: Okay, and that's a fair percentage, as you said, of rail trail courses in particular that match that. They're all reclaimed from the rail trail and they're now bike and walking trails or running trails.

00:08:44[crosstalk]

00:08:44Melissa Ellis: Exactly. Quite a few around. It was beautiful, absolutely beautiful. We are spoilt for rail trails in this Great State, I have to say. And what else can I say about it? I walked it. Madeline was coming off a bit of illness, so she wasn't up to running. So we walked the course. Dave really liked it. I think it... bumped very high up on his favourite courses list. And it was market week, the week we went. So the team were all over the parking. They were directing people to park in the local church. I think it was the Baptist church so that the parkrun community wasn't upsetting the local market goers by taking all their parks. So that was really well organised. Big shout out to the crew for that. And it's a beautiful market, Tony. You've got to go back.

00:09:34Tony O'Connell: I think you'd want to point out too that the market's all of about 100 metres from where you get scanned. So it's just a short walk.

00:09:40[crosstalk]

00:09:41Melissa Ellis: It's basically right there at the start line. And it's one of those really high quality farmer's markets. So you're not going to be finding your trash and treasure or your, I don't know, the kind of junky things that you see at a lot of little markets. It's all really high quality stuff. stuff and good coffee and oh the bakery is amazing yeah yep any any market that's got good bakeries an amazing market and we travelled out to the nearby Noojee trestle bridge to have a look at that too that was a bucket list thing for me i've always wanted to go and see the new g trestle bridge they're coming few and far between around victoria i think we lost about i think we lost 11 in the last bushfires

00:10:31Tony O'Connell: We lost a few and there's another trestle bridge that got bulldozed by a council because they decided that they didn't want to keep hold of it or didn't want to maintain it. That should be illegal. Historical trestle bridges are, yeah, when you find a good one, they are really good.

00:10:47Melissa Ellis: So there's lots to do out that way.

00:10:49Tony O'Connell: All right. I think we spoke briefly about Clare Valley and I think the only thing I want to recap on the palm, we heard the recording, how great that was. The atmosphere was really good. It might have had something to do with the fact that there was a cellar door within probably five metres of where the hosts were standing to record. I'm not saying that was the reason, but the cellar door did get regularly visited. The Saturday night dress-up night was just like all Palms. It was just a ball. It was a hoot watching the people come in and trying to work out. Some people take the theme and they take it very... I don't know, on a tangent that you really have to think about to try and associate what they've got with what the costume is. Is it like a cryptic crossword? It is. With some people, some are just, it's cut and dry. You walk in, bang, you can see. And some people, you've got to go up and say, what the hell are you?

00:11:51Melissa Ellis: But that's the fun in trying to figure it out, isn't it?

00:11:54Tony O'Connell: And when they tell you, you look at it and you think, oh, duh, that's so obvious. Yeah, but, yeah, look, some great efforts were made. It was a really fun night. We had one of the journalists from the local paper judge our costume party, so we had an independent judge on it this year. So, yeah, really great night.

00:12:15Melissa Ellis: I am really sad to miss the dress-up. It is the highlight of the Palm weekend.

00:12:19Tony O'Connell: It is, once you've got the recording done. And I've got to admit, Mel, this year we were doing the recording and Simon looked down at my screen at one stage and he stared at it for a second and I thought, oh, God, no. And I jumped over and it was all good. It was all good. It was one of those moments, but I didn't listen. I know at New Zealand last year, we did a quick replay as soon as we finished recording just to make sure it worked. I thought, nah, I waited till I got home before I had a listen. I thought it's too late to change history now. But it worked and it worked well. A little bit of background noise, but that's what happens when you record in a venue with public coming through and a cellar door right beside you.

00:13:09Melissa Ellis: Oh, it's part of the atmosphere.

00:13:12Tony O'Connell: And, yeah, it was just a really great, fun weekend like all Palms always are. Always sad to head off from. Good job, team.

00:13:21Melissa Ellis: Good job. I'm very proud of you.

00:13:22Tony O'Connell: Anyway. The location for the next one has been much discussed, and I'm here to tell you that we'll probably announce that in about three or four months.

00:13:34Laura - Event Director/Run Director, Queen's parkrun (Glasgow): Oh, really?

00:13:35Tony O'Connell: Don't go asking everyone, where is it, where is it? We haven't even started talking about it yet, so...

00:13:45Melissa Ellis: Very good. All right, Toc, what is coming up next with news?

parkrun news bulletin

00:13:49Tony O'Connell: Rightio. We've just got an interesting one. Every country has their special days. Australia, we have Christmas Day. Lots of countries, you know, Japan has Greenery Day. Every country has their day. Austria have a special day coming up in the 1st of May, I think the date is. And this year... The six teams in Austria have actually decided not to put an event on. So they've changed their special day and they've decided not to host a special day. And part of the concern is around which courses can go ahead because they have stricter number regulations over there. If they reach a certain threshold, it becomes a major event and they have to have police and ambulance in attendance and things like that. And of course, with parkrun not committing to numbers, you don't know how many are going to turn up in the day. It's very difficult. But the six events have all decided not to run. And one of the EDs from over there actually saw a comment on social media, and I thought it read really well in that it explains why they're not doing it. So I thought I'd read that out. I'm not going to name the ED or the event specifically, But the comment was, ED in Austria here, smiley face. We're always happy to welcome tourists at our parkrun, but there's a limit to how many the course can handle, especially without annoying the local park users too much. As has been said, the main problem is that we have only six events in Austria, and some of them, including Vienna, only have permission to use the park on a Saturday. I think we would have been left with three parkruns actually going ahead, And looking at the numbers from Germany, we would have expected two to 3000 tourists spread across three locations, which for us is not currently feasible. Perhaps it'll work in the future once more parkruns are established around the country. In the meantime, I hope it does not put too many people off from coming to visit us. And I think that's a good point to reflect on a little bit. Some of the Australian events, we know Christmas Day is our extra day. Some of our events can't get permits for the day either because it is an extra day of the week and parks have different usage. So yeah, I just thought that was a good thing to put out there and I thought it was well explained why they're not going ahead.

00:16:14Melissa Ellis: Yeah, very good. Thank you for sharing that. Meanwhile, one country that did have their special day was Lithuania. And that was back on the 11th of March. And there were 12 adventurers who took part across three events. Now, the largest front was at parkrun Vingas. I don't know if that's the right way to say it. And that was Matthew Wateridge, Xavier Sanchez, Dave Wright, Andy and Wendella Poole, Ruth Perkins, Omar O'Byrne. And Wendy Pallant. Pallant. Pallant? I don't know. There were two other parkruns with really long names that I don't know how to say. And they had adventurers there as well. Give it a crack. parkrun. Kulturos. I don't know. And that was David Mundy, Gail Bennett and Mark Pinney. Apologies.

00:17:18Tony O'Connell: Rightio, Mel. It's really good to hear someone else struggling with some of those names because it's normally me putting the tourists off with those names.

00:17:27Melissa Ellis: Oh, we all know they're hard. I'm not going to try and fake it.

00:17:33Tony O'Connell: Right. Our next item in the news is today we've got a special interview with Tim Oberg to reveal a new initiative that he's involved with called Rad Run. Tim, as we all know, brought parkrun to Australia. He's the person that... spoke to Paul Sinton-Hewitt and encouraged him to allow Australia to go ahead. Tim was an amazing mentor to me in my early days of being a Territory Director. It was actually Tim that rang me one day and said, how would you like to be a Territory Director? Which is now what our event ambassadors are called. He probably guided me and he's been a good friend. And so without further ado, let's listen to Tim's new initiative.

00:18:05[background music]

00:18:14Unidentified speaker: Tim's New Initiative

00:18:21Tony O'Connell: Hey, parkrun Adventurers, we've got a special treat for you today. The man that brought parkrun to Australia, and I've got to say, after Jackie, probably the man that's most responsible for my love of parkrun, Mr Tim Oberg. How are you, Tim?

00:18:35Tim Oberg: Toc, I'm well, and it is great to be here. It's been far too long.

00:18:39Tony O'Connell: It has been a long time between chats. Tim, you're up... In Queensland, up around Aries Inlet, I believe. Aries Inlet, that's in Victoria. You don't know what Aries Inlet? Airlie Beach, I think you're trying to say, mate. Airlie Beach, that's it, yeah.

00:18:54Tim Oberg: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, up here in beautiful North Queensland. I've lived here for over 10 years now. Moved here in 2015, and it's a beautiful part of the world, and we've just... We're at the tail end of our wet season at the moment, so we've had quite a lot of rain. Everything's looking very green, but, yeah, the... I love it up here and it's been great raising all my kids up here. And yeah, as I say, great part of the world. Cool.

00:19:20Tony O'Connell: As the listeners know, you're the fellow that brought parkrun to Australia. But you've got a new work concept that you're bringing out to schools and that. And that's why we thought we'd get you on board and have a chat. It's a program called Rad Run. What is the idea behind Red Run and how does it actually work? Yeah, that's right, mate.

