Episode 454 - Old and New

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HostsLyndell Murray Tony O'Connell

Roving reportersAlison Fraser (King) Greg Moore Johan Duvenhage

Show notes

From the Facebook post

TOC and Lyndell have plenty of news, but no emails! An important envelope gets lost on level two, we salute our senior parkrunners, and Johan meets the oldest creature on earth at the newest parkrun in the world.

We have roving reports from Plantation Forest (opens in a new tab), Ōpaheke Park (opens in a new tab), and Jells (opens in a new tab) parkruns, and then we ‘hop’ and ‘dip’ over to Dazza’s.

Oh, and, no big deal, but we also find out the location of palm 27…

From the podcast feed

TOC and Lyndell have plenty of news, but no emails! An important envelope gets lost on level two, we salute our senior parkrunners, and Johan meets the oldest creature on earth at the newest parkrun in the world. We have roving reports from Plantation Forest (opens in a new tab), Opaheke, and Jells (opens in a new tab) parkruns, and then we ‘hop’ and ‘dip’ over to Dazza’s. Oh, and, no big deal, but we also find out the location of palm 27…

Roving reports

1Plantation Forest2Ōpaheke Park3Jells

In this episode

• Welcome starts at 0:29

  Lyndell in Meanjin on Turrbal and Yugara Country and TOC on Boon Wurrung Country, comparing Brisbane sunshine with a wet Inverloch winter. TOC has been to Eildon Pondage, a muddy Red Hill Rail Trail, and Kirkdale Reserve for son Dan's 250th run a week after his 100th volunteer; Lyndell went to New Farm with Bunyaville friends, Sandgate with Sarah Jantscher on a Forrest Gump dress-up day, and Nambour where Fluffy the bird was about. Feedback: pineapple belongs on pizza, Andrea Booth on updating emergency contacts in the app, Ian Brown listening after an 11-week, 14-parkrun trip, and Yvette Turner and Val Warwick locking in PALM on 20 March 2027, though the location envelope has gone missing.

• parkrun news bulletin starts at 9:43

  Merch orders closed and in production (via the Office Lady); Bushy parkrun's eighth Octogenarians and Nonagenarians gathering on 4 July with ~180 runners in that age group including eight men and three women in their 90s (Alan Anderson, 820 parkruns and a four-digit barcode; best age grade Joyce Archibald 98.55%); Lyndell traces original 2017 attendees including Albert Yee, grandfather of Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee, whose family still funds the over-80 medals; Wynnum parkrun's sixth Octogenarian Plus celebration announced for 22 August 2026; junior milestone wristbands and junior-only t-shirts changing to new colourways at 10/25/50/75/100/150/200; birthdays for Melissa Ellis and Danny Norman; the 25 millionth finish token handed out in Australia; NZ and Australian attendance and milestone stats for 4 and 11 July.

• Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 21:47

  Three roving reports: Johan Duvenhage from the launch of Plantation Forest parkrun on St Helena (interviews with Health Minister Martin Henry and ED Stephen Thwaites); Alison Fraser from Ōpaheke Park parkrun in South Auckland (interview with the ED/RD); and Greg Moore from Jells parkrun in Melbourne (interviews with Run Director Catherine and blind parkrunner Adam Koops). TOC and Lyndell recap the reports, noting Johan hand-carried the island's defibrillator over so the launch could go ahead.

• Dazza's starts at 48:34

  Comments picked from two Dazza's posts. 4 July was "Hopper Park Day" (102 comments): Yvette Turner at Mount Ainslie, Sonja Pohlman at The Beaches (whales and dolphins hopping out of the ocean from her marshal spot), Ian Brown at East Coast Park Singapore (with Susan Brown, identified by the "research department"), Dan Joe at Karamu Stream (70th NZ venue), Joe McLean at Port Hedland, and Pippa White at Birkenhead with Phil Corker. 11 July was "International Skinny Dip Day": Mark Hibbard (sub-30 "nude", i.e. no headphones), Brett Bailey at Pegasus after a Matariki weekend sea swim, Val Warwick at Hoblers Bridge Reserve (who posted a garlic dip instead), Penny Simpson at Presint 18 in Putrajaya, and Stephen Cox tail walking at Maitland with Heather Morgan on her 200 tourist streak.

