DPR September Newsletter
September, the month of new pencil cases and resolutions that you’ll actually keep because it’s still sunny and bright outside! Lots of ideas for running resolutions in this month’s newsletter, and the one we all need to keep is ensuring that our second DPR 5 mile race is a massive success! Enter here plus we need people to hand out flyers at parkruns over the next few weeks and volunteer on the day – get in touch with David M if you can help!
The 5 mile race is also our club championship. Other upcoming championships are the 10 miles – which is either the Cabbage Patch for those who got a place or any officially measured 10 mile race between now and 19th October, the 5km which will be Dulwich Parkrun on 1st November and then the Marathon Club Championship is open to anyone who completes a marathon in the calendar year. Please make sure that you have told Lucy Ross to ensure you are included in the overall results.
Other upcoming races
We have about 25 people entered into the Big Half on Sunday. Good luck to everybody running! This is a great race to get out and support so do come and give your fellow DPRs some encouragement if you can. Lucy Ross will be leading a Sunday run heading toward the end of the race at Greenwich. We’ll be meeting at the cafe in Dulwich Park at 9.30am sharp, passing through Forest Hill to Lower Sydenham and then along the Waterlink Way – more details on the Sunday Run whatsapp group in the next few days. We have some space booked at Ye Olde Rose and Crown from 12 noon for runners and supporters and also look forward to seeing you on Tuesday 9th September when we will be celebrating our Big Half runners with pizza at the Clubhouse following a belated Dulwich Dash. Please also put in your social diary 8th November when we will be having our annual quiz!
Autumn leaves mean cross country races! In Alan’s – our Men’s cross country captain – words: It’s 8km. It makes some people cross. And it’s in the countryside. Yes, this October will be the start of the 2025/2026 Surrey League cross country league. If running in fields of clover* floats your boat, please join the men or women’s cross country group Whatsapp chats to get race day info as soon as it comes available. The races are free, just turn up and run. If you’ve not done it before, trail shoes are recommended. The races normally start between 12-2 and the dates are:
11th October Richmond Park
15th November Hurst Green
10th Jan Oxshott
7th Feb Lloyd Park
*mud also possible
Paddock Wood Half Marathon, on Sunday 8th March 2026, will be next year’s Half Marathon Club Championship. This is a well-timed race for those doing Spring Marathons and was well received by many members this year. Entry is £28 with your EA membership until the end of this year with a slight raise after that so no reason not to get your entries in sooner rather than later, as it sold out last year! Other 2026 club champs will be announced soon.
Race Achievements
Congratulations to David W who ran the Olympic Park 10k on 3 August and to Nino who ran the ASICS Summer 10k on 24th August. And to everyone who came along to the Mob Match with Crystal Palace Fun Runners on Saturday – we were roundly beaten 53-35 – see pic above – but it was a lot of fun, and I’m sure we will beat them again when we have home advantage in the next match!
Club Championship Results
The final Summer League event at Battersea was also our 10k Club Championship. We had 37 runners including some newer members and there were lots of people very happy with their results. Congratulations to Susan who achieved an impressive new Club Record in her age category. Our first place medal winners were Nat and Ib with Ronnie and Andrea in second and James and Martha in third. Age graded medals went to Susan, David M, Andrea, Gillian and Nat. Full results here. All medals (and other outstanding ones including for the 1 mile Club Championship) will be presented at the Big Half social.
The Battersea race also marked the end of Summer League where we came a very respectable 4th. Congratulations to Andrea Bauer, Susan Smith and Ralph Spencer for winning their age categories and Gillian Cavell, Rosemary Harris and Beth Cahill for coming 2nd in their age category. And special shout outs to Ben Frankel, Darren Cheek, Andrew Wells, Nathaniel Lowis, Susan Smith, Lucy Ross and Di Suter who attended all the events!
Race Subsidy
A reminder that all members can get a reimbursement for any race they have planned for the remainder of this year. We hope that this will encourage everyone to participate in some exciting events, as well as enabling members to benefit from the club’s healthy financial position. The subsidy will be £20 or the race entry fee less £5 (whichever is lower). You can apply for any race that is mainly a running race taking place between 1 August 2025 and 31 December 2025.
If you’d like to take advantage, then you just need to email a copy of your entry fee invoice/receipt and bank details to DPR chair@dulwichparkrunners.co.uk, races@dulwichparkrunners.co.uk and treasurer@dulwichparkrunners.co.uk
So far we have had requests for the subsidy for The Big Half, The Cabbage Patch, Malaga Half/Marathon, The Vitality 10k and various other international races. Don’t miss out!
