Launches and anniversaries"Where is the cake?"

Appears in 325 episodes, first in episode 1.

Every appearance

• Episode 460 - Across The Ditch

  26 September: Moot Yang Gunya Swamp (near Bordertown, SA; 58 finishers, 26 first-timers), Cockington Court near Torquay UK (382) and Chesterford Research Park south of Cambridge (383, stingray-shaped course). 3 October, six launches: Endeavour parkrun in Brisbane, the rebirth of Nathan Road, with 826 finishers, an Australian launch record and 16th largest globally; Sunnynook in Auckland (154); PARK21 near Schiphol in the Netherlands (102); Queen Elizabeth parkrun, Kapiti Coast, 246, dune course; North Farm, south of London and north of Worthing (363 participants but only one first-ever parkrunner, which TOC singles out); and Brimstage, which Alison places in the Liverpool area (422, giraffe-shaped course). More New Zealand launches to come, including one on Labour Weekend.

• Episode 459 - What is your Colour?

  Two launches on 12 September and none on 19 September. Old Golf Course parkrun in Narrogin, south-east of Perth, drew 45 participants, four volunteers and 12 first-timers on a three-lap trail course around the old course, with a hill that repeats three times, as Chris Gore reported. Tione parkrun launched at Villafranca di Verona in Italy with 95 finishers, 22 volunteers and 41 first-timers on three counterclockwise 1.7km gravel loops.

• Episode 458 - The Unicorn

  Fourteen launches over two weeks, each in a different country. 29 August: Moose Beach (Orillia, Canada, 148), Kiellinie (Kiel, Germany's most northerly, 114), Kålgården (Falun, Sweden, 55), Festival Green (Cayman Islands, 251 with 58 first-timers), Sirenhello (near Lecce, Italy, 11, a possible boutique event beside Salento), Theisendammen (Trondheim, Norway, 70), Storms River (Tsitsikamma, South Africa, 48), Upper Las Virgenes Canyon (Los Angeles, USA, 72). Also the Taman Pudu Ulu relaunch. 5 September: Hiroshima Stadium Park (Japan, 65 with 45 first-timers), Schloss Rheydt (Germany, 127), Valkeinen (Kuopio, Finland, 61, 'White parkrun'), Val du Charron (Paarl, South Africa, 355 through vineyards and an olive grove), Ulnes Walton (UK, likely a closed prison event), Zuiderpark, Rotterdam (Netherlands, 156, the third Zuiderpark). TOC notes the unusually high share of first-time-ever parkrunners at the remoter launches.

• Episode 457 - Legs Eleven

  No launches at all on 15 August, the first blank weekend since 8 November, ending an equal-second-longest streak of 39 straight weeks of launches (per Peter via Charlie Pearce). Then six launches across six countries on 22 August: Compton Abbas Airfield (UK, 336/37/11, three laps of a grass airstrip, no freedom runs), Fredericia Vold (Denmark, 123/10/57, two laps on a 17th-century fortification), Saddle River County (Saddle Brook, New Jersey, USA, 73/14/41), Stadtpark Rotehorn (Germany, east of Magdeburg, 80/11/31), Taman Tasik Kota Puteri (Malaysia, 67/24/40, doubling Malaysia's footprint) and York Timbers (South Africa, 147/9/63).

• Episode 456 - The hype team

  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.

• Episode 455 - Tantrums, Tears and Tribulations

  18 July: four launches across four countries, Jagersplas (Netherlands, 223 finishers), Jeskyns Community Woodland, Cobham (UK, 663 finishers, 54 volunteers), Millennium, Grand Rapids (USA, 36 participants), Star Raceway, Klerksdorp (South Africa, 361 finishers). 25 July: three launches across two countries, Ae Forest (Scotland, 109), Bittesby Country Park, Lutterworth (UK, 297 participants and zero first-timers), and Murdoch University, Perth (205 participants, 26 volunteers), which Sarah notes is close to her nearest-event-to-home.

• Episode 454 - Old and New

  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.

• Episode 453 - Half Way There

  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.

• Episode 452 - The Away Game

  Five launches globally on 6 June: Miyagawa Love River koen (Japan) listed but delayed to 27 June for venue unavailability, prompting Lyndell's "where is the love, TOC?"; Queensway parkrun in the UK near Wellingborough, 640 finishes and 51 volunteers; Warkworth Showgrounds in New Zealand north of Auckland, a three-looper with two out-and-backs, 177 finishers and 19 volunteers; Wittelsbacher parkrun in Germany, three gravel and paved laps described as "barrier free", 157 finishers of whom 65 were first-timers, and 42 volunteers; and Batonrigg parkrun in the UK in a closed facility, 22 finishers and 11 volunteers. One launch on 13 June, Zonnestraal parkrun in the Netherlands southeast of Amsterdam, two clockwise laps on unpaved paths through woods and heath, 143 participants and 16 volunteers, taking the Netherlands to four Z events.

• Episode 451 - Let those pies fly high

  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.

• Episode 450 - Celebrations and pronunciations

  Eight launches over two weeks. 9 May: Abbot's Wood (UK, 347 participants), Drumlanrig Castle (Scotland, 275 with 54 first-timers) and Greenheart Robina Parklands (Gold Coast, 412). 16 May: Boulognerskogen in Gaevle, Sweden (84, with 52 parkrun first-timers), Claudy Country Park in Northern Ireland (68), Las Zlocieniec in Poland (97 with 43 first-timers), Sunrise Beach in Onslow, Western Australia (8 participants, 9 volunteers) and Ulladulla in New South Wales (166). Cake also bookends the episode: Lyndell asks Johan "it's our birthday, Johan. Did you bring cake?" for the show's unofficial 450th, and Johan is off to Heidedal parkrun's ninth anniversary and 400th event.

• Episode 449 - Is it your first time?

  Three launches on 25 April - Ards Forest Park (Ireland, 58 participants / 47 first-timers), Riverside parkrun at Ballymoney (Northern Ireland, 76 participants / 75 first-timers) and a German launch introduced via "our European correspondent Sarah" (50 participants / 45 first-timers) - all with strikingly high first-timer proportions, which is the source of the episode title. Six launches across five countries the following weekend: Beban (Nanaimo, BC, Canada), Kershaw Gardens (Rockhampton, Qld), Kingsway Park (Urmston, UK, 506 participants but only 12 first-timers), Raumanga Stream (Whangarei, NZ), Stony Brook (Massachusetts, USA) and Thorney Bay Beach (near Southend-on-Sea, UK). Simon also flags his next parkrun day at Jeune Park for a combined first and second birthday, the first having been wiped out by the cyclone.

• Episode 448 - Surrounded by clowns

  Thirteen launches in a fortnight after a long lull, and a third straight week with none in Australia. 11 April: Okanagan Rail Trail (Canada), Lithuania's fourth event ("parkrun Big Carpenter"), a Welsh launch, Flomvollen in Norway ("Flooded parkrun"), and Wilton Lodge Park in Hawick. 18 April: Ōpaheke Park (New Zealand's 68th), Beaver Creek through South African macadamia plantations, Ophovener Weiher near Cologne, Matsqui Trail Regional in BC, Green Park at Reading, Lady Mary's Walk at Crieff, Tempelhofer Feld running along a disused Berlin runway, and Waverley Lakes near Sheffield.

• Episode 447 - You raise me up

  Seven launches on 28 March: Asidlale Adventure near Sandton, South Africa (706 athletes, 37 volunteers); Bongil Bongil west of Sawtell, NSW (56/10); Breen Avenue Walking Track at Kyabram, Victoria (110/16); Orient Beach in East London, South Africa (901 athletes, 31 volunteers, 226 first-timers); Park Miejski, Oława in Poland (129/14); Talaue at Waiblingen, Germany (148/14); and Yzerfontein Beach north-northwest of Cape Town (400/25). Two on 4 April: Ahrens Park in Grinnell, Iowa (48/7, with an upload problem showing every finisher as unknown) and Rothamsted Park in Harpenden, UK (345/30). The hosts note how large the South African launches are and that many of Orient Beach's first-timers were back-of-the-pack walkers.

• Episode 446 - Show us your weed

  Launch recap covering several weeks, with Tony explaining the eight-week paperwork lead time and the Christmas staff break as the reason for the thin run: Walton Promenade UK (28 Feb, 268 finishers/20 volunteers); Hofgarten Germany (7 March, 116/18); Victoria Embankment Nottingham UK (14 March, 895/36 - with discussion of eight or nine parkruns inside a 5km radius); and four on 21 March - West Stow Country Park UK (199/23), a Beach Reserve parkrun at the northern tip of New Zealand's South Island (167/16), Kulturpark Nuremberg Germany (57/11) and Mandeville NZ (172/20, bringing the South Island to 25 events).

• Episode 445 - Rainbows, Recordings and the Riesling Trail

  Sarah: "now it's time for launches. However, in Australia and New Zealand, it is obviously still Saturday... It looks to be no launches in Australia so far today." TOC adds that it covers Australia, New Zealand, Japan and nearby time zones, nothing happening "in parkrunville other than palms". A nil return this week.

• Episode 444 - Addicted to Love

  Launch round-up: Valentine's Day had one solo launch, Gibraltar Botanical Gardens parkrun (32 participants, 16 volunteers, 8 first-timers). On 21 February two Australian launches, Park Lakes Wetlands parkrun on the northern Sunshine Coast, Queensland (111 athletes, 9 volunteers, 12 first-timers, taking Queensland to 138 events) and Rokeby-Crossover Rail Trail parkrun in Victoria (260 participants, 18 volunteers, 13 first-timers), the third Victorian launch in four weekends.

• Episode 443 - Gelato in Milano

  Six launches across the fortnight. 31 January: York Community Woodland parkrun (UK, 36 volunteers, 347 finishers); Victory Road Reserve (Victoria, figure-of-eight on a former waste transfer station, 260 finishers, 26 volunteers); Constellations of the South parkrun (Eurella, NSW, 214 finishes including 36 first-time-ever parkrunners, 95% trail, 60m elevation, Lyndell says the course map "looks a little bit like Mr. Squiggle has had a bit of a sneeze"); and Holbeck for Lead parkrun in Denmark (101 finishers, 33 first-timers, 12 volunteers). 7 February: Cruickshank Park parkrun in Yarraville, Melbourne (307 parkrunners, 18 volunteers) and Storwy Mieszki in Poland (131 finishers, 22 volunteers).

• Episode 442 - A Lil Bit of Hope

  Three launches worldwide: Sunnyvale Bay Trail parkrun (California, 183 at launch, 167 week two) and Lost Gardens of Heligan (St Austell, Cornwall, 222 then 235) on 17 January, and Holywell King George V Playing Fields parkrun (Watford, UK, 206 participants, 26 volunteers, one first-timer) on 24 January. Hosts note none in Australia and speculate about a rumoured Victorian launch.

• Episode 441 - All Aboard 2026

  Launches missed over the break: Killarney Country Club (Johannesburg, 20 Dec, 177 finishes); Beecraigs Country Park (UK, 27 Dec, 357 finishes); Cadell (a closed facility in SA, 3 Jan, 24 finishers of whom 20 were first-timers); Belladrum (west of Inverness, 3 Jan, cancelled on week one for ice but three volunteer credits recorded); Padersee (near Paderborn, Germany, 10 Jan, 41 finishes); Flint Castle (UK, 10 Jan, 253 finishes); and Holme Pierrepont (Nottingham, 10 Jan, also cancelled for weather), noted as possibly among the closest pairs of start lines anywhere, across the Trent from Colwick.

• Episode 440 - Stop The Clock

  Eleven launches on 29 November, including a seven-launch 'Super Saturday' in the UK: Greenwich Peninsula (925 finishers, 64 volunteers, ran out of finish tokens, the UK's biggest ever launch), Illerufer in Kempten Germany, Kirkharle Courtyard, Lake Dunstan NZ, Parc Dewi Sant in Carmarthen, Danės dviračių takas in Klaipėda (Lithuania's third event), Perton Playing Fields, Queenswood Country Park, St Matthew's Field, Sunset Dunes in San Francisco, and Y Promenâd, Llandrillo-yn-Rhos. Three launches on 6 December: West Coast Fossil Park and Moorreesburg Golf Club in South Africa, and ARU Writtle. Includes a German route-description insert from Sarah and a pronunciation guide from Ali.

• Episode 439 - Legendary Intern

  Nine planned launches over two weeks, described by TOC as "eight and a half": Blades Hotel (South Africa, 304 finishers), Kultūros Ir Poilsio Parkas (Lithuania's second event, 75), Elemore Park (UK, 152), Frank's Farm (UK, 212), De Soza at Buninyong (Victoria, 107), Yamata Sports Park (Japan, 15), Dorothy Nyembe (South Africa, 175 with 68 first-timers and Johan among the volunteers) and Llanfoist Crossing (Wales, 373). The half is Bulltofta in Malmo, postponed to 29 November because of ice and snow. Earlier in the episode, Tracey Wood's 500th at Chermside is celebrated with a cake and a guard of honour.

• Episode 438 - Lota Love to Give

  Six launches on 1 November and none on 8 November: Kanogawa kamishima koen (Japan) 37 participants, 12 volunteers, 12 first-timers; Cypress Creek Park at Timberlane (USA) 26/12/3; Djaekneberget (Sweden) 66/15/22; Barkly East Golf Club (South Africa) 54/16/11; Whitecliffe Lake (UK) 471/50/22; Pont De Val (South Africa) 232/24/6.

• Episode 437 - Woe is a crowd

  152 launches globally in 2026 so far. Eight launches on 18 October, Kilkenny Lane Country (UK), Cameron Park Wellington (NSW), Point Vernon Foreshore Reserve (Qld), Faktoria (Poland), Muromi kahan koen (Japan), Oude Warande (Netherlands), Tom Taylor Trail (Canada) and Woden Town (ACT). Four on 25 October, Parrs Park (NZ), Balijbos (Netherlands), Pine Park (USA) and St Patrick's Lane (Canada). Course descriptions have been dropped from the read-out.

• Episode 436 - The Vote That Counts

  Eight launches on 4 October and six on 11 October, read alternately by the hosts: Beccles Quay, Bo'ness Foreshore, Innesfree Park, Lake Fyans Walking Track, Mashikimachi sogoundo koen, a German launch the hosts could not pronounce, Ushaw Historic House, Yodogawa kasenkoen Yagumo chiku, Auburn Botanic Gardens, Budapest Park, Downs Link, Elara Riparian Parklands, Gustav Klingbiel Nature Reserve and "the Domain".

• Episode 435 - The Restructure

  126 launches globally in 2025 so far - 26 in Australia, 8 in New Zealand, 6 in Japan, plus the relaunch of Bedok Reservoir in Singapore. On 20 September: Baylands Nature Preserve (USA, 208 finishers, 17 volunteers), Tuff Crater Reserve (Auckland, 237/27) and Lough Head (Northern Ireland, 76/15). On 27 September: Victoria Park, Newbury (UK, 347/33, with Newbury parkrun renaming to Greenham Common), Lake Colac (Victoria, 52/10 - TOC was its original event ambassador before handing over to Kay), Porin Metsa in Finland (49/10) and Broadmeadow Linear north of Dublin (153/23). Earlier in the episode TOC also marks Inverloch's 11th anniversary, "and yes, we had cake".

• Episode 434 - It’s Upside Down

  Nine launches over two weekends. 6 September: Red Hill Rail Trail (Mornington Peninsula, VIC) 100 participants / 17 volunteers / 13 first-timers; Brook Leys (northwest of Cambridge, UK) 528 / 42 / 20; Haughmond Hill (northwest of Birmingham, south of Wrexham) 160 / 33 / 3. 13 September: Belvoir Forest (Belfast) 296 / 28 / 1; Coolum Eco (Sunshine Coast, QLD) 101 / 16 / 3, kept a well-guarded secret until the Friday night; Farm Pond (Framingham, Massachusetts) 78 / 15 / 30; Henley Lake (Masterton, NZ) 171 / 9 / 49; Reddall Reserve (Lake Illawarra, NSW) 233 / 32 / 7; and Schönbusch (Aschaffenburg, Germany) 115 / 21 / 36. Also noted: Cottesloe's 500th, which Sarah missed, and Inverloch's 11th birthday.

• Episode 433 - Ready, Set, Streak...

  Seven launches across six countries: Brooklyn Bridge (USA, 538 finishers, 23 volunteers, 141 first-timers), Anagach Woods (Scotland, 85 and 15), Riverside Reserve (South Africa, 274 and 9), The Phar Lap Track (Victoria, 189 and 17), Lukens (USA, Horsham PA, 48 and 12), Innpromenade (Austria, next to Innsbruck Airport, 71 and 13) and Park Drogowskazów (Poland, near the German border, field of 94 with 29 volunteers and no unknowns).

• Episode 432 - Amazing Grace

  No launches on 9 August; five in the week to 16 August - Boulevard Lake (Thunder Bay, Canada, 14 finishers), Black Swan Lake (near Mandurah, WA, 127), Bon Game Reserve (Western Cape, 115), Tourmakeady Wood (County Mayo, 145) and Mentors Country Estate (Jeffreys Bay, South Africa, 509 finishers on debut).

• Episode 431 - Start Spreading the News

  TOC: 'we're going to talk launches now'. 26 July: Kewarra Beach parkrun north of Cairns, Queensland's second most northerly event (112 then 142 finishers, coffee van 'The Toasted Goat' on the finish line); Como Park in Minneapolis, Minnesota's fourth event, with week two cancelled for poor air quality from Canadian wildfire smoke; and East Holmes Field parkrun at Ilkley in the UK, whose 26 July launch was called off when horse-drawn campers set up on the start line overnight. 2 August: no launches anywhere in the world, which the hosts note is unusual for this year.

• Episode 430 - Cleaner Wanted!

  Mel: "Now, launches, Tony." On 12 July the only global 5K launch was West End Community Park in Gainesville, Florida (120 finishers week one, 61 week two, on a former golf course). On 19 July: Mamquam Spawning Trail in Squamish, British Columbia, Canada's sixth launch of 2025, 86 finishers with over a third first-timers; Saigawa ryokuchi koen in northern Japan, 44 volunteers supporting 145 finishers of whom 92 were first-timers; and Fordingbridge Recreation Ground in Hampshire, a four-lapper along the River Avon, 40 volunteers and 310 participants.

• Episode 429 - It's Question Time

  Six launches since the last recording: Fugan unga kansui parkrun in Toyama City, Japan (76 participants, 21 volunteers, 57 first-timers); Belvedere parkrun at Seaford on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria (220, 18, 17); Werdersee parkrun on the southern side of Bremen, Germany (128, 13, 33); Oroua River Walkway parkrun at Feilding, New Zealand (183, 29, 15) with the Maori meaning of the name; Woodlands parkrun, Scarborough in the UK (319, 31, 17); and Lake Mary Ann Tingkkarli parkrun at Tennant Creek, Northern Territory (20, 6, 10), the Territory's second launch of the year.

