Episode 459 - What is your Colour?

00:00:00[intro theme playing]

Welcome

00:00:20Sarah Jefferson: Welcome to episode 459 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.

00:00:32Simon Mackley: And I'm Simon Mackley coming to you from Quandamooka, Yarrabindra. Cooee, Sarah.

00:00:37Sarah Jefferson: Cooee, Simon. Oh dear. You do not sound super well.

00:00:42Simon Mackley: Yeah, I was struck down with the flu since Friday. So yes, my voice is a little croaky and that sort of thing, but we will get on with this, right?

00:00:51Sarah Jefferson: That's right. I hope you didn't contract the man version of the flu. I hear it's pretty bad.

00:00:57Simon Mackley: Well, you just wouldn't understand, right?

00:01:00Sarah Jefferson: No, I wouldn't. In all seriousness, I hope you're okay. And thank you for stepping into the hosting chair tonight. I know you have not been feeling 100%.

00:01:09Simon Mackley: That is okay.

00:01:11Simon Mackley: I wanted to do it.

00:01:12Sarah Jefferson: All right. Shall we get straight into it and move on to the last few parkruns? Where have you visited since we spoke last month?

00:01:19Simon Mackley: Well, I'm going to move from the longest ago to last weekend. So 29th of August, I went to Lota. And I met up with the recently returned from her epic journey to Inis Meáin, Roberta, and the ever thought-provoking Brendan Peel. Also met listener Michael Hansen, who was visiting from Armidale, and he coincidentally is friends with Rex Gream. So Roberta had asked me to come along because she had a lovely gift from one of our friends of the pod, Andy Airey, to pass on to me, which I am yet to wear, but it is ready to go to a parkrun at some stage soon. So it was one of the Andy Airey's hats. And then on the 5th of September, I kind of flew under the radar a with the 25:24, and I won't lie but it was a hard graft, but I put myself far enough forward at the start to give it a good go. I've been caught at Berrinba in the past where I've put myself a bit too far back in the starting corral. And then on the 12th of September, we had our friend Dorota here staying with us and she wanted to go to a more elusive letter from the alphabet. So we went off to Underwood Park and chatted the whole way. Had a great chat also with Co-ED Stephen Parker, which gave me someone to talk about Backyard Ultras with because he wrote wrote a book on it so for a brief time we had a chat and then last weekend for the sake of my health I did not go to parkrun and had to cancel plans to meet up with Peter Pohlman in Meadowbrook but he took advantage of my cancellation and went and got his elusive Z that Sonia already had.

00:02:55Sarah Jefferson: Oh, nice. Well, congrats on your fastest parkrun of the year. I guess that's, that's gotta be good for your average time, right? That you're trying to bring down a little bit. It sounds like you had some lovely chats with some friends and some adventures throughout the, the month as well. And sorry to hear yes, that you did skip out on a parkrun, but you know, as you said, sometimes, you know, when you're not feeling great, you just have to make the call and rest.

00:03:19Simon Mackley: Yeah, I kind of had the call made for me, let's just say, yeah. I was forbidden on Friday night, but yeah, I was never going to be able to go anyway. So knocking off a PB for the year, yep, it should help my average time. I seem to have gone a bit backwards on that target though in the last couple of weeks. I did some quick averaging to... On the previous weekend, and I'm still five seconds average over last year's number. I'm running out of weeks to get it done. So, I just have to push a bit harder when I'm feeling well enough. So where have you been since we last spoke?

00:03:52Sarah Jefferson: Since we last spoke, Simon, I have stayed on the West Side revisiting events, so no new events for me. I notched up another run event at home, so I've still got eight to go for the year to get to 100, so I am on track for this. I did head down to the largest frond of the week two weeks ago to Rockingham parkrun with Luke and Sam Schroder, who were visiting. Lyndell and TOC did mention it last week, so I won't say too much about this event. But it was really lovely to get out and visit the event for a few hours on the Saturday evening. The following week, I headed to Galup Reserve parkrun for their event 95. So this moved my Wilson index up to 97. So that is on track as well to get to over 100, before the year is out. So it's not all bad staying home and revisiting events, you know, notching up all of these little challenges. But the following weekend, Matt, Hadley and myself headed up to Quinns Rocks parkrun to see Adventurers Michael and Annika Little. It was a very windy day for a coastal parkrun. And as Michael said himself, this course would be lovely if it wasn't flowing in absolute gale. I am still injured, Simon. I was hoping that my knee would be recovering quicker than it is, but I had a lovely walk with Michael and Dave and we had a great chat about all of Michael's travels and the mighty Rio Dockers in the preliminary finals win. Just got to say that the chat on the podcast has not been enough around AFL this year. What a win it was and it is officially Freo fever over here on the West Side. So it's only the second time that the Dockers have got into the grand final and they actually haven't ever won the flag. So let's hope that this is their year, but yeah, go Freo.

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00:05:45Simon Mackley: Yeah, very cool that you're able to catch up with the Littles on their lap of the map. And I'm not really great with the old AFL talk, but just saying Brisbane is going for the three-peat. In their fourth grand final in a row, so it's going to be hard for the Dockers, but I'm glad that Freo Pride is in full swing over there on the West Side.

00:06:03Sarah Jefferson: Can you see what colour jacket I'm wearing, Simon?

00:06:05Simon Mackley: Yeah, I'm going to say purple, lilac. Something like that.

00:06:09Sarah Jefferson: It sure is. So I actually work in Docker territory and our workplace and the streets of Freo are basically being painted purple. And they actually have a strip painted on the road that is purple in Freo. So I had to wear my purple blazer today. So let's hope that Freo can, yes, upset this three-peat because that's just being greedy, isn't it?

00:06:30Simon Mackley: Oh, it is.

00:06:30Simon Mackley: A hundred percent it is. Like, I mean, if they do it, yes, that's great. And yes, it is the fourth grand final in a row, but... Share the love. Share the love. Get Freo to win. It would be good.

00:06:41Sarah Jefferson: Absolutely.

Listener Feedback

00:06:41Simon Mackley: Okay, we're going to get into some episode feedback. So last episode, a question had been asked in the roving reports about why uglies were born on the 25th of July and not the 25th of June, six months out from Christmas. I spoke to the elves as I couldn't remember exactly why it was. And here was what the elves said. Short answer is that Ugly Christmas in July is a fun play on the long established tradition in the southern hemisphere of celebrating Christmas in July. Santa's Little Helpers decided to adopt and adapt the tradition to give fans of the uglies another collective opportunity to celebrate and wear their ugly Christmas goodies. We love that people have embraced wearing their uglies all through December and this is an extension of that. So I did a little bit of research because the elves sent me a link to Wikipedia, and Christmas in July is not a new tradition and has its origins way back in 1892 in a French opera where children started practicing the Christmas songs in July. The first Christmas in July celebration occurred from July 24th to 25th in 1933 at a girl's camp in Brevard, North Carolina, and was a brainchild of Keystone Camp's co-founder Fanny Holt. As for why we do it in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, it's to have that winter feel as we miss out on that in the Northern Hemisphere. Did that answer the question about the date? Absolutely not.

00:08:10Sarah Jefferson: Well, it does give a little bit of an insight into... Why July was picked though. Thanks for all of that background knowledge. We did actually have quite a bit of feedback from the last episode on Facebook, which was really great to see. However, we'll just share a few with you this pod. And if you're interested in reading all of the comments, feel free to head to the parkrun adventurers page on Facebook and click on the comments under the episode post. So we heard from Yvette Turner on Facebook who said, great podcast guys, thanks again. I've never heard that version of the closing credits song though. Is it new? And since you asked, I really like hearing the numbers of parkrun participants as percentages thank you Yvette for that feedback our trusty editor has let us know that yes it is the same song and you're right it's just a different verse and we're pleased to hear that you enjoyed the change as did Calum Burrell by the sounds on the socials as well yeah we like the percentages as well so they'll be coming up later.

00:09:08Simon Mackley: Next we heard from Ali Sheppard who shared that she has accepted TOC's challenge to sign in Norman Danny from With Me Now's mum up as an adventurer.

00:09:18Simon Mackley: Although Ali shared it was unlikely that Lynn will show up in the consolidated club report as she only volunteers, so let's hope this change will happen with parkrun in the future that we actually start to see volunteers in the consolidated club report.

00:09:33Sarah Jefferson: Yes, fingers crossed we also heard from Helen Patricia and David Messenger who both commented about the discussion on roving reports.

00:09:42Sarah Jefferson: David Messenger offered some encouragement and advice about roving reports and sharing that these don't need to be perfect at all as phone editing is very easy. David said that he has done interviews with people where every second word was um or er. Even using phone software can trim these out. So some of the recordings he says he's cut by 50 to 60% before he submits them. And the interviewee ends up sounding like a professional. So thanks for offering up this support and these ideas, David. In saying this, there is absolutely no expectation that people need to spend time editing, you know, all of these things out of their roving reports. But thank you for sharing that.

00:10:23Simon Mackley: And that's the feedback for the fortnight. But if you enjoy the pod, we'd love it if you could rate and review us on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to us. It helps other people find us so that we can keep spreading the adventuring love.

parkrun news bulletin

00:10:37Sarah Jefferson: So we'll move on to some news now. Malaysia was due to host their special parkrun day on Wednesday the 16th of September. However, due to unhealthy air quality with the API, which is the Air Pollutant index, reading well above 100 at 8pm the previous night, they actually decided to cancel and prioritise the health and safety of everybody so to put this into perspective on the Air Pollutant Index 0 to 50 shows a good air quality, 51 to 100 moderate air quality, whereas 101 to 200 is unhealthy air quality. So, we can understand that it would have been very disappointing for people who did travel over to Malaysia specifically for this event. However, the health and well-being of parkrunners is paramount. So let's hope that next year that this special day for Malaysia will go ahead and that the air quality has improved. The air pollution actually must have continued to be poor as we did see that Presint 18 parkrun, Putrajaya, and Taman Pudu Ulu parkrun cancelled on Saturday the 19th of the 9th as well. However, Taman Tasik Kota Puteri parkrun did go ahead with 66 finishes.

