Episode 418 - Yeah Nah
2025-03-27
— open the full-size coverHostsMelissa Ellis Tony O'Connell
Roving reportersDavid Moss Johan Duvenhage Melissa Ellis
Show notes
From the Facebook post
Ever felt like walking 24/7 for 6 consecutive days? Yeah, nah, neither have we! We do chat with someone who did though: Justin Scholz joins us to share tales of ultra walking and running, and the Ned Kelly Chase.
PLUS we sent some of the Channel 5 News Crew overseas and have roving reports from Taman Pudu Ulu (opens in a new tab) parkrun and parkrun du Lac de Divonne (opens in a new tab)!
Come get some! http://parkrun.social/pa-pod
From the podcast feed
In our last episode before palm25 we hear from Toc about his new event at Eildon Pondage (opens in a new tab) while Mel was adventuring on the road to Drage Reserve (opens in a new tab). Mel got ranty about stuff. Invy is the new Voldemort. And we have roving reports from Surat Memorial Park (opens in a new tab) and Letsatsi Lodge (opens in a new tab). Plus all the usuals as we bid farewell to updates on Birtinya Island (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 0:24
Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country and TOC on Bunurong Country, back in the comfy chairs after Sarah and Simon's episode and ribbing Sarah's challenge to swim in cold Queenstown at Palm. TOC, as ambassador, was at the launch of Eildon Pondage parkrun (74 finishers), an 18-month process rescued when boulders appeared to separate the walking track from the fishermen's car park; Mel drove solo to South Australia for event 8 of Drage Reserve on Kaurna land, spoke about older women needing time to fill their own cup, caught up with Belinda Land and listener April Sweet, and recorded club coach Steve of the Northern Districts Athletics Club for a later roving report. Johan's reply on whether he knows Inverloch visitor Mornay Honeyball from Swakopmund parkrun is read out.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 20:40
TOC hands over- ("How about we hear from a few other people and some roving reports?"). Three reports this week: Melissa Ellis at Drage Reserve (Adelaide) interviewing Steve, head coach of the NDAC Jets, on the club's team-parkrun day and its 17 South Australian statesmen; David Moss at Surat Memorial Park (western Queensland) with co-EDs Karen and Paul; and Johan Duvenhage at Letsatsi Lodge (Vanrhynsdorp, Western Cape) with volunteer Polly and the ED/RD pair Ingo and Mia. Mel recaps all three.
Dazza's starts at 40:06
TOC crosses to Dazza; the theme is Tutu Day / "as young as you feel" day. Posts read out from Bill Lodwig (Cyril Curtain Reserve), Lee (Parramatta, Michelle's 100th), Nick Graney (Huskisson, numerals 1-10 hidden in the post), Janet (Narooma Wetlands' 100th, 122 finishers), Pippa White (UK), Caro Vos (Grahamstown Aquatic Centre), Ian Thompson (Itchen Valley Country), Nicola Wright (a freedom run aboard the MV Acadia), Maria Wicks (Dulwich), Colette Goldthorpe (Middleton Woods), Rodney Glossop (Homestead, WA) and Dorothy Schmidt (Tallangatta Station's 100th cake). The hosts note that they went over their usual ten mentions.
the Obi Award — Nick Graney starts at 49:21
Mel asks "But, Tony, have you got an envelope?" and TOC announces "And our Obi this week goes to... Nick Graney." The stated reason is his Dazza's post from Huskisson on Tutu Day: "That was a great little comment that you've put in... congrats on putting all those numbers into your post as well", he worked the numerals 1 through 10 into the text.
Emails starts at 50:09
Three emails. Yvette Turner (Canberra) plans to beg her way off a cruise ship docking at Lyttelton at 8.30 so she can reach Scarborough parkrun in New Zealand, and is coming to Palm in Queenstown. Calum Burrell (UK) suggests breaking same-named events into their own clubs, the two Bushys (London and Dublin) and a "Simple Minds Challenge" of the four Waterfront events (Erskine, Dover, Milford and Clermont). Tony Reeves writes about nine friends travelling to Vingis parkrun in Vilnius, the Occupation Museum and an unseen soprano rehearsing across the park; TOC teases him for logging only one Adventurer in Lithuania out of nine.
Club Corner starts at 59:46
TOC hands over ("I think it's time for us to listen to Reginald"). Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III continues the volunteer-role series with the two roles that start after the last finisher: post-event close down, and equipment storage and delivery. He includes a pet-peeve rant about events packing up before all walkers are through, and sets the hosts a challenge to guess the remaining obscure roles. Mel and TOC then discuss how they allocate those credits at their own events.
Consolidated Club Report starts at 1:03:41
For Saturday 22 March 2025: of 771 members, 578 took part across eight countries and 288 locations. 58 UK events, 10 South Africa, three USA, one each Ireland, Netherlands and Sweden. Locally 52 in Victoria and New South Wales, 47 in Queensland, 19 in Western Australia, 15 in South Australia, 14 in Tasmania, six each in the ACT and the North Island, two on the South Island and one in the Northern Territory. Pilgrimage: Stephen Walsh's first time at Bushy.
the Frond — Guernsey (largest international, five) and Shellharbour (largest at home, 12) starts at 1:04:29
Largest international frond was five adventurers at Guernsey, Stuart Henderson, Debbie Airey, Andy Airey, Linda Bozic and Penelope Thyssen. Largest on home soil was 12 at Shellharbour, with 10 at Grahamstown Aquatic Centre, Medowie (Paul Rainbow, Greg Stark, Cheryl Pittard, Caro Vos, Stephen Cox, Georgia, Rosalie and Hamish Lukens, Heather Hunter and Paris Lawrence) and eight at The Ponds.
Launches and anniversaries starts at 1:06:52"Where is the cake?"
Two launches in the parkrun 5k world: Eildon Pondage parkrun in Victoria, which TOC helped set up as ambassador, 74 finishes, 11 volunteers and 28 genuine first-timers (38% of the field), and Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School parkrun in the UK, 203 finishes, 23 first-time-evers and 33 volunteers on a four-lap school-grounds course, the world's third Queen Elizabeth event. TOC adds that there have been 34 global launches so far in 2025, 14 of them Australian.
Watching the Numbers at Birtinya Island starts at 1:08:59
The running gag of tracking weekly attendance at Birtinya Island parkrun: 174 this week at event 10, including Tony Everington, Wendy Pierce, Sarah Jantscher, Janet Tozer and Dave Tozer. Mel then closes the bit off on air, "Just in case we start to drag this on a bit too long, I guess it's probably time to cut this segment now and wind it up... That was the conclusion of watching the numbers at Birtinya Island."
Sign-off starts at 1:12:29
Mel asked TOC where he would be on Saturday: at the event he jokingly called "the Voldemort parkrun" because a note in the show notes told him not to name it, the Stump, i.e. Inverloch, for a celebration, and Mel took the fine to ask anyone there to congratulate Tony O'Connell on his V250. Mel was driving out to the brand-new Eildon Pondage parkrun, which TOC had helped set up, taking Ezra along for a mother-daughter road trip on condition they took the new car. Mel then announced there would be no pod the following week so she could pack for Palm rather than edit, with the next release being the live recording made in front of an audience at Queenstown, and they closed with the contacts and "we'll see you all in a couple of weeks".