• Episode 428 - Evolution

  Two weeks of launches. 14 June: Riverlution (Christchurch NZ, 3.8km from Hagley, 443 then 216 finishers, with Hagley itself at 527 and 499); Hays Farm, Huntsville, the first parkrun in Alabama, 90 finishes; Riverside Park, Glenrothes, Scotland (189 then 232). 21 June: Te Awa, north of Hamilton NZ (273 finishers, 20 volunteers); then a string in the UK, Christchurch Park in Ipswich, Suffolk, replacing the closed Ipswich event (696 finishes, 46 volunteers); Jubilee, Bedford (286 finishes); Heritage Coastal Path, Easington, County Durham (344 finishers, 44 volunteers); and The Mount at HMP The Mount, Bovingdon, Hertfordshire. TOC notes Australia has had no launch for six weeks while New Zealand has had seven this year, about a 10% increase on its base.

• Episode 427 - Onions Have Layers

  Two launches this week. Jenkins Park parkrun gave Houston, Texas a third event - a loop with two out-and-back sections, all trail, crossing three bridges; 66 finishers, 22 of them first-ever parkrunners, 10 volunteers. Parc Coed Gwilym parkrun north of the Welsh town of Morriston - two laps of a tarmac path around playing fields, an out-and-back along a canal towpath, then two more laps; 201 finishers and 29 volunteers.

• Episode 426 - Lost Property

  One launch worldwide: Newry Greenway parkrun in Newry, Northern Ireland, 150 participants ("right on the Dunbar"), 12 people starting their parkrun journey, 13 volunteers, an out-and-back along the Newry Canal Greenway. Simon notes the Northern Ireland ambassadors are on a streak of new events; both hosts remark how unusual a single launch is after the recent run of multiples.

• Episode 425 - Tracky Dacky Doo Dah Day

  74 launches for the year so far, nine this week: Lost Lagoon (Westport, South Island NZ, 112 finishers/15 volunteers), Courtenay Airpark (Vancouver Island, Canada's westernmost, 20 finishers), Coronation Park (Swadlincote, Derbyshire, 293 finishers/27 volunteers), Mace Ranch (Davis/Sacramento, California, 118 finishers), Greveskogen (Tønsberg, Norway, 109 finishers with 83 first-timers), Plaatbos Nature Reserve (South Africa, 81 finishers), Orchard Community (Ontario, Canada, 80 finishers), North Sea Camp (Lincolnshire, in an open prison, 21 finishers) and Redmond Central Connector Trail (Seattle, 114 finishers). Tony O'Connell jokes that he has asked parkrun HQ to save the Japanese, Finnish and Norwegian tongue twisters for the weeks Simon Mackley co-hosts.

• Episode 424 - Reaching a Rec-Ord

  Seven launches this week, none in Australia. Yamaguchi Kirarahaku kinen koen parkrun (Japan) - 9 volunteers outnumbering 8 finishers; Urheilupuisto parkrun in Turku, Finland's eighth, 62 finishers and 17 volunteers, name translating as "sports park"; Castle Woods parkrun at Aboyne, west of Aberdeen, 93 finishers and 18 volunteers; Christie parkrun in Coleraine, Northern Ireland, 78 finishers and 18 volunteers; Willie Blake Community parkrun, Tucson, Arizona, 46 finishers; Fort La Tour parkrun, Saint John, Canada, 56 finishers with no unknowns; and Lucy Park parkrun, Wichita Falls, Texas, held over a week by flooding, 80 finishers of whom about 94% were new to parkrun.

• Episode 423 - The Hope Song

  Six launches: Brickfields Park (Twerton near Bath, UK) with 329 participants; Hidden Vale (Spicers Hidden Vale, Grandchester, Queensland) with 202; Loughmacrory (Omagh, Northern Ireland) with 60; Lurgan Park (Craigavon, Northern Ireland) with 96; Shaw Cherry Hill Farm (Gorham, Maine, USA) with 14; and Three Rivers Heritage Trail (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) with 31. A seventh was a late scratching after its course flooded, and is due to launch the following weekend. Year to date: 59 launches across 19 weeks, an average of 3.1 per week, UK 18, Australia 17, USA six.

• Episode 422 - Potato, Potarto

  Six launches: Branch Brook parkrun, Newark NJ (76 finishers, nearest event to Manhattan); Berger Stadion parkrun south of Oslo, Norway (67 finishers); Caroline Bay parkrun, Timaru, New Zealand (130 finishers); Park in the Past parkrun near Wrexham, Wales (156 finishers); Sun City parkrun, South Africa, on the Gary Player Country Club course (199 finishers); and Victoria Park Beach parkrun, Cobourg, Ontario, Canada (48 finishers).

• Episode 421 - There's No Place Like Home

  Two launches worldwide. Alice Springs Telegraph Station parkrun in the Northern Territory, eight or nine years in the making, driven by the local running club, an out-and-back with a loop at the top end, five kilometres out of town; 186 finishers, 11 volunteers, 104 first-timers and 17 unknowns, so roughly 65% new to parkrun. And Denmark's 11th event, Fuglsang Sø ("Fuglsang Lake"), 95 finishers, 12 volunteers, 41 first-timers, two laps mainly on gravel. Earlier in the show TOC also marks Inverloch's 500th, 271 finishes, three 250s, a 100, a 50 and a v50, on a blue theme.

• Episode 420 - No Indeed. Indeed, No

  No launches over the Easter weekend, so the three from PALM weekend are covered: Meon Valley Trail parkrun, Wickham (UK), 388 finishes, 37 volunteers, 10 first-timers, flat out-and-back on the disused Meon Valley railway line; FeldyRoo Fitness Trail parkrun, Aberfeldy, 77 finishes, 11 first-timers, 12 volunteers, three laps of trail and grass beside a river; and Kovach parkrun, Revelstoke, British Columbia (Canada), 80 finishes, 5 volunteers and 39 genuine first-timers. Earlier in the show Sarah also covers Cottesloe parkrun's 10th birthday, with cake and founding ED Amanda Maloney speaking.

• Episode 419 - palm 25

  Mel hands over with "Now, Tony, what's been going on at the Homeland while we're away?". TOC reports no launches at all this week across Australia, New Zealand, Japan and probably South Africa, with the UK not yet run; last week there were four, including Pyramid Hill (Golf Trail) in Victoria - which audience member Nathan had run - plus launches in Japan, the USA and the UK.

• Episode 418 - Yeah Nah

  Two launches in the parkrun 5k world: Eildon Pondage parkrun in Victoria, which TOC helped set up as ambassador, 74 finishes, 11 volunteers and 28 genuine first-timers (38% of the field), and Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School parkrun in the UK, 203 finishes, 23 first-time-evers and 33 volunteers on a four-lap school-grounds course, the world's third Queen Elizabeth event. TOC adds that there have been 34 global launches so far in 2025, 14 of them Australian.

• Episode 417 - Baby Brain is Real

  Two launches. Hoblers Bridge Reserve parkrun in Tasmania drew 180 participants and 15 volunteers with only seven first-timers, an out-and-back flat trail alongside the North Esk River, mostly packed gravel with a short boardwalk. Mauerweg parkrun in Berlin, Germany drew 87 participants and 25 volunteers with 14 first-timers, run on the Wall Trail along the former Berlin Wall border strip south of the Lichterfelde and Marienfelde districts.

• Episode 416 - Falicitating Fun

  TOC "moving on to launches, and this week we had two launches." Merredin Peak in Western Australia (44 finishers, 11 volunteers, with Andrew Yeatman as photographer) and Cuningar Loop in Glasgow (363 finishers, 34 volunteers). Followed by the "almost a launch" item: Greenwich parkrun in the UK renamed Avery Hill.

• Episode 415 - Pow Wow to PALM

  Two launches. Old Town House Park parkrun, South Yarmouth, Massachusetts USA, 29 participants (15 first-timers) and 10 volunteers, an out-and-back on paved paths and the Cape Cod Rail Trail. Sky River Path parkrun, Coonabarabran NSW, 85 participants (31 new to parkrun) and 12 volunteers, three out-and-back laps along the Castlereagh River. Earlier in the episode Cambridge (NZ) celebrated its eighth anniversary.

• Episode 414 - Wombling Free

  Two launches worldwide, both in Queensland. Gainsborough Greens relaunched as Gainsborough Parklands, a two-lapper on concrete, 405 finishers and 39 volunteers, reset to event 1. Burrum Heads Beach launched south of Bundaberg, about 300km north of Brisbane: an out-and-back almost entirely on sand, 226 people and 17 volunteers. Golden Beach parkrun's 11th birthday is covered in Lyndell's roving report earlier in the episode.

• Episode 413 - Transport & Tryouts

  Peter reports no local or international launches this parkrun day (one possible launch with results still pending), then runs through ten Australian events that broke attendance records: Armidale (three weeks running), Rouse Hill and Menai (fourth week running), Galston, Lawson and "Maury" in NSW; Gawler in South Australia and Kate Reed in Tasmania; Charleys Creek in Queensland, coinciding with Chinchilla's Melon Fest; and Cascades on Clyde in Victoria.

• Episode 412 - Another One Bites the Dust

  A single launch this week, Thoulstone parkrun in the UK near Bath, a two-lap course largely on a working farm with sheep on site and a Marshal on the gate; 170 finishers and 26 volunteers. TOC's theory for the lull: six weeks' paperwork lead time takes you back to Christmas.

• Episode 411 - GPS fails

  Three launches in the past week: Midleton Greenway in Midleton, County Cork, Ireland, an out-and-back with the nearest parkrun almost 20km away, launching with 636 participants; East Otago High School in Palmerston, South Island NZ, three return laps of the school sports field, 83 finishers; and Drage Reserve parkrun in South Australia, about one kilometre from the mothership Lochiel, a flat figure-eight, 85 participants, "great for prams". Mel also tracks Birtinya Island's fourth event, down to 246 from a launch of 461.

• Episode 410 - Aussie Aussie Aussie

  This week's launches: Europapark (Austria, 52 finishers, with a German course description read by Sarah Jantscher), Egham Orbit (UK), Surat Memorial Park (Queensland, 113 finishers), Hattori Ryokuchi (Japan, 72 participants and 14 volunteers) and Vermuyden Way (UK, 17 attendees). TOC wraps up January with 20 launches for the year to date: 7 Australia, 6 UK, 3 South Africa, 1 each Austria, Poland, Japan and Germany.

• Episode 409 - Give us a hug

  Ten launches worldwide. Australia: Waikerie Wetlands (SA), Sir James Mitchell (WA, south of Perth on the Swan River - Andrew Yeatman photographing, handing the mascot to Alex Turner), Mareeba Rail Trail (QLD, west of Cairns - linked back to episode 357 and bagpipe-playing GP Nathan), and Pembroke (Tasmania, north of Hobart Airport, long awaited). South Africa: a lodge event north of Cape Town whose name Simon fumbles, and Biki Byte southwest of Johannesburg. Germany: Krupunder See, west of Hamburg. UK: Oaklands College east of St Albans, Black Rocks northwest of Derby, and Vicar Water Country. Anniversaries noted elsewhere in the show: St Peters parkrun's 13th birthday and the fourth birthday of the junior event Melissa run-directed on the Sunday.

• Episode 408 - Back to the Office

  A four-week catch-up of launches missed over the break: 14 December 2024, "virtual playing fields" in the UK and Ingrebourne Hill in the UK; 21 December, Rainhill Farm, South Africa; 28 December, Zalew Borki, Poland; 4 January 2025, Ivydale, South Africa; 11 January, Birtinya Island (Sunshine Coast, just east of Harmony Boulevard), Grahamstown Aquatic Centre (Newcastle region), Akwen Tropicana in Poland, and Greendale Farm Shop in the UK.

• Episode 407 - Highlights and Hopes

  TOC notes launches thin out over the southern summer, and that only one parkrun has ever launched on New Year's Day. Two launches this week: Aintree Reserve parkrun at Rockbank near Melton, Victoria - an undulating out-and-back along Kororoit Creek, 79 participants including 12 first-timers ever and nine volunteers, with Eynesbury junior volunteers helping out; and Park Blekitny parkrun in southern Poland, a four-lap course around a blue park with 100 participants, 28 volunteers and 47 first-time-ever participants. TOC also spots former host Scotty Trickett in the Aintree Reserve results.

• Episode 406 - White-marks the spot

  One launch worldwide this week, and New Zealand again: South End Reserve parkrun, east of the Coromandel Forest Park about 150km east-south-east of Auckland in the town of Pauanui ('big abalone'). 56 participants, 9 of them at their first ever parkrun, supported by 14 volunteers; an out-and-back along the grass foreshore from South End Reserve north to the turnaround at Royal Billy Point Reserve. Sourced partly from the show's New Zealand correspondent.

• Episode 405 - B4s Return

  Two launches covered: Neale Park parkrun in Nelson, at the top of the South Island, 286 finishes including 133 first-timers ever, 22 volunteers, on a T-shaped double out-and-back along the Trafalgar cycleway, filling one of the last New Zealand cities without a parkrun; and Galup Reserve parkrun in Perth near Herdsman Lake, a one-lapper around Galup (Lake Monger) that drew 180 finishers in week one.

• Episode 404 - Boomerang

  Three launches this week and none in Australia: Clougha Pike parkrun in the UK (a closed event, 11 participants and 6 volunteers); Nowy Park Solankowy in Inowrocław, Poland (150 participants including 38 first timers, 20 volunteers, three laps on cobblestones); and Southern Path parkrun in Takanini, Auckland, New Zealand (261 participants, 51 first timers, 32 volunteers, two out-and-back sections from Conifer Grove Reserve).

• Episode 403 - In the Poo

  A plethora of launches: Workman's Beach (Agnes Water, QLD) 181 finishers and 19 volunteers; Emerald Lake (Victoria) 198 and 12; Rinko Park (Yokohama, Japan) 43 finishers and 20 volunteers; Sabine (Rome's third parkrun, Italy) 27 and eight; Ryan Bonaminio (Riverside, USA) 33 finishers, 18 of them first-timers, and four volunteers; Cockermouth Greenway (Cumbria, UK) 137 participants; plus an honourable mention for Heiwa koen Kurashino mori in Japan, delayed a week by the typhoon warning.

• Episode 402 - With Mispronunciations Now

  Two weeks of launches covered: White Lick Creek (Indiana, USA), Bundoran Promenade (County Donegal, Ireland), Kai Kai (Paul Roux area near Port Nolloth, South Africa), Simmons Park (Okehampton, UK), Pferdebachtal (Dortmund, Germany, with a German course description read by Sarah Jantscher), Pine Forest (Free State, South Africa) and Kleinevalleij (near Paarl, South Africa). The hosts note there were no Australian launches.

• Episode 401 - Adventurers Shine

  Two launches, three discussed. Katy Trail parkrun, Denison, Texas, three out-and-backs on a flat two-lane paved trail, two finishers and two volunteers, in a town of about 24,000. Spring Rock parkrun, Western Springs, Illinois, three laps of grass and trail, 53 finishers of whom 17 were first-ever parkrunners, 12 volunteers. Macquarie University parkrun, Macquarie Park, Sydney, one lap of campus walkways, 100% sealed and predominantly flat, 373 finishers with 25 first-ever parkrunners and 27 volunteers; the third new Sydney event of the year. Earlier in the show Simon also marks Fodder Forest parkrun's third birthday, with 132 others present.

• Episode 400 - Thank you for the Music

  Two launches: Battersea parkrun in the UK, a flat two-lap tarmac course and a new event for the London Challenge, possibly the closest to the city itself - 269 finishes, only three of them first-ever parkrunners, with 36 volunteers; and Halswell Quarry parkrun in the southern suburbs of Christchurch, New Zealand, the sixth in that region, two loops with a climb to the quarry rim and 180 metres of elevation - 450 finishes and 41 volunteers, 68 of them first-time parkrunners.

• Episode 399 - Das Ist Gut

  Two launches: Naturlehrpfad, Wetzlar parkrun in Germany (88 participants, 20 first-timers, 12 volunteers), whose course description Simon Mackley starts to read in German before switching to English; and Paisley Park parkrun in west Belfast (112 participants, 24 volunteers, five first-ever parkrunners), which starts on a cinder track. Earlier in the episode the hosts also mark parkrun's own 20th anniversary and International parkrun Day, with 1,818 participants and 124 volunteers at Bushy Park.

• Episode 398 - Planes, Trains and Automobiles

  Two new events, both of which the hosts struggle to pronounce: Bygholm parkrun in Horsens, Denmark, about 200km from Copenhagen, a flat two-lap fine-gravel course, event one drawing 180 participants and 14 volunteers; and Judarskogen parkrun in Judarskogen Nature Reserve, Bromma, western Stockholm, two loops on gravel, event one with 129 participants and 20 volunteers. Followed by parkrun's 20th birthday on 5 October, with the request that people celebrate at their own home event rather than overwhelming Bushy.

• Episode 397 - The Grate Return

  Three launches: Old Esk Railway Station in Queensland (two-lap out and back on the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail with a loop into Esk Showgrounds, 166 participants, 17 volunteers); Vingis parkrun in Vilnius, taking parkrun to Lithuania as its 23rd country, 223 participants and 21 volunteers, with a description of Vingis Park on the bend of the Neris River; and Five Wells in the UK, the second closed facility to launch there in as many weeks, 20 participants and eight volunteers.

• Episode 396 - Oh What a Feeling!

  Three launches this week, taking the 2024 global tally to 96: Samford Parklands parkrun in Brisbane (514 finishers at event one), Salmon Creek Trail parkrun in Vancouver, Washington, USA (31 finishers), and Jessiefield parkrun in the UK (10 finishers and three volunteers, which TOC suggests is a closed facility).

• Revisits and Backflips

  A belated mention of Crinan Canal parkrun in Scotland (83 finishers, 17 volunteers in week one), then eight launches on 7 September, Hanmer Forest (NZ), Serengeti Estate (South Africa), Zalew Leg (Poland, "the floodplain"), Moorbek (Germany), Stadtpark Chemnitz (Germany, "City Park"), Spanish Banks Beach (Canada), St George's (South Africa) and Wezenlanden (Netherlands). TOC notes 93 launches worldwide so far this year, 28 of them in the Asia-Pacific.

• Episode 394 - Dangling the carrot

  TOC opens "Moving along to launches, TOC" and swaps the usual order so he takes the New Zealand launch and Mel the Polish one. Morrinsville Recreation Ground parkrun (south-southeast of Auckland, east of Hamilton) launched with about 170 finishers, 46 first-ever parkrunners and 19 volunteers. Poland's newest event, east of Warsaw, drew 246 finishers, 34 volunteers and 46 first-ever finishers on a one-lap forest course, welcomed as Las Malcanow parkrun, with Mel promising help from her Polish friend Dorota on the pronunciation.

