Episode 414 - Wombling Free
2025-02-26
— open the full-size coverHostsMelissa Ellis Tony O'Connell
Roving reportersCalum Burrell Lyndell Murray Paul Kitching
Show notes
From the Facebook post
Toc returns to the host chair to an inbox overflowing. Mel loves the emails that mention her Magpies and discussions continue about Number Checkers. We hear from Calum at Holyrood (opens in a new tab), PK joins from the new Drage Reserve (opens in a new tab) and Lyndell the Legendary celebrates at Golden Beach (opens in a new tab) parkrun. Did you Tu-Tu up last week? Dazzas was full of colour, just the way we like it!
- Kathy Crispin and friends were pirouetting at Panania (opens in a new tab) parkrun!
From the podcast feed
Toc returns to the host chair to an inbox overflowing. Mel loves the emails that mention her Magpies and discussions continue about Number Checkers. We hear from Calum at Holyrood (opens in a new tab), PK joins from the new Drage Reserve (opens in a new tab) and Lyndell the Legendary celebrates at Golden Beach (opens in a new tab) parkrun. Did you Tu-Tu up last week? Dazzas was full of colour, just the way we like it!
Listen
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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
Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country and TOC on Bunurong Country, TOC having moonlighted as a guest on With Me Now with Danny while Mel's mystery co-host Peter Pohlman (Sonja's other half, former Callaghan ED, Beaches) surprised everyone. TOC wore a tutu for Tutu Day and Run the World Day at Inverloch (161 finishers) and described its A1-size ten-week volunteer roster; Mel ran her ninth Wilson Botanic ('Wilson Satanic'), event 372, with Dave and 92 others, ending February with no new events. A correction on Cannonvale juniors and Bellevue juniors, feedback from Ali Sheppard (gum trees, and what is a corflute?) and Ruth Perkins (Treviso as the parkrun closest to Venice), and Ali's email on Harleston Magpies and Funnel Managers.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 24:55
TOC hands over "But people that did get out and about, Mel, let's have a listen to a couple of roving reports." Three reports follow back to back: Calum Burrell at Holyrood (Edinburgh), PK at the new Drage Reserve (South Australia) and Lyndell Murray at Golden Beach parkrun's 11th birthday (Queensland). Mel and TOC recap all three from the studio.
Dazza's starts at 44:31
Dazza's Tutu Day / Run the World Day call-out "22nd of the 2nd ... come on in and tell Dazza how your parkrun the World Day was." Contributors read out: Kathy Crispin (Panania, NSW, 9th anniversary tutus), Maria Weeks and Branca (Walthamstow, London, the "wombling free" line the episode is titled for), David Messenger (Zeehan Golf Club, Tasmania, 202nd different parkrun, second Z), Felicity Castellan (Victoria, RD at event 321), Brendan Scholarly (Shellharbour, NSW), Sarah Jefferson (South Beach Recreation Reserve, WA), Ian Thompson (Oaklands College, UK) and Dean Warrick (Gainsborough Parklands, Qld). 168 comments this week.
the Obi Award — Kathy Crispin starts at 49:57
The Obi envelope is opened for the favourite Dazza's comment of the week. Winner announced. Stated reason-: her photo from Panania parkrun's 9th anniversary, "a great photo of the six of them performing dance poses or ballerina poses in their tutus", "out there with Rocky at Panania".
Emails starts at 50:43
Opened by Mel "Now, Toc, we've got some mail. You've got mail." Three emails: Greg Garner on a couple arriving at Wes Mitchell parkrun by jet ski from Rainbow Beach; Sarah Langley on Hattori Ryokuchi parkrun in Osaka, Japan's newest event; and Michael Blain on catching the O-Bahn bus to Lochiel and, in winter 2024, driving up a beach and swimming 400 metres across a creek mouth to reach Tannum Sands parkrun.
Club Corner starts at 55:31
Handed over by Mel "Now, it's time for us to hear what Reginald's got to say." Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III declines the "Sir" status riffed on in Michael's email, then continues the volunteering series with barcode scanning (aka registration) and Token Sorting, closing with his standing line that all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun.
Consolidated Club Report starts at 59:52
For Saturday 21 February 2025 [sic, the reports and launches discussed are the 22nd]: of 754 members, 563 took part in nine countries across 262 locations. UK 51 events, South Africa 6, Poland 3, Ireland/Japan/USA 2 each, Italy 1. Locally 46 in Queensland, 43 in NSW and Victoria, 16 in South Australia, 11 in Tasmania, 6 in the ACT, 10 in the North Island, 1 each in the South Island and the Northern Territory.
the Frond starts at 1:00:47
Largest international fronds were two of five, Doddington Hall (Helen Rudder, Andy Rudder, Sunil Chamund, Andy Poole, Wendella Poole) and Oaklands College (Ian Thompson, Chris Kopis, Alexander Thompson, Mark Penny, Susan Cartwright). The pilgrimage to Bushy went unclaimed again. Largest fronds overall: 15 at Gainsborough Parklands, 9 at one further event, 8 each at Aintree Reserve, Burrum Heads Beach, The Ponds and Wyndham Vale, and the highlighted frond at Shellharbour.
Launches and anniversaries starts at 1:02:01"Where is the cake?"
Two launches worldwide, both in Queensland. Gainsborough Greens relaunched as Gainsborough Parklands, a two-lapper on concrete, 405 finishers and 39 volunteers, reset to event 1. Burrum Heads Beach launched south of Bundaberg, about 300km north of Brisbane: an out-and-back almost entirely on sand, 226 people and 17 volunteers. Golden Beach parkrun's 11th birthday is covered in Lyndell's roving report earlier in the episode.
Watching the numbers starts at 1:03:25
Mel: "the ongoing segment that we are calling Watching the Numbers at [Patinia] Island", 247 finishers at event seven, up one on event six, apparently levelling out around 250; 97 tourists/visitors and 16 first-time-ever parkrunners.
Palm update starts at 1:03:55
TOC's update on the podcast's annual Palm meetup, about six weeks away in Queenstown, New Zealand: Friday group walk up Queenstown Hill then Winnie's Pizza; the pod recording moved to Saturday afternoon; dress-up extravaganza at Smith's Craft Beer on Saturday night with a Queens theme, and a request from the venue that everyone wear underwear and no mankinis.
parkrun adventure challenge starts at 1:09:19listener challenge
Improvised on air- ("You know what we didn't do, Toc? We didn't discuss this before about a listener challenge"). Listeners are asked to post into the Facebook Dazza's thread an emoji for every different way they have travelled to a parkrun, a plane if they flew, a car if they drove, all of them if all of the above.
Sign-off starts at 1:10:04
After settling on a travel-emoji listener challenge, Mel asked TOC where he was planning to be: he had no idea, needing to be in Geelong on Saturday night for a family birthday party, so somewhere in Victoria between Cape Patterson and Geelong. Mel was hoping for Albert Melbourne, betting on its once-a-year alternate course out onto the Grand Prix circuit ahead of the track closing, with TOC advising her to check the event's Facebook page for cancellations first. They trailed Simon's return next week from Japan, wondered aloud what he had been doing there, and closed with the Facebook and email contacts.