Episode 456 - The hype team
2026-08-14
— open the full-size coverHostsLyndell Murray Tony O'Connell
Roving reportersAlison Fraser (King) David Bravos Eman Vergara
Show notes
From the Facebook post
TOC and Lyndell put the call out for audience participation, with Streaky September just around the corner and the Nottie on the decline.
Dazza is as popular as ever, with lots of interest in pies and cats and Reginald has us guessing again.
We have roving reports from Motueka Beach Reserve (opens in a new tab), Town Beach (opens in a new tab) and Ambleside (opens in a new tab) parkruns. There's plenty of ways to get involved with the adventurers. Are you ready?
From the podcast feed
TOC and Lyndell put the call out for audience participation, with Streaky September just around the corner and the Nottie on the decline. Dazza is as popular as ever, with lots of interest in pies and cats and Reginald has us guessing again. We have roving reports from Motueka Beach Reserve (opens in a new tab), Town Beach (opens in a new tab) and Ambleside (opens in a new tab). There's plenty of ways to get involved with the adventurers. Are you ready?
Listen
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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
Lyndell in Meanjin on Turrbal and Yugara Country and TOC on Bunurong Country amid Gippsland floods and Brisbane's Ekka winds. Lyndell road-tripped to Charleys Creek in Chinchilla (with the big watermelon and the TARDIS motel), volunteered at Nathan Road Sports Ground and visited Gloucester District, and won second place with her dad for marmalade at the Ekka; TOC took Melissa Ellis to Ulladulla on Yuin Country for a Christmas in July with a Grinch and snow machine, and is streaking through Newborough, Grand Ridge Rail Trail and Traralgon. Feedback from Val Warwick, Ali Sheppard on pronouncing Dumfries, Alison Fraser on Māngere Bridge, and Yvette Turner heading to Bedok Reservoir and West Coast Park; merch is arriving, Renee Gimbert has stepped down as parkrun APAC MD, and Streaky September is coming with Pippa's intro.
Streaky September starts at 14:59
Lyndell flags that September is one pod away and the Streakmeister, Pippa, is back on board. Pippa's pre-recorded intro- explains the format: intentional exercise every day for the month (a 2km run/walk, or 30 minutes of bike/swim/yoga), logged in the Facebook group, plus a Bingoe card with level-up challenges released through the month. The hosts then reminisce about past bingo items (cats in windows, street numbers) and grumble that Streaky September is also "Swoopy September", with a plea to leave the birds alone this year because of avian influenza.
Roving reports & the Channel 5 News crew starts at 29:49
Three self-contained roving reports, handed over "That's probably enough from us for a bit. Let's hear from others and let's hear our roving reports." Alison Fraser from Motueka Beach Reserve parkrun in New Zealand with co-ED Eileen; David Bravos from Town Beach parkrun in Broome, WA with Run Director Bruce; Eman Vergara from Ambleside parkrun in Vancouver with Johnny. TOC wraps all three up.
Dazza's starts at 44:17
Five comments picked from each of the last two Dazza's posts, 1 August was homemade pie day (126 comments), 8 August was International Cat Day. Contributors read out: Rex Gream (Wauchope, NSW, a dot-point saga of hitting a roo en route to his NENDY), David Westaway, Carolyn McRae and Jan Matters (Werribee Park Mansion), Chloe Bravos (Shipwreck, WA), Claire with Helen Patricia, Lucille Pead and Andrew Rutter (Zegerplas, Netherlands), Barbara (Kewarra Beach), Sonja Pohlman (The Beaches), Adrian Luscombe (The Old Showfield, Frome), Veronica Lightfoot (Redcliffe), David Messenger with Christine Brown (Bibra Lake), and Val Warwick with Steve (Bells Parade 50s-themed fourth birthday).
the Obi Award — Chloe Bravos starts at 54:37
TOC calls for the Obi and Lyndell has the envelope. Awarded for the photo of the "cutie pie", daughter Lucy Bravos, posted on Dazza's homemade pie day, when Chloe drove out to Shipwreck parkrun in WA to fill in as Timekeeper because Dave was under the weather.
