Episode 448 - Surrounded by clowns

Episode details · 142 speaker turns · sound cues from audio analysis

00:00:00[intro theme playing]

00:00:29Lyndell Murray: Welcome to episode 448 of the parkrun Adventurers podcast, a podcast about life, if your life is all about parkrun. My name is Lyndell and I'm coming to you from Meanjin, on the traditional lands of the Turrbal and Yuggera. G'day Tok!

00:00:44Tony O'Connell: Lyndell, how are you? It's Tok from Inverloch and I'm coming to you from Bunurong Country.

00:00:50Lyndell Murray: I'm doing well Tok, coo-ee!

00:00:53Tony O'Connell: You've been out and about doing all your little triathlons and officiating and telling people what to do?

00:01:00Lyndell Murray: Yes, I have. I have, as I mentioned at Palm, which is the last time that we recorded together talk, that I'd be on the bench for the next week. It turns out I've been on the bench for four of the six parkrun days since Palm. Lots of different events, mainly around southeast Queensland, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast.

00:01:19Amanda Murray-Hynde: But I did get it. I have had my parkrun fix, don't worry.

00:01:22Lyndell Murray: I volunteered on Easter Saturday at Kelvin Grove parkrun, which is one of my P-Index events. I like to

00:01:28Tony O'Connell: help out at those events when i can and i've got a new parkrun in as well up at park lakes wetlands on the sunshine coast and we'll hear more about that a little bit later in the roving reports how about you tock well i have been to parkrun but it's been largely the envelope it's been a little bit of the home run for a few weeks and it's been a little bit inspired by the cost at the fuel bowser not wanting to jump in the car and drive you know four hours each way not only for the I guess the high expense of it at the moment, but also I guess around the image of, yeah, do I want to jump in the car and drive? four hours one way four hours back do a parkrun when we're talking about potentially rationing and things but no look i've been to invalok i've had a great run this weekend i was run director at invalok so i was up on the stump and i got to be run director for one of the invalok stalwart shirley dell's 500th parkrun which was fantastic i said we've been mainly to home but Jack and I did a short road trip up to Canberra over the Easter break. We used a good Friday and then took a long weekend up in Canberra to complete Woden Town parkrun. And that regained the capitalist status for us, which we lost a week after we gained it last time. So hopefully nothing new is coming up in ACT in the next week or two. Yeah. And probably a highlight of going up to Canberra and catching up and doing the parkrun was we caught up with Rex Green. Really enjoy Rex's company. Rex was going to a different parkrun, and I messaged him Friday night and said, Oh, I see you're up in Canberra. We're doing this one. And Rex come straight over. It was great. We caught up. We had breakfast. And then I got to induct Rex into the dark side of City Strides. Ooh, talk. There's this bizarre crossover going on at the moment, Lyndell, where not only do we do all the city side stuff, we've had a messenger group with a heap of parkrunners in it about city strides. And now I've actually been invited into a parkrun group. globally of parkrunners that do city strides and there's so many names from like the uk that i've heard so many times that suddenly i've realized they're city striders as well so it's interesting catching up with a few of the big names that you hear fairly regularly i'm sure it is it's like an onion layer after layer of deep web of the dark side of city strides I think that sums it up pretty well. It's been an interesting couple of weeks at Inverloch with a couple of walks in there, a volunteer or two volunteers actually. So staying close to home for a week or so and then, yeah, some big adventures planned.

00:04:11Lyndell Murray: Nice mix. Great. All right, getting into our feedback from last week's episodes. Now, this is an interesting little tidbit. So a couple of episodes ago, Johan interviewed Lil. Last episode, our roving reporter Ruth interviewed Andre at Vingis. It turns out he is none other than Andre Falconer. who was last week confirmed to be a new parkrun Global board member. So what a scoop for Ruth. Our roving reporters are certainly hitting above their weight, aren't they, Toc?

00:04:47Tony O'Connell: They have little. I'm sort of starting to wonder whether the likes of us hosts are pulling our weight. Global context that we're getting and catching up with people, maybe we'll have to start looking around for a few special guests to invite or to interview for ourselves.

00:05:00Lyndell Murray: We might have to line up a few junkets to go and interview and hobnob with the glitterati of parkrun all over the world.

00:05:07Tony O'Connell: What I might do, I might give Scotty Trickett a buzz and see if we can get the parkrun learjet on standby.

00:05:12Lyndell Murray: That's the one. That's it.

00:05:13Tony O'Connell: That's it. That's it. And in other news from the last episode, Paul Lauer, who was referred to in the last episode, touristing over in Cannibal's Cave. And I know Simon and Sarah had a bit of a chat about Cannibal's Cave. He messaged us and he sent some event or photos from the event on the day in his messenger. And... I've got to be honest, Cannibals Cave and Piggly Wiggly are two of the events that have been on my list. I reckon since not long after I started touristing, they've just been ambitions. And after looking at the photos, I'd say Cannibals Cave's probably gone higher up the list as an event to visit. So, yeah, great to see those photos, Paul. Thank you very much. And I guess, Lyndell, from time to time... A listener will throw in a bit of a challenge into the podcast. And one that came up yesterday, Sal challenged us to find out a little bit more of the stats around parkrunners that have done 500 parkruns and particularly the Aussies that have done that. So I did a bit of a deep dive and this sort of information is not the easiest to collate. It involved a lot of manual counting because you can't just go to a website and add it up. that I can find I'm only a dumb builder I keep saying that does that mean you had to get out your abacus and count them all yeah I scattered some nails one nail for each person then counted the nails I was all right with that it turns out that as of Sunday night so as of last night we were recording on a Monday night there were 3,849 people globally who have done the 500 milestones there's under 4,000 all time that have done 500. Out of that, Aussies make up 549 of those. So I guess when you look at the extra time that it's been running in the UK, we're actually probably Not doing too bad there. First in Australia to reach it was Brian Peters at Main Beach on the 18th of September in 2021. And last was Shirley Dell from Inverloch, who achieved it on Saturday on the 18th of the 4th. And you sort of think when Brian achieved his, there were several months between the first 500 and the second 500 in Australia. You roll forward. a number of years, you roll forward five years. And on the weekend, eight Aussies achieved the 500 shirt. And we've got a little bit more info on one of those a little bit later. So yeah, that was my deep dive into the 500 stats.

00:07:42Lyndell Murray: Yeah, there certainly were few and far between at the start, weren't they? I know we missed the first one for the pod, but I think it was the second or third one I got the chance to interview at New Farm Park. But yeah, it was a long time between drinks with people getting their blue shirts back in the day. Now more and more are reaching that milestone. And it sounds like we're pretty competitive in terms of achieving that milestone globally. So that is great news.

00:08:10Tony O'Connell: I can remember when the first blue shirt turned up at Inverloch and we were like the country slack-jawed yokels standing around looking at this blue shirt. Everyone bowing and scraping and saying, oh my God, parkrun royalty here. It was just so unknown to us, even on our launch. at Inverloch, we had someone run their 100th parkrun on our launch. And the concept of someone when you're very new to parkrun, you've done two or three parkruns and you're standing up as a run director and someone says, I've done 100. Yeah. Oh, my God. How do you ever get around to doing 100 parkruns?

