Episode 427 - Onions Have Layers
2025-06-11
— open the full-size coverHostsMelissa Ellis Tony O'Connell
Roving reportersSarah Jefferson Tracey Wood Yvette Turner
Show notes
From the Facebook post
Toc is in the swivel chair this week, after setting a new record at Panboola Wetlands (opens in a new tab) parkrun. Mel stayed local with all the layers at Toolern Creek (opens in a new tab). We bring you lots of news from The Netherlands Special Day and the NT which includes roving reports from Katherine Hot Springs (opens in a new tab), Gungahlin (opens in a new tab) and Burrum Heads Beach (opens in a new tab) parkrun. There's lots more – but you'll just have to listen to find out.
- A surprise guard of honour at Airlie Beach (opens in a new tab) parkrun, with Steve Warwick chalking up his 300th whilst another parkrunner clocked their 350th, as snapped by Val Warwick.
From the podcast feed
Toc is in the swivel chair this week, after setting a new record at Panboola Wetlands (opens in a new tab) parkrun. Mel stayed local with all the layers at Toolern Creek (opens in a new tab). We bring you lots of news from The Netherlands Special Day and the NT, which includes roving reports from Katherine Hot Springs (opens in a new tab), Gungahlin (opens in a new tab) and Burrum Heads Beach (opens in a new tab) parkruns. There’s lots more – but you’ll just have to listen to find out.
Listen
Open on Podbean (opens in a new tab) Press any timestamp below to play from that moment.
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 0:22
TOC on Bunurong Country and Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country. TOC's surgeon says his stress fracture will heal without an operation, so he is on crutches for a couple of months; he follows up last week's Run the World chat (five maps done, referral and club-points schemes that help pay the pod's bills), and Heather Hunter confirms Taree is still out with flood-damaged paths, prompting a look at Werribee Park Mansion, Risdon Brook and Whitfords Nodes on the cancellations page. TOC and Jack drove six and a half hours to Panboola Wetlands at Pambula, his mainland nearest-not-done, among dozens of kangaroos; Mel stayed at Toolern Creek, peeling off layers mid-run to a fellow runner's amazement, then brunched at Urban 35 beside a couple fresh from Aintree Reserve.
parkrun news bulletin starts at 16:05
The weekly numbers rundown. New Zealand on 7 June: a cold snap with snow at Hanmer Forest, finishes down 2,463 to 7,235 and volunteers down to 898; Hagley the largest, the smallest on the North Island with 10. Australia: 504 events, ~61,700 finishers, ~6,100 volunteers, ~8,800 PBs; an attendance record broken at Horseshoe Bay Reserve (South West Rocks), 170 to 178; Mobilong the smallest with four and Puckapunyal five; South Bank the largest with 702. Rolls on into course-damage news (Taree still closed after the floods, Risdon Brook, The Terrace, Whitfords Nodes) and the Whit Monday special day in the Netherlands, where train strikes disrupted travelling parkrunners.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 24:07
Three roving reports played back to back: Sarah Jefferson at Katherine Hot Springs (NT) with RD Salty, Yvette Turner at Gungahlin (ACT) with visitor Kristine Vergara and RD Ben Clancy, and Tracey Wood at Burrum Heads Beach (QLD) with RD/ED Doug. TOC recaps all three.
Dazza's starts at 43:54
Listener posts for National Trails Day, with the week's challenge being to work a butterfly into your parkrun. Contributors read out: Lee Cabarita (Goolwa, after Kangaroo Island and Victor Harbor both fell through), Val Warwick (Airlie Beach, guard of honour for Steve's unofficial 300th), Gareth Arnold (Bibra Lake, Marshal Mario), Carolyn McRae (Sonsbeek, Netherlands), Calum Burrell (Lyme Park, Ruth Perkins's 40th birthday parkrun), Rodney Glossop (Homestead, a local's 500th), Karen Hurrell (Talkin Tarn Country Park, one of the ten South Beach boomerangs), Alana (Bedok Reservoir, Singapore), Eric Banner (Newborough with Andrew Johnston) and Ian/Ivan Neville (Volksgarten, Dusseldorf).
the Obi Award — Tony O'Connell starts at 51:23
Melissa Ellis reads the envelope: the Obi goes to Tony O'Connell 'for getting himself around the Panboola Wetlands on crutches... you are an inspiration to everybody'. She notes this was not the winner listed in the show notes, and ambushes TOC with it on air.
