Episode 374 - details, details

— open the full-size cover

HostsMelissa Ellis Simon Mackley

Roving reportersMelissa Ellis Paul Kitching Tracey Wood

Show notes

From the Facebook post

This week, Mel was auditioning for the Tourism Tasmania Ambassador role in Launceston. Simon was very Scribbly. Tracey talked to Rory and Hilary at Des Connor Park juniors (opens in a new tab) and PK was going all Radelaidean at South Para Reservoir (opens in a new tab).

Rachel Parked, Reserved and Oval'd. We celebrated John Day becoming the oldest person to reach 500 parkruns and the Obi went to .... (you'll just have to listen).

From the podcast feed

This week, Mel was auditioning for the Tourism Tasmania Ambassador role in Launceston. Simon was very Scribbly. Tracey talked to Rory and Hilary at Des Connor juniors and PK was going all Radelaidean at South Parra Reservoir. Rachel Parked, Reserved and Oval'd. We celebrated John Day becoming the oldest person to reach 500 parkruns and the Obi went to ... (you'll just have to listen).

Roving reports

1Inveresk Precinct2Des Connor Park juniors3South Para Reservoir

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:23

  Simon Mackley on Quandamooka Country and Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country, opening with the newly named Tasmanian Devils AFL club. Simon filled a Wilson index gap at Scribbly Gums Conservation; Mel went to Launceston parkrun, event 552 with 387 finishers, chatted to world tourist Laurie Snook and the Grey Nomads, then spent the afternoon at Cataract Gorge. Simon corrects last week's Kensington/Byxbee geography, Renata Koch settles the Periodic Table rules via challenge-chaser.com, and Mel argues challenges need no app, announcing her Successors challenge with Nightcliff, Rockingham and Risdon Brook still to go.

• parkrun news bulletin starts at 13:33

  News block. Congratulations to John Day of Cleveland parkrun (Queensland), who became the oldest person in parkrun history globally to complete 500 parkruns, finishing in 49:36 on his 449th at Cleveland; his first parkrun was Cleveland's inaugural on 4 May 2013 and he has 32 volunteer credits. Then two newly updated parkrun HQ FAQs, why the Most Events page was removed, and "where is the actual evidence", with both hosts disagreeing at length about the removal of tourism and performance stats.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 23:52

  Three roving reports played back to back: Melissa Ellis from Launceston parkrun in Tasmania (interviewing grey nomads Nigel and Leslie), Tracey Wood from Des Connor Park junior parkrun on its record 358-child day (interviewing UK visitors Rory and Hilary Marriott), and PK from South Para Reservoir parkrun in South Australia (interviewing Debbie and a Tracey completing her Radelaidean). Simon recaps all three.

• Dazza's starts at 42:16

  Dazza's question of the week: "How early did you get up for parkrun day today? And where did you go?", drawing 133 comments. Responses read out from Rory Marriott (4.45am, timekeeping at Gainsborough Greens), Joanne Blackbird ($10 V/Line fares to Cohuna via a bus from Koondrook), Lyndell Murray (finally running Devonport on her fifth visit), Ian Thompson (first-time contributor, Ashton Court in Bristol), Renata Koch (University of Western Australia, 200th parkrun), Jonathan Morgan (The Avenues, SA), Cherie Cottle (Panboola Wetlands 100th event) and Greg Garner (Ginninderra, his first ACT parkrun, run in honour of Stephen).

• the Obi Award — Stephen Jackson starts at 48:46

  Awarded posthumously this week to Stephen Jackson, "a man who was a big adventurer by heart and contributed a lot to the parkrun community", as a tribute, noting his association with Bathurst parkrun and the Panorama Punish. Melissa Ellis announces it as "a little break from the norm", having tuned in to his memorial service from Launceston.

• Emails starts at 49:40

  One email, from Michael Blain, gently correcting Melissa Ellis: to complete his Queensland statesman he trail-walked at Hamilton Island parkrun, not Hamilton parkrun in Victoria as she had said on air. He adds that he cannot make Palm because he is taking his daughter to the Australian Athletics Championships in Adelaide.

• Club Corner starts at 52:15

  Rachel continues her review of historic (pre-app) parkrun clubs: the Park club (about 20 events with "park" in the name, e.g. Chaffey Park and Picnic Point Parklands), the Reserve club (more than a dozen, e.g. Oaklands Estate Reserve, South Beach Recreation Reserve) and the Oval club (only five oval-named parkruns in Australia, spread across SA, WA and NSW, e.g. Northparkes Oval). Closes with the reminder that all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun.

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 55:33

  For Saturday 16 March 2024: of 602 members, 462 took part in eight countries across 218 locations. UK 38 events; two each in South Africa, Poland and Ireland; one each in the USA and Singapore. Locally 44 events in New South Wales, 41 in Victoria, 35 in Queensland, 16 in Western Australia, 14 in South Australia, six each in Tasmania, the ACT and the North Island, three on the South Island and one in the Northern Territory.

• the Frond — The Ponds and Capestone Lake (10 adventurers each, Australia); Marine Parade, UK and Benguela Cove, South Africa (3 each, international) starts at 57:04

  International fronds: three adventurers at Marine Parade in the UK (Cameron and Sammy Gerrish, Kim Leonard) and three at Benguela Cove in South Africa (Johan Duvenhage, Wilna van Eminus, Mary Langebrink). Local fronds: ten adventurers at each of The Ponds and Capestone Lake, nine at Shellharbour and seven at Dolls Point (Andrew Johnston, Martine Barrot, Andrew Blanda, Jan Yates, Sue Smith, Wayne Whiteley, Chris Horowitz, with Ingrid Botha as Run Director).

• Launches and anniversaries starts at 57:58"Where is the cake?"

  Three new events launched. Capestone Lake parkrun, north of Brisbane near North Lakes (previously known to Simon as Mango Hill), had a huge launch with 400 finishers and 20 volunteers. Benguela Cove parkrun in South Africa, near Betty's Bay, launched with 226 finishers and 26 volunteers, prompting a digression on the Benguela Current and ocean gyres. Prestelsee parkrun in Germany, south of Mannheim, launched with 90 finishers and 18 volunteers.

• Sign-off starts at 1:05:29

  Mel said the Learjet was taking her nowhere exciting because she had been told she had to work, but she was allowed to go to parkrun and would be at Puckapunyal; Simon said he was going semi-local to Capalaba, about half an hour away and not visited in about two years, then revealed that before recording with her again and before Palm he was going to Japan to run Futako Tamagawa parkrun in Tokyo, which Japanese parkrunners abbreviate to three letters, and promised to bring back a list of those names and to record audio including an interview with someone he met at Mossman parkrun about six years earlier. Mel thanked him for joining her and said she would see him at Palm, then gave the Facebook and email contacts and closed for another week.