• the Obi Award — Sonja Pohlman starts at 57:28

  Lyndell awards the Obi to Sonja Pohlman for her Dazza's photo from The Beaches parkrun, a sunrise taken from her marshal spot, with the teardrop flag on the beach and the sun coming up over the ocean. TOC: "The Beaches always produces great photos ... another great photo of the sunrise coming up over the ocean and the parkrun flag there as well."

• Emails starts at 58:08

  No emails at all this week, "They're all posting on Facebook, TOC." TOC: "That's no good. The old bloke needs his emails." The show notes lead on this: "TOC and Lyndell have plenty of news, but no emails!"

• Club Corner starts at 58:32

  Delivered by Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III from Arrernte Country as a "Who Am I?" quiz, framed as a palm27 update, the answer being the venue for Palm 2027. Seven clues (173rd event to open in Australia, 4th in its territory, out-and-back, beside a lake, named after a famous American) resolve to Burley Griffin parkrun in the ACT. Reginald signs off noting parkrun now hosts renamed non-milestone clubs in the app, so they are official and supported.

• Consolidated Club Report starts at 1:01:59

  Saturday 11 July 2026: 944 members, 653 taking part in 14 countries across 352 locations. Australian breakdown QLD 63, NSW 56, VIC 54, SA 25, WA 23, TAS 10, ACT 6, NT 1; NZ 8 North Island and 4 South Island; internationally UK 82, South Africa 10, three each in Canada, Germany, Ireland and Japan, two each USA and Italy, plus Denmark, Finland, Malaysia and Poland. Includes the pilgrimage (nobody on 4 July; Nadine Rutter at Bushy Park on 11 July). TOC adds that Taman Pudu Ulu is returning in Malaysia and a third Kuala Lumpur event is in planning.

• the Frond starts at 1:04:10

  International fronds: a frond of six at Peter Pan parkrun on 4 July in Tinkerbell and Wendy costumes (Andy Airey, Tina Dury, Ivan Stora, Rhiannon Taylor, Claire Potrell, Wendy Pallant), and a frond of 11 at The Lost Gardens of Heligan on 11 July, at which Andy Airey ran his 500th parkrun. Largest Aussie fronds: a frond of 11 at the Werribee Park Mansion relaunch on 4 July, and a frond of eight at Albury Wodonga on 11 July.

• Launches and anniversaries starts at 1:06:38"Where is the cake?"

  4 July: McIvor Creek Trail (Heathcote, VIC, postponed a week for rain, then 61 finishers), Māngere Bridge (NZ, 260 finishers), Königshof (Germany, 49), Ballymount (Dublin, 371) and Brackenhurst Campus (UK, 276). 11 July: Mingo (Delaware, Ohio, 34), Happy Hill (Winston-Salem, NC, 58), Vale Park, Burslem (UK, 301) and Plantation Forest on St Helena (76 participants, 33 first-ever parkrunners, 10 volunteers), the world's second most remote parkrun, nearest neighbour Swakopmund 2,511.7 km away, with Jonathan the tortoise beside the course. TOC also covers the relaunch of Werribee Park Mansion after 1,379 days, its bridge having washed away in a flood, with a new attendance record of 202.

• International Ugly Christmas Singlet Day starts at 1:14:22

  Looking ahead to Ugly Christmas in July Day on 27 July, TOC will be at Ulladulla parkrun with a couple of others in Ugly Christmas Shirts, and objects to only wearing them one day a year; Lyndell regrets not taking her fluffy Christmas singlet to Nambour. A July variant of the show's recurring ugly-Christmas-singlet bit rather than the December running of it.

• Sign-off starts at 1:15:13

  TOC said they were chewing into time and turned to what was coming up: Ugly Christmas in July Day on 27 July, wearing the ugly Christmas running shirts, singlets and visors out in public, with the tinsel outing to be at Ulladulla parkrun; Lyndell wished she had worn her fluffy Christmas singlet on her weekend trip up to Nambour. Next parkrun day Lyndell was planning an overnight trip, undecided but thinking of her NENDY at Pittsworth or perhaps Charleys Creek, and TOC was heading to Newborough parkrun in the Latrobe Valley, one of the events he supports, an hour to an hour and a half away. They wrapped up by thanking the team behind the podcast, the Office Lady, Dave the Editor, Reginald and the Belinda Fairy.