00:08:47Lyndell Murray: Yeah, now look at you now talk.

00:08:49Tony O'Connell: Yeah. Now people, everyone you talk to seems to have done a couple of hundred. Yeah. We travel in a different bubble to what I did back then.

00:08:59Lyndell Murray: Yeah, for sure. And parkrun's come a long way.

00:09:01Tony O'Connell: It has. And I've also got to remember in context, my first one was in 2014. So everyone's had a fair chance to run a few extra parkruns since. all righty our news segment i think it's time for us to move to news i guess i'll kick it off and anzac day there's been a little chit chat around whether we'll be doing parkruns on anzac day we've covered this a couple of times and i just want to refresh that many events will be unable to run on anzac day during proximity to cemeteries and other anzac day commemorations but there's a lot of parkruns that will be going ahead And that's been a little bit of a joint collaboration. parkrun Australia have a long-standing relationship or partnership with Invictus, known as Team Veteran. You quite often see the Team Veteran shirts at parkrun. And through this relationship, this is some words that parkrun put out, we know how important the parkrun routine is for thousands of veterans and their families and supporters on Saturday mornings. And we're working closely with Invictus to promote parkrun as an opportunity to be active and social on Anzac Day. So... Probably the takeaway is have a good look at your cancellations page locally. Have a look at the map on the app. It shows events that are not going ahead. Don't just turn up at your parkrun and expect it's going ahead. There's several that aren't going ahead because a lot of the event teams are heavily involved in the Anzac Day celebration. So they're just not available. So make sure you have a good look.

parkrun news bulletin

00:10:31Lyndell Murray: Yeah, looking around my local area, It seems like there are a lot of Brisbane events that are going ahead, but a lot of them have posted with that sentiment of celebrating belonging and community and being social and active. I noticed that Bunyaville and Sandgate parkruns have also indicated that they'll take a moment to pay respects, and they're both encouraging parkrunners to go to local dawn services as well. So more and more will obviously declare their hand later in the week as to whether they're on or off, but it's always a really good shout

00:11:02Tony O'Connell: top to check the cancellations page for that official notice it is yep and i know certainly as rd last week i spoke to one of our local rsl members just before parkrun and we certainly promoted that it'd be great to get along to the dawn service and then later on to the actual anzac day march and parade in the town you know it's something that's well worth remembering

00:11:27Lyndell Murray: For sure. All right. In other news, we've noticed a late-breaking announcement on some of the global parkrun Facebook pages. parkrun Ireland has announced a national campaign called Care for the Places We parkrun. Now, there's not a lot of detail on this. They're kind of teasing it for a bigger announcement later this week, I think. But the whole idea is to celebrate parkrun Ireland's commitment to protecting the natural environment where our parkrun events occur. And that's a really nice sentiment, isn't it, Toc? We parkrun in some beautiful places. I'll be really interested to see what that official announcement is. But even just from that announcement, you know, you can really take a lot from that about just looking at the places that we park on, maybe picking up some rubbish, reporting anything that's broken to the local council for fixing. What do you think, Toc?

00:12:22Tony O'Connell: While it was a parkrun Ireland post, I thought it's something that we really can apply to our local events. And as you said, even if it's just picking up a little bit, you know, a couple of pieces of rubbish. I know there's a few parkruns that do some maintenance along the tracks and trails that they go along. They mow them. They... It's not just for parkrun. It's for the the community use as well So I guess take a look around your local parkrun and see if there is something that you can do to help out Even just make the place look a little bit better Fortunately parkrun is one of the events where we don't tend to leave a lot of rubbish but we quite often run through parks and that where there is a bit of rubbish and that from other other park users and And, yeah, I'd like to think that we keep it clean. I know at Inverloch we certainly do a bit of a pick-up fairly regularly, and we actually keep the trees pruned back, and we actually give the finish area a mow every couple of weeks ourselves. So, yeah, just have a look around your local parkrun and just see if there is anything you can do. Without going too far, don't go chopping any trees down or anything like that. We're certainly not condoning that. Yeah.

00:13:29Lyndell Murray: Yeah, not every parkrun needs a stump top.

00:13:34Tony O'Connell: Oh, come on, Linda. Everyone needs a stump. We've seen some classic examples of stumps from all around the world on parkrun adventures. Rightio, I think it's time for us to kick in and have a look at some stats, Linda. I'll kick off and I'm going to talk about parkrun New Zealand. And once again, these stats have come to us from our friend from over the ditch, Alison. We have on the 11th of April in New Zealand, there were 67 parkruns. There was 13,456 parkrunners and 1,126 volunteers. There were three events that really smashed their attendance records and they were East End, Invercargill and Lower Hutt. And I'm really happy to see Invercargill there because the park that Invercargill ran in Got absolutely hammered in a storm. They set up a temporary location. They ran along the bank of a canal for a couple of months while the shire actually cleaned up the park. The park is a beautiful, beautiful park. But so many trees come down. It took a month to clean up. They're back on deck and setting attendance records. So really happy to see that. On the 11th, the biggest parkruns, surprisingly, in New Zealand were Hagley, and the smallest was East Otago High School, and New Zealand published a list of their average number of parkrunners per event, and... On the 11th, Gordon Spratt was the closest. On the 18th of April in New Zealand, there was also 67 parkruns, with one new parkrun, but one cancellation. 12,226 parkrunners and 1,158 volunteers. The biggest was once again Hagley. Hagley had 1,007, and I think that might have been even bigger than any of the Australian ones for the week. Hagley's just going through the roof. The smallest was Mangawiro River Walk and Broad Park was our closest average parkrun for the week.

Weekly stats (Australia and New Zealand)

00:15:30Lyndell Murray: And the Australian stats from Saturday the 18th of April, there were 89,460 participants, 6,794 volunteers at 530 events. Of those participants, 4,079 were first-timers and there were four events that set attendance records. That same weekend we conducted five events for the juniors where 687 Little Legends were assisted by 105 volunteers. The smallest parkruns that week were Railway Park in Queensland with one only unknown runner. I don't know whether they were the tail walker or not. Second smallest was Pyramid Hill Golf Trail in Victoria with seven and Mora in Western Australia and Waterloo Plains in Queensland both had eight.

00:16:25Tony O'Connell: It'd be interesting to look deeper into those stats for Railway Park. Unfortunately, with unknowns now in the parkrun stats, they don't come up with a time. So you can't actually tell whether they completed the course or not, but they're listed as a finisher just as an unknown. So I'm assuming it was their tail walker.

00:16:42Lyndell Murray: Great intel.

