Episode 451 - Let those pies fly high

2026-06-04

HostsSarah Jefferson Simon Mackley

Roving reportersAlison King Johan Duvenhage Tony O'Connell

Show notes

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 and Pokkinen parkruns. And get excited, because we’ve got lots of new Adventurers merch on the way.

Roving reports

In this episode

• parkrun news bulletin

  News block opened at [00:12:43] "Moving forward into some news in the parkrun world". Darren Woods (athlete number 490) becomes the first participant to complete 1,000 parkruns, at Morden parkrun in 33:52 — 416 volunteer credits, 17:58 PB at Bushy, 21 Christmas Day events, sixth person overall in the yellow shirt. Also: new milestones every 100 arriving from September (20/50/250 shirts retained) plus a new junior milestone collection; the "office lady" gauging interest in a white parkrun Adventurers tech cap and/or visor with more merch news to come; and parkrun app changes to the challenges icons with challenge-related merch rumoured. Followed at [00:15:32] by the announcement that co-host and editor Melissa Ellis is stepping down.

• Roving Adventurers (roving reporter crossovers)

  Three back-to-back international roving reports with no Australian report this fortnight (Sarah notes this at [00:43:50]): Alison from parkrun Heijokyo / Heijo Kyuseki Rishiki Koen in Nara, Japan on Greenery Day (interviewing volunteer/run director Takio Kawano, then Matt on the course); Johan Duvenhage from West Coast Fossil Park parkrun in the Western Cape, South Africa (interviewing Leonie Vorster and Pippa Haarhoff); and TOC from Pokkinen parkrun in Oulu, Finland, the world's northernmost parkrun (interviewing run director Katarina).

• Dazza's

  Five comments chosen from each of the last two weeks of Dazza's Facebook post. 23 May prompt (National Volunteer Week — favourite volunteer role): Ryan Stoddart at Westerfolds, Michael Sharp at The Beaches (Port Jackson shark rescued off the sand), Melissa Ellis at Waikerie Wetlands SA, Dan O'Connell completing his Bushy pilgrimage, Helen Patricia at Woodlands Scarborough. 30 May prompt (International Potato Day): Sheree Martin at Meadowbrook, Renata Koch at Fingal Bay, Veronica Lightfoot at West Coast parkrun Singapore, Helen Rubin at Jindabyne, Ian Brown completing an eight-parkrun May across Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany. Hosts close by encouraging overseas listeners to post.

• the Obi Award — Veronica Lightfoot

  Sarah announces at [00:56:50] "the obi lobe has just landed in my email" and awards it to Veronica Lightfoot, for her seven-week holiday taking in 10 parkruns from Ireland to Singapore, finishing as tail walker at West Coast parkrun in Singapore — "Sounds like a fabulous holiday that you've had."

• Emails

  Announced with the catchphrase "You've got mail" at [00:57:34]. A single long email from Andy and Deb Airy (A1083171) about their 16-day Japan group trip for Greenery Day and three other events: planned over two years, 400 expressions of interest, 174 in the final group after Middle East flight disruptions, attendance and volunteer records broken at three events, Japan's national record beaten twice. Sarah reads the first half and Simon takes over at [00:59:30] because of its length. Mentions upcoming South Africa/St Helena (April) and New Zealand/Australia (Christmas–New Year 2028) group trips.

• Club Corner

  Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III presents the 100th episode of Club Corner, coming to us from Arrernte country. He teases a "Reginald reveal" — "Should one declare their physical form, or should one continue in the non-corporeal..." — then declines to reveal himself, inviting listeners to email guesses. Closes with the standing reminder that all non-milestone clubs are unofficial and unsupported by parkrun.

• Joke corner

  Numbered joke bit run inside Club Corner: "First, let us be merry with joke corner number four" — three jokes (the word always spelled incorrectly; the German sausage made of other sausages; the book about what one should be doing with one's life being an autobiography). The autobiography joke doubles as the setup for the Reginald identity teaser.

• Reginald

  The hosts' follow-up bit straight after Club Corner: Simon at [01:03:19] "Oh, Reginald, you are such a joker" and turns Reginald's teaser into a listener guessing game — email the pod with who you think is behind Reginald. Simon adds that even "the smaller pod presenter group" would love to know. This is the audience-participation item flagged in the show notes.

• Consolidated Club Report

  CCR for Saturday 30 May: of 928 members, 646 took part in 14 countries across 333 locations. Australian/NZ breakdown (57 NSW, 56 QLD, 55 VIC, 19 WA, 11 SA, 10 TAS, 5 ACT, 1 NT, 7 North Island, 2 South Island) and international (80 UK, 8 South Africa, 4 Singapore, 3 each Netherlands and USA, 2 each Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, 1 each Poland and Sweden). A separate Whit Monday special-day CCR is read at [01:07:34] covering 56 members at 10 Netherlands events.

• the Frond

  Largest fronds worldwide and in Australia. 23 May: five at Wantij Park in the Netherlands (Christopher Miles, Debbie and Andy Airy, Ellie Soper, Colin Hare). 30 May: a frond of nine at Morden UK for Darren's 1,000th (Stuart Henderson, Dave Thornton, Debbie Airy, Alexander Kington, Denise Evans, Louise and John Garrett, Danny Norman, Tina Drury) — with the joke that Darren himself isn't an adventurer yet. Australian fronds of seven at Penrith Lakes and Shellharbour (23 May) and at Rhodes (the Octogenarians meetup) and The Ponds (30 May). Bushy pilgrimages also read out: Dan O'Connell and Donna Markwick on 23 May, Wendy Smith on 30 May.

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

  Ten launches over the fortnight, five in five countries each week. 23 May: Karamu Stream (NZ), Long Point (Port Kennedy, WA), Lingda (Denmark), Pomeroy Forest (Northern Ireland), Unoki (Japan). 30 May: Blair Lodge (Scotland, a closed prison event), Kapusa See (Germany, near Potsdam), Naegawa Koen (Japan), Oamaru Public Gardens (NZ, 55% first-timers), and Park Zamkowy ("Castle Park") in Żywiec, Poland — which Simon hands to Sarah as a pronunciation stitch-up.