Episode 449 - Is it your first time?

2026-05-08

HostSimon Mackley

Roving reportersLyndell Murray Tony O'Connell

GuestCarol Cunningham

Show notes

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 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.

Guests

Roving reports

In this episode

• parkrun news bulletin

  Two news items: Launceston parkrun (Tasmania) has renamed itself Inveresk Precinct parkrun, prompting a discussion about generic vs locality-based parkrun names (Railway Park Proston, Jubilee Tenterfield as a good model, and a joke about Zillmere becoming O'Callaghan); and the death of Colin Thorne of New Zealand, who did 265 parkruns at 21 locations, started in 2017 in his 90s, and is the reason parkrun added a 101-105 year age category. Lyndell shares a personal connection via a former work colleague who was Colin's nephew.

• Attendance and milestone stats

  Fortnightly attendance rundown. New Zealand 25 April: 61 parkruns, 13,462 parkrunners, 1,083 volunteers, attendance records at Opaheke Park and Whangarei (honouring Colin Thorne); 2 May: 69 parkruns, 12,176 parkrunners. Australia 25 April: 78,525 participants, 6,101 volunteers, 457 events, 3,609 first-timers; 2 May: 77,948 participants, 6,837 volunteers, 525 events, 3,402 first-timers. Smallest and largest called out both weeks (Railway Park with three; Albert Melbourne largest both weeks). Noted that Alison, who normally supplies the NZ largest/smallest, is on a parkrun break in Japan.

• Roving Adventurers (roving reporter crossovers)

  Two self-contained roving reports back to back: TOC from University of Galway parkrun, Ireland, interviewing Run Director and co-Event Director Claire about the River Corrib out-and-back course and Menlo Castle; then Lyndell from Jubilee Tenterfield parkrun, northern NSW, interviewing organiser Chrissy about the two-lap path-and-grass course, the event's 101st running, Peggy the three-legged dog, and Tenterfield as the birthplace of Federation.

• Dazza's

  Listener comments pulled from Dazza's Facebook posts for the last two weeks. 25 April (Anzac Day): Yvette Turner at Umbagong District parkrun, Barb Luther at South Toowoomba, Gemma Kiyuski at Gatton, Ray Baldock Taylor at Kirra, Carolyn McRae at Nightcliff, and Alana Torek at Wentworth Common (who played the last post). Plus a milestone shout-out to Sally Hepleston, 500th at Westerfolds. 2 May (Join Hands Day): Val Warwick at Bell's Parade (250 runs and 250 volunteers), M. Nico at Kirra, Carmel E. Roll at Capestone Lake, Rex Green at Bunga Bunga, Ian and Lydia Knox at Kewarra Beach, and Ali Sheppard holding hands across the nations at University of Galway.

• the Obi Award — Alana Torek

  Delivered by electronic mail rather than an envelope, which Simon attributes to Sarah. Awarded for her Dazza's contribution: a picture of her trumpet from when she played the last post on Anzac Day at Wentworth Common parkrun. NOTE: the recipient's name is rendered two different ways by ASR in the same episode - "Latina Troig" at [00:35:46] and "Alana Torek" at [00:38:54]. Same person; true spelling unverified.

• Club Corner

  Presented in full by Reginald Yardley-Pomfrey III. Returns to the country series after "a few side quests about apps and indices", this week Malaysia: parkrun began there in April 2018 with Taman Pudu Ulu parkrun, joined by Presint 18 parkrun, Putrajaya in November 2018; both returned in August 2022 post-Covid but Taman Pudu Ulu closed after its 107th event on 31 December 2022 over landholder permission. Presint 18 continues past 250 events. Includes travel tips (the Grab app, second-hand clothing shopping), a note that the women's course record of 19:23 has stood since December 2018, and a history of Malaysia Day (16 September, commemorating the 1963 formation of the Malaysian Federation), with thanks to the Sabah State Library.

• Consolidated Club Report

  For Saturday 2 May 2026: 913 members, 653 took part in 13 countries and 340 locations. Australian breakdown by state (NSW 58 events, Victoria 52, Queensland 50, WA 20, SA 19, Tasmania 9, ACT 5, NT 1), NZ 9 North Island / 1 South Island, and international (UK 80, Japan and South Africa 10 each, Ireland and USA 4, Singapore 2, one each in Austria, Canada, Finland, Germany, Italy and Sweden). Includes the Bushy pilgrimage check (nobody both weeks; Jill Gardner was at Bushy in Dublin) and, later, special event day counts for South Africa's Freedom Day (27 April, 14 adventurers at 10 events) and Japan's Greenery Day (4 May, 36 adventurers at 6 events).

• the Frond

  Largest gatherings of parkrun Adventurers at a single event. International: a frond of 15 at Presint 18, Putrajaya, Malaysia, and a frond of 13 at Urayasu Sogo Koen, Japan. Australian: the largest Anzac Day frond at Shellharbour, and a frond of 10 at Inverloch the following weekend - prompting the joke that everyone turned up at Inverloch while TOC was away, and Lyndell's "maybe the stump's more popular than TOC".

• Launches and anniversaries ("Where is the cake?")

  Three launches on 25 April - Ards Forest Park (Ireland, 58 participants / 47 first-timers / 13 volunteers), Riverside parkrun in Ballymoney (Northern Ireland, 76 / 75 / 16) and one in Germany covered by an audio insert from European correspondent Sarah - all with strikingly high first-timer proportions. Six launches across five countries on 2 May: Beban Park, Nanaimo BC Canada (95/52/11); Kershaw Gardens, Rockhampton QLD (163/10/16); Kingsway Park, Urmston UK (506/12/42); Raumanga Stream, Whangarei NZ (124/6/18); Stony Brook, Massachusetts USA (28/7/7); and Thorpe Bay Beach near Southend-on-Sea UK (243/7/31).