00:16:45Tony O'Connell: Great guessing. Absolutely no basis for knowledge. Just having a quick look around the world, Poland actually set a country attendance record last week. And one of the parkruns probably responsible for a large part of the jump was Trezor in near Gdansk. They had 2,055 people, and that's a massive jump. They are a big parkrun. They seem to average somewhere around the 500 each week anyway. You know, obviously as colder months, they're around 200 to 300. warmer months are a bit bigger but this time of the year each year I noticed a bit of a trend they had 1600 last year and it's because the Gdansk marathon was on Sunday so it was one of those events that attracted a lot of people because they had a marathon nearby interestingly there's a couple of other parkruns in the area closer to Gdansk that didn't get a big spike so I'm not sure what in particular attracts people to that particular parkrun but they had a fairly big spike of 2055.

00:17:52Lyndell Murray: That is fascinating. Maybe people want the G. Maybe, who knows? Maybe they promote themselves.

00:18:03Tony O'Connell: parkrun friendly.

00:18:04Lyndell Murray: parkrun friendly. Okay, Tok, how about we head over and listen to our roving reports? And you will hear from me here, including my visit to Park Lakes Wetlands up on the Sunshine Coast. G'day parkrun Adventurers, it's Lyndell and today I'm on the lands of the Gubbi Gubbi people north of Brisbane up at Bli Bli but we don't call the parkrun here Bli Bli. I'm going to hand over to Michael to introduce himself and this new parkrun in Queensland.

Roving Adventurers (roving reporter crossovers)

00:18:15[background music]

00:18:43Michael - Parklakes Wetlands parkrun founder/ED: Yes, so I'm Michael, I started the parkrun here at Park Lakes Wetlands parkrun, we've called it. So yeah, mouthful.

00:18:51Lyndell Murray: It is a bit of a mouthful and I'm a bit tired today. So now, Michael, tell me about this park fund that's been going for just a handful of weeks.

00:19:02Michael - Parklakes Wetlands parkrun founder/ED: Yes, it's week number six this week. Everyone's loving it. We're here at the wetlands. We do a short run out and then we do four laps around the lake. People get a bit confused with four laps. Some people do five, some do three, but most people are getting it right with four laps. And then we run back through the wetlands and finish in the Perrin Family Park here. So yeah, everyone's loving it so far. Yeah, it's been going really good.

00:19:26Lyndell Murray: Nice one. It is a lovely course. As you said, it's four laps. Very treed course. The parklands here are well established. So there's lots of trees, lots of bird life. It's a really pretty location.

00:19:37Michael - Parklakes Wetlands parkrun founder/ED: Yeah, it is. And it is well established now. The wetlands part's been here forever, and then around the lake we run, it's a man-made lake that they made for the housing development. So those plants have been there about 15 years now, I believe. So it's all really mature and lots of shade. So it's good in summer, nice and shady, and flat, of course, nice and fast.

00:19:56Lyndell Murray: Brilliant. And now the newest parkrun on the Sunshine Coast. Tell us a little bit about getting this parkrun going and the support that you've had from the community.

00:20:07Michael - Parklakes Wetlands parkrun founder/ED: Yeah, so getting a new parkrun going, it's a bit of a challenge. It took probably about 14 months from when I had the idea and then to actually finish it. So the first challenge is finding a suitable 5K course with no driveways or road crossings. I spoke to the local school, Good Samaritan School, and they were really excited and we had a course starting from there. But unfortunately, the council wasn't as excited about that course, so... Then we had to come find another course and we found this one, which has worked out to be really good. It does have some limitations. We don't have toilets or a lot of car parking, but we do have toilets nearby at the local cafe. They've been really supportive. If you come do parkrun, you go there afterwards, buy a breakfast menu item and you get a free coffee. So that's great. And to get a new parkrun going is the only time you ever have to pay money to parkrun. So it was $7,500 we had to raise. So once I started doing this, it was a bit slow to get traction because I was just Michael, just going around businesses asking for money and you can't offer them sponsorship as part of the rule. So it's just a one-off donation and they get little acknowledgement for it in return. So it's a bit of a hard sell. But once I spoke to, there was a couple of people in the community, Cameron Hackenberg, the local real estate agent from Ray White, and Mark Cowie from Jets Gym. Once I got them on board, they're really well known in the community, and then it really got traction from there. And we'd done a boot camp fundraiser, and the local community association got on board, Bendigo Bank, and the local council gave us a $2,000 grant out of the community grants plan they've got as well. So once I got a couple of people like Mark and Cameron on board it really got traction and the community fell in behind and we got the money and then got the course approved through council and now here we are.

00:22:06Lyndell Murray: So it's been a labour of love for a long time. Tell me about the boot camp, how did that go?

00:22:11Michael - Parklakes Wetlands parkrun founder/ED: Yeah the boot camp was pretty good. When we came up with the boot camp idea it was at the start of summer so we ended up doing the boot camp right in the middle of summer Because we didn't want to delay it because we just wanted to get the money raised. So it was a very hot day. We had 50 people come. It was by donation. So some people donated $1 and some people donated $100. And we were able to raise $2,500 through the boot camp. And yes, it was very hot and hard work. And then after the boot camp... We went to the local cafe afterwards for some much-needed beers, and they donated the proceeds of the beers for the afternoon as well. So that raised another $500. So it was a very successful evening there, and that was where the community came on board.

00:22:58Lyndell Murray: Brilliant. Now, tell me a little bit about yourself, Michael, your history with parkrun. How did you get involved?

00:23:04Michael - Parklakes Wetlands parkrun founder/ED: So back in about 2011, my wife joined a running, like a 10-week running program thing at the gym. And a part of that was they had to go to parkrun at Kiwana. And it had only been going for a few weeks. It was the first parkrun on the Sunshine Case. Nobody knew what it was. And I got dragged along to there. And my wife used to drag me to parkrun every Saturday for years. And then when she got pregnant, she stopped going. And I've kept on going. And I've nearly got 300 runs now and close to 100 volunteers. And, yeah, I've just made parkrun. It's just my Saturday morning now. I love it.

00:23:41Lyndell Murray: You've made plenty of friends and community.

00:23:43Michael - Parklakes Wetlands parkrun founder/ED: Yeah, absolutely. I've made some really good friends. And, yeah, it's been good. It's probably the thing I look forward to the most. I honestly don't know where I'd be without parkrun because I wouldn't be fit and healthy like I am. I'd be probably overweight and depressed and, yeah.

00:23:58Lyndell Murray: And having too many beers.

00:23:59Michael - Parklakes Wetlands parkrun founder/ED: And having too many beers, yeah. My life would be a lot different without parkrun, I reckon. I know a lot of people say that, but when you think about it, it's probably the case. And then from doing a 5K... fun run every week. Then you get talked into doing a 10K and a 21. And I've done 50K ultras and stuff now, which I would have never even thought of doing without the base fitness of parkrun and the community. Because when you want to go do the training, Now you meet like-minded people through parkrun to do training through the week.

00:24:29Lyndell Murray: Makes it a little bit easier, doesn't it?

00:24:30Michael - Parklakes Wetlands parkrun founder/ED: Yeah, absolutely. And when you're not very disciplined like myself, I really need that training buddy to say, come on, it's Tuesday, we're going for a run. So, yeah, it truly has been, I don't know if life changing, but definitely shaped the way I do things now. Yeah, it's been good.

