Sat 2nd Mar 2019 at 10:15am
Oxford Report written by Anwen Greenaway
Two plogs in one week? Well, 2-3 March is Oxford's Spring Clean weekend, with litter-picks all over the city, so of course Goodgym wanted to do our bit. After a quick whizz around Harcourt Hill parkrun, 5 Goodgymers met at West Oxford Community Centre to collect litter-pickers and get plogging. Having only ever run together undercover of darkness it was quite a treat to see those smiling faces in daylight!
Running straight out to Binsey along Binsey Lane, we eyed the litter and realised the task we had in store: So many cans, crisp packets, coffee cup lids littering the roadside.
On our Wednesday plog we found boxers shorts, and we really didn't think it was possible to top that, but oh no, Oxford did not disappoint!
The pants have been trumped by a truly spectacular find by Fiona - a theatre light! We also found a dinner knife, 1 shoe (how do you only lose 1?!), bike locks, a rather fetching pair of fingerless gloves, a dog lead, and a toilet-brush holder. But our favourite finds were the golf balls.
SO. MANY. GOLF. BALLS.
In the spirit of avoiding single-use plastic we collected them up and returned them to the Oxford Golf Centre rather than binning them, and in the process realised that Bethan is in fact the modern-day Mary Poppins, with bottomless pockets.
Returning to WOCA to drop off our 5 tonnes of litter (well, it felt like that!), we made the most of the sunshine with a few kilometres of running along the river. An excellent morning!
Sat 2nd Mar 2019 at 10:15am
2-3 March is Oxford Spring Clean - Let's contribute with a litter-pick
Read moreThursday 28th February 2019
Rhea Peart has done their first good deed with GoodGym.
Rhea is a now a fully fledged GoodGym runner. They've just run to do good for the first time. They are out there making amazing things happen and getting fit at the same time.
Wed 27th Feb 2019 at 6:00pm
Oxford Report written by Anwen Greenaway
Week 2 of Goodgym Oxford and it was brilliant to see so many familiar faces back, as well as 13 first timers (hopefully not unlucky for some!).
After an impromptu photo shoot with Jamila Begum Azad, the councillor for St Clement's Ward who had dropped by to meet us, a poster delivery on behalf of Flo's The Place in the Park to our hosts at East Oxford Community Centre, and a game of 'tell us your favourite place in Oxford' we headed off to Rose Hill Community Centre. Councillor and Goodgymer Mark Lygo back-marked, making sure that no-one got left behind.
Now, I know that in a city as flat as Oxford it's an achievement to manage to find a hill to run up 2 weeks in a row, but find another hill I did (you're welcome). Up we went, with a couple of stretches of magical mystery tour en-route to keep things interesting. It's good for you to mix up your surfaces afterall. With plenty of chat on the way, in no time at all we were at Rose Hill Community Centre to collect litter-pickers and bin bags, then straight round the corner to the Oval.
I know you've always wondered how many bags of litter 27 runners can collect in 25 minutes, and the answer is 16. Most unusual pieces of litter found:
Bottle of Vodka
Car registration plate
which means top trumps goes to the team that found.......
- Boxers shorts (hope you didn't pick them up without a litter picker!)
Delivering our bin bags to RHCC it was time to get ourselves back down the hill, this time with Stuart taking up back-marking duties. We took the scenic route back through Iffley and along Meadow Lane, with a game of sprint between the lamp posts as we approached the Roger Bannister track.
I'm sure some of you were going WAY faster than 4 minute mile pace, putting Roger to shame.
Fab plogging everyone! We'll be doing it all over again in West Oxford on Saturday, which is an extra session so that we can take part in OxClean's Spring Clean weekend, and then there will of course be our usual Wednesday evening Group Run from East Oxford Community Centre next week. You can sign up here.
Wed 27th Feb 2019 at 6:00pm
It's Oxford Spring Clean week: let's help get the city looking clean and tidy
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