25 runners ran 7k to paint a new Youth Centre building in Gospel Oak

On a cold and wet Wednesday evening 25 hardy souls meet at Somers Town Community Centre. We had an important mission- to paint a hall for a Youth Group based in Gospel Oak. A corporate group had started the job but had been unable to finish and it needed a second coat. They are tight for time and have already started moving over some activities to the centre.

Gospel Oak Action Link or GOAL is a registered charity delivering services for young people in a severely deprived area of London. They offer services for all young people, and offer special programmes for the most disadvantaged youths, particularly those at risk, who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), youth offenders and young people with mental health problems.

Red Mob of Runners

Following a few high octane indoor warmup exercises we braved the cold, heading off as a pack in the direction of Queens Crescent. We were greeted by Anita from the centre and a group of kids playing table tennis. They were amazed that a big group of people in red t-shirts had bothered to run in this weather, and were now filling up trays with white paint to splash over the walls. They should see some of the other things we get up to on a Wednesday evening...

The Painting/ CORE exercise rotation experiment

With brushes and rollers at a premium we worked on a rota system- half the team performed some CORE exercises while others painted the walls- swapping roles on a regular basis. We managed cover a fairly large area in a short space of time, but with time running out we had to take our white paint splattered bodies and dash for home.

2 routes back to Bob at Somers Town

On the way back we broke into 2 groups- 1 group picked up the pace and ran an additional 1km along the canal, while the others made a beeline for the finish-following the same route we travelled on the way up. Despite their best efforts the canal group couldn't bridge the gap and finished a few minutes behind. Great work all round.