During London Rivers Week, 25 runner/volunteers pulled on their waders to clear rubbish and overgrown plants from Lewisham's River Ravensbourne and to smash out a good, hard fitness session.

It was clear that the prospect of wearing oversized rubber boots and getting into a river was a real pull for many this week, with 31 being signed up to join us! A few were stuck at work and didn't make it, but an impressive 25 runners gathered in the foyer of Glass Mill, eager to enter our nearby waterway. This unique task also brought us some first-time GoodGymmers. Lewisham Love this week goes to Sarah, Hannah, Amy and Ali - welcome to the wonderful world of wading!

There was a very definite air of celebration tonight, as we congratulated all of our weekend warriors - well done to everyone who took part in the 5 and 10k races over in Greenwich Park on Friday evening and to Chris who, not content with his fantastic effort in Greenwich, went on to run the Box Hill Half-Marathon yesterday! Wowsers!

This was no ordinary group run (not that there is such a thing), so we did things a bit differently, with our name-check happening in the foyer (I know, radical!), no warm up on the grass (yet) and a little stroll along the path to meet Lawrence and Julia from Thames 21. We all listened very carefully as Lawrence talked through a few important health and safety points and told us about how clean our river is (though you wouldn't want to put your hands in your mouth after swishing the water - bleurgh). We had wondered if there would be enough equipment for everyone but, thankfully, there were enough waders, gloves, socks, litter-pickers and walking sticks to go round and we were all soon standing to attention and ready to go.

The long and short of it

Lawrence quickly divided the group up into tall and not-so-tall, seemingly needing some longer legs upstream, as the water was much deeper here (you don't want the water rushing in over your wader tops, even if it is a warm evening). The more diminutive members of our group headed the other way with Julia, paddling in the shallower area.

TEAM DEEP

Stepping carefully, these intrepid few used their sticks to feel ahead and test the ground, before making their way towards some dumped rubbish. Who are these people who think it's OK to toss a whole bed over the railings?! Bit by bit, the team pulled the frame and mattress to the side, to be collected tomorrow. In the plants were also lots of discarded cans, bottles and general litter, thrown over from the nearby park area.

TEAM SHALLOW

Our workers at this end tip-toed lightly, scanning the water as they went, picking up all sorts of bits and bobs that have been thrown over or carried downstream from elsewhere. Working in pairs, one with a bag, one with a picker, the river was quickly restored to it's sparkling glory, all traces of beer bottle tops, old socks, jumpers and plastic shopping bags resigned to the rubbish bin.

Once all litter had been cleared, there was a little time to tackle the Himalayan Balsam that has taken root here. All around now was the slightly odd but pleasant sound of the hollow stalks snapping and popping, as the long plants were pulled and the wild banks were tamed slightly. All the time, commuters, families and shoppers paused on the bridge, remarking on how great this was, to see people doing something about the state of the river. A few said how frustrating it is that people feel able to dump rubbish here and how it's hard to imagine why anyone would want to.

In January, we had a starter session here in the river and those of us who attended remembered how quickly we got cold, our bodies shivering and turning slightly blue! How lovely then to enjoy the river now, on a summer's evening and to take our time on the task.

Gathering all the accumulated detritus, we piled it up to be collected, returned our waders and other equipment to the boxes and cleaned our slightly grubby hands. Lawrence thanked everyone and we moved over to the grass for a quick fitness session. Pairing up, we took it in turns to run together and work hard together. Circuits of squat jumps, lunges, lateral jumps, press-ups, planks and so on were tackled head-on, with some impressive teamwork and encouragement to be seen all around. Well done everyone on a superb task and a challenging fitness session! It was lovely to stretch and chat, thinking about our next social (so many great venues to choose from now!) and looking ahead to next week's group run - have a look here and join us for a brand new task over in Crofton Park.