• Episode 393 - Onwards and Upwards

  One launch this week: Ankerskogen parkrun, north of Oslo in Norway, a five-kilometre course of two and a half laps on gravel paths within the park area, mostly flat with a small hill at the bottom of the trail. 90 finishers including 50 first-ever parkrun finishes, with 10 volunteers. Sarah thanks TOC for putting the course length in the notes; Simon hopes the gravel road is closed to traffic.

• Episode 392 - Bolting towards Septmeber

  Two launches: Skinadin on the Isle of Skye, Scotland (98 finishers, 38 of them first-time parkrunners, 12 volunteers, an undulating out-and-back on forest tracks); and Woodthorpe in the UK, a closed facility with 12 finishers and 12 volunteers about which no further detail could be found.

• Episode 391 - The Rookie

  Two launches. Ashburton Domain parkrun in New Zealand, New Zealand's 50th launch, covered by a held-over email from Brett and Tanya, who caravanned down for a minus-five-degree frost and an inaugural of 185 finishers, 68 parkrun first-timers and 29 volunteers under the snow-capped Southern Alps. And Coal Creek Trail parkrun in Cedar City, Utah: an out-and-back up Cedar Canyon to 1,850m, with 30 finishers, 10 volunteers and 22 (73%) first-timers.

• Episode 390 - Jumpy

  New events this week: Pirrama parkrun in Sydney (two laps from the apron by the Pirrama Park kiosk past the old Pyrmont Bridge site, 28 volunteers, 219 finishers, 10 first-timers); Seaview parkrun at Bucasia, Mackay (out and back along the coast, 16 volunteers, 152 finishers, 31 first-timers); Welland Canals Trail parkrun in Ontario, Canada (88 participants, nine volunteers, 23 first-timers, from the St Catharines Museum); and Withernsea Promenade parkrun in the East Riding of Yorkshire (149 participants, 17 volunteers, three laps of the promenade). Earlier in the episode Ollie also marks Shellharbour parkrun's 10th anniversary, celebrated with a white milestone theme in the mud.

• Episode 389 - What's a Melidex?

  Four launches, three in the UK and one in Japan, none in Australia or South Africa. Dereham parkrun (UK): grass, trail and hard surfaces, 151 finishers and 37 volunteers. Shibamata koen kadan near Tokyo: a double out-and-back along the riverbed, 53 finishers, nine volunteers, 74% male. Three Brooks (UK): a mile and a half from the former Little Stoke parkrun that was shut down by the local council, 414 finishers and 55 volunteers, with TOC untangling which council had the final say over each course. And the Plains parkrun (UK): 226 finishers and 27 volunteers squeezed into 35 car spaces, with sets of grassy stairs on the trail section.

• Episode 388 - When 3 becomes 5

  Three launches: Guild parkrun in a closed facility in the UK (33 finishers, 13 volunteers, 11 first-timers); Alby Gård parkrun in Alby, Norway (63 finishers, five volunteers, an unusually high share of first-timers ever, the first five finishers had never done a parkrun); and the Promenade at Abermaw/Barmouth in Wales (106 finishers, five first-timers, 20 volunteers).

• Episode 387 - Founders and Fashion

  Sheriff Creek Wildlife Sanctuary parkrun launched in Canada, near Elliot Lake, Ontario - 36 finishers of whom 33 (92%) were first-timers ever, which TOC believes is the highest proportion he has seen. Malling Rec parkrun launched in the UK just north of Brighton, with 283 finishers, 34 volunteers and 19 first-timers. TOC admits missing Lightning Ridge two weeks earlier. Coming up: a wedding-themed event at Wishart, Queensland for Adrian and Lynette.

• Episode 386 - Fly High

  Three Australian launches, no international ones. Lightning Ridge parkrun (NSW, Yuwaalaraay Country) launched 22 June with eight participants, three volunteers and two first-timers, growing to 31 the following week, two laps of the Lightning Ridge Golf Club. Australian Botanic Garden Mount Annan (Dharawal Country) launched with 266 participants and 17 volunteers, an out-and-back undulating trail with no dogs permitted. Binda Park in Queensland launched with 60 participants, 10 volunteers and 29 first-timers (48%), a two-lap course with 57 m of elevation and a tunnel under a main road, six years in the making, with the previous and current mayors attending; ambassador Ian Dunbar drove an 899 km round trip to help.

• Episode 385 - Ice Ice Baby

  No launches anywhere in the world this week, the second week in a row with none, which TOC notes has now happened both times he has been on, against Simon's seven and six.

• Episode 384 - Indeed

  Five launches, five profiled. Bug Hunter Waters parkrun, Northstowe, UK, 102 participants, 25 volunteers, two laps of the water park on tarmac and compacted gravel, fully wheelchair accessible, first finisher a parkrun newbie. Great Southern Rail Trail parkrun, Korumburra, Victoria, 131 participants, 13 volunteers, six first-timers, a one-and-a-half loop gravel course through the historic rail precinct into South Gippsland; co-host Tony O'Connell is the event ambassador and was there on the morning. Mangawhero River Walk parkrun, Ohakune, New Zealand, 73 participants, 15 volunteers, 30% first-timers, out-and-back over two bridges including a swing bridge in the heart of Ruapehu. Morden parkrun, UK, 103 participants, 35 volunteers, one first-timer, three clockwise laps of hilly grass and tarmac. Wantijpark parkrun, Dordrecht, Netherlands, 117 participants, 18 volunteers, 27% first-timers, two laps on paved paths. Also mentioned: Pegasus parkrun's eighth birthday (NZ) in the Dazza's posts.

• Episode 383 - Big Kahunas

  No 5K launches at all this week, TOC notes one junior event launched in Ireland but nothing in the 5K events. The week's anniversaries were covered earlier: 10th birthdays for Frog Hollow and Shellharbour.

• Episode 382 - What's in a name?

  Two weeks of launches covered: Lake Pacawa (Plover, Wisconsin, USA), Halsema Trailhead (Jacksonville, Florida, USA), Tollgate Farm Park / baqʷab (North Bend, Washington, USA), Y Promenâd (Brecon, Wales), Terra Nova (Trichardt, Mpumalanga, South Africa), Emerald Resort (Vanderbijlpark, South Africa), Bay East Garden (Singapore, the country's fourth) and Rex Jackson Oval (Helensburgh, NSW), the last prompting a discussion about parkruns named after questionable historical figures and the shortage of events named after women.

• Episode 381 - Ah-sigh-ee

  Four launches, none of them in Australia: Fort Road parkrun in Rochester, Kent - a closed-facility event at a male young offenders institution founded in 1874 - with six volunteers and 23 finishers; Fulwell Quarry near Sunderland, a two-lap multi-terrain course with 159 finishers, seven first-timers and 18 volunteers; Veterans Park in Trenton, New Jersey, the USA's 79th event, with 41 finishers including 11 first-time-ever participants and seven volunteers; and a one-lap city-forest event in Poland between Warsaw and Gdansk with 131 participants, 13 volunteers and 63 first-timers.

• Episode 380 - In a twist

  Seven launches in one week, called one of the biggest launch weeks in a long time: Otago Central Rail Trail (Alexandra, NZ) 144 finishers; Nagambie Lake (Victoria) 133 finishers, 14 volunteers, TOC's own first launch as a new event ambassador; Bungendore Common (NSW) 94; Ōrākei Bay (Auckland, NZ) 615 finishers and 38 volunteers, the biggest launch TOC has seen in some time; Tynehead Regional (Vancouver, Canada) 75; Athlone RSC (Ireland) 115; and The Fisherman's Walk (Northern Ireland) 87.

• Episode 379 - R2-RD

  Five launches worldwide: Purcell in Harrisonburg, Virginia (34 finishers, 18 first-timers, 5 volunteers); Morrissey Park in Illinois (44 finishers, 68% first-timers, 9 volunteers, a four-and-a-half-lap course); Loftsgardsbrua in central Norway (29 finishers, 6 volunteers, riverbank cycleway); Ottawa-Carleton Trailway in Canada, the fifth event in the Ottawa area (109 finishers, 11 volunteers); and the week's largest, Glenfarne Wood in Ireland (194 finishers, 24 volunteers).

• Episode 378 - Run the World

  Three launches take April's total to 14. Jeune Park parkrun at Beaudesert, Queensland - 181 finishers, 28 first-timers, 20 volunteers, two anti-clockwise laps past Spring Creek. Cycle Route 43 parkrun at Ystalyfera in Wales - a flat out-and-back on the Route 43 cycleway, 210 finishers and 26 volunteers, which caused "a ripple of disappointment with naming conventions, as many thought it should have been a Y event". And a new Polish event on city forest paths - two laps plus a 400m run-and-return, 130 finishers and 10 volunteers.

• Episode 377 - Purple Patches

  TOC notes the launch rate has picked up - 17 launches January to March against 11 worldwide in the first three weeks of April, seven of them in Australia and New Zealand, including three with "foreshore" in the title. This week: Jubilee parkrun Tenterfield (69 finishers, nine volunteers, 13 first-timers), Esperance Foreshore in WA (120 finishers, 22 volunteers, 58% first-ever parkrunners), Moana Point Reserve in New Zealand (69 participants, 12 first-timers) and Wakehurst in West Sussex (423 participants, only 10 first-timers, prompting a discussion of launches easing pressure on crowded neighbours). Also belated congratulations to Montalto Estate (UK), Kambaku Golf Club (South Africa) and Scarborough (New Zealand), overlooked in the excitement of recording at PALM.

• Episode 376 - palm24

  TOC covers the launches inside his news bulletin: two missed last week (one in New Zealand, one in the USA) because there was no pod, and two launching in Australia today, Whyalla Foreshore, already run and done at 8.30 their time with 79 people at the first event, and Ridley Place Foreshore in Western Australia due to start in about twelve minutes. The anniversary side is South Toowoomba parkrun's sixth birthday, which the live show is sharing; Tracey Wood leads three cheers for it and Mel asks "Where was the cake?".

• Episode 375 - Outback parkruns

  No launch this week; TOC catches up on the one missed during the break, Tubbercurry Trail in Ireland, launched 23 March with 181 finishers, 39 first-timers and 31 volunteers, a figure-of-eight course through open bogs and woodland, roughly halfway between Dublin and Belfast towards the west coast.

• Episode 374 - details, details

  Three new events launched. Capestone Lake parkrun, north of Brisbane near North Lakes (previously known to Simon as Mango Hill), had a huge launch with 400 finishers and 20 volunteers. Benguela Cove parkrun in South Africa, near Betty's Bay, launched with 226 finishers and 26 volunteers, prompting a digression on the Benguela Current and ocean gyres. Prestelsee parkrun in Germany, south of Mannheim, launched with 90 finishers and 18 volunteers.

• Episode 373 - Geographical Inaccuracy

  One new parkrun in the world this week: Trebeck Reserve parkrun at Winchelsea, Victoria, southwest of Melbourne and west of Geelong, a two-lap out-and-back, 92 finishers and nine volunteers at the launch, with a free camp, playground and toilets nearby. TOC follows it with a deep dive on launch numbers for 2024 (nine in January, two in February, two so far in March) against parkrun's global five-year strategy target of doubling events to 4,400 and participation to 500,000 a week.

• Episode 372 - Don't follow Mel!

  After a fortnight of no launches, one new event: Laytown Beach parkrun in Ireland, an out-and-back run entirely on sand from Laytown to the Bettystown turnaround, 35km north of Dublin Airport by the mouth of the River Nanny. 388 participants at the launch, 69 of them first-time Barcode Scanners - and it is already cancelled the following week because spring high tides leave no beach.

• Episode 371 - Out & Moving

  No launches at all this week, the second week in a row with nothing. March anniversaries were covered separately by the Birthday Boy earlier in the episode.

• Episode 369 - When Paris met Harry

  New events: Zeehan Golf Club parkrun on Tasmania's west coast, about 140km south-west of Burnie, a 9am double out-and-back along the Spray Tunnel MTB Trail through a 100m abandoned keyhole-shaped train tunnel with glowworms; 65 participants and 10 first-timers at event one, and Australia's second Z event. Also van Heekpark parkrun in Enschede, the Netherlands: three laps of a park, 87 participants and 60 first-ever first-timers.

• Episode 368 - Gooey buttercake flavoured goodness

  A huge number of anniversaries globally, but - unusually - no parkrun launches anywhere in the world this week, which TOC says he double-checked just before recording.

• Episode 367 - YMMV

  Two launches this week. Ball Park parkrun at Corowa, NSW - 105 participants, 37 of them first-timers, three out-and-back laps along the Murray River, opposite the Victorian town of Wahgunyah; Mel declares it her new NENDY. And Happy Valley parkrun in the UK, which the hosts believe to be a closed, apparently military, facility.

• Episode 366 - Euphony

  One launch in the past week: Lousberg parkrun in Aachen, Germany, two laps along the north side of the Lousberg, a small hill northeast of the city with a tower and a slowly revolving restaurant. 65 finishers, nine volunteers, and 38 people (58%) doing their first ever parkrun. Mel follows with the local folk tale of how the Lousberg got its name, the devil, tricked by a child called Luz into thinking Aachen was still far away, dumping his bag of North Sea sand outside the city.

• Episode 366 - Euphony

  A second instalment: Mel apologises for missing a second piece of audio Johan sent last week and plays it now, a wrap of the South African summer. The Mapule Sindane School parkrun inaugural on 6 January in KwaGuqa Township outside eMalahleni, Mpumalanga (35 parkrunners, two brand new, 14 volunteers), attended by uber-parkrunner Jabulani Mkize completing his 280th different Southern African event; the return of Voortrekker Monument parkrun after 199 weeks; and Odendaal Stadium parkrun in Prince Albert, Great Karoo, relaunching on 13 January 200 weeks after its last event, with 12 parkrunners and nine volunteers.

• Episode 365 - Tick Tocky

  Events that launched last weekend: Ehrenbreitstein in Koblenz, Germany (44 finishers, 10 first-timers, taking Germany to 57 events); Zuiderpark, Hoogeveen in the Netherlands (64 finishers, 35 first-timers, two laps of park and dike, the name translating as South Park, and the country's third Z); and Brunswick Park in Wednesbury, UK (226 finishers, seven first-timers, three undulating loops, no toilets). Plus a relaunch: Odendaal Stadium in South Africa, running again for the first time since COVID with 12 finishers.

• Episode 364 - Bumping Uglies

  Mel announces one launch in Japan, Kitanagase (Kitanagase Mirai Fureai Sogokoen, Okayama), which she gives in anglicised form as "Kitanagase Community Park parkrun" and for which she enlists Andrew Johnston to pronounce the Japanese name. 25 participants, 21 of them running their first ever parkrun; the course takes in the multi-purpose plaza, Okayama Dome and the Lawn Plaza jogging course. It takes Japan to 39 events.

• Episode 363 - Old Farts and Old Ducks

  Four launches. Battlestead Croft in the UK (114 finishers, all had parkrun before), a three-lap, mostly grass course around the grounds of Burton Rugby Football Club, no dogs. Centennial Park, Dunsborough in Western Australia (124 finishers, 25 first-timers), an out-and-back along Geographe Bay Road. Belair National Park in South Australia (320 finishers, 35 first-timers), the Birdie loop clockwise with a 500m teardrop turnaround, starting by the Escape Goat shed, bike hire and cafe, with a Phytophthora footwear-cleaning request the hosts struggle to pronounce. Palm Creek in Queensland (20 finishers, all had parkrun before), a two-lap sealed concrete course along Palm Creek.

• Episode 362 - West is best

  Three launches this week. Melissa covers University of Galway in the west of Ireland (222 finishers, 26 volunteers). Johan Duvenhage is handed the two South African items and delivers a self-contained bulletin: the postponement to 13 January of the Prince Albert return as Odendaal Stadium parkrun, the launch of Curro Mossel Bay School parkrun (311 finishers, 61 first-timers) and the launch of Dlinza Forest parkrun at Eshowe, KwaZulu-Natal (132 finishers, 85 first-timers). TOC notes five of the world's ten launches since the start of November have been South African.

• Episode 361 - TOC’s budgies

  Melissa hands over ("Now, I do believe we had a launch in Australia this week, TOC"). One launch worldwide this week: Katherine Hot Springs parkrun in the Northern Territory, 320 km south-east of Darwin down the Stuart Highway, 105 finishers, 12 volunteers, 32 of them first-timers. Out-and-back on a concrete path from the hot springs, north along the Katherine River to the Katherine River Bridge and back. Both hosts add it to their destination lists and joke about a Contiki tour taking in Coober Pedy, Uluru and Katherine Hot Springs on one trip. Earlier in the episode TOC also covers the Jindabyne relaunch at event 123 after a 119-week pause (14 August 2021 to 25 November 2023, during which the team ran Jindabyne Sport and Recreation for 58 weeks), 68 finishers, five first-timers, one adventurer (Russell Johnson); and he corrects last week's roving report, the new Seymour event being Goulburn River Trail parkrun, not "Goulburn River Rail Trail".

• Episode 360 - gggrrriverside

  Three launches last weekend: Dhunggaarr Reserve parkrun at Harrington on the Manning River east of Taree, NSW (81 finishers, 18 first-timers, out-and-back along the river); Aronica's Nursery parkrun at Barberton, South Africa, about 360km east of Johannesburg (62 finishers, seven first-timers, two laps of grass, sand and trail); and Zuurfontein parkrun in the Free State, South Africa, about 98km from Bloemfontein (374 finishers, 14 first-timers).

• Episode 359 - Rrrrriverside

  Ollie flags the week's launch. Northern Pathway parkrun, Auckland, New Zealand: 264 finishers, 25 volunteers and 25 people running their first ever parkrun. Ollie reads the course description, start at the public reserve, across the bridge onto the Northern Pathway, out to a turnaround near Rosedale bus station, back past the bridge to a second turnaround, then back to the pedestrian bridge and finish in the reserve.

• Episode 358 - Log a Nottie

  Three launches: Fenit Greenway parkrun in County Kerry, Ireland (206 finishers, 21 volunteers; double out-and-back towards Tralee with views of Tralee Bay, Barrow Harbour and the Slieve Mish Mountains); Oosterplas parkrun in the Netherlands, carried over from the previous week and now into week two (91 finishers, 13 volunteers, two laps of the lake); and Fig Tree parkrun west of Durban, South Africa (344 finishers, 18 volunteers, single-lap farm trail with a stream crossing), whose course map TOC likens to "Mr. Squiggle sneezed while he was drawing a map".

