Episode 453 - Half Way There

Episode details · 156 speaker turns · sound cues from audio analysis

00:00:00[intro theme playing]

00:00:29Sarah Jefferson: Welcome to episode 453 of the parkrun Adventurers podcast, a podcast about life if your life is all about parkrun. I'm Sarah Jefferson and I'm recording on the traditional lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people.

00:00:43Simon Mackley: And I'm Simon Mackley coming to you from Quandamooka country.

00:00:48Sarah Jefferson: Kui Simon.

00:00:50Simon Mackley: Kui Sarah.

00:00:51Sarah Jefferson: Simon, when this pod comes out, we will officially be halfway through 2026. How on earth did that happen?

00:01:01Simon Mackley: I don't know. It certainly feels like not that long ago that we were talking about being 100 days through the year and talking about our goals, but we are halfway through. Well, we will be by the time this pod comes out anyway.

00:01:12Sarah Jefferson: And so we have had the winter solstice here in the southern hemisphere in the last week. I did see some adventurous or eager people adventurers um actually got in a nudie swim did you join and partake in that simon not a chance not a chance at all is that a bit um bit cheeky of me i'm sure they had a bowl what about you did you get into the water wowsers I actually didn't even think about it on the day. I had a baby shower on that day. Didn't even think about it. However, I did get into the water three days later with a bikini on, but not quite on the solstice. But yeah, I'll tell you a little bit about my swim and where I did that a little bit later on huge kudos to those adventurers who did brave the cold waters name me it looked like in Canberra this year to tick off yeah tick off this swim very impressive oh I'm sure it would be near freezing that's for sure and maybe it was actually warmer in the water in Canberra I don't know I don't know that is not up my alley at all no no I know that one adventurer I think it's three years in a row that he's actually completed this so it can't be too bad if he keeps going back every year right okay

00:01:29[crosstalk]

00:02:34Simon Mackley: I only saw it on the news they did it in Hobart, and I was like, that must be very cold. You can actually see it anywhere else.

00:02:41Sarah Jefferson: Yeah. Yeah, I think it's the River Derwent, isn't it? Yeah. Hobart? Yeah. Anyway, let's kick off the show. Simon, where have you been parkrunning since we last spoke?

00:02:52Simon Mackley: Well, it's been a few weeks, obviously, so I am going to work backwards from where I went last weekend. So I headed back to New Farm. And when I was walking to the start, there was a beautiful sunrise and other people were taking photos of it as well. Fantastic running weather because it was nice and cooler for Queensland. And a whole lot of enthusiastic people and dogs. There was a couple of dogs that were really rearing to go while the run direct was doing the brief. So yeah, it was a bit of noise. On the 20th, I ventured not far from home and took advantage of an elusive Nelson number appearing at Wynnum parkrun. was holding its event 666. And to those who didn't know that we're in the crowd, there were a couple of oohs during the briefing when someone called that out. I caught up with listeners Mark, Mark and Alan. And from looking at the Consolidated Club report, there was another listener there as well. And I'm wondering who that could have been. It might have been Rasheen, but it could have been someone else as well. And the week prior to that, I returned to Minnippi for my third time there. It had rained a lot the week before leading into it. So I was a bit concerned that it would have to cancel. But apart from one big puddle, the course was great. Lots of people and buzz in the crowd. It was great to be amongst that crowd. And then the week before that, I was actually volunteering. So rounding out that four weeks, I was lucky enough to be handing out tokens at the Gold Coast's newest parkrun, Green Heart Rubina Parklands. And that was a sensational morning as well. It was as still as anything. yeah, some amazing photos taken that day. Weather was amazing, energy electric. I caught up with Peter Pohlman, which was very nice. And I also had a good chat with Mark, the ED, which is who Lyndell interviewed in the previous pod. And I found out also about his passion of birdwatching and photography. And I talked to some other twitchers who were out there just as motivated with birdwatching as they are at parkrunning.

00:04:48Sarah Jefferson: Wow. Well, that sounds like a

00:04:51Simon Mackley: a great month it sounds like you got to chat to lots of interesting people as well i'm a nice one snagging the 666 as well as getting to yeah the newest parkrun on the gold coast i had run rabina like previous to that so that was event five that i volunteered at and i think i must have gone to event three i think it might have been yeah met up with arthur and irene and roberta and Irene, who's Roberta's friend as well. So yeah, I've been to Robina twice actually in the last couple of weeks.

00:05:22Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, nice. Sounds like lots of fun.

00:05:24Simon Mackley: What about you? Where have you been and have you achieved something in that time? Hint, hint.

00:05:31Sarah Jefferson: So the past month, I ventured to Edinburgh Oval parkrun and Shelley parkruns, which has now moved my P index to 10. is exciting I visited Rockingham parkrun for my second time and it was such a fun morning down there but it was even more invigorating for my soul it was a fun morning down there but what was even more invigorating for my soul was the retreat that I attended that weekend so I did sneak out to attend parkrun which a few of the the women that were there were quite impressed with I did invite them but no one joined me of course but Simon I feel like I've always been a go-go-go kind of person and achieving things and running around. But I guess the season I'm in at the moment is really teaching me about the gold of slowing down. So in saying that, the weekend at the retreat was still really busy, but filled with activities at just the one location. All of our meals were catered for, and it was just so nice to find some time to slow down and, you know, just even breathe, right? So it was just a simple thing. But I don't know that we all remember to do that properly. My cup was filled that weekend. It was great to get in Rockingham parkrun that I hadn't, you know, been to for a number of years. But the past week I have been on a real adventure. I headed down to the southwest of Western Australia and spent three days hiking on the Cape to Cape track. So this track is 123 kilometres in distance and it actually connects Cape Naturalist Lighthouse in the north to Cape Lewin Lighthouse in the south. So this is where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Oceans join. So over the three days that we were down there, we hiked 56 kilometres on the track and we had the most glorious weather. We wouldn't have even thought it was winter, to be honest. We saw two beautiful shingleback lizards. We saw dolphins, whales. Can you believe there was actually a snake? Yes, a snake on the course. Thank goodness Matt was hiking in front. And I did tell you the The weather was nice because it is, yeah, it is winter in, obviously in Australia. There was a beautiful seagull nesting as well. So we had to stop because it's probably only, you know, two metres off the track. We were hiking on the beach. Like the course is insane. It is not an easy course at all. hiking on the beach, through the forest, clambering over rock, through some dunes. And yes, we did finish with a swim at the end of the trip. So day one, we did 18km. Day two, we did 26km, which is probably about five kilometres on the beach. And the bad weather was coming in. So we did combine two days on that day. And then the last day, we did 12km. Although the following morning, we did head into Margaret River to complete Margaret River parkrun. which is actually one of my favourite parkruns. So I know that everyone loves a bridge, Simon, and this one actually has two on course. And it is a trail. And what's not to love about being in the forest? You actually could be miles away from civilisation while you're on this course. The river, Margaret River, was even flowing after some overnight rain. So that was really lovely. We were actually really lucky in that we didn't have to do the winter diversion twice. Cape to Cape. Normally it's quite a bit of a diversion, but as of the weekend, the river is now flowing and it's connected to the ocean. So people can no longer do the proper course. So we were lucky with that. My legs are still a bit sore today as we're recording. I have one pretty big blister on my toe to remind me of what I did last week. But yeah, highly recommend anyone giving this a shot. If you love nature and you love hiking, it's certainly not an easy one, but it's great. And we need to obviously head back down to finished the track at some point. It's not uncommon for people to, I guess, do this in segments. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I had to come back for work today. So that kind of got in the way of doing it all in one go. But yeah, we've had a great adventure the past week.

