Episode 449 - Is it your first time?
2026-05-08
— open the full-size coverHostsLyndell Murray Simon Mackley
Roving reportersLyndell Murray Tony O'Connell
GuestCarol Cunningham
Show notes
From the Facebook post
Technical issues aplenty but the resilience and buoyancy of the dynamic team puts out another whiz bang episode. Grab your cape and superpowers as Lyndell and Simon take you all over the world in under an hour.
Reginald focuses on a country with only one parkrun, and the roving reporters sound familiar, checking in from University of Galway (opens in a new tab) and Jubilee (opens in a new tab) parkrun, Tenterfield. Johan gets another scoop too.
We celebrate listener achievements and milestones at Dazzas, and marvel at all the first timers at launches. Plenty of stats from special days and we say goodbye to a legend.
From the podcast feed
Technical issues aplenty but the resilience and buoyancy of the dynamic team puts out another whiz bang episode. Grab your cape and superpowers as Lyndell and Simon take you all over the world in under an hour. Reginald focuses on a country with only one parkrun, and the roving reporters sound familiar, checking in from University of Galway (opens in a new tab) and Jubilee Tenterfield parkruns. Johan gets another scoop too. We celebrate listener achievements and milestones at Dazzas, and marvel at all the first timers at launches. Plenty of stats from special days and we say goodbye to a legend.
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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 transcriptGuest
Carol Cunningham
Recorded at the South African ambassador conference. Carol's 2017 start with parkrun as volunteer lead in APAC and her move three years ago into the new global volunteering lead role; the shift of volunteering into event delivery and having an SLT member lead it; this year's three objectives - training and development, the volunteer feedback pool pilot, and ambassador recruitment and diversity; the sustainability risk of a shrinking group doing more and more of the volunteering; how touristing adventurers should approach volunteering at events they are visiting ("if you've got 20 Tail Walkers, that might be quite challenging for the team"); and her 15 years of parkrun on 23 April across about 176 different events, with Hull, Mosman and Willoughby named as the most memorable.
Roving reports
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:32
Simon Mackley on Quandamooka Sea Country and Lyndell Murray in Meeanjin on Turrbal and Yuggera lands, joking about a Queensland takeover and how many 'indeeds' editor David will have to ding. Lyndell has done one parkrun, at Jubilee, Tenterfield (roving report coming); Simon has stayed local at Wishart, Pallara (farewelling Brian on his last RD before moving to Victoria), Cleveland and Redland Bay. No listener feedback came in on the last episode, though Simon thanks Lyndell for pulling TOC up on his pronunciation of Reading.
parkrun news bulletin starts at 3:51
Two news items. First, Launceston parkrun (Tasmania) has renamed itself Inveresk Precinct parkrun - the event team said the decision "wasn't taken lightly" - which sets off Lyndell on parkrun naming conventions: small regional towns with generic park names (Railway Park at Proston) should follow the Jubilee Tenterfield model of naming both park and locality, and she jokes about the alphabeteering chaos if Zillmere were ever renamed O'Callaghan Park. Second, the death of Colin Thorne of New Zealand, who completed 265 parkruns at 21 locations, started parkrun in 2017 in his 90s, and is the reason parkrun now has a 101-105 year age category; Lyndell relays condolences via a former work colleague who was Colin's nephew.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 21:30
Lyndell throws to the roving reporters. Two reports: TOC from University of Galway parkrun in Ireland - the first stop of his and Jackie's European trip - interviewing Run Director and Co-Event Director Claire about the out-and-back course along the River Corrib past Menlo Castle; and Lyndell herself from Jubilee Tenterfield parkrun in northern NSW, interviewing Chrissy on the event's 101st running, its two-lap mixed path-and-grass course around the cricket field, and the difficulty of starting a parkrun in a small town.