• Episode 357 - Stop watch

  Two launches. Goulburn River Trail parkrun in Seymour, Victoria - a flat out-and-back on gravel trail and boardwalk beside the Goulburn River - had 92 participants, 18 of them doing their first ever parkrun. Riverside Walk parkrun in Hay, Wales starts and finishes under the Hay river bridge, follows a kilometre of the old Hay to Brecon railway line and does two clockwise laps of the Warren beside the River Wye; 28 participants at event one, five first-timers. Not suitable for double buggies. Kawana's 11th birthday is covered separately in the roving report.

• Episode 356 - All power to the editor

  Three new events, none in Australia. Port Rzeczny Sandomierz in Poland: two 2.5km sections with a turnaround at the water gate on the canal to the Sandomierz river port, flat asphalt along the Vistula flood embankment away from traffic, 43 participants with three first-timers. Carlingwark Loch in Scotland: a three-lap course on tarmac paths and grass, 78 participants, 11 first-timers including the first finisher. Mary S. Young parkrun in Oregon, USA: a two-lap bark-chip and gravel trail course past the soccer fields and through woodland, 58 participants, 12 volunteers, 36 first-timers including three juniors.

• Episode 355 - Mimosas and Jell shots

  Four launches this week. Australia: Two Rivers Wines parkrun at Denman, NSW (~250km north of Sydney), a single-lap trail course at a winery with views of the Hunter River, 114 participants and 25 first-timers. UK: Aston Hall, Birmingham (two-times-two laps of adjacent fields, 67 participants, one first-timer); Tamworth Castle Grounds, Tamworth Staffordshire (two laps of concrete and tarmac, views of the rivers Anker and Tame, the castle, the snow dome and a scale solar system, 200 participants, five first-timers); and Worden parkrun in Worden Park, Leyland (two laps from the Folly Coffee House past football pitches, woodland singletrack, a mini railway and a maze, may not suit buggies, 217 runners and eight first-timers).

• Episode 354 - It’sa Mario

  One launch worldwide: Thonock Lane Farm parkrun, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, UK - two laps of farm fields on a working farm, so no dogs and not buggy-friendly; 99 participants, one of them running their first ever parkrun. The hosts note it is unusual for a single event to be the world's only launch, and on International parkrun Day at that.

• Episode 353 - Mel’s a dot

  Five launches: Bahnstadt Promenade (Heidelberg, Germany, 131 finishers), Sunset Hills Shitasanbashi (near Sakura, Japan, 45 finishers and 20 first-timers), Groene Ster (Leeuwarden, Netherlands, 33 finishers), Młynówka Królewska (Poland, no stats yet) and Baysgarth Park (Barton-upon-Humber, UK, 80 finishers), all landing just in time for parkrun's 19th birthday on 2 October.

• Episode 352 - Black and White Army

  The Birthday Boy's monthly rundown of October 2023 anniversaries: German Unity Day on 3 October, four parkrun days, a batch of 11th birthdays (Kingscliff, North Lakes, Kawana), 10ths including Darwin, the first NT event, which completed every state and territory, six events turning six (Portarlington, Bannockburn Bush, Urunga, Cloncurry, Kangaroo Island, Railton), eight turning eight, and first anniversaries at Coober Pedy Oval, Nolen's Park and Scribbly Gums Conservation.

• Episode 352 - Black and White Army

  New events welcomed to the parkrun family, with the hosts taking turns on the pronunciations: Zalew Wrzesiński and Pałac Książęcy in Poland, Stadtpark parkrun in Graz (Austria), Riverside parkrun in Kamloops (Canada), and Clarence, Five Arches and Sence Valley Forest Park in the UK. Melissa also flags Wallaby Track returning to its original tunnel course.

• Episode 351 - Missing Magpies

  Three launches, none in Australia: Muncaster Castle at Ravenglass, Cumbria (131 finishers, 35 of them first-timers; an undulating three-lap tarmac and gravel course around the castle with views of England's highest mountain); Silloth Promenade at Silloth Green, Cumbria (73 finishers, seven first-timers; a two-lap promenade-and-grass route); and Whitekirk Hill at North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland (42 finishers, two first-timers; two laps of gravel and grass trails from the car park).

• Episode 350 - Black and White

  Five launches this week: Sheep River parkrun in Sheep River Park, Canada, about 100km south-west of Calgary (74 participants); Ebenberg in Germany on the Landau state garden showgrounds (155); Stadspark Sittard in the Netherlands (57); Dover Waterfront in the UK, running behind the beach and along the pier (117, no dogs); and Quakers Walk in the UK (37, dogs welcome). Earlier in the episode the hosts also welcome Wilson Inlet Heritage Trail and Harmony Boulevard to the parkrun family and wish Palmerston parkrun a happy seventh birthday for 17 September.

• Episode 349 - Big Swoop

  Launches for the week. Wilson Inlet Heritage Trail parkrun at Denmark, WA, 117 participants, 57 of them first-timers, an out-and-back east of the Denmark River mouth footbridge. Thorp Perrow parkrun at Bedale, North Yorkshire, 143 at the launch with just one first-timer, a single anti-clockwise circuit of a private estate on trail and grass, 35 miles north of Leeds. Johan Duvenhage then covers five South African launches in one weekend, the country's most ever on one day: Aviators Paradise (North West, between Brits and Hartbeespoort), Lieberwalt Farm (Northern Cape, near Van der Kloof Dam), Velskoendraai (Western Cape, near Clanwilliam), Pirates Sport Club at Qonce (Eastern Cape, replacing the closed KWT parkrun and missing the chance to give South Africa a Q) and Hazelmere Dam (KwaZulu-Natal). TOC also flags Inverloch's ninth anniversary next week, dress to glow, with cake.

• Episode 348 - Cat Amongst the Magpies

  The birthday boy's monthly rundown for September 2023: five parkrun days, Malaysia Day on 16 September falling on an existing parkrun day, New Farm turning 12, Wynnum turning 11 in its 11th year, Warwick and Toowoomba turning 10 in the Southern Cross Circuit, and first anniversaries at Jerrabomberra Mountain Reserve, Robelle Domain, Tynwald Park and Memorial Park. No junior parkrun anniversaries until January 2024.

• Episode 347 - What Windmill?

  Five launches worldwide. Jakes Point parkrun at Kalbarri, WA (21 participants, six volunteers, two laps out and back on a sealed coastal path); Lavender Mill parkrun outside Middelburg in Mpumalanga, South Africa, covered in a pre-recorded piece by Johan, replacing the closed Middelburg parkrun; Aberfields in Wales (180 participants); Wisbech in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire (129 participants); and Lackawanna Rail Trail at Elmira, New York State, with two finishers, which the hosts think is the first event in New York State.

• Episode 346 - Wonder Woman

  Five launches worldwide this week, sourced from the Informant: Butter Trail and Corner Brook Stream Trail in Canada, and three in South Africa, Lynnfield, Onderstepoort Campus and Red Point Church. The hosts note Onderstepoort Campus looks like a university-campus course (Oliver nods to absent Alison and her university challenge) and that Red Point Church is "quite an interesting bowl of spaghetti course".

• Episode 345 - Level 2 with hygge

  Harmony Boulevard parkrun launched in the suburb of Palmview on the Sunshine Coast, just inland from Brightwater and Kawana, with 173 attending. A four-lapper on flat concrete - two larger laps around the outside of the park and two smaller ones through the middle - with parking recommended at the Display Village. The hosts note Queensland still leads the country on event numbers. Greenbank parkrun's sixth anniversary is covered separately inside Lyndell's roving report.

• Episode 344 - Guess Who?

  Simon covers the new Queensland launch at Wes Mitchell Park parkrun, Tin Can Bay, south of Maryborough and north of the Sunshine Coast, with 112 parkrunners on debut, and reads the course description (foreshore path out and back past the start-finish to a turnaround just before the Crab Creek boat ramp). Melissa notes that adventurer Greg Garner is the Event Director and wishes him well, expecting Queensland adventurers to start filtering through for their Wilson numbers. Earlier in the episode Simon also reports on the Zillmere celebrations he volunteered at (a 500 for Jill, ~100 runners, about 30 more than usual) and his friend Aileen finishing her alphabet there.

• Episode 343 - Favourite Things

  The monthly anniversary rundown for August 2023, delivered as the pre-recorded "Birthday Boy" segment. Four parkrun weeks (5th, 12th, 19th, 26th), with the standard caveat that events may celebrate when they like. Two official first anniversaries: Bells Parade in Tasmania early in the month and Beaufort Lake in Victoria at the end. Two 11th ("parkrun independence") anniversaries in the same weeks: Claisebrook Cove in WA and Balyang Sanctuary in Victoria. The fifth anniversary is the most common this month with ten events; the ninth is next with nine, Singleton, Mt Clarence, Maribyrnong, Lake Joondalup, Hervey Bay, Capalaba, Risdon Brook, Wishart and Victor Harbor. No junior parkrun anniversaries until January. Closes with the usual pointer to parkrun.com.au/cancellations.

• Episode 342 - 26

  "But no launches in Australia while we were away." Mel notes the one they missed over the break: Gordon Spratt Reserve parkrun on New Zealand's North Island, which had its event two on the Saturday just gone. Ollie: "Welcome to the family."

• Episode 341 - On the buses

  News and results from a new event in Broome, Western Australia - Town Beach parkrun - which launched with 96 in attendance, meaning there are no more statesmen left in WA.

• Episode 340 - Homework

  The monthly anniversaries rundown for July 2023: five parkrun days; five official first anniversaries, Umbagong District (ACT) in week three, then Frank Keenan Reserve (Vic), Nantu Wama (SA), University of WA (WA) and Westbury Town Common (Tas) all bunched in week five; Coomera (Qld, Gold Coast region) celebrating its 11th as a parkrun independence event; no Virginia parkrun anniversaries until January. Closes with the standard caveat to check local pages and a plug for the parkrun cancellations page.

• Episode 336 - Kagerzoomie

  The birthday boy's monthly rundown for June 2023: six parkrun days but only four for non-international folk; Denmark's Constitution Day on 5 June and Sweden's National Day on 6 June; first anniversary for Kirkdale Reserve, Victoria in week one and nothing thereafter; 11th anniversary for Newy in Newcastle NSW; 10th birthdays for Canning River WA, Sandon Point NSW, Mitchelton, North Shore, Gladstone and Logan River in Queensland; Thorndon junior parkrun turning three in South Australia; and the usual reminder to check the cancellations page.

• Episode 336 - Kagerzoomie

  Three Victorian launches over the weekend: Woodlands Historic Park in Greenvale with 171 attending (set to be the closest parkrun to Tullamarine airport), Maroondah Dam parkrun at Healesville with 147, and Kilmore Racecourse Walking Track with 92.

• Episode 334 - parkrun Voyager

  Two new events. Dixon Field joined the parkrun family at Gisborne in Victoria with 164 at the launch, half an hour from Mel, who will report on the course when she visits. And in South Australia, the Murray Bridge team returned after the floods with a Mother's Day themed launch at a new location: 56 people ran, walked or jogged, Daniel took the course record in 18:49, and the event's own announcement counted "six months, 21 days or 29 weeks or 203 days or 4,872 hours since our last event". Also discussed: National Volunteer Week in Australia and the June longest-run dates around the country.

• Episode 333 - Corgi Butt Buns

  Simon's weekly milestone rundown: Australian events 26 and 27, Cleveland (QLD) and Curl Curl (NSW), both turned 10; event 302, Nulkaba in the Hunter Valley, turned 5; and event 443, Elliott Heads Beach, turned 1. He notes how few events launched in the four years after 2018 because of COVID, then gives the global week: 450 events, 53,415 participants including volunteers, and almost 2,500 first-timers. The week's two actual launches are announced later, inside the Consolidated Club Report: Parkindula Reserve (SA, near Mount Barker, 108 finishers) and O'Connors Beach (St Helens, Tasmania, 117).

• Episode 332 - Severn Swather

  Tallangatta Station parkrun joined the parkrun Australia family on Saturday, with 99 participants at the launch. The event is in the small town of Tallangatta, not far from Yackandandah, on the banks of the Mitta arm of Lake Hume, and is another rail trail out-and-back. Mel notes Victoria has had a lot of launches this year and may be leading the country.

• Episode 331 - Quokka Quest

  Mel hands over "it is now time for us to hear from the birthday boy", and the birthday boy delivers the May 2023 rundown: eight parkrun days (four regular, four country-specific - Norway 1st, Japan 4th, Finland 18th, Netherlands 29th), no 11th anniversaries, 10ths at Cleveland, Curl Curl, Varsity Lakes and Highlands, first anniversaries at Elliott Heads Beach (QLD, week one) and Southern Highlands Botanic Gardens (NSW, week two), plus a newly requested Junior parkrun list (Westerfolds Junior turning 5 on the 28th, and three more turning 3 across the following year). Closes with the standard anniversary caveat and a plug for the parkrun cancellations page.

• Episode 329 - Winter Waffle

  Mel hands over to a new-event launch in New Zealand: a Wellington waterfront parkrun starting at Waitangi Park and running north along the waterfront, with two out-and-back segments and a clockwise loop around Waitangi Park. 287 participants at event number one, supported by 20 volunteers. Mel gets Ollie to pronounce the Maori name and notes "there's no H, so it's not an F sound". Avondale University College parkrun's second birthday also gets a mention later inside Dazza's via Georgina Devine's post.

• Episode 328 - Sterkte

  One new Australian event this week: Picnic Point Parklands parkrun in Toowoomba, Queensland, "the Four Ps", with 239 participants supported by 25 volunteers, becoming the third event for the Toowoomba region. Leads into host chat about Toowoomba being Australia's second largest inland city and its September flower festival.

• Episode 325 - Wake up, Jodi!

  Ollie welcomes one new launch to the family: Newcastle Park parkrun in Western Australia. Melissa notes "it's all happening in WA", which leads into the Eurovision/Voyager tangent. David's roving report later flags the same event as the 50th parkrun to open in WA.

• Episode 323 - Big Things

  Three events launched silently in Australia on parkrun Day: Maria Creek Reserve in South Australia (49 participants), Point Hut Pond in the ACT (275 participants, taking the ACT to nine events), and Australian Standing Stones at Glen Innes, NSW (74 participants) - with the hosts noting its unfortunate acronym. Later, upcoming milestones: Kawana parkrun's 500th event this coming Saturday, with Melissa Erbacher ("our very own original Mel, the OG Mel") as RD for her 200th volunteer stint and the 10th anniversary of her volunteering there, followed by a launch party for the parkrun Party song.

• Episode 319 - Alphabet Ears

  Two launches the previous weekend: Calembeen in Victoria, giving Ballarat a third event, and Brisbane Valley Rail Trail Blackbutt in Queensland. "So welcome to the parkrun family, gang." Earlier in the episode Mel covers her home junior event's second birthday - a cake made by volunteer Janelle complete with a puddle and a Jemima Puddle-Duck and all the Marshal positions marked, after they had no cake for the first birthday - and Shepparton's ninth birthday arrives via Sarah Langley's email.

• Episode 318 - parkrun, if you’re listening

  Aintree Heritage Trail junior parkrun (Melissa Ellis's home junior event, Victoria) celebrates its second birthday. Cake is confirmed, the volunteer roster was already full by Monday, and volunteer Janelle has offered to bake, with the only worry being hot weather melting the cake. The course has finally dried out after spending most of spring and the first month of summer underwater.

• Episode 316 - InSantagram

  Baxter parkrun launches in Carnarvon, Western Australia, event number one. It takes over from Marina as the westernmost parkrun in Australia, and the hosts head off confusion about Baxter Park being 4,200km from the town of Baxter and roughly 900km from Perth.

• Episode 311 - Green Eggs & Snoods

  The newest WA event (given as "Dobbin Park", at Jurien Bay) launches with 35 of 77 finishers being genuine first-timers, a stat credited to Chris Fraser. Then parkrun South Africa's 11th anniversary and Ireland's 10th, with a running gag about which stone or metal each year corresponds to. Picked up again with Mudgeeraba's fourth birthday and Calamvale's eighth, where Mel notes there was no cake, only super doopers.

• Episode 308 - Top 3

  Both fill-in hosts have home-event birthdays this weekend: Kawana parkrun turns 10 and Westerfolds turns 9, with a shout-out to Darwin parkrun, which shares the anniversary weekend. Themes announced: crazy hats at Westerfolds, and a "Shazza" 80s neon cheerleader theme at Kawana in support of a regular parkrunner called Dee who has had recent health issues. Delta parkrun's 500th event (South Africa's first) is covered separately in the roving report.

• Episode 306 - King Gizzard

  Albert Melbourne parkrun's 500th event, celebrated with 644 participants and three adventurers present - Scott Trickett, Joanne Blackbourn and Marie Lincoln. Later, in the stats rundown, Melissa Ellis also notes a launch at Broad Park on New Zealand's South Island with 239 participants and 39 first-timers.

• Episode 305 - You’ve Got Mail!

  Within Mel's stand-in stats rundown: last week's launches were Nolan's Park in Boort, country Victoria (67 participants) and Coober Pedy Oval in South Australia (66 participants), "almost line ball".

• Episode 294 - the new U

  New events this week: three in the USA - Cooler (Collar) Mountain Bike Preserve, Little Sugar Creek Greenway and Osborne Metro Park - plus the ACT launch of Umbagong District parkrun, which the whole episode is built around (the show's new "U" for alphabet chasers). Also flagged: a 500th-parkrun milestone at New Farm and a 250-different-parkruns (Freyne) milestone at Rendlesham Forest.

• Episode 290 - 98, 99, 100!

  No launches in Australia or New Zealand this week ("And there were no launches in Australia or New Zealand"), but two milestone birthdays dominate the episode: Dolls Point parkrun's fifth birthday with a kids' party dress-up theme, cupcakes, lollies and chalk drawings along the path, and Pegasus parkrun's (NZ) sixth birthday with a rainbow theme, cookies, lollies and a rainbow celebration cake baked by the flat white cafe.

• Episode 289 - Lorikeets are Metal

  Ollie's report on Shellharbour parkrun's 8th birthday, celebrated on parkrun day with an 80s dress-up theme: founding EDs Brendan and Carl acknowledged, Baileys-shot biscuits and doughnuts, 101 attendees, a 250 milestone, several 100s, a junior 10 and a volunteer 50 for event team member Ralph in an 1880s outfit. Newy parkrun's 10th birthday (via Bernadette Bennett) is also marked later at 00:27:39.

• Episode 288 - Travel Tips

  Celebrations round-up: a 10th happy birthday to parkrun USA; Sweden's National Day on Monday 6 June giving a bonus parkrun week; and congratulations to Jim Collard, the show's second homegrown 500-club member, who ran at Kingscliff, spotted by the Informant rather than the hosts. Ollie also previews Shellharbour parkrun's eighth birthday (80s-themed) for the coming Saturday.

