Orpington parkrun

Orpington parkrun run report.
Lesley Warner-Bird:

Jet-lag ……. What jet-lag?? Our plane touched down at 4.30pm Friday after travelling 35 hours from Tauranga, New Zealand, so what better first port of call than Orpington parkrun? Great to see you laid on the rain for us, it’s just as wet as it is on the other side of the world. But what a delight to be welcomed by such a friendly bunch of like minded parkrunners. Particularly loved the music to greet us first timers and introduce us to your course.

I’m event director of our home parkrun at Gordon Carmichael Reserve in Bethlehem, Tauranga, NZ. If you’re ever on the other side of the world, come visit us. Especially for a Christmas Day parkrun…… where else would you want to be but in Bethlehem? We planned our trip to include 3 parkruns, Orpington, Millennium Country and Bushy. So of course our first choice is the best, especially as it is the home parkrun of my Warner family. My nephew, Marcus was the person who first introduced me to parkrun, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Great to see we were also joined by some other Kiwi’s from Wellington.

So here are your regular details from HQ: Orpington parkrun �Event number 658�
29th August 2026
This week 240 people ran, jogged and walked the course, of whom 90 were first timers and 25 recorded new Personal Bests. Representatives of 32 different clubs took part. The event was made possible by 20 volunteers:��Steve WEHRLE • Nick BESTON • Ali BONNAR • Malcolm BARBOUR • Sarah WAKEFIELD • Ashley FINESILVER • Ray HOWELL • Terry SAUNDERS • Marcus WARNER • Catherine CRABTREE • Richard BUTTERWORTH • Marco POUW • Lesley WARNER-BIRD • Paul STEWART-BIRD • Melanie SMITH • Keith SMITH • Bill HATTERSLEY • Michael OWEN • Rishabh LADE • Norman WARNER
Today's full results and a complete event history can be found on the Orpington parkrun Results Page.
Orpington parkrun started on 15th September 2012. Since then 14,141 participants have completed 98,903 parkruns covering a total distance of 494,515 km, including 12,098 new Personal Bests. A total of 1,063 individuals have volunteered 8,966 times.

Hi everyone. Hope you're enjoying the cooler weather this week. For Saturday I'm still looking for someone to help hand out finish tokens and ideally another marshal. Can you help? If so drop me an email at [email protected]

Ali

Run Report by Gary Marshal - 15

What has Orpington parkrun ever done for me?

Sense of community?

OK, but apart from a sense of community, what has Orpington parkrun ever done for me?

You’re not alone, there’s always someone at the same level?

Ok, but apart from a sense of community and not feeling alone because there’s always someone at the same level, what has Orpington parkrun ever done for me?

Consistency?

OK, but apart from a sense of community, not feeling alone because there’s always someone at the same level, and consistency, what has Orpington parkrun ever done for me?

Having a routine, somewhere to be?

OK, but apart from a sense of community, not feeling alone because there’s always someone at the same level, consistency, and having a routine and somewhere to be, what has Orpington parkrun ever done for me?

Feeling productive, a sense of achievement, that gives you momentum for the rest of the day?

OK, but apart from a sense of community, not feeling alone because there’s always someone at the same level, consistency, having a routine and somewhere to be, and feeling productive, a sense of achievement, that gives you momentum for the rest of the day, what has Orpington parkrun ever done for me?

Exploring new places.

OK, but apart from a sense of community, not feeling alone because there’s always someone at the same level, consistency, having a routine and somewhere to be, and feeling productive, a sense of achievement, that gives you momentum for the rest of the day, and exploring new places, what has Orpington parkrun ever done for me?

You get rewarded for how many parkruns you’ve done, not how fast you are?

OK, but apart from a sense of community, not feeling alone because there’s always someone at the same level, consistency, having a routine and somewhere to be, feeling productive, a sense of achievement, that gives you momentum for the rest of the day, exploring new places and getting rewarded for how many parkruns you’ve done, not how fast you are, what has Orpington parkrun ever done for me?