00:19:30[background music]

00:19:40Tim Oberg: So I finished up my time actually working at parkrun back in 2022 and I started a charity called the Healthy Kids Project. And I sat there with a blank piece of paper and I thought, how can I make an impact in the health of kids in this country and possibly even further afield? And because I'm a school teacher by trade and I've been back in the classroom since I left parkrun and a father of four myself. And I got to say, like what I saw when I went back into schools after leaving parkrun was not like I remembered it. Let's say that, you know, the health of kids in this country, no matter what metric you look at, is on the decline. It's not great. So we're talking about physical health, you know kids are just uh not as fit as they used to be they don't have the same physical literacy which means you know their understanding of their own bodies they uh emotionally and their mental health isn't as well there's a lot more issues in that regard and of course they're on the screens uh so much screen time and gaming that goes on which i think is one of the root causes of all of these things so i thought what can i do to try and have a positive impact on this uh and one of the uh programs that i've created is called the rad run club and rad is a very intentional name obviously we we sort of know the term as you know something being radical uh but the rad actually stands for resilience attitude and determination so as much as the program is a physical activity it's been designed to not just build their physical health but also their mental and emotional well-being it's basically the reimagining of of the school run club so it's laps of the oval before school but it's all based around a digital platform and gamification both from the school's point of view because kids earn house points for each lap they complete but also at an individual level the kids earn digital badges as they go along so you know complete a certain distance and certain badge however one thing i want to preface is that I'm all about getting kids off screens, not on them. And it's actually the parents who control the account. The kids actually aren't on the screens, you know, registering themselves and looking at these badges. You know, those emails go to mum and dad and then mum and dad can, you know, talk to the kids about them. But yeah, so it's basically before school run clubs, it's making teachers' lives easier in the sense that it's a digital platform rather than Excel spreadsheets and clipboard folders and paddle pop sticks, which is the traditional way. Yeah, digital platform can be used on any device. And yeah, mate, so I've been building that for the last few years and it's going really well now. I've piloted it last year and we're starting to expand out in schools across Australia and even overseas. We've got one school in South Africa that's already doing it. So sky's the limit. And it really feels like it did back in the early days of parkrun when I was growing that from event number one at Main Beach and then slowly bringing on more volunteers and more events and getting sponsors and government support. And I'm right back on that journey and I'm absolutely loving it.

00:22:45Tony O'Connell: A couple of things to just touch on there, Tim. The idea is that they run laps of the oval and they get points for running laps of the oval as far as distance or points for, you mentioned house points. I'm just thinking, is this a program that's really a good leveler because even the kids that are not the quickest can still get out there and gain points and get all the benefits from the physical activity and the...

00:23:14Tim Oberg: and the you know mixing with others it just sounds like it works on that sort of level to me yeah that's exactly right mate and and that's how it's been designed so uh the each school when i set them up in the system their their individual lap is is recorded and most primary schools have got an oval somewhere around about 250 meters but they all do vary some have got a full you know, cricket field and it might be 400, 450 metres around and others might have a smaller space. But yeah, that's put into the system. So when each child completes their lap at, you know, school X, then their distance that they've run over time, you know, you sort of aggregate their distance that they achieve over time, whether they're running or walking, that aggregates based on the lap distance at their school. And then, you know, a student at another school where it's different, might have run less laps but they might have run more distance because they've got a longer lap so what what we're seeing in the schools though is so many of the kids participating would otherwise have no interest in running laps of the oval they're doing it for those house points because in most primary schools that's something that they put quite a lot of emphasis on and so you the kids are who just turning up walking, running, jogging, wherever it is. They might do one or two laps, three or four. And then next week it's about maybe trying to do one more. And that's where that sort of determination and positive attitude comes into it. So yeah, it's certainly not been designed for the runners in inverted commas. Again, much like parkrun, it's designed to be for everybody. So kids all through primary school are participating. And interestingly, the school in South Africa that's participating, it's actually a high school. Although I have designed it with primary schools in mind, but ultimately anyone can use it.

00:24:59Tony O'Connell: And I see the digital badges that kids can earn are sort of based around things we're very familiar with. You've got your 5K, but I love the fact that you've got a 14K there and you've called it City to Surf, something that resonates with a lot of the parkrun adventurers. We have a big contingent that go there. And for a couple of the crazies in the group, you've got one at 90Ks called Comrades. So I really love the naming on your digital badges there.

00:25:26Tim Oberg: Yeah, and obviously that's very intentional and looking to create more. One of the suggestions that I've actually had already is 99 and calling it the Bradman for, you know, Don Bradman's famous average. We might have a 23 and call it the Jordan or the LeBron maybe. So, you know, you get these numbers that resonate with people that are sort of culturally significant. certainly uh people in australia know the city of surf and of course the comrades in south africa is a very famous race and it does have global appeal so yeah i think in time you'll see there'll be more digital badges added based on different little quirky things we find around the place and at the moment looking at the map i see you've got schools have signed up in queensland new south uh south australia and looks like one in victoria as well Yeah, that's exactly right. We're actually seeing a boom, if we want to call it that, in South Australia right now. We had four schools start there this term, and I'm actually talking to another school tomorrow. So I think all the teachers are talking to each other down in South Australia, which is great. But yeah, we'd love to get some in Tassie. We'd love to get some at WA and the NT and ACT. But look, it's been designed so that the program can work in Metro Sydney or in rural and remote WA, NT, Queensland. Australia is massive, we know that. So the program has been designed so it can work in any school. You don't even need to have a connection to run the program so long as you've already got the app downloaded on your phone and once you reconnect it'll all process next time you go on. Yeah, we're really looking forward to seeing it grow around the country. And like I said, I really feel like I'm back in the early days of parkrun. It's a great challenge, but I'm loving the positive feedback I'm getting from schools that are using it and obviously the impacts that it's having on kids.

00:27:14Tony O'Connell: Yeah, and from a parkrun adventurer's perspective, I've just had a look at Zoomed In at South Australia, and there's one just out of Clare, like 5K out of Clare, where we were all two weeks ago, we had our adventurer listener meet-up We had about 60 or 70 of us there. We could have turned up at the school and run a couple of laps with them.

00:27:32Tim Oberg: Yeah, they would have loved that.

00:27:36Tony O'Connell: Yeah, a bunch of crazies.

00:27:38Tim Oberg: Who are all these crazy people? But yeah, look, it is interesting because, like I said, I think it feels like there's a network of teachers probably talking to each other in South Australia and it's starting to grow around the state there. And obviously I'm based here in Queensland, so it's not my network. It's now starting to get out into other networks, which is fantastic. That's where the real power comes when people start sharing it with their colleagues and friends and so on. All the feedback has been so positive. The schools are really enjoying it. I love seeing a lot of the schools post their own Facebook pictures and stuff like that. Just to see so many kids running around these school ovals in the morning from this little idea that sitting up here in North Queensland that I've had, it's so gratifying and I just can't wait to see it continue to grow.

00:28:20Tony O'Connell: Tim, I think it's a great idea. Anything that gets kids out and active and not only participating both from the physical, but as you said, that mental wellbeing perspective, I think it's a great initiative and congrats on getting it set up and here's hoping it goes gangbusters into the future.

00:28:37Tim Oberg: Yeah, thanks, mate. And like I said, for any of the crazy parkrun Adventurer listeners, you know, if you have a child in a primary school, if you work in a primary school, please do get in touch because the program is completely free. It does make the life of teachers easier. Like if you've already got a run club going in your school, I can guarantee that this will make it easier than whatever the current system is, you know, completely designed with teachers in mind. So, yeah, please do get in touch. The website is radrun.club. So there's my shameless plug. But yeah, no, awesome to come on and chat to you, Toc. All right, we look forward to chatting again. Thanks a lot and enjoy your adventuring, everybody.

00:29:18Melissa Ellis: And thank you very much for having that chat with Tim, Tony. It's really good to hear what he's up to. And we thought that might be relevant to our community, even though it isn't actually parkrun. A lot of people would remember Tim and be really keen to know what he's been up to. So thank you for that.

00:29:34Tony O'Connell: My pleasure, Mel. Meanwhile, in other news, parkrun New Zealand attendance figures brought to us by our friend over the ditch. parkrun New Zealand for the 21st of March. We're only doing the one week this week because it's been a few weeks. This week there were 66 parkruns. There was 12,656 parkrunners and 1,131 runners. volunteers. Cambridge raised their attendance record from 181 up to 210 finishers, so quite a big jump. The largest event in New Zealand was Hagley and the smallest was shared by both Otago High School and Mangawara Riverwalk with 20 people each.

00:30:20Melissa Ellis: Fantastic. Meanwhile, in the land of Oz, the three smallest parkruns on last weekend, the 21st of March, were Railway Park in Queensland with five, Coober Pedy Oval in South Australia and Waterloo Plains in Queensland with six. The largest three parkruns were South Bank Queensland, 713. The Ponds New South Wales with 832. And Albert Melbourne back from the Grand Prix with 849.