Dazza's starts at 31:56
Comments from the two most recent Dazza's posts. Anzac Day (25 April): Yvette Turner at Umbagong District, Barb Luther at South Toowoomba, Gemma Kiyuski at Gatton (laying flowers for a brother lost in Vietnam in 1966), Ray Baldock Taylor at Kirra, Carolyn McRae at Nightcliff, and Latina Troig at Wentworth Common who played the last post; plus a milestone shout-out to Sally Hepleston for her 500th at Westerfolds. Join Hands Day (2 May): Val Warwick at Bells Parade (250 runs and 250 volunteers), M. Nico at Kirra, Carmel E. Roll at Capestone Lake, Rex Gream at Bongil Bongil, Ian and Lydia Knox at Kewarra Beach, and Ali Sheppard at University of Galway.
the Obi Award — Alana Torek starts at 38:40
Delivered by electronic mail rather than an envelope - Simon: "I have received the electronic mail, so this must be Sarah's doing." The Obi goes to Alana Torek for her photo of her trumpet, from when she played the last post on Anzac Day. She also appears earlier in Dazza's at Wentworth Common parkrun, where it is said less clearly, the same person both times.
Emails starts at 39:17
No emails this fortnight - Simon wonders whether it is because TOC is on holidays, and both hosts ask listeners to keep them coming.
Club Corner starts at 39:38
Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III returns to the country series after "a few side quests about apps and indices", this time Malaysia - a country now down to a single parkrun. Covers Taman Pudu Ulu parkrun (April 2018, closed after its 107th event on 31 December 2022 when the landholder withdrew permission), the stalled Taman Tasik Danau Kota proposal, and Presint 18 parkrun in Putrajaya (November 2018, over 250 events, reachable via the Grab app, women's course record of 19:23 standing since December 2018). Closes with a history of Malaysia Day (16 September 1963) with thanks to the Sabah State Library, and the standing reminder that all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun.
Consolidated Club Report starts at 43:35
For Saturday 2 May 2026: of 913 members, 653 took part in 13 countries at 340 locations. Australian breakdown by state (NSW 58 events, Victoria 52, Queensland 50, WA 20, SA 19, Tasmania 9, ACT 5, NT 1), nine on the North Island and one on the South Island of New Zealand, and internationally the UK 80 events, Japan and South Africa 10 each, Ireland and USA 4, Singapore 2, and one adventurer each in Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy and Sweden.
the Frond starts at 44:48
Largest fronds over the two weekends. Internationally, a frond of 15 at Presint 18, Putrajaya, Malaysia, and a frond of 13 at Urayasushi sogo koen in Japan. Pilgrimages: nobody at Bushy on 25 April, and on 2 May still nobody at Bushy but Jill Gardiner at Bushy in Dublin. Largest Aussie fronds: Shellharbour on Anzac Day, and a frond of 10 at Inverloch last weekend - prompting the joke that everyone turned up at Inverloch while TOC was away, and that "maybe the stump's more popular than TOC".
Launches and anniversaries starts at 49:43"Where is the cake?"
Three launches on 25 April - Ards Forest Park (Ireland, 58 participants / 47 first-timers), Riverside parkrun at Ballymoney (Northern Ireland, 76 participants / 75 first-timers) and a German launch introduced via "our European correspondent Sarah" (50 participants / 45 first-timers) - all with strikingly high first-timer proportions, which is the source of the episode title. Six launches across five countries the following weekend: Beban (Nanaimo, BC, Canada), Kershaw Gardens (Rockhampton, Qld), Kingsway Park (Urmston, UK, 506 participants but only 12 first-timers), Raumanga Stream (Whangarei, NZ), Stony Brook (Massachusetts, USA) and Thorney Bay Beach (near Southend-on-Sea, UK). Simon also flags his next parkrun day at Jeune Park for a combined first and second birthday, the first having been wiped out by the cyclone.
Sign-off starts at 53:15
Lyndell turned to looking ahead: by the next recording it would be National Volunteer Week, 18 to 25 May, with the theme "it's your year to volunteer". Simon said he was heading to Jeune Park to celebrate their second birthday, and effectively their first as well, since the first birthday had been wiped out by the cyclone and not everyone from the team could make the actual date a fortnight earlier. Lyndell had no plans as yet and did not know where she would be. They noted she would be back in a fortnight recording with Mel, with more special-day pronunciations to come while TOC was in Europe chasing them.