Getting into nature? A cool route that goes round local fields and paths?

OK, but apart from a sense of community, not feeling alone because there’s always someone at the same level, consistency, having a routine and somewhere to be, feeling productive, a sense of achievement, that gives you momentum for the rest of the day, exploring new places, getting rewarded for how many parkruns you’ve done, not how fast you are and getting into nature with cool route that goes round local fields and paths, what has Orpington parkrun ever done for me?

It’s free?

OK, but apart from a sense of community, not feeling alone because there’s always someone at the same level, consistency, having a routine and somewhere to be, feeling productive, a sense of achievement, that gives you momentum for the rest of the day, exploring new places, getting rewarded for how many parkruns you’ve done, not how fast you are, getting into nature with cool route that goes round local fields and paths, and the fact that it’s free, what has Orpington parkrun ever done for me?

Friendly, encouraging, non-judgemental marshals?

OK, but apart from a sense of community, not feeling alone because there’s always someone at the same level, consistency, having a routine and somewhere to be, feeling productive, a sense of achievement, that gives you momentum for the rest of the day, exploring new places, getting rewarded for how many parkruns you’ve done, not how fast you are, getting into nature with cool route that goes round local fields and paths, and the fact that it’s free, and friendly, encouraging, non-judgemental marshals, what has Orpington parkrun ever done for me?

All the other volunteers, who give up their Saturday mornings for free?

OK, but apart from a sense of community, not feeling alone because there’s always someone at the same level, consistency, having a routine and somewhere to be, feeling productive, a sense of achievement, that gives you momentum for the rest of the day, exploring new places, getting rewarded for how many parkruns you’ve done, not how fast you are, getting into nature with cool route that goes round local fields and paths, and the fact that it’s free, and friendly, encouraging, non-judgemental marshals, and all the other volunteers, who give up their Saturday mornings, and often mid week time for free, what has Orpington parkrun ever done for me?

Maybe it’s time not to think, what can Orpington parkrun do for me, but what can I do for Orpington parkrun? If you want to volunteer, please get in touch.

What a fantastic morning at Orpington parkrun!

The cooler weather made running conditions a little easier, and we saw some great performances. Our first runner crossed the finish line just one second outside the overall course record for Orpington parkrun — an incredible effort!

It was also brilliant to have pacers out on the course, helping so many runners achieve their goals and making a real difference to the atmosphere.

I had so many positive comments from participants this morning, which was lovely to hear. A huge thank you to all our wonderful volunteers for helping to make today such a great success. Your enthusiasm, encouragement and support are what make Orpington parkrun so special.

And finally, thank you to everyone who came along, ran, walked, volunteered and cheered. It was a fantastic morning! 🏃‍♀️👏

Thanks to Zena for the photos .

Kim

It's pacing week this Saturday (15th August) at Orpington.

We are gracing you with all times covered from 21 to 35 minutes so if you fancy taking on a PB finish time, your wish is our command!!

Although it will be slightly cooler at 25 degrees Saturday, it will still be very warm so please do consider a realistic target time and keep hydrated..

Our next pacing days are
17th October
19th December
20th February 2027

Orpington parkrun’s Personal Best.

Run Report: Orpington parkrun #654, 1st August 2026

parkrun. Positions and absolute times don’t really matter. What does matter is getting out there and giving your best. And when the stars align and you achieve a Personal Best, (PB), that’s the very best that you have ever done on that course, well that does mean something!

