On a sunny weekend in May a massive team of GoodGymers from all over the country came together for the Bristol 10k.

The whole weekend was a celebration of all that is GoodGym and Bristol. With loads going on from Friday night to Sunday afternoon people came along and joined in at as much of festivities as they fancied.

RUM DEM CREW

For the lucky 6 people on the 19:30 from Paddington to Temple Meads Dave had knocked up a jug of his now infamous rum punch. It was an explosive mix of rum, lime, fruit juice and whole lot of golden syrup and kept us energised for the whole trip. Everything went smoothly and not even Frances’ magic jumping bean of a phone could cause a downer on the night by trying to escape to Western-Super -Mare. We were met at the pub by the Bristol GG team and a great time was had by all.

PARKRUN AND A GORGE-OUS TASK

On Saturday morning Lisa led a small team of courageous runners to tackle the Ashton Court parkrun and then down to meet the rest of the group for a task to clean up the Avon Gorge. Read all about it here.

TAGS, TOOLS AND TOWERS

During the afternoon some of us locals led those interested on a cultural tour of some the graffiti and independent shops we have in Brizzle, including Chris’ favourite tool shop, before leading them up Brandon Hill and Cabot Tower to have a view over the whole city on a brilliantly clear and sunny day. We then relaxed on the grass with some ice creams watching dogs frolick and inventing cloud-based ice cream games.

EUROPA-EAN UNION

11 of use met up again in the evening to have some lovely Italian food in restaurant that has been going for over 20 years. We are pretty sure it still has the same waiter serving up his classic jokes since that opening night. One classic was when Dancia asked what he could recommend from the menu, to which he replied,

Don’t ask me. I don’t like Italian food. I like Chinese food!

10K TIME

Sunday morning came and it was business time. Loads of us met up before the race wearing our red t-shirts and vests proudly. Vivo, our usual Tuesday group run meeting point, kindly opened 30mins early and let us use their changing rooms and lockers. After everyone was ready and we had a team photo by our official photographer Richard we headed over to the start line and got the race underway. It was a warm and sunny morning and the crowds were in great spirits. We all ran really well and thanks to the switchbacks along the route we were able to cheer each other on the whole way round. Not only that but there also loads of GGers who were not running cheering us on all over the route. There were PBs a-plenty and so many happy faces. Everyone can be very proud of themselves for not only racing so strongly but also for doing it with a smile on their face. Paul was the first GG finisher with a super-quick 40:25! After the race beer and cider was drunk and we all relaxed into a beautiful afternoon on the harbourside.

BIG UP YOURSELVES

Thanks so much to everyone for coming down. Whether you came from London, Bath or Bristol and whether you were there for the race or the whole weekend, you made it a ruddy amazing weekend full of laughs and new friends. There are loads more race events in the future and they are always brilliant so why not sign up to one/some of the them. A couple in the near future include the New Forest 10 and the Cardiff Half.

Gary