16 runners ran 4km to Barnard Adventure Playground to clear the garden

Monday night is adventure time! 16 GoodGymers met to lend their green thumbs to Barnard Adventure Playground in Islington. Council run Adventure Playgrounds offer children and young people safe, free, open-access areas in which to play - building confidence and social skills as well as being outdoors. Play has been proven to be very important in how children learn about the world around them, and I think we benefited from that last night too!

After a gentle 2km run down, the group split into two tackling weeds in planters and around a communal seating area and ‘bug hotel’. GoodGym Islington have been to Barnard previously and actually uncovered a stone seating area that had been concealed due to overgrowth. Well done Islington!

After smashing the weeding the group did some competitive playground climbing. After a few rounds there were three champions - Danica, Tom and Aidan (who won through cunning rather than brute force) who took on Caroline in a spectacular finale. It was closely contested but Danica just about edged it. Video evidence can be found here.

A big cheer for all the gladiators and their supporters!

The group let loose on the playground, thanked Katie our host for letting a group of adults enjoy the playground and headed back the 2km to Highbury Fields for a good stretch. Today’s favourite stretch, a variation on cobbler’s pose as its known amongst yogis, is great for runners’ tight hips and inner thighs.

A great task well done. What an excellent start to the week!