00:09:36Simon Mackley: Amazing. Now, my question is, did Hadley go with you?

00:09:39Sarah Jefferson: So Hadley did come with us, but she didn't hike with us. So my mum now lives over in Western Australia. And we invited her down to stay with us, which was great. And it meant that she could have Hadley and have some bonding time, let's call it, during the day. So we did do some hiking in Japan and we hiked with her in the backpack. To be honest, it's so much easier, obviously, if we don't have to take her. Yeah, of course. Yeah, so we were very lucky. She didn't actually need to come on the track with us. Nice. Yeah, very lucky for mum helping out there, that's for sure.

00:10:12Simon Mackley: Yeah, no, amazing. That's really good. And yeah, and the weather sounds amazing. So that's, you guys have had some cold weather like in the weeks prior, haven't you?

00:10:21Sarah Jefferson: We did, maybe two weeks prior. It was really cold. I know that there's a few listeners who are in the UK and Victoria and Canberra and Tasmania, but we're talking like low single digits. And yeah, so that's cold for us. I mean, that's cold for anyone. We didn't get any minuses, of course, but yeah, we're really chilly today. So, yeah, we're really lucky. Couldn't believe it, actually.

00:10:44Simon Mackley: I guess it's like the UK doesn't really normally, and Europe as well, don't normally get these 41 degree days that they're getting at the moment. So, yeah, I guess it's a bit of, yeah, the other way, I guess.

00:10:57Sarah Jefferson: Yes.

00:10:58Simon Mackley: Yep. All right. We might go into some feedback from last fortnight's pod. We heard from Cherie Martin who shared, can I just say a massive thank you for this episode? I hit play at the 3K mark just as the sun crept over the horizon, and you kept me moving forward for the next 14Ks. The last five were tough after you'd finished, and there were no more distractions from the paint. But I kept going, just so I could write this post and tell you I got a PB. Woo-hoo! Congrats, Cherie, on your PB. Amazing work. We were pleased we were there with you when you achieved your 10-minute and 42-second PB at Hervey Bay Half Marathon Festival.

00:11:38Sarah Jefferson: Wow, what a cracking PB. Over 10 minutes. Well done on that. I guess that's one of the perks of having a few longer pods these days, right, Simon, is that, you know, you can go out for a longer run or, you know, you've got that longer commute to work. And, yeah, I guess you've got company for longer. I know that I enjoy this. Yeah, definitely. All right. We have a congratulations. So congrats to Oliver Spake or Ollie. one of our own previous pod hosts, who has just stepped down as the event director of his beloved Shell Harbour parkrun after seven years in this role. So this role began for him in August 2019. We know on the pod how much Ollie gives to his community and as he gave to us all for so very long. But in terms of volunteer numbers, he has volunteered a whopping 420 times. So huge kudos to Ollie. Yeah, and I guess his most popular role was being run director 159 times. So, for many of us, as we know, a lot of us and a lot of the adventurers are run directors or have been in this role at times. We know that this role isn't just one that is completed on the day. It's making sure that you have all of the volleys turning up, the vests are washed and ready, all the equipment's ready, things are organised, the course is clear and safe. So... you know, and also ensuring that everyone gets their time and their volley credits. So yeah, there was a beautiful assortment of photos on the Shell Harbour Facebook page of his dress-ups over the years. We know that Ollie loves a dress-up, don't we? And yeah, so go and check those out. Actually, I think we may have even shared this on our Adventurers page. So if you haven't seen them, go and check it out. Huge congrats on your service and all of the effort that you've put into the community and the parkrun community to make it a healthy and happier place. Holly. And Simon, we've actually got some audio from the field from Eman Vergara. So let's take a listen to that now.

00:13:35[background music]

00:13:47Eman Vergara: G'day parkrun adventurers, Eman here. Joining me is Olly Spake, who was the run director this morning at the beautiful Shell Harbour parkrun. Christine and I were grateful to have been able to run and walk the event this morning. Oli has recently stepped down as the event director of Shell Harbour, but he is still part of the event team and was the run director this morning. Now, Ollie, how was your morning today? Good morning, and thanks for having me. It was a bit of a wet morning, but it was still a special one.

00:14:26Oliver Spake: Yeah, as you say, it's a momentous occasion for me getting to step down, but to do so by undirecting was just a nice way of feeling like any other Saturday.

00:14:39Eman Vergara: Yeah, and the upcoming event director, Ian, was it? He had a real good spiel this morning talking about your statistics and how you've been such a great part of the Shell Harbour parkrun community. Now, this morning was a bit of a wet one, but parkrun has seemed to have been treated with a rainbow.

00:15:03Oliver Spake: Yeah, wasn't it nice? It was... It was a touch-and-go morning, but it really did look like it was going to be just as the rain would come through. But, yeah, we were thankfully gifted that rain by the whole way through the event, and it seemed to come out with a bit of sunshine at the end. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was a lovely morning for that fact, and obviously having some great company, having yourselves visit for the second time.

00:15:32Eman Vergara: Yep, yep. No, that was certainly a fun morning. First time for Christine being the trail walker.

00:15:37Oliver Spake: That's right.

00:15:38Eman Vergara: Yeah, so just having a look at the results, 66 participants this morning. I know we've featured Shell Harbour before, but for our new listeners to the pod, maybe a quick overview of the course. It is very scenic and beautiful.

00:15:51Oliver Spake: Well, thank you. It's been a while since I've had the pleasure of talking about Shell Harbour parkrun. So for anyone that hasn't enjoyed the course, we have a... I guess it's a two-directional out-and-back, and by that I mean we have an out-and-back in one direction and then returning past the start of an out-and-back in the other direction. Two wonderful hills, both grassy and a bit slippery in the wet with a little bit of mud. We did see a bit of mud on people today, but we've always enforced the location. We are in the Killalea State Park. Our original course saw us parkrun on the beach. We still get a beautiful view of that. And we see the light over the ocean. Sort of trying to break through the rain clouds on days like today. So, yeah, highly recommend it. But, of course, I buy it.