00:24:49Lyndell Murray: That's wonderful. And now you've had the opportunity to do that for others through starting this parkrun here. Is there anything else that you would like the adventurers to know about, let me see if I can get this right, Parklakes Wetlands parkrun at Bli Bli?

00:25:06Michael - Parklakes Wetlands parkrun founder/ED: Other than it's the best parkrun in South East Queensland, maybe even the world. No, I think we've covered most things. When you come, make sure you go to the toilet first. There is a toilet one k away at the cafe. And Little Sprouts Early Learning Centre is another local community group or business that got on board. We're allowed to use their car park. So, yeah, if you look up Little Sprouts Early Learning and park there and then walk next door to the parkrun, it's an easier way to find it on Google Maps too because Google Maps sends some people to a random place. Yes. So, yeah, if you look up Little Sprouts Early Learning Centre, blah, blah, park there. That's the way to go.

00:25:42Lyndell Murray: Brilliant. Well, thank you so much for spending the time with me this morning. Thank you for your commitment and getting those people on board to get this parkrun started. And thank you for everything that you will continue to do for parkrun and your community, Michael.

00:25:56Michael - Parklakes Wetlands parkrun founder/ED: No worries. And yeah, thanks to everyone for coming along and making parkrun what it is. Without everyone, all the volunteers and runners, it'd be nothing. So thank you.

00:26:08Ali Sheppard: G'day parkrun adventurers, Ali from the UK here and I am currently in Yorkshire with Amanda Murray-Hynde. Hi, Amanda!. G'day commas! And we are in the sunny town of Ilkley and we have just completed East Holmes Field parkrun. Indeed. Which is four laps, would you like to describe the course?

00:26:32Amanda Murray-Hynde: Well, for Yorkshire, it's absolutely pancake flat. Yay! It does give you a small little bit to remind it is Yorkshire by having some fantastic tree roots on the course right next to the River Wharfe. So, you know, you don't get away scot-free.

00:26:50Ali Sheppard: So we're going to do a little bit of a different roving report today because not only am I here with Amanda, but I'm also here with an orange being with wings who is known to everyone as the parkrun Weather Fairy. Now, I'm reliably informed that the weather fairy doesn't ever speak. So it's going to be an interesting one for an audio format. She's nodding. Amanda is going to translate what the weather fairy says. And for those that don't know about the weather fairies, there are a number of weather fairies globally. And if it's raining on a Saturday, on parkrun day, you can send a wish to the parkrun weather fairies and they will do their magic and stop the rain at nine o'clock or whatever time your parkrun starts. If they deem you worthy. Yes, if they deem you worthy. And I'm assuming the Australian parkrun weather fairies would stop the rain at eight o'clock or seven o'clock on whatever time.

00:27:42[crosstalk]

00:27:53Amanda Murray-Hynde: Or maybe give them more rain if they need it. At certain times of year.

00:27:55[crosstalk]

00:27:57Ali Sheppard: Exactly, exactly. So why are we talking about the parkrun Weather Ferry? Well, Amanda and the parkrun Weather Ferry are going to be running the London Marathon. And they're going to be doing it to raise money for parkrun Global. So Amanda, tell us all about this. How did this all start?

00:28:21Amanda Murray-Hynde: Well, parkrun. Yep. A few months ago now, way back when, middle of last year, put out a subtle little request of, would you like to run the London Marathon? Of course, everyone in the world said yes. Yes. For parkrun Global. And we all know that parkrun Global, well... We know, but does everyone know, parkrun Global is the charity that seeks to raise money to put parkrun, that we all know and love, grassroots sport for whatever age you are, in places that might perhaps not readily have available sport facilities for people who might not be able to afford to buy or pay in to have their own sport facilities. So as people have got an opportunity to do some exercise, for free really forever for everyone regardless of age you know and ability um so i was like absolutely parkrun's given so much to me and look at my beautiful parkrun family that's given me including you ali and lovely talk and the adventurers and everyone else amazing and i can see other friends and family of mine yes busy putting my cake stall away as we speak so i feel a bit lazy sorry but this is important um so There was just one little post saying, would you like to run the London Marathon for parkrun Global? I was like, absolutely, yes. So I clicked on the link and it went, tell us about yourself. And I was like, oh, no. I know it's hard to believe this being my second interview for Roving Report for the Adventurers. But I absolutely cringe talking about myself. Talking about parkrun and my friends, absolutely fine. But when it's about myself, yuck. So I had to think long and hard and do like 15 versions of, does that sound awful? Probably. And in the end, just cringe and press the button. It was, tell us about yourself, what parkrun means to you, and how would you raise money for parkrun? So I filled it all out. I sent it. It still to this day makes me cringe reading it back. Awful. And so then the waiting, and I don't know if anyone knows, waiting is, I had to just try and forget about it. And then so many people were encouraging. But then it gets to a point where you think other people have heard and I haven't. Yeah, but you got a place. I got a phone call whilst I was at work. Oh, wow. So I worked for the NHS and I was in a meeting being all serious. And I got a phone call and I saw it was Ben from parkrun. And so I went outside and I had to squeal really loudly in the park and get all the excitement out and then go back and be really serious at work. So I got a place over a thousand, twelve thousand people applied. And I'm one of 12 people who've got a place. I'm so honoured. That is amazing. And when you look at where they all live, I am representing the whole of Yorkshire and the Humber. So I'm Yorkshire girl. That is amazing. So still just can't believe it. And it's 22 days away. So amazing. And how's the training going? Yes, I did myself a 30-week plan because I injured myself on the first lap of E24, which is in draw 24 last year. So I did a 30-week plan to ease myself in, do amazing, you know, gentle strength training, running.

00:31:38Ali Sheppard: you know lost three stone in weight route like in the last year and a half so it's a lot easier than it has been for you know other marathons so it's felt really good and I think you said before that um I think the hardest part was not the training for the run but actually the fundraising because absolutely you've had to raise three thousand pounds yes and you've come up with some really novel ideas to raise this one of which is the parkrun weather fairy yeah You've been going around. You two have been going around. The weather fairy is nodding as we speak. She's jiggling about, doing crazy shapes. Adventurers, you can't see her, but we will send in a photo of the parkrun weather fairy so you can see what we're talking about, the orange apricot. Apricot, absolutely. Apricot, sorry, not orange. Delight that is the parkrun weather fairy. So you come up with this brilliant idea, which is you've been going around to parkruns in the UK, wherever, and you have a QR code.

00:31:53[crosstalk]

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00:32:31[crosstalk]

00:32:33Amanda Murray-Hynde: And Germany I went to.

