After each conquering the particularly muddy Hilly Fields parkrun course, 5 hardy GoodGymers braved the worsening weather conditions to make the park a little better for everyone.

THE PARKRUN

A quick shout-out for a few pre-Mission run stats worthy of mention:

• Jacqueline clocked up another MASSIVE number, completing her 300th parkrun.

• Kim set herself a course PB, despite the challenging conditions.

• Vic also finished first lady for about the gazillionth time!

THE MISSION

Firstly, we got to welcome Sophie to Lewisham as she visited us from (mostly) Lambeth as part of her ongoing area-hopping efforts - great to meet you, Sophie!

Having taken on board a warming post-parkrun brew, the five armed themselves with a picker and a particularly strong rubbish bag each before setting off on a reverse lap of the parkrun course (just as the rain started).

Despite early slim pickings, maybe a sign of users valuing their park more in COVID times, the usual small plastic waste items were accompanied by the now ubiquitous disposable face masks.

The time of year was also reflected by an abundance of party streamers and miniature booze bottles, plus a few Christmas baubles suffering the effects of falling from their wild homes.

As we moved to a more exposed part of the park, and the wet and cold started to bite, it was time to deposit ours bags and head home for a well-earned cuppa.

If you’d like to join future park improvement efforts, please check out Lewisham’s next Borough-trotting picking mission, scheduled after Catford parkrun on Feb 12th!