00:16:38Eman Vergara: Yeah, yeah. No, I certainly think that whilst it's a challenging course, definitely worth it for the scenery. So if you haven't checked out Shell Harbour parkrun, Definitely put it on your list. Now, in terms of just final question, I know we were chatting before, and your next parkrun adventure might be in Hobart. Is that right?

00:16:58Oliver Spake: That's right. Yeah, there have been few in Father Twain in recent years, as other family firefighters have taken the floor. But now that I will be still run directing on a rotating basis, I do look forward to getting back out there, and I've still been absolutely excited yeah, I don't know, excited. This will be year number five of going down to Hobart for the points and tentacles, so I need to find another parkrun to enjoy down in that direction when November rolls around.

00:17:29Eman Vergara: Yeah, definitely. I'd strongly recommend choosing a flat one on the Saturday to ease yourself up on the climb.

00:17:37Oliver Spake: Yes. Yeah, yeah.

00:17:39Eman Vergara: No, that's right. Well, thanks so much for taking the time, Ollie, and just giving us a bit of your perspective. Again, the community of Shell Harbour parkrun and parkrun adventures in general, thank you for your support and what you bring to the volunteering community as well. So we hope to catch up with you in our adventures, you know, over the coming years.

00:18:02Oliver Spake: Yeah, looking forward to it. Thanks, E-Man, and thanks, K-Girl, as well, for... For coming past and wishing you all the best on your adventures out there as well.

00:18:05[background music]

00:18:21Simon Mackley: It was really nice to hear Ollie's voice again. What a legacy that Ollie has at Shell Harbour.

00:18:29Sarah Jefferson: I agree. It was really nice to hear Ollie's voice. E-Man did say in his email that this was a practice run. before they head away on their parkrun world tour and that next time he will use a microphone. But we did still want to share the audio and bring that to the listeners. So thanks for bearing with us there.

parkrun news bulletin

00:18:48Simon Mackley: Next thing, this is not so much news, but a public service announcement. So I want to ask the listeners, when was the last time you checked that your in case of emergency was up to date in your profile? Is it possibly a wrong phone number? Someone that you wouldn't want to get a call from the lovely people on the serious incident line? And by that, I mean. Is it an ex? Is it that friend you used to parkrun with that's now too fast or has become a triathlete, a high rocks athlete or a vegan? Is there someone that you don't want getting a phone call about you having a serious incident at parkrun? So go and have a look at your profile and see whether you have the correct phone number for your in case of emergency contact.

00:19:30Sarah Jefferson: That's a good reminder. Thank you for that, Simon. Now, in the last part, fortnight we've also had a rare weather event in japan we had 36 of the 53 japan events cancel due to two typhoons so not just one typhoon but two typhoons i did a little bit of a deep dive and it's basically obviously a tropical cyclone but it produces wind like for simon of at least 119 kilometers an hour so it's absolutely a good idea that they did cancel these events and But I'm actually, the more I looked at some of the stats, I'm actually impressed that 17 went ahead, to be honest.

00:20:09Simon Mackley: Did you look where those 17 were? Did you see them on the map or you just saw the names?

00:20:13Sarah Jefferson: I knew you were going to ask me that. And I was doing it just before. And I didn't look at the map. No, did you look at the map?

00:20:21Simon Mackley: No, no, no. I've only just seen your comments. So, yes.

00:20:25Sarah Jefferson: No, it was something when I was, yeah, having a look at things. I thought I should look at the map, but I didn't have time because I was at work and feeding a toddler and bathing a toddler, and now I'm here.

00:20:36Simon Mackley: That is all good.

00:20:38Sarah Jefferson: But obviously, I'd be intrigued as well, whether they were the North or the South. I'm assuming most were cancelled around each other, and we know we've got a few that are North and South. So yes, I'm intrigued about that as well. I will have a look at that after they get time. All right, we better get into the stats.

00:20:55Simon Mackley: All righty, I'm going to kick off with New Zealand. So the Attendance and milestone stats for the 20th of June in New Zealand, there were 74 parkruns with 10,807 parkrunners and 1,218 volunteers. The biggest parkrun on that day was Hagley with 704 and the smallest was East Otago High School with 14. Closest to the weekly average of 146 was East End and Woroa. with 145. So there were only just one off that average. And then last weekend on the 27th of June, there were 71 parkruns with 9,574 parkrunners and 1,173 volunteers. Biggest parkrun again was Hagley with 651. So that was down about 50 on the previous week. And the smallest was Hanmer Forest with nine, closest to the average for the week of 136 was Broad Park with 137. On the 20th of June in Australia, we had 73,766 participants.

00:22:00Sarah Jefferson: Of those, 6,715 were volunteering at 529 events with an unknown amount of first-timers, actually. In junior events, all five operated with 460 youth guided by 108 people. So the smallest parkruns were Jake's Point in Western Australia with just one participant and Railway Park with two participants. The largest parkruns include, we had the largest was Macquarie University with 629, Roads and the Ponds with 626, Parramatta 532, Albert Melbourne with 515 and a new one, Point Vernon Foreshore Reserve with 505 participants. Now, it appears that the numbers have nearly doubled from this, from Point Vernon's previous record due to the Harvey Bay running event on the Sunday. On the 27th of June, 74,080 participants ran or walked a parkrun. 6,000 825 volunteers supported this at 538 events. Juniors had four events with 213 little athletes supported by 103 volunteers. So the smallest events on the 27th of June was Mora in Western Australia with five, Nathalia Showgrounds and Miles with eight each. And the largest parkruns were Albert Melbourne with 791 people

00:23:42Simon Mackley: participants the ponds with 660 and curl curl with 617 so simon you can share a little bit about curl curl and why it might have been one of the largest parkruns yes so curl curl had a visit from channel 7 sunrise um which they were celebrating the 10th year of of medibank being the principal sponsor for parkrun so 10 years ago they launched it at curl curl and they've come back now to to celebrate the 10th year of it. So not long after Curl Curl's birthday as well.

00:24:16Sarah Jefferson: And they did obviously advertise that. I saw that on socials. So that's obviously why they did get quite a few. And that's great. 10 years, yeah, Medibank supporting parkrun now. All right, Simon, I think we'll give our voices a rest and we might throw to some roving reports.

Roving Adventurers (roving reporter crossovers)

00:24:35[background music]

00:24:40Ali Sheppard: G'day adventurers, Ali from the UK here and today I am in sunny Oslo which isn't so sunny today and I have just completed Toyen parkrun and with me is Trude Sundian which is a fabulous name and you are the event director here at Toyen. Am I pronouncing Toyen right? Toyen. Toyen, perfect. And today we have done, we've done the parkrun and I think you had record numbers.

00:25:11Trude Sundian: Yes, we are, I think 162. Yeah. So our last record was, no, 362. 362, yes. Our last record was 324. Wow, so that's been smashed today. And maybe we have the new national record. We will see because Ekeberg had 340 on Thursday. So if they are not big today.

