Ten runners ran 6.7km to help the Canal and River Trust at Belgrave Lock

On what was described as the hottest GoodGym task since GG Leicester launched, a team of ten trooped along the Grand Union Canal to help the Canal and River Trust apply some woodstain to sleepers along the canal edge at Belgrave Lock before retiring to the Black Horse for some celebrations.

We welcomed Laura to her first GoodGym group run, we hope you enjoyed it and would love to see you back with us again soon! A beautiful, peaceful run at a gentle pace along the water's edge past Abbey Park saw us arrive bang on time to meet Oliver from the C&R Trust who briefed us on our task for the evening. With Mel and Lindsay getting stuck into some litter picking, the rest of the group armed themselves with brushes and pots and got stuck in. Luckily we were working in the shade and the mild breeze made for very pleasant and relaxing working conditions given the brutal heat of the day. By the time we had to stop we had completed around 35m of the sleepers and it looked mighty impressive. Dave noted that as we were working our way back along the sleepers towards our base that the more we got done tonight, the nearer we'd be to get here if we come back again to carry on!

As we made our return journey we realised that the sleepers we'd been working on went all the way back to Abbey Park, a distance of around 850m! This task could be our very own version of painting the Forth Bridge!

Upon our return we all headed straight to the roof terrace of our favourite little watering hole. We congratulated Laura on completing her first good deed who may now be under the impression that every week involves gin and doughnuts after the run, then it was time to celebrate our very first GoodGym angel. Jimmy completed his 100th good deed tonight, an incredible achievement considering GG Leicester has yet to mark its second anniversary. Jimmy very rarely misses a group run having been with the group from the very first day and his absence is always noted with a puzzled "where's Jimmy?" from the group if his bike hasn't pulled up outside by 5.50pm. He regularly volunteers to back mark for us and without exception makes sure any new runners feel welcome. Congratulations Jimmy on being our first GG Leicester Angel, we can't wait to see your new shirt!

Our final "celebration" was tinged with sadness. Lindsay, one of our run leaders, is moving down to Kent and this run was her last with us as a "regular" for the forseeable future. Much like Jimmy, Lindsay's contribution to the group has been immense. She first appeared on a group run at our third event and has completed a mightily impressive 76 good deeds with us despite significant injury problems this year. She has taken charge of a number of group runs, is always friendly and supportive to other runners and has shown amazing commitment to the group since her injury, still turning up and walking to tasks regardless of the weather even though not being able to run has proved incredibly frustrating for her. Thank you for everything you've done Lindsay, do let us know when you'll be around on any weekends and we'll get some community missions set up!

A wonderful evening with wonderful people and a great new task that looks like it'll keep us busy a number of times over the coming months!

Happy running, HD