• Episode 285 - Better together

  A brief anniversary mention rather than a full segment. Melissa "we have to wish a happy birthday... to a certain event, a certain favourite event", Ollie "favourite event not yet done, might I say" and "Happy 250th, Bathurst" - Bathurst parkrun's 250th event. A relaunch is also noted later inside the Consolidated Club Report: "there were a frond of eight at Boweral [Bowral] relaunch".

• Episode 283 - Eman Vergara

  Looking ahead: Singapore's parkruns reopen from Saturday 7 May 2022 (West Coast Park, East Coast Park and Bishan; Bedok Reservoir later), and Lower Hutt in New Zealand celebrates its 10th anniversary - which is also 10 years of parkrun in New Zealand. Thanks to Alison for the tip-offs. Earlier in the episode the hosts also recap Picton parkrun's fourth birthday.

• Episode 264 - Home & Away

  parkrun Germany's fourth birthday (launched 2 December 2017), and the launch of Vorkuta City Park parkrun in Russia - now the world's most northern parkrun, inside the Arctic Circle, with 15 participants - which sends Mel off into a researched explanation of what the Arctic Circle actually is. Anniversaries continue through the roving reports: Cottesloe's 300th, Torrens' 9th birthday (and with it parkrun South Australia's 9th), and the Nathalia Showgrounds launch.

• Episode 257 - Cottesloe Consults

  Three Australian launches on the Saturday: Homestead parkrun in Western Australia (suburb of Thornlie), plus Fodder Forest and Glenoma in Queensland. The hosts note it is "almost a super Saturday" and hand forward to the roving report from Homestead.

• Episode 241 - Toolern Creek

  Brief anniversary beat: Ollie "happy birthday, Puranga [Puarenga]... it was Puarenga parkrun's birthday in there and National Volunteer Week in New Zealand", following Alison King's report of Puarenga's fifth birthday with 90 parkrunners and a course-map cake baked by volunteer Megan and decorated by her husband Russell. Also noted within Dazza's: Pegasus's 250th event and fifth birthday (Tanya Bailey's number-five cookies), and Wondai parkrun's 200th.

• Episode 238 - Baked Goods

  Brief launch and anniversary round-up folded into the cafe chat: South Australia's second launch in two weeks, South Para Reservoir parkrun; the 100th event at Charleston parkrun celebrated inside PK's roving report; and Shellharbour parkrun's seventh anniversary coming up next week.

• Episode 229 - King & Queen of the mountain

  Des Connor Park junior parkrun in Brisbane launched with 37 kids. Mel explains she was tempted to attend but the end of daylight saving in NSW would have meant a roughly 4am start. The wider anniversary content of the episode, parkrun Australia's and Main Beach parkrun's 10th anniversaries, plus Avondale University College parkrun's launch, is carried in the opening host chat rather than in a formal segment.

• Episode 226 - Crackerjack

  The hosts cover the quiet launch of Puckapunyal parkrun in Victoria, 36 runners, 17 brand new to parkrun plus seven unknowns, Australia's first parkrun inside a military establishment, a closed event like the prison parkruns. Melissa Ellis ties it back to January the previous year when she was posted at Puckapunyal, filed roving reports and co-hosted the podcast from the base with no parkrun within 40 minutes, and argues at length for the value of parkrun to military families who move every posting cycle and to members transitioning out of service. Earlier in the same discussion the hosts note the new "silent launch" convention, Victorian tourists now deliberately stay away from event one and all turn up at event two (Mel's Cascades on Clyde Wetlands event two, ~70 runners). Main Beach's upcoming anniversary is also flagged.

• Episode 221 - parkrun Royale

  Mel and Ollie pick up the Informant's launch list and discuss New South Wales' "super Saturday" - Casula Parklands, Northparks Oval, Pioneer Dairy at Tuggerah and Ted Scobie Oval at Griffith, all originally due to launch mid-2020 before the COVID pause, plus one Queensland launch. Ollie notes Casula Parklands is his nearest new event at 100km; Mel makes Ted Scobie Oval her NENDY at 476km.

• Episode 218 - Alison King

  Melissa Ellis reveals she is the Event Director of the new Eynesbury Heritage Trail junior parkrun, launched on the Sunday in the Eynesbury Forest south of Melton, Melbourne's second junior parkrun. Twenty-seven junior parkrunners at a soft launch; a core team of experienced Run Directors drawn from surrounding 5k events; the event had been days from its original trial when the 2020 pause hit and its 12-month landowner permission expired before it could launch, forcing a fresh round of approvals. Also noted: Westerfolds junior parkrun back with 76 kids in its first week after the pause.

• Episode 212 - Chris Murphy

  Anniversary talk, delimited by a music sting. Mel notes Kawana parkrun's eighth anniversary passed as "literally a non-event" because the event was suspended, then asks Scott Watkins about Albert Melbourne parkrun's ninth anniversary. He describes how they replicated their usual rainbow-themed celebration under lockdown: his wife and Co-Event Director Joanne ran a Facebook Live rainbow-cake cook-along during parkrun time, volunteers Daryl and Julie photographed themselves on the course, and Scott ran nine kilometres for nine years along the beach at St Kilda in a rainbow outfit with Run Director Sarah. Next year's tenth anniversary is flagged for a bigger celebration.

• Episode 193 - Podding in the Rain

  Erbacher reports on Ipswich Queensland parkrun's sixth anniversary (event 310), with the cake explicitly endorsed, "Wes made a beeline for the cake. And he ended up having two pieces. So well endorsed was the cake at Ipswich Queensland parkrun." Ellis's Frog Hollow visit was event 299, "just missed their arbitrary milestone of 300 by a week", which leads into a joke about rallying an attendance record at Frog Hollow on leap day, 29 February.

• Episode 178 - Roving Reports

  Charleston parkrun (South Australia) celebrates its first anniversary with a green dress-up theme, cake and a purpose-written poem; Greta had also filed the report from its launch a year earlier. Elsewhere Bunyaville parkrun marks its 300th event, on which regular Bruce Willis also ran his own 300th parkrun, and Dylan mentions Carrows Brook's anniversary the previous weekend.

• Episode 177 - The Doddfather

  Brief host-read launch shout-out in the solo outro: good luck to the event team at Warrington Lakes Reserve in New South Wales, launching the coming weekend. The episode's anniversary content sits inside the roving reports instead, Greta covers Stebonheath parkrun's first anniversary, complete with cake, local MP and councillors, at 00:38:00, and Dave Moss invokes the segment catchphrase during the guest interview ("does that mean with the wedding there was cake for everyone?").

• Episode 174 - Stanthorpe parkrun

  One launch this week: Kingston Park in Tasmania, a little south of Hobart. Stanthorpe parkrun's 250th event, falling the same weekend, is flagged earlier in the episode.

• Episode 173 - Roving, Roving, Roving

  The slot runs but is empty: "Now, Melissa, there are no launches this week." It becomes a running gag about Victoria's dry spell, Ellis noted earlier "We haven't had a lot of launches in Victoria... I don't think we've had one since April", and a Victoria-versus-Queensland exchange about the "formerly known as the greatest state", which segues into a count of where the roving reporters live (two Queensland, three Victoria, two South Australia, still none in WA).

• Episode 172 - Rohan Day

  Two launches covered. First the previous week's unannounced "soft launch" of Harris Avenue parkrun in a Brisbane suburb, which drew about 340 people after the details were shared to the Aussie parkrun Tourism Group, Mel notes soft launches exist precisely to avoid the crowds a previous Brisbane launch attracted, and praises the event team for coping. Then this week's launch of Marina parkrun at [Geraldton], Western Australia.

• Episode 171 - The Butler Boys

  One launch on the calendar for the coming weekend: Bill Rose Sports Complex parkrun at Scone, New South Wales. Prompts a discussion of parkrun's naming convention (events named for the place they start and finish in) and a run of banter about how the town is pronounced and whether there will be scones at the launch. Chermside parkrun's fourth birthday and Dubbo parkrun's fourth birthday (pyjama theme) also feature this week, but inside the Channel 5 News Crew reports rather than here.

• Episode 167 - Ian Rutson

  Deliberately skipped this week - "No launchers. No launchers. There are anniversaries, but we're not going to tell you about it. There's a couple of cancellations, but we're not even going to tell you about them. Check the website for all that information."

• Episode 166 - Social Prescribing

  Announced by Mel as "the very final call-out for launches and anniversaries", with a drum roll. No launches this week. Anniversaries: Bathurst (NSW), Christies Beach (SA), Cleland (SA, with a running gag about how to pronounce it), Coomera (Qld), one further Queensland event and Weipa (Qld). Scott laments that there are no Victorian anniversaries in the final week.

• Episode 165 - Justin Scholz

  One launch: the world's first parkrun in a women's prison, at Wandoo in Western Australia. Anniversaries: Armidale (NSW), Mansfield (Qld), Meadowbrook (Qld), Pilara [unclear] and Renmark (SA). NOTABLE: Scott announces the segment is being retired, "I've threatened this before, but now I'm really going to make it happen. We've got two more weeks of anniversary announcements... There's too many. No one's listening. Nobody cares."

• Episode 164 - UK Conference

  Zero launches this week. Anniversaries at Cormorant Bay (QLD, which Scott says has gone to the top of his wish list), Dubbo, Gatton, Gawler, Kennington Reservoir, a first anniversary under its new name, formerly Bendigo parkrun, with Scott explaining the event team drove the rename because they literally run around Kennington Reservoir, plus Noosa, Phillip Island, Pittsworth and Wauchope.

• Episode 163 - Ada Macey

  No launches this week. Scott corrects an administrative error from the previous episode - Atherton's anniversary was announced a week early and is actually happening this week. Anniversaries also at Aveley (WA), Cobram (Victoria), Strathalbyn (South Australia) and Woy Woy (NSW), with the standard cake line: "So if you head to Atherton this week, you can get cake."

• Episode 162 - Lee Troop

  One new launch, Charlie's Creek at Chinchilla, west of Brisbane, with Lyndell noting there is no history yet because "parkrun's only just come to town" and predicting the Queensland statesmen will head out that way. Three anniversaries: Logan River, Mirawar in New South Wales, and Atherton in Queensland, which Scott spins into a State of Origin joke.

• Episode 161 - The Amazing Robbo

  One new event: Queen Elizabeth parkrun at Casino, New South Wales - noted as a rare Q for alphabet-challenge hunters, with the hosts joking that "Casino parkrun" would have been the more fun name. Anniversaries: Gladstone (Queensland), Hastings Foreshore (Victoria), Jells (Victoria), Mount Helena (Western Australia) and Port Augusta (South Australia). The Jells mention runs on into a discussion of the course, which Lyndell ran on a recent, very cold Melbourne visit.

• Episode 160 - Coach Dinneen

  No launches in Australia this week. Anniversaries at Burley Griffin (ACT), Corrine Glades (WA), Dolls Point (NSW), Mernda (Vic), North Shore (Qld), Port Sorell (Tas), Wangaratta (Vic) and Yeppoon (Qld) - with Lyndell mistakenly placing Yeppoon in the Garden State and Scott correcting her back to Queensland.

• Episode 159 - Kelly & Charles Hodges

  No launches this week. Anniversaries at Coffs Harbour and Jindabyne and [Newy] and [Shellharbour] in New South Wales, Frog Hollow in Victoria, and Goondiwindi, Mitchelton and Redland Bay in Queensland, plus Cannonvale Junior parkrun's first anniversary. This prompts Scott to admit the show has overlooked junior events, and to recap Westerfolds Junior parkrun's own first anniversary, a onesie run with no cake, stats or speeches, before announcing he is staying on as its Event Director rather than handing over at the twelve-month mark.

• Episode 158 - v-index

  No launches at all this week ("Zero, zero launches"). Anniversaries at Ballarat (Victoria), one further Queensland event, Bowen (Queensland), Burnie (Tasmania), Canning River (WA), Narrabri (NSW), Sandon Point (NSW) and West Beach (South Australia). Scott notes the run of B-names lets listeners combine the anniversaries with the Bee Gees Club, and says he is heading to Ballarat himself to revisit the "Ballarat Double", a warm-up lap of Lake Wendouree before parkrun in the park across the road, an idea he and Tim tried at the Ballarat launch and which never caught on.

• Episode 157 - State of the Nation

  One Queensland launch, Graham Andrews parkrun at Charleville this Saturday, the event Steve Rayner had alluded to in his State of the Nation update. Anniversaries at Ballina Coast (NSW), Castlemaine (Vic), Devonport (Tas), Highlands (Vic), Mawson Lakes (SA), Mount Beauty (Vic), Mount Penang (NSW), North Sydney (NSW), Penrith Lakes (NSW) and the Ponds (NSW), with the hosts trading "been there / haven't been there" and a digression on why some places abbreviate Mount and others don't.

• Episode 156 - Dr Lindsey Reece

  Scott and Mel cover the upcoming launch of [Whitemark] Wharf parkrun on Flinders Island, Tasmania, noting listener confusion about how hard it is to reach ("you can just catch a ferry across"), and run through the week's anniversaries: Cobar (NSW), Coburg (Vic), Euroa (Vic), Jubilee Way (SA), Portland (Vic), Roma (Qld), Taree (NSW) and Varsity Lakes (Qld), the last of which is where Scott set his parkrun PB.

• Episode 155 - Oodles of Roving Reports

  No launches this week, but Scott previews next week's Whitemark Wharf parkrun on Flinders Island, Tasmania, reachable only by ferry, which sparks a long riff about the near-miss chance of an X-named parkrun (the Xanthorrhoea garden at the start/finish, and the WA town of Xantippe). Mel then catches up last week's missed anniversaries (Applecross WA, Batemans Bay NSW, Cleveland Qld, Echuca Moama Vic, Nulkaba NSW, Parkville Vic, Queanbeyan NSW, Rhodes NSW) and Scott reads this week's (Altona Beach Vic, Curl Curl NSW, Lancefield Vic, Ocean View Qld, The Entrance NSW, Timboon Vic, Wildflower NSW, Yarrabilba Qld).

• Episode 154 - parkrun in prisons

  Two new events this week, both trails: Grand Ridge Rail Trail in Victoria and Yeldulknie Weir Trail in South Australia, the latter prompting a story about the event ambassador flying his own light aircraft across the gulf for the recce (25 minutes by plane versus nine or ten hours by road). Then a long run of first anniversaries, read alternately by the two hosts, for events launched en masse a year earlier with a major sponsor: Ararat (VIC), Bellerive (TAS), Clare Valley (SA), Emerald (QLD), Gainsborough Greens (QLD), Ginninderra (ACT), Goolwa (SA), Kununurra (WA), Lilydale Lake (VIC), Moana (SA), Mount Ainslie (ACT), Ocean Grove (VIC), Picton (NSW), Queanbeyan (NSW), Rockingham (WA), Sale (VIC) and Stones Corner (QLD).

• Episode 153 - parkrun Japan

  Scott: "Let's get on to launches and anniversaries, Mel." One launch, Australia's first prison parkrun at Dhurringile (Victoria), which Scott is attending and Mel says she was "a tiny little cog in the wheel" behind. Anniversaries: Augustine Heights and Mackay (QLD), Cottesloe and Wanneroo (WA), plus one further Victorian event.

• Episode 59:59 - #palm19

  Special mention to parkrun Japan launching on the weekend (Scott was on the incident line and admits he was distracted). Anniversaries at Fingal Bay, George Town in Tasmania, South Toowoomba in Queensland and Warragul in Victoria.

• Episode 152 - RunWest

  Two launches this weekend - Lawn Beach in Victoria and Narrakort [Naracoorte] Lake in South Australia, the latter filling in a pocket near Mount Gambier and Portland - plus the launch of parkrun in Japan at Futako Tamagawa, with the hosts wrangling the pronunciation and the local "Niko" prefix. Anniversaries: Kedron (QLD), Lismore (NSW), Main Beach (QLD) and Taralgon [Traralgon] (VIC), with Main Beach's anniversary marking eight years of parkrun in Australia.

• Episode 151 - Madison de Rozario

  No launches in Australia this week. Anniversaries at Chipping Norton (NSW), Kelvin Grove (Qld), Manjimup - "for the Manjimuppets" - (WA), and Mount Isa and Riverway (Qld). Mel notes she is overdue for cake. Rolls into the hosts' weekend plans: Mel to Lota where her brother and sister-in-law take their first run-directing stint, Scott to Centennial parkrun in Sydney for Run West weekend.

• Episode 150 - Lloydy

  A quiet week: no launches, two anniversaries. Mount Barker parkrun (PK's home event) celebrates on Saturday, and St Lucia, which Scott guesses is a first anniversary, is corrected live by Mel via Google to event number 53.

• Episode 149 - Nadine Crawford

  No launches this weekend, but a run of anniversaries - Erbacher notes it is "a pirate type of weekend" with a lot of Cs: Campbelltown (NSW), Cardwell (Qld) and Coombs (ACT), plus Forest Lake (Qld), Maylands Peninsula (WA), Rockhampton (Qld) and Yamba (NSW).

• Episode 148 - Nick Pearson

  Mel: "we've got a few anniversaries this week, but we don't have any launches." Anniversaries at Albury-Wodonga and Parramatta (NSW), Bairnsdale (Victoria) and Dawesville (WA), followed by a running joke about Albury-Wodonga being listed as NSW when the Wodonga half is in Victoria, "they've got enough time to jump into Victoria, say, how's your mother, turn around and go back again."

• Episode 147 - #palm19 preview

  The weekly parkrun Australia calendar: a launch at Narromine Wetlands in New South Wales, plus anniversaries at Kalia (WA), Largs Bay (South Australia), Plantations, back on the calendar after being underwater a few weeks earlier, and White Rock in Queensland.

• Episode 146 - Kirsten Molloy

  Mel: "No new launches coming up this week in Australia, Scotty. However, we've got a handful of anniversaries to celebrate across the country." Anniversaries listed: Newborough and Nightcliff (NT), Panania (NSW), Studley (VIC, turning three) and Tuggeranong (ACT). Leads into Scott announcing he'll be at Studley on Saturday and Mel at Stone's Corner, Brisbane.

• Episode 145 - Singleton parkrun

  No launches this week, but several anniversaries, Dalby and Kirra in Queensland (Plantation listed but likely to be cancelled because of the far north Queensland floods), and Darebin, Rosebud and Wyndham Vale in Victoria. Also flagged is the anniversary of Sirromet parkrun, whose ED Liv Kuepp was the very first Event Director the show ever interviewed back in episode 1, and which both hosts plan to visit together on the coming Saturday.