00:11:52Simon Mackley: Yeah, a bit of tumultuous times up there in Malaysia. So yeah, hoping it all gets back to normal very quickly. All right, since the last pod, parkrun have released the new milestone shirts, the new colours that are out. So there'll be every hundred up until a thousand as well as the ones that we already have. What do you think about these new colours, Sarah?

00:12:13Sarah Jefferson: Well, for me, Simon, the 300 stood out. It is bright orange. I have orange hair. That is definitely not my colour, but I am past 300 parkruns, so I probably would not buy that. I do quite like the look of the 800, like a purpley colour. Maybe that's because it's a Dockers colour. But, you know, maybe the 600 being like a... Highlighter green colour might be a little bit too, you know, I don't mind them. There's a few I wouldn't buy. Maybe some I don't mind. What do you think?

00:12:41Simon Mackley: The 200 is the one that jumped out at me because it's that lighter blue. I mean, I'm well past that. I'm, yeah, into the, well into the 400s now. So I think I'll just stick to my 500 once it arrives. And, you know, I've given away my 50 and my 100 in the past to other people. So, yeah, I think I'll just stick with my 250. That I've got at the moment, my 100 volunteers, which I've now done over 250 volunteers, and I'll just, yes, 500 once it comes along.

00:13:12Sarah Jefferson: So you don't think that you'll buy every 100?

00:13:14Simon Mackley: No, I don't. I wear the adventurer's shirt or I wear, like, yeah, my 250 at the moment. Like, I don't normally wear a different shirt at parkrun.

00:13:23Sarah Jefferson: Would you buy the 1,000 when you get there?

00:13:26Simon Mackley: Oh, 100%, yeah. Yeah like it's taking me that long to get to 500 and you know maybe I will six seven I don't know six seven hundred.

00:13:35Sarah Jefferson: It's good to have options I guess for those people who do like to have lots of different shirts. I'm kind of like you in that there's already quite a few shirts that I have sorry and it's already hard enough choosing the one that I wear kind of once a week so, especially throwing in a few volley, you know, milestone shirts as well. Yeah, I'm not sure that I'll buy all of them but I think you know the 500 like you were saying and the 1000 I think are big ticket items there.

00:13:58Simon Mackley: It's a long way between them as well. Like between 500 and 1000 is a very long time. You know, and it feels to me like it's taken a very long time to get between 250 and 500 as well. So I'm appreciative that they're there and the people that, you know, will buy these will buy them.

00:14:14Sarah Jefferson: Absolutely.

00:14:15Sarah Jefferson: So since we recorded the last pod, there was information go out on socials by Jakes Point parkrun in Western Australia. They shared last week that Saturday the 10th of October will be their last parkrun, unfortunately, due to the lack of additional volunteers. So this parkrun did post on their socials a few months earlier, that they were desperate and in need for new volunteers to step up to take over and assist. So a big shout out to the team at Jakes Point who have worked tirelessly on this parkrun. Just to paint a little bit of perspective: this town has a population of around 1270 people that was clocked in the 2021 Sensus. So it is a small town and it is a tourist town. And there's also currently, so there's currently 10 Js in Australia. So for the alphabet chasers, this will actually take it down to nine. It's certainly not a common letter available in Australia. So in saying all of this, Jakes Point did also post that if anyone is interested in taking over or is able to save this parkrun, to please get in touch. So hopefully someone is able to step up and assist. But Simon, I know this isn't a unique story. Many small towns who have parkrun events often have very small teams who show up week after week. And it's often the same people volunteering and run directing. So I guess if you are visiting a smaller parkrun and you have the capacity to volunteer or you're injured or you're happy to take on one of those vital roles, including Timekeeper, even Run Director, Barcode Scanner. I'm sure this will go a really long way and be appreciated more than you'll ever know. I mean, it could even really make a difference to the event. So fingers crossed that someone can take over this event before it is forced to close.

00:16:08Simon Mackley: Yeah, it is a bit of a cautionary tale, isn't it? Like you said, it happens not just like Jakes Point is obviously this example, but yeah, it definitely happens. It happened at Coober Pedy as well. Went offline for quite a while for the same sort of reason. So yeah, I totally echo that sentiment of trying to step in if you're going somewhere that doesn't get a lot of people. And even if someone's coming with you, maybe they can volunteer with you, like while you run.

Streaky September

00:16:34Sarah Jefferson: We have a streaky September update. So this will be the last one for 2026 with September ending and the Bingoe card being completely released as of tonight. So I've been going really strong, Simon. I've ticked off seven of the possible 13 at the current point in time. So the final four squares on the Bingoe card include a date streak, a Letterbox, Full Moon, which we've actually looked up and is on the 27th of September, and a treat. So they sound like good ones. I actually really like the sound of a treat. I think that's a really nice way to almost end Streaky September. So I might save the best to last. How are you going with your streaking?

00:17:20Simon Mackley: Well, I had a 17-day streak going up until I was wiped out with the flu on Friday. I'd also only gotten through eight of the 16 bingo items, and that was, like, when I was writing this, there was only four that were still hidden. So, yeah, I plan to get back on the streak and the Bingoe card even when Streaky September ends. Okay, so maybe it's time to throw over to Pippa for her last installment as the Streakmeister.

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00:17:51Pippa White: Hey, parkrun adventurers, and we are two-thirds of the way through September. How are you doing? Today I'm going to talk about two things. One is the power of accumulation and the other is about mental health fitness. I appreciate that I have been a little bit grumpy about not being able to run. I'm sorry everybody and thanks for supporting me. But I have actually checked out my stats and I've still managed, you know, that five kilometres every day. I've done over a hundred kilometres of walking and some little bit of walk running now this month. That's two and a bit marathons. It's not an insubstantial amount of time. So I'm giving myself a big pat on the back there. The second thing I want to talk about though, is making sure that whilst we are streaking with our legs, we're also streaking with our heads. It's as important to think about our mental health and our mental health fitness whilst we're streaking as it is to keep our legs going. And there are little challenges that we can do along the line. Some people like to count different things they can see, touch, smell, hear and smell. For others, it's about Bingoe cards, looking for flowers, this year looking, doing some Strava art or running or walking a distance in reverse. All of these are challenges to get our brain joined into the activity, which we love doing, but can be repetitive and can be almost meditative in what we do, but can take us away from actually what our brain needs, which is a little bit of a change up. This week, I walked the course that I have walked and run in one direction for the last four years. It was really hard work because I couldn't quite remember which way I did things. I'm so used to doing one thing, I couldn't remember the backwards bit. By the end of it though, I'd looked up, I'd seen different things, I'd seen a glorious sunrise and my brain was feeling calmer, my mental health was doing better. So for the last 10 days or so of this month, my challenge to you is to get your head going, your mental health fitness going, happy streaking.

00:20:04Simon Mackley: And thank you to the Streakmeister, Pippa. It was a good reminder that focusing on the mental as well as the physical side of the streaking is just as important.

00:20:15Sarah Jefferson: I actually think for me, Simon, that the mental health, like getting out daily for that little walk in the sunshine and the fresh air is more about the mental health than it is the physical health.

00:20:24Sarah Jefferson: Absolutely.

00:20:25Simon Mackley: Doing the 2K isn't as hard when you're running 5Ks on a Saturday and that sort of thing. So 100% agree with you. It's the mental of, yeah, making that first step outside the door.

00:20:35Sarah Jefferson: Okay, a little shout out to our very own TOC, who had a milestone birthday since last recording. So we hope that you had a lovely time celebrating and eating all of the cake, TOC. We're ever thankful for all that you offer and continue to contribute to the pod and the world of parkrun. We hope that you had a great day filled with all of your favourite things.

00:21:01Simon Mackley: Indeed, a very happy birthday to TOC. I did see somewhere on social, I think it was, that he said that he felt like he'd only just turned 40. So I'm sure he's, well, we all know that he's very young at heart.

00:21:13Simon Mackley: Absolutely.

00:21:14Sarah Jefferson: I'm not quite 40 yet, Simon, so I don't really know what that feeling is like. Yeah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. No, TOC is very young at heart, that is for sure.

Attendance and milestone stats

00:21:24Sarah Jefferson: All right, let's get into some of our stats from the past fortnight.

00:21:28Simon Mackley: All righty, we will head over to New Zealand to start with, as we always do. So attendance and milestone stats for the 12th of September in New Zealand, all of the parkruns were open with 12,835 parkrunners and a new New Zealand volunteer record of 1,285. On the 19th of September in New Zealand, all of the 75 parkruns were open with 13,422 parkrunners and 1,246 volunteers. Biggest parkruns in New Zealand on the 12th of September were Hagley, Waitangi and Palmerston North, and the smallest were Mangawhero River Walk, Ohakune, Moana Point Reserve and Lost Lagoon. Closest to the average of the week of 142, was East End with 137 and then last weekend the biggest New Zealand parkruns were Hagley, Waitangi and Millwater and that was their 12th birthday. So good that they got in the top three. And the smallest New Zealand parkruns were East Otago High School, South End Reserve and Lost Lagoon again. Closest to the average of the week of 179 was Porirua with exactly 179.