00:30:46Tony O'Connell: Well, that was pretty close, Mel, with Ponds have nearly pipped Albert Park for the week.

00:30:51Melissa Ellis: Hmm. Yeah, they're not in order. I just realised. Doesn't matter, though. Who cares?

00:30:56Tony O'Connell: And of interest, three Australian attendance records were broken this week. Bluegum Hills in New South Wales, Maylands Peninsula in WA and Mildura Weir in the Great Estate.

00:31:07Melissa Ellis: Fantastic. Thank you, Toc. So now, without further ado, let's throw to this week's roving reports.

Roving Adventurers (roving reporter crossovers)

00:31:10[background music]

00:31:22Calum Burrell: Okay, Cooee parkrun Adventurers, it's Calum and it's the second event in three days. It's the 3rd of January. We're still in Glasgow, Scotland and today was event 231 of Queens, Glasgow and I'm here with today's Run Director and Event Director, Laura. So how was today's event today, Laura?

00:31:43Laura - Event Director/Run Director, Queen's parkrun (Glasgow): Pretty perfect conditions, I think. It was cold, but it was beautiful. I'm just glad we could get an event on given the temperature.

00:31:49Calum Burrell: Yeah, we were extremely thankful today because we were looking at all the last few days, we were pretty much looking at the weather conditions and we could see there was a big splodge of ice and snow in the far north of Scotland. But I say, please don't come any further south. I mean, it stayed cool and very cool, I should say, and calm. But it's pretty much the same as yesterday. It was all very calm and there wasn't any... ice on the pass today it was just perfect conditions and I know one or two were off today like Strathclyde were off they were off on New Year's Day but I was very thankful Pollock was off too and it's just down the road it's rare they cancel and we don't so it worked out so tell us about your course then

00:32:21[crosstalk]

00:32:30Laura - Event Director/Run Director, Queen's parkrun (Glasgow): So, I mean, I think anyone who knows Queens will know it's hilly. It's three laps, three hills per lap, but the views at the top are cracking, particularly like today. Yeah, it was a cracking day for it. It's definitely up, but then I won the big, long, slow downhill. So you saw everything today. It was the views right across the city and beyond are pretty stunning.

00:32:37[crosstalk]

00:32:46Calum Burrell: Yeah, so it's been going a few years now.

00:32:49[crosstalk]

00:32:49Laura - Event Director/Run Director, Queen's parkrun (Glasgow): We started at the end of 2019, so we had 21 events before COVID. So yeah, we had, so we're getting on for sort of our sixth birthday, kind of not really with COVID, so we've been going a while.

00:33:00Calum Burrell: Yeah, good. So with the parkrun adventurers, tell us a bit about your parkrun history. So obviously you started before Queen's, did you?

00:33:11[crosstalk]

00:33:11Laura - Event Director/Run Director, Queen's parkrun (Glasgow): Yeah, we started at Pollok back in 2010. And then that was the first parkrun in Glasgow, first parkrun in Scotland, actually. And then we did most weeks and then Tollcross started. And then as events started to grow, we spread our wings a bit. And then they were actively looking to start another event in Glasgow because Pollok was getting unmanageably busy. So we had a look about and this was felt to be the most suitable site. So we started Queen's at the end of 2019.

00:33:34Calum Burrell: And we're in, we should say we're in the church today, aren't we? So one of the things is great that it's right on the doorstep of the park.

00:33:41Laura - Event Director/Run Director, Queen's parkrun (Glasgow): Yeah, the church around. We store our stuff here. They've got toilets we can use and they put on the...

00:33:45Calum Burrell: coffee afterwards for a whole pound you can have as much tea and coffee and boost and biscuits as you can have and they're dog friendly they're kid friendly so yeah oh yeah I should mention our friend Charlie who's here today who's I don't think he's going to say anything but Charlie it's your dog isn't it yeah

00:34:00[crosstalk]

00:34:00Laura - Event Director/Run Director, Queen's parkrun (Glasgow): What breed is he? He's a posh mongrel. He's a cockapoo. Oh, right.

00:34:03Calum Burrell: Okay. But yeah, he's keeping Lindsay company whilst Barker's coming.

00:34:07Laura - Event Director/Run Director, Queen's parkrun (Glasgow): He's well known for being the real boss, aren't you? You're really in charge. And most people who come to Queens will have a picture taken with or of Charlie. So it's all a little run right to the vest, but we didn't put it on today. It is for you, Charlie, but Lindsay didn't make you put it on, which is really good for you. I think it is.

00:34:21Calum Burrell: Oh, he's got his own run director vest. I'm going to have to take a photo of Charlie with the run director vest. That is awesome. So in the parkrun world, I would say parkrun adventurers world, it's all about adventuring to lots of different events. Obviously, you've been abroad and things. So if you could narrow it down to three occasions, three highlights, can you narrow it down?

00:34:39Laura - Event Director/Run Director, Queen's parkrun (Glasgow): It's kind of hard though, isn't it? Yeah. There's been so many good ones. Yeah. There's been so many. I think there's the most special one in Scotland, I think, of course, is probably Faskally Forest. That's in Pitlochry. Oh, nice. Which is literally in a forest and it's got everything. It's a loch. I've done it three different days. I did it, I think, probably a year ago next week and it was frozen soil. But, you know, I didn't spray it. I've done it in autumn. It's just undulating. It's treally. It's just beautiful. That's probably my favourite thing. course in Scotland other ones we did a wee trip to Men's Edge coming from Edinburgh that's quite a cool one getting the ferry over that was definitely that's a fairly special one any ones outside the UK that you'd pinpoint so we've done quite a few now yeah it's hard to know because it's hard to know if you just like the course or you'd like the experience of the whole trip away yeah I think in terms of The Uppsala one that we mentioned earlier actually, it was again a beautiful day in Sweden and we did the double, so we did Hagga on the extra day which is the original one in Sweden I think and then we went to Uppsala because we could get a double-decker train which is always very exciting. So Uppsala is pretty cool but we have done some I've actually done all the countries in Europe now until they start a new one. Brilliant. And we did the Thuerian one last year now in snow, which is glorious. Mine is 10. It was just absolutely perfect.

00:34:47[crosstalk]

00:35:10[crosstalk]

00:35:56[crosstalk]

00:36:00Ali Sheppard: Fantastic.

00:36:01Laura - Event Director/Run Director, Queen's parkrun (Glasgow): So, yeah, some pretty good trips away. Brilliant. But the problem is the European ones. Charlie can't come and he does love a good run. He's in 164 park grounds.

00:36:08Calum Burrell: Oh, wow, brilliant. Well done, Charlie. Yeah, so I was tail walker today and it was nice. I was walking around with a couple of locals and it was a lovely little chat and a beautiful day for it. So again, thank you for putting on the event today. We're so very thankful because we just did not know if we were going to be going to one today.

00:36:24Laura - Event Director/Run Director, Queen's parkrun (Glasgow): To be fair, we didn't know we would be on until pretty late on. But I'm glad we got to go because it couldn't have been a more perfect day.

00:36:30[crosstalk]

00:36:31Calum Burrell: Yeah, it was brilliant. Thank you very much, Laura. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye.

00:36:35Ruth Perkins: Kiwi parkrun adventurers this is Ruth Perkins and today I am coming to you from Flint Castle parkrun which is in the northeast of Wales Croeso as we say in Welsh and I am here with two wonderful people I'm here with Jill who is the ambassador the local ambassador and we've also got Lucy and Lucy is the event director here and we're out in the car park actually with a lovely view of the castle at the moment and I'm looking at a brilliant little postcard that Lucy's got in her hands can you tell us a little bit about this? [Welsh: "Welcome"]

00:37:12Lucy Douglas - Event Director, Flint Castle parkrun: Yeah well this postcard we give to the runner who's travelled the furthest so we always ask on the visitors board who's traveled the furthest and then they get this postcard it's got some facts about Flint Castle which we like to share in the in the first-timers briefing the fact that it was built in 1277 by King Edward the first and it was one of his first strongholds and part of his powerful iron ring it was a chain of castles for the English to try and control the Welsh which doesn't go down very well it also takes part in history in drama it's the famous setting for the downfall of King Richard II in Shakespeare's play where betrayal and loss of power unfold within its walls And the castle is said to be haunted. The restless ghost of Ellora, a young kitchen maid executed for treason, is said to be seen rushing through the shadows of the Donjon Tower.

00:38:03Ruth Perkins: Maybe she's late for parkrun. So this lovely postcard, you've got some nice pictures of the castle on the front of it. And you said there's a quote from Paul Sinton Hewitt as well.

00:38:14Lucy Douglas - Event Director, Flint Castle parkrun: So we're a social movement that just happens to run. A place to go where you meet fantastic people. And that's what parkrun is all about. We have met amazing people while we've been doing this. Oh, this is lovely.

00:38:26Ruth Perkins: So this is the sixth event today, I think, isn't it?

00:38:28[crosstalk]

00:38:30Lucy Douglas - Event Director, Flint Castle parkrun: Canceled last week because of the black ice.

