Episode 433 - Ready, Set, Streak...

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HostsMelissa Ellis Tony O'Connell

Roving reportersAli Sheppard Alison Fraser (King)

Show notes

From the Facebook post

In a busy week, Toc & Mel try get their heads around parkrun launch policy as the marathon factor comes to Sydney. Our roving reporters have been busy as Alison checks in at Halswell Quarry (opens in a new tab), Dave has a visitor at Averley and Ali bring the news from Wimpole parkrun. Dazza flies in, then stops to count the numbers, Reginald goes O/S and six countries have launches. It's a marathon episode.

Andrew Blanda representing in his pA merch

From the podcast feed

In a busy week, Toc & Mel try get their heads around parkrun launch policy as the marathon factor comes to Sydney. Our roving reporters have been busy as Alison checks in at Halswell Quarry (opens in a new tab), Dave has a visitor at Averley and Ali bring the news from Wimpole parkrun. Dazza flies in, then stops to count the numbers, Reginald goes O/S and six countries have launches. It’s a marathon episode.

Roving reports

1Halswell Quarry2Aveley3Wimpole Estate

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:23

  TOC on Boon Wurrung Country and Melissa Ellis on Wurundjeri Country, with Mel decreeing 'cooee' as the new adventurers' call sign. Mel reflected on hearing episode 170 (Scott's departure) in Bunnings, worked out this is her 212th episode as co-host, and recapped her 500th at Sirromet on Quandamooka Country, Marriott Waters, Sunbury and a Roma trip with Belinda; TOC tail-walked Sirromet in the rain, RD'd Inverloch, ran 1.3 km at Koonwarra, and landed back at Inverloch after storm-felled trees scuppered plans A to C. Follow-ups on Simon's pod-host dip challenge, Mel's still-missing stopwatch bingo, UK adventurers covering about 11-12% of the UK's 833 events, and Streaky September's first Bingoe card.

• Streaky September starts at 15:04

  TOC opens the September streak challenge: a daily activity, a Facebook group, and the first Bingoe card dropping that night. He reports being on streak day 2,558; Melissa says she streaks a minimum one-mile walk daily but does not track it. Returned to, where they note the Streakmeister's annual video was shared on the show's socials.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 33:01

  Melissa hands over "So I think we better throw over to our roving reports". Three reports run back to back: Alison at Halswell Quarry (New Zealand), Dave at Aveley (WA) and Ali at Wimpole Estate (UK). TOC and Melissa recap all three.

• Dazza's starts at 55:57

  Ten listener posts read out across two weeks' prompts ("cheap flight day" on 23 August and "literacy and numeracy week" on 30 August): Ingrid Botha (250th at Mt Penang), Michael Lyttle (100th volunteer at St Lucia), Aileen Gallivan (four flights to Gordon Carmichael Reserve), Olive King (Railway Park), Ruth Perkins (100th volunteer at Lee-on-the-Solent), Lyndell Murray (Scribbly Gums Conservation), Natalie Soper (Cobram, stopwatch bingo after 266 parkruns), Sue Keane (151st volunteer at Shellharbour), Adrian Luscombe (Stevenage) and Dan O'Connell (Wimmera River, Horsham).

• the Obi Award — Lyndell Murray starts at 1:02:43

  Melissa cues it with "Now, we've got an Obi to award, Tony" and TOC opens the envelope. The Obi goes to Lyndell Murray for her Dazza's post, continuing her tourist streak at Scribbly Gums Conservation parkrun and collecting both a date bingo and a Wilson number two in the one parkrun, with the hosts noting she is always in her adventurers merch.

• Emails starts at 1:03:52

  One email, from Sarah (Jantscher), announcing Austria's sixth parkrun, Innpromenade in Innsbruck, and attaching the German course description with a rough English translation. Melissa reads the English; the German audio is played. TOC corrects Melissa's reading that Sarah had already travelled there, she had not.

• Club Corner starts at 1:07:14

  Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III presents a "2-4-1" doubleheader on Russia and Singapore, both of which launched in 2014. Singapore's five events (East Coast Park, West Coast Park, Bishan, Bedok Reservoir, Bay East Garden), its start times and its founding by Carol Cunningham; Russia's parkruns ran to February 2022 and were succeeded by the Five Versts organisation, now with more than 170 events. TOC and Melissa follow up with their own Singapore notes.

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 1:13:08

  For Saturday 30 August 2025: of 835 members, 577 took part in 14 countries across 285 locations. Internationally 67 events in the UK, 12 in South Africa, two each in Finland, Germany, Italy and the USA, and one each in Canada, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland and Singapore. Locally 46 in Queensland, 44 each in NSW and Victoria, 25 in WA, 12 in SA, 8 in Tasmania, 5 in the ACT, 4 in the North Island and 2 each in the Northern Territory and the South Island. Includes the pilgrimages to Bushy (Bruce Bryan, Danny Norman).

• the Frond starts at 1:14:02

  Largest international fronds: a frond of four at Jubilee, Bedford on 23 August (Chris Copas, Nigel Arnold, Susan Cartwright and Pippa White) and fronds of three on 30 August at Cardiff, East Holmes Field and Southampton. Australia's largest: a frond of eight at Black Swan Lake on 23 August and a frond of 20 at Grahamstown Aquatic Centre, Medowie on 30 August (a car rally that started with the parkrun), plus 15 at Pirrama and 11 at Macquarie University off the back of the Sydney Marathon.

• Launches and anniversaries starts at 1:17:35"Where is the cake?"

  Seven launches across six countries: Brooklyn Bridge (USA, 538 finishers, 23 volunteers, 141 first-timers), Anagach Woods (Scotland, 85 and 15), Riverside Reserve (South Africa, 274 and 9), The Phar Lap Track (Victoria, 189 and 17), Lukens (USA, Horsham PA, 48 and 12), Innpromenade (Austria, next to Innsbruck Airport, 71 and 13) and Park Drogowskazów (Poland, near the German border, field of 94 with 29 volunteers and no unknowns).

• Watching the numbers starts at 1:21:52

  Melissa explicitly revives the segment, "I'm bringing this segment back, watching the numbers at Brooklyn Bridge parkrun", tracking the new US event's first two weeks: 538 finishers and 23 volunteers at event 1 (141 first-timers), then 382 finishers and 18 volunteers at event 2, of whom only about 48 were returners. Also notes Branch Brook Park closed for the day in support, and that it was a US record inaugural.

• Sign-off starts at 1:25:52

  Mel opened the looking-forward exchange saying she was looking forward to Streaky September and her Bingoe card, mentioned that the Streakmeister had again made a video shared on their socials, and then asked TOC where he was parkrunning on Saturday. TOC had not decided: it would not be Inverloch, and with a conference in Melbourne finishing Friday lunchtime he was thinking of driving up the Hume Highway to somewhere in the ACT area, Jerrabomberra or Goulburn, weather depending. Mel's plans had changed since their pre-pod discussion, so she would look for an event Dave hadn't done to help her P-index; she also explained the background noise heard earlier was Melbourne trams coming through the peregrine falcon live feed she watches, and signed off alone with Simon and Sarah due back next fortnight because TOC's audio was glitching.