Emails starts at 52:24
No emails at all this week - 'they were all last week and now we've got none. We should have saved one.' The slot is handed straight on to Club Corner.
Club Corner starts at 52:34
Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III continues his country-by-country series with Denmark, Poland and Iceland: Denmark started at Amager Faelled in 2009 and is the oldest open non-UK country, 11 events plus the closed Hillerod; Poland was parkrun country number five (Gdynia, October 2011) with more than 100 active events, including Cieszyn on the Czech border and Zamek w Malborku along the castle walls; Iceland lasted under a year - Ellidaardalur ran October 2011 to July 2012, 32 events, 275 participants and 550 finishes. Signs off with the reminder that all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun.
Consolidated Club Report starts at 56:10
For Saturday 7 June 2025: of 796 club members, 556 took part in 12 countries across 293 locations. UK 50 events, Netherlands 14, South Africa 12, Germany and USA 4 each, Poland 2, and one each in Ireland, Italy, Lithuania and Singapore. Queensland took the gold with 56 events, NSW and Victoria tied on 46, WA 17, SA 15, ACT/Tasmania/North Island six each, Northern Territory four and South Island one. With Darwin cancelled, every running NT parkrun had an adventurer at it - believed to be a first. Includes the pilgrimage (Annabelle Johnston, Barbara Luther and Renata Koch at Bushy, all first visits) and a shout-out to Andrew Yeatman, RD at Kadina Trail for Ellen Raven's 500th.
the Frond — University of Stirling and Amsterdamse Bos (international fronds); Kadina Trail (largest Australian frond) starts at 57:32
Two international fronds this week: four adventurers at the University of Stirling (Jason Newell, Darren and Lucille Peelde, Claire Winsack) and four at Amsterdamse Bos (Danny Norman, Andy and Wendella Poole, Imogen Swales). The largest frond in Australia was nine at Kadina Trail.
Launches and anniversaries starts at 1:02:06"Where is the cake?"
Two launches this week. Jenkins Park parkrun gave Houston, Texas a third event - a loop with two out-and-back sections, all trail, crossing three bridges; 66 finishers, 22 of them first-ever parkrunners, 10 volunteers. Parc Coed Gwilym parkrun north of the Welsh town of Morriston - two laps of a tarmac path around playing fields, an out-and-back along a canal towpath, then two more laps; 201 finishers and 29 volunteers.
Watching the numbers starts at 1:03:44
Melissa Ellis's self-described 'ongoing segment' tracking the new Alice Springs event. Adrian Homburg was the first adventurer there and posted to Dazza's. Event seven had 123 finishes (121 the week before), 13 volunteers and 52 first-timers, 14 of them first-ever. Adrian turns out to be Victorian - 227 parkruns at 99 different events, 49 volunteer roles at six locations, Malley Dex of two. Padded out with the Larapinta Trail (231km through Tjoritja / West MacDonnell Ranges), the West Mac Monster ultra and the Finke Desert Race.
parkrun adventure challenge starts at 1:09:41listener challenge
Next Saturday is International Bath Day, so TOC asks listeners to get creative with emojis - 'think Jemima Puddle Duck', bubbles and rubber ducks. (The challenge being reported on this week, set previously, was to incorporate a butterfly into your parkrun.)
Sign-off starts at 1:11:16
TOC asked what Mel's plans were for next parkrun day: back to South Australia, heading west again with Dave this time, to The Avenues, staying a couple of nights in Hahndorf rather than doing an overnighter, TOC recalling the event's finish-line bonfire. TOC was going to the first anniversary of Great Southern Rail Trail, Korumburra, an event he helped launch a year ago, which also gives him Wilson number 53. Mel then confessed there would be no pod the following week as she was taking another week off, joked with TOC about his surgery, and closed with the Facebook and email contacts and "we'll see you in two weeks".