00:32:35Ali Sheppard: I can see it says love parkrun. yeah um and help keep it free for everyone forever and parkrun weather fairy has the same uh qr code but has says i am the weather fairy yeah if you love parkrun scan here to donate and i will work my magic for you so yeah um guys if you've got a special milestone coming up if you've got um it doesn't matter the marathon's in three weeks time because i i'm sure you can take donations afterwards as well if it isn't published by that time. But if you've got a special milestone parkrun coming up, wherever it is, if it's on the beaches, if it's on, you know, wherever, even in the greater state, and they've got a wonderful parkrun coming up and you want the weather to be good for it, then just pop in a few. We are here for you. not pounds but popping um um dollars dollars yes i was just thinking then australian dollars that's australian dollars into uh and on the qr code or you can find them on um facebook um there's a facebook page called amanda and the parkrun weather fairy and the marathon itself is in 22 days time

00:33:09[crosstalk]

00:33:14[crosstalk]

00:33:26[crosstalk]

00:33:44[crosstalk]

00:33:44Amanda Murray-Hynde: 22 days time.

00:33:45Ali Sheppard: We're not worrying about that. We'll be looking out for you on the telly. This is what I'll be wearing. In your bright apricot and purple. And I will have. And she will have a bright pink hat. And that will match my hair. So we'll be looking out for you on the telly. Beautiful. And all the very best. Thank you so much. Really, really good luck. And good luck, parkrun Weather Fairy, who is also going to be running. She's doing love heart signs.

00:34:12[crosstalk]

00:34:14Amanda Murray-Hynde: Because we are running on the love of you guys, our parkrun family. Thank you so much. That's brilliant. Thank you.

00:34:15[background music]

00:34:17[crosstalk]

00:34:20Ali Sheppard: That's a wrap. Bye, love. Bye.

00:34:27Tony O'Connell: rightio coming back from our roving reports and it was great to hear from you lindell up at park lakes wetlands talking to michael seemed like a really nice guy like a lot of our rds and eds are but i like the way he's talking about it being a potential three four or five lapper depending on how good your counting skills were i know in those multi lappers they can get a little bit confusing and he had some pretty good insights about how to set up a new parkrunner and and what's actually involved. It's not just a matter of finding a patch of dirt and putting a flag in the ground. There's a lot of processing behind it. And we also heard from Ali Sheppard from East Holmes Field. Ali sent us a message in, and she'd recorded the interview with Amanda Murray-Hynde and a silent, mythical being known as the parkrun Weather Fairy, of whom you can make a donation to plea for better weather. Amanda and the Weather Fairy responded were selected as a part of a dozen parkrunners that are going to run in the London Marathon, and they're raising funds for Global parkrun. So a great little thing. On a side note, they put some really great photos into the article. I'd hate to run in that weather fairy suit. That's one even I don't know if I'm going to tackle. But I did meet Amanda, and it was a great catch-up at Cargazoon three years ago when I was over in the Netherlands. And I... Obviously, we've met Ali before at Palm. And fun fact, I look like I'm going to catch up with Ali Sheppard in a couple of weeks' time. So more on that later.

00:35:57Lyndell Murray: Absolutely. All right. I think it's time to head in for a cuppa at Daz's. On the 11th of April, Daz has said, Daz is very excited because apparently... It's cheese fondue day. We're not sure that that justifies the velvet bell bottoms he's got on, but come in, place your orders, and tell us all about your parkrun morning. And we had a whole bunch of replies.

Dazza's

00:36:23Tony O'Connell: And we're going to kick off with Yvette Turner. And Yvette said, Hello, Dazza. I'd love a cheese fondue followed by a chocolate fondue. And I would probably just skip the cheese and go straight to the chocolate. I love both, but anything with chocolate's a good thing. Today was a special day as I celebrated my 300th parkrun. Coincidentally, my friend Tricia celebrated her 150th parkrun and new friend Jodie celebrated her 50th parkrun. We had a lovely group of friends join us at Burley Griffin parkrun and we had a delicious breakfast in Yarralumba afterwards. I got a coarse PB and was lucky enough to get a position bingo too. Only six of those to go, these are hard to get. And there was a picture of Yvette with a 300 parkrun sign flanked by the backs of other parkrunners wearing a 250 and a 50 milestone shirt. So congrats, Yvette, on your unofficial arbitrary milestone.

00:37:15Lyndell Murray: On to our very own David Bravos. We like to say cheese and fondue parkrun. Chloe and I finished our alphabets at the best F in parkrun around, Frog Hollow. We spent the entire 5Ks talking to Rosemary, who's only parkrun outside of Victoria, was when she did our local, Aveley. We dodged a bullet when we flew in yesterday as our baggage had decided to adventure separately to us, but luckily our shirts and sneakers arrived late last night. David, congratulations to you and Chloe, our newest Alphabeteers, and how serendipitous to be chatting to Rosemary. The picture that David posted is of him and Chloe with the event core flute and a big stuffed frog. Now, Tok, Frog Hollow is in your neck of the woods. Do you know anything about this giant frog?

00:38:05Tony O'Connell: Oh, look, the only thing I know about it is that you run basically around some wetlands and being called Frog Hollow, yeah, the frog's a bit of a mascot there. Yeah, they've just found a big frog. Yep, yep. Rightio, I'm going to head across to WA and Gareth Arnold wrote in. Enjoy your cheese indeed Dazza. Tried something different this weekend by chancing the adventure that is navigating to parkrun using only public transport. Missed the train, got very sweaty indeed making up the time from the nearest station to Bibra Lake parkrun. Very grateful indeed for the water Athlete's Foot were handing out at the finish line. Decided to try a different station for the return trip and got slightly turned around indeed on streets previously unvisited. Did I have fun? Indeed I did. And Gareth's picture was a selfie in front of what must be Bibra Lake, I guess, and it looks like a very pretty parkrun, Lyndell.

00:39:02Lyndell Murray: Sure does. Okay, lastly we have Jan Yates. Jan was excited to get another flag today at Amsterdam Boss parkrun and loved the big cheese to collect the tokens. Jan posted emojis of the Dutch flag. cheese and a purple heart and she posted a selfie with the event pop-up and a picture of the events token container now this is where the cheese comes in the receptacle they have is this very big round yellow container with a parkrun logo and a hole in the top that you put your token in it looks like a big wheel of cheese so how cool is that it was a cool photo that jan posted perfect for cheese fondue day

00:39:46Tony O'Connell: Perfect. As I said, now we just need a chocolate one as well. Righty-o. Moving on to the 18th and Dazza surprisingly was open for yet another Saturday. On the 18th, Dazza said, it's World Circus Day. And we had a couple of emojis of some clowns. Did you juggle things to make it to parkrun today? Horse around on course? Eat fairy floss for breakfast? Grab a ticket, take a seat, let the show begin. Take on the ringmaster's role and tell us about your...

00:40:18Lyndell Murray: So, we heard from Sarah Jefferson, our very own, And she was at the beaches in New South Wales. Sarah said, Hey Dazza, we did have a bit of a juggle this morning with some high tides at the beaches, but we managed to jump over the waves and twirl past the photographer. Lovely morning, but my calves will be calling out tomorrow, I'm sure. What a unique parkrun, we loved it. A truly Aussie experience for sure and my first barefoot parkrun. And Sarah posted a picture of her, Matt and Hadley with Tanya and James Coulthard on the sand with a stunning blue sky and the beaches pop up.

