19 Fearless Hackney GoodGymers ran 6k to Mabley Green to Plogg 36 bags of refuse and recycling then hoe 1.5 tones of soil to clear 150 metres of pathway.

Our first daylight start to a session of 2018 greeted us this week which very exciting!! Although it packed into insignificance compared to having Waltham Forest GoodGym Trainer Ant along for the evening!! Ant was getting to grips with the GoodGym ropes before he unleashes his GoodGym funk on Waltham Forest on ** April 11th.** m

We had a big GG milestone this week!! Super Katie completed her magical 50th GoodDeed!! an awesome achievement helping so many people with her smile and graft. That Black T-Shirt will be winging its way over to you very soon!!

After a perfectly formed intro from Ant we set off bursting with energy on our 3k route to meet Park Ranger Bruce a familiar route and some nice pace got us over to the far East of Hackney quick smart!

With plenty of brand new equipment ready to be broken in we kitted up with gloves, grabbers, bin bag and recycling bag and spread out across the vast green space and hot Plogging!! Jogging from section to section grabbing low and very high. Picking up Penguin wrappers to investigating meaty fish, Old footballs to drink cans. Using all the embers of daylight in 20 minutes of perfect Plogging!! Collecting a staggering 36 bags along the way!!

With time to spare and energy to use we armed ourselves with hoes and blitzed 15 minutes of amazingly productive hoeing action. Clearing back pile after pile of soil to uncover metre upon metre of pathway. With a little edging off we had sculpted a almost brand new pathway for everyone to enjoy and getting Mabley Green well on its way to picking up the Green Mark (might be slightly guessing what it is called) to designate quality urban Green Spaces!!

With Ant leading the charge back to base we picked up the pace and darted back arriving back perfectly at 8:30 on the dot!

Thanks to Ant for this evening and Eva for the Pun. Congrats to Katie and enjoy Easter!!

Hope to see you all next Tuesday when we are helping out our friends at Wilton Estate!

Smooth Running

Joel

27 Hackney GoodGymers ran 6k to Abney Park Cemetery to get it Spring ready with Bulb planting, ivy chopping, path mulching and Lion cleaning.

Great to see the Bakehouse bursting with energy ready for our run!! Nice to nearly be running in the embers of day light to, not to mention the double digit Spring warmth creeping through.

After a brain teasing Question of the day from Quiz Master Ros which we didn’t get around to answering. Or no one really understood the question??

We were off on our well trodden path to Abney Park lead expertly by Katie. 3k of pretty speedy running up to Stoke Newington to me Park Manager Tom at the enchanting Abney Park Cemetery.

After we were locked into the cemetery to got to work, marching the tools down deep into the Park. Splitting up into 4 groups to get the most out of our energetic endeavours. We had Ivy clearing from grave stones to allow the 2 year grace mapping project to keep going at full steam. Wild flower bulb planting along the main paths edge to look pretty and to encourage park users to stick to the paths which helps to keep the park growing in the right places. After the snow the first path we mulched in January was looking worse for wear so we had a 100 metre sprint to re mulch it with half a tonne of Hackney’s finest mulch. And finally the historically listed Lion from a very famous and some would say unforgettable local hero’s grave. Needed to be gently cleaned to restore Larry the Lion to is shimmering glory.

This was an all action no stop furious 40 minutes of portable light action!! We had snipping, pitch forking, wheelbarrowing, roping, planting, scrubbing and of course a lot of singing to Larry!!

We really used every possible second to get as much work down even requiring a super Bolt like sprint finish to get the mulched path complete with expert mulch manoeuvring from Patrick!!

With the task complete and time slipping away we said our good byes to Tom and zipped back to base at Pace!! Katie spearheading the charge to finish off the task perfectly(ish) on time!!

Great session everyone!!

Next week we have the second half of Soil mountain to contend with and we need all hands on deck to complete the task! Be great if you could come along for more fun on the Run Hackney style!!

Have a great week

Smooth Running

Joel

P.S not sure who to credit but thank you fir the Pun!!

10 battle hardened GoodGymers braved the elements to create 80 metres of mulch path in Clissold Park!

We negative 3 and with a wind chill of -5 those who didn’t know how amazing GoodGymers are may have thought that no one will show up but 10 well wrapped up runners came to party!!

Avoiding the setting icy paths and sticking to the main roads to minimise our icy encounters we motored our way the 4k to Clissold Park to meet Park Manager Quentin. Luckily a fair amount of tools had been left out for us to get cracking straight on without the trek to the lock up. Hitting a nice early rhythm we had a two pronged attack going on attacking from the North and South to create path making glory! Actually we were much faster in the arctic cold than the pouring rain on our last visit. Once we cracked the frosty surface of the mulch there was no stopping us go!!

Working at a warmth inducing pace we managed to complete the rest of the long straight we have been working on for 3 visits!!

With the path looking great we headed back to base navigating the 4k run back. Big thanks to Dominique for helping to carry all the kit back to the lock up!! Gave everyone else a more manageable run back!

Next week we will be taking a visit to Gascoyne Estate to help the community garden with a fresh delivery of soil!

Best of luck to everyone in the Big Half on Sunday!! We are all 100% behind you and a load of us will be there cheering you on!! If you want to maximise your cheers I would recommend wearing your GoodGym tops to run in!!

Have a great week

Smooth Running

Joel

p.s Thanks Peter for the extra pictures.

23 energetic GoodGymers ran 9k to shovel away and create 100 metres of running track around Clissold Park!

A soggy February evening was no match for our enthusiasm!! We were honoured to have along Anji for the session the newest trainer to the GoodGym family who starts up Newcastle in the next month or so. Think we showed what an action packed GoodGym evening with plenty of smiles is all about.

Great to have so many new faces along for the session to, you picked a good one but FYI that was the longest run we do so all other sessions you will have no problem with!!

Sorry about the rather frantic start to proceedings, fighting against the clock and with random things going on I probably rushed us away a bit. Huge thank you to Peter for saving the day!! With some last second bag storage!!

Off we ran to the northern tip Of Hackney working the faster running streets and avoiding as many traffic lights as possible!! A quick pause to help a slightly stranded cyclist with the biggest trailer ever, which was in fact too wide for the bollard gap!! Oops

With 4 and a bit k on the watch we arrived at the edge of Clissold Park to meet Quinton, we tooled up and got down to action!!

Working in small teams on each mulch mountain to spread the chippings along the path trying to cover as much of the thick mud as possible!!

Lots of techniques on show from the shovel, barrow and tip, to the shovel and toss we made great progress!!

With the mountains going down rapidly and the paths coming along brilliantly we were only losing 1 battle and that was against the time!! Splitting up for the way back the Steady runners lead by Quiz Master Ros nipped out of the top Gate and headed for base!! The rest of the squad squeezed out a few more minutes of graft then carried the shovels and wheelbarrows the 500m back to the lock up before steaming out of the park in hot pursuit of the the lead pack! This was doubly important this week as Peter had the keys to the van so no one could go home until he got there!

Almost like it was planned 4.5k in record time with Speedy Patrick charging back to base we all arrived simultaneously!!

Ros had the question of the day perfectly set up for Shrove Tuesday!! The World record for Highest pancake toss??? 9.47metres of a flip!! We had GoodGym first timer Sam

A quick stretch out high 5 and we were away for a few well Earned pancakes!!

Thanks for coming along and working/running so hard tonight!! Top team effort!!

Catch you all next week! Same time, Same place!!

Smooth Running

Joel

p.s thanks to Anji for the extra pictures!! Top work to Tom Hill who wasn't even on the run for the pun!!