Episode 438 - Lota Love to Give

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HostsSarah Jefferson Simon Mackley

Roving reportersAlison Fraser (King) Lyndell Murray Tracey Wood

Show notes

From the Facebook post

Sarah and Simon squeeze in to discuss upcoming festivities. Sarah tightly shares about her time on the North Island of NZ, while Simon breathes in to talk about a unique parkrun experience for him.

There are roving reports from Bowen (opens in a new tab), Wynnum (opens in a new tab) and Parrs Park (opens in a new tab) parkruns.

This episode is filled with celebrations and we learn about the importance of double checking your own luggage before leaving home.

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Our illustrious editor, David Bravos

From the podcast feed

Sarah and Simon squeeze in to discuss upcoming festivities. Sarah tightly shares about her time on the North Island of NZ, while Simon breathes in to talk about a unique parkrun experience for him. There are roving reports from Bowen (opens in a new tab), Wynuum and Parrs Park (opens in a new tab) parkruns. This episode is filled with celebrations and we learn about the importance of double checking your own luggage before leaving home.

Roving reports

1Bowen2Wynnum3Parrs Park

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:21

  Sarah Jefferson from Noongar Boodja and Simon Mackley from Quandamooka Sea Country. Sarah recaps a North Island family holiday: a busy South End Reserve parkrun on Labour Day weekend, catching up with Alison King in Rotorua, Hobbiton, and a well-volunteered Ōrākei Bay before flying home, then a quiet Shelley parkrun pushing Hadley in the pram. Simon's first DNF came at Logan River when his dog Jasper wilted in the heat, followed by Glass House Mountains Conservation, an intentional Match of the Day at Sirromet and his fastest run of the year at St Lucia; he is two off a P-index of nine, they note Ryan Stoddart's upcoming 600th, and Mel's stopwatch bingo hunt for a :00 finish missed by one second.

• parkrun news bulletin starts at 12:51

  News block opened by Sarah "So we have some news on the Junior parkrun front in the state of Victoria": the Victorian junior event at Eynesbury Heritage Trail holds its last event at the original location on 26 October after 206 events, 630+ PBs and 3,317 finishes, and relaunches on 16 November as Aintree Reserve Junior parkrun. Then ANZAC Day 2026 falling on a Saturday and how events may be affected; congratulations to Eman Vergara on his fifth world major (New York, 2:49:22, plus a 17:55 parkrun the day before); a reminder to book flights and accommodation for "Palm" in early March (South Australian public holiday Monday); and a reminder that events have until 15 December to declare Christmas Day and New Year's Day plans.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 22:34

  Simon hands over "Why don't we throw to Raving [Roving] Reports?" Three reports run back to back with no studio link between them: Tracey Wood at Bowen (QLD) with Michael, Lyndell Murray at Wynnum (QLD) with Michelle, and Alison Fraser (King) at Parrs Park (West Auckland, NZ) with co-ED David. The hosts return and recap all three, with Sarah adding an explanation of Maori land tenure prompted by the marae beside the Parrs Park start.

• Dazza's starts at 38:19

  Two fortnights of Dazza's posts, five comments each. 1 November (World Vegan Day): Alison Fraser at Te Awa in a pumpkin suit; Paul Whelan at Rex Jackson Oval (Viking milestone plus 150th volunteer); Rodney Glossop at Faludparken [Faelledparken] in Copenhagen, a new country and the letter F; Sam Esmore at Moriah Creek Reserve [Maria Creek Reserve] walking with his mum; Yvette Turner at Tuggeranong doing her first first-timers briefing after 68 volunteer credits. 8 November (International Cappuccino Day): Maria Wicks at Shibamata koen kadan, Tokyo; David Bravos at Altona Beach wearing his wife's Adventurers shirt by mistake; Chloe Bravos at Woodbridge Riverside enjoying the extra room in hers; Fiona Mullen collecting the V at Varsity Lakes; Rebecca Gordon at Presint 18, Putrajaya for its seventh birthday.

• the Obi Award — Sam Esmore starts at 47:25

  Awarded at the close of Dazza's: "And the Obi [Obi] goes to Sam Esmore for taking his mum to parkrun. It sounds like he had a lovely morning." Sarah adds "Well done, Sam."

• Emails starts at 47:34

  One email, read by Sarah. A listener who only does short runs stretched to an 8k so she could finish a whole episode, heard the hosts mention "Palm", and - South Australia being her home state - booked flights and accommodation for herself and Ian, hoping her mum will come too. She notes the latest podcast cover features her, Errol and Tracy, and that the fortnightly episodes now sync with her fortnightly long runs. Signed "Sherry Martin"; Simon thanks "Cherie".

• Club Corner starts at 49:23

  Simon hands over "I think we should throw across to Reginald". Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III continues his country-by-country series with Namibia and Eswatini: parkrun Namibia joined in April 2017 with Swakopmund, then Walvis Bay, then Windhoek, with Omeya running 2019-2022; all three current events are out-and-back, prompting his question about whether any other multi-event country is all one shape. parkrun Eswatini joined in May 2017 with Mbabane, joined by Manzini in July 2022 - both around golf courses. He signs off noting that all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun.

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 53:26

  For Saturday 8 November: of 848 members, 596 took part in 14 countries across 330 locations. Locally - 61 events in Queensland, 54 Victoria, 46 NSW, 25 WA, 17 SA, 10 Tasmania, 8 ACT and 8 on the North Island, 3 South Island, 1 Northern Territory. Internationally - 75 events in the UK, 8 South Africa, 3 Japan, 2 each in Ireland and the USA, and 1 each in Canada, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Poland, Singapore and Sweden.

• the Frond starts at 54:29

  International fronds: on 1 November a frond of three at five events - Alice Holt, Cliffe Castle, Fordingbridge Recreation Ground, Harrow and Southampton; on 8 November five at Victoria Park, Newbury (Matt Lovelock, Danny Norman, Wendy Feer, Debbie Airey, Rhiannon Taylor). No adventurers at Bushy Park either weekend, so no pilgrimage. Largest Australian frond: 11 at Phar Lap Track on 1 November, and 17 at Auburn Botanic Gardens in Sydney on 8 November.

• Launches and anniversaries starts at 56:11"Where is the cake?"

  Six launches on 1 November and none on 8 November: Kanogawa kamishima koen (Japan) 37 participants, 12 volunteers, 12 first-timers; Cypress Creek Park at Timberlane (USA) 26/12/3; Djaekneberget (Sweden) 66/15/22; Barkly East Golf Club (South Africa) 54/16/11; Whitecliffe Lake (UK) 471/50/22; Pont De Val (South Africa) 232/24/6.

• Watching the numbers starts at 57:38

  Simon announces that the segment is being parked "until we find another event that we're eager to follow along", then gives a final update on the New York Marathon question raised last episode: Brooklyn Bridge had 362 participants, up 10 on a fortnight earlier and about 100 above normal, while Branch Brook, the next closest to New York City, had 14, down two.

• Sign-off starts at 58:32

  Sarah moved to looking forward and asked Simon where he was headed for parkrun day: he did not know, possibly South Bank, and the following weekend was waiting to hear where his interstate visitors wanted to go. Sarah was thinking of Edinburgh Oval parkrun to celebrate the lovely Mark Kerr's 400th parkrun, which would take her p-index to nine, and then taking Lyndell's advice and heading to Lota the weekend after, coming across to Queensland so Hadley could meet her great-grandparents, with much joking about the humidity, mosquitoes and mangroves. Mel and TOC were due back next fortnight.