7 of us took on a long run (phew) and a pretty physical task (phew phew) tonight to help Sustrans down in Old Malden.

With the usual GG Kingston leadership team on a well-deserved break sunning themselves in the Costa Del Cotswolds, it was my privilege to step in and (attempt to) cover for this week.

After meeting a potential new recruit in the Guildhall along to get his DBS check done, we went out to run through our news, and to warm-up.

Big-ups to Kate who had clocked-up 4 deeds across the weekend, and was back already tonight for another. You can take your trigger finger over here and cheer her on.

Also I got a quick plug in for the next lot of race volunteering with Virgin Sport we’re doing, at the Hackney Half in May. You get a free bib for another Virgin Sport race for your time, it’s a great chance to get GoodGym in front of lots of people all at once, and for you to meet people from other GG areas. Details here.

With one of the Kingston GG regulars about to run the London Marathon, there was some talk of the potential for ‘organised’ GG cheering at the event. It appears there isn’t a page for it on the website, so if you’re interested, perhaps e-mail HQ and get them to see about listing it.

“What number am I?”

Whilst we warmed-up, we disclosed our favoured animal-related movies – perhaps unsurprisingly, Walt Disney had the market mostly cornered. Oddly enough, contemplating royal lion cubs and freakishly fertile Dalmatians was distracting enough that everyone managed to forget which number they were in the headcount. Perhaps it’s easy to be judgemental though when you’ve elected yourself number 1.

I was chuffed to discover the team had been studying the treasure map Mark had prepared for us ahead of time, so had a good sense of what to expect along the way. Our journey down was a mixed bag of sights and smells… from quiet suburban streets of trees groaning under Spring blossoms, to the sewage treatment works. Thanks Mark! I guess if you’re after the pot of gold, don’t be too surprised if the rainbow passes by a load of concrete cylinders full of whatsname. (The report title is thanks to Jane btw. I don’t want the credit / blame for throwing shade at Mark’s choice of route too loudly.)

After a few improvised exercises along the way including tricep dips off a pub bench, and scaling the stairs of Berrylands station, we managed to find our task owners in the park. With time against us we skipped over the intro about the cause straight to health and safety. As such, when you get a moment, have a look here about what Sustrans are doing in the area, and why your contribution tonight matters. With the time it took us to get all the way down there, in order to get back again for 8.30, we realised we would have needed to leave straight-away (whoops!) so the time the team put in to dominate the woodchip was above and beyond the usual time-frame, so thanks so much everyone! Nevertheless, with some unruly old wheelbarrows and a pair or rakes, the team covered a remarkably large area of ground with woodchip in such a brief window. Ultimately these will form more effective paths for people to pass through the space on bikes and on foot.

‘Sticky’ what?

In his zeal to spread woodchips, Rob permitted some nearby stinging nettles to deploy their self-defence mechanism on his leg. This prompted another of our team (who shan’t be named) to protest as the presence of ‘sticky willies.’ We didn’t ask.

Again due to time, we weren’t able to attack the hot drinks and cakes beckoning us from under a gazebo that Sustrans had laid on… what lovely hospitality! So with night about to happen, we left the Sustrans volunteers to their work (and cake) and set off back. It was a nice run back through the dark quiet suburbs, and seemingly the sewage had already gone to bed, cause it seemed to smell less on the way back.

After a thorough stretch to go with our long run, we went our ways, not even too far behind time either, ace!

Mark is back next week (phew) and you'll be clearing and weeding with Sustrans, so sign-up now quick before it sells out.

Thanks so much for having me all and I look forward to seeing you again soon I hope… Danny