Two Goodgymers helped Coventry youngsters get their years off to a running start with the first War Memorial Junior Parkrun of 2024. It was a bright and early start helping with pre-event set-up from 8:10am. Nigel was determined to test his memory with where all the signs and cones go around the course having done pre-event set-up a few times before. One of the other regular volunteers was happy to oblige by telling him "yes" or "no" for whether he had remembered correctly or not!

It was then a quick hello to the other volunteers before heading to our posts for the second task of the day. Katherine was marshalling and Nigel was trying out timekeeping for the first time. Both tasks were rather tricky in the cold weather with our hands getting particularly cold by the end of the run, but it was worth it to see the 94 kids that took part today, with the first over the line doing so in a fantastic 7 minutes!

Looking forward to warmer months when volunteering is not such a challenge to keep your hands warm!!

2 Goodgymers rose with the lark to support at Junior Parkrun this morning.

Despite being a cloudy start, by the time we arrived at the War Memorial Park the sun was starting to shine through for what was the start to a beautiful sunny Sunday.

For today's run, Nigel was in charge of scanning barcodes (his favourite task) whilst Katherine took on tail walking for the second time. Katherine enjoyed giving the last runner of the group lots of encouragement and learning about her favourite colour (red, of course) whilst completing the 2 lap course.

There were more than 50 kids in total that completed the 2km course - what a great achievement!

Afterwards we enjoyed a trot around the park in the sunshine covering 5km in total - what a great way to start a Sunday.

Three goodgymers answered the call for volunteers from the War Memorial Park junior parkrun team to support the weekly 2km run.

Our roles for the morning were marshalling, tail walking and number checking, so we collected our high vis, checked out the course map and got ready for the start. It was a misty but dry day so there was a good turnout, with 54 juniors crossing the finish line.

After we had handed back our high vis, Nigel led a lovely 11km route through the Warwick University campus, waving to a resident heron and some lovely woodland, and all done and dusted before elevenses!

4 Goodgymers braved apocalyptic levels of rain to support Coventry War Memorial Junior Parkrun.

The volunteers turned up fully prepared with brollies, waterproofs and walking boots at the ready. After putting on some (already) soggy high vis, Lil, Laura and Katherine who were marshaling walked/swam the route with the other volunteers to get into their allocated positions. Meanwhile Nigel waited at the start with his phone ready for barcode scanning whilst also keeping his fingers crossed that some kids turned up to run.

Thankfully there were a hardy few that came along to run through the puddles, so our soggy start was not in vain. The torrential rain didn't seem to bother the kids one bit as they dashed through the puddles. There were 10 finishers in total who all looked to be enjoying themselves - Peppa Pig eat your heart out!

On a cloudy and cool (ish) Sunday morning, three Goodgymers went to the War Memorial Park to support Coventry's junior parkrun. Our roles for the morning were to ensure the safety of the runners and sort numbers post-race.

53 super speedy junior runners whizzed past us at our marshalling points and the run was soon over, so once we had returned our high viz we went for a social 2 mile run around the park, and had a chat about all things GoodGym and the Commonwealth games too.

Lovely to meet you Emma and Dongye, look forward to seeing you at another Goodgym run soon!

(Apologies for the reused photos, completely forgot to take any!)

3 Goodgymers beat the heat and supported at War Memorial Park Junior Parkrun's 1st birthday event.

Given the warm weather, the theme for the event was THE BEACH (the place, not the film...) There were lilos, inflatable lamas and of course, the obligatory birthday cake!

Katherine thoroughly enjoyed making a racket with a cow bell whilst cheering on the runners and despite the heat, all 33 runners completed the course with smiles on their faces (most of the time!) Everyone certainly enjoyed the ice pops and cake at the end!

Afterwards, Lil, Nigel and Katherine decided to go for a gentle jog/walk around Warwick Uni and saw all the excitement that is setting up there ahead of the Commonwealth Games, completing a fantastic 6 miles in total. After all that running, we enjoyed an ice lolly and catch up in the garden :-)