Episode 451 - Let those pies fly high
2026-06-04
— open the full-size coverHostsSarah Jefferson Simon Mackley
Roving reportersAlison Fraser (King) Johan Duvenhage Tony O'Connell
Show notes
From the Facebook post
Sarah and Simon are back, back again!
Sarah discusses all things Japan, while Simon dreams of venturing back there. They share some important news and encourage audience participation, while Reginald asks us all to join in on a guessing game.
There’s discussion about new milestones, achievements and a plethora of launches.
Our roving reporters check in from 平城宮跡歴史公園parkrun - Heijo kyuseki Rekishi koen (opens in a new tab), West Coast Fossil Park (opens in a new tab) and Pokkinen (opens in a new tab) parkrun, Oulu.
And get excited, because we’ve got lots of new Adventurers merch on the way.
From the podcast feed
Sarah and Simon are back, back again! Sarah discusses all things Japan, while Simon dreams of venturing back there. They share some important news and encourage audience participation, while Reginald asks us all to join in on a guessing game. There’s discussion about new milestones, achievements and a plethora of launches. Our roving reporters check in from Heijo Kyuseki Rishiki Koen, West Coast Fossil Park (opens in a new tab) and Pokkinen (opens in a new tab) parkruns. And get excited, because we’ve got lots of new Adventurers merch on the way.
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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 transcriptRoving reports
In this episode
Welcome starts at 0:30
Sarah Jefferson on Whadjuk Noongar lands and Simon Mackley on Quandamooka Country, Simon greeting Sarah in Japanese after her family holiday in Japan (matcha, onsens, bullet trains and rule-abiding pedestrians). Simon met the South East Queensland ambassadors at a windy, re-routed Capestone Lake and was thrown into the First Timers Welcome at Forest Lake by RD Rory; Sarah ticked off five new events: Parramatta, The Beaches barefoot on soft sand with Michael Sharp and Peter and Sonja Pohlman, Sunshine Beach in Kyoto, her first overseas special-day parkrun at Heijo kyuseki Rekishi koen, and a post-baby PB at Urayasushi sogo koen near Tokyo Disneyland on her birthday, leaving her one run from P-Index 10. Listener feedback: Johan's co-hosting was well received on socials, David Messenger wrote about his custom challenge shirts, and news that Darren Woods (athlete 490) became the first to complete 1,000 parkruns at Morden.
parkrun news bulletin starts at 12:43
Sarah and Simon run the parkrun news: Darren Woods (athlete number 490) becomes the first participant to complete 1,000 parkruns, at Morden parkrun in 33:52 - 416 volunteer credits, a 17:58 PB at Bushy Park, 21 Christmas Day events, ten Groundhog Days, and both singleton and double ton; Simon reckons that makes him the sixth person overall to hold the yellow shirt. New milestones arriving from September (25, 50 and 250 shirts retained, joined by milestones every 100 up to 1,000, plus a new junior collection); parkrun app challenge icon changes with merch rumoured to follow; and a note from the Office Lady gauging interest in a white parkrun adventurers tech cap and/or visor. Also in this stretch: the announcement that Melissa Ellis is stepping down as co-host and editor after 216 episodes.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 23:40
Three international reports and no Australian ones this fortnight. Alison at the Japanese Heijo Kyuseki Rishiki Koen event on Greenery Day, interviewing volunteer and Run Director Takio Kawano and then parkrun adventurer Matt; Johan Duvenhage from West Coast Fossil Park parkrun in the Western Cape, with co-founder Leonie Vorster and palaeontologist Pippa Haarhoff of the West Coast Fossil Park Trust; and TOC from Pokkinen parkrun in Oulu, Finland - billed as the northernmost parkrun in the world - with Run Director Katarina, covering floating saunas, the Oulujoki river course and Oulu's year as European Capital of Culture.
Dazza's starts at 46:09
Five comments from each of two Dazza's posts. 23 May, National Volunteer Week, "what's your favourite volunteer role at parkrun?": Ryan Stoddart (overnight coach from Adelaide to Westerfolds), Michael Sharp (Port Jackson shark rescued at The Beaches), Melissa Ellis (730km drive to Waikerie Wetlands), Dan O'Connell (pilgrimage at Bushy) and Helen Patricia (Woodlands, Scarborough). 30 May, International Potato Day: Sheree Martin at Meadowbrook with granddaughter Freya, Renata Koch at Fingal Bay, Veronica Lightfoot tail walking at West Coast Park Singapore, Helen Rubin at Jindabyne, and Ian Brown completing an eight-parkrun May across Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. Hosts close with their own favourite potato preparations - Simon's potato waffles, Sarah's hot chips and wedges.
the Obi Award — Veronica Lightfoot starts at 56:50
Sarah announces the Obi: "this week, the Obi goes to Veronica Lightfoot. Congratulations, Veronica. Sounds like a fabulous holiday that you've had." Awarded for her Dazza's post about tail walking at West Coast Park parkrun in Singapore, the last of ten parkruns over a seven-week holiday that started in Ireland and finished in Singapore.