00:22:46Sarah Jefferson: Back in Australia, on the 12th of September, 80,090 people participated in parkrun.

00:22:50Sarah Jefferson: Of those, 7,010 were volunteers at 543 events with exactly 12,499 first timers. All five junior events went ahead. 509 juniors were guided by 103 volunteers. The smallest event that week was Moora with six, Railway Park with seven, and Puckapunyal with nine. The largest was Albert Melbourne with 873, The Ponds with 798 and Rhodes with 744. On the 19th of September, 84,346 people participated in parkrun, guided by 6,903 volunteers at 542 5km events. In junior events, all five operated with 467 youth being guided by 102 people.

00:23:30[17 seconds of audio that could not be transcribed]

00:23:47Sarah Jefferson: The smallest events on the 19th of September were Waterloo Plains with five, Puckapunyal with seven, and Sunrise Beach with eight. And the largest events were Macquarie University with 797, the Ponds with 803, and Albert Melbourne with 927.

00:24:05[background music]

Interview an Athlete

00:24:06Simon Mackley: And we are adding something a little different in this week. We are going to throw to this now.

Interview Sam Schroder — The Office Lady (parkrun adventurers social media and merch); ultramarathon runner

00:24:19Sarah Jefferson: This week, we are bringing you a segment called Interview an Athlete. So for the first episode of this segment, we will be asking some questions to someone with an athlete ID of 3171031. We have the honour of welcoming someone familiar to the pod, but often very busy behind the scenes and in the background, rather than being front and centre. With nearly 300 parkruns under their belt, a volunteer ratio of 67% and 140 locations to their name, we have Sam Schroder joining us for a little chat. Welcome to the mic, Sam.

00:25:00Sam Schroder: Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here.

00:25:03Sarah Jefferson: We thought it might be a nice opportunity for the listeners to get to know a little more about you and your parkrun journey and your fitness journey. But before we dive in tonight, what did you eat for dinner or what are you eating for dinner?

00:25:20Sam Schroder: Great. Well, I'm actually going to tell you what I had for dinner last night because I'm having something very naughty for dinner tonight. Monday night is lazy dinner night. Um, and we are recording on a Monday night. Uh, but last night we had a dish that we called Chidi Chow Min, which is, um, mince and lots of veggies and, um, two minute noodles mixed through with soy sauce and curry powder and stuff. And it's our, and fried onion, which is like my favourite vegetable. And it's amazing. It's cheap, it's easy and it's filling and delicious.

00:25:53Sarah Jefferson: Yum, it sounds very nutritious. So for the listeners, can you please describe yourself? Who exactly is Sam Schroder?

00:26:01Sam Schroder: Oh my goodness. Sam Schroder is a passionate public school educator, a bibliophile. I love to read. I enjoy reading fiction and nonfiction. And I do a lot of my reading while I'm walking and running by listening to audio books. I am, as a lot of our listeners who are Streaky September people will know, I am now into my sixth year of streaking. I have run or walked a minimum of two kilometres every day for just over five years. Some days it is just two kilometres and other days, as we're going to get to, it's a bit longer than that. I should also say I am a very happily married wife to my beautiful Luke and I have two amazing children and I have eight grandchildren and they're not all biological, but I love all eight of them equally and I'm very lucky. 15 down to two years old, so beautiful kids.

00:27:14Simon Mackley: Amazing, that has given us a really good peek behind the curtain of Sam. So Sam, take us back to how did you get into parkrun in the first place?

00:27:23Sam Schroder: Oh, it's such a good question. So we actually, and I know I've met a lot of people who unfortunately have a similar story that our initial experience of parkrun, we were hesitant, didn't go for a long time after we'd registered, went and I won't bore you with the details, but had a less than ideal experience, risked it again two weeks later, still didn't really love it. But knew that the concept was really good and I worked with a lady who was involved with a parkrun and she put me in touch with the two ladies that set up Picton parkrun in New South Wales and I went to the trials and and became a member of the core team from launch day of Picton parkrun. And was very much just went every Saturday to Picton. And back then Luke would have said to you, this is 2018, Luke would have said to you that it was my thing. He didn't really go very often at all. But we went on a road trip 2019-2020 summer and it's fair to say that that's when Luke caught the bug. We did 19 different parkruns in 16 weeks on the road and became the parkrun tourists, passionate parkrun tourists, that we now are. So.

00:28:49Sarah Jefferson: Amazing. It's great to hear that you turned your early parkrun journey right around.

00:28:55Sam Schroder: Absolutely.

00:28:56Sarah Jefferson: We're very fortunate for your passion, especially with the adventurers. Now, we have heard on the pod recently that you completed your first 24 hour Light Horse event in Perth. So congratulations again on that.

00:29:10Sam Schroder: Thank you very much.

00:29:12Sarah Jefferson: I am intrigued as to how you did get to this point and what the build up looked like. Did you compete in any other small distances to eventually get to this point?

00:29:24Sam Schroder: Okay, so yes, I am a late comer to running and I love my coach's position that your age is one thing, but your running age is another thing. And so he talks about how I'm quite a young runner because I haven't been running for that long. I like that because having turned 60, I don't feel young about anything else. But I guess that I... I branched out from occasionally tiny bits of jogging to definitely the initial experience was getting to the point where I could run the whole 5Ks of parkrun. And I remember that being the social media manager for the Picton parkrun, I wrote a post about myself and how I had evolved from a walker to a jog, you know, parkjogger to having my first experience of running the whole 5Ks. And from there, actually, and I do have Luke's permission to tell you this story. In 2022, Luke had quite a long and difficult experience with his mental health, which resulted in some time in a mental health unit, and I take the sickness and health part of my vows very, very seriously and so we worked very hard on bringing him back to a place where he felt confident and positive and strong again. But in that journey we both agreed that I needed to find something that was for me, that I could focus on, because all our energy was going into making sure that he was well. And I had followed this lady on Instagram for a couple of years. Her name's Kath Wallace, and she did the most incredible adventure runs all over the world. And she took teams of women, women, women like me, women with um you know not just stereotypical athletic fast runners, but women with a sense of adventure and who were willing to step out of their comfort zone. And I had known for a long time that if she posted something that spoke to me I'd probably need to apply to go to be a part of her team and it was the day after Luke and I had talked about me needing something for me that she posted saying she was looking for women to join her team to go to the Simpson Desert and enter the Simpson Desert Ultra. And so it was like it was meant to be. So I put in an application to be a member of her team. She accepted me and we spoke and she said, so what distance do you want to do? The Simpson Desert Ultra is a four loop event. So 24, 25 kilometre loops, you can do a hundred Ks or 75 Ks or 50 Ks or 25 Ks. My longest distance at the time I'd ever run was 14 kilometres. So I said to her, oh, I'm pretty sure I can manage 25 Ks. And she said, Oh, well, if you're pretty sure you can manage 25 Ks, you need to sign up for the 50. And I said, what?! But she was right. It was about getting right outside your comfort zone and committing. And I put six months of training into preparing for that event. And I am the proud final finisher of that event in 2023. So when I say I'm a slow runner, like, I really mean it. I have always been a back of the pack, or the end of the pack, runner. Um, the back of our shirts, party at the back. That's me. Love a party at the back. But, um, yeah, definitely by far the hardest thing I'd ever done in my life. But let me tell you, when you do a destination event like that, you've got every single entrant waiting at the finish line. And probably a lot of their cheering was because they wanted to get on the bus and get back to the pub for a beer. Um, but it made me feel really special to finish that event. And yeah, it was that kind of changed everything and made me realise that, you can do anything you put your mind to if you work hard enough for it. So, actually our former host, Mel, said to me after that event, what I love about this, Sam, is that you respected the training and that's why you had such a good time. And that's really stuck with me that if you want to do something really, really hard, you have to work really hard for it. And then on the day that that's the reward for all the hard work you did.

00:34:00Sarah Jefferson: Amazing. Thanks for sharing that. Incredible.

00:34:02Simon Mackley: It was amazing. So yeah, on the mental tenacity thing, like people, you hear of people having epiphanies through these events and that sort of thing. Is there anything that you had in like the 24 hour event or in the Simpson Desert, like where you've had these epiphanies while you've been running?

00:34:20Sam Schroder: It's a really good question and I guess long time listeners might remember that I interviewed Phil Gore for the pod a few years ago. Very, very lucky to call Gemma and Phil friends. And Phil and I actually, one of the things that we enjoy in our friendship is talking about books. And we both love to read young adult fiction, particularly dystopian fiction, and we also love reading non-fiction books about running, so those incredible books that people that do really out there things. We love reading those books as well and actually most of most of my time on really long distance events I do listen to audiobooks so I'm not so much thinking about myself or my experience as being grateful for a different story to take me out of where I am. Interestingly, with the 24-hour race, though, I never even thought about putting my Shokz on until it was quite late in the night. And then I only did two laps and I had to keep pausing the book because the beautiful thing about... The Light Horse Ultra is, it's a 2.3 kilometre lap that you do as many or as few laps as you want. And from the most elite runner, so the first time I did this event, I did the six hour version. In 2023, and I shared my gazebo with Phil and Kevin Matthews, Big Kev, and they are both really elite, really fast runners. And if you're running a loop like that, Then the fast runners are just coming past pretty regularly and the mid pack runners are coming past a little less often and the slow runners are happy to have run a lap with you. And so actually I spent a huge amount of the 24 hours chatting with people that I was running or walking beside or having Big Kev ran this year. And so every single lap as he lapped me, good on you, Sam. Keep going, Sam. You're doing great, Sam. It's the most beautiful environment. Yeah, it's just – so it was actually – lots of pouring rain and really soggy feet and a really, really tough, tough gig. But between the people out on course with me and the beautiful, beautiful friends who all came to cheer me on, which includes Sarah here with us tonight, just, yeah, I feel really, it was... It wasn't so much Epiphany Zone, that particular event, as definitely again, maybe I just do this because there's parties. Wherever I go, there's a party. I do love a party. I do love a party, yes.

