Blood, Sweat and Gears

GG Yorkies split into four teams to complete different tasks around the city!

Well, I say GG Yorkies, we had one GG tourist join us tonight all the way from Hammersmith & Fulham so a big welcome to Catriona, and also a big welcome to new runner Amy, who joined us for her first ever GoodGym run this evening - make sure you go and give them both a cheer.

We also had some celebrating to do tonight because Splendid Stef was running his 50th good deed and got to wear the Cape of Good Deeds.

Happy to wear the uniform - Stef

Our original task had been cancelled so we'd found lots of smaller tasks to keep us busy.

• A 2km run/walk to Millthorpe School to clear their allotment plots (led by Leanne, backmarked by John)
• A 4km run to Get Cycling to clean their exhibition trailer (led by Mitch, backmarked by Ed)
• 2 x 10km(ish) mystery routes to scout walking route instructions for YUMI (led by Becky and Paul)

Paul led a brilliant team warm up whilst I led the walking group (Ellie B) to Millthorpe School. We also had Gareth from Streets Ahead magazine taking some photos for an article so it was all going on. Each group had a specific rendezvous point and our goal was to meet back at Scarcroft Green for a little team fitness sesh at the end.

At the allotment we had 40 minutes to clear 4 overgrown vegetable beds.

Only ten minutes per bed, easy!

The team purposely tried not to work too quickly for fear of extra fitness, but they were making quick work of de-weeding and digging over whilst Beth relentlessly used a giant shovel to 'rake' everything smooth.

Becky and Paul's tasks involved their team following a set of written instructions to check accuracy for a community walking trail project called Fishergate Footprints. They also need to mark on their maps the locations of any benches and sitting points. Running whilst reading isn't always the best option though and Becky (winner: Most Accident Prone GG Yorkie 2017) did manage to trip over a paving slab and cut her knee.

Sorry I bled on the map...

A quick plaster repair and they were back in. A bit less drama on Paul's team though apparently someone did get chased by a big dog.

It was like a scene from Hound of the Baskervilles

Over at Get Cycling, Mitch's team didn't waste any time. They were straight on it with soapy sponges, scrubbing the muck off the old exhibition trailer. Katie and Freya were very excited at the prospect of using a jet cleaner but since it had a big leak in the pipe it wasn't quite as exciting as anticipated.

The allotment team finished ahead of schedule so we headed to Scarcroft Green for a bonus extra bit of fitness with loads of lunges and the team tyre challenge. Everyone was very relieved to see the other three groups coming in bang on time to save them!

We completed a short but tough bit of exercise with teams doing exercises in zones:

• The squatting zone
• The tricep press zone
• The press-up zone
• The lunging zone
• The hang zone
• The bonus burpee zone

It's like GoodGym does Crystal Maze!

..and with that, we had just enough time to gather for a big group pic before heading back to base.