Episode 419 - palm 25
2025-04-17
— open the full-size coverHostsLyndell Murray Melissa Ellis Tony O'Connell
GuestsAli Sheppard Johan Duvenhage
Show notes
From the Facebook post
Mel & Toc took the show on the road to Queenstown (opens in a new tab) parkrun in New Zealand for the 8th palm, and the first outside Australia.We spoke to our two international attendees - Johan Duvenhage from Sud Afrique and Ali Sheppard from the UK. Lyndell and Tracey ran the quizz and we enjoyed our usual Q & A with the live audience ... some of which you will get to hear.
- An amazing group of Adventurers made the trip to Palm and got to see a real life podcast recording!
From the podcast feed
Mel & Toc took the show on the road to Queenstown in New Zealand for the 8th palm, and the first outside Australia. We spoke to our two international attendees - Johan Duvenhage from Sud Afrique and Ali Sheppard from the UK. Lyndell and Tracey ran the quizz, and we enjoyed our usual Q & A with the live audience ... some of which you will get to hear.
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 transcriptGuests
Johan Duvenhage
How Johan came to parkrun after a neurosurgeon banned him from long distance; losing his first home event, Naval Hill in Bloemfontein, to a landowner dispute; his ambassador roles across the Free State, Northern Cape and North West; road-tripping with his three-legged dog Levi; favourite events (Mura di Lucca in Italy, Big Bay, Melkbosstrand, the game-reserve parkruns) and how far his NENDY now is in hours.
Ali Sheppard
Ali's parkrun origin story in a Berber goat-hide tent in the Jordanian desert, hearing about Bushy from a fellow traveller who knew Paul Sinton-Hewitt; moving from Walthamstow core team to full-time touring; the Neckarufer lockdown quiz that produced her 'quarantine quizzer' touring friends; 20 parkruns within ten miles of home; and her stand-out events - Bere Island, Lillsjon and Trentham Gardens.
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:30
Live palm25 recording from Tāhuna, Queenstown on Ngāi Tahu land, hosted by Melissa Ellis and TOC, with absent hosts Sarah, Simon and Ollie ribbed for missing the lake swim. Roving reporters Tracey Wood, Lyndell Murray, Johan Duvenhage and Ali Sheppard come up to thank the Queenstown event team, the volunteers, the Office Lady, Reginald, Pippa White and the travellers from Australia, South Africa, the UK and New Zealand; Mel recounts eight Palms since Shellharbour in 2018 with Mel, TOC and Jackie the only ones to attend all of them. TOC recaps the Winnie's pizza night, the Queen-themed dress-up dinner at Smith's craft beer (underwear not optional) and Queenstown parkrun event 311 with 241 finishes, 19 volunteers, four lake swimmers and a light dusting of snow on the peaks.
Club Corner starts at 13:03
TOC throws to Reginald; Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III delivers what he calls "a faux Club Corner" - no club talk, just a run of puns (the apple and pears one, the alphabet/X one, the refrigerator, "Sir prize") in honour of Palm - and promises a return to "Who Am I?" next time. Pre-recorded and dropped in post-production; Mel explains this to the room after an audience member asks "Where's Reginald?".
Launches and anniversaries starts at 14:56"Where is the cake?"
Mel hands over with "Now, Tony, what's been going on at the Homeland while we're away?". TOC reports no launches at all this week across Australia, New Zealand, Japan and probably South Africa, with the UK not yet run; last week there were four, including Pyramid Hill (Golf Trail) in Victoria - which audience member Nathan had run - plus launches in Japan, the USA and the UK.
palm quiz — Tanya - winner of the Palm 25 quiz starts at 33:52
The traditional live Palm quiz. Lyndell Murray hosts, standing in for Simon Mackley, assisted by Tracey (microphone), Johan Duvenhage (scorer) and Mel (rules); contestants Rex, Andrew and Tanya buzz in on musical instruments. Ten questions on parkrun trivia - the oldest known parkrunner (initials CT), surnames matching Queenstown, a "where am I?" solved as Pegasus, parkruns with Alfred in the name (Port Alfred, South Africa), the newest New Zealand event (East Otago High School) and 2025 launch counts by country (Australia 14, UK 11, Germany 2, USA 1). Tanya, the local New Zealand contestant, wins with four points and picks a prize from the box.
Host thank yous starts at 48:23
Named as a running-order item by Mel. She thanks TOC for stepping in when Ollie could not continue, Simon and Sarah for their support in absentia, the roving reporters, the Office Lady for covering merchandise over Christmas, the "equal opportunity employee" for the Facebook page, and David Bravos "over there on the West Side who helps with the social media posts". TOC then thanks Mel for the editing, and the Queenstown Bowling Club for the venue.
Palm audience Q&A starts at 51:23
Mel opens the traditional audience question slot, with Ali carrying the microphone. Two questions survive: what country Palm will visit next year (no decision made yet - Sarah and Simon have not been consulted) and how much work goes into making the podcast, answered at length by Mel (show notes and Dazza's picks on Sunday, recording Monday night, at least two evenings of editing, description, title, photo and Obi) and TOC (collecting content all week on post-it notes on the car dashboard).
Sign-off starts at 57:10
The live Palm recording in Queenstown lost its audio about 57 minutes in, so Mel explained the sound change in a separately recorded voiceover, apologised that the rest of the audience Q&A was lost to the wider audience, and asked for help from anyone with the IT skills to prevent it recurring. She then narrated the close that followed: TOC asked where she would be on Saturday and she said Pyramid Hill Golf Trail parkrun; she asked him and he said the same, and as luck would have it both were staying at the pub. TOC then gave the Facebook and email contacts and signed off, handing next week to Sarah and Simon.