• Episode 144 - Glen Turner

  Catch-up on January launches and the coming weekend's anniversaries. Launches: KM Reedy Reserve on 12 January (with the man himself turning up to see what the parkrun gig was about), plus Mildura Weir in Victoria and Yowie parkrun in Queensland the weekend just gone. No launches for the coming weekend; anniversaries at Golden Beach (Qld), Goulburn (NSW), Ipswich (Qld), Lake Mac (NSW), Moora (WA) and Nhill (Vic), with a running gag about the hosts mispronouncing Moora and Nhill.

• Episode 143 - With Us Now

  Extended to cover the two-week Christmas break. No launches in December; the 5 January launch is Mansfield Botanic in Victoria, which Scott will attend. The only anniversary this week is Underwood Park in Brisbane (prompting Scott's hunt for a "U"); 5 January anniversaries are Lawson (NSW), Margaret River (WA), Quinns Rocks (WA), Rocks Riverside (Qld) and Tannum Sands (Qld). Segues into a shout-out to regular contributor Kelly Hodges, who has just had baby Charles with partner Christian.

• Episode 142 - Roving Reports

  Calendar run mid-pod rather than at the top this week. No launches at all, and none left for the rest of the year, which the hosts frame as a breather before the silly season. Anniversaries: Mullum Mullum in Victoria turning two (prompting a tangent about ED Scott Hawkins' pre-run brief and Scott planning to revisit and re-critique it), and Reynella East in South Australia. Also a reminder that the Australian Christmas compendium locks down on 13 December, plus the hosts' own Christmas Day and New Year's Day double plans.

• Episode 141 - Facts in a Haystack

  The last new event of 2018 for parkrun Australia: Beringa [Baringa] parkrun on the Sunshine Coast, at the southern end of the coast in Caloundra, an area that has long had only Golden Beach. Anniversaries at Central Lakes (QLD), Marriott Waters (VIC), Menai and Rooty Hill (NSW), Stanthorpe (QLD), Stockton (NSW) and Windsor Precinct (TAS).

• Episode 140 - An Early Xmas

  Upcoming launch and anniversary rundown: the Rouse Hill launch in New South Wales (which Scott talks up as having "a party feel" and asks listeners to file a roving report from), plus anniversaries at Airlie Beach and Bunyaville in Queensland, Kahuna [Cohuna] in Victoria, Lakeview in New South Wales, Mount Gambier and Torrens in South Australia, and St George in Queensland. Sidetracks into Scott saying "SA" with a South African accent after a Stats Geeks Facebook group mix-up.

• Episode 139 - Running Challenges

  No launches this week but "anniversaries galore": Cronulla, Forster and Kamay in New South Wales; Miles, Minnippi, North Harbour and Sandgate in Queensland; Sunbury in Victoria; Surfers Paradise in Queensland; and Yokine in Western Australia. The Beaches (NSW) is flagged as coming next year. Extended banter about how to pronounce Kamay, which Scott is attending that weekend.

• Episode 138 - Tony Park

  No launches this week, Melissa notes end-of-year launches are getting sparse. Anniversaries: Albert Park (Melbourne) turning seven, Calamvale in Queensland, Cowra in New South Wales, Lota and Nambour in Queensland, and Warrnambool in Victoria. Segues into Melissa's fun fact that Queensland has just joined the 100 Club with 100 parkrun events (NSW 86, Victoria 70).

• Episode 137 - Dane Bird-Smith

  The weekly calendar, noted by Scott as having been bumped to the very end of the podcast by the new Top Threes segment. One launch: Victory Heights Trail parkrun in Queensland, 21 months in the making, with Mel attending and praising Event Director Jodie Fisher; the launch had been delayed after storm damage forced trail rebuilding. Anniversaries: Broken Hill, Diamond Creek (Victoria), Geographe Bay (WA), Launceston (Tasmania) and Nepean River (NSW).

• Episode 136 - Kelly Hodges

  No launches this week, but anniversaries at East Richmond (NSW), Karkarook and Coonwara (Victoria), Maitland (NSW), Port Hedland (WA), South Bank (QLD) and Willoughby (NSW). Earlier in the intro the hosts also cover their own shared home-event anniversaries, Kawana's sixth (spooky/fancy-dress theme, cupcakes) and Westerfolds' (W theme, Scott dressed as a "wish list").

• Episode 135 - Intern Pete

  Mel opens with "where are we launching this week, Tim?", the launch is Bourke Racecourse parkrun in NSW ("as in the saying, the back of Bourke"), which sets Tim off inventing joke clubs along the way (the "Sayings Club", a "food club" off Cloncurry and Orange, an "animal club" off Kangaroo Island). Then "Where's the cake happening this week?" and the anniversary roll-call: Bunbury (WA), Cloncurry (Qld), Darwin (NT), Highfields in Toowoomba (Qld), Kangaroo Island (SA), Kawana (Qld, Mel's own event, 6th anniversary, prompting Tim's story of winging the Kawana launch with a 5.5km first course and ED Kelly Daly), Mudgeeraba (Qld), Orange (NSW), Port Macquarie (NSW), Railton (Tas, parkrun Australia's 250th event), Shelley (WA), and Westerfolds (Vic), which Tim notes was started by "the former co-host of the parkrun adventurers, Scott Trickett, Serious Scott".

• Episode 134 - Tim Oberg

  Zero launches this week, but eight anniversaries: Brightwater (Qld, turning four - Mel's former event), Grafton (NSW), Gungahlin (ACT), Hamilton (Vic), Kingscliff (NSW), Murray Bridge (SA), North Lakes (Qld) and Paradise Point (Qld).

• Episode 133 - IpD recap

  One launch this weekend, Centennial Park parkrun in Sydney, which Scott notes Tim Oberg has been working on "since he brought parkrun to Australia", with a tongue-in-cheek plea for listeners to stay away in week one so the numbers don't frighten anyone off. Anniversaries read alternately by both hosts: Bannockburn Bush (VIC), Berwick Springs (VIC), Galston (NSW), Kalgoorlie Boulder (WA), Mossman (NSW) and Yurunga (NSW).

• Episode 132 - Digger Hargreaves

  Two launches this weekend: Charleston in South Australia (which sets Mel off about the Charleston dance versus the show's 80s-inspired theme music) and Horseshoe Bay Reserve parkrun in New South Wales. Anniversaries: Champion Lakes (WA), Hamilton Island (Qld), Petrie (Qld), Portarlington (Vic), plus a special mention for Bushy Park in London, the anniversary of parkrun itself.

• Episode 131 - Abdul-Raouf Mohamed-Isa

  Mel calls it "a bit of a skinny calendar this week", one launch and three anniversaries. Launch: Perry Lakes (WA). Anniversaries: Carisbrook (SA, first anniversary), Oki (QLD), and Toowoomba. Prompts a short exchange about whether a first anniversary is the best one.

• Episode 130 - Julian Spence

  Four launches after a fortnight with none: Braidwood Showground (NSW), Cowpasture Reserve Camden (NSW), Montrose Foreshore (Tas) and [Stebonheath] (SA). Anniversaries at Ashgrove (Qld), Bowral (NSW), [Merimbula] and Moree (NSW), New Farm (Qld), Tamworth (NSW) and [You Yangs] (Vic). Scott interrupts the calendar to ask Mel, in her parkrun Australia operations capacity, why new event names look different; she explains the new global naming policy (smallest identifiable geographic reference, future-proofing for second events in the same town, Albert Melbourne and Ipswich Queensland as legacy examples) and confirms existing events will not be renamed.

• Episode 129 - Beau Miles

  Scott notes "No launches again this week, Mel. We're in a barren period of new events", then he and Mel alternate the week's anniversaries: Broadbeach Waters (QLD), Nuriootpa (SA), Pakenham (VIC), Palmerston (NT) and Redcliffe (QLD).

• Episode 128 - Streaky September

  No launches this week. Anniversaries at Bega (NSW), Inverloch (Vic), North Wollongong (NSW) and Wynnum (Qld), with the usual wish for fabulous costumes and/or cake. Separately, in the hosts' opening chat, Mel reports the soft launch of Mudjimba Beach parkrun on the Sunshine Coast, deliberately kept off the calendar so the team relocating from the now-closed Town of Seaside parkrun could settle in quietly.

• Episode 127 - Rob de Castella

  Scott and Mel alternate through the weekend's anniversaries: Blue Gum Hills, Inverell and Wagga (NSW), Broadbeach Waters, [Capalaba], Warner Lakes and Warwick (QLD), Lochiel (SA), Newport Lakes (VIC). Scott's own Eastern Gardens launch in Geelong - the 40th event under the Medibank Free + Active partnership, with Channel 7 Sunrise crossing live - is covered at the top of the show instead.

• Episode 126 - Clinton Bishop

  Co-hosts alternate through the coming week's calendar. Launches: Eastern Gardens (Vic), Shipwreck (WA), Wimmera River Horsham (Vic), Wynyard Foreshore (Tas). Anniversaries: [Balyang] Sanctuary (Vic), Cairns (Qld), Chermside (Qld), [Hervey] Bay (Qld), Lake Joondalup (WA), "Barabunong" (Vic), Mount Clarence (WA), Port Lincoln (SA), Singleton (NSW), Wilson Botanic (Vic). Mel notes next year on this weekend there will be 15 anniversaries, "a record for Australia".

• Episode 125 - August Madness

  Four launches this week, Burswood Peninsula (WA), Meningie (SA), Seacliff Esplanade (SA) and "Willow" (Victoria), plus three anniversaries at Aldinga Beach (SA), Brimbank (Vic) and Callaghan (NSW). Scott notes launches outnumbering anniversaries is unusual: "We haven't had that many launch on one week for a long time."

• Episode 124 - parkrun and not single

  One launch this weekend: Tamworth Wetlands in Western Australia (the hosts spend a while on the WA-vs-NSW Tamworth confusion). Anniversaries at Greenbank (QLD), Torquay (VIC) and Wishart (QLD).

• Episode 123 - Penny Redhead

  One Australian launch this week, [Pakapakanthi] parkrun in South Australia, which PK had reported on from its trial event. Anniversaries: [Blackbutt] (NSW), Chelsea Bicentennial (Vic), [Claisebrook] Cove (WA) and Victor [Harbor] (SA).

• Episode 122 - Kelly Hodges

  Doomadgee parkrun in remote north-west Queensland launches this weekend, Mel corrects the pronunciation and notes its unusual 9am start; Scott had it on his radar but couldn't get there from Melbourne, and hopes for roving reports next week. Anniversaries this weekend at Bathurst (NSW), Christies Beach (SA), Cleland (SA), Coomera (QLD), one further Queensland event and Weipa (QLD).

• Episode 121 - Mark Musk

  Two launches this week, one in Queensland and Geeveston in Tasmania, the latter becoming the new southernmost Compass Point. Anniversaries at Armidale (NSW), Mansfield (Qld), Meadowbrook (Qld), Pittsworth (Qld) and Renmark (SA), with Mel thanking the event teams.

• Episode 120 - UK Conference

  Weekly calendar read by Mel and Scott: one launch, Cormorant Bay in Queensland, and anniversaries at Bendigo, Dubbo, Gatton, Gawler, Noosa, Phillip Island and Wauchope, the last prompting the recurring "War-hope or Wa-choppy" pronunciation joke.

• Episode 119 - Highlight Reel

  This week's launch is Woy Woy in New South Wales ("so nice they named it twice"). Anniversaries: Atherton in Queensland, Aveley in WA, Cobram in Victoria, and Strathalbyn in South Australia.

• Episode 118 - Matty Trent

  An unusually thin week, one launch only, at Merriwa in New South Wales, and one anniversary, at Logan River. Scott theorises the sparseness is because it is the fifth Saturday in June, and jokes that Sarah Logan wrote a clause reserving the weekend's limelight for Logan River.

• Episode 117 - Roger Hanney

  The weekly launch and anniversary rundown. No Victorian launches this week; launches at Mount Helena in Western Australia (which Scott insists on calling "Mount Buster" after his pet) and Port Augusta in South Australia. Anniversaries at Burley Griffin in the ACT, Gladstone in Queensland, and Hastings Foreshore and Jells in Victoria, the latter prompting a run about adventurers tourist-collecting Jells purely to get their letter J.

• Episode 116 - Hannah Oldroyd

  Launch at Port Sorell in Tasmania, plus anniversaries at Carine Glades (WA), Dolls Point (NSW), Mernda (VIC), North Shore (QLD), Shellharbour (NSW), one further Queensland event, Wangaratta (VIC) and Yeppoon (QLD), with the usual argument about which one runs first.

• Episode 115 - Matt who?

  One 5K launch, Jindabyne, NSW, plus the third Australian junior parkrun, Cannonvale Junior parkrun in the Whitsundays. Anniversaries at Coffs Harbour (NSW), Frog Hollow, Goondiwindi (Qld), Mitchelton (Qld), Newy (NSW) and Redland Bay (Qld). Leads into the hosts' own weekend plans and shout-outs to "Em" on her 18th birthday and to PK on joining the 100 Club.

• Episode 114 - Steph Auston

  Scott introduces it as "a little segment that we do and we've been doing since Episode 1". One launch: Burnie parkrun in Tasmania. Anniversaries: Ballarat (Vic), one unnamed Queensland event, Bowen (Qld), Canning River (WA), Narrabri (NSW), Sandon Point (NSW) and West Beach (SA). Prompts a side-riff about Scott never having been to Tasmania or the Northern Territory.

• Episode 112 - junior parkrun

  Two weeks' worth of the calendar, run by the hosts after the roving reports. Launches acknowledged: Woodford (Qld), Jubilee Way (SA), Cobar (NSW), Euroa (Vic), and North Sydney launching that coming weekend. Anniversaries: Ballina Coast (NSW), Castlemaine (Vic), Devonport (Tas), Highlands (Vic), Mawson Lakes (SA), Mount Beauty (Vic), Mount Penang (NSW), Penrith Lakes (NSW) and The Ponds (NSW).

• Episode 111 - Euan Bowman

  Two Australian launches this weekend: Ocean View in Queensland, held at a winery with running up and down through the vines, whose team are "throwing down the gauntlet to Nambour parkrun" for the title of toughest parkrun in Australia; and Wildflower in New South Wales. Anniversaries at Altona Beach (VIC), Curl Curl (NSW), Timboon (VIC), The Entrance (NSW) and Yarrabilba (QLD).

• Episode 110 - Paul Freyne

  Weekly launch and anniversary rundown, read alternately by Scott and Mel. One launch this weekend, Nulkaba in New South Wales, the 13th event in the Region of Runners, down from seven the previous weekend. Anniversaries: Applecross (WA), Batemans Bay (NSW), Cleveland (QLD), Echuca-Moama (VIC), Ginninderra (ACT), Queanbeyan (NSW) and Rhodes (NSW).

• Episode 109 - Sonia O'Sullivan

  A record-breaking week: seven launches on one day across seven states/territories - Aplins Weir (QLD), Bellerive (TAS), Goolwa (SA), Kununurra (WA), Mount Ainslie (ACT), Ocean Grove (VIC) and Picton (NSW) - which the hosts believe has never been done in one country before, backed by Medibank and to be covered by a rolling "progressive launch" of Facebook Lives. Anniversaries at Ararat, Clare Valley, Emerald, "Laylaw", Lillydale Lake, Parkville, Rockingham and Stones Corner.

• Episode 108 - parkrun Malaysia

  Weekly launch and anniversary rundown. Launches: Gainsborough Greens at Pimpama on the Gold Coast (the final launch of the Embracing 2018 Commonwealth Games legacy program of 20 events), Moana in South Australia and Wanneroo in WA, "three launch weekend this weekend". Anniversaries: Augustine Heights (Qld), Cottesloe (WA), Mackay (Qld) and Sale (Vic), with Scott doing a running joke about reciting them from "memory" while reading a list.

• Episode 107

  No launches in Australia this Saturday, Mel notes it is the first blank weekend of the year. To fill the gap the hosts announce parkrun is launching an entire new country: Malaysia, with Taman Pudu Ulu parkrun. Anniversaries: Fingal Bay (NSW), [George Town] (Tas) and Warragul (Vic). Scott then tasks Mel with flying to Malaysia this weekend to get the event name pronounced correctly at the source.

• Episode 106

  Scott asks "what's happening in parkrun World this weekend?" One launch: South Toowoomba, Queensland. Anniversaries at Kedron and Main Beach, the latter is the seventh anniversary of Main Beach and therefore of parkrun in Australia, with a big party, junior parkrun announcements and "something else that's a bit exciting" promised by "the boss". Also anniversaries at Lismore (NSW) and Traralgon (Victoria).

• Episode 105

  Next week's launches, Kelvin Grove and Mount Isa in Queensland, prompting Mel's Mount Isa story about being hospitalised by a redback spider bite aged two. Anniversaries at Manjimup and Riverway. Scott notes it is a quiet week because of Easter.

• Episode 104

  Scott and Mel run through the week's launches and anniversaries: Forest Lake launched on the weekend, St Lucia launches this weekend in Brisbane, Chipping Norton launches in New South Wales, and a bittersweet anniversary at Mount Barker in South Australia, which Channel 5 News Crew members PK and Greta are attending instead of the listener meet-up.

• Episode 103

  Cardwell (QLD) launch was cancelled the previous week due to flooding and is rescheduled for this weekend; Coombs in the ACT launches as that territory's first trail run and first 2018 launch; Forest Lake in southeast Queensland is a second Queensland launch. Anniversaries at Campbelltown (NSW), Maylands Peninsula (WA), Rockhampton (QLD) and Yamba (NSW).

• Episode 102

  Cardwell parkrun launching in North Queensland; anniversaries at Albury-Wodonga (NSW/Vic), Bairnsdale (Vic), Dawesville (WA) and Parramatta (NSW); nothing in Queensland. Rolls on into milestone previews: the world's oldest person to reach the 250 club running his 250th at Kawana this Saturday, to be streamed on Facebook Live by Mel, Yarrabilba parkrun's 200th event with a Hawaiian theme and rookie Run Director Jason Curry, and Scott's own unofficial 200th parkrun.

• Episode 101

  One new event launching this week: Largs Bay parkrun in northern Adelaide, near Port Adelaide, beachside and expected to be flat. Two first anniversaries: one event in WA and White Rock parkrun in Queensland, which Mel notes is a trail event on her list. Mel adds that Queensland has "a whole bunch more launches lined up for March".

• Episode 100 - Lyndell Murray

  Weekly calendar rundown. One launch: Nightcliff parkrun, event number three for the Northern Territory. Four anniversaries: Newborough (Vic), Panania (NSW), Studley (Vic - turning two, rock star theme, Scott attending as former ED) and Tuggeranong (ACT). Includes the hosts' attendance-prediction bit for the Nightcliff launch - Scott guesses 148, Mel 308.