00:25:39Ali Sheppard: Because that's the reason a lot of us are here from the UK is because it's Ascension Day so you have your extra parkrun. But it's also a special weekend for Norway, right? Tomorrow is Constitution Day, I think.

00:25:50[crosstalk]

00:25:53Trude Sundian: Your national day. Our national day. So all the kids go in parades. Wow. If you're here tomorrow, you will see a lot of kids going in parades with flags and in their national costumes. Yeah. And it's really, if you're going to Norway, I recommend going so that you can do 17th of May. It's a really nice experience in Norway.

00:26:17Ali Sheppard: Wonderful. Wonderful. And we've seen some marching bands practicing, I think, for that, for the parades tomorrow. So Toyen was the first parkrun in Norway. Yeah. And you were here for event number two, I think. Yes.

00:26:33Trude Sundian: I had done one parkrun in the UK in 2014 by accident because we were there and they wanted to do a race. And then I looked at the local running news in 2017 and I was like, hmm toy in parkrun there's something about that i have a user at parkrun what is this so i went to parkrun number two and not the first one ah so uh so that would have been nice yes so do you know um about anything about how they do they struggle to get this set up or with Was the council happy for it to be set up? Of course it's set up by expats from the UK. And they were thinking of doing it in the Vigelandsparken. The big sculpture park. Where they got a no. Because too many tourists that want to see the sculptures. But they got a yes here. And I don't think it was really difficult. But I know that the first choice in the sculpture park wasn't a good thing. And after that, we have had a good connection with the municipality.

00:26:59[crosstalk]

00:27:45Ali Sheppard: So it's been fine. You did the first time as welcome today. And I loved your description of the course, which was three times up the stupid hill. Yes.

00:27:57Trude Sundian: We have had different versions of the course because the park is quite small. So every time they dig or they do something or they made a new swimming pool, we need to make a new version. But it has always been up a stupid hill. Up a stupid hill.

00:28:00[crosstalk]

00:28:13Ruth Perkins: They do tend to vary a bit which stupid hill.

00:28:17Trude Sundian: But it's always a stupid hill and it's always three times. And it did go up and it kept going up. Yes, it's not the worst in Norway. If you go to Bergen or Skien Fritidspark, it's more steep.

00:28:20[crosstalk]

00:28:30Ali Sheppard: Yes. But it goes on. It goes on and on. No, I enjoyed it. And it's beautiful as well. It's really lovely. And it's really lovely having everybody with the flags today as well. So have you done much touring yourself? Have you been, you have, you're nodding. Fantastic.

00:28:47Trude Sundian: Yes, I do enjoy doing parkrun. So have you been to other countries? Yes. Yes. I have been to every parkrun country except Japan. Oh, so you've been to Australia? I went to Australia. I had a work trip in 2024, which was supposed to last a week, and then it was unfortunately in the summer holidays, so I had five parkruns in four and a half weeks. I did Malaysia, Singapore on the way down, and then New Zealand and two in Australia. a green point in sydney green green something in sydney and not cairns parkrun but the one that's just up in the hill above cairns okay wonderful yeah wonderful so out of those all those parkruns around the world can what are your top three or just memorable for whatever reason it could be my first parkrun yeah We were supposed to run somewhere else outside Manchester, stood there and waited. There was snowing, no people, and we were like, okay, maybe we're at the wrong place. And then 10 to 9, there were maybe 20 other people standing there and looking a bit confused, and there was one man that said, This one is closed. We can drive over to the next one. They're waiting for us. I'm like, oh, we came by train. Jump in the car. Oh, that's nice. So the first one, which is Schiedelholm, something like... Schiedelhjum. Yes. Schiedelhjum.

00:30:30[crosstalk]

00:30:32Ali Sheppard: Yes.

00:30:32Trude Sundian: That one, really memorable. Very friendly. And it's a rugby pitch, and it's really, really muddy. Yes.

00:30:38[crosstalk]

00:30:39Ali Sheppard: That's the one thing I remember. Notorious.

00:30:41Trude Sundian: Except for the... British people that just moved me to the other one. Which one should I then choose? It's difficult. It is. No worries. I do like the one that's in Norway that's called Anker Aalbygård.

00:31:10Ali Sheppard: Olby Gort, yes.

00:31:11Trude Sundian: Which is outside Moss. Yes. It's really pretty. So you'd recommend that one. You'd run in the forest and along the seaside. Lovely. Yeah. That also has a stupid hill, but it's not that bad. And, well, we did Bushy Park.

00:31:29Ali Sheppard: Oh, well. So that was, of course, an experience. You can't beat that, the pilgrimage.

00:31:29[crosstalk]

00:31:33Trude Sundian: Yes.

00:31:33Ali Sheppard: No, that's wonderful. Thank you so much. We've had a fantastic time here. It's been really wonderful. I'd say to everybody, come to Toyin. You get a lovely, warm welcome. And I think now we're going to the Botanical Gardens to have some coffee. Yes. Wonderful. Thank you so much. That's a wrap.

00:31:51Tony O'Connell: Howdy, parkrunners. Toc from Inverloch. And I am still in Poland, still roving around with Jack. um we're in Zamek w Malborku today we've just done the parkrun it's an absolute stunner it's blue skies again i always promise that it's always sunny where i am and yet again i have delivered um spoke to the event team today and not one of them speaks english so i've grabbed a uh unsuspecting victim off the side of the crowd. It's one of the UK tourists today. Sue, Sue Page, how are you today?

00:32:24Sue Page: I'm very well, thank you. Beautiful morning here in Melbourne, stunning parkrun. Yeah, really nice down by the river, blue skies, no rain, just absolutely gorgeous. By the castle, beautiful out and back flat course, yay. Thumbs up from me for flat course. Out and back, start in the middle, run out. Turn around, come back, through the start, out the other way. Absolutely stunning, beautiful.

00:32:47Tony O'Connell: And you basically run along the castle wall both ways. Yeah. So it's really good you get the different viewpoints of the castle both ways. Yeah. Sue, I've noticed your running vest you've got on. There was about, oh, loose figures, 157,000 of you here today. Maybe not that many, but what's your running club?

00:33:07Sue Page: Our running club is Sowerby Bridge Snails. We're based in Halifax, West Yorkshire. And just 11 of us, not 57 million thousand have come out today. 11 of us have come over for a trip to Poland for the weekend to get a Zed. Surprise, surprise. I think there was four of us complete, four complete in their first alphabet and me completing my third alphabet this morning.

00:33:28[crosstalk]

00:33:28Tony O'Connell: Oh, well done. Big call. Well done.

00:33:30Sue Page: Thank you.