00:38:32Ruth Perkins: Oh, yes. But there were some beautiful pictures on Facebook of the ice and the sunrise.

00:38:39Lucy Douglas - Event Director, Flint Castle parkrun: The sunrise for the lucky course checkers because they were out first thing in the morning and they get the privilege of seeing the amazing views.

00:38:47Ruth Perkins: Yeah, so there are some amazing views on this course, aren't there? If you had to describe the course in just like a couple of sentences, what would you say? Jill, over to you.

00:38:57Jill Jones - parkrun ambassador, North Wales: Oh, yeah. So thanks very much. Yeah, I've got a map of the course in front of me. So we start just by the car park and the castle and that takes us out. around what we call Courtauld's Viewpoint and what you've got then is a beautiful view across the D'Estrie looking across to the Wirral Peninsula. We follow around the dock, the Flint Dock, which perhaps isn't very scenic on a day where there's a low tide but still it attracts lots of wildlife and birds and lots of dog walkers in that area. We go out to the Beacon Point, we've got a little out and back to make the course up to a hole 5k at woodland junction and then we follow out towards the um the turnaround point where the local landmark which is known as the bfg the guardian of flint stands there it's a great photo opportunity and then we follow the route back um and finish again at the castle but loads of fabulous views on the course. It's a busy course. It's a narrow course, isn't it? We try and ask people not to overtake in the first part and to keep left all the way around. But no, it's been such a privilege to be involved with Lucy and the team at Flint to get this event off the ground. It's been a long time in the making. Yes, indeed. But I think the benefit of that being a long time in the making is there's been a huge community backing. Like you've already said, we've got an amazing bunch of volunteers who have supported the event here at Flint.

00:40:18Ruth Perkins: Yeah, it was so well organised, I have to say, for an early event. I think today was event number six. Yeah, very early days. But that was so well organised, getting everyone in order, walking us all to the start line, everyone sticking to the no overtaking rule at the start. Like I did hear a young person near me going, Can we have a take yet? Can we have a take yet? Can we have a take yet?

00:40:42Lucy Douglas - Event Director, Flint Castle parkrun: And his dad quite relieved that he couldn't yet. I think it's been well organised because we'd walked the course seven times with the volunteers and each time they'd come up with more feedback on how to tweak it. and that had taken a whole year of all those walks so it would definitely be beneficial for having the delay.

00:41:01Jill Jones - parkrun ambassador, North Wales: And today was I think the first time that we tried the briefing taking place on the car park with the kind of the seeding posts so the 17, 18, 19 all the way up to 45 minutes and asking people to self-organise themselves. The first couple of weeks we were doing that on the grass embankment and It worked, but today it's my first time back after missing a couple of weeks. It feels really refined and the course everybody's becoming more familiar with. The volunteers are more confident, more familiar with the course. So yeah, it's been an absolute success today. I'm going away feeling really confident that the team have done a great job and I'll go away and try to set up another park and elsewhere.

00:41:42Ruth Perkins: Ooh, where's next?

00:41:44Jill Jones - parkrun ambassador, North Wales: Well, there's a couple of ideas for across North Wales. There's quite a focus in Wales to generate some interest around junior parkruns on a Sunday morning. So I know me and myself as an ambassador covering a number of parkruns in North Wales. The six other individuals like me as ambassadors, all working hard with local communities to bring parkrun into the individual communities as a social event. I think we just talked to mention the people who've supported the setup of Flint parkrun. the local gp consortium in so much as you know it's a whole well-being activity it's not about people coming out and running and feeling energetic there's a massive um drive for people to get involved with park walking it's brilliant to see so many walkers at flint castle parkrun um and the same with juniors as well really but The whole thing around people being involved through volunteering and the benefits and rewards that just rocking up on a Saturday or a Sunday morning and enjoying meeting up with people that they don't know are their friends yet, I suppose. Strangers that become friends, isn't it? Which is pretty similar, I could say, the same with Lucy, really, through Parker and we've become really good friends. Yeah, it's great, isn't it?

00:42:57[crosstalk]

00:42:58Lucy Douglas - Event Director, Flint Castle parkrun: It is, it's great. And in the future, we're going to be hosting 5K Your Way. So at the end of every month, the last Saturday, we'll be encouraging those who have been affected by cancer, family affected by cancer, to come and meet our 5K ambassadors and walk with them or even just walk part of the course. And that's the great thing about a parkrun. You don't have to walk all the course. you can do part of it and then the following week do a little bit more and then build up constantly.

00:43:26Ruth Perkins: Yeah, that's a brilliant thing to be involved with and that's really good that you're supporting that here as well. So if there was one other thing that people needed to know about Flint Castle, what park road, what would you say that would be?

00:43:40Lucy Douglas - Event Director, Flint Castle parkrun: We've got amazing parking, amazing parking marshals. We've got toilets. We've got toilets and we've got a social club where you can pre-order your butties and your coffees.

00:43:48Ruth Perkins: Oh yes, yes, the local... Flint.

00:43:51Jill Jones - parkrun ambassador, North Wales: Yeah, it's the Flint Football Club Social Club, who we've kind of gone into partnership in inverted commas. It's been a massive opportunity for them, really. We're supporting them by, you know, encouraging parkrunners to pre-order a bacon butty and a coffee for afterwards. And then it's ready at half past nine or quarter to ten, whenever they finish. But also they're opening for us with toilet facilities, which I know is an absolute must for lots of parkrunners. So, no, it's fabulous, isn't it? It's really great. It's a great, long-lived Flintcastle parkrun.

00:44:29Ruth Perkins: Well, Diok and Vala for today. We really, really enjoyed it. Everyone I could see, lots of smiley faces, and you brought a beautiful sunny day as well. So, thank you both. We booked the nice weather. Yeah, okay, thank you. Thank you.

00:44:38[crosstalk]

00:44:44Lyndell Murray: G'day, parkrun Adventurers. It's Lyndell, and I am... A little way from home today, I've packed up the little car and gotten myself up to Gaynda. Gaynda Riverwalk parkrun is on the traditional lands of the Waka Waka people. And what an event it's been, fifth birthday. I'm here with the event director. How are you going today? What's your name? Introduce yourself. Tell me a little bit more.

00:45:10[crosstalk]

00:45:11Dale - Event Director, Gayndah Riverwalk parkrun: Hi, I'm Dale, and I'm the event director, yes. And, yeah, we're here in this beautiful spot that runs along the Burnet River. It's an amazing river walk as well as a parkrun track for us. So today we've got about 30-odd people here, which has been fantastic for our fifth birthday.

00:45:28Lucy Douglas - Event Director, Flint Castle parkrun: We have a great group of people from – travelled from –

00:45:31Dale - Event Director, Gayndah Riverwalk parkrun: um wandai as well as other places that pop in and say hello on on a regular occasion actually each week we normally have at least one visitor so um this has been going for five wonderful years and we've had um some great times down here we've had lots of fun lots of laughter and we've encouraged people to just get out into the fresh air and enjoy parkrun that is so great it's always so important in the smaller regional communities to have somewhere for people to come and be together

00:46:00Lyndell Murray: Is that something that you've observed here in Gander?

00:46:02Dale - Event Director, Gayndah Riverwalk parkrun: Yeah, certainly have. And we do encourage you to call it park walk because we do have a lot of people that are scared by the word run. And as I said, I'm a walker, so you won't catch me running. So, yes, we do. And that's the great thing about it is that we can get people here to have a go, you know, and then they come back and sometimes they bring their families.

00:46:23Lyndell Murray: Yep. Fabulous. Now, five years, can you think of a highlight – in your events history in the five years? Has there been one day that's really stood out? Really hot, really cold, lots of people, great characters.

00:46:39Dale - Event Director, Gayndah Riverwalk parkrun: Okay, so yes, we do get that extreme. So we get minuses down here and the track has got ice on it just about sometimes in winter. And in summer we have the water pistols out because we're up to 35 and it's only seven o'clock in the morning. But one of our highlights was having Ron Clark. So he is a marathon runner. He joined us one morning, which I didn't realise until someone said, do you know who that is? And I said, no, not really. And they said, Ron Clark. I said, really? He was here 40 years ago when we did a fun run for the Gunther Retirement Village. And I was involved in that with my mum at that time. So that was pretty memorable.

00:46:51[crosstalk]

00:47:16Lyndell Murray: Now, Ron Clark is a regular volunteer down at Yowie parkrun just down the road. And I've interviewed him as well. So there's another thing you have in common with Ron Clark. Yeah, no, and it's good. And like we've had Lisa Miller from ABC Backroads.

00:47:29Dale - Event Director, Gayndah Riverwalk parkrun: We had them all here one for our Orange Festival weekend. So that was great because she's an ambassador too for parkrun. So hello, Lisa. It's Dale here from the wonderful town of Gander. As you know, it's the best town in the North Burnett, but best town in Australia. Yes.

00:47:43Lyndell Murray: Now, two things there. The Orange Festival, what time of year is that?