00:40:55Tony O'Connell: Rightio, heading down to Tasmania and we have Leanne Evans who has come to us surprisingly from Cape Reed, Parkrum. Juggling a new cat, two greyhounds and two visiting Kiwis. But we arrived at Parkrum with time to spare. Martin Harrop was introduced to a true... trail experience cape reed parkrun post parkrun coffees were juggled as we headed to a bus depot to farewell our kiwi friend and leanne shared a picture of herself and martin in the selfie frame and i've met martin before martin's one of the ambassadors from over in new zealand he's a really nice bloke

00:41:31Lyndell Murray: Brilliant. Next we heard from Roberta Winters who was at Waggie Bridge in ACT. This morning I was surrounded by these clowns as I completed my 250th parkrun at Waggie Bridge in Canberra. We had a few more join us and we broke the attendance record for this parkrun for a non-special day and she's posted four clown emojis. Sounds like those four clowns are not enough because the photo is of Roberta and a big contingent of her mates At Waggie Bridge. So we had plenty of other people also posting in Daz's this week from Waggie Bridge. And if that was you, just take note. I think Roberta might be inferring that you're a clown.

00:42:12Tony O'Connell: And we've got a lot of inferring on our next one as well. This one comes to us from the UK. And Ali Shepard. Ali, Ali, Ali. Ali came to us from Cockermouth parkrun, and her comment was, Any suggestion that I did event 69 at Cockermouth Greenway parkrun for the Rude Challenge will be strongly refuted. And a very laughy emoji. Ali's pictured with the Cockermouth Greenway pop-up, and I saw some other pictures of Ali pulling some faces as well there. So, yeah, welcome aboard, Ali.

00:42:47Lyndell Murray: Well done, Ali. Next, we heard from Gemma Kajewski, who was at Gatton in Queensland. Now, Gemma has written us a little poem, so I'm going to give it my best crack. Here we go. It was to Gatton parkrun we travelled this morn. Long drives for some, they'd left home at dawn. World Circus Day it was meant to have been, but not one circus tent or elephant was seen. Just field after field of lush, lush green, run, jog or simply walk and talk. Have fun at parkrun is written in chalk. We enjoy the course three laps of the lake as adventurers owe what great friends we make. Now our frond is swaying and I'm just saying let's head to the cafe to enjoy our weekly treat of park faff. Gemma says well her rhyming skills are of no avail as a poet. I'm sure I'd likely fail. I don't know about that Gemma, that wasn't too bad. So Gemma has posted a group photo of her and her friends with the lake at Gatton parkrun in the background. Congratulations Gemma on your 500, which she talks about in the rest of her description here. The course is great. It's three laps of the beautiful Lake Apex. Not only was it her 500th parkrun, but it was also her 100th volunteer credit. So to top it off, it was also her 200th different parkrun location. So big props to you, Gemma. Congratulations.

00:44:15Tony O'Connell: Yeah, Gemma managed to get all the things lined up there. And with Carmel Roll also coming in from Gatton into Dazzles, we've had a bit of a crowd from both there and Waggie Beach this week. Waggie Bridge, not Waggie Beach. A completely different place. Rightio. I'm going to go up to a beach, to Burram Headlands in Queensland. And Katie Clues has come in to us and said, Burram Heads Beach parkrun as RD today. Stunning sunrise. And it's a stunning photo of Katie with the sunrise exploding out of the top of her head. Worth going back into Daz's and having a look at that one.

00:44:55Lyndell Murray: Sure is. It's a really nice photo.

the Obi Award — Roberta Winters

00:44:57Tony O'Connell: Rightio. Out of all that, Lyndell, I think we've got to pick a Obie. And I notice the other two have gone new school with their electronic Obies, but I'm still the old bloke with the paper. I still like emails. And I've got the envelope here. So I'm going to open it up. I'll give myself a bit of a drumroll. And the Obie this week goes to Roberta Winters. Well done, Roberta.

00:45:27Lyndell Murray: Well done, Roberta. And remember, if we've given you a shout-out in Daz's today, send us an email or comment on the post in Facebook so that we know that you're a listener.

Emails (You've got mail)

00:45:36Tony O'Connell: Now, emails.

00:45:38Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III (Club Corner persona; real name not stated): You've got mail.

00:45:39Tony O'Connell: We have just one email for the last fortnight. Bit of a sad face from Tok. But anyway, we got one. The one says, Cooee Adventurers. Oh no, it's just dawned on me, as I'm getting ready to leave for parkrun, that I may have done myself out of Palm next year. As it was selling out, I spontaneously paid for an early trip to Japan from late March to mid-April. Now I wait with eager anticipation for the Palm 2027 announcement. What have I done? Oh, woe is me. Woe is me. Fingers and toes crossed. It works out. Hope to see you soon. Cheers, Lee. A467161.

00:46:21Lyndell Murray: That sounds like a bit of a dilemma for you, Lee. Regarding Palm 27, you're going to have to wait a little bit longer to know whether you're in luck or not because no dates or locations have been set yet. But stay tuned. All right, moving swiftly on. It's now time to throw to Reginald.

00:46:35[background music]

Club Corner

00:46:47Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III (Club Corner persona; real name not stated): This is Reginald Yardley-Pomfrey III, with Club Corner, where we talk about the what and why of parkrun clubs, and I am coming to you from Aranda country. As mentioned in Club Corner 95, there are alternate apps out there for people to use to track and view challenges and achievements, so here we go. You listened to me yabber about the Park Race app previously, this time I am talking about the Running Achievements app. The highlights for this app are large graphical displays, with loads of colored tick boxes, showing you where you're at, for that challenge in the app. This is particularly helpful for that most tricksome of achievements, the periodic table. The app will prioritize your attended events for you, giving you the best coverage. Another great feature is Australian states and territories, listed under region achievements. You can view all states and territories with a pie chart overlay on the badge, then click into that region and find out exactly which of what you have completed. Handy colors and ticks guide you. On the general achievements, this app gives credit to whom they believe is the person who coined that nomenclature. E.G. Mel Erbacher gets credit for the Pirates Club A.A.A.A.R.G.H. Mihati. Make that, argh Mihati. On the home screen there are a range of general achievements. Some might say, the vanilla achievements, and again they have nifty badges, and these are only the ones you have completed smiley face. The volunteer achievements have up to five levels, depending on how many occasions on which you have completed the task. There is some text informing you of your progress, X of Y, to get to the next level. The level is mirrored on the home screen badge with multiple chevrons displayed. On the home screen you can also click through, view more statistics, which displays your run count, average time, age category, achievement count open bracket from within this app close bracket. plus things like your PB, best finish position, most attended event, highest altitude, tourism percentage, volunteer ratio, and various indexes, floating, Wilson, PC, P and re! Then the final part in this display are your country flags. There is all this and more, so once again, one will now sign off and let you explore this app at your own leisure. Until next time, remember, in parkrun life, all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun, so stay tuned for our future club corners.