00:33:32Tony O'Connell: And the course itself, you said it's out and back, but it's sort of, you start in the middle. So it's sort of a, I don't know if one of a better word, like a, and it's, figure of eight shaped so you run out you run back you run the other way and run back so along the river um i found it really cool the path when you read the course description it says cobbles and i thought oh god this is going to be european cobbles it's going to be rough but it's actually paving and it's rocket flat like you you could run a pram along here without a problem at all yeah it's flat it's it's the block paving essentially not cobbles that must be what the polish call cobbles so yeah it's block paving you run between the river and the castle

00:34:10Ruth Perkins: Cooey, parkrun adventurers. It's hello from Ruth Perkins and... G'day from Toc from Inverloch. And we today have come to the Netherlands. And it's the special day. It's Whit Monday. A special bonus parkrun we're taking advantage of. And we are here in Oosterhout. But I need a better pronunciation of that. It's Oosterhout. Oosterhout. Oosterhout. And can you introduce yourself briefly?

00:34:37[crosstalk]

00:34:43Sondre Questro: Yeah, I'm Sondre Questro. I'm one of the event directors of Oosterhout parkrun and I'm an event ambassador in the Netherlands. Wonderful. And also we have?

00:34:55Ruth Perkins: Jacqueline Mills and I'm also the other event director from Oosterhout. Great. And we've just having a nice conversation then about how The briefing is in English at the moment, but things might be changing. Can you explain a little bit about what's going on? Because we're definitely in the Netherlands.

00:35:13Sondre Questro: Yeah, well, we started with this parkrun about three years ago. And because of the many experts we have and which helped us start this event, we started out with our briefings in English. And although we asked everyone who is coming at first questions, if they're okay with English. We noticed the last couple of weeks there are a lot of new local people who say...

00:35:42[crosstalk]

00:35:42Jacqueline Mills: Which is what we want.

00:35:42Sondre Questro: Yeah, which is what we want. And they say, yes, I understand English, but when you do the briefing and you look around, you see they actually might not understand that much of the English language. So we just started out with doing a briefing in Dutch to... have more Dutch people and include them a bit more because it is a Dutch parkrun.

00:36:05Jacqueline Mills: Yeah, exactly. And as expats who, you know, are happy to speak English, we also all speak Dutch too. And so it makes us then have to up the ante. And of course, we want parkrun to grow locally. So we want to encourage Dutch people to come along.

00:36:28Ruth Perkins: What would you say particularly would pull people to your parkrun here? What is it about this parkrun that makes it special? What should people know about this one?

00:36:37Jacqueline Mills: That it's small and quaint. And I think we've become such a really tight-knit community, the volunteers. And every volunteer that has come on, they've normally been a runner. And then we say, even if you volunteer once, it really helps us. And they come on and, you know, they never just follow the chair once, right? They volunteer more. And the network has then just really grown. So I think it's become a really good community. Yeah. Yeah.

00:37:04Sondre Questro: And it makes it easy for runners to start at our parkrun because it's a three-lap course. And a lot of people just can start out with one or two laps, just how far you are in your training or how you want to call it. So it's quite an easy course to start out your running. And it's a nice community with, well, not only volunteers at parkrun but also at our cafe it's all volunteering and it's quite nice it's a nice group of people we're looking forward to going to the cafe afterwards I noticed when I looked up where the cafe is it says it's a farm a kids farm it's a petting zoo petting farm with a little cafe and it's all run by volunteers and the coffee we drink there yeah well

00:37:56Jacqueline Mills: they need to make the money but they don't make profit because the profit is for the food for the animals so that's so every coffee we drink is also a bit it's an animal yeah for the animals i'm gonna go a couple of coffees in what's really interesting is they used to open at 4 p.m and then we asked them we told them about we set up a couple of weeks and i was lugging everything back and forth to my house and then We asked them, you know, could we, would you be interested in opening for us for a coffee at parkrun? They said yes. And then they let us have a storage unit there so we can store all our parkrun. So they've been just such a, you know, great support of parkrun. So they're amazing. Yeah. Also with the special days. Yeah.

00:38:09[crosstalk]

00:38:44[crosstalk]

00:38:45Sondre Questro: It's a day off on New Year's Day and on with Monday, but they just come in to serve us coffee. Yeah.

00:38:54Jacqueline Mills: Oh, that is very, very sweet. So then sometimes when it's a busy day, actually I better get up to the cafe, I'll jump behind it and help them make the coffee.

00:39:01[crosstalk]

00:39:01Ruth Perkins: So off I go to do that then. Thank you for chatting with us. Yeah, so have you been to many other parkruns yourself?

00:39:11Sondre Questro: Yeah, I did 17 of the 27 parkruns in Holland. And I think I did about 12 in Germany. britain and two in germany so that's that's that's all right although i have more volunteer credits than running credits like many of us so that's uh yeah are there any of the others that you've traveled to that stand out particularly to you uh stand out yeah well uh i like the off-road ones so i i've been to one in london and I wasn't aware it was an off-road, and I thought, London, it's always busy, and it was a nice little off-road parkrun, two laps, and only 50 participants.

00:39:31[crosstalk]

00:39:59Tony O'Connell: It's a nice little parkrun, even in London. Beautiful little gems, aren't they, those little ones? Yeah, yeah. The big ones are an adventure, and the small ones have a much more, I don't know, community feel about them.

00:40:14Sondre Questro: I really like the big ones on Christmas Day in the UK. They're all dressed up. Then a big one is okay. And sometimes you just think... I've been to Edinburgh. scotland and i thought oh i'm gonna do a parkrun and because of the public transport i couldn't make the parkrun i wanted to go i thought oh this one i can do this one it's around a hill oh and then i got there on saturday morning no it was christmas as well and uh i went there and i started running and after the first bandit went up for one and a half k it was just It got over the hill. Well, it got me nice views. That was okay. But I wasn't prepared for the big hill it was. I thought it was around it. Yeah, well, that's the nice parkruns you find.

00:41:11Ruth Perkins: That's definitely on my list to go to that one. It's a great parkrun, yeah.

00:41:16Tony O'Connell: All right, guys, well, I reckon everyone's just about packed up. The coffee sounds good. Let's go support some animals and drink coffee, drink lots of coffee. And thanks for having the chat with us. And thanks, Ruth. Yeah, thanks for being here. Dank u wel. [Dutch: "Thank you very much."]

00:41:25[background music]

00:41:41Simon Mackley: We are back from our roving reports. Some great ones there coming to us from all those extra days and around them all over Europe. First of all, we heard from Ali, who was speaking with Trude, the ED of Toyen in Oslo. Then Tok brought us a very quick one from Poland, where he was actually speaking to Sue from Saube Bridge Snails. And lastly, Ruth from Oosterhout in the Netherlands with a cameo from Tok. So it was a range of accents there, which was fantastic to hear. We have a lot of revenue reports still in our backlog, so you'll be hearing more European voices in the coming weeks and months. Great, and thanks for sending those in. Alrighty, let's head over to Dazza's. So we've chosen five comments from each of the last two weeks Dazza's posts.

