As we continue to eagerly await the return of our Saturday morning parkrun, a group of six GoodGymmers from around North and West London got our fix helping out at the Paddington Rec Junior parkrun.

We met with Run Director Genevieve at the bandstand, and she got us sorted out to the right volunteering roles (after a couple of last minute schedule changes). Danny, Katie, Andrew, Ben and John were all marshalling at various points around the park, and I was given the role of barcode scanner.

Kitted up in our high-viz vests, the marshals made their way to their assigned locations, and I stayed to watch the kiddie’s warm up, and a 3, 2, 1, off they went. Once the run had started, I was allowed to help set up the finish funnel on the other side of the park, and all to do was to wait for the runners to finish their 2km!

Everyone else was doing a fab job cheering on the young athletes, and making sure they went the right way around the park. Before long, the first two children were making their final lap around, and number one made it over the line into the funnel in 8 minutes and 42 seconds, with second place just 4 seconds behind.

The finishers passed the funnel and collected their tokens, which I scanned to make sure they got their official results. Before long, twenty five children had crossed the line, followed by the final volunteer tail walker. The marshals had come back, and the final finish token was scanned in.

It was run-derful to be a part of parkrun again, and great to see the kids getting up and enjoying themselves exercising. Not long until it’s us again, I hope. But for now, our mission this morning was Padding-done!