It was a pretty fresh morning on London Fields and with the beginning of half term numbers were low. That said the ever dependable Nick and DoE volunteer Zach meant that there was a great core team before we dragooned a few parents into helping out so we would be able to put the run on. Luckily Alfred's family were in attendance in numbers and were able to marshal the far reaches and see their son romp home in first place with a clear lead. Running her own race and in fierce competition Sasha came in as first woman splitting Conor and Gabriel. Freya had an epic finish having dragged her dad, the tail walker around. By 9:30 we were all packed up and keen to get somewhere warm. Huge thanks to the Lido staff for letting me sit in the warm and process the results.

Cross country conditions greeted us this morning, which meant Run Director Rue (wisely kitted out in a pair of borrowed wellington boots) had to do a few amendments to the course to avoid the worst of the muddy conditions, but this didn’t deter 12 enthusiastic runners (and their parents/ coaches) from appearing at the start line ready for event #306.

Nick (finish tokens) and @Nicolas Charlas (Marshall) laid out the course with the poles and cones at the top end of the course, and by the time we’d got back to the tree, everyone was keen to get going. Rue led another well choreographed Hackney Haka to get everyone warmed up, and then it was to the start line and a quick presentation to Ottilie who had completed her 11th parkrun last week (and so earned her half marathon wristband), before the timekeeper then counted down to the off.

Before long the lead pair were completing lap one to much cheering from the volunteers and watching parents standing at "mud corner", and it was soon to positions to welcome the first runners through the finish funnel in under 10 minutes(!), and a steady stream of (mostly) smiling faces after that. Once the tail walker was across the line, it was a quick pack up of all the equipment and with that another Sunday morning event was successfully completed (and with no finish tokens going missing either!).

See you next week for more fun at the Fields

Report by Nick

There was double Nick action down at London Field today as regular GoodGymmer Nick and newcomer Nicolas made it a 50% Nick GoodGym mission!

Welcome Nicolas!

Nicolas and Sooz laid out the course, Nick took the crucial role of turning point marshal, and Louise took the favoured role of tailwalker, complete with actual tail!

30 kids made it round a slippery junior parkrun today, and huge props to them all for their commitment. Louise did a stellar job keeping them all on course.

There was fun to be had at the end, as our GoodGymmers stayed to sort through the hundreds of tokens that needed to be put back in order!

See you at the next one.

Oof, it was a winter run. We had it all freezing temperatures, patches of ice, cold fingers, and an incredible 42 runners. Proving that Hackney juniors are hardy runners. Parkrun can only happen with volunteers and today was a Good Gym take over. Not only did we help with setting up and packing away, GG energy and enthusiasm lifted everyone's spirits. It was such a great GG team and a highlight was welcoming Jas to her first ever GG mission. Another warm welcome goes to Harvey a GG legend who joined us all the way from Ealing and was a terrific tail walker, making sure no one was left behind. Of course a big shout out to Danya, Jess, John, Lobo, and Nick our local GG's and the heart of the team. We'd be remiss not to say a huge thanks to Mas who took on the role of run director and made us all feel welcome and useful. Whether you were being briefed on how to marshall, or being cheered for running Mas made sure everyone was celebrated. We are grateful for him stepping up and leading so smoothly. All in all a fantastic morning and we can't wait to see more smiles and runners next week. The post parkrun cafe stop was a perfect way to get to know each other better and defrost!

A chilly morning greeted today’s 27 enthusiastic junior runners (along with their various coaches and encouragers) at London Fields, but unlike the past two weekends, conditions were almost perfect for running around the 2 lap course - the going would’ve been described as “good to soft” if it had been a race, which of course it isn’t.

Rue as Run Director led another well choreographed Hackney Haka to get everyone warmed up and into the spirit of things - clearly a few had remembered all the moves from last week’s edition, and it was an impressive sight for anyone passing by. He also proved remarkably successful at co-opting some of the parents to act as Marshals around the course to ensure all the corners were covered. @Louise Cheong donned her favoured tail walker hi viz with fashionable fox tail attachment and ensured no-one was left behind on the way round. Nick was today’s timekeeper (glad it wasn’t subzero conditions this week), and Lobo proved to a junior parkrun multi-tasker par excellence by somehow combining handing out the finish tokens to the breathless runners as they crossed the line and also being this morning’s bar code scanner at the same time - even some of the young runners were impressed by his cross disciplinary skills!

With some very impressive finishing sprints and big smiles shown by the last few runners, we were soon complete for another week, and after Lobo had completed his final barcode scan, we did a tidy up of all the poles, cones, hi viz and everything else, and sorted the finish tokens back in order ready for use in a week's time.

See you next week for more fun at the Fields!

Today's chilly London Fields junior parkrun had the support of 6 well-wrapped GoodGymmers to help bring 35 youngsters from start to finish line.

Rue took the role of Run Director today and started the kids off with an incredible Haka to warm up and get motivated for today's epic run. The children (and adults!) got into the spirit and had fun with it - with Rue making special note to respect the Māori roots of the ceremonial dance.

Check out the awesome images!

John, Nick and Jess took on key marshal positions around the course to keep our youngster running safely in the right direction. Sooz managed some precision timekeeping, and Louise (who had already run to parkrun!) bravely took on the role of Tailwalker. This week that required a lot of running, to pick up late comers and catch up with the tail of the course. A lot of kms picked up for Louise's January Challenge pledge!!

A big GoodGym welcome to Jess who came to her first session this morning - and headed on to the FUNDAY SUNDAY task straight after. Well done Jess!

Come along next week and join Rue again to enjoy some wholesome volunteering fun on a Sunday morning.