00:37:16Sarah Jefferson: So in terms of getting through 24 hours, Sam, what did your nutrition look like? What did your food preparation look like for an event like this?

00:37:26Sam Schroder: Yeah, so one of the things I've definitely learnt from my coach but also from people like Phil is that real food matters and that you should try to maintain, you know, what's that saying? Nothing new on race day. You shouldn't be randomly eating things that you wouldn't normally eat. Shout out to Michael and Annika who brought a pastry that I did eat in about the 23rd hour or something but I've eaten pastries before so that was fine. But yeah, no, I am not a gel person. I don't like gels. You might think, oh, she's a weirdo. You might also think, oh yeah, I've done that too. I like to use baby food pouches. So when fatigue has really set in and you can't think about chewing or swallowing, then I Um, pureed fruit or, or the custard pouches, give you a sugar hit, keep the, keep the carbohydrates going, but you don't have to actually do any chewing and thinking. Um, but yeah, real food, save a mixture of savoury and sweet and the classics. So, um, you know, chips and chips and Coke when you need a salt hit or some caffeine.

00:38:41Simon Mackley: Yeah.

00:38:43Simon Mackley: Yeah, I totally agree with that from the Backyard Ultra stuff and watching Phil and Gabby especially, the things that, yeah, she's got him doing and, well, things they're doing together, I shouldn't say that she's got him doing it.

00:38:54[crosstalk]

00:38:56Sam Schroder: No, I know what you mean, yeah.

00:38:57Simon Mackley: Yeah. Let's totally shake this up.

00:39:01Sam Schroder: Sure.

00:39:02Simon Mackley: Do you have a particular running outfit or attire that you always stick to? Like Sarah, where she wears her iconic visor.

00:39:10Sam Schroder: I really like that question, actually. So I didn't think I did. But when I was trying to decide what to wear for the 24 hour race, I decided to wear a shirt, which coincidentally is from OC Clothing, which is a Western Australian brand. And it was their Christmas shirt from a few years ago, but you wouldn't know. It's a pink and brown Aboriginal art design. But the shape of their shirts, I find really comfortable. I own The Phil Gore World Record shirts and also, but Phil's original shirt, the Team Gore blue shirt. And I like the way the shirt fits, but I wore this, the pink and brown shirt when I did my second 50K event, which was Gone Nuts in Tasmania. Shout out to Stephen Warwick. We did that event together, side by side, the whole 50Ks. Beautiful, magical day. Yeah, and so then when I was doing my first ever marathon which was in May this year I thought I'll wear that shirt again because like I had such a good day with Steve and so then I wore it again for the 24-hour race so I think that my my pink and brown um OC Clothing shirt is my lucky shirt, but I mean, I just think I need just more OC shirts because I don't know if I want to wear it a fourth or fifth time, but we'll see. It appears that is my lucky shirt.

00:40:41Sarah Jefferson: Nice. Well, we're supportive of always buying more running gear, that is for sure. So we approve of that. So after, you know, this 24 hour event, what does your recovery or what did your recovery actually look like? Could you walk? How are you feeling?

00:40:57Sam Schroder: Yeah, so interestingly, um the my feet were my feet were a mess. I won't go into the details, but my feet were a mess.. Um, I couldn't even stand the thought of putting socks and shoes on the next day, um, but I have very comfortable like Mary Jane style buckle up flat shoes. And so, and my coach had said that I should walk for 10 minutes on the first day and 15 minutes on the second day and 20 minutes on the third day. And I said to him, but I can't break my streak. So like, is it okay if I do two Ks? Like I can just do one K in the morning and one K in the afternoon maybe, and he said oh nothing's going to come between you and your streak, is it? Fine, whatever. do whatever you can manage and it's actually pretty funny because I ended up doing, Luke walked with me, and we ended up doing nearly three k's on the Monday. But, full disclosure, we had a nice long sit and watch waves crashing at the beach halfway around so it wasn't wasn't really that far, but I surprised myself by the Wednesday. We did a freedom walk of the Galup Reserve parkrun, and I did 20,000 steps on the Wednesday. So I think I'm just a freak. I don't know. It's no real explanation.

00:42:19Simon Mackley: What would you say were the challenges? What about the growths that you made as a person and as an athlete?

00:42:25Sam Schroder: For me, it's really interesting. I think there's a real trajectory from the Simpson Desert Ultra. What actually happened after that was, I did go into a slump. I did keep the streak alive, but I was barely doing more than the minimum 2Ks and parkrun. I wasn't doing any long runs, and I got a bit miserable. And at the end of 23, Luke said to me, what about if for Christmas I give you 12 months paying Skip, my amazing coach, Skip Phoenix, what if I pay for you to have personal training from him to really see what you can do with your running? You loved the desert so much. Let's see what you can do. And yeah, that... that Christmas gift has been repeated each year because I can't... And, you know, it's interesting because our listeners know I'm a bit bossy, especially if they've been to palm. Nothing like the Office Lady ordering everyone into a photo on time. But, I also love to just do as I'm told. And every fortnight Skip sends me my training plan for the fortnight and whatever he says to do, I go and do because he said so. And Skip has... Skip has really pushed me, but not in a, that's too hard, I can't possibly do it, but just in a, oh, Skip thinks I can do that. Okay. And so, yeah, I've been incredibly lucky to be able brought along and I've become a stronger and a more confident runner as a consequence of Skip's belief in me and Luke's belief in me. And I think that I think that I've found a real passion obviously for endurance events and I always joke and say the the further you run the slower you're allowed to go and that's why I love it. But, I do just want to share because it matters so much to me that I was blown away. It took me a week to be brave enough to look, um, and I was blown away to discover that I did come 99th out of 161 Participants in the 24-hour race. And like, you know, that 99th is 96 away from the podium but it was 62 people away from the last finisher. So while I was, I am proud of the things I've come last at, that that to me is a symbol of how much stronger I have become um as a as an endurance athlete.

00:44:55Sarah Jefferson: Amazing, that's what I'm hearing, this mental resilience coming through and shining through. So, absolutely, you are middle of the pack there, you are not back of the pack at all.

00:45:05Sam Schroder: Yeah that's solid middle, right? There's no arguing.

00:45:07[crosstalk]

00:45:09Sarah Jefferson: Absolutely, yeah. Congratulations on that. Thank you. Now we're going to change gears here. You are our trusty Office Lady.

00:45:19Sam Schroder: Indeed.

00:45:19Sarah Jefferson: And thank you for being here tonight because, honestly, this office really needed cleaning up and all of those papers did need shredding so thank you for that, um, but I did want to want to ask you, um what you enjoy about working behind the scenes with the podcast and how you did land yourself this role?

00:45:41Sam Schroder: Sure, so in 22, that was our first palm. Luke and I went to Hobart in 22. And I had, Mel and I had become friends just through sending messages. We haven't met in person. And then when we met in person, It was actually at palm that Mel made a passing comment about how, once the pod was recorded and then she'd been through the process of editing, she found the social media bits of the work to be a bit... like the last straw of how she didn't enjoy the social media part and she wished she did, but she was done from the rest of the work. And it was not like a call for help or anything like that. She was just saying that in conversation that she found it difficult. What she didn't know was that I have... quite a bit of experience in supporting social media from different perspectives. I've always been an admin on my daughter's business account. Have to shout out my son, Jules Centauri, on every platform. Very successful content creator. And I don't do admin for him, but I've always been a sounding board for him on his different ideas. And so I just said to her, oh, I could do the social media if you like, and one thing led to another. And first Sam was in the background and then the persona of The Office Lady developed over time and I just, I just love it so much. I love, I love in particular interacting with our listeners through Dazza's on the weekends. And I love that I love that people feel a part of, we all know parkrun's got nothing to do with running and walking, it's about community. And I love that our podcast is a special, extra special part of that community. That we, and I'm proud of what I've done with the merch and that people recognise each other as listeners out and about now because of the merch. And yeah, it just, it's a joy to me, you know, people say, oh, how do you keep up with it all? Like, I just, it's just a real joy to jump online a few times over the weekend and, and cheer people on and celebrate milestones and laugh at silly posts and, you know, Saturday, just go and talk like a pirate day. What a great day that was. So yeah, that's me, the Office Lady.

00:48:24Simon Mackley: Projecting forward, what's next? What are your goals for the next 12 months for parkrun and beyond?