Congratulations to all 22 runners who achieved PBs this week at Orpington. Take a bow: Billy Moss, Phil Bowdery, Joseph Green, Hugh Scarlin, Lottie Sandalls, Rama Bhartipudi, Liz Baker, Goncalo Gomes, Mara Sio, Katie Keyes, Julia Carin, Derek Harper, Rachel Metcalfe, Julian King, Rahul Singh, Jumoke Ajayi, Esme Beston, Suzy Hards, Tom Cheesman, Chloe Buckley, John Welsh, and Bhagti Patel. Thanks to all of you, Orpington parkrun has now achieved an amazing total of over 12000 PBs amongst its runners since it started, 654 parkruns ago. So, my favourite park runner this week has to be Esme Beston, who was the 12000th person to achieve a PB at Orpington. Well done Esme, and I hope you enjoy many more parkruns, and many more PBs in the coming years!

You can’t get a PB for your first ever run, but you do get kudos for turning up and giving parkrun a try. It was great to see Eleazar Bediako, Harry Simpson, Casey Harper, Paul Wood and Rachel Davis doing their first ever parkrun at Orpington. Thanks for coming and we hope to see you again soon. Thank you too, to all the Tourists who came to Orpington this week. Hopefully you left with happy memories and the letter “O” to add to your Alphabet and Old MacDonald Challenges!

On to the run itself. The sun shone, but the heat was pleasant rather than excessive. Run director Malcolm Barbour led an amazing team of volunteers including the smileyest marshals ever. Take a bow, Ashley, Jay and Kai Dunston, Staljin, Alison and Caroline. The course was set by David Whiting and Dave Moss. We always run around the football pitches used by Orpington Football club, but recently they have added some additional training areas for their Summer Academy. This means we now have to do the “Orpington Kink” every week. This only adds to the fun, and hopefully no distance has been gained or lost. Course setting will be easier, however, when the football pitches have been marked out again!

First across the line was local hero Christopher Hooper in 18:36, closely followed by local legend Billy Moss just one second later. Great times were also achieved by James Pilling (24:42) and Abigail Franks (30:03) who both achieved the Palindromic challenge. My favourite through was Peter Mungeam who achieved the highly satisfying time of 34:56. We also congratulated neighbourhood goddess, and regular run director, Emma Moss, who celebrated as first woman, at the same time as celebrating her last run as a single lady. Have a wonderful wedding day, Emma, and we will see you again soon. Other achievements on this momentous day included Orpington native Ella Tyler completing her 100th parkrun, while home grown Nathan Kay his 50th, and the exceptional Yiming Guo completing a full year of volunteering and is well on the way to achieving his Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award. In this section we also celebrate first time visitor to Orpington, Duncan Ball (and his dog), whose 689 parkrun finishes topped our table, as well as local lad, Gavin Kitchingham, who achieved the highest age grade of anyone with 80.17%, and finally, to every other person who completed the course. You were all amazing!

The rest of this report is a picture essay. Enjoy, and I hope you spot yourselves somewhere amongst the photos.

Run Report by Bill Hattersley

It's Thursday afternoon and I'm just heading out to the theatre. Before I go, here is a final shout out for the MUST have volunteers we need for Saturday (8th August) - can you help???

If you can help out on Saturday please email me at [email protected].

MUST have roles:

Course check / set up x 1 - you can run too!!! (must be over 18 or supported by an adult)

Barcode scanner x 2 - 1 could be a fast finisher

Nice to have:

Marshal x 1-2 (must be over 18 or supported by an adult)
Token Sorting

Hope to hear from you

Ali
Volunteer Coordinator

UPDATE - Roster now full. Thx

We still have a few MUST have volunteer roles to fill for Saturdays parkrun
Timekeeper
Marshal (min 1, ideally 2)

Nice to have - another scanner so you don’t have to wait to long

If you can help please email me at [email protected]

Ali

Hi all

We're still looking for a few volunteers for this coming Saturday (25th July). We need the following filled to be able to run the event safely. Pretty please!! 🙏🙏🙏

Barcode scanner x 1 - Over 18 please
Finish token support x 1
Marshals x 2-3 (Over 18 please or if under 18 with an adult supporting)

If you can help please email me at
[email protected]

Many Thanks in advance, Kelly