• Episode 99 - Patrick Tiernan

  Cake this week at Dalby (Qld), Darebin (Vic), Kirra (Qld) and Wyndham Vale (Vic); launches at Plantation parkrun in Ayr, far north Queensland, and Rosebud on the Mornington Peninsula (71 at the trial).

• Episode 98

  Upcoming launches at Goulburn (NSW, where Scott has done a freedom run) and Nhill in Victoria, which prompts a tangent on old AFL zoning and Essendon recruiting from Dimboola, Nhill and Horsham. Anniversaries: Bundaberg, Golden Beach and Ipswich in Queensland, plus Lake Mac (NSW) and Moora (WA). Mel is making "P" costumes for Golden Beach's pea party.

• Episode 97

  Three launches on 3 February - Greenway (NSW), Lakes Entrance (VIC) and Port Broughton (SA) - and two anniversaries, Toolern Creek (VIC) and Woodbridge Riverside (WA). Rolls straight into a milestone shout-out for listener Heather Hunter at Tamworth reaching 100 runs, in a black-and-white barcode costume.

• Episode 96

  Scott takes launches, Bargara (QLD), Bright (VIC) and San Remo (NSW); Mel takes anniversaries, Bibra Lake (WA), Churchill (VIC), Cooks River (NSW), Mudgee (NSW), Port Fairy (VIC), Sirromet (QLD), Tamborine Mountain (QLD) and The Terrace (NSW). Mel notes the calendar lives on the parkrun Australia blog and is linked in the weekly newsletter.

• Episode 95

  End-of-episode rundown covering the summer break: launches on 6 Jan (Margaret River, WA), 13 Jan (Huskisson, NSW) and 20 Jan (Edithburgh SA, Gardner's Creek VIC, Queens Domain TAS, Zillmere QLD, four states in one day, with a Q and Australia's first Z). Anniversaries at Underwood Park (QLD) this week; Lawson, Quinns Rocks, Rocks Riverside and Tannum Sands on 6 Jan; Pioneer (WA), Shepparton (VIC) and Wandai (QLD) on 13 Jan; Lithgow, Point Cook and St Peter's on 20 Jan.

• Episode 94

  Scott runs the weekly launch and anniversary rundown: one launch to close out 2017 in South Australia at Reynella East this Saturday, and one anniversary - Mullum Mullum. Played as a reversed game from the previous week, with Scott quizzing Mel on which anniversary events she has been to (she scores 0%, he scores 100%).

• Episode 93

  Launches: Marriott Waters (VIC, deferred from the previous week) and Windsor Precinct (TAS). Anniversaries: Airlie Beach (QLD), Central Lakes (QLD), Menai (NSW), Rouse Hill (NSW), Stanthorpe (QLD) and Stockton (NSW), run as a call-and-response with Mel reading the list and Scott admitting he has been to only one of the six, prompting "And you call yourself an adventurer."

• Episode 92

  Marriott Waters (VIC) launch postponed a week for weather; St George (inland QLD) launching this weekend. Anniversaries: Bunyaville (QLD) turning four, [Cohuna] on the Murray (VIC) turning one, Lakeview (NSW), and Mount Gambier and Torrens (SA). Also notes parkrun Germany's three-event launch on 2 December.

• Episode 91

  Launches this weekend: North Harbour and Miles in Queensland (both under the Commonwealth Games legacy program), Yokine in WA and Sunbury in Victoria. Anniversaries at Cronulla, Forster, one further event and The Beaches (Newcastle) in New South Wales, and Minnippi, Sandgate and Surfers Paradise in Queensland.

• Episode 90

  Anniversaries at Warrnambool, Albert Melbourne and Karkarook (Vic), Calamvale and Nambour (Qld), with the hosts scoring it as a Victoria-vs-Queensland contest; launches at Whitfords Nodes (WA) and Lota (Qld).

• Episode 89

  Weekly calendar rundown: two New South Wales launches this weekend (Broken Hill and Cowra), plus anniversaries at Diamond Creek (VIC), Geographe Bay (WA), Launceston (TAS - marking five years of parkrun in Tasmania) and Nepean River (NSW).

• Episode 88

  Upcoming launches, Coonawarra (SA, which Melissa first places in Victoria), Port Hedland (WA, debated as Australia's most remote parkrun, with Cloncurry's recent launch as the rival), and East Richmond (NSW, renamed from Richmond, adding an "E" for alphabet chasers), plus anniversaries at Maitland, Willoughby and South Bank (Brisbane, about to turn five).

• Episode 87

  Three launches this weekend, Cloncurry (Queensland), Kangaroo Island (South Australia) and Railton (Tasmania), the last of which is the 250th parkrun event in Australia; Scott offers the fact that Railton is Australia's topiary capital, and the pair resolve to make a video celebrating 250. Anniversaries the same weekend: Bunbury (WA), Darwin (NT), Highfields (Qld), Kawana (Qld), Mudgeeraba (Qld), Port Macquarie (NSW), North Lakes (Qld), Shelley (WA) and Westerfolds (Vic), every state and territory except the ACT. Kawana turns five with an "80s sports athletes" theme, Westerfolds four with a green theme.

• Episode 86

  No launches this week, but a heavy anniversary weekend: Brightwater in Queensland (3rd anniversary, which Mel is attending for cake), Grafton NSW, Gungahlin ACT, Kingscliff NSW, Mosman NSW, Murray Bridge SA and Orange NSW. Mel: "That's a pretty uber weekend for anniversaries. Cake and doughnuts, fancy dress happening all over the place."

• Episode 85

  Launches this weekend at Bannockburn Bush (Victoria) and Urunga (New South Wales); anniversaries at Berwick Springs and Hamilton (Victoria), Galston (NSW) and Kalgoorlie-Boulder (WA).

• Episode 84

  One launch this week, Portarlington in Victoria, which Scott recalls as the "sleepy little town" where he once broke his foot; he will miss it because he is at Westerfolds for a special milestone. Anniversaries at Champion Lakes (WA) and Hamilton Island (Queensland), prompting Scott's "Party time on Hammo".

• Episode 83 - Kelly Hodges

  Anniversaries this week at Moree (NSW) and Petrie (Qld); launches at Oakey (Qld) and Carrisbrook (SA). Includes the running gag about parkruns starting with unusual letters (O, and the mooted Z parkrun at Zillmere).

• Episode 82

  No launches this week, but a full anniversary list: Ashgrove and New Farm in Queensland, Toowoomba (running its City of Flowers botanical event), Bowral (rendered "Barrel"), Merimbula and Tamworth in New South Wales, and You Yangs in Victoria. Framed as Melissa advising Scott where to run while he is visiting Brisbane.

• Episode 81

  Two launches this weekend: Nuriootpa in South Australia (renamed from Barossa Bush Gardens parkrun before it even launched, with an extended running gag about how to pronounce it) and Redcliffe in Queensland, which Mel predicts will be a massive launch given its proximity to Sandgate and Brisbane. Anniversaries at Pakenham (Victoria) and Palmerston (Northern Territory), "two Ps on the same weekend".

• Episode 80

  Weekly new-event and anniversary roundup. One launch this week: North Wollongong (NSW), the second event in the Wollongong area alongside Shellharbour and Sandon Point. Anniversaries: Bega (NSW), Inverloch (Victoria, "Always Sunny Inverloch") and Wynnum (Queensland). Scott also teases that he was "on a secret mission last week at parkrun" and may be starting a new event himself.

• Episode 79

  Weekend calendar: launches at Inverell and Wagga (both NSW, Scott notes it will be called Wagga parkrun rather than Wagga Wagga because "the locals just call it Wagga"). Anniversaries with cake at Blue Gum Hills (NSW), Broadbeach Waters, Capalaba, Warner Lakes and Warwick (all Queensland), and Lochiel Park (SA). The Newport Lakes (Vic) launch is also discussed earlier, attended by Scott's family without him.

• Episode 78

  Upcoming launches - Port Lincoln (SA) and Newport Lakes (VIC) - followed by nine anniversaries read alternately by the hosts: Balyang Sanctuary (VIC), Cairns (QLD), Chermside (QLD), Hervey Bay (QLD), Lake Joondalup (WA), Maribyrnong (VIC), Mount Clarence (WA), Singleton (NSW) and Wilson Botanic (VIC) - every state covered but no territories.

• Episode 77

  Anniversaries this weekend at Callaghan and Hobart (themes unconfirmed but costumes expected), plus launches at Brimbank Park in Melbourne, the flagship for Medibank's Free and Active program, which will fund 40 new events, and Aldinga Beach in South Australia, started by the Christies Beach Event Directors.

• Episode 76

  Scott: "there's plenty happening still over in London this weekend, as are launches and anniversaries. Where are we going for cake this week, Mel?" A quiet week: one anniversary at Wishart (Queensland) and one launch at Torquay in Victoria, which Scott talks up as a big one for Victorians ("Torquay is quite iconic. It's the beach town. It's Bell's Beach Surf Festival"). He flags more metropolitan Melbourne launches in the coming weeks.

• Episode 75

  Melissa cues it verbatim "Now, where is the cake this week, Scotty?" Anniversaries: Blackbutt (Region of Runners, back after a month of cancellations), Chelsea Bicentennial in Victoria (first anniversary), Claisebrook Cove in WA, and Victor Harbor in SA. Launch: Greenbank in Brisbane this weekend. Rolls into a short discussion of events cancelled for lack of volunteers.

• Episode 74

  A very quiet week: no launches at all in parkrun Australia, and only two anniversaries, Bathurst (NSW) and Christies Beach (SA). Also no cancellations anywhere, which prompts Mel to add "when was the last week with no cancellations?" to the list of questions for Ian Hay.

• Episode 73

  Upcoming launch: Cleland in South Australia, the state's first trail parkrun. Anniversaries: Armidale (NSW, no dogs allowed, it runs on university grounds), plus three in Queensland, Coomera, Maryborough and Weipa.

• Episode 72

  Scott calls it "Launches. Anniversaries." Launches: Dolls Point (NSW), Mernda (Victoria), Yipoon/Yeppoon (Queensland) - the latter flagged as a challenge for the Queensland statesmen because it is not easy to get to. Anniversaries: Burley Griffin (ACT), Corrine Glades (WA), North Shore and Town of Seaside (Queensland). Closes noting there are no junior parkrun launches to announce yet.

• Episode 71

  Two new events launching: Coffs Harbour (NSW) and Redland Bay (Qld). Anniversaries at Frog Hollow (Vic), Goondiwindi (Qld), Mitchelton (Qld), Newy (NSW) and Shellharbour (NSW). Scott notes he has reverted to announcing all anniversaries rather than just first ones after experimenting the past couple of weeks.

• Episode 70

  Mel segues in "straight after that, I would say come launches and then anniversaries because that's where cake are." No launches this week; first anniversaries for Bowen (Queensland), Narrabri (New South Wales) and West Beach (South Australia). Scott points listeners at the parkrun Australia blog for all launches, anniversaries and cancellations in one place, available 24-7.

• Episode 69

  Mel asks "So, Scotty, where's the cake this week?" The hosts note the parkrun Australia newsletter has stopped listing anniversaries and decide on air to change the segment's scope to first anniversaries only, since "that's when there's always cake". No anniversaries this week; three launches, Mawson Lakes (SA), Ballina Coast (NSW) and Mount Beauty (Vic), with Scott heading to Mount Beauty.

• Episode 68

  No launches this week. Anniversaries: Coburg (2nd, Scotty attending), Portland Vic (1st), Roma Qld (3rd), Taree NSW (2nd), Varsity Lakes Qld (4th). Hosts joke the list is getting long and reference Danny and Nicola having stopped announcing anniversaries on their podcast for the same reason.

• Episode 67

  Abbreviated this week because the Territory Director round-up already covered launches, "So we don't need to update you on launches this week because we've already heard." Scott still flags Timboon launching in Victoria (, with a running joke about the name and David Boon the cricketer), then Mel calls for a quick anniversary rundown: Altona Beach (VIC) turning two, Curl Curl (NSW) four, The Entrance (NSW) one, and Yarrabilba (QLD) three, noting they cover birthdays one through four on the same weekend, "That's a lot of cake."

• Episode 66

  Closing rundown: Echuca Moama launches on Saturday ("the second E in Australia", back-to-back with Emerald), Batemans Bay celebrate their first and Rhodes their second anniversary in New South Wales, and Cleveland their fourth in Queensland. Mel signs it off with the cake line.

• Episode 65

  Queanbeyan parkrun launches in New South Wales (giving Australia its first Q), with a running gag about Queanbeyan being in NSW and not the ACT, and confusion over whether Echuca has launched yet (it hasn't, next week). Anniversaries: Lilydale Lake (3rd) and Parkville (1st), both Victorian. Scott is skipping both for the first kids-takeover event at Westerfolds, where his daughter volunteered them for pre-event setup and therefore a 10km morning.

• Episode 64

  Billed on air as "the parkrun diary". Launch: Ararat (Victoria). Anniversaries: Layla 1st and Sale 2nd (Victoria), Clare Valley 1st, Ginninderra (ACT) 5th, Rockingham (WA) 4th, Stones Corner (Ian Hay's event) 3rd, Augustine Heights (Qld) 4th.

• Episode 63

  Easter weekend round-up: no launches this week; anniversaries at Cottesloe and Mackay; Lismore attempting its first anniversary for the third time after Cyclone Debbie; Hamilton Island and Airlie Beach back up and running; good reports from the George Town launch, Tasmania's fourth event.

• Episode 62

  One launch after several quiet weeks, George Town in Tasmania, taking Tasmania to four events, with Melissa tipping Tasmania as "the state to watch". Anniversaries: Lismore misses out again (still cancelled after flooding), Main Beach celebrates after last week's cancellation, Fingal Bay turns four, and Warragul in Victoria turns two.

• Episode 61

  Zero new launches for what the hosts reckon is the fourth week running ("Talk about March madness. It's March dryness"), so the segment is all anniversaries: first anniversaries for Lismore parkrun (tied back to the interview earlier in the episode) and Kedron; Main Beach in Queensland turning six, which the hosts note means six years of parkrun in Australia; and Traralgon celebrating its second. Mel signs it off with "happy anniversary, all those anniversararians." The block then runs on into general news: the birth of parkrun Australia CEO Tim Oberg's third child, a boy named Archie ("team Oberg numbers five", joining Jack and Evie, wife Nicky), and a plug for Lyndell Murray's pop-up parkrun in New Plymouth, New Zealand, this Saturday, with details to follow on the show's Facebook page.

• Episode 60

  No launches this week. Anniversaries: Manjimup parkrun in WA turns two, and Riverway parkrun in Queensland turns four. Mel recalls attending Riverway's second anniversary dressed as a Ninja Turtle; Scott has freedom-run the Riverway course and got lost on the old, more convoluted layout.

• Episode 59 - Nicola Forwood

  Second week running with zero launches across parkrun Australia, which Mel finds odd for March. Anniversaries: Yamba (2nd), Rockhampton QLD (1st), Maylands Peninsula (1st, ED Bronwyn), Campbelltown (3rd), Mount Barker (3rd, "our old mate PK"), and Albury Wodonga (3rd). Mel tallies launches by year: three years ago three events, two years ago one, one year ago two, "So 2017, you're letting the team down."

• Episode 58

  No launches at all around the country this week (and no secret ones either), but three anniversaries: Dawesville in WA turning two, Parramatta in NSW turning four, and Bairnsdale in Victoria turning one.

• Episode 57

  Mel: "it's a relatively quiet one on the launches and anniversary scene this weekend. There will not be cake or doughnuts... you're going to have to BYO to whichever parkrun you're attending." One launch only, White Rock parkrun in Queensland, which prompts a side discussion about whether Brisbane already has a trail parkrun (Bunyaville). No anniversaries at all this week.

• Episode 56

  Hosts run through the week's new event and anniversaries: Newborough parkrun launching in inland Victoria near Moe; Panania (NSW) turning one; Studley turning one (Scott: "Not Studley, as the newsletter has been telling us. It's Studley"); Tuggeranong (ACT) turning four. Framed with the usual cake/doughnut joke, plus a riff about an unnamed brand of ice block "that shall not be mentioned because they refuse to sponsor us".

• Episode 55

  Anniversaries just gone - Golden Beach and Ipswich turned three, Lake Mac turned four - with Mel reporting from Golden Beach ("I had two pieces of cake for breakfast", muesli and yoghurt instead of doughnuts, a volunteer wall of fame with about a dozen 25-volunteer parkrunners). Then the week ahead: cake at Kirra (QLD, fifth) and Wyndham Vale (VIC, first), plus launches at Darebin in Victoria and Dalby in Queensland - "the Twin Dees for the weekend". Rolls into the usual Victoria-vs-Queensland needle after the 997-strong Nitro parkrun attendance record.

• Episode 54

  No launches anywhere in the country this weekend, Melissa jokes that this gives adventurers a chance to catch up. Two anniversaries: Toolern Creek parkrun (Victoria) turning two, and Woodbridge Riverside (WA) turning one. Melissa uses the segment's catchphrase: "Where's the cake though, Scotty? Or doughnuts, if there happen to be doughnuts."

• Episode 53

  One launch: Mudgee parkrun (NSW), which Mel claims is the first event in Australia to be near a brewery, prompting a digression about what the brewery equivalent of a "crew" is called. Five anniversaries: Bibra Lake (WA) 2nd, Churchill (VIC) 1st, Cooks River (NSW) 2nd, The Terrace (NSW) 1st, and Tamborine Mountain (QLD) 2nd.

• Episode 52

  Opened with the cake formula "Well, there was a lot of cake at Sirromet last week. Where will you find cake this week?" New launches: Port Fairy (Victoria) and Lithgow (NSW), with a digression on whether Port Fairy has fairy penguins. Anniversaries: Pioneer (WA, third, deferred from last week due to council works), Point Cook (Victoria, third) and St Peters (fifth), with a note that Paul Wilcock is parkrun Australia's longest-serving ED at five years and the guest who has knocked back the podcast most often.

• Episode 51

  Launches at Tannum Sands (Queensland, near Gladstone) and Quinns Rocks (WA) last weekend, plus Wondai launching this week with Mel attending. Anniversaries: Lawson's second; this week Pioneer (WA) third, Shepparton (Victoria) third, and Sirromet's first, tied to the record attempt.

• Episode 50

  The usual sign-off cake check, but there are no launches or anniversaries this week, "Unless you like fruitcake for Christmas... Probably just candy canes, I think, this week", replaced by the bonus of Christmas Day plus Saturday parkruns back to back, which prompts a friendly argument between the hosts about whether that happened last year too.

