The Dolphin South End Running Club was founded in 1966.
The Dolphin South End Running Club, or DSE as it is more commonly known, was founded in 1966 by members of three clubs who were also interested in running – the Dolphin Swim Club, the South End Rowing Club, and the San Francisco Rowing Club. The DSE has grown into San Francisco’s largest running club with close to 500 members. It is also the oldest running club in San Francisco, and one of the oldest in the United States. The club is run entirely on a volunteer basis, with no paid staff or employees. DSE is proud to serve the Bay Area running community by holding low-key and low-cost races nearly every weekend of the year. For the same price it costs to run one typical 5K road race, a DSE member could run 9-10 DSE races instead.
We are proud of the wide diversity of our membership, both in gender, race, and especially age. At a weekly race it is not uncommon to see 12-year old girls toe the starting line next to 75-year old men. Many of our members have been running for several decades, and are eager to share their stories of how the DSE and the running boom began. It is our hope to preserve this heritage by publishing these and other stories on the website, so that the legacy of the DSE can live on.
Members are invited to share stories of their DSE memories to publish on the website. Please forward these to Janet Nissenson at jlnissenson@aol.com.