00:48:30Sam Schroder: So some of your listeners already know that Luke and I are hitting the road full time at the end of the year. So we are going to be those annoying people that do a different parkrun every weekend and watch all those stats climbing for most events lists and all the rest of it. But yeah, the plan is to... explore, continue exploring Australia, which we've loved doing for a long time already, but on a full time basis. And, just because 24 hour race wasn't quite crazy enough, my next big adventure is, I will be doing what I'm referring to as a princess through hike of Walk the York in South Australia. So the York Peninsula has a 500 kilometre hiking and cycling trail around the perimeter of the peninsula. Um, and through hiking is where you have, uh, you know, your shelter and everything in your pack and you can't, they do have shelters around the trail and you camp overnight. I'm a princess. So what I'll be doing is hiking every day and Luke will pick me up at the end of the day and take me back to our caravan where I'll be able to sleep in my own comfy bed. Um, the goal is to walk six days a week and have, um, Sunday's off and complete the hike in four weeks. So, um, I'm super excited about that. And then even better than that is that when we were in the Simpson desert in 2023, after the race was finished and we were out for dinner, one of the other ladies in the team said to Luke: "So what did you think, Luke? Do you reckon you'd ever come back?" And he, I thought for sure, he would say no chance. But his immediate response was, "Oh yeah, I'd come back and do the 25K sometime." So in June next year, I will be walking beside my amazing husband who has overcome not just the mental health issues, challenges, we talked I talked about earlier, but also a catastrophic hip and femur injury from 2024. And the fact that he is willing to train and and build up to being strong enough to for us to go back to the desert and take on 25k's in the desert is just the most exciting thing that I have to look forward to next year.

00:50:58Sarah Jefferson: Wow, Sam, 2027 is going to be a fabulous year for you and for Luke. There's definitely no stopping both of you. Now, I could talk to you, as I'm sure Simon could, all night, but we better wrap this up soon. So do you have any parting words of wisdom that you would like to share with the listeners about your journey to this point or anything to add that we haven't covered?

00:51:22Sam Schroder: Well, I am mindful of how long I've been talking for, so I'm going to keep it short and sweet, just like me. Look, I think it matters so much to me to say to people, if you have been thinking about something that seems too far-fetched or too crazy or too wild to contemplate, you don't have to be good at something, you have to love it. And if you love it, then you should just go and do it. And I did, and I am so glad that I did.

00:51:51Sarah Jefferson: I think that's the perfect way to end this chat tonight. Thank you, Sam, for all of your inspiration and for being so generous with all of your wisdom and your experiences. We have absolutely loved chatting to you and onwards and upwards. Can't wait to see what happens, you know, in the next 12 months. Such an incredible woman. Thank you so much.

00:52:05[background music]

00:52:10[crosstalk]

00:52:12Simon Mackley: Thanks, Sam.

Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew

00:52:18Sarah Jefferson: All right, we are now going to give our voices a rest and we are going to throw to some roving reports.

00:52:30[background music]

Roving report Phil Corker — Bushy Park

Talking to Calum Burrell — parkrun adventurer, interviewed at Bushy Park on his PB there

00:52:32Phil Corker: How do, this is Phil Corker from England and I'm here interviewing parkrun adventurers, Cooee to Calum Burrell.

00:52:40Calum Burrell: Cooee, Phil, how are you after doing your Bushy pilgrimage?

00:52:46Phil Corker: Marvellous, thank you. How was it? Tell us a bit about the course.

00:52:50Calum Burrell: Now, you're meant to say, how did you find it? Go on.

00:52:54Phil Corker: Google Maps.

00:52:55Calum Burrell: Ah there we go! So, um, today we, uh, thank you to Phil because, um, it was a bit of a strange one in that I've done Bushy Park before. I did it in November 2022. My time at Bushy in 2022 was 29:21. My fastest parkrun time up until today was for this year 2026 is 29:20, so I set Phil the challenge of not only pacing me around but to basically try and get my, get a Bushy PB and to get my fastest time of the year and, drumroll, you helped me to shave half a minute off my Bushy PB, so thank you. 28:50.

00:53:37Phil Corker: Well done. Maverick don't leave his wingman. Brilliant. And what position was that then?

00:53:43Calum Burrell: 762 out of a field of 1599. That is officially the biggest field I've been at a parkrun. And not only that, it was the dustiest ever parkrun. It was a complete dust bowl today. When everyone set off, It was, obviously you have the usual Bushy stampede, but literally it was for the first, I'd say for the first mile, everyone was like running through dust because it's that bone dry. We're still in the middle of a heat wave pretty much over here in the UK. August the 8th is when this event took place, event 1102. So that's another thing, it's the first time I've done an event, a four digit event number today. And it was absolutely brilliant. And yeah, thank you for the Bushy Park, you know, volunteer team because it was it was actually a brilliant morning and and as I say we we were a frond of two there was plenty of other people from lots of other countries.

00:54:39Phil Corker: Saw some Australians.

00:54:41Calum Burrell: Yes, apparently there was someone called Lyndell doing their 250, I don't think it was our Lyndell, but they were from Australia apparently.

00:54:48Phil Corker: And 1599 people that's like it's like 10 parkruns having a powwow at once, brilliant.

00:54:52[crosstalk]

00:54:53Calum Burrell: Bonkers.

00:54:54Phil Corker: What's the course like?

00:54:55Calum Burrell: The course, well it's a one lapper and it's all on kind of majority of it's on a like a very gravel, you know, dusty gravel path and I say, well, dusty is the operative word. And the whole way around, because we're going around in roughly 29 minutes, let's say it was pretty much. It was, you know, a big, in the middle of the pack the whole way around. It is what people might expect. It feels like a big event because you are in a big event because it's, you know, you've got a pack of people the whole way around and we saw the deer, didn't we? The deer was literally half a mile in.

00:55:27Phil Corker: Yeah.

00:55:28Calum Burrell: And they were not flustered at all the deer, were they?

00:55:31Phil Corker: No, it's a spectacular course. I think it might catch on.

00:55:35Calum Burrell: Yeah, so thank you for PSH for putting on the first Bushy Park Time Trial back in October 20, when was it, 2004, and we're here in 2026 and it's still going strong and it's great to be at the home of where it all started, so.

00:55:55Phil Corker: And what time did I have to pick you up to do this pilgrimage this morning?

00:55:58Calum Burrell: Yeah, this is another thing that was earliest for me today. We set off at 4:20am and we arrived in the car park at Bushy Park at 8am.

00:56:07Phil Corker: That's got to be Australian time, surely.

00:56:10Calum Burrell: So yeah, so I think you can work out how long that took to travel, which I suppose it's bread and butter for Australians going long distance in one day but it's the longest distance we we I think we've both gone in in one day, in one morning. But so worth it. Superb day brilliant day for it and thank you for driving and thank you for pacing me and uh a brilliant morning.

00:56:31Phil Corker: Yeah, thank you Bushy Pilgrimage. Wow, okay parkrun adventurers, over and out.

Roving report Eman Vergara — Kanata parkrun

00:56:35Eman Vergara: Good day guys, Eman here checking in from Kanata parkrun here in Canada's capital city of Ottawa.

Talking to Steve — Run Director, Kanata parkrun (Ottawa, Canada)

00:56:42Eman Vergara: With me is Steve, who was the Run Director for today. It's a beautiful course. Juno and I were the Tail Walkers. Steve, tell us about how Kanata parkrun started.

00:56:53Steve: Kanata parkrun started 2018. We had two people who were serving the Canadian military. They were positioned in London. They went to Gunnersbury. That was their local parkrun. They loved it. When they moved back here, they saw that parkrun Canada was starting up. So they put in the application and we're, I think the 10th parkrun to start in Canada.

00:57:12Eman Vergara: Oh, wow. That's actually pretty early on. And tell us about the course. I mean, we enjoyed it very well.

00:57:17Steve: The course, we have our, not our typical course today. We're under construction. They're replacing the pathway on the south side. Usually it's a out and back loop on the north side, out and back loop on the south side around the Beaver pond. Today we got to do the two peaks challenge, which includes our short and punchy little hill on the other side. We got to do that twice. So it was a two times out and back plus a short out and back to finish up.

00:57:40Eman Vergara: Yeah, I definitely felt it. Thankfully, I only had to push the pram up once up the hill. Once Christine finished, she picked up the pram. But normally, you do end up doing the U-shaped around the Beaver Pond Lake. Is that right?

00:57:52Steve: Yeah, we usually do a U-shape. We'll start on one side, go up and down the north side, then up and down the south side. Nice thing about that is you get to see all the runners, usually twice. So everybody gets to cheer on everybody.

00:58:01Eman Vergara: Yeah, nice. So I definitely recommend checking out this course. But before we finish off, Steve, for our listeners who haven't visited Canada or even the capital, Ottawa, are there any other parkruns that they should check out in the city or in the region that you've done?

00:58:14Steve: So Ottawa is actually a nice little hotbed for parkruns. We have five now in the region and There may be one coming, another sixth one coming up soon. So in the area, they're spread out fairly widely. There's one in Stittsville, which is a nice out and back flat one. Very good parkrun for supporting the community. A lot of walkers.

00:58:33Eman Vergara: What's that called?

00:58:34Steve: That one's called Ottawa-Carleton Trailway. That one's a really nice one. On the Quebec side near downtown, the closest one to downtown is in Gatineau in Quebec. It is an out and back, typically an out and back along the river, which is a really nice course. And you get a nice little wind behind you to finish, which is always a bonus. Sometimes they have flooding and they'll do an alternate course, which includes an interprovincial bridge. So you can run across back into Ontario. East End, I think they're east and west and backwards. The east end of Ottawa, there's one in Orleans, which is right back on a nice trail. Nice and flat, another really good one. They have some really fast runners there if you're looking for a challenge. And then a little farther field in Russell is one called New York Central Fitness Trail. New York Central Fitness is named after the old rail line.

00:59:25[crosstalk]

00:59:25Phil Corker: That's why it's New York.

00:59:27Steve: And that's a smaller one, but it's also... It's also very, very fast if you're looking for a good flight course.