• Episode 49

  No anniversaries this weekend, "slim pickings" for cake, but two launches: Mullum Mullum in Victoria (Australia's 200th event) and Underwood Park in Queensland. The hosts note that had Mullum Mullum gone with Ringwood there would have been Underwood and Ringwood in the same week, and correct the earlier interview claim that Ringwood would be Australia's only R event, Rocks Riverside, Rooty Hill and Rockhampton already exist.

• Episode 48

  Opens with the hosts' running joke about mispronouncing parkrun place names, they got Cohuna wrong last week and still cannot agree how to say it. One launch this week at Rooty Hill ("the boy in me giggles"), plus anniversaries: Central Lakes celebrating their first, and Menai (NSW), Stanthorpe and Stockton (NSW) all celebrating their second, "three two-year-olds and a". Scott notes there are no launches or anniversaries in Western Australia, which is his cue to cross there for Club Corner.

• Episode 47

  Cohuna parkrun launches in northern Victoria this weekend (with the hosts running a "big Kahuna" pun on the name), plus anniversaries: Airlie Beach ("the boss will be eating cake at Airlie Beach this weekend"), Bunyaville third, Lakeview third, Mount Gambier third, and Torrens, the first event in South Australia, celebrating its fourth.

• Episode 46

  Two launches this week, both in New South Wales, Kame/Kamei [Kamay] and Forster. Cake at Surfers Paradise, Queensland (1st anniversary), Cronulla, NSW (1st), The Beaches, NSW (2nd), Minipi [Minnippi], Queensland (3rd) and Sandgate, Queensland (4th). Mel teases Scott that Victoria gets neither launches nor cake this weekend, "not even doughnuts".

• Episode 45

  Melissa: "There's a launch in Victoria... Scotty, are you going to be at Warrnambool parkrun?" Warrnambool's launch (an ~800 km round trip from Scott, near Portland); Albert Park's fifth anniversary with a "Flashback 5" theme, which Scott will attend in his Territory Director polo for his last week in the role; Nambour's anniversary with a jungle/Aussie-animal dress-up theme, which Melissa will attend as her 34th event and her NENDY; and a look back at Calamvale as parkrun Australia's 100th event two years earlier, with the 200th now only weeks away and a sports theme planned.

• Episode 44

  Mel: "We've got one launch coming up this weekend, and it's another New South Walian event. We've got Nepean River launching on Saturday." Scott adds three anniversaries where cake may be found: Diamond Creek (third), Geographe Bay (second) and Launceston (fourth). Mel says she won't be at any of them as none are in Queensland.

• Episode 43 - Satoshi Ashida

  Launches this coming weekend at Willoughby (NSW) and Karkarook (Victoria), which Scott is attending; joking refusal to name a rumoured "secret WA launch" for fear a thousand listeners turn up. Anniversaries: Port Macquarie's first (re-run after last week's cancellation, which the hosts had already announced a week early), Maitland's third and South Bank's fourth.

• Episode 42 - Tim Oberg

  Scott: "none of those events are launching this weekend. No launches this weekend." Mel: "We do have an anniversary though", happy first anniversary to Port Macquarie, New South Wales, "full of cake or doughnuts, as the case may be".

• Episode 41 - Noah Carter

  Scott declares it "the biggest weekend of the year for anniversaries in parkrun Australia". Orange (NSW) launches; Highfields turns one; five events turn three, Mosman (NSW), Bunbury (WA, "commonly known as Funbury"), Darwin (NT), Mudgeeraba (QLD) and Westerfolds (VIC); and Kawana turns four. Melissa will bake two cakes for Kawana's barcode party (a Martha Stewart golden sheet cake plus a possible gluten-free chocolate one); Scott confesses he is "not a big cake person".

• Episode 40 - Shoes for Planet Earth

  No Australian launches this weekend, but anniversaries abound: Brightwater (QLD) turning two, Mel will be attending; Grafton (NSW) turning one; Gungahlin (ACT) turning three; Kingscliff (NSW) and North Lakes (QLD) both turning four; and Paradise Point turning one.

• Episode 39 - Simon Kilma

  One launch this week, Galston, New South Wales. Anniversaries: Berwick Springs (Victoria) third, Hamilton (Victoria) first, and Kalgoorlie-Boulder (WA) third.

• Episode 38 - Tom Do Canto

  No launches in parkrun Australia this week, but first anniversaries for Champion Lakes (WA), Hamilton Island (QLD) and Petrie (QLD), all three falling on International parkrun Day. Scott also trails coverage from the news crew at Bushy for the anniversary celebrations next week.

• Episode 37 - Danny Norman

  Scott notes the two launches cancelled last weekend get another go this weekend (You Yangs and "Maury"). Mel asks "are there places we can go for cake this weekend, Scotty?" Anniversaries listed: Ashgrove (QLD) first, "Barrel" (NSW) second, Merimbula (NSW) third, Tamworth (NSW) second, and Toowoomba (QLD) third. The hosts note Victoria, SA, WA, Tasmania, NT and the ACT all miss out on cake.

• Episode 36 - Lucy Bartholomew

  Launches return after a barren few weeks: Palmerston parkrun launching in the Northern Territory (ending Melissa's NT statesmanship, with kudos to Mark and the team), You Yangs launching in Victoria as a trail event on the outskirts of Melbourne, and a relaunch in New South Wales. Anniversaries: New Farm's fifth, in a purple theme to match the jacarandas and the volunteer aubergine, and Pakenham's second in an 80s theme, which Scott is attending, it is also his NENDY.

• Episode 35 - Tom Williams

  Mel: "So where's the cake this week, Scotty? Do we have any launches happening?" No launches for a few weeks, but three anniversaries: Bega (NSW) first anniversary with a sport theme; Inverloch (Victoria) second anniversary with an under-the-sea theme; Wynnum (Queensland) fourth anniversary with an anything-goes theme.

• Episode 34 - Bill Irving

  No launches this week, but anniversaries at Blue Gum Hills (2nd), Broadbeach Waters (2nd), Lochiel (1st), Warner Lakes, and Warwick (3rd), with a running gag about the newsletter's "Warner's Lakes" typo.

• Episode 33 - Euan Bowman

  "Party week" in parkrun Australia, nine anniversaries on one Saturday: Balyang Sanctuary 4th, Cairns 3rd, Capalaba 2nd, Hervey Bay 2nd, Lake Joondalup 2nd, Maribyrnong 2nd, Mount Clarence 2nd, Singleton 2nd, and Chermside celebrating its 1st. Wilson Botanic is also launching, which would make ten next year. Mel is heading north to Hervey Bay; Scott is partying at Maribyrnong.

• Episode 32 - Lorraine Lawson

  No launches this week; the only cake is in Tasmania, where an unnamed event celebrates its second anniversary. Lorraine also flags earlier in the episode that Cairns parkrun's third anniversary falls a fortnight later.

• Episode 31 - Stephen Dinneen

  No new launches this week ("a little bit unusual, but gives us all time to breathe"), but two anniversaries: Callaghan (NSW) turns one with an Olympics theme, and Wishart turns two with a superheroes theme.

• Episode 30 - Hamilton Island

  One launch, Chelsea Bicentennial in Melbourne's south-east, which Scott hopes will "fill this big black hole we've got in Melbourne, southeast". Melissa then asks "And where's the cake this week, Scotty?": third anniversary for Blackbutt (NSW), plus Claisebrook Cove (WA) and Victor Harbor (SA), the latter two running Olympic-themed events to coincide with the Rio opening ceremony.

• Episode 29 - Jessica Trengove

  Launches: Bathurst in New South Wales ("I'm told it's not around Mount Panorama") and Weeper [Weipa] in Queensland this week, with Christie's [Christies] Beach in South Australia launching the week after. Anniversaries: Coomera in Queensland turns four with crazy hair, and Maryborough celebrates its first with Christmas in July, Melissa Erbacher is going and is deciding whether to dress as Santa or an elf. The hosts also announce there will be no episode next week (no podcast number 30) as they take a mid-year week off; it will return the first week of August.

• Episode 28 - The Run Beyond Project

  Opened by Scott "Do we have any cake this week or do we have any launches this week?" Launches: Renmark parkrun in South Australia and Meadowbrook parkrun in Queensland (with a detour into how to pronounce Meadowbrook and where it sits relative to Brisbane). Anniversaries: Noosa's second, celebrated onesie-style, Mel recalls the freezing 80s-themed first anniversary, and Armadale's [Armidale's] second, with a best-or-worst headwear theme, which turns into a running joke about Scott's sombreros and "the Tuesday Scott".

• Episode 27 - Dani McLaren

  One launch coming up: Wauchope, NSW, which the hosts spend a full minute failing to pronounce and apologising for in advance. Anniversaries: Gatton turning three, Pittsworth turning two (80s dress-up), Bendigo, Victoria with a Gold Rush theme, Dubbo turning one with long socks, and Phillip Island turning one with a penguin theme (come dressed in blue, black and white).

• Episode 26 - Double Anniversary

  Three launches in three states this week, Cobram (Victoria), Atherton (Queensland) and Strathalbyn (South Australia), with the hosts hinting that "Underscore PK" might file a roving report from Strathalbyn. Just one anniversary: Aveley parkrun in WA celebrating its third.

• Episode 25 - parkrun Singapore

  No launches this week. Anniversaries: Gladstone QLD's third (Mel attending), Jells' first with a crazy socks theme (Scott attending), Logan River's third with a circus theme, Mornington Peninsula's second with an 80s rock theme, and East Coast Park parkrun in Singapore's second, included, the hosts explain, because it sat on the Australian events list for its first year and a half.

• Episode 24 - Rochelle Vaisanen

  Mel's "where's the cake, Scotty?" round-up: the Burley Griffin launch in the ACT; Carine Glades second anniversary with a tutus-and-ties theme; North Shore in Queensland third anniversary with "fluoro rage", which Mel concedes she probably meant to type as "rave"; Town of Seaside first anniversary with a blue theme, which Mel will attend in costume; and Wangaratta in Victoria's first anniversary with a superhero theme, Scott wishing Laura and her team well.

• Episode 23 - Brendan Davies

  One launch this week, Goondiwindi in Queensland, on the NSW border. Anniversaries: Frog Hollow (Victoria) second with a Once Upon a Time theme; Mitchelton third with an ugly sock theme; Newy fourth with a green theme; Shellharbour second with a pirate party, with the hosts challenging ED Brendan to do the presentations in pirate talk.

• Episode 22 - Anita Afonso

  Three Australian launches this weekend, Narrabri (NSW), West Beach (SA) and Bowen (far north QLD), followed by a bumper run of anniversaries: Ballarat (Victoria) turning one, Berrinba (QLD) turning two with a "head to toe in a single colour" theme, Canning River turning three with a cops-and-robbers theme, and Sandon Point turning three with a leather theme, which Mel explains is the traditional third-anniversary gift and which the event has asked parkrunners to keep family-friendly.

• Episode 21 - Longest Run

  No launches this week, but a full slate of anniversaries: Castlemaine (VIC) first with a C and P theme, Devonport first with a P theme, Highlands (VIC) third with tiaras, top hats, ties and tutus, Mount Penang second, Penrith Lakes second going blue, and The Ponds (NSW) first with a fluoro theme. Includes Scott categorically ruling out ever being seen in a tutu.

• Episode 20 - Scott Westcott

  Portland parkrun launches in western Victoria this week. First anniversaries: Coburg (Victoria, "C" theme) and its twin Taree (NSW, blue theme). Second anniversary: Roma, Queensland, noted as the bonus pointer star of the Stargazer Circuit. Third anniversary: Varsity Lakes, Queensland.

• Episode 19 - Facts in a Haystack

  One Australian launch this week, The Entrance parkrun on the NSW central coast, with a warning that it is a 7am start, not the usual 8am. Cake: Curl Curl's third anniversary with a Caped Crusaders theme (prompting a small argument about whether a caped crusader is the same as a superhero), and Yarrabilba in Queensland celebrating its second anniversary with a $10 op-shop formal black tie theme.

• Episode 18 - Rodney Turner

  Opened "Okay, where's the cake this week, Mel?" Anniversaries in three states: Cleveland (QLD) turning three with a crazy-socks theme; Altona Beach (VIC) first anniversary, no theme but "embracing the cake vibe"; Rhodes (NSW) first birthday with an R theme, which leads into a run of R-costume suggestions.

• Episode 17 - South Australia

  Scott flags that he is at another launch this week - Parkville parkrun in Melbourne, around Princes Park - and jokes about Melissa's 'spies' being there. Asked 'Where's the cake this week?' Melissa answers 'There's no cake. Nobody's having an anniversary', noting the launch means there will be cake this time next year.

• Episode 16 - Pat Farmer

  Upcoming launch in the Clare Valley, South Australia, then the cake round-up "where is the cake this week": Ginninderra (ACT) fourth anniversary; Lillydale Lake (Victoria) second anniversary with a red theme; Rockingham (WA) third anniversary with a heroes-and-villains theme; Stones Corner (Queensland), Ian Hay's event, two years with a fluoro theme and the entire South Bank parkrun event team volunteering there.

• Episode 15 - Melissa Flentjar

  Scott hands into the weekly launch/anniversary rundown "We've already just, we've talked about Laylaw's [Lalor's] launch", then a second launch at Mackay in Queensland. The cake cue lands Melissa Erbacher: "Where's the cake this week, Scotty?", Augustine Heights third anniversary; two first anniversaries at Cottesloe (WA) and Sale (Gippsland, Victoria). Sidetracks into Cottesloe's sand section and a discussion of The Beaches parkrun in NSW, which Scott names as the parkrun he most wants to get to.

• Episode 14 - Brendan Murray

  Scott: "We have no launches this week, not in Australia anyway... but we do have two anniversaries. So where are we going for cake this week, Mel?" Mel names Fingal Bay (NSW) turning three and Warragul (Victoria) turning one.

• Episode 13 - Junior Adventurers

  Scott runs the week ahead: Lismore and Kedron launching (Scott repeatedly fumbles the pronunciation of Kedron, to Mel's amusement, and asks for a roving report from the launch), then "And where's the cake on Saturday? We've got two anniversaries to enjoy", Traralgon's first and Main Beach's fifth, with Mel noting Main Beach is "the birthplace of parkrun in Australia."

• Episode 12 - Trevor Allen

  No launches this week. Scott's hand-over is the segment's own catchphrase, "can you tell us where the cake is, Mel?" Birthdays: Manjimup turning two, its "twin" Mount Barker in South Australia also turning two, and Riverway in Queensland turning three, all running Easter themes for the long weekend.

• Episode 11 - Freedom

  Mel's "Where's the cake this week?" prompt. Anniversaries at Campbelltown (NSW) and Yamba (northern NSW), and one launch: Rockhampton parkrun in Queensland, which Mel is flying up to attend, Craig having done the work behind the scenes to get it off the ground, running at least partly through the Botanic Gardens, with a full report promised for next week's episode.

• Episode 10 - Brad Beer

  Cued by Mel inside the turn, "so where's the cake this week Scotty". Three anniversaries: Parramatta turns three (theme: brightest fluoro and a party hat), Albury Wodonga turns two (bright tights and tutus), and Dawesville in WA turns one (80s rad retro run). Plus a launch: Bairnsdale parkrun kicks off in eastern Victoria, which leads into a digression on whether a "dale" is a valley and what "bairn" means in Scotland.

• Episode 9 - Jakub Fedorowicz

  The weekly launches-and-anniversaries slot comes up empty: "Amazingly, we have no anniversaries or launches this weekend in parkrun Australia." The weekend's launch (Studley) and anniversary (Tuggeranong's third) were both covered earlier in the episode.

• Episode 8 - parkdogs

  Two launches this week, Panania in New South Wales (the hosts openly unsure how to pronounce it) and Studley in Victoria, running through Yarra Bend Park in Kew, which Scott is enthusiastic about and Mel plans to run in a few weeks. One anniversary: Tuggeranong, with a superhero theme; Mel speculates that Event Director Gary Clark, already seen in Flash and Superman costumes, may want a third.

• Episode 7 - Ashley Cowley

  Scott: "Let's jump straight into what's happening this weekend. We have one launch that Maria and Andrew have told us all about out at Wyndham Vale. And where is the cake this week?" The cake is at Kirra parkrun in Queensland, celebrating its fourth anniversary with an 80s theme, which sends the hosts into 80s costume reminiscences (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles at Riverway, Ghostbusters at Noosa, Scott angling for Skeletor).

• Episode 6 - Northern Territory

  Scott "There are no launches this week", Studley's launch has slipped by a fortnight, then "But where is the cake this week?" Anniversaries: Golden Beach (QLD) second birthday with a carnival fiesta theme, which Melissa is attending; Ipswich second birthday with a Tackiest Formal Wear theme ("like Melbourne Cup dress, but at the end of the day, not the start"); and Lake Mac (NSW) third birthday on a Valentine's/love theme. Leads into a discussion of Valentine's traffic-light parkruns and a mortified at being read as looking for a girlfriend.

• Episode 5 - Dave Robbo

  Woodbridge Riverside parkrun (WA) launches this week, a call-back to Jeremy Savage's episode 2 interview. Then "Where's the cake this week?": a Super parkrun in Victoria for Toolern Creek's first anniversary, with a superheroes theme, which Mel mispronounces and Scott corrects on air ("happy birthday, Melton South parkrun").

• Episode 4 - Matt Shields

  First anniversaries this week: Tamborine Mountain in Queensland (trail course, small creek crossing, rated among some parkrunners' five hardest) and Cooks River in Sydney, celebrating with an apron theme. Bibra Lake's orange-themed first anniversary was covered a moment earlier in the social round-up, and The Terrace parkrun's launch at Raymond Terrace was previewed in the Robbo interview.

• Episode 3 - Ian Hay

  Melissa opens with "And where is the cake this weekend?" Churchill parkrun launches in Victoria (no cake expected at a launch), and Bibra Lake parkrun in Western Australia celebrates its first anniversary with an orange theme, which the hosts speculate about at length. They also flag Australia Day parkruns across the country, and preview next week's guest, Robbo, of the Region of Runners and the parkrun Show Australia podcast, ahead of The Terrace parkrun's launch on 30 January.

• Episode 2 - Norm Phillips

  "Time to have a look at what's on the calendar for this Saturday. We have no launches to attend but where is the cake?" No launches this week; St Peters in Sydney celebrates its fourth anniversary with a fluoro theme, and Point Cook in Melbourne its second with a Hawaiian theme, prompting Mel's recollection of Kawana's Hawaiian first anniversary and her pineapple costume.

• Episode 1

  Opened "Where are the launches? Where is the cake?" Sirromet launches in Queensland on Saturday 9 January (no launch cake, but wine after breakfast, being on a vineyard); Pioneer (WA) and Shepparton (VIC) share their second birthdays. Scott notes Shepparton's Event Director Alan is celebrating both the anniversary and his own 100th run.