Episode 420 - No Indeed. Indeed, No

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HostsSarah Jefferson Simon Mackley

Roving reportersLyndell Murray Ruth Perkins

GuestPaul Sinton-Hewitt

Show notes

From the Facebook post

Simon and Sarah are both back with a belly full of Easter eggs. They discuss the many records broken this week across Australia and Budgie makes an appearance back down under. There are roving reports from Warrandyte River Reserve (opens in a new tab) Warrandyte River Reserve (opens in a new tab) and Shrewsbury (opens in a new tab) parkrun . Let's not forget,

a snippet from the founder of this event that brings us together each week!

- Yvette Turner had a dressed up Budgie at Umbagong District (opens in a new tab) parkrun.

From the podcast feed

Simon and Sarah are both back with a belly full of Easter eggs. They discuss the many records broken this week across Australia and Budgie makes an appearance back down under. There are roving reports from Warrandyte River Reserve (opens in a new tab) and Shrewsbury (opens in a new tab) parkrun. Let’s not forget, a snippet from the founder of this event that brings us together each week.

Guest

Roving reports

1Warrandyte River Reserve2Shrewsbury

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:23

  Sarah Jefferson on Noongar Boodja and Simon Mackley on Quandamooka Country, in their first studio episode since Palm. Sarah went east to North Wollongong with Bec Bailey and Cooks River (apologising to Paul Rainbow for not warning him), then had a Merredin Peak plan fall through to train maintenance and a volunteer cancellation and instead did Cottesloe's 10th birthday with Amanda Maloney's founding spiel; Simon did Sirromet twice for a P-index of eight, his NENDY S.S. Koopa Trail and Gainsborough Parklands with Rory and Hillary, and thanks Lyndell for running his Palm quiz, written during the cyclone blackout. NZ and Australian Easter stats (an Australian attendance record of 88,515, 47 new event records, Bright running out of finish tokens) and founding host Scott Trickett's 500th parkrun at Wimmera River, Horsham.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 10:23

  Sarah hands over to the week's roving reports: Lyndell Murray at Warrandyte River Reserve parkrun (Melbourne) with RD David McKay; Ruth Perkins walking Shrewsbury parkrun with Tail Walkers Bob Turner, Debbie Armstrong and Gary Jones; and Calum at parkrun founder Paul Sinton-Hewitt's book launch. Simon recaps all three.

• Dazza's starts at 25:28

  Sylvester the Cat's birthday themed prompt (chasing something you never quite catch). Posts read out: Chris Gore (NZ) on Karen finally landing position bingo 111 at University of Waikato parkrun's yellow-themed 200th; Yvette Turner taking Budgie to Umbagong District parkrun, ACT; Leanne Evans (Tas) and Disco the greyhound back at Kate Reed after a course check for the Hoblers Bridge Reserve team; Bernadette Bennett at Sky River Path parkrun, Coonabarabran; Andrew Turner (WA) completing the Peel Club at Centennial Park, Dunsborough in 17:46; Debbie Jessop's 250th at Studley; David Bravos at Ocean View with an F-heavy alphabet joke; Samantha Roberts at Hattori Ryokuchi parkrun, Japan.

• the Obi Award — Leanne Evans starts at 31:59

  Sarah asks Simon to find the "Obilope" under his Easter egg wrappers. This week's Obi goes to Leanne Evans, for her Dazza's post about returning to Kate Reed parkrun with Disco the greyhound and the two-dog chase mid-run, a real-life Sylvester and Tweety chase matching the week's theme. Sarah adds "and Disco".

• Emails starts at 32:31

  No emails at all were received this week; Sarah notes the inbox is "looking very empty" and Simon adds that nothing came in apart from the roving reports.

• Club Corner starts at 32:44

  Simon throws to Reginald. Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III closes his 14-episode series on parkrun volunteer roles with the last two slices of the volunteer pie: "Other" (for anything outside the 20-plus named roles, e.g. bakers and caterers at birthdays) and "Unregistered Volunteer" (safeguarding declaration form to parkrun HQ, restrictions on which roles they may perform, and a flat no at junior parkrun in Australia without a Working With Children Check). Sarah and Simon discuss the "Other" role afterwards.

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 36:06

  For Saturday 19 April 2025: of 774 members, 604 took part across 13 countries and 301 locations. UK 58 events, South Africa 10, Germany 3, Canada/Italy/Japan/Norway/USA 2 each, Ireland/Lithuania/Singapore 1 each. Locally: Victoria 53, Queensland 51, NSW 45, SA and WA 20 each, North Island 10, Tasmania 8, ACT 7, South Island 3.

• the Frond starts at 37:01

  Two largest international fronds this week: Woodhouse Moor (UK) with four adventurers, Jane and Stephen Prost, Amanda Murray-Hind and Ali Sheppard, and Puarenga (NZ) with Mickey Jarvis-Leanne and Miles Mansell. Adrian Luscombe returned to Bushy for the 22nd time. Largest domestic fronds: 15 at Shellharbour, 10 at Toowoomba, 7 at Burley Griffin.

• Launches and anniversaries starts at 37:49"Where is the cake?"

  No launches over the Easter weekend, so the three from PALM weekend are covered: Meon Valley Trail parkrun, Wickham (UK), 388 finishes, 37 volunteers, 10 first-timers, flat out-and-back on the disused Meon Valley railway line; FeldyRoo Fitness Trail parkrun, Aberfeldy, 77 finishes, 11 first-timers, 12 volunteers, three laps of trail and grass beside a river; and Kovach parkrun, Revelstoke, British Columbia (Canada), 80 finishes, 5 volunteers and 39 genuine first-timers. Earlier in the show Sarah also covers Cottesloe parkrun's 10th birthday, with cake and founding ED Amanda Maloney speaking.

• parkrun adventure challenge starts at 39:48listener challenge

  For Anzac Day (a national public holiday in Australia that Friday), listeners are asked to incorporate something representing the Anzac spirit, an Anzac biscuit, a photo with friends, wearing a medal, or a photo with an Australian, New Zealand or Indigenous flag. Simon corrects the framing to include New Zealand, and Sarah restates the acronym (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) for overseas listeners.

• Sign-off starts at 40:48

  After the Anzac Day listener challenge, Sarah asked Simon where he was headed next parkrun day: he was unsure but planned to volunteer somewhere close to home, checking later in the week to see who needed someone. Sarah had "plans to make plans", she had an idea but her partner Matt wanted somewhere else, so it would be somewhere local, and Matt, a reservist, would be marching on Anzac Day, with them in Perth for the day. Sarah trailed Mel and TOC returning next week from New Zealand and their adventures, and Simon closed with the Facebook and email contacts.