00:49:20Tony O'Connell: And another in-depth report from Reginald talking about the Running Achievements app. And I found it was a really nice nod on the Pirates Challenge that they have actually nominated Melissa Erbacher, who was the original podcast host, as being the creator of that challenge. So well done, Melissa.

00:49:39Lyndell Murray: Yeah, nice to hear that shout out for sure. All right, moving on to our Adventurers Consolidated Club report for Saturday the 18th of April.

Consolidated Club Report

00:49:49Amanda Murray-Hynde: We are at 899 members. Only one to go to our magical 900.

00:49:55Lyndell Murray: Just saying. But of our members, 640 took part on this date in 11 countries across 330 locations. So locally, there are adventurers at Victoria, 54 events. Queensland had 53 events. New South Wales with 47 events. Western Australia at 22 events. South Australia on 28. The ACT had nine. Tasmania, we had adventurers at nine events also. The Northern Territory, there were two. And the North Island of New Zealand had seven. And the South Island, two. Internationally, there are adventurers at 86 events in the UK, eight events in South Africa, four events in the USA, two events in Japan, and one adventurer in each of Austria, Germany, Ireland, Malaysia and Norway.

the Frond

00:50:55Tony O'Connell: Rightio, our largest international fronds. On the 11th of April, there was a Fronde 4 at 1 event, which was Highcliffe Beach in the UK, and that was Adrian Luscombe, Martin Waller, Ellie Soper and Christopher Myles. On the 18th of the 4th, we actually had our largest international frond was across in the USA. And that was at Jamaica Pond. That was a frond of four. That was Bill Troy, Carolyn Tuck, Paul Dempsey and Kay Antony. And I know Kate is an EA from Portland in Victoria in the greater state. I'm assuming she was over in Boston because the Boston Marathon was to be held on Monday the 20th. So the Boston Marathon is probably being held as we record with time zones. Jamaica Ponds attendance jumped from 188 last week to 569 this week. Once again, demonstrating that marathon effect.

00:51:51Lyndell Murray: Yeah, the marathon bump. Okay, over to our pilgrimage. And on the 11th of April, we had one adventurer, Angharad Callaghan at Bushy. And on the 18th, there were two, Orna O'Bairn and Alison Giblin.

Pilgrimage

00:52:09Tony O'Connell: Rightio, our largest Australian fronds. For the 11th of the 4th, there was a frond of 8 at one event, and that was Toowoomba in Queensland. That was Nicola Eklund, Christine Juno and Iman Vergara, Jamie Salmon, Delise Golding, M Nicholson and Linda Coombs. On the 18th of the 4th in Australia, the largest frond was surprisingly Waggie Bridge, where there was a frond of 17 people. And they were Irene Dalloway, Ian and Susan Brown, Sam and Luke Schroeder, Parf Bob and Canty, Heather Morgan, Chantelle Hosking, Sally Gutrez, Patrick Chimizek, Sue Gittens, Amanda Lake, Talia Mantini, Katie Guthrie, Stephen Cox, and of course, Roberta Winters. And once again, well done to Bertie on her 250th.

00:53:04Lyndell Murray: And remember, you can add the Adventurers Club as one of your five affiliations on your parkrun profile. And if you need a hand with that, just reach out and we'll be happy to help. Over to our launches. And on the 11th April, there were five launches. Firstly, Okanagan Rail Trail in Canada, where there were 94 finishes. And nine volunteers. And this is a lovely gravel out and back along the shoreline of Kalamalka Lake near Vernon in Canada.

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

00:53:35Tony O'Connell: Rightio. Lithuania also welcomed their fourth new event. For those alphabet hunters out there, it starts with a D. And according to the website, it translates as parkrun Big Carpenter. So the perfect one for a dumb builder. Read out. Ha ha. It's two laps of a lap with its own sandy beach, and they welcome 79 finishers and eight volunteers, with 50 of the 79 being first-time-ever parkruns. And that probably takes out our percentage for the week of about 60% fresh people that have never run a parkrun before.

00:54:08Lyndell Murray: Yeah, brilliant. Well done, Lithuania. For our next launch, we call in one of our external consultants. So we're going to throw over to Ali for the pronunciation.

00:54:19Ali Sheppard: Hope that helps.

00:54:25Lyndell Murray: So LPT parkrun in Wales is another out and back along a river. And they celebrated their launch with 133 finishers and 18 volunteers.

00:54:37Tony O'Connell: Radio heading up into the Nordics. We've got Flomvollen parkrun at Norway. It's just east of Oslo, so another one in that region, and it translates to Flooded parkrun. It's a two-lapper along the river flats, and they had 302 finishers and 25 volunteers.

00:54:55Lyndell Murray: Flooded parkrun. Check the cancellations list for that one. Lastly for that week was Wilton Lodge parkrun in the UK. It's the Scottish Borders town of Hawick that hosts this two-lap course. And there were 22 volunteers and 87 finishers. on the first ever running of Wilton Lodge parkrun.

00:55:20Tony O'Connell: Rightio, we're going to kick into this week because there was a heap of them this week. On the 18th, there were eight launches worldwide, but I've noticed the third week in a row with no launches in Australia. Come on Aussies, get acting to gear. We're going to start with Opeheke parkrun in New Zealand. It's a three-lapper of a sports ground located south of the Auckland airport, and they greeted 64 finishers and 13 volunteers at the launch of New Zealand's 68th parkrun.

00:55:49Lyndell Murray: heading over to South Africa to Beaver Creek parkrun. Now this parkrun is located on the eastern shore of South Africa near Port Edward and it's two laps through macadamia plantations. There were 89 first time ever parkruns in the 276 finishes and they were supported by 15 volunteers.

00:56:12Tony O'Connell: Rightio, Lyndell. I know that friend of the podcast, Sarah Jancher, is going to absolutely hate me for the way I pronounce this, but I'm going to have a crack and say Oppa Wiener, we're a parkrun in Germany, which is north of Cologne. It's an out and back with three laps of a park in the middle. And there were 128 finishers, 14 volunteers at their launch.

00:56:34Lyndell Murray: I reckon you did all right, Toc. I'll give you a pass mark. Sarah probably won't. Okay, we are back over to Canada in the Vancouver region. Matsui Trail Regional parkrun launched. There were 71 finishes, including 22 first-timers and six volunteers. And this is an out-and-back course along the Upper Dyke Trail.

00:56:57Tony O'Connell: Rightio, Linda, I've got probably the hardest parkrun of the week to read out next. I'm going to have a crack at this and see how I go. It's Green Park parkrun in the United Kingdom. See, it's not hard at all when you haven't tried it, is it?

00:57:09[crosstalk]

00:57:12Lyndell Murray: Just try.

00:57:14Tony O'Connell: Located in the Reading area west of London, Green Park welcomes 632 finishers with 39 volunteers. The course is one half laps on a hogging trail around a lake.

