Episode 440 - Stop The Clock

— open the full-size cover

HostsSarah Jefferson Simon Mackley

Roving reportersCalum Burrell Tracey Wood

Show notes

From the Facebook post

Crack, pop, bang! It’s our Christmas Spectacular. Turn up the Christmas carols, throw on a party hat and get ready for a feast. The Northern Hemisphere is supplying the launches, and Reginald is busy providing the entertainment.

There are reports from Brierley Forest (opens in a new tab) and Golden Beach (opens in a new tab) parkruns. Wait… did we hear mention of something bright and colourful? We celebrate a grand scale achievement, and let's not forget the bon-bon jokes, of course!

From the podcast feed

Crack, pop, bang! It’s our Christmas Spectacular. Turn up the Christmas carols, throw on a party hat and get ready for a feast. The Northern Hemisphere is supplying the launches, and Reginald is busy providing the entertainment. There are reports from Brierley Forrest and Golden Beach (opens in a new tab) parkruns. Wait… did we hear mention of something bright and colourful? We celebrate a grand scale achievement, and let’s not forget the bon-bon jokes of course!

Roving reports

1Golden Beach2Brierley Forest

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:27

  Sarah Jefferson from Noongar Boodja and Simon Mackley from Quandamooka Sea Country wish everyone a Merry Christmas and compare notes on their Christmas shopping, Sarah well ahead and Simon mostly done, before starting the show with a bonbon joke.

• Christmas bonbon jokes starts at 1:21

  Christmas-cracker joke exchange. Sarah pulls a bonbon on air ('the bits went everywhere') and asks 'Why did the pig lose the race? Because he pulled his hamstring'; Simon answers with 'Why are cows such great runners? They've got great calves.' The bit returns twice more, inside Reginald's Club Corner and between TOC and Simon ('why did the runner take a pencil to the start line? In case they need to draw on their reserves later').

• Watching the numbers starts at 16:53

  Attendance and milestone stats rundown for the two parkrun days covered. New Zealand: 64 events / 11,340 parkrunners / 1,020 volunteers on 29 November, and 66 events / 10,715 / 1,038 on 6 December, with Hagley biggest both weeks. Australia: 73,025 participants across 512 events on 29 November, and 69,725 across 514 events on 6 December, Railway Park (Qld) and Coober Pedy (SA) both recorded zero finishers, and Albert Melbourne topped the 6 December list with 921.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 23:27

  Two back-to-back roving reports introduced by Simon 'I think it is time to throw across to our roving report': Tracey Wood at Golden Beach parkrun (Caloundra, Qld) interviewing RD Dowdy, and Calum Burrell at Brierley Forest parkrun (Nottinghamshire) talking to Louise Ayling. TOC recaps both.

• Dazza's starts at 37:29

  Five listener comments read from each of the last two weeks' Dazza's posts. Week of 29 November (theme: electronic greetings, ~130 comments): Fiona Hinchliffe at Cronulla, Heather Hunter at Park Nadnyski in Poland, Sheridan Davis joining the Cow Club with her 100th location at Main Beach, Gareth Arnold timekeeping at Kadinga Trail, and Janet Llewellyn-Reed run directing Lochiel's 500th. Week of 6 December: Calum Burrell and his father David at Burnage, Paul Whelan 'the Viking' tail walking at Dolls Point, Belinda Rachel at Gainsborough Parklands in her Ugly Christmas Singlets, Eva Blanda at Kamay, and Tony Reeves at Ferry Meadows. Closes with a request for landscape rather than portrait photos.

• the Obi Award — Janet Reid starts at 46:49

  The last Obi of the year. Awarded for her Dazza's post and photo run directing Lochiel parkrun's 500th event, 'Had the best morning RDing aboard the mothership Lochiel for our 500th event, along with 21 terrific volunteers', with a stunning photo of her and husband Jeff dressed in glittery blue. Simon: 'let me open the Obi for the last time this year... and the Obi goes to Janet Llewellyn-Reed.'

• Emails starts at 47:23

  TOC's email slot. No emails at all this fortnight, 'We had nada. Zilch. Zip. Zero. Come on, listeners. Lift your game.'

• Club Corner starts at 52:45

  Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III's 2025 wrap-up, introduced by TOC 'I think it's time that we hear from Reginald'. Recaps the year's Club Corner content: the completed volunteer-roles series, the 'Who Am I?' series (Balyang Sanctuary, Queenstown NZ, New Farm, Claisebrook Cove, Newy) and the start of the parkrun country profiles, which will finish in 2026. Ends with two Christmas bonbon jokes.

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 56:58

  For Saturday 6 December: of 852 members, exactly 600 took part, in 10 countries across 304 locations. Queensland 58 events, New South Wales 51, Victoria 45, WA 20, SA 18, Tasmania 9, ACT 7, North Island 6, South Island 1, none in the Northern Territory; internationally 71 events in the UK, 10 in South Africa, 2 each in Germany and the USA, and 1 each in the Netherlands, Poland, Singapore and Sweden.

• the Frond starts at 57:51

  International fronds: a frond of six at Roosevelt Island DC on 29 November (Ellie Soper, Christopher Miles, Andy Airey, Xavier Sanchez, Rhiannon Taylor, David Mundy) and one at Queenswood Country Park in the UK on 6 December. Largest Aussie fronds: eight at Coolum Eco on 29 November, and on 6 December fronds of eight at De Soza, Umbagong District and Woden Town. Pilgrimages: none on 29 November, Danny Norman on 6 December. Includes Xavier Sanchez's comment that he had long assumed 'Tracy in a tutu' was a surname with an African connection.

• Launches and anniversaries starts at 1:01:27"Where is the cake?"

  Eleven launches on 29 November, including a seven-launch 'Super Saturday' in the UK: Greenwich Peninsula (925 finishers, 64 volunteers, ran out of finish tokens, the UK's biggest ever launch), Illerufer in Kempten Germany, Kirkharle Courtyard, Lake Dunstan NZ, Parc Dewi Sant in Carmarthen, Danės dviračių takas in Klaipėda (Lithuania's third event), Perton Playing Fields, Queenswood Country Park, St Matthew's Field, Sunset Dunes in San Francisco, and Y Promenâd, Llandrillo-yn-Rhos. Three launches on 6 December: West Coast Fossil Park and Moorreesburg Golf Club in South Africa, and ARU Writtle. Includes a German route-description insert from Sarah and a pronunciation guide from Ali.

• Sign-off starts at 1:12:57

  After the Christmas bonbon jokes, TOC said they were getting to that point of the show and turned to next parkrun day: he would be somewhere close to home, not Inverloch, with Christmas parties and life-saving requalification filling the diary, while Simon was planning his long trip to an island event, which would let him count the numbers there. Being the last episode of the year, they thanked Mel for everything she had done, Dave for editing recent shows, and the whole team behind the pod, the Office Lady, the equal opportunity employee, the person who does their stats, Reginald and the roving reporters, asked for more roving reports and emails from around the world, and noted there would be no pod until after 12 January before wishing everyone a safe and happy Christmas.