00:59:32Eman Vergara: Okay, well, thanks so much for profiling those other events, Steve. Juno and the family and I are actually parkwalking Moussette next week. So hopefully it's a nice morning for it. But with that, thanks so much for your time and check out, you know, Kanata parkrun. Cheers, guys. Cheers.

Roving report Ali Sheppard — Inch Beach parkrun

00:59:50Ali Sheppard: G'day adventurers, Ali from the UK here and today I am in Ireland and I am at Inch Beach parkrun and I'm here with Elizabeth and Rory. Hello.

Talking to Elizabeth — co-founder, Inch Beach parkrun (County Kerry, Ireland)

01:00:01Ali Sheppard: Hi. How's it going? And we've just finished Inch Beach, which is an amazing parkrun along the beach. I think it should be twinned with The Beaches in Australia, but it is completely different to The Beaches in Australia because that's a beach with soft sand where you get your feet wet. Here it is a wide, wide beach, completely hard sand, and it's just amazing. So have you both been involved since the start?

01:00:32Elizabeth: Very start, both of us, yes.

01:00:35Rory: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

01:00:35Ali Sheppard: So tell us about the start of this, you know, how did this come about?

01:00:42Rory: Uh, Elizabeth is the best to...

01:00:42Elizabeth: Myself and Barry, we started to set it up eight years ago and because I wanted to, I loved it so much because I liked it because it was community based, all inclusive and that's the reason how I got involved and Barry suggested Inch Beach. So we both, we went for Inch Beach and that's it.

01:01:09Ali Sheppard: And can you describe the course or where we are in Ireland for the people in Australia?

01:01:14[crosstalk]

Talking to Rory — Inch Beach parkrunner and local (County Kerry, Ireland)

01:01:14Rory: I'll tell you exactly where we are. We're in the kingdom and there's only one kingdom. Simples.

01:01:22Ali Sheppard: So we're in County Kerry.

01:01:24[crosstalk]

01:01:24Rory: County Kerry, yeah. That's called the Kingdom here. Everybody calls Kerry the Kingdom.

01:01:28Ali Sheppard: Do they? Yeah. Okay.

01:01:30Rory: For obvious reasons.

01:01:32Ali Sheppard: And we're on the Dingle Peninsula.

01:01:33Rory: Dingle Peninsula, yeah, yeah, just the start of it, yeah.

01:01:35Ali Sheppard: And you were saying before that Inch...

01:01:39Rory: Inch is English, and obviously the Irish for Inch is Inish, which means island. So Inch used to be an island years ago, because obviously the sand, moving into sand and stuff like that, so it used to be, like, the sand used to come in here, or the sea used to come in here, and it used to be an island, and obviously it backed up with the sand, and now it's actually part of the mainland now, like,

01:02:00Ali Sheppard: Okay, they're amazing. And the course is, it's just a long out and back, isn't it?

01:02:06Rory: Yeah, nice and handy.

01:02:09Ali Sheppard: And it's quite, I mean, it's wild, isn't it? It's the weather today, we've been really lucky. I thought it was going to rain, but the rain stayed off. But there's quite a strong wind along the beach.

01:02:23[crosstalk]

01:02:23Rory: I'm sure we're well used to winter, we don't take any notice. It can get a bit breezy here, all right. We've had a few highly entertaining occasions once or twice.

01:02:32Ali Sheppard: Storms. Yes, I would imagine you get quite strong storms, but you don't cancel that much.

01:02:39Rory: No.

01:02:40Elizabeth: No, we haven't for years.

01:02:41Ali Sheppard: You haven't cancelled for years. That is amazing.

01:02:45Ali Sheppard: And how many people do you get?

01:02:47Elizabeth: Well, in the wintertime, for our regulars, it's only about 20, 30 people max. But throughout the summer, it's been about 50. But this year, the numbers have been phenomenal. It's been well over 100 for the past weeks, except for today, for about, I think, about four or five weeks or something like that.

01:03:12Rory: Yeah, over 100.

01:03:13Elizabeth: And that is surreal. That is definitely.

01:03:16Rory: See, we're only a small rural town.

01:03:17[crosstalk]

01:03:20Elizabeth: We're not a town, we're in the countryside, so, yeah.

01:03:23Rory: We're not like the show in Kalani.

01:03:30Rory: They're big towns.

01:03:31Ali Sheppard: So, have you done parkruns in other towns, in...

01:03:35Rory: No, I'm only over the road here in the Parish Quay, so I always come back here. I was inside in Killarney once in the old route, I like that, but I haven't been in the new route. And Tralee's in the park, so that's a different kind of a run again.

01:03:46[crosstalk]

01:03:46Ali Sheppard: So you come every week?

01:03:48Rory: Yeah, most weeks.

01:03:49Ali Sheppard: And you're a second, finished second today?

01:03:51[crosstalk]

01:03:51Rory: Yeah, thereabouts. I was the first barefoot runner like that.

01:03:55Ali Sheppard: Oh yes, you're running barefoot.

01:03:58Elizabeth: We encourage children from secondary schools and last year when they were coming as part of their assignment, voluntary work, So they were doing volunteer work. I got them to do like how to be the guides, you know, like leading the guide. So they were, one was blindfolded and the other one was doing it. So they were taking turns like you do in scouts. And I was thinking, so they were doing timekeeping, the whole lot, all the different roles, and it's part of their medal whatever that they were doing at that time for um so that is a huge help getting the volunteers um you know to the schools as well so the secondary schools yeah. Yeah that was good, brilliant that was brilliant.

01:04:16[crosstalk]

01:04:43Ali Sheppard: I'm full of admiration for you running barefoot because I I ran barefoot in Portrush.

01:04:48Rory: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Portrush, yeah, yeah.

01:04:50Ali Sheppard: And I got blisters on my feet and couldn't walk for the rest of the weekend. Because there's little shells and things on the beach.

01:04:56Rory: Yeah, I know, and you drive them into the sand, that's all.

01:04:58Ali Sheppard: So you were, I think you were the first beach parkrun in the Republic of Ireland.

01:05:04Rory: She's the boss.

01:05:05Elizabeth: In the Republic of Ireland, yeah, but in Northern Ireland, I think they were first.

01:05:10Ali Sheppard: Portrush were first, yeah.

01:05:12Ali Sheppard: Yeah, and I think there's another one now.

01:05:15Elizabeth: Norrin. I think that, yeah, they're also, yeah, they've been there for ages, so it's great.

01:05:21Ali Sheppard: Well, it's just been absolutely wonderful. I've loved it. Thank you so much.

01:05:23[crosstalk]

01:05:25Elizabeth: Thank you very much. It's been wonderful.

01:05:27Rory: Thank you.

01:05:29Ali Sheppard: So we've finished now at Inch Beach. One of the amazing things here is that you can actually drive down onto the beach. It's an enormous wide beach and cars just drive down and park up and they draw a line on the sand and just right on the sand, Inch Beach parkrun and the number. And now everybody has gone. And it looks like there's not been a parkrun here. You can just about see the writing, Inch Beach parkrun, on the sand. But it's already getting, you know, washed away. And it's just an amazing, extraordinary place. You've got mountains in the background with cloud clinging to the top of the mountains. And the Run Director and... Elizabeth and Rory are just driving away now in the background, and we are left on the beach. It is absolutely wonderful. You should come here. You should all come here, especially TOC, because I know that he has a history with Irish parkruns, so maybe being cancelled, and they said they never cancel, so TOC, you should definitely get yourself here. That's a wrap.

01:06:50[background music]

01:07:00Simon Mackley: Alrighty, we're back from the roving reports where we heard from Phil, who was pacing Calum for his Bushy PB. We heard from Eman, who is at Kanata parkrun, and who was doing the two peaks challenge on the day, and I love that. The name Beaver Pond Lake that they're running around, that sounds so Canadian. And the third one was Ali, who was speaking to Elizabeth and Rory, and really good to hear how it differs from The Beaches. I also loved hearing the Irish accent and that typically Irish humour. Ali throwing out a challenge as well to TOC to go to Inch Beach because they don't cancel.

Dazza's

01:07:42Simon Mackley: And it's time we head over to Dazza's. We've chosen five comments from each of the last two weeks Dazza's posts.

01:07:50Sarah Jefferson: On Saturday the 12th of September, Dazza said, We've found the perfect day for parkrun enthusiasts. Today is International Encouragement Day. Did you encourage people today or were you the recipient of encouragement? Come on in, place your orders and tell us all about your morning. We will step into Dazza's and hear about some Saturday morning adventures tracking from east to west in time order. So there were 108 comments to pick from this week.

01:08:18Simon Mackley: So heading from the east, we've got Jackie Hancock, who was at Waitangi parkrun in New Zealand, where she shared, At Waitangi parkrun, there was a lovely lady who I didn't ever see because she was behind me, shouting encouragement to everyone. Super motivating. And if she's on here, thank you. And Jackie didn't post a photo, but it was nice to hear Jackie share about the random act of kindness and encouragement from anonymous parkrunner, spurring her on that little bit extra. I guess there's maybe a little bit of us all in that stranger and you really just never know the impact that your words and encouragement or kindness towards someone else is actually making a world of difference to someone out there.

01:09:00Sarah Jefferson: Next, we heard from Jay Grimsley at Gainsborough Parklands parkrun in Queensland. Jay said, Well, Dazza, I encourage my friend who doesn't run very often to come to her local parkrun at Gainsborough Parklands parkrun with me. My job was done. And Jay shared a photo of herself and a friend she managed to encourage to join her to attend parkrun on Saturday. Let's hope this can be a weekly and regular thing, Jay.

