14 runners met at Pen Y lan Library ready to run to run to set up the Insport Series Event

GoodGym runners all met at Pen Y Lan library at 6.30pm. There was a slight drizzle due to overcast weather conditions which both Sue Charles and Derek Brockway informed us of, but we weren’t going to let this stop us… THIS IS SPARTA! … Sorry I meant to say; We are GoodGym!

We all got ourselves signed in and began warming up. We lunged, opened gates, ushered the sheep in and then closed the gates (this is the technical terminology we use for our warm up drills). We then began running in a circle and Ben shouted different commands 1. Touch the ground with our right hand, 2. Left hand 3. Jump and 4. Change direction – Runners almost got to know each other very well playing this game with a few people nearly colliding into one another!

LINE UP!!! Everyone then lined up for a head count (whilst jogging on the spot). We said our name, our number and then our favourite animal – Why not?!? However, Ben had an epiphany halfway through and said it was no longer permitted to state the name of your favourite animal, but instead you had to act it out and others had to guess. This is when Martin’s impression of a spider completely bewildered everyone – but it’s a hard life pretending to be a spider with only 4 legs (2 arms and 2 legs). One thing to definitely mention was our counting skills; we’ve taken a step backwards in our counting abilities again GG Cardiff… we managed to do a headcount to 15 with 14 people! – I don’t think any of us are accountants by profession which might be a good thing!

All ready?! The let’s go!

Ben led the runners through the wreck (it’s what it’s commonly referred to as, however it is beautiful so clueless why they call it that!). Sue was backmarking to make sure nobody got left behind. We ran over a bridge and into the park. After about 100 metres we came to a set of monkey bars! As if monkey bars aren’t challenging enough, these were slippery… a few of us made it across and those who didn’t... well fortunately there wasn’t a swirling lake of lava beneath! We continued running until we reached the bottom of Cefn Coed Road… Uh ohhh! :D … this road isn’t flat by any means! Ben sent everyone sprinting up the hill for the first 50 metres (Just to get runners working to their anaerobic threshold). He then, like the kind person he is, said runners could walk to allow themselves to recover and continue jogging when they reached the second lamppost on the hill, stating that they then had to try and maintain a pace which they could sustain until they reached the top of the hill. Martin, Ellen, Sioned, Hannah, Hannah, Mikey, Lowri, Fiona, Rachel, Su, Lexi and Emyr – This was tough but you did it, well done and I saw some great running forms too! Remember to use your arms on the hills to help drive yourself up those hills. – It will make it easier for you! After reaching the top we were almost there. A short little jog into Cyncoed campus and up to the reception and we made it!

The place you want is NIAC!... Did you guys run here?

We went into the reception area and explained to the reception staff that we were from GoodGym and we were here to help set up the Insport Series Event. The lady looked surprised and asked, “Did you guys run here?” It was clear she was impressed by our efforts! She then pointed us in the direction where our tasks were waiting… After taking a few turns, navigating narrow passages and corridors we met some of the lovely Sports Disability Wales team. They greeted us with big smiles and a warm welcome and then we met Michelle Daltry, our task organiser. She explained about the Insport Series Event

The insport series is a key event in the calendars of both Sport Cardiff and Disability Sport Wales. Providing the opportunity to over 20 different sports including boccia, wheelchair basketball, table tennis, and athletics plus many more.

and then onto tasks they needed us to do. “Okay GoodGymmers! Here are your tasks;1.) To move all the wheelchairs into the Indoor Athletics Centre 2.) Move all the goody bags to the changing room 3.) Set up all of the marketing/promotional stands 4.) Put up promotional scrim material on the barriers next to the indoor tracks.“

Without further ado runners got straight to it, finding the quickest most efficient ways of getting the tasks done. Task 1.) At first the wheelchairs were going in all sorts of directions, some runners were wheeling two wheelchairs at the same time with each of the wheelchairs going in opposite directions, but they were refusing to let go of them (this made for some very funny photos - Hannah). Ben, who tells us every week he’s not allowed to get involved in the task as it is paramount that he makes sure that the H&S instructions are adhered to, decided that the best way for him to observe the task this week was from a wheelchair, and so he was wheeling himself around Cyncoed campus watching like a hawk checking that everyone was okay.

After all of the wheelchairs were moved to their designated spot in the NIAC building, some of the runners were then allocated to putting up promotional stands in the VIP suite whilst others had to take hundreds of gym bags into the changing room area. Blink and you would have missed them, within what must have been 10 minutes that was done. The final task, task 3, was to secure strimming to all of the barriers in the indoor track. Another 10 minutes and we were done.

30 minutes later, 15 minutes quicker than the allotted time we had given ourselves for the tasks, we had finished.

You’ve got so much done in such a short time, we didn’t anticipate you’d be that quick… This is great!!!

What runners didn’t realise was that this meant there was more time for the fitness session... It was too late to turn back the clocks now! Ben handed over to Jordan and James who would be leading our fitness and circuit session and over to Stephen who would be challenging GoodGym Cardiff in the GoodGym vs. Paralympic athlete 800m event. Click each of the athletes name’s to hear their story/see them in action

James ledger, a visually impaired athlete - T12 Sprinter & Long Jumper

Jordan Howe, London 2012 and Rio 2016 Paralympics Games finalist, world championships sliver medalists 2017, 4x European T35 100m & 200m bronze medallist.

And Stephen Morris, A 2x Paralymian 1500 finalist and T20 British Record holder for 800m, 1,500 and 5000m.

James and Jordan demonstrated and explained each of the following warm up exercises (We thought it wouldn’t be long until we broke records! Or ourselves in the circuits they had lined up for us):

• High Knees (One leg and then swap)
• Straight leg bounds
• A-Skip
• B-Skip

They then took us through our paces in a circuit session (Runners did each exercise for 30 seconds and then rotated). The circuits consisted of:

• High Knees
• Planks
• Jumping squats
• Mountain Climbers (Everest climbers they were quickly nicknamed due to given how high we were expected to put out feet!)

Fiona said during the circuits, "It would be good to be able to see them in action to race against them"... Well Fiona... After our warm up and intense circuit session it was time to race Stephen Morris. We positioned ourselves at the start line for a photo and then got ourselves into our starting positions. Our hearts were pounding through our chests but we were ready!

G0

We were off! Zoommmmm! Stephen was setting a pace which we can only reach in our cars, but we tried our best anyway. Stephen definitely felt intimidated by the speed we could run at – It’s all the running we’ve been doing lately, getting fit and doing good! It’s safe to say we did ourselves and GoodGym proud. This was fantastic and was the perfect end to the night.

All good things come to an end and unfortunately our time helping out the insport series event and with James, Jordan and Stephen was up.

We had so much fun! Thank you Michelle, James, Jordan, Stephen and the whole Sports Disability Wales team.

Lowri, a regular GoodGym Cardiff runner said "Diolch" and said that this has been her favourite task to date.

We bid fond farewells and began our run back home. The night sky was there to greet us and so we were extra careful running back. Ben let everyone know about EVERY curb and EVERY groove that was coming up, he nearly started singing Madonna’s, “Step into the Groove”, whilst pointing out that he wanted everyone to step over the groove.

Click here to sign up to the next run guys! We will be running to help out Keep Wales Tidy. The future of Cardiff’s clean streets will be in our hands!

If you would like to join in or watch the Insport Series Event then it will be taking place at Cyncoed Campus, Cardiff on Friday 8th September and Saturday 9th September. If you are able to help volunteer then they are also looking for volunteers too :)

HUGE well done to Lexi who won the RunPunStiltskin Award... You're puntastic!