Episode 416 - Falicitating Fun

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HostsMelissa Ellis Tony O'Connell

Roving reportersIngrid Botha Lyndell Murray

Show notes

From the Facebook post

Mel and Toc are here to mention Ingrid – over and over. And we falicitate all the reports on French omissions, CEO disappearances and cyclone impacts. Cryptic? That's the point! Plus we have roving reports from Toowoomba (opens in a new tab) parkrun, University of Western Australia (opens in a new tab) parkrun and du Bois de Boulogne (opens in a new tab), Paris. Listen in!

- The effects of the cyclone were felt all the way down at The Beaches (opens in a new tab) parkrun, where Michael Sharpe found these two all ends up!

From the podcast feed

Mel and Toc are here to mention Ingrid – over and over. And we falicitate all the reports on French omissions, CEO disappearances and cyclone impacts. Cryptic? That’s the point! Plus we have roving reports from Toowoomba (opens in a new tab), University of WA and du Bois de Boulogne (opens in a new tab), Paris. Listen in.

Roving reports

1Toowoomba2University of Western Australia3Bois de Boulogne

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:23

  TOC on Bunurong Country and Melissa Ellis back home on Wurundjeri Country, opening with parkrun global CEO Russ Jeffries' departure and TOC's frustration with parkrun's communications, including no acknowledgement of France's closure. TOC had a sunny Inverloch (239 finishers, 17 volunteers) with a visitor from Namibia named Mornay who jumped in to barcode scan; Mel ran event 45 at Bungendore Common on Ngarigo Country with Dave and 75 others on a Labor Day weekend that took in the Queanbeyan Rodeo, camping at Yass, the AIS and the War Memorial, and interviewed first-timer welcomer Nat on her 25th parkrun. Feedback that Steve Milne is not Tiny Steve, a ruling that selfie frames are officially selfie frames, and New Zealand stats (Hagley, on the South Island, largest) before turning to Australia's 104 cancellations.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 18:37

  Melissa Ellis hands over "So we've got some roving reports for you. They're not from this week, guys. They are varied." Three reports follow back to back: Lyndell Murray at Toowoomba, David at University of Western Australia, and Ingrid Botha at Bois de Boulogne in Paris. TOC recaps all three.

• Dazza's starts at 38:10

  TOC opens "But, Mel, enough of France. Let's go on to Dazza's [Dazza's]." This week's prompt is International Women's Day plus the buff listener challenge. Posts read out from Ingrid, Greg Garner (Wes Mitchell Park), Michael Sharp (The Beaches), Pippa White (Leamington), Maria Wicks (Oaklands College), Tanya Bailey and Brett Bailey (NZ), Rodney Glossop (Pioneer, WA, source of the "felicitator" joke and the episode title), Bernadette Bennett (Mount Gambier), Sam Schroder (Launceston) and Mel Ellis (Bungendore Common).

• the Obi Award — Michael Sharp starts at 44:59

  Melissa Ellis "Mel, do we have an Obi [Obi]?... Let me get the envelope. This week's Obi [Obi] goes to... Michael Sharp at the Beaches [The Beaches]." Awarded for his photo of two tourists doing headstands post-run with Peter Pohlman visible in between them.

• Emails starts at 45:50

  Opened "We've got mail." Two letters: Dan Carmody of Tuggeranong parkrun, revealing himself as the "Tuggers Dan" referenced in episode 412, prompting the hosts to check their "Dan index"; and Brett Bailey from New Zealand with South Island travel-time advice for palm25 in Queenstown.

• Club Corner starts at 50:37

  Melissa Ellis hands over "now it is time for us to listen to Club Corner. So let's hear from Reginald." Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III tries a new "Who Am I?" quiz format, giving ten clues to an unnamed event before revealing "My name is Balyang Sanctuary parkrun". Both hosts say they enjoyed the new format.

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 53:04

  Melissa Ellis "It's my favourite time of the pod. It's time for the Consolidated Club Report." For Saturday 8 March 2025: 762 members, 481 taking part across 11 countries and 236 locations; 49 UK events, 10 in South Africa, four in Poland, two in the USA, one each in Denmark, Japan, Lithuania and Singapore; state-by-state Australian and New Zealand breakdown, with Queensland down to eight because of the cyclone cancellations.

• the Frond starts at 54:13

  Run inside the Consolidated Club Report. Biggest international frond at Dulwich in the UK (Christopher Miles, James Avery, Andy and Debbie Airey, Ellie Soper, Rhiannon Taylor); nobody at Bushy, so the substitute pilgrimage frond went to Peppertree (Kylie Cooper, Debbie Jessop, Donna Markwick, Chantel Hosking); largest Australia/New Zealand frond was 10 at Dolls Point, New South Wales, including Ingrid Botha.

• Launches and anniversaries starts at 55:52"Where is the cake?"

  TOC "moving on to launches, and this week we had two launches." Merredin Peak in Western Australia (44 finishers, 11 volunteers, with Andrew Yeatman as photographer) and Cuningar Loop in Glasgow (363 finishers, 34 volunteers). Followed by the "almost a launch" item: Greenwich parkrun in the UK renamed Avery Hill.

• Watching the Numbers at Birtinya Island starts at 56:32

  TOC "And the ongoing segment that we've been calling Watching the Numbers at Boutinier [Birtinya] Island", which Melissa Ellis insists he sings. No result this week: "There was no event this week due to that gentleman called Alfie", Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

• parkrun adventure challenge starts at 58:01listener challenge

  Melissa Ellis "Now, a listener challenge. I think that's next on our agenda. Tony, you've made a suggestion." TOC asks listeners to put a wind emoji in their comment next week in support of the cyclone-affected communities in Queensland and northern New South Wales. This week's challenge, wearing a buff, runs through the Dazza's posts.

• Sign-off starts at 59:03

  TOC asked Mel where she would be next parkrun day: she had only got home at 5pm that day from a week away and had not planned it, but wanted to attend an art show in the Box Hill region so was eyeing the nearest event there, with TOC suggesting Box Hill or Gardeners. TOC was going to Inverloch to VI Guide a runner around the course, the same runner he would then support at the Inverloch Running Festival on the Sunday, where he was doing the half; Mel could not attend because of a theatre date with her daughter Olivia, and joked they should start fining Inverloch mentions the way they do Shellharbour. They trailed Sarah's return with Simon next week, subject to his having power and internet after Cyclone Alfred, and closed with the contacts.