00:57:28Lyndell Murray: Ironically, though, Green Park is very easy to pronounce. I think that city is called Reading. Oops. Okay, staying in the UK, and we have Lady Mary's Walk. parkrun and this is in the Scottish town of Crieff and it's the second UK launch this week. It's a flat out and back along the River Earn and there were 162 finishers and 21 volunteers at the launch.

00:57:54Tony O'Connell: And Lyndell, I think you should reveal that you are doing that reading with an incredible handicap there because all I can see is a cat's tail in the vision. So you keep disappearing with this cat.

00:58:06Lyndell Murray: Yeah, Barry's come for a visit. I think she's convinced that my desk is her desk.

00:58:14Tony O'Connell: Welcome to the podcast. Rightio, skipping across back to Germany and Germany's second launch for the week and Berlin's newest parkrun, Tempelhofer Feld parkrun. This week had 290 finishers and 27 volunteers. It's just south of Berlin and all those people were flying around a disused airport. Part of the course runs along the former runway.

00:58:40Lyndell Murray: Oh wow, that's really cool. Lastly, Waverley Lakes parkrun in the UK launched just to the east of Sheffield. There were 432 runners on the two-lap course around the Waverley Lakes and 36 volunteers assisted in getting that parkrun up and running.

00:59:00Tony O'Connell: Some really great stats there. And yeah, a lot of parkruns coming online at the moment. 13 in two weeks. We had that bit of a lull that has been discussed. We had the Christmas break and then eight weeks later, it's very quiet. All of a sudden, 13 in two weeks. Who knows where we're going to head?

00:59:16Lyndell Murray: Yeah, hopefully there's a few more.

00:59:18Tony O'Connell: Rightio, Lyndell. It's come for the looking ahead segment. I'm really excited with this little bit because I'm going on a trip. Jackie and I are heading back over to Europe. I'm going to catch up with some of my friends. I'm really looking forward to catching up with Ellie and Pippa while I'm over there. going to catch up with them at a couple of parkruns. We're kicking off our little smash and grab tour with a University of Galway parkrun in Ireland on the 2nd of May. We were going to Inishmean, but they've actually cancelled for the day. I was looking forward to getting to the island, off-island that you've got to go to by ferry that starts at 11.30 because I was really tickled by the thought of finishing a parkrun after lunch on the Saturday. Oh, yeah.

Looking ahead

00:59:56[crosstalk]

01:00:05[crosstalk]

01:00:07Lyndell Murray: You could go straight to the pub then. Forget coffee, you could have a beer.

01:00:11Tony O'Connell: Well, I believe the island's that small that everyone just goes to the pub. If you want a coffee or a beer, that's where you go anyway. Yeah. Going to follow that up. We're actually very fortunate. We've got a couple of special days while we're over there. So we get to fit seven parkruns into four weeks.

01:00:27Lyndell Murray: Brilliant.

01:00:28Tony O'Connell: Away. So we go across to Poland, to Zolonia, into Finland for Pockinen parkrun up at Olu. Lithuania, we're going to Vingis, where we heard from Ali Shepard a couple of weeks ago. Zamek Malbork in Poland. We then head for the Netherlands for the Ascension Day. No, for the Wit Monday parkrun, the extra day. The Finland one is the Ascension Day. Waiting on declaration still, so not sure where we're heading there. And then one in Singapore on the way home. So got a jam-packed May, so I'm going to skip out. I'm not going to record with you over the May break or with Melissa. I'm going to skip out and enjoy a little bit of touristing.

01:01:11Lyndell Murray: Sounds like a fabulous trip, Toc, and you've done what we all want to do and go there when all the special days are on so you can get your most parkrun bang for your buck.

01:01:25Tony O'Connell: Well, if you're going to plan a holiday, Lyndell, you've got to look at those special days.

01:01:29Lyndell Murray: You sure do.

01:01:30Tony O'Connell: What about you, Lyndell? What are you looking forward to?

01:01:33Lyndell Murray: Well, not as much as you talk, but in the long weekend in May, I'll be headed to Jubilee parkrun in Tenderfield. For those of you who are following along at home, that will actually continue my tourist streak. It is still going.

01:01:47Tony O'Connell: And it's an exceptional tourist streak. I'm envious of anyone that could get even the thought of, what if they make it 112? That's just amazing numbers.

01:01:58Lyndell Murray: Something like that. Maybe not 100. Anyway, over 110.

01:02:00[crosstalk]

01:02:05Tony O'Connell: Well, let's see. There's only one number between 110 and 112. Let's see if I can get out my calculator and work it out.

01:02:09[crosstalk]

01:02:11Lyndell Murray: Get out your abacus again.

01:02:16Tony O'Connell: Rightio, Linda. What are you up to next parkrun Day? It's okay talking about the future, but what about this week?

01:02:22Lyndell Murray: Next parkrun day, I'm actually supporting a friend who is doing an overnight trek and finishing that at an Anzac Day dawn service. So she's trekking from the Brisbane CBD out to the Gap. So I'm intending to meet her there and I'm not sure that I will get to a parkrun after that.

01:02:40Tony O'Connell: Okay.

01:02:41Lyndell Murray: On the bench again.

01:02:43Tony O'Connell: On the bench again. It's one way of extending to a streak.

01:02:48Lyndell Murray: It's a good way to extend the streak.

01:02:52Tony O'Connell: And I think I'm going to head somewhere in Gippsland. I haven't decided where. I need to find somewhere with a bit of gravel so I can go for a run instead of walking a parkrun. I want to get out and have a bit of a run before we head off on our big trip. So it'll be somewhere in Gippsland, somewhere reasonably close to home. I might get out and meet up with one of my events or who knows. That's for later in the week to plan.

01:03:14Lyndell Murray: Absolutely.

01:03:16Tony O'Connell: Oh, yeah. Lyndell, it's been great chatting again. It's always fun. Always fun when you see the cat's tail in the screen.

01:03:23Unidentified speaker: Yeah.

01:03:25Tony O'Connell: And, yeah, look, enjoy your Anzac Day meeting your friend. Enjoy your parkruns after it. And, yeah, I probably won't catch up with you for a chat now for quite some time because I'm away for the whole of May. Yeah.

01:03:39Lyndell Murray: Well, I'll look forward to seeing your adventures and hopefully some roving reports while you're away and recording another pod in the future. But until then, as always, the listeners can contact us via parkrun Adventurers on Facebook or our email, especially for talk, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. And that's it for another episode. So we'll see you next time for more parkrun Adventurers. Bye. On to our very own David Bravos. And David said, we would like to say cheese and fondue parkrun. Chloe and I have finished our alphabets at the best F in the parkrun. Oh God, I'm going to have to start that. David, I'm sorry, I've buggered up your post. Can you edit this out? We'll start again. On to our very own David Bravos. We like to say cheese and fondue popcorn. Chloe and I finished our alphabets at the best F in... Best F in park... Oh, God. Here's those bloopers that some of the listeners were after.

01:04:00[outro theme playing]

Bloopers

01:04:55[outro theme playing]