On the Verge of Greatness

68 Goodgymers helped their local community in Leeds
Alexander Kenmure
Oliver Sears
Lauren Boyd
Liv Parker-Scott
Aron Fulton
Grace Feeney
Removed User
Lizzie Kershaw
Heather Fulton
Stephanie Heath
Ellie
Tim Dixon
Ella Savage
Harry Nellis
Jessica Morgan
Claudi76
Alexandra Grove
Damu
Rosie Ratcliffe
Julie Haddon
Kirsty
Monika
Ali
Kate Summers
Amy Pezet
Nia Williams
Al Garthwaite
Sarah
Franca Hoffmann
Rebecca Jelbert
Jeni
Bethan Evans
Wai Yip
Rachel Atherton
Suki
Rebecca Hughes
John Dodds
Guy Heath
Lucie
Peter Hopson
Abi
Emily Wilde
Heather
Rachel
Kellie
Erin Fuller
Natalie Gooder
Cathy Martin
Hannah
Chris Dearnley
Helen Gray
Harry Athwal
Conor Goold
Katie Lees
Jenny
Vineeta Sehmbi
Helen Noyes
Adrian Martin
Anne
Mohammed Rafique
Cluny Macpherson
Jennifer Gridley
Callum Pearson
1 / 5
Leeds

Wednesday 25th September 2019

Credits
Richmond runner

DOCUMENT CHECKER

Liv Parker-Scott
Liv Parker-Scott

PHOTOGRAPHER

WALK LEADER

Aron Fulton
Aron Fulton

REPORT WRITER

Grace Feeney
Grace Feeney

BACK MARKER

PHOTOGRAPHER

York runner

SESSION ORGANISER

BACK MARKER

Heather Fulton
Heather Fulton

BACK MARKER

Amy Pezet
Amy Pezet

DOCUMENT CHECKER

Find out about GoodGym TaskForce

Report written by Aron Fulton

Share the love

An AMAZING 68 runners ran 3km to help completely clearing two large sections of verge for Bedford fields!

Our first task had high expectations, and boy did you all live up to them!

It was a bumper turnout for our first task, and everyone was happy, smily and chatty, spending bit of time getting to know each other before we got underway. We had a lovely send off from Councillor Rafique, and after a quick warm up of 'Jump left, jump right, jump in, jump out' it was time to see if Leeds was ready for GoodGym!

As the task was so close, the runners went for a nice lap of the park before the light faded, while the walking group headed straight for the task. It was tough to keep so many people together, so we split into two, with Aron at the front of one group, and GG Yorkie Trainer extraorinaire Egg at the front of the other group. Grace and Heather were our backmarkers.

We arrived at the task and Ian gave us a quick pep talk - our tasks were:

  • To rip out any weeds/nettles/brambles out of two overgrown areas.
  • Move everything we'd pulled out further up the path.
  • Add the "woody stuff" (a technical term) to the dead hedge, with everything else thrown over the hedge to rot down behind it.
  • Another small group headed off to do some heavy lifting moving some big logs.

After some early apprehension about just pulling out nettles and brambles protected only by some gardening gloves, everyone got really involved and there was a whir of activity. There were people pulling, chopping, running this way and that, and lots of motivating each other!

"It's like I'm back training with the paras here!" Ian, task owner, Bedford Fields

Everyone pitched in with whatever tools were available and we really started to make some progress, even if some people did have a bit of trouble with the tools...

"This rake is really mugging me off" Gillian, GoodGym HQ

When the log shifters rejoined the group we really picked up the pace, and we made some massive progress. As our 45 minutes came to a close, we swept the path and cleared away all the tools, before Egg led a round of birthday squats for Trainer Aron's birthday.

It was just a short run back to base, but we stopped off for a bit of a fun cone workout to really get our sweat on! Everyone worked really hard on the range of exercise and there were loads of synchronised squats and rope climbs which was lovely to see.

After we collected all the cones, we took a gentle jog back to HPBC, where we had a nice stretch and (for some of us) a well earned drink, with the warm glow of a good deed done (or was that nettle rash?)

Thank you all for such an amazing launch, you're all fab. Go give each other a cheer!


This task supported
Bedford Fields
Community Forest Garden
See more

Discuss this report
York runner

Thu 26th Sep 2019 at 9:25am

Great launch Aron 💪🏼

Ed Field
Ed Field (he/him)

Thu 26th Sep 2019 at 9:26am

Well done everyone and big shout to Aron for making it all happen. Welcome to the family GG Leeds!

Rosie Ratcliffe

Thu 26th Sep 2019 at 1:06pm

Great first good gym run! Loved every minute. Thanks to Aron and everyone for organising such a fantastic event. Can’t wait for next time!

Tav
Tav (he/him)

Thu 26th Sep 2019 at 1:38pm

Great to see and we are sending a big cheer up from Colchester. We have a special link to Leeds amongst our members and if any of you are down in Essex just drop me an email ! Work hard, have fun, talk to the partners and look after each other!

Chris Dearnley

Thu 26th Sep 2019 at 3:51pm

Really enjoyed it Aron / Egg, really well run event and will come back! Thanks, Chris

Richmond runner

Thu 26th Sep 2019 at 4:23pm

Thanks for leading a great launch Aron!

Julie Haddon

Thu 26th Sep 2019 at 11:17pm

Brilliant launch night. Huge well done to everyone involved. See you all next week!

Join us on our next session

Leeds

Starter Session: Gardening at Bedford Fields
🗓Wednesday 8th January 2025 6:00pm

By ensuring the community can enjoy the garden

LauraHelen NoyesKyle HealdLydia Jackson
4 GoodGymers are going - 21 spaces left! 👀