Emails starts at 55:24
One email this week, from Ali Sheppard, confirming that ibis exist outside Australia but "bin chickens" do not, so Simon and Sarah were right that the term is purely Australian. She loves her bin chicken Ugly Christmas Shirt and recounted notable ibis encounters, some of which turned out to be statues.
Club Corner starts at 56:18
Delivered by Reginald Yardley Pomphrey III in his "Who Am I" quiz format, seven clues (state/territory not yet featured; on an island; many neighbours; at the bottom of the Northern Island; something new; operates on a stop bank; was the number one event in New Zealand), answer Lower Hutt parkrun. He closes by noting parkrun now hosts various renamed non-milestone clubs in the app, so they are official and supported. The hosts then debate whether Lower Hutt really is at the bottom of the island (TOC says Waitangi might dispute it) and swap New Zealand colloquialisms, stop bank, chilly bin, judder bar.
Consolidated Club Report starts at 59:55
Adventurers Club membership is over 950, up from a hoped-for 900 at the start of the year. At least 650 adventurers completed parkruns in each of the last two weeks. Queensland topped the table on 1 August with adventurers at 64 events; New South Wales topped it on 8 August with 58. All Australian states and territories and both New Zealand islands were covered both weeks, plus every event in Singapore and Malaysia on the 8th. The hosts attribute the slight drop in Australian event coverage on the 8th to the number of adventurers travelling to Singapore.
the Frond starts at 1:02:05
Largest international frond on 1 August was at Stanborough in the UK (Danny Norman, Lorraine Hare, Colin Hare, Maria Wicks, Branca Moss); on 8 August it was a frond of 18 at Bedok Reservoir, Singapore. Pilgrimage: Tony Reeves at Bushy on the 1st, and roving reporter Calum Burrell with Phil Corker on the 8th. Largest Australian fronds were nine at two events each week, Albert Melbourne on the 1st and Pirrama on the 8th. Plus a special mention of Singapore's National Day on 9 August, with 40 adventurers across East Coast Park (23) and West Coast Park (17).
Watching the numbers at Plantation Forest parkrun starts at 1:05:02
The St Helena tracking segment, introduced with a sung jingle the hosts joke they cannot afford backing vocals for. 1 August: 50 finishers including nine unknown runners and eight first-ever parkrunners. 8 August: 35 finishers, seven unknowns, two first-ever parkrunners, nine volunteers. Lyndell notes attendance is easing but unknown-runner numbers are dropping too, suggesting locals are registering, and that some first-timers have a dozen parkruns from 2017-2018, likely people who moved to St Helena and had no access until now. Handed on to Simon and Sarah for next episode.
Launches and anniversaries starts at 1:09:19"Where is the cake?"
One launch globally on 1 August, Spinnaker parkrun on the harbour breakwater at Gladstone, Queensland, replacing the closed previous Gladstone course; 204 finishers and 17 volunteers, with the cafe in the middle of the course. Two launches on 8 August: Cofton Park parkrun in the UK, southwest of Birmingham and southwest of Cadbury World (432 finishers, 40 volunteers), and West Bay parkrun at Dunoon, Scotland, a two-lap out-and-back alongside the Clyde (119 finishers, 19 volunteers). Preceded by TOC's deep dive on global launches for the first half of 2026, 104 5K launches, UK 34, Australia 16, Germany 11, New Zealand 8.
Sign-off starts at 1:12:05
TOC said they were reaching that point of the show and looked ahead to a couple of weeks away on another road trip, going over to Tasmania to complete Hoblers Bridge near Launceston and hoping to catch up with Leanne and Lee Evans, a well-known parkrun family in the area. Lyndell was looking forward, less enthusiastically, to three stair climb events in four days in southeast Queensland, one in Brisbane and two on the Gold Coast. Next parkrun day Lyndell would be at Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan parkrun with a whole bunch of adventurers celebrating the Office Lady, while TOC had a Melbourne work function at 11 o'clock so needed an event between home and the function with a shower available, likely picked on a P-index or Wilson index calculation. They thanked the team behind the podcast, the Office Lady, Dave the Editor, Reginald and the Belinda Fairy, and said Simon and Sarah would host the next episode.