Emails starts at 57:33
One long email from Andy and Deb Airey (A1083171) about their two-years-in-the-planning group trip to Japan for Greenery Day and three other events over 16 days - 400 expressions of interest, 200 booked, 32 cancellations after Middle East disruption, 174 in the final group. They tripled Yuuka Family Road's attendance record to 117, broke attendance and volunteer records at three events, and helped beat the Japanese national record; roles filled by Mary Kay Gallagher (wife of USA parkrun legend Tim Gallagher of Livonia) and Keith Langdon among others; 20 of the group finished an alphabet at Yodogawa kasenkoen Hirakata chiku. Next up: South Africa and St Helena Island in April, and a New Zealand/Australia trip for Christmas-New Year 2028. Earlier in the episode, the hosts also read listener feedback from David Messenger about custom milestone and challenge shirts.
Club Corner starts at 1:01:56
Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III marks the 100th episode of Club Corner and teases a "Reginald reveal" before deciding against it - "No, I do not think that I will reveal on the pod who I am" - instead inviting listeners to email their guesses so the team can "neither confirm nor deny anything". Includes joke corner number four (the always-incorrectly-spelled word, the German sausage made of sausages, and the autobiography gag) and the standing reminder that all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun. Simon follows up pushing the guessing game to listeners.
Consolidated Club Report starts at 1:03:49
For Saturday 30 May: of 928 members, 646 took part in 14 countries across 333 locations - 57 events in NSW, 56 in Queensland, 55 in Victoria, 19 in WA, 11 in SA, 10 in Tasmania, five in the ACT, one adventurer in the NT, seven on the North Island and two on the South Island; internationally 80 in the UK, eight in South Africa, four in Singapore, three each in the Netherlands and the USA, two each in Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Norway, one each in Poland and Sweden. A separate Whit Monday (25 May) special-day report covers 56 members at ten events across the Netherlands.
the Frond starts at 1:05:10
Largest fronds. International: five at Wantijpark in the Netherlands on 23 May (Christopher Miles, Debbie and Andy Airey, Ellie Soper, Colin Hare); nine at Morden in the UK on 30 May for Darren Woods's 1,000th (Stuart Henderson, Dave Thornton, Debbie Airey, Alexander Kington, Denise Evans, Louise and John Garrett, Danny Norman, Tina Drury) - with the hosts noting Darren himself is not an adventurer yet. Australian: fronds of seven on 23 May at Penrith Lakes and Shellharbour, and again on 30 May at Rhodes (the Octogenarians meetup) and The Ponds. Pilgrimages: Dan O'Connell and Donna Markwick on 23 May, Wendy Smith on 30 May.
Launches and anniversaries starts at 1:09:26"Where is the cake?"
Five launches in five countries on 23 May - Karamu Stream (Havelock North, NZ), Long Point (Port Kennedy, WA), Lyngby (Denmark, north of Copenhagen), Pomeroy Forest (Northern Ireland, near Omagh) and Unoki (Japan, near Haneda Airport) - and five more on 30 May: Blairlodge in Scotland (a closed prison event, location unavailable), Caputher See in Germany near Potsdam, Neyagawa koen in Japan north-east of Osaka, Oamaru Public Gardens in New Zealand (64 genuine first-timers, 55%), and Park Zamkowy w Zywcu in Poland.
Sign-off starts at 1:14:08
Sarah moved to looking ahead by inviting listeners to show Mel some love and gratitude for everything she has done for the pod, asking for black and white love hearts, for the Collingwood Magpies, there being no magpie emoji, under the episode post on Facebook and in Dazza's over the next fortnight. She then asked Simon where he was headed next parkrun day: undecided, possibly volunteering, otherwise running to push his re-index from 47 towards his target of 50. Sarah was going to a retreat and would sneak out to Rockingham parkrun for event 639, her first visit there since 19 August 2021. They noted Lyndell and TOC would be back next fortnight once TOC was over his jet lag.