Dazza's

00:42:27Sarah Jefferson: Okay, on Saturday the 20th of June, Dazza said, it's vanilla milkshake day and Dazza is whizzing them at double speed. What was your post-parkrun drink of choice this week? Come in and tell us all about it. So we had 126 comments this week.

00:42:44Simon Mackley: Okay, we are going to start it off with Chris Gore, who was at Sunrise Beach parkrun in WA. He said, just a long black for me, Dazza. Today, Karen and I regained our WA statesmanship by completing Sunrise Beach in Onslow. It was a 7am start. And as it happens, it was the same time as the sunrise. It's a double out and back to Sunset Beach on an undulating boardwalk. We had a stiff breeze this morning, so the outward legs were faster than the return legs. There were 12 finishers and seven friendly and supportive volunteers. Another great parkrun worth the two and a half day drive to get there. This was our NND, but that is now Alice Springs. And there was a beautiful photo that they shared of both Chris and Karen Gore with the sunrise in the background. which was very fitting and crazy that the NND is now Alice Springs. I'm wondering if and when they're heading to Alice Springs to get that one done.

00:43:43Sarah Jefferson: Yes, amazing. And I actually think it's Chris's birthday today. So happy birthday, Chris. It is, actually, yes. Happy birthday. We hope you had a great day. Next, we heard from Yvette Turner, who dropped in from Catherine Hot Springs parkrun in the Northern Territory. Yvette shared, Hi, Dazza. The Pop Rocket Pop-Up Cafe at Catherine Hot Springs parkrun was also churning out beverages at double speed this morning. This out-and-back parkrun runs alongside the Catherine River and across the iconic footbridge, a disused rail bridge built in 1924. After parkrun, you are just a few steps from our post-parkrun breakfast at this busy and popular location. We sat with new friends, Stacey and John Bolton, who we met swimming in the hot springs earlier in the week and told them all about the adventurers and the podcast. We swapped parkrun stories as we enjoyed our lattes and hot chocolates. Another great parkrun adventure. And there was a lovely photo of Yvette and Bill in the selfie frame. Simon, I just love this parkrun so much. It's so incredible that the hot springs are there right after the parkrun. But I was wondering, they've actually both been getting around doing a lot of adventuring, haven't they? So that's really, really great to see. And yeah, thanks for sharing all things about the pond.

00:44:59Simon Mackley: I'm hoping we've got some new listeners out of that as well. It would be good to pump up the club a little more. Next, we heard from Jackie Hancock, who was at Hallswell Quarry parkrun in New Zealand, where Jackie stated, always a long black. It must have helped. as I took a whopping 10 minutes off my course PB at Poulsville Quarry parkrun. Still a long way off my actual PB, but I'll take that for the win this week. And it says wine, but we will think that's a win. And there was a photo of Jackie finishing her parkrun.

00:45:32Sarah Jefferson: Congratulations, Jackie. We heard from Ian Brown at Queen's Glasgow parkrun in the UK. Ian said, Queen's Glasgow parkrun today to complete our third alphabet our first parkrun in Scotland too three laps of the parkrunning up three inclines to the top of the hill then back down to the bottom no milkshakes but we did enjoy coffee and Scottish tablet at the cafe in the nearby church that they put on each week to support parkrun and there was a photo posted of the two of them with the Queen's pop-up the alphabet flag with a beautiful looking castle in the background Simon, do you know what a Scottish tablet is?

00:46:13Simon Mackley: I'm going to guess it's a cake or maybe it's a biscuit. I don't know. I don't honestly know what it is, but I'm sure that means something to our UK listeners.

00:46:22Sarah Jefferson: Yeah. Oh, I've just had a look. Yeah, it's a traditional Scottish sweet. It looks like fudge to me.

00:46:28Simon Mackley: Oh, okay.

00:46:28Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, wow. Yeah. Sounds, yeah, amazing, actually.

00:46:33Simon Mackley: Coffee and fudge. Wow. That sounds, yeah, all right.

00:46:37Sarah Jefferson: Yum. With a castle in the background. Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful. There you go.

00:46:41Simon Mackley: Alrighty, next we heard from Maria Wicks, and she shared, Hi Dazza, I went to St Albans parkrun, which is where I started parkrunning back in 2013, and met a parkrun friend, Rory, who was visiting for the first time. It was so hot I needed two drinks, tea with Rory in the cafe after, and then an iced soy chai on the way back to the car. A great morning, and here is some hearts to say thanks to Mel for all her work on the pod over the years. I'm a bit behind with my listening.

00:47:09Sarah Jefferson: photo of Maria and Rory with the pop-up both donning their green 250 parkrun shirts and it definitely sounds like a lovely morning for you both okay moving swiftly on to Dazza's on the 27th of June Dazza said it's international pineapple day Dazza and the office lady love a good debate and nothing creates debate quite like a pineapple first tell us if you want pineapple on your pizza Then tell us how your parkrun morning went. Now, we had 147 comments all up on this week. Now, Simon, before we get into these comments, though, what are your thoughts? Does pineapple belong on a pizza?

00:47:51Simon Mackley: I'm a big fan of a Hawaiian pizza, which I found out was actually invented in Canada. There you go. Yes, I am a fan. What about you?

00:47:59Sarah Jefferson: Well, I actually don't eat ham. So, traditionally, it's a ham and pineapple pizza.

00:48:05Simon Mackley: Yep.

00:48:06Sarah Jefferson: Pineapple's not really put on any other type of pizzas. So it's going to have to be a no from me only because I don't eat ham, if that makes sense. Yep, that does. So we've done a little bit of research and it looks that of the general population, 62% of people say yes, they want pineapple on a pizza. 21% say no, they don't. wanted on a pizza and 17% say absolutely not. So we'll go through a few comments and see if the adventurers agree with this or not.

00:48:41Simon Mackley: Sure. We will kick off with Alison Fraser who came to us from Purringa parkrun. She shared, hi Dazza, I love pineapple, especially on a pizza, but it's best if it's been grilled first. Pineapple's at parkrun today. However, there was a lot of cake as we celebrated 10 years of Purringa parkrun. which it was such a lovely morning after a few wet days, and we had a lot of treats brought by our parkrunners. And Alison shared a photo of the epic spread for everyone after parkrun, including a huge basket filled with Whittaker's chocolates. Yum! And there was lots of cake, balloons, and a gorgeous sunshine in the background. Happy 10th birthday, Perringa. It looks and sounds like a fabulous morning.