Autumn Beginners and 5k-5miles
Our next Beginners and 5k-5 miles courses start on Saturday! Please do a last minute share with your friends, family, neighbours, work colleagues etc and make applications here. We really need and appreciate the help of our club members to run as companions on these courses. Meet time is 8am and 9am for Beginners (8 weeks), 10am for 5k-5miles (5 weeks), on Saturday mornings and location is Queen Mary Gate, Dulwich Park. Each week you’ll be given a full briefing of the running course, and a reminder of how to be a useful run buddy. Free breakfast at a local cafe on the final Saturday for all helpers!! You don’t have to come every week, and you don’t need to let us know, but if you want to email in advance or ask any questions please contact beginners@dulwichparkrunners.com or speak to Susan or Di.
DPR Weekend Away – Sussex 5-7 December
After some brilliant previous weekends, we’re looking again at a club weekend in Sussex in early December in which we’d participate in the Sussex Downs half marathon. The race will be on the trails of the beautiful South Downs, and there are options to do a 22km, 12km or 9km route. We’ve done a different race with the same organisers before, so it should be a lovely run. More info here. For the weekend we’d stay in the nearby South Downs Youth Hostel. The race is on Saturday morning, which leaves plenty of time for some relaxing and a celebratory meal afterwards, before heading back to London (possibly after a walk) on Sunday. Costs of accommodation (based on sharing in dorms) is likely to be around £90 for the two nights including breakfast.
We’ll be doing a poll on whatsapp to confirm if we have sufficient interest to make the trip viable, so please do respond to that, or email James at chair@dulwichparkrunners.co.uk (including if you have any questions). Should there be enough interest, we’ll be looking for members to pay a deposit to secure their place and enable us to book the accommodation over the next few weeks.
Sunday Runs
September will be a busy month for our DPR Sunday Social runs. As well as our run on Sunday to meet the Big Half, on September 14th Rosemary and Dave Harris are designing and leading their 10k “Brockley Three Peaks” route – taking in One Tree Hill; and Ladywell and Camberwell Cemeteries. Dave says: “Dead good route this one!” More details about these routes, along with the regular Sunday schedules, on WhatsApp – so do ensure you’re added to the DPR Sunday Social group! And many thanks to Nicole Teszke for her brilliant August run that took us to the beautiful Beckenham Place Park – ending with a perfectly shady (in a good way!) route through the gorgeous park woods – pics above!
Thursday Improvers Sessions
Short speedwork on the track. These sessions are intended as a bridge between the technical sessions and accompanying drills which we practised during the summer, and the long speedwork that we’ll do later in the year. They are good preparation for the cross country season, and for the longer races such as Cabbage Patch 10 in mid October. The sessions are free to any club member who has consistently run over 10 miles a week for the last few months. If you have any questions or would like to join us, please email Susan at coach@dulwichparkrunners.co.uk
Meet a Member – Beth Simpson
What do you love most about DPR?
The community, the sense that when things go wrong for you, the club is behind you, in your corner.
The support I received from the club after I lost my partner suddenly in February 2020 was incredible. That year was tough for everyone, but even at a time of societal trauma, club members really went out of their way to make sure I was ok, in so so many ways. It’s not an exaggeration to say I wouldn’t be here now, had it not been for them.
What is your next running goal?
Well, in the short term, the Big Half next Sunday.
In the medium term though I do have a plan. My next book is going to be partly about running, partly about my transition. I don’t want to say much more because I haven’t started it yet and I don’t want to jinx it. (I’ve also learned not to talk about long term projects too much, because people ask you about them all the time!)
Favourite running song?
I don’t listen to music when I’m running. In fact I don’t listen to music on headphones at all (I’ve got tunes in my head all the time, so I’ve never felt the need). So, to answer that question in another way, my favourite running-related song (in a very loose sense) would be… Dexy’s Midnight Runners – There There My Dear. Because it’s catchy, preposterous and you don’t hear it very often.(There’s another connection too: Kevin Rowland used to take the second iteration of Dexys out for morning jogs, apparently..)
Fave food post running?
Depends on the time of day. If it’s the weekend and I’m doing a mid morning run, I’ll usually wait til lunch, which is always the same (sandwich, yoghurt, piece of fruit, cake of some description and tea). If it’s afternoon, I’ll usually just have tea and a biscuit after I get back.
What got you into running?
Like many of us I only started, or rather, returned* to it in my mid 30s. I’d spent fifteen years trying to play football but generally not being very good at it. Around the age of 37, it dawned on me, somewhat belatedly, that my body shape was not designed for football but was designed for running. So I signed up for the Bristol Half. I got a sub 2 hour time on very little training at all and that was the start, I guess.
* I say returned because I was actually in the cross country team at school and was..ok-ish before I got discouraged after one not-very-good race.
Thanks Beth (picture is of a mighty DPR rounders performance last month!), and if you’d like to feature in Meet a Member please get in touch!