Episode 450 - Celebrations and pronunciations

2026-05-22

HostsJohan Duvenhage Lyndell Murray

Roving reportersAlison Fraser Greg Moore Sarah Jefferson

Show notes

The podcast celebrates an unofficial milestone of 450 episodes, with Lyndell welcoming special guest host Johan Duvenhage. There were adventurers aplenty at special days in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, and the hangover from Japan's special day means there are plenty of imperfect pronunciations to please - or punish - your ears. Reginald profiles Japan, but their pronunciation hack is too late to save Lyndell. We have roving reports from Sunshine Beach and Futakotamagawa and Mansfield Botanic parkruns.

From the Facebook post

The podcast celebrates an unofficial milestone of 450 episodes, with Lyndell welcoming special guest host, Johan Duvenhage. There were adventurers aplenty at special days in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, and the hangover from Japan's special day means there are plenty of imperfect pronunciations to please - or punish - your ears. Reginald profiles Japan, but their pronunciation hack is too late to save Lyndell and we have roving reports from サンシャインビーチparkrun - Sunshine Beach, 二子玉川 parkrun - Futakotamagawa and Mansfield Botanic parkruns.

Roving reports

In this episode

• Listener email

  Lyndell crosses to Facebook comments on the previous episode: Calum Burrell on Jubilee Tenterfield being named to avoid confusion with the four Jubilee parkruns worldwide; Helen Patricia "loving the pod and chuckling about pronunciations"; Ali Sheppard on meeting TOC and Jackie and on the Sanctuary Runners initiative in Ireland; and a message from fellow Irish parkrun podcast Runs in the Park about the University of Galway parkrun segment.

• parkrun news bulletin

  National Volunteer Week (18-25 May) and sponsor Brooks giving away five pairs of Ghost 18s drawn automatically from parkrun volunteer results; then Mudjimba Beach parkrun on the Sunshine Coast hosting a "Slow Week" on 16 May, with its tongue-in-cheek recommended equipment list read out in full; then a note from "the office lady" gauging interest in branded running/trucker caps and teasing more merch news.

• parkrun news bulletin

  Two weeks of participation stats. New Zealand 9 May: 71 events, 10,723 parkrunners, a record 1,188 volunteers; 16 May: 70 events, 11,182 parkrunners and a new record 1,229 volunteers. Australia 9 May: 73,634 participants, 6,820 volunteers, 532 events, 3,218 first-timers, five junior events; 16 May: 77,309 participants at 535 events. Includes largest/smallest events and the running joke about pronouncing Moura.

• Roving Adventurers (roving reporter crossovers)

  Three roving reports back-to-back: Sarah Jefferson from Sunshine Beach parkrun near Kyoto with ED Shuichi Sakata; Alison Fraser from Futako Tamagawa parkrun (Japan's first event) with Run Director Roger; and Greg Moore from Mansfield Botanic parkrun in Victoria with Event Directors Ian and Lou Fitt. Lyndell recaps all three at [00:28:00].

• Dazza's

  Five selected comments from each of the last two weeks' Dazza's posts (101 comments on 9 May, the Mother's Day post; 144 comments on 16 May, the "Love a Tree Day" post). Featured: Heather Hunter at UWA, Audrey Boswell at Ecco Ripley and Des Connor Park junior, Cheryl at Wauchope, Jan Yates at Hasenheide in Berlin, Sarah Jefferson in Japan on her birthday, Jackie O'Connell at parkrun Vingis in Lithuania, Pippa White at Amager Fælled in Denmark (with her "Birthday Squared" niche challenge for Tony O'Connell), Sherry Martin at East Richmond, David Messenger at Nightcliff achieving Barra and Olly Volley status, and David O'Brien at Rustenbrook (Tasmania) for his V100.

• the Obi Award — Cheryl

  Announced by Lyndell after Dazza's, from the emailed result. Awarded to Cheryl for tail walking Wauchope parkrun on Mother's Day weekend: "Cheryl, we can't go past a party at the back. So thank you for keeping the said party in check as Tail Walker." This was her 243rd volunteer occasion, done alongside her son. Johan adds "Congratulations, Cheryl."

• Emails

  Introduced with the "You've got mail" sting. One email, from roving adventurer Michael Blaine, congratulating the pod on 450 episodes and following up episode 449's Reginald piece on Malaysia's single event, Precinct 18 in Putrajaya — the weekly team dance posted to Instagram, the 25 April frond of 15 adventurers, hotel and Uber advice from Kuala Lumpur.

• Club Corner

  Presented by Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III, profiling Japan as the 21st parkrun country: the World HQ preview tour, launch at Futako Tamagawa on 6 April 2019 with 343 parkrunners including PSH, Tim Oberg, Carol Cunningham, Tom Williams and Renee Gimbert; 40-50 events weekly; the three-letter-acronym naming convention (FTG, KNH, HKG); the Hero and Jam TV YouTube channel; the gear tarpaulin service culture; the 50th event and Japan Limited tote bag in 2025; and Greenery Day (4 May) within Golden Week. Sign-off as usual: "all non-Milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun".

• Consolidated Club Report

  Adventurers Club report for Saturday 16 May 2026: of 925 members, 643 took part in 19 countries across 338 locations — one Malaysian adventurer short of a clean sweep of 20 countries. State-by-state and international breakdown (UK 68 events, Finland and South Africa 6 each, Denmark 5, Sweden and Norway 4 each, Japan 3, etc.). Also includes the Ascension Day (14 May) Nordic special-day report — 52 of 923 members at 20 events across Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden — which Johan reads out and which drives the episode's running pronunciation joke.

• the Frond

  Fronds reported within the club report block. Largest international frond 9 May: a frond of 14 at Yodogawa Kasen Koen Hirakata Chiku in Japan; 16 May: a frond of 8 at Yuka Family Road (YFR) in Japan. Pilgrimage (Bushy Park): nobody on 9 May, Adrian Luscombe, Ben Thompson and Janice Whittle on 16 May. Largest Australian frond 9 May: 14 at Yackandandah Rail Trail, Victoria — the annual World Tourists group meetup founded by Cass Castleton; 16 May: fronds of nine at both Greenheart Robina Parklands and Queanbeyan.

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

  9 May: three launches in two countries — Abbotswood (UK, 347 participants), Drumlanrig Castle (Scotland, 275 with 54 first-timers), Greenheart Robina Parklands (Gold Coast, 412). 16 May: five launches in four countries — Bulognasjön in Gävle, Sweden (84 participants, 52 first-timers), Claudy Country in Northern Ireland (68), parkrun Las Zwierzyniecki in Poland (97), Sunrise Beach in Onslow WA (8 participants, 9 volunteers), and Ulladulla in NSW (166). A cake callback runs through the episode: at [00:02:25] Lyndell asks "it's our birthday, Johan. Did you bring cake?" for the 450th, and at [00:58:12] Johan confirms cake for Heiderdal parkrun's ninth anniversary and 400th event.

• Looking ahead

  What's coming up: UK parkrunner Darren Wood (A490) expected to hit his 1,000th parkrun, having done number 999 at Avection parkrun in Sweden. Lyndell is hoping to win Brooks shoes in the Volunteer Week promotion and has no plans for next Saturday; Johan is staying local for Heiderdal parkrun's ninth anniversary and 400th event.