After the success of our mission on Sunday with WEAct, Julie organised another GoodGym task along the Hoe Valley. Alys (and her little dog Quinn), Julie, Kirsty, Anne and Wayne, sorry, Adam ran to meet Richard in Mayford.

Richard is well known to GoodGym Woking as we often go and help him set up the railway tracks for the monthly “All Aboard Club” sessions which he runs for SEN children. This time it was Richard’s first GG mission without his “All Aboard” cap. We were all delighted when he let us use all the gardening tools he had brought with him!

Julie and Anne realised that the WEAct team had cleared all the Himalayan balsam in the areas we had planned to work on. But after a few metres of running, we found more to deal with.

Firstly, Julie asked for volunteers to cut back one of the bushes which encroached the path, allowing better access for walkers and runners. Richard and Wayne, oops, Adam did so diligently.

Armed with a long handle tool, Kirsty opened the path. Kirsty had warned everyone to cover their arms and legs to avoid being stung by nettles. Guess who forgot that covering your ankles was just as important? (no other comments). Poor Wayne, sorry again, Adam might not have read Kirsty’s messages. But this did not stop him tackling the nettles with enthusiasm. I wonder how his limbs are feeling this morning.

We pulled out a large patch of the invasive Himalayan balsam while discovering more as we worked up the path. We will return before the plants produce their seeds to try and limit their invasion. Julie will keep the WEAct team of our task.

The group ran back to our meeting point, fighting mosquitoes and calling Alys’s dog “This way”, which he is responding well to, every time he was taking another route.

Adam, we know your name really and apologise for calling you Wayne all evening!

Will you be joining us this coming Sunday to help Woking junior parkrun?

Happy running to you all.

Despite the threat of rain, 125 children (including 13 first timers) turned out for today's junior parkrun, with Karen, Laura & Alys making up three of the volunteer team. Karen has recently fractured her foot, but still turned out boot 'n' all!

Today's run director Jennifer managed to get the attention of everyone attending with the help of a megaphone, and some lucky junior parkrunners even got to use it whilst listing rules. A few wristbands were given out, and a special shout out to Rhiannon who has been attending Woking junior parkrun since 2017 running her last junior parkrun as she turns 15 next week!

Karen & Laura were out marshalling, whilst Alys handed out finish tokens. It's a task that's always made a bit trickier due to a few parents not listening to the rules about the finish funnel, so we had a couple of younger kids and a parent manage to slip through.

The rain timed itself perfectly with the start of the run, but it didn't stop 38 children getting a PB and volunteers managed to keep a smile on their faces thanks to umbrellas & rainjackets.

We volunteer at junior parkrun whenever it's on, so please do come and join us if you have a free hour on a Sunday morning.

*Alpine Loop Hill Training 🏃‍♀️ *

Big welcome to Robert who attended his first GG session, and what a session to attend 🤣

A superb turn out from Woking GoodGym for a hill training session. I'm sure we would have changed our minds if we knew what we had in store. Wayne told us there were only a few hills but I counted at least 27. Up was hard going in the warm evening and on the gravel but going down was even worse😩 . There was a lot more walking than running, at least from me, but I think we were all glad to take a break to avoid the army trucks doing their driving training 🚚. We happily welcomed Robert to his first session with us and what a one to pick! Thank you to Anne for caring for everyone on the downhill 🗻sections and go Wayne for not getting us lost. Nadia did a great job with the warm up, safety briefing and keeping everyone together. 🪾 Well done to Katie, Alys, Melanie, Julie and Andy too for conquering the hills in good spirits. