20 fantastic GoodGymers came together to run the first official Barnsley Parkrun of 2019!

In what turned out to be a Yorkshire GoodGym gathering, GG Barnsley were joined by 14 members of GG Sheffield and Kati from GG Huddersfield! Huge shout out to these amazing, dedicated volunteers who got up extra early on their first Saturday of 2019 to come along and support us, we seriously could not have done it without you, thank you so very much!

We prayed it wouldn't rain and luck was on our side, as as the sun rose on 5th January, it was a bright, crisp wintery morning! Barnsley Parkrun is a lovely course, through the town's main park, Locke Park - which is rather hilly and therefore has been rated one of the more difficult Parkruns in the UK. Don't let that put you off, because where there is uphill, you always need to come down and it is a very pretty park to run around!

The run director Darrell was very happy to have our support on the day and quickly briefed everyone on what they'd be doing. Thanks to team finish line for timekeeping, funnel managing, token giving and barcode scanning to perfection, everything went very smoothly with very few hiccups! Team marshals were full of bags of enthusiasm and support for the runners, cheering them on all the way through. We even had 4 GoodGymers running the course, wearing their GG tshirts with pride and being our moving adverts throughout! Great job by everyone!

As the runners came in to the finish line, we handed out our GG Barnsley flyers for anyone keen to learn more about what we do! We'd love to get some more members to GG Barnsley so fingers crossed all of our hard work pays off! There was lots of thanks, praise and interest in what we do locally, from lots of the runners which was lovely to see!

We finished off with a hot drink and donuts in the Park's cosy cafe, before saying our goodbyes. Thanks again to everyone that came to show their support, it is very much appreciated!

Happy New Year!