00:47:47Dale - Event Director, Gayndah Riverwalk parkrun: So that's always held on the May long weekend every second year. So it's the odd year. So 2027 is our 70th Orange Festival that we'll be celebrating. So I'm the president of that.

00:47:58Lyndell Murray: we're looking forward to having a great weekend of entertainment and um events so slot that into your calendar and of course there'll be parkrun but i just won't be here yeah but parkrun will still occur you might get some adventurers there for that now the second thing that came out of that was you said something about gander being the something is to town there are signs all around this place saying that you are the oldest town in queensland is that correct or is that just a tourist spruiker

00:48:26Dale - Event Director, Gayndah Riverwalk parkrun: well it is correct it's a technicality but we will take it because we were um we were first um i suppose discovered um and then they were going to um settle here but they went to ipswich way and so ipswich became the first town but it's now a city so it became a city so Gaynor is, by technicality, the oldest town in Queensland.

00:48:56[crosstalk]

00:48:56Lyndell Murray: I reckon I own that. It's a fact, Gayle.

00:48:59Dale - Event Director, Gayndah Riverwalk parkrun: Yeah, no, look, we do own that, and it is. I mean, we have the most amazing lookouts, Archer's Lookout, which you call the Duke and Duchess. Gives you a 360 view right around the town. But standing here, just looking to the bridge, in 2013, the water was over top of that bridge in our flood. So, you know, we've had a lot of things happen here in Gander, but we've always shone through in the end. And we have an amazing group of people, volunteers, just town people. It's an amazing town.

00:49:29Lyndell Murray: All right. We have covered a lot in this five minutes, Gail. Is there any – Dale, I'm so sorry, my friend.

00:49:35Dale - Event Director, Gayndah Riverwalk parkrun: That's my twin sister, Gail. Dale and Gail?

00:49:37[crosstalk]

00:49:37Lyndell Murray: Is she the evil twin and you're the good twin? Oh, no, no, no. There's no evil. No, all good. I can tell. Everyone's good. I can tell.

00:49:44Dale - Event Director, Gayndah Riverwalk parkrun: Now – sorry, I digress.

00:49:46Lyndell Murray: Is there anything else, Dale, that we should tell the parkrun adventurers about Gander Riverwalk parkrun?

00:49:53Dale - Event Director, Gayndah Riverwalk parkrun: Oh, just to come along. And don't think you're just going to come for one day. You really need to spend two days. Oh, I forgot to tell you we have the most amazing rail trail. Yes. A 30-odd k from Gander to Mundabba, which we maintain. Some amazing bridges. Again, we'll meanders along the Burnet River. So please come on out. Spend a couple of nights and enjoy what we have here because we have a fantastic art gallery. Look, I could go on for hours. But anyway, you need to come and see it. That's all.

00:50:22Lyndell Murray: Thank you so much for that wrap of Gander. Thank you so much for the time that you've spent with me this morning. And thank you, Dale, for everything that you have done and I can tell will continue to do for parkrun and for your local community here in Gander.

00:50:37Dale - Event Director, Gayndah Riverwalk parkrun: And thank you for visiting us and putting us on the map again. Absolute pleasure.

00:50:44Ali Sheppard: G'day adventurers, Ali from the UK here and I am currently in a clearing in the forest in Poland and I am about to do Zalew Węch parkrun. I've been told that's how it's pronounced and which is on the outskirts of Katowice in Poland. You can hear the general hubbub in the background and there's some music playing and I understand we're about to have a warm-up which is a bit of a disco warm-up. So...

00:51:16Tony O'Connell: Over and out for the moment.

00:51:19Ali Sheppard: So we are now doing a warm-up. We are doing a warm-up to music. We are touching our toes, jumping up and down. Now doing squats. This is a new experience for me at parkrun. I'm already out of breath, so I will continue. Good day adventurers, so we have finished the parkrun now at Zalew Venk and I'm here with Kuba. So hi Kuba, what's your full name?

00:51:56Jakub "Kuba" Franczkiewicz: Hi, so my name is Jakub Franczkiewicz in Polish and I've been running here for about a year or so at the parkrun.

00:52:05[crosstalk]

00:52:06Ali Sheppard: And you're 16, right?

00:52:07Jakub "Kuba" Franczkiewicz: Yeah, 16 in school still, middle school.

00:52:09Ali Sheppard: Excellent. And it's a whole family thing. You come with your father.

00:52:11[crosstalk]

00:52:13Jakub "Kuba" Franczkiewicz: Of course. I encourage them to start because we started with my sister. Then we encouraged my dad and mom to start. So they are quite frequently now here attending.

00:52:24[crosstalk]

00:52:28Ali Sheppard: How did you find out about parkrun?

00:52:30Jakub "Kuba" Franczkiewicz: I think my sisters sent it on Facebook to me. Okay. From Facebook, yeah.

00:52:36Ali Sheppard: And your sister started and then you came along. Excellent. And today it was parkrun number 79. So it's been going for about a year and a half or something like that.

00:52:40[background music]

00:52:48Jakub "Kuba" Franczkiewicz: I think so, yeah. From 2024 or something.

00:52:52Ali Sheppard: Describe the course for me.

00:52:55Jakub "Kuba" Franczkiewicz: So it's really like a foresty course. In the forest, Lasse Podwensky, I think. And we also go around Zalew Węk, so that's why it's named Zalew Węk.

00:53:11Ali Sheppard: So Zalew Węk is a sort of lagoon, the lake?

00:53:14[crosstalk]

00:53:14Jakub "Kuba" Franczkiewicz: Yes, it's a lagoon.

00:53:15Ali Sheppard: And it's in the forest, it's beautiful.

00:53:17Jakub "Kuba" Franczkiewicz: Really beautiful.

00:53:19Ali Sheppard: So many birds, I could hear the birds calling.

00:53:22Jakub "Kuba" Franczkiewicz: Animals also. yes yes you've seen animals here yeah what sort of animals like foxes deers mainly i think i think also snakes and snakes i saw one but i

00:53:26[crosstalk]

00:53:35Ali Sheppard: Wow. We don't have snakes in the UK. I know they have in Australia on the courses.

00:53:39[crosstalk]

00:53:42Jakub "Kuba" Franczkiewicz: Very dangerous in Australia.

00:53:43Ali Sheppard: Very dangerous in Australia. Yes. So it's a beautiful, beautiful course. And how many people do you get roughly?

00:53:53Jakub "Kuba" Franczkiewicz: Usually maybe 50, like 30.

00:53:57Ali Sheppard: Yes.

00:53:57Jakub "Kuba" Franczkiewicz: But on the anniversary, I think there was over 100.

00:54:01Ali Sheppard: wow okay wonderful so we're in Katowice but here it's Jaworzno and it's about 80 kilometers from Krakow something like that something like that yes just so that people know roughly in Poland so have you been to other parkruns in Poland no no no but we plan to visit the

00:54:07[crosstalk]

00:54:14[crosstalk]

00:54:24Jakub "Kuba" Franczkiewicz: nearest one which is Szanów Park and maybe also Sosnowiec is close so maybe we'll visit that okay and they might be very different to this one this is beautiful in the forest thank you Kuba I've really really enjoyed it here today wonderful thank you thank you very much

00:54:35[background music]

00:54:36[crosstalk]

00:54:49Tony O'Connell: Now, what a great set of roving reports we had there. We had them from all over the world. We started with Callum, with Laura back from January. So we've held that one over a little bit just with the number we've had in. Talking about ice and hills. And that just sounds like my idea of fun. Bit of hill. I always love that. We had Ruth at Flint Castle in Wales talking with event director Lucy Douglas and parkrun ambassador Gil Jones. We had our own Lyndell coming to us from Gander River Walk. And she was talking oranges, interesting facts and rail trails with Dale E.D. She sounds very knowledgeable about the whole thing. local tourism, what to do, and obviously brought up and lived in the area for a long time. And we had Ali coming to us from Zelef Wenk. She was chatting to a bloke who she called Kuba. They were in a forest and she was enjoying the musical warm-up. So all in all, we had reports from four different places. for different countries. Fantastic. And then we're going to go across to Daz's next, keeping on with the theme. This week, Daz has said, welcome to Daz's. It's World Poetry Day. So we thought we'd say hey and invite you to tell us a tale. Did you go for a run, have some volunteer fun, or happily walk like a snail? And Mel, our adventurers really embrace this theme. I reckon more so, it's almost like the old days of Scotty and Mel and their... Their Poet's Corner. The Poem Zone. The Poem Zone. That was what it was called. We could have put 20 into Daz's this week and still missed out a few good ones, but we've limited it down a little bit and we'll crack into them now.

Dazza's

Poem Zone

00:56:39Melissa Ellis: First, we had Sherry Eccles from Bill Rose Sporting Complex in New South Wales, and she said, In scone at dawn's first light, we gather where the fields breathe white. Is it scone or scone?

00:56:53Tony O'Connell: Oh, I'm not sure. Scone will do. Tomato, tomato.

