Episode 408 - Back to the Office
2025-01-16
— open the full-size coverHostsMelissa Ellis Tony O'Connell
Roving reportersAli Sheppard Lyndell Murray Melissa Ellis Tony O'Connell
Show notes
From the Facebook post
It's a new year of podding and we are out of the gates with Melissa & TOC, catching up on their Christmas & New Year parkrun holidays. Our roving reporters have been busy too! This week we feature Ali Sheppard from Hellbrunn (opens in a new tab) parkrun, Salzburg and Bushy (opens in a new tab) parkrun, as well as Lyndell the Legendary at Gainsborough Greens (opens in a new tab) parkrun.
- Gareth Arnold was inspired by his adventures with Budgie and took flight at Kadina Trail (opens in a new tab) parkrun. In true budget airlines style, two other members of his party were bumped out of the frame.
From the podcast feed
It’s a new year of podding and we are out of the gates with Melissa & TOC, catching up on their Christmas & New Year parkrun holidays. Our roving reporters have been busy too! This week we feature Ali Sheppard from Hellbrunn (opens in a new tab) and Bushy (opens in a new tab) parkruns, as well as Lyndell the Legendary at Gainsborough Greens (opens in a new tab).
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Enhanced transcript
Speakers named, sound described and segments marked by the editing pass — not yet checked by a person.
Read the transcriptRoving reports
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:23
Tony O'Connell on Boon Wurrung Country and Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country, both back from interstate over the hot Christmas break. TOC recaps a Fremantle trip chasing alphabet letters: daily swims at South Beach, Fremantle breweries including Running with Thieves, Yokine on the 28th with Dave, Chloe, Sarah, Matt and Andrew Yeatman, a 14-strong frond at Quinns Rocks on New Year's Day (Gareth Arnold, Abdul in his poo suit, Lloyd Stridham, Dave Allmark, Lisa Mundy, Kerry O'Keefe, Daria Kiran) and a 38-degree Jarrahdale Heritage trail parkrun with Andrew Yeatman and Rhianna, before handing to the other Mel, RD at Quinns.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 29:47
Melissa hands over "Time, I think, for us now to listen to some of our roving reports." Three reports run back to back: Ali Sheppard from Hellbrunn parkrun in Salzburg (with an exclusive on a fifth Austrian event coming at Klagenfurt), Ali Sheppard from the Bushy Pilgrimage on Christmas Day, and Lyndell Murray from Gainsborough Greens south of Brisbane (which announces its relocation to Gainsborough Parklands). TOC wraps them up and notes a backlog of reports still to come.
Emails starts at 50:27
One email, from Sarah Jantscher, flagging that parkrun has quietly released the volunteer milestone vests on the global shop with no official announcement; she has ordered her V100 vest. Leads into a short exchange between the hosts about "vest" versus "singlet".
Club Corner starts at 52:24
Melissa hands over "But who is back this year, TOC? Reginald is back and they are going to give you a little bit of some Club Corner." Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III marks Club Corner's second anniversary with a retrospective of more than 60 podcasts: year one covered club keywords, milestones, alphabet, Pioneers, Wilson Index, Bingos and club-adjacent topics; year two covered other parkrun podcasts, the unofficial parkrun Australia Tourism Group's club resource (Pirate, Compass, Milestone Events, Professor, regional clubs, Top of the Pops) and then a new volunteer-roles series, seven pods in so far. Invites listener memories "whether from Rachel or Reginald".
Consolidated Club Report — New South Wales (gold medal winners, 52 events) starts at 54:54
For Saturday 11 January 2025: of 735 members, 553 took part in 11 countries across 273 locations. UK 51 events, South Africa 7, and one each in Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Poland, Singapore and Sweden. Australian/NZ breakdown: NSW 52 (the week's gold medal winners, confirmed live on air), Victoria 50, Queensland 46, SA 19, WA 13, Tasmania 10, North Island 8, ACT 7, South Island 3, none in the Northern Territory. Largest international frond was a frond of five at Mura di Lucca, Italy (Christopher Miles, Ali Soppa, Andy Simpson, Rhiannon Taylor, Andy Erie). Pilgrimage: Andrew Banner of North Wollongong at Bushy, also his 50th parkrun. Largest AU/NZ fronds: 13 at Birtinya Island, nine at "Schlaba", and eight at Zeehan Golf Club, Tasmania, the last being one family, the travelling Smiths. Stats compiled with the Belinda Fairy.
Launches and anniversaries starts at 58:11"Where is the cake?"
A four-week catch-up of launches missed over the break: 14 December 2024, "virtual playing fields" in the UK and Ingrebourne Hill in the UK; 21 December, Rainhill Farm, South Africa; 28 December, Zalew Borki, Poland; 4 January 2025, Ivydale, South Africa; 11 January, Birtinya Island (Sunshine Coast, just east of Harmony Boulevard), Grahamstown Aquatic Centre (Newcastle region), Akwen Tropicana in Poland, and Greendale Farm Shop in the UK.
parkrun adventure challenge starts at 1:03:32listener challenge
Melissa sets the first listener challenge of the year: "with consent, we would like you to hug a volunteer and take a selfie", asking permission first. TOC, Run Director at Inverloch that week, offers himself up for hugs. He adds a second challenge of his own: how many adventurers can you get onto your event's volunteer roster, after recruiting seven or eight for Inverloch's estate takeover day.
Sign-off starts at 1:06:36
The hosts turned to where they were going: TOC was Run Director at Inverloch for a takeover day by residents of the estate he lives in, having recruited about 19 volunteers through his neighbourhood Facebook page for an event that normally runs on nine or ten, with seven or eight adventurers expected on the roster, and he challenged listeners to see how many adventurers they could get on their own roster. Mel planned to go out to Dixon Field parkrun, about half an hour from Melton, a second visit, with Dave and possibly an interstate guest chasing a D, but warned listeners to check with her first as plans change. They trailed Mel and Simon for next week because Sarah Jefferson might be busy with a new baby, said how much they had enjoyed the four-week break, and closed with the Facebook and email contacts.