00:49:27Sarah Jefferson: Yes, that table looked amazing. It looked like such a beautiful spread. We heard from Lee Cabarita, that's her parkrun name, at Maury parkrun in New South Wales. Lee said, I had pineapple on my Amaru Supreme pizza at Amaru Hotel last night. This morning I volunteered as tail walker at Maury parkrun with mate George who volunteered as scanner. We're travelling to Weeper parkrun to be there on the 28th of July. Maury is a great little two-lap course along the Mehe River and has a friendly, welcoming crew. We're all having breakfast at Relaxing Cafe to input the results. A mocha for me, please, Daz, and a latte for George. There was a photo of Leigh and her mate George in the parkrun selfie frame, and it's great to see Leigh Taking her adventure is buff on tour with her as well. And what a tour it sounds like. Can't wait to hear all about your adventures to Weeper. Yeah, I'd love to get there sometime soon. But yeah, keep on living it up, Lee.

00:50:30Simon Mackley: Yeah, that is a long way to go for a parkrun. Not to Weeper, but definitely one that's on the list. Okay, next we heard from David O'Brien, who was at Kingscliff parkrun. And he said, definitely yes for Pineapple. Continuing my road trip with Tale Walker at Kingscliff parkrun. I think the event screenshot says it all, spreading some park walk cheer. And the photo that David shared was from the Kingscliff Facebook page, which was a photo of himself in the tail walker vest with a tail. And it said, the tail of the tail. And it was Hobart to Cairns and back. Tail walker had a different parkrun each week. Thank you, David. And what a great adventure.

00:51:11Sarah Jefferson: We heard from Nick Graney at Brooklyn Bridge parkrun in the US of A. Nick posted, love pineapple on a pizza, but not as much as I loved running at Brooklyn Bridge this morning. Just made it in time after landing at JFK at 5.30. Huge turnout by UK football fans. So many jerseys. Well managed by the event volunteers. So we're assuming that's 5.30 a.m., Nick. And what a great photo Nick has shared with the beautiful outlook of New York City. You know, he's wearing the Aussies soccer jersey as well. And yes, certainly sounds like a crazy adventure to get to this parkrun without too much time to spare at all. But I guess, Simon, that's one way to shake out your jet lag, right?

00:51:56Simon Mackley: Oh, yeah, definitely. That would be an amazing way to do it. Next, we heard from Karen Strong, who was at Nightcliff parkrun in Golden Territory, where she wrote, pineapple on my pizza, please. RD at Nightcliff parkrun this morning. And Karen shared a lovely photo of the day's volleys in their vests, including quite a few youth, which is great to see, as well as a crocodile. But Sarah, don't stress, it was just a blow-up pool toy. Thank you for your volunteer efforts. At our most northerly parkrun in Australia.

00:52:28Sarah Jefferson: You had me worried for a second there, Simon. All right. Now, before we give out the OB, this post did turn into a vote almost for how many adventurers liked pineapple on their pizza or if they didn't want pineapple on their pizza. So we went through and tallied up whether we were pro pineapple on a pizza. And it turns out that we had 28 votes for and 12 against. So, yeah, the yeses have it. 70% of the adventurers prefer pineapple on a pizza. Say no more. Anyway, the Obie this week goes to David O'Brien. Well done, David. Sounds like a great adventure that you are on.

Obi Award — David O'Brien

00:53:11Simon Mackley: And if we've given you a shout out in Daz's today, send us an email or comment on the post on Facebook to let us know that you are actually a listener.

00:53:20[background music]

00:53:20Sarah Jefferson: Right. we might throw to our friend Reginald, I think. Simon?

Club Corner

00:53:34Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III: This is Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III with Club Corner, where we talk about the what and why of parkrun clubs, and I am coming to you from Arrernte country. We are continuing our adventures through parkrun countries and we have arrived in the Netherlands. I would like to quote from a blog by Victoria Sevigno. Start quote. Are Dutch people from Holland or the Netherlands? Because Holland isn't the name of the country, Dutch people are from the Netherlands. However, it's possible that you meet a Dutchie who is from Holland, but in this case, it would just mean that they're from either the province of North or South Holland. This means that all Dutch people are from the Netherlands, and everyone from Holland is from the Netherlands, but not everyone from the Netherlands is from Holland. End quote. Our question today is... Is parkrun in Holland or the Netherlands? The answer is both. parkrun started with six launches in February 2020, and they added two more events the very next week. At the time of writing they have 27 events across the country, and have grown at least two events annually. parkrun HQ are also actively recruiting interested parties to start more events smiley face. The special day for the Netherlands is Wit Monday. In 2026, Wit Monday falls on Monday, May 25th. The date for Wit Monday changes every year because it is tied directly to the Christian liturgical calendar. Wit Monday is always observed the day immediately following Pentecost Sunday, which occurs 50 days after Easter Sunday, which in turn moves annually as it falls on the first Sunday after the full moon on, or after, the March equinox. Phew, back to parkrun. The Netherlands hosts three Zees events, and hence is a popular place for those who multi-alphabet collect. Fun fact. Two of these Zees are for Zuiderpark parkrun, with them appended with either Den Haag, aka The Hague, or Hoogeveen. You do not want to stuff up which Zuiderpark parkrun you are going to with your friends, as they are over two hours apart by road. And in a quirk, the Netherlands do not have even one sea, so they must always sail away to become a pirate. This is an interesting country, and they are still building it. Beatrixpark parkrun in Almere started in 2022. but Almere was only reclaimed from the lake between 1959 and 1968. The first house was finished in 1976. Is this city younger than our host's question mark? A final glance at the map shows few regions without a parkrun, excepting their anti-Antipodean province named Zeeland. And an ultra-picturesque parkrun would be Kagerzoom with the full Holland experience, including a windmill and canals. And remember, in parkrun life, parkrun now hosts various renamed non-milestone clubs in their app, so they are now official and supported by parkrun, so stay tuned for our future club corners.

00:56:20[background music]

00:56:35[background music]

00:56:37Simon Mackley: And we have Reginald continuing the country profiles. This time it was the Netherlands, giving us a very confusing start that made sense by the end. So Reginald is always educating us. I'm sure that as more land is reclaimed in the Netherlands, there will be more parkruns launching.

Consolidated Club Report

00:56:56Sarah Jefferson: The Adventurers Consolidated Club report for Saturday the 27th of June of a total of 938 members, 658 took part on this date in 14 countries across 353 locations. Locally, there are adventurers at 62 events in both Queensland and Victoria. 56 events in New South Wales, 20 in South Australia, 19 in Western Australia, 8 in the ACT, 6 in Tasmania, 1 in the Northern Territory and the South Island of New Zealand and 8 events on the North Island of New Zealand. Internationally, there were adventurers at 80 events in the UK, 10 in South Africa, 4 events each in Canada, Ireland and the USA and and one event in Sweden, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, and Poland.

the Frond

00:57:49Simon Mackley: Okay, and then moving on to our largest international frond. From two weeks ago, there was a frond of 11 at Erddig parkrun in the UK, and that was Jason Patterson, Dave Thornton, Jeffrey Harrison, Matthew Robert Wateridge, Davy Johnson, Denise Evans, Andy Airey, Amanda Murray-Hind, Ivan Storer, Rachel Simonite, and Penelope Thiessen. And then last weekend, it was a front of just five. And that was at Victoria Park, Newbury. And that was David Wright, Liz McGill, Alison James, Nicola Wright and Colin Hare.

