Some of West London’s finest GoodGymmers and parkrunners amassed at Bishops Park for Fulham Palace’s 396th parkrun. It also so happened to be Hammersmith’s very own Bethan’s milestone run, and what better way to celebrate 100 Saturday mornings of getting up early to go running than with friends in a soggy park?!

Cookie was Rain Director, sorry, Run Director, and made sure everyone was assigned the right volunteering roles, and that the runners knew what to do. He gave a big old shout out to Bethan (to her utter delight) and made her come out at the front as well so the crowd could cheer her!

Bethan wasn’t just running today, as she helped set up the event and made sure the finish funnel was perfectly poised. Divy and Lucy were on barcode scanning duties, and Michelle marshalled on the home straight and made sure to cheer everyone on as they went by. John was originally down to help funnel manage, but stepped up to the ‘puddle corner’ to Marshall (thankfully without puddle today, in spite of the rain).

There wasn’t just a strong GoodGym turn out for the volunteers, but for the runners too. Dave, Chris, Will and Ivy were all in their red shirts too, being supported by the fabulous team of volunteers.

The biggest shout out though goes to Ana though who kindly stepped in last minute to tail walk. We all made sure to stay and cheer her on as she crossed the line last, and almost forgot to take her finish token in the excitement of it all.

A parkrun and a GoodGym surely wouldn’t be complete without a sweet treat. Luckily Bethan and her friends had a hat-trick of delicious bakes for us to sample after our toils this morning - brownies, 100 sandwich cookies and t-shirt biscuits.

The rain was really pouring now, so we took refuge in the palace cafe to finish our treats with a warm drink, and a debate about the big events of the day. Sorry King Charles, but Bethan’s outshone you today!