01:09:28Simon Mackley: And next we heard from Yvette Turner, who was at Coombs, my favourite ACT event, that is. She wrote, Good morning Dazza and thanks for your encouragement each week and the words of encouragement posted each week on everyone's post by The Office Lady. What a difference 30 minutes makes. It was a foggy morning at Coombs parkrun when I arrived but clear and sunny when I finished. I enjoyed yelling encouraging words as faster runners passed me and as I overtook others. It's always nice to have someone tell you to keep going and that you're doing great. Have a great parkrun day everyone. And Yvette shared a photo collage of herself in the parkrun frame, prior to parkrun with a very foggy background, in fact, so much so that you can't see what's behind her, as well as the contrasting photo of her at the end of the event to see the beautiful view of Lake Western behind her. What a difference 30 minutes makes for sure.

01:10:24Sarah Jefferson: Heading further west, we heard from Sam Schroder at Mundy Regional parkrun in Western Australia. Sam shared, one week post ultra, I was incredibly grateful for the encouragement from Luke and the Tail Walker Joe, as we conquered probably Australia's toughest course, Mundy Regional parkrun, a truly brutafull experience. Sam posted a selfie of herself and her husband Luke at the start finish line of the parkrun. We believe that Sam and Luke now actually need to tick off Nambour parkrun so that they can actually buy into the debate as to which parkrun is harder in Australia. Very impressive, Sam, that you backed up the following weekend after your 24-hour race to tick off arguably the hardest parkrun in Australia or the world at that.

01:11:13Simon Mackley: And finally for the week, we have Andrew Blanda, who is at Farfalle parkrun in Italy. Andrew posted, Yes, I offered encouragement to a few of the other runners, walkers at Farfalle parkrun this morning. Such a wonderful volley crew, very welcoming to us all. We also met Sam and Clancy from Armidale, who'd spotted my parkrun adventurers buff in the wild. Four laps of the park with lots of encouragement from the volleys on each and every lap made. It's a very special little parkrun for the 32 of us today, including four plus one adventurers. And Andrew shared a photo of himself, Eva, Clancy and Sam with the Farfalle pop-up. How incredible that you all ended up at the same parkrun on the other side of the world. I love that our merch identified you as adventurers. What a lovely frond and what an adventure. Happy travels to you all.

01:12:09Sarah Jefferson: Yes, how amazing is that? Like I know I've met Andrew at a different palm to Sam and Clancy, but it's pretty impressive both going over from Australia to the same parkrun and noticing the merch.

01:12:21Stephen Thwaites: Moving on to Dazza's on the 19th of September.

01:12:24Sarah Jefferson: Dazza said, Avast ye scurvy mob, it be international talk like a pirate day, and ye be talking right or ye be walking the plank. All hands on deck to spill your guts on the events of ye mornin' and we'll be yelling arrr as we feed you to the fishes. And this week there were 102 comments.

01:12:47Simon Mackley: Alrighty, I am going to struggle through this as a pirate, but I'm going to give it a crack. First we heard from Heather Hunter at Taree parkrun. Heather shared, Ahoy! T'was a beautiful morning for tailwalkin' at Taree parkrun. I be claimin' merch on the Streaky September Bingoe card. And there was a photo of Heather in the selfie frame with the tail workers vest on.

01:13:10Sarah Jefferson: Next we heard from Stephen Walsh at Rotherham parkrun in the UK. Stephen said, ripping my new t-shirt and cap adventurers merch at Rotherham parkrun in Yorkshire, England. No pirates were seen this far inland. And Stephen shared a photo of himself looking great in his brand new adventurer's shirt and cap, performing na-da-da, then a zoomie next to the pop-up, and the Clifton Park Museum being in the background.

01:13:39Simon Mackley: Next, we have Chris Gore at Old Golf Course parkrun in Narrogin in WA. Chris wrote, Arr, Karen and I did sail across a dark and stormy night yesterday into the south-east of, to the port of Narrogin. We have a new parkrun here that was our NENDY. It's called the Old Golf Course parkrun, Narrogin, and it's the only O and WA, so it should get the occasional visitor. It also completed our statesmanship once again. The course is an old golf course and follows a dirt road around three laps. It has a small hill that gets bigger with each lap and it was a windy day with a small shower but that didn't stop me from getting a number one finish token. It was a very keen and welcoming event team and a lovely coffee at the local nursery cafe with locals and other tourists and Chris posted a photo of himself and lovely wife Karen both donning their adventurers buffs, a parkrun cap and Team Gore t-shirt. Congrats on achieving statesmanship once again and I wonder how long this stint of statesman will last.

01:14:50Sarah Jefferson: Heading to Queensland, we heard from Lyndell Murray at Elliott Heads Beach parkrun. Lyndell posted, I was at Elliott Heads Beach parkrun this morning beside the Pirates' first love, the sea, then off to a strawberry palm to plunder the fields and help set a new world record for the most people picking strawberries at the same time. Lyndell posted a fabulous photo of herself with the strawberry fields in the background with her hand-picked punnet of strawberries in front and centre. Sounds like a very fun morning. Congrats on setting the new world record. So I had a bit of a Google and found out that they did indeed set a new Guinness World Record for the most people picking strawberries simultaneously, with 1,522 participants gathering at SSS Strawberries in Bundaberg on the 19th of September. So I hope you got to take some of the strawberries home with you, Lyndell, and enjoy those after your busy morning.

01:15:54Simon Mackley: And then we heard from Elissa Shea and Ryan Stoddart, who were both at Christies Beach parkrun in South Australia. Elisa said, Christies Beach parkrun completed my first Pirates Challenge and Ryan shared, ahoy there matey, Christie's Beach parkrun for me for my 28th C, completing me pirate challenge for the fourth time. Ryan and Alyssa shared some very impressive photos of themselves dressed up as pirates. Congrats to Alyssa for completing your pirate challenge and Ryan for completing your fourth pirate challenge. I did happen to see that, like a true pirate, Ryan added a shot of rum to his cappuccino after parkrun. Crazy. And for those who were at palm26, most of you will remember that Ryan did take dress up They're to a very serious level. He dressed up as Skittles and was literally eating the rainbow all weekend. Well done and sounds like a fun morning. And how cool to tick off this challenge on Talk Like a Pirate Day 2. Very well timed.

the Obi Award — Elissa Shea

01:17:03Sarah Jefferson: It's time for the Obi. And this fortnight, the Obi goes to... Elissa Shea, congrats on completing your pirate challenge. It was very impressive to see all of the effort that you went to dressing up to celebrate this achievement.

01:17:21Simon Mackley: Congratulations, Alyssa. If we've given you a shout out in Dazza's today, send us an email or a comment in the post on Facebook to let us know that you are a listener.

Emails

01:17:32Sarah Jefferson: All right, time for emails.

01:17:34Unidentified speaker: You've got mail.

01:17:36Sarah Jefferson: The first one comes to us from Natalie Soper. Natalie says, Hi adventurers team. I had such a great weekend recruiting new parkrunners I thought worthy of an email. I'm always talking about the benefits of parkrun and trying to talk people into joining me for parkrun and give it a try themselves, like I'm sure most of the listeners. As I said in Dazza's, I managed to bring along 11 of my colleagues to Parkville parkrun at the weekend as part of our annual September challenge. They all said they enjoyed it. One even went and brought a pair of running shoes afterwards and wants me to organise another team visit soon. Another said that she loved the reason for an early wake up and achieved so much on Saturday instead of lazing in bed until late, but my biggest win was a Facebook friend from Canada who I met on a tour in China eight years ago and never talked to since posted that she'd done her first parkrun so of course I liked the post she then messaged me and said she only heard about parkrun because of me and now she's obsessed with doing one in Ireland when she's on holiday there next weekend an adventurer in the making. In summary, this is a message not to give up on talking about our love of parkrun. It will eventually stick with some people and hopefully change their lives for the better like mine has. Thanks for all of your efforts with the pod. I love listening to the new episodes. Thank you for your email Natalie. Good to hear that the persisting has paid off, and I absolutely agree with you that sometimes it can be really challenging to you know get friends to join you for for those of us who have been to multiple parkruns and go religiously every week. It's just, you know, so simple you know even with me walking at the moment I never feel like I'm behind or I'm missing out. And similar to what Sam was saying before, she loves being at the back of the pack. So yeah, it's really great that some of these people got involved and that they had more energy for their day and they're rewarded for getting up. So well done.

01:19:36Simon Mackley: Yeah, you never know how you're affecting someone just by getting out and doing a parkrun and posting about it as well. Alrighty, our next email comes from Pete Johns, who said, Cooee, Lyndell, TOC and the adventurers crew. Picking up on the challenge from episode 458, if you think you know which are the most remote parkruns in Australia, drop us a line. The answer may surprise you, he said. Using parkrun's public event coordinates, as of the day that he sent the email, Weipa parkrun is Australia's most isolated 5k event, at 616.6 kilometres to its nearest neighbour, Kewarra Beach parkrun. However, Thorndon Junior parkrun in Adelaide, is the most isolated event in Australia with 622 kilometres to its nearest junior event of Aintree Reserve Junior parkrun. For curiosity's sake, the least isolated 5k pair in Australia is in WA, which is Burswood Peninsula and Claisebrook Cove with just 600 metres separating them. and juniors are much sparser. So the closest Australian junior pair is still about 40.7 kilometres apart in what he said is in the greatest state. He said that he's wired this into a small volunteer tool so that the tables stay up to date as events launch.

01:21:04Sarah Jefferson: According to our research department, that is correct. Weipa being 615.3 kilometres away from its nearest neighbour being Kewarra Beach. Well done, Pete. You nailed it.