00:56:57Melissa Ellis: At Bill Rose Sports Complex, park around ground so true for a run that countless feet once knew. The 250th, more than a race, it's time and smiles in one shared place. Each step a story, each cheer a thread. of all the paths that brought us here instead. And as we cross through Morning Sun, we're part of something never done. And there was a rear view pic of three 250 shirts with the teardrop flag and the core flute.

00:57:25Tony O'Connell: Yep, great little photo. Next, we're going to go north, and one of our favourites, Mandy Oliver, coming to us from Surfers Paradise Parkfront in Queensland. Mandy said to us, down at Surfers Paradise, bright and early crew, for their 500th milestone, so we all wore blue. Not just shirts, but socks galore, a sea of matching blue, even the green bridge joined in, clearly missing the hue. Off we set with eager legs, well, most were feeling fine. I hobbled like a pirate, blamed knees and calves this time. Every step a tiny protest, every limp a work of art, still grinning through the struggle and with a slightly dramatic heart. Cheered along by legends as I shuffled to the end, at parkrun even hobbling's fine, just walking with a friend. And there was no pic, but I thought that was a great poem. Well done.

00:58:21Melissa Ellis: Good job, Mandy. Next, we had Michael Little coming to us from Copper Trail in SA. At the York Peninsula for parkrun today, I fancied my chances for a PB. Oh, yay. The Copper Trail called. Come on, give it a go. But my legs replied, mate, absolutely no. I dreamt of a sprint, a glorious zoom. Instead, I delivered a slow motion doom. Each step was a shuffle, each stride a debate. My muscles protesting, you've left this too late. Perhaps it was the wine last night I was draining or lack of a good sleep and poor quality training. A fabulous run and a great volley team. Everyone's friendly, just like a dream. And that was another great poem without a picture.

00:59:04Tony O'Connell: Righty-o, back to New South Wales, and Sonja Pohlman wrote in from the beaches. Roses are red. Let's start that again. I got my builder's voice going. Roses are red. The beaches is green. Some of the most weed that we've ever seen. And so you posted a great picture, really Aussie image. We had sun, we had sand, we had surf, we had a volley, we had a teardrop flag and there was so, so much weed.

00:59:38Melissa Ellis: I don't really think they usually show those photos with all that seaweed because we usually see pristine beaches of white sand, probably something they usually try to get out of the picture.

00:59:50Tony O'Connell: And I have it on very good authority that the volunteer in the photo was the one and only Michael Sharp.

00:59:55Melissa Ellis: Of course it was. Next, we heard from Ellie Shepherd coming to us from Durham in the UK. Look at me saying that like I know how it's said. In Durham for Event 87, the sunny fields were close to heaven, parked in the grounds of footy club The Magpies, which would have been a sight for Marlisa's eyes. Volunteered today as park walker, walked with Sue, who was a fine talker. Lots of birdsong, including a skylark and a cheeky extra loop by the finish. What a lark! Now my days as a poet are done. Until next week for more parkrun fun. And there was a blue skies picture of Ellie with the Durham pop-up.

01:00:34Tony O'Connell: Rightio, we're going to kick across to WA. Well, we're assuming it was WA because Gareth Arnold posted and he didn't actually say where he was running, but he posted, Fuel is expensive, the missus is vocal. This made me pensive, so I ran local.

01:00:53Melissa Ellis: Oh, I'm trying to remember where Gareth usually is, and I can't.

01:00:58[crosstalk]

01:00:58Tony O'Connell: I think Gareth's one of the Perth parkruns.

01:01:00Melissa Ellis: Oh, yeah, he is, but I'm trying to think of the actual event that he's at, and no, I don't have enough time to come up with it. Maybe towards the end it'll pop into my head. And next we heard from Val Warwick, who was at Alara Riparian Parklands in New South Wales. She said, a frond we had with Claire and Jack as we ran and walked there and back. But also Lynn, Steve's cousin, came. But that is in the second frame. For breakfast, we six. For little one was there. And for our results at our phones, we did stare. Enough of this ditty. The morning was pretty. And then good. G-double-O-D in capitals. What did I do wrong with that rhyme? Anyway.

01:01:41Tony O'Connell: Enough of this ditty. The morning was pretty.

01:01:44Melissa Ellis: Good. Oh, pretty good. Okay. Now I understand. I understand. I'm a bit slow. Sorry, Val. Anyway, there was a group photo of Val, Steve, Jack, Claire, Emilia, Ant, Ilara, Riparian, Riparian, Riparian. Potato, potato.

01:02:03Tony O'Connell: Right. The next one that we had, Matthew Billington set one in and Matt was at Rokeby where I was at this week. It was great to catch up again. A special mention to this one. We're not actually going to read it out. It's a long one, but I would encourage everyone to go to Daz's and have a read. It's a great poem, but it is a very long one. So well done, Matt. A lot of thought went into that and a lot of time.

01:02:26Melissa Ellis: And thanks to everybody who came to Daz's and shared their parkrun stories. Alrighty, Tox, time for an obelope. Do we still even do that? I think I asked that last time. I think we do.

the Obi Award — Sonja Pohlman

01:02:38Tony O'Connell: I think we do. We're old school. The youngsters have gone to an electronic email.

01:02:45Melissa Ellis: You've jogged my memory. I got a special sound effect for an email thing. Anyway, here it is.

01:02:50[background music]

01:02:59Tony O'Connell: And our Obie this week goes to Sonja Pohlman. That was a great photo of Michael from the beaches.

01:03:05Melissa Ellis: Yeah, show us your weed.

01:03:09Tony O'Connell: Sounds like a Cheech and Chong movie.

01:03:12Melissa Ellis: Anyway.

You've got mail (listener emails)

01:03:13Tony O'Connell: You've got mail.

01:03:14Melissa Ellis: So we've got some emails that have dropped into our inbox this week. I shall read the first one. does it say who it's from it does at the end so I'm going to make you wait it says hello adventurers it's been a while since I last checked in long time listener in fact from day one episode one back in 2016 hmm not sure I think it could have been 2016 um Lately, I've had to be a binge listener to the podcast to catch up. And guess what? I finally caught back up. This means I've been behind the podcast eight ball and have missed some stellar opportunities to contribute to and share some of my topical podcast show weekly adventures. Not to worry, as it's come to my attention that emails are now the new snail mail and Tok has done a call out on recent episodes to consider this communication channel still. So I will. Here is my effort. Tutu parkruns always are a favourite of mine and I've particularly enjoyed the roving reports from Tracy in a tutu over the years who also chaperoned our beloved troll of Waggie Bridge to a few Queensland parkrun events. However, Tutu parkrun Day for me is not Tutu parkrun Day. It's Choo Choo Day in honour of the late Australian legendary cricket player and sports journalist commentator Richie Benaud. Oh, Choo Choo, I see. Yes, I am a long-term cricket tragic from my very early childhood years. And last year, by a complete and utter chance, parkrun and my other passion outside running cricket... two two day from the mouth of the great man himself decided to align their planets not once but twice when nearly all of my choose aligned try to align these numbers on purpose in fact if there were a 5k app challenge called two two challenge i'm sure it would be in a very small and privileged group On the 22nd of February 2025 at Gungahlin parkrun, I finished in a time of 22.12 or as the date suggests, 22.2. The event was number 4.22 and I was finishing number 2.2. But wait, there's more. The planet aligning gods showed up once again on winter solstice in June 2025. On that day, I ran Wagyu Bridge parkrun in a time of 22.22. Of course, I just had to share this extraordinary feat on my socials the next day. The next day being June 2-2. Oh, side note, that day was my birthday. I was born on the darkest day of the year back in the year of my birth on June 2-2. So Adventurer Host Podcasters, I hope you can see why my alternative name for Tutu Day is actually Tutu Day. A little further digging will show that I appeared on the parkrun Adventurers Podcast 182 as a guest. I've run two events together with the current host, Tok, Umbagong parkrun and Dolls Point, both in 2022. Hey, I was there as well. Excuse me. See you on the next day, my planets align, perhaps when I listen to episode 444 on a Tuesday. That's episode 222 times 2. parkrun adventurer, Ian Shaw.

01:06:31Tony O'Connell: Oh, Mel, I did read that and I thought that'd be a great one for Mel to read out.

01:06:40Melissa Ellis: Thanks. And Ian shared 13 images. I don't know why there wasn't 22.

01:06:44Tony O'Connell: Oh, he missed an opportunity there, didn't he? Rightio, our next email says, Hi Dazza, when I went to submit today's coffee report, I discovered my draft for last week never got sent. So without further ado, Saturday the 7th of Feb, parkrun number 211. Wow, this beautiful run may be restricted, but the welcoming nature of Chris the run director is second to none. The friendliness of the crew at the event during the event is... And the after-run brekkie was what made me think, this is why I come to parkrun. They were supportive and pumped you on. So I smashed a 2026 PB. There were kangaroos within reach on the out-and-back course. Interesting fact is they only make quasi-regularly for after-run coffees. I did have a pre-breakfast breakfast of a Macca's hash brown. Do a fine 28th Prime Minister of Australia special, smashed avo and toast, at Little Stones in Seymour. Greatest birthday present from Gramps for a couple of years. The trip, not the breakfast.

