Episode 424 - Reaching a Rec-Ord

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HostsSarah Jefferson Simon Mackley

Roving reportersHeather Hunter Lyndell Murray Ruth Perkins

Show notes

From the Facebook post

Sarah and Simon team up for another week to bring you the latest in the parkrun world. There are roving reports from Lyndell at Highfields (opens in a new tab), Ruth at Pont y Bala (opens in a new tab) and Heather Taree (opens in a new tab) parkrun. There's mention of a rodeo, lots of launches, endemic species and let's not forget a tongue twister or few.

- Val, Steve, Kate, & James in a frondly photo frame at a wet Burrum Heads Beach (opens in a new tab) parkrun.

From the podcast feed

Sarah and Simon team up for another week to bring you the latest in the parkrun world. There are roving reports from Lyndell at Highfields (opens in a new tab), Ruth at Pont y Bala (opens in a new tab) and Heather from Taree (opens in a new tab) parkrun. There’s mention of a rodeo, lots of launches, endemic species and let’s not forget a tongue twister or few.

Roving reports

1·3Highfields and Taree2Pont y Bala

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:23

  Sarah Jefferson on Noongar Country, back on the pod with a four-month-old, and Simon Mackley on Quandamooka Country, trading weather comparisons between Perth and Queensland. Sarah did Perry Lakes on Whadjuk land for her fifth time (190 finishers, first visit since 2020), cracked 40 minutes, described nearby Bold Park's bushland and cockatoos, and then collected mutual friend Jason from the airport; Simon was at Fodder Forest for a second week, where friend Rodney finished Run Down Under after five years under Travis's arch, ED Shirley had her 50th birthday and a regular couple were surprised by family for their 50th wedding anniversary. New Zealand and Australian stats follow, with Sarah digging into Kununurra's attendance record during the Ord Valley Muster and recalling the crocodile she saw there.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 12:31

  Simon hands over "I think it's time we throw over to our roving reports", and three back-to-back reports run without studio interruption: Lyndell Murray at Highfields parkrun (Toowoomba, QLD) with local tourists Sally and Dick; Ruth Perkins at Pont y Bala parkrun in north Wales with Run Director Gerald Cooper; and Heather Hunter at Taree parkrun's 10th birthday (NSW) with local parkrunner Rebecca. The hosts recap all three, including Sarah's research on the gwyniad, the whitefish endemic to Lake Bala.

• Dazza's starts at 29:18

  Simon reads the week's Dazza's prompt - World Telecommunication Day, "come into Dazza's and let us know how it went". Posts read out: Claire Corkill at Capestone Lake (QLD); Heather Hunter at Taree's 10th birthday; Lynette Anne at Bright (VIC); Yvette Turner at Point Hut Pond (ACT); David Messenger at Galup Reserve (WA); Debbie Jessop at Studley (VIC), whose friend Hayden was walked round by "a nice lady named Lyndell" - confirmed on air as "Lyndell the Legendary from the Channel 5 news group"; Carolyn McRae at Queen's, Belfast; Val Warwick at Burrum Heads Beach (QLD); Brett Bailey at Neale Park (Nelson, NZ); and Andrea Booth at Darwin (NT).

• the Obi Award — Claire Corkle starts at 38:41

  Sarah asks "Simon, do you have the Obilope there with you?" and Simon awards it: "the Obi goes to Claire Corkill and Amelia" - "congrats on making it out of the house to another state and adventuring, no doubt with a lot more luggage than ever before", for her first tourist parkrun of the year at Capestone Lake carrying a six-kilo baby and pushing an empty pram.

• Emails starts at 39:21

  Sarah "moving on to emails, Simon. We had an empty inbox this week. Apart from our roving reports, we didn't have anybody writing in to us." She reminds listeners they can write in at any time.

• Club Corner starts at 39:36

  Sarah hands over "we are going to throw to Reginald". Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III delivers a seven-clue "Who am I?" - something new, associated with the number two, an out-and-back following the curves of the Brisbane River, reachable by ferry, started in 2011 - revealing New Farm parkrun, the second parkrun to open in Queensland and a member of the Number Twos and the Dirty Dozen clubs. Simon says he guessed it after question five; Sarah after the Brisbane River clue.

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 41:53

  Sarah leads in recalling her March prediction of 800 members by the end of May; 17 new members since. For Saturday 17 May 2025: of 786 members, 565 took part in 13 countries across 283 locations. UK 58 events, South Africa 10, Canada 3, Japan/Poland/Sweden/USA 2 each, Denmark/Italy/Singapore 1 each. NSW and Victoria tied on 49, Queensland 39, SA and WA tied on 18, Tasmania 8, ACT 7, NT 2, North Island 6, South Island 3. Pilgrimage: one adventurer at Bushy, her third visit.

• the Frond — Mole Valley parkrun (international frond of 10); Hidden Vale parkrun (largest Australian frond, 7) starts at 43:52

  Reported inside the Consolidated Club Report. International frond of 10 at Mole Valley (Denise Evans, Ellie Soper, Christopher Miles, Colin Hare, Rhiannon Taylor, Nikki Elway, Andy Eyrie, Kim Leonard, Debbie Eyrie, James Avery). Largest Australian frond: 7 at Hidden Vale, event number two (Roger Luther, Erica Liotta, Barbara Luther, Tracy Leiper, Ian Greenstreet, Rhonda Whetton, Catherine Greenstreet). Three events had six: Aveley, Shellharbour and Wynnum.

• Watching the numbers starts at 45:13

  Sarah's self-described "ongoing segment of watching the numbers at Alice Springs Telegraph Station parkrun". Event 4 drew 136 parkrunners, 41 first-timers to the event, 19 of them first-ever parkrunners, and 37 returners recording their second, third or fourth parkrun. Still no adventurers have visited the event.

• Launches and anniversaries starts at 45:58"Where is the cake?"

  Seven launches this week, none in Australia. Yamaguchi Kirarahaku kinen koen parkrun (Japan) - 9 volunteers outnumbering 8 finishers; Urheilupuisto parkrun in Turku, Finland's eighth, 62 finishers and 17 volunteers, name translating as "sports park"; Castle Woods parkrun at Aboyne, west of Aberdeen, 93 finishers and 18 volunteers; Christie parkrun in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, 78 finishers and 18 volunteers; Willie Blake Community parkrun, Tucson, Arizona, 46 finishers; Fort La Tour parkrun, Saint John, Canada, 56 finishers with no unknowns; and Lucy Park parkrun, Wichita Falls, Texas, held over a week by flooding, 80 finishers of whom about 94% were new to parkrun.

• parkrun adventure challenge starts at 51:24listener challenge

  Sarah sets the week's challenge: name your parkrun in emojis at the end of your Dazza's comment. She works Perry Lakes through as an example (pear, the letter E, a lake, a tree, a running figure). Simon asks people to post the photo too so the answer can be checked; the pair joke about copying Val's accidental blurry-photo-then-real-photo trick.

• Sign-off starts at 52:29

  Sarah asked Simon where he would be on Saturday: he hoped to head out to Hidden Vale for event three, where he thought some of the Channel 5 news crew would be. Sarah was going to Edinburgh Oval for its event 238, semi-close to home, to work on her P-index, with visiting friends in tow who she expected would be dragged along, her partner Matt had booked a 6am sauna by the beach, so she reckoned Jason could manage a parkrun, followed by the Banff Film Festival and ramen. Sarah trailed Mel and TOC returning next week and Simon closed with the Facebook and email contacts and thanks to Sarah.