Official and unofficial parkrun events + 2025 Southwark Slam is coming, bigger and better than before! - Burgess parkrun #577 - 30/08/25
- aqasanu
- Sep 5, 2025
- 3 min read
Despite copious amounts of Deep Heat and osteopath appointments, I was still not ready to run. But I decided to treat myself to a double dose of parkrun joy, firstly by volunteering at Burgess parkrun on Saturday and then Kennington junior parkrun on Sunday. Double bubble!
Parkrun manages to work its magic even if you’re not running, which was confirmed by Sigrun who was volunteering at Burgess parkrun due to an injury. Sigrun explained that there was a temptation to stay at home but instead she decided to come out and volunteer, which had lifted her spirits enormously.
On Sunday, I was speaking to Jay, who is in the UK from South Korea, training to become a doctor. Jay shared that Seoul, the capital city, has a population and size similar to London but without the same amount of green space and sadly, currently, no official parkruns. However, if you find yourself in Seoul on a Saturday you can run with the Seoul Flyers, which organises free 5k runs similar in spirit to parkrun :) Their website states they typically meet on Saturdays at Ichon Hanganag Park for a 5k or 10k along the Han River, starting at 08:30 with a follow-up breakfast and coffee at a nearby café.
It made me think of parkrun Lisboa INFORMAL/Corrida-Caminhada, a group which hopes to one day become an official parkrun event in Portugal. Already popular with parkrun tourists visiting Portugal looking for their Saturday morning ‘fix’, parkrun Lisboa Facebook page has 1.6k members, so hopefully their official inauguration will be coming soon.
Talking to Jay reminded me how lucky I am to live in the London Borough of Southwark, which has 610 acres of public parkland, making it one of the greenest Boroughs in London. It also has 6 parkrun events!
Starting on Saturday, 06/09/25, the aim is to participate each week at a different Southwark parkrun to complete the Southwark Slam 2025. Started back in September 2015, our thinking behind Southwark Slam was the idea to complete all the parkruns in the month of September. This year I’ve decided to include the two junior parkruns (which take place on Sundays), taking the total number of events to 6 🙂
Over the years, I’ve been thrilled to complete the Southwark Slam with many fellow parkrunners, creating local parkrun event solidarity, friendships and lasting memories.
I am employed by the London Borough of Southwark to support care-experienced young people. This year, I’m delighted that some of my clients, who have been working on various health, fitness, and wellbeing goals, will be participating in different events of the Southwark Slam with me. I’ve been registering clients to parkrun, helping them with their training. I can’t wait to introduce them to the gift that parkrun participation can be.
Significantly, the founder of parkrun, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, is a care-experienced person so I can’t wait for them to see what a care-experienced person, like them, can achieve/create by drawing on their unique circumstances. They will be able to see that care-experienced people can create great things.
I look forward to seeing new and old faces at the 2025 Southwark Slam, forging new friendships, deepening existing ones and inspiring some care-experienced clients.
Stay safe, happy running or walking, rain or shine.
The order of events for the Southwark Slam 2025 will be;
Southwark parkrun - Saturday 06/09/25 (this will be their anniversary event)
Peckham Rye parkrun - Saturday - 13/09/25
Peckham Rye junior parkrun - Sunday - 14/09/25
Dulwich parkrun - Saturday - 20/09/25
Burgess parkrun - Saturday - 27/09/25 (this will be their anniversary event
Burgess junior parkrun - Sunday - 28/09/25
You can read about how parkrun was created by the founder, Paul Sinton-Hewitt, a care leaver, in his book ‘One Small Step’ The Definitive Account of how a run become a Global Movement by clicking here
Interesting and inspiring as ever.