01:07:47Melissa Ellis: Hang on. It didn't say where he is.

01:07:49Tony O'Connell: It doesn't actually say the parkrun.

01:07:52Melissa Ellis: So that would be the Seymour Great River Rail Trail.

01:07:57Tony O'Connell: Great... Golden River Rail Trail.

01:07:59Melissa Ellis: Golden River. Okay.

01:08:02Tony O'Connell: I would assume it was or... Possibly. That wouldn't have been Puckapunyal. Anyway, it was up in that area. So, well done.

01:08:13Melissa Ellis: I always go to Little Stones. Oh, sorry.

01:08:14Tony O'Connell: So do I. I've been there a few times. Saturday the 14th of February at Rhodes. So we've got a name on this one. Event number 516. Great day focusing on all the great things of being up north for a wrangler from the British Isles. So my daughter and I grabbed the train to Concord West, hit Cafe Messina for a latte and a Portuguese tart, enjoy conversations with an old friend and make new ones. had a great chat with a parkrunner on the way who has only done three parkruns but the interesting element is that each of them is at a different course while completing this i've had my second breakfast like a good hobbit of on course and eat my nectarine the real kick came when we finished and got the yummies at three spoons on victoria avenue so that sounds like maybe three breakfasts there mel Lots of parkrun love crew. Alistair, current tourism streak of 28.

01:09:12Melissa Ellis: Hey, I just realised he was at Puckapunyal because it says this beautiful run may be restricted.

01:09:19Tony O'Connell: And Alistair actually shared a couple of images and I'm pretty certain that one of those images, and I'm just opening up the file really, really quickly.

01:09:28Melissa Ellis: And Chris is the ED of Pakapanyo parkrun.

01:09:33Tony O'Connell: So chances are it was most definitely at Pakah. Great little course, Puckapunyal.

01:09:40Melissa Ellis: So thank you, Alistair.

01:09:41Tony O'Connell: Rightio. Well, I think it's time. We've tongue twisted and tied and you've done tutus and tutus and all those things. I think it's time for Reginald to have a go at some tongue ties. So let's throw it over to Reginald and listen to what they have to say.

01:09:47[crosstalk]

01:10:05[background music]

Club Corner

01:10:07Reginald Yardley-Pomfrey III: This is Reginald Yardley-Pomfrey III, with Club Corner, where we talk about the what and why of parkrun clubs, and I am Kuei Inu from Aranda country. At the end of 2025, parkrun purchased the app formerly known as the 5K app, Locke, Stock, Michael Clayton and Barrel. This app went through a period being known as 5K parkrunner Results app, and is now simply parkrun, and is published by parkrun Global Ltd. This is a great app and is a major support to parkrunners globally. If people would like some orientation to this app, please email the pod on parkrunadventurers open bracket or one word close bracket at gmail.com. Especially as the new modes have all rolled out at the start of March 2026 with version 4.0. parkrun Global Limited also publishes the parkrun Virtual Volunteer app, which was originally developed by Nuism, a company in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, which is owned by avid parkrunners including Penny Redhead. This is the essential app for parkrunners to use when volunteering as timekeeper or scanner. This app made volunteering in these roles, plus processing results, much more of a pleasure than it was previously. Today I am going to talk about some parkrun related apps out there smiley face. Maybe you know about all of these, or maybe you are about to have your mind blown insert funny explosion noise here. Note that neither myself nor the pod are recommending these apps, so do not blame us smiley face. By the way, I wish you could see which of these apps include unnecessary capitals dot dot dot especially of the capital P variety psi. Let us go, in no particular order, parkrun Planner published by James Kent. Running Achievements published by Ford Hollett. Park Race published by Alexander Cahill. And parkrunner-5k Results, published by Apps for London Limited, aka Gary Grace. Each of these apps can be linked to your parkrun athlete code and includes a variety of challenges slash clubs for you to track or belong to. All of the apps can display a version of your barcode, whether classic barcode stripes or QR version. Some pros for each app include, the parkrun app is the open quotes official app close quotes, and includes the ability to create and customize your own challenges. parkrun Planner has a focus on weather and conditions, including a rating for what parkrun might feel like, taking wind, rain, temperate etc. into account. The app does include some banner ads, so be aware. And could you hear the capital P in my voice question mark? Running Achievements app includes a nifty pop-up when you open, which highlights any achievements have been updated after that parkrun. It also includes a range of graphics for those who are visual consumers. Parkrace is for the hardcore speed-slash-pace-interested people, and it has recreated many stats that were previously removed by parkrun HQ and again, can you hear the capital P in my voice question mark? parkrunner-5k results, includes graphics for many items, but is the most obviously commercial of the four of the apps, and does lean toward emojis. This is also the only of these apps that tracks your data and includes in-app purchases. I will highlight a few clubs slash challenges in some of these apps in the coming club corners that are not in the official parkrun app, and remember, in parkrun life, all non-Milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun, so stay tuned for our future club corners.

01:13:35Melissa Ellis: And thank you to Reginald for bringing us that brief overview of all the apps. And I've said before, do use the 5K app, probably the most out of all the apps, although it's, oh, yes, I know, it's renamed as the parkrun app now, but we're going to call it the 5K app forever and ever, just like we still say Safeway and all the other things we say of organisations that don't exist anymore.

01:14:02Lyndell Murray: LAUGHTER

01:14:04Melissa Ellis: I use the other apps less, I will admit, although I do refer to them occasionally. And I have recently been on the extension. What's that? Running, running, running achievements.

01:14:19[crosstalk]

01:14:20Tony O'Connell: Yes.

01:14:21Melissa Ellis: And that's only because it's preloaded. So whenever I go and look at my parkrun profile, it's just there like magic, which is really cool.

01:14:30Tony O'Connell: I've got to admit, Mel, there's a Chrome extension that I use quite a bit with our launches section. It's another app that gathers some data and puts it in a little infographic for me for our launches section. And with the change to the new volunteering stuff, it hasn't been rewritten yet. So it's crashed. So I've actually got to do it manually now.

01:14:53Melissa Ellis: Oh, no.

01:14:53Tony O'Connell: What a bugger.

01:14:54Melissa Ellis: What a bugger. And what I was going to say, oh, the changeover with the new parkrun app caught a few people off guard. And one of them was my sister, Cassie. Shout out to Cassie, who has got all... modern and uses the app for a barcode she is renowned for for getting her barcode and relying on me when she's with me because back in the day she only ever park ran with me so i would have a copy of her paper barcode in my glove box anyway she got caught out because the app had changed and she was all confused and i was in the northern territory and she nearly had a parkrun fail i'm not quite sure she did manage to get around it though but that was because that was in the middle of it changing first on the android phones

01:15:41Tony O'Connell: Yep, changed on Android probably a week and a half before it went to the Apple.

01:15:46Melissa Ellis: Yeah, and it must have changed the presentation and she was unable to find where her barcode was. I don't know. Anyway, it all ended well. So the Consolidated Club Report, the Adventurers Consolidated Club Report even, For Saturday, the 21st of March, 2026, of a total of 890 members, 614 took part on this date in 13 countries across 341 locations. Internationally, there were adventures at 76 events in the UK, 10 in Sudafrique, 3 in Ireland, the Netherlands and Poland had 2, and there was 1 event in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Japan, Singapore and the USA. Locally, there are adventurers at 60 events in New South Wales, 57 in the Great State, Queensland had 56, Western Australia had 22, South Australia had 17, Tasmania had 9, the ACT and the North Island 7, South Island 5 and 2 in the Northern Territory.

Consolidated Club Report

01:16:50Tony O'Connell: Rightio. And we noticed that Malaysia is missing from that list. They actually had the week off with their one event. No volunteers due to one of their religious traditions over there. So they had a week off. So Malaysia should be back next week.

01:17:08Melissa Ellis: Right.

01:17:09Tony O'Connell: Right, yeah. Our largest international frond on the 14th of March, 2026, was at Maritzburg Golf Club in South Africa. And that was Goerner and Nico van der Meer, Marianne Smit, Johan Duvenhage, and I know that's not how we pronounce it, but that's how I pronounce it. It is. You said it right. Gillian Finlay and Mary Langbrink. On the 21st of the 3rd, 26th, the largest international front was at Inpromenade in Austria. That little course that I'd love to go to that runs parallel to an airport runway. So you basically get off the plane, go to parkrun, and you can be back on the plane an hour later. There was 10 people there. They were Jason Patterson, Debbie and Andy Airy, Denise Evans, Colin Hare, Linda Boziak, Tina Jury, Rhiannon Taylor, Ivan Storer and Victoria Knight-Phillips.

01:18:07Melissa Ellis: Oh, that sounds like it's got Andy Airy Airways all over it.

01:18:11Tony O'Connell: It does. And VKP is coming out to Australia later this year. So watch out for that one.

