After a couple of covid-related casualties this morning, six smiling GoodGymmers assembled in Commondale on a gloriously sunny morning, having negotiated some windy roads to get there. Surrounded by free-range chickens, we redistributed the roles and set about doing the duties allocated.

Beth and I were on a checkpoint far, far away. Despite leaving what we thought was plenty of time to get there, some dubious map-reading (sorry) and incredibly icy patches meant that we got a tad lost. We managed to prevent at least two runners from going the wrong way though, and walked a little way with a runner who’d fallen so at least did some actual marshalling on top of our 11.5k version of the 9k route!

Back at Commondale, the other GoodGymmers were cracking on and doing a splendid job at their respective roles. Louise and Maddy marshalled the first checkpoint (probably far more effectively than us!) before Maddy moved on to the final checkpoint and Louise returned to base to check bib numbers and manage the finish funnel. Meanwhile, Cara and Andy were timekeepers, doing a great job of clicking everyone in so they got the right time.

The runners had all been marshalled and clicked in, bib numbers had been recorded and still, Beth and I weren’t back from our checkpoint. Again, we’d managed to get a bit lost (I blame a path being blocked off this time). So by the time Beth and I made it back to base, Cara was in the car with her Dad who’d very impressively completed said race and everyone else had left (Louise and Maddy back to York and Andy to make the most of the beautiful day with a fell run). We said hi and bye to Dave who’d organised the race and who told us that he expects to have raised about £400 (exact amount TBC) for GoodGym, which is excellent news.

And with that, we went our separate ways.

Thank you everyone, what a lovely day.