Episode 436 - The Vote That Counts
2025-10-19
— open the full-size coverHostsSarah Jefferson Simon Mackley
Roving reportersAlison Fraser (King) Calum Burrell Tracey Wood
Show notes
From the Facebook post
Simon tells us about his many adventures over the last month, while Sarah shares news of her visit to the newest parkrun in the west. There is mention of Unity Day, stacks of launches, and a future prediction. Will it be right?
There are roving reports by Alison at Neale Park (opens in a new tab) & Henley Lake (opens in a new tab), Callum at Abbey Park (opens in a new tab) and Tracey at Coolum Eco (opens in a new tab) parkrun. Reginald talks all things Swedish and let's not forget, it's time to get booking your pALM (PALM? palm?) adventure for 2026!
From the podcast feed
Simon tells us about his many adventures over the last month, while Sarah shares news of her visit to the newest parkrun in the west. They talk Unity Day, launches, and a future prediction. Will it be right? There are roving reports at Neale Park (opens in a new tab) & Henley Lake (opens in a new tab), Abbey Park (opens in a new tab) and Coolum Eco (opens in a new tab) parkrun. Reginald talks all things Swedish and let’s not forget, it’s time to get booking your pALM adventure for 2026!
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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 transcriptRoving reports
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:23
Simon Mackley on Quandamooka Country and Sarah Jefferson on Noongar Boodja, both feeling in need of a massage or chiro. Simon toured Pirrama (Gadigal land), Nambour with Glenn from Curl Curl (no Fluffy), Mansfield QLD with Peter Pohlman and Sharon Park at Beaudesert, where he met adventurers Emma and Gemma; Sarah stayed local at Applecross, South Beach Recreation Reserve and Lake Claremont, then ran her NENDY Black Swan Lake near the Mandurah Giants, bagging position 100 for position bingo and trying a running pram for the first time. Shout-out to Dave Bravos for his first edit, and feedback confirming Cairns parkrun pauses for helicopters landing at the hospital helipad.
Watching the stopwatch bingo of Melissa Ellis starts at 12:55
Running check on whether Melissa Ellis has yet finished a parkrun on a bingo second - still nothing, her last two finishes ending on 20 and 17 seconds.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 21:51
Simon hands over "let's throw to our roving reports". Three reports follow: Alison at Neale Park (Nelson, NZ) with co-ED Ruth Rogers; Calum Burrell at Abbey Park, Leicester, for Cowfest East with Jo Yarnall and organiser Nicky Tarrant; Tracey Wood at the new Coolum Eco parkrun with directors Donella and Gerry, Tail Walker Coppo, and Stephen Buckley through interpreter Cherie. Sarah recaps all three.
Dazza's starts at 40:47
Five comments chosen from each of the last two weeks of Dazza's posts. 4 October ("Guess Who's Back"): Rodney Glossop at Canning River, Ryan Stoddart at Charleston, Mark Walls at Queen Elizabeth, Casino, David Bravos at Saigawa ryokuchi koen in Japan, Andy Airey at Prießnitzgrund in Germany. 11 October (bookshop day): Chris Gore at Perth, Scotland, Wendy Glen at Gardiners Creek and Lewis Park Reserve, Martine Barrot at Nightcliff, Claire Corkill at Jells, Heather Hunter at North Sydney.
Emails starts at 52:08
One email, from Andrea Booth (A4910289), about an unexpected parkrun conversation with an information centre worker at the Big Mango in Bowen while travelling between Brisbane and Cairns; she asks whether listeners have had similar chance parkrun conversations. Sarah answers with her own story of comparing barcodes with a stranger at a wedding.
Club Corner starts at 54:34
Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III continues his 2016 world tour with Sweden: 12 events, 9.30am starts, began at Haga parkrun in Stockholm in August 2016, special day is Ascension Day, Malmö Ribersborg sits just over the bridge from Amager Strandpark in Denmark, Skatås is a single-lap forest trail, Broparken is the northern outlier, and Badhusparken was due to launch just as Covid paused parkrun and never has.
Consolidated Club Report starts at 58:04
Saturday 11 October: of 839 members, 590 took part in 10 countries across 309 locations - 72 UK events, 10 South Africa, 3 USA, 2 Ireland, 1 each in Austria, Italy, Netherlands and Poland; locally 58 Queensland, 54 Victoria, 46 NSW, 18 SA, 17 WA, 8 North Island, 7 each ACT and Tasmania, 2 South Island, 1 Northern Territory. Mal Saunders' first Bushy is noted, plus a nudge to add the Adventurers Club as a parkrun profile affiliation with membership nearing 850.
the Frond starts at 59:00
Largest international frond two weekends ago was six at Prießnitzgrund, Germany (Denise Evans, Debbie Andieri, Penelope Thesen, Tina Dury, Rhiannon Taylor); last weekend eight at Burgess. Largest Australian frond was twelve at The Phar Lap Track, Victoria; this past weekend a frond of nine at Shellharbour.
Launches and anniversaries starts at 1:01:29"Where is the cake?"
Eight launches on 4 October and six on 11 October, read alternately by the hosts: Beccles Quay, Bo'ness Foreshore, Innesfree Park, Lake Fyans Walking Track, Mashikimachi sogoundo koen, a German launch the hosts could not pronounce, Ushaw Historic House, Yodogawa kasenkoen Yagumo chiku, Auburn Botanic Gardens, Budapest Park, Downs Link, Elara Riparian Parklands, Gustav Klingbiel Nature Reserve and "the Domain".
Watching the numbers starts at 1:03:47
Brooklyn Bridge parkrun tracking: event 7 on 4 October had 251 finishers and 21 volunteers with 203 first-timers, including adventurer Karen Hamilton in position 48 in 23:17; event 8 had 218 finishers, 14 volunteers and 173 first-timers, down from the 538 at launch.
Rapid Fire starts at 1:05:20
Quickfire would-you-rather questions between the two hosts - Sarah's five conventional ones for Simon, then Simon's AI-generated "funny" set for Sarah (spaghetti hair, horse-sized duck, clown shoes), which both hosts joke may be the end of the segment.
Sign-off starts at 1:08:03
Simon wrapped up the questions segment and asked where Sarah was heading on her next parkrun day: Merredin Peak parkrun, to regain her statesmanship in Western Australia and reset her NENDY to Port Lincoln in South Australia, 1,888 kilometres away, travelling either Friday or very early Saturday. She then had two parkrun days in New Zealand, one near Hot Water Beach and Cathedral Cove that she named as "Moana", a Wilson number Matt needs, then South End Reserve back in Auckland, and on 1 November was torn between Hagley and the new event around a volcanic crater. Simon expected to be joined by the Jays, his son Jackson and his dog Jasper, at Logan River, weather depending, then St Lucia the week after to lift his re-index. Mel and TOC were flagged for next fortnight and a bonus roving report was trailed after the outro.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 1:12:55
Bonus post-outro report: Alison at Henley Lake parkrun in Masterton, at the bottom of the North Island, interviewing Event Director Katie at only the third event - 132 finishers, 31 of them first-ever parkruns, and eight members of the 500 club including Martin on his 100th different event.