01:18:17Melissa Ellis: Is she coming to the Great Estate? Yes.

01:18:19Tony O'Connell: I believe she is, Mel.

01:18:20Melissa Ellis: Keep me informed.

01:18:21Tony O'Connell: Now, the pilgrimage.

01:18:24Melissa Ellis: We had nobody on the 14th and nobody on the 21st of March. Sad face. But since the last recording, there was Dale and Rachel Morgan on the 7th of March and Imogen Swales on the 28th of February. Now, the largest Australian frond. The 14th through the 3rd, there was a frond of 14 at Auburn Botanic Gardens. That was Brie McGraw, Ingrid Bothar, Heather Hunter, Mike Scott, Luke and Sam Schroeder, Catherine Perotta, Cathy Ray, Tabitha and Timothy Amos, Paris Lawrence, Stephen Cox and Roberta Winters. and on the 21st of march there was a front of nine at the ponds that was manish bindrew jeff robinson dennis peden rio lambino caleb laura tabitha and timothy amos and lisa spencer now fun fact largest actual frond on the palm recording weekend that accidentally occurred at Crookshank parkrun, where I was, where we had 11. I'm not going to name them all, but I didn't even do it on purpose, talk, I promise. Now, we know that palm isn't a front. Palm is a palm. So that made mine the biggest front. And nobody mentioned it. I thought I would mention it.

01:19:47Tony O'Connell: I was wondering how you worked that one out. And yes, you're right. Palm is the tree. Palm is the source.

01:19:53Melissa Ellis: Yes. So I had the biggest frond. And I even didn't tell anybody where I was going because I didn't want to create any unofficial largest fronds. And I accidentally did it. I didn't even tell you. You asked me where I was going. I said, oh, I don't know. Don't know.

01:20:07Tony O'Connell: Don't know where I'll go. Fade secret. Screw all. I did.

01:20:08[crosstalk]

01:20:10Melissa Ellis: I did.

01:20:12Tony O'Connell: Righty-o, Mel. Remember, for anyone out there, and I know there are quite a few people that listen that aren't actually have the parkrun Adventurers down as one of their five clubs, and there was a few at Palm even that... They turned up to Palm that didn't have the parkrun Adventurers down as one of their clubs. You're allowed to have five different clubs or affiliations. And if you need a hand, just shoot us a message. I can step you through it. It's really easy. And we'd love to see you as part of the parkrun Adventurers.

01:20:46Melissa Ellis: Or ask a fellow adventurer when you bump into them at a front.

01:20:50Tony O'Connell: Even better, look out for the blue t-shirts because they really stand out. They're great.

01:20:55Melissa Ellis: They do. They do. Okay, now I think it's time to recap the launches.

Launches and anniversaries ("Where is the cake?")

01:21:02Tony O'Connell: We're going to go back a couple of weeks, and there's actually been only a few launches for the first few weeks, Mel. Thank goodness. And the story behind that is, with parkrun, as an ambassador, when you put in the paperwork, it's a minimum of eight weeks before an event launches. Of course, from these dates in late February and early March, if you go back eight weeks, you're into the Christmas break, where all the staff are on holiday, so there is going to be a shortage for a couple of weeks. I would think... probably next weekend there's going to be a bit of a rush again because the numbers were growing quite impressively but uh well let's kick off on the 28th of february at walton promenade parkrun in the uk um Walton Promenade is located on the east coast of the UK on a course that surprisingly is along a promenade. So along the seaside. It's a one lap course out and back. It had 268 finishers and 20 volunteers.

01:22:01Melissa Ellis: And on the 7th of March, there was Hofgarten parkrun in Germany. The race, the race, that must be just a...

01:22:10Tony O'Connell: I'm hoping that's a translation from German to English on the website because I have copied this cut and paste off the parkrun website.

01:22:20Melissa Ellis: The race consists of three laps through the Hofgarten, which means court garden. The route leads past the Hofgarten Pond, under the Old Town Bridge and along the river. The historic city wall and the animal enclosure are also visible along the course. The launch was attended by 116 finishers, ably assisted by 18 volunteers.

01:22:43Tony O'Connell: Rightio. So that's one each for those couple of weeks. On the 14th of March, there was also just the one launch and that was at Victoria Embankment parkrun in the UK. Nottingham gains a new parkrun and with this two and a half lapper along the River Trent, They had a whopping 895 finishers for the first week with 36 volunteers. Numbers might have been boosted by the fact that there are 10 parkruns in the local area and in fact if you put a pin in the area near Victoria Park and do a 5km radius I think there's either 8 or 9 parkruns within a 5km radius of this one.

01:23:25Melissa Ellis: I just can't believe that. That is mind-boggling. I feel like in Victoria, like, you'd be lucky to have more than one parkrun in your half an hour radius.

01:23:37Tony O'Connell: Yeah, you get a few of the ones.

01:23:39Melissa Ellis: City of Casey is like a...

01:23:42Tony O'Connell: that's different they've got they're greedy you're going around coburg and that and do a radius around there and you've got parkville and kirkdale and all that and as as a radius as a crow flies there's a few of them fairly close warringal but we don't certainly have eight or nine within a five kilometer radius

01:24:01Melissa Ellis: Yeah, well, we're just jealous. Okay, so the last weekend on the 21st of March saw four launches globally. West Stowe Country parkrun in the UK had 199 finishes. They completed the mixed terrain cross-country course at West Stowe, surprisingly, and they were guided by 23 volunteers.

01:24:22Tony O'Connell: Okay, we had one in New Zealand, and that was Machu Picchu. Beach Reserve parkrun in New Zealand. It's the northernmost parkrun on the southern island so it's right up the tip of the southern island. The course is an out and back on a sea reserve frontage and week one had 16 volunteers assisting 167 finishers.

01:24:45Melissa Ellis: Next, we had Culture Park, Nuremberg parkrun in Germany. And it is in a park containing sculptures. And along the edge of a lake, week one saw 57 finishers and 11 volunteers.

01:24:57Tony O'Connell: And back to New Zealand, they had two launches on the weekend. Mandeville parkrun on the outskirts of Christchurch on the South Island. Double out and back. And that's 172 finishers and 20 volunteers for the launch. And that brings the South Island up to 25 parkruns now.

01:25:15Melissa Ellis: That's good. I must make a new plan to go back to the South Island by Christmas, I reckon. go and complete another couple there's some beauties over there yes now we don't have anything we're watching in watching the numbers do we i'm pretty sure something popped up recently that i was interested in watching and i've forgotten because i didn't write myself a note oh well no at some stage mel something will jump out and it'll tickle everyone's fancy and we'll watch it for a while I feel like there was something recently, but I can't think what it was. Anyway, never mind. All right. So let's look forward, Toc. Let's wind this up and look forward. Where are you going to be traveling to this coming Saturday?

01:26:01Tony O'Connell: I will possibly be at Inverloch and maybe walk or I might go to Phillip Island where I'm allowed to run. Um, Dano is down this week and he's timekeeping at Inverloch because there's the Inverloch Running Festival on and we're going to have lots of visitors. We've had lots of people jumping into our volunteer roster and I've seen lots of people coming down for parkruns. Inverloch could be a big parkrun this week. Go somewhere else. Probably the Inverloch if I feel like walking or it'll be Phillip Island if I want to have a run.

01:26:36Melissa Ellis: Are you running in the running festival?

01:26:38Tony O'Connell: No. No, I'm still not allowed to run on asphalt or concrete.

01:26:41Melissa Ellis: Okay. I've been watching your times though. You're doing some good times.

01:26:46Tony O'Connell: Times are going well, but it's all on my granitic sand. I love my granitic sand now. Yeah. Fair enough too. What about you, Mel? Have you got any adventures planned?

01:26:49[crosstalk]

01:26:55Melissa Ellis: I do. I do. I am heading, I've got to think, hang on, let me get my compass in my brain. I am heading west to South Australia, northwest even. Oh, my God, it really does my head in. And I am going to be meeting up with my parkrun besties, Martine and Andrew, in Packer, Picanty. I have done a Frito of Packer Picanthi years and years and years ago, so it'll be nice to go over and see what it looks like on a real live parkrun day.

01:27:25Tony O'Connell: So I'm willing to bet, Mel, that the course you ran your Frito on is not the course that you're running on because Packer has changed several courses over the last couple of years. Has it? Just minor tweaks and it has changed slightly in the last probably six months.

01:27:42Melissa Ellis: Fantastic. Well, I haven't been over to South Australia since I was on my big... spree last year to get my numbers aligned for my milestone so i've been missing them i've been missing them and i'm going to be glad to be back and now next weekend you are going to be back listening to sarah and simon i believe would that be right that's right sarah and simon next fortnight i'll be in the hot chair

01:28:09Tony O'Connell: And now, as always, you can contact us if you would like on Facebook or our email, which is parkrunadventurous at gmail.com. That's it for another episode. We'll see you all next time for more adventures.

01:28:20[outro theme playing]

01:29:05Reginald Yardley-Pomfrey III: It's free.