00:58:26Sarah Jefferson: On the 20th of June, we had one adventurer doing their pilgrimage, Colleen Clinesmith. And we didn't have anybody at Bushy on the week just gone.

00:58:37Simon Mackley: Then moving to the Australian largest front. So two weeks ago, it was a front of 10 at the Ponds. And that was Dennis Peden, Jeff Robinson, Manish Bindru, Lauren Pike, Christine, Eman and Juno Vergara, Shrena Chiron, Rio Lambino and Renata Koch. And then last weekend, it was a frond of eight at Reddell Reserve. And that was Lance, Sonia and Peter Pohlman, Kathleen Hicks, Sam and Luke Schroeder, Rebecca Gordon and Andrew Banner.

00:59:10Sarah Jefferson: So I know we're getting used to hearing about special days. We actually haven't had a special day in the past fortnight. However, there is one coming up that will have happened by the time the pod comes out. And that is Canada Day on the 1st of July.

00:59:26Simon Mackley: And with adventurers travelling all over the place still, if you were travelling, we would love to hear from you in a roving report. Especially if you're travelling to a destination to trip up, let's say Tok and Lyndell. We've got a few coming, we've had a few come in recently from new and infrequent voices, which we will hear in coming episodes.

00:59:45Sarah Jefferson: Yes, it is great to see the inbox filling up a little bit, Simon, isn't it? Just a reminder, you can add the Adventurers Club as one of your five affiliations on your parkrun profile and reach out to us if you need a hand to do so.

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

00:59:59Simon Mackley: We might move on over to launches. So on the 20th of June, there were three launches in three countries.

01:00:05Sarah Jefferson: The first one was in South Africa, Kroonstad Country Club parkrun, located southwest of Johannesburg and running around a golf course. Kroonstad welcomed 279 finishers at the launch and supported by... 30 volunteers.

01:00:21Simon Mackley: The next one was in the Canadian town of Moncton where they welcomed Mill Creek Nature parkrun. The course is through a scenic reserve and around a reservoir and 24 of the 50 finishers completed their first ever parkrun. Event one had 10 volunteers.

01:00:37Sarah Jefferson: The next one came to us from Lithuania called Danai parkrun. And it is a course that is a perfect circle and is completed four times. The English translation for this parkrun name is parkrun Songs. This is Lithuania's fifth event and 10 volunteers guided the 59 participants around. How beautiful does that sound, Simon?

01:00:56Simon Mackley: It does. I like that. parkrun Songs, yep. Four laps around a lake. sounds very, very nice. So on the 27th of June, there were four launches across three countries.

01:01:06Sarah Jefferson: First one comes to us from Scotland. So Broughty Ferry Esplanade parkrun. It launched with 322 participants, supported by 42 volunteers, with 23 first-timers to parkrun. And it is located east of Dundee.

01:01:22Simon Mackley: And heading across the North Sea, to the Netherlands. We have Nimador parkrun, which is located on the southern side of Amherst Fort near Utrecht. They launched with 136 participants, 20 volunteers and 43 first-timers, which was 32%.

01:01:40Sarah Jefferson: The next launch was Oakey Park parkrun in Stanley, the UK, which is located southwest of Newcastle upon Tyne. Kicking off the first event with 306 participants, supported by 39 volunteers, with only six being first-timers on the day.

01:01:57Simon Mackley: And heading back into Europe, we have Rabenauer Grund parkrun in Germany, so located southwest of Dresden. Their inaugural event started with 70 participants, 10 volunteers and 26 genuine first-timers, and that was 37% of them being first-timers.

01:02:16Sarah Jefferson: So lots of overseas launches the past fortnight.

01:02:19Simon Mackley: Northern Hemisphere again.

01:02:21Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, to be expected, right? Exactly. All right. So looking ahead, our merchandise orders have now closed. Thank you to the office lady. It's been great to see lots of people getting their orders in. But on the post that the office lady shared on our social, Simon, the office lady alluded to Palm up and coming and some announcement coming soon. So do we have a Palm update? Update Palm?

01:02:47Simon Mackley: Was that a clue?

01:02:51Sarah Jefferson: oh date palm that's funny now you're trying to put people off the scent i'm sure but if we reverse it we do actually have a date for palm 2027 which is exciting so get out your diaries palm 2027 will be on the weekend of the 20th of march it will indeed and

01:03:15Simon Mackley: the destination will be released next pod. So Lyndell and Toc will release that to you in 2x time. So block your calendar, take the time off work, book in your leave pass, whatever you need to do, just get it locked away. 20 March is when Palm will be.

01:03:32Sarah Jefferson: Which is very exciting. So you now have plans, adventurers, for the weekend of the 20th of March. Now, in case you are wondering, the Easter weekend will be the following weekend. Sorry, it is before Easter. school holidays we've had a look at all of the school holiday dates around the different states and territories in australia and it seems that most schools are breaking for that easter weekend so we will be avoiding hopefully school holiday surcharges and easter weekend surcharges that's very exciting simon it is it is it's nice to be able to release it yay i can't wait already all right simon i better get back to it and stop dreaming about palm 27 um Where are you headed next parkrun day?

01:04:14Simon Mackley: Well, I won't actually be parkrunning this coming weekend. I'm going to be on the Gold Coast doing, let's say, the double parkrun distance on Saturday morning at the Gold Coast Marathon 10k event. So yeah, no parkrun for me. I won't be able to get there and back. So where will you be, Sarah?

01:04:33Sarah Jefferson: So I'm going to head to Kareem parkrun for their event 593. This will actually be my fifth visit to this event, but I have not been since there has been a course change. I believe the start line has changed. I'll be catching up with a friend and her two kids. So I guess that's what I need to do these days when we both have kids and we're a bit time poor. Great way to get a parkrun in and have a catch up. So yeah, good luck on your 10K event, Simon. I guess that's a good excuse not to be doing a parkrun. And I guess you're doubling your parkrun distance. So yeah, I can't wait to hear... all about it next time we catch up i will definitely share about that if i remember but yes thanks for the catch-up we'll be back in a month obviously simon before we sign off the pod just remind me what you're going to be doing on the 20th of march in 2027

01:05:22Simon Mackley: I'm going to be recording a live podcast.

01:05:25Sarah Jefferson: What about you? I will be attending Palm 27. So just making sure adventurers have got that date locked and loaded.

01:05:32Simon Mackley: All right.

01:05:33Sarah Jefferson: Lyndal and Tok, we'll be back next fortnight, as always.

01:05:36Simon Mackley: And as always, you can contact us via Parker and Adventurers on Facebook or on our email, which is parkerandadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another episode. We'll see you all next time for more adventures. Bye.

01:05:45[outro theme playing]