Episode 453 - Half Way There
2026-07-03
— open the full-size coverHostsSarah Jefferson Simon Mackley
Roving reportersAli Sheppard Eman Vergara Ruth Perkins Tony O'Connell
Show notes
From the Facebook post
Sarah and Simon have filled this episode with news, chills and a palm27 announcement… already? You read it right!
Also, you’ll hear Reginald discuss all things about the Netherlands, we celebrate a former pod host, and hear why Simon decides winter isn’t the time of year to get cheeky.
There are roving reports from Tøyen (opens in a new tab) parkrun, parkrun Zamek w Malborku (opens in a new tab) as well as Oosterhout (opens in a new tab) parkrun - Alkmaar.
Ever wondered if the Adventurers like pineapple on their pizzas? Even if you haven’t, you will hear all about it on this pod. Warning: It may make you hungry.
From the podcast feed
Sarah and Simon have filled this episode with news, chills and a palm27 announcement… already? You read it right! Also, you’ll hear Reginald discuss all things about the Netherlands, we celebrate a former pod host, and hear why Simon decides winter isn’t the time of year to get cheeky. There are roving reports from Toyen (opens in a new tab) parkrun, parkrun Zamek w Malborku (opens in a new tab) as well as Oosterhout (opens in a new tab) parkrun. Ever wondered if the Adventurers like pineapple on their pizzas? Even if you haven’t, you will hear all about it on this pod. Warning: It may make you hungry.
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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 0:29
Sarah Jefferson on Whadjuk Noongar Country and Simon Mackley on Quandamooka Country, marking the halfway point of 2026 and the winter solstice swim some adventurers braved in Canberra. Simon has been to New Farm, Wynnum for event 666, Minnippi and volunteered at the Gold Coast's newest event, Greenheart Robina Parklands; Sarah has visited Edinburgh Oval and Shelley (P-index now 10), Rockingham during a retreat weekend, then hiked 56 km of the Cape to Cape track over three days before Margaret River parkrun. Feedback from Cherie Martin on a 10-minute half-marathon PB at Hervey Bay with the pod for company, and congratulations to Ollie Spake on stepping down after seven years as Shellharbour ED with 420 volunteer credits.
parkrun news bulletin starts at 18:48
News block: Simon's public service announcement urging listeners to check that the in-case-of-emergency contact on their parkrun profile is current; then Sarah on a rare weather event in Japan, where 36 of 53 events cancelled across a fortnight because of two typhoons, with 17 going ahead. Rolls straight into the fortnightly New Zealand and Australia attendance/milestone stats (NZ: Hagley biggest both weeks; Australia: Macquarie University then Albert Melbourne largest, plus Curl Curl's Channel 7 Sunrise visit marking 10 years of Medibank as principal parkrun sponsor).
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 24:40
A three-report European block thrown to: Ali at Toyen parkrun in Oslo with Event Director Trude Sundian (record 362 finishers on Ascension Day, the "stupid hill", Norway's Constitution Day); TOC from Inverloch, still touring Poland with Jack, at parkrun Zamek w Malborku talking to UK tourist Sue Page of the Sowerby Bridge Snails; and Ruth Perkins with a TOC cameo at Oosterhout parkrun in the Netherlands on Whit Monday, interviewing both Event Directors about switching the run briefing from English to Dutch. Separately, earlier in the episode, Eman Vergara filed field audio from Shellharbour parkrun interviewing outgoing ED Oliver Spake. Simon notes that a backlog of European reports is still to come.
Dazza's starts at 42:19
Five comments from each of the last two Dazza's posts. 20 June was vanilla milkshake day (126 comments): Chris Gore at Sunrise Beach, Onslow WA regaining his WA statesmanship; Yvette Turner at Katherine Hot Springs NT; Jackie Hancock at Halswell Quarry NZ; Ian Brown at Queen's, Glasgow completing a third alphabet; Maria Wicks at St Albans. 27 June was international pineapple day (147 comments), with the Office Lady's pizza debate: Alison Fraser at Puarenga's 10th birthday, Lee Cabarita at Moree, David O'Brien at Kingscliff, Nick Graney at Brooklyn Bridge, Karen Strong RD-ing at Nightcliff. The hosts tallied the thread at 28 for pineapple and 12 against, 70% pro.
the Obi Award — David O'Brien starts at 53:00
"Anyway, the Obi [Obi] this week goes to David O'Brien." For his Dazza's post from Kingscliff parkrun, continuing a tail-walking road trip, the event screenshot he shared read "the tail of the tail", Hobart to Cairns and back, Tail Walker at a different parkrun each week.
Club Corner starts at 53:34
Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III continues the parkrun country profiles with the Netherlands, opening on a quoted blog explaining Holland vs the Netherlands. parkrun there began with six launches in February 2020 plus two more the following week, now 27 events growing by at least two a year; the special day is Whit Monday (tied to Pentecost, 25 May in 2026). Three Z events make it a multi-alphabet destination, two of them Zuiderpark (Den Haag and Hoogeveen, over two hours apart by road); the country has no C-for-sea event. Beatrixpark parkrun in Almere sits on land reclaimed 1959-1968. Zeeland is the only region without an event, and Kagerzoom is picked as the most picturesque, windmill and canals included.
Consolidated Club Report starts at 56:56
For Saturday 27 June: of 938 Adventurers Club members, 658 took part in 14 countries across 353 locations. 62 events each in Queensland and Victoria, 56 NSW, 20 SA, 19 WA, 8 ACT, 6 Tasmania, 1 NT, 1 South Island and 8 North Island NZ. Internationally 80 events in the UK, 10 South Africa, 4 each in Canada, Ireland and the USA, and one each in Sweden, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway and Poland.
the Frond starts at 57:49
Largest international frond two weeks ago was 11 at Erddig parkrun in the UK; last weekend just five at Victoria Park, Newbury. Largest Australian frond was 10 at The Ponds, then eight at Reddall Reserve. One adventurer made the Bushy pilgrimage on 20 June, Colleen Clinesmith, and none in the week just gone.
Launches and anniversaries starts at 59:59"Where is the cake?"
Three launches in three countries on 20 June: Kroonstad Country Club (South Africa, 279 finishers, 30 volunteers), Mill Creek Nature in Moncton, Canada (50 finishers, 24 of them first-timers), and Dainai parkrun in Lithuania, the country's fifth event, four laps of a perfect circle, its name translating as "parkrun Songs". Four more across three countries on 27 June: Broughty Ferry Esplanade near Dundee (322 participants), Nimmerdor near Amersfoort in the Netherlands (136), Oakey Park in Stanley, UK (306), and Rabenauer Grund southwest of Dresden (70). Also noted: Puarenga parkrun's 10th birthday, reported via Dazza's.
Sign-off starts at 1:03:32
Sarah turned to looking ahead: merchandise orders had closed with thanks to the Office Lady, and they announced the date for Palm 2027, the weekend of 20 March, chosen to fall before Easter and to dodge Easter and school-holiday surcharges, with the destination to be revealed next pod by Lyndell and TOC. Simon said he would not be parkrunning next parkrun day, being on the Gold Coast doing double the parkrun distance at the Gold Coast Marathon 10k, and Sarah was heading to the event she called Kareem parkrun for their event 593, her fifth visit but the first since a course change, catching up with a friend and her two kids. Before signing off they had each other confirm what they would be doing on 20 March 2027, recording a live podcast, and attending palm27.