01:21:10[background music]

Club Corner

01:21:15Sarah Jefferson: All right. We are going to now throw to Reginald.

01:21:24Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III: This is Cooee-ee from Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III, with Club Corner, where we quiz the hosts and listeners with Who Am I, and I am coming to you from Arrernte Country. I am continuing with this unasked for, and unwanted format smiley face. Who Am I is an easy game to play. I will ask questions and you will shout the answer when you think you know it. I will continue asking questions and you will, or will not, realise how wrong you were, and then at the end, all will be revealed. Let us get going. Who Am I? Pause if you need. Question 1. My state or territory has not been featured on Who Am I? So that means either Taz or the NT. Question 2. I am one of six events in my region. Question 3. I was third in my region. Question 4. I am a single lap, butterfly course. Question 5. I am so far up, I am recognised in a special club. Question 6. I started in 2018. And finally, question 7. I run along some cliffs during the day, but by night... Who am I? I am Nightcliff parkrun, in the Northern Territory. That is your lot for the week, 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.

01:23:00[background music]

01:23:03Simon Mackley: Well, I have to admit, it took me until question five to get it. I had it narrowed down to Northern Territory very quickly though. How about you, Sarah?

01:23:10Sarah Jefferson: Nice. When Reginald mentioned that there were six in the area or the region, I thought it had to be the Northern Territory. I did start to think about Nightcliff, but I wasn't sure that it was the third event in the Territory. So I don't think it was the hardest Who Am I Reginald had done. I normally get really tripped up I have actually done this event and I've done four out of the six in the NT and yeah this is definitely my favourite course by far so I did get it yeah it's not very often I get it before uh before the end so yeah it was a bit easier but

01:23:46Simon Mackley: Keep on going, Reginald. We all want to hear the next Who Am I?

Consolidated Club Report

01:23:50Sarah Jefferson: We are going to head over to our Consolidated Club Report for Saturday, the 19th of September of a total of 983 members, Simon. Can you believe that? We are so close.

01:24:05Simon Mackley: Amazing.

01:24:05Sarah Jefferson: To 1000.

01:24:05Sarah Jefferson: Of that 983, 688 took part on this date in 17 countries. across 371 locations. Locally, there are adventurers at 60% of the events in the ACT, 46% in New South Wales, 42% in Queensland, 41% in Victoria, 39% in Western Australia, 38% in Tassie, 33% in the Northern Territory, and 31% in South Australia. In New Zealand, we had 14% on the North Island, 8% on the South Island. Internationally, their adventure is at 100% of the events in Malaysia, 20% in Singapore, 17% in Austria, 15% in Denmark, 13% in the Netherlands, 12% in Italy, 11% in the UK, 8% in Norway, 7% in South Africa, 6% in Sweden, 4% in Ireland and Germany, 3% in the USA and Canada, and a small 1% in Poland.

01:25:16Simon Mackley: And looking at our largest international fronds over the last two weeks, the aforementioned Farfalle parkrun in Italy had a frond of four. That was Clancy and Samantha Skinner and Andrew and Eva Blanda, and then on the 19th there was a frond of four at two different events and that was Victoria Park Newbury in the UK where Dave Wright, Liz McGill, Alison James and Matthew Robert Wateridge were there and the other one was Puarenga in New Zealand where Jarvis, Miki, Miles Mansell and Allison King.

01:25:53Sarah Jefferson: We had three people doing their pilgrimage on the 12th of September. They included Margie Lewis,

01:25:58Sarah Jefferson: Helen Parr, and Gabby Wade. We didn't have anybody doing their pilgrimage the last week.

01:26:04Simon Mackley: And then the Aussie largest frond on the 12th of September. We had a frond of 12 at one event, and that was Reddall Reserve with Lance Zilchies, Sue Davies, Blake and Julie Wells, Patrick Shymitzek, Kristen McKenzie, Louise Aitkin, Gordon and Julie Turner, Michelle Smith, Andrew Banner, and Catherine Pirotta. And then on the 19th of September, there was a frond of six at three events and they were Chermside, Quinns Rocks and Werribee Park Mansion. So at Chermside, there was Eric Trio, Nicole Robinson, Jessica Evans, Sharon Dorman, Kate Kremen Rose, and James Kremen. Quinns Rocks had Chloe and Dave Bravos, Annika and Michael Lyttle, Gail Benagiat, and Sarah Jefferson. I've heard that name somewhere before. And then Werribee Park Mansion, we had Scott Wilson-Smith, Jenny Reedman, Marg Prowse, Christy Hutchins, Chantelle Hosking, and Amanda Lake.

01:27:05Sarah Jefferson: Did actually have a chat to Gail on the morning. Gail was at Quinns Rocks completing her eighth alphabet. And yes, I was visiting from the UK and headed over to Australia to do a little bit of a tour around for quite a few months, I think.

01:27:23Sarah Jefferson: So that was nice to meet Gail and Gail is a listener so hi to Gail as well.

01:27:29Sarah Jefferson: Adventurers do not forget that if you are somewhere that is of interest or someone is interesting, don't forget that you can always open up your phone, go to voice memos and hit record and have a chat. We currently have eight roving reports in our backlog so don't let that stop you from recording and sending it in.

01:27:49Simon Mackley: And also remember you can add the Adventurers Club as one of your five affiliations on your parkrun profile if you haven't already.

Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

01:27:56Simon Mackley: So on the 12th of September there were two launches in two countries.

01:28:01Sarah Jefferson: The first one was Old Golf Course parkrun in Narrogin in Western Australia, launched south east of Perth. They had 45 participants supported by four volunteers, which is quite low, and 12 first-timers. It is a beautiful three-lap trail course set amongst the trees of the old golf course. The route follows a wide defined fire trail providing a peaceful and enjoyable parkrun experience for walkers, joggers and runners of all abilities. Or as Chris Gore let us know, there is quite a bit of a hill that you repeat three times.

01:28:34Simon Mackley: Yeah, but how far is that out of Perth?

01:28:37Sarah Jefferson: About two and a half hours. So it is doable on a morning drive and we will probably do that at some point, busy for the rest of the year now, I've got everything mapped out, but probably early next year, we will head out early one morning.

01:28:50Simon Mackley: That probably explains why they only had four volunteers. They probably weren't expecting a lot of people to the launch. Yes. And the other launch on the 12th of September was Tione parkrun in Villafranca di Verona, Italy. So located Southwest of fair Verona. where we lay our sing. 95 finishes from many households shared with 22 volunteers and 41 first-timers. A mostly flat 5k course within the new Tione Park consisting of three counterclockwise loops of 1.7ks each on mostly gravel.

01:29:28Sarah Jefferson: On the 19th of September, we did not have any launches. So there's zero launches once again.

01:29:34Simon Mackley: Pretty light on the ground, isn't it? So two launches over a fortnight is, yeah, we must be getting, the toothpaste must be about to come out of the out of the tube, I'm guessing.

01:29:44Sarah Jefferson: Yes, yes.

01:29:45Simon Mackley: Great ferocity.

01:29:46Sarah Jefferson: I assume there is many to come very soon.

Sign-off

01:29:48Sarah Jefferson: All right, Simon, looking ahead, where are you headed for next parkrun day, hoping that you are feeling fighting fit and ready to go?

01:29:58Simon Mackley: Regardless of whether I get to parkrun or not, I'm definitely going to be out at Hidden Vale. We're taking advantage while the school holidays are on. So Jackson's been on school holidays for a day or so now. So Carolyn booked it a couple of months ago and she didn't know there was actually parkrun on site. So yeah, it was, that's amazing. The wind for me. Yeah. What about you, Sarah?

01:30:20Sarah Jefferson: I actually won't be at a parkrun this coming weekend. You can hopefully catch me floating around on a blow up pool lounge or sipping some coconuts by the pool. I'm actually headed to a non parkrun country, so I'm hoping to be relaxing by the pool in Bali.

01:30:36Simon Mackley: Giving your knee some reprieve, I'm guessing?

01:30:39Sarah Jefferson: Yeah, I was saying to you before recording, I thought I was going really strong. I had a really great week last week. Two times to the gym, two yoga classes and parkrun felt really great, and then I got up off the floor yesterday and I heard this big crack and I was like oh no so I've had it back in the brace all day today so yeah I think I just need to rest it you're right I'll still go to the gym and do some rehab exercises but oh I'm really keen to relax and have some massages.

01:31:11Simon Mackley: Well floating in a pool will be great for it as well.

01:31:13Sarah Jefferson: Definitely.

01:31:14Simon Mackley: So no weight on it and uh yeah um thanks to the team behind the podcast as well The Office Lady who we've heard from tonight as well

01:31:22Simon Mackley: Our editor, Reginald, and the rest of the team behind the podcast.

01:31:27Sarah Jefferson: Now, next fortnight TOC, and someone who isn't Lyndell. will be in the office next fortnight. So you'll have to sit tight to hear why Lyndell is on unpaid leave and who is ready to come in and do a spring clean in the office.

01:31:42Simon Mackley: Very interesting. I can't wait to hear. As always, you can contact us via parkrun adventurers on Facebook, Instagram, or our email, which is parkrunadventurers at gmail.com. That's it for another episode. We will see you all next time for more adventures.

01:31:58Sarah Jefferson: Bye. Bye.

01:32:08Simon Mackley: Heather shared, Ahoy! T'was a beautiful morning for tail walking at Taree parkrun. I'm talking Irish and not pirate. I'll try that again.

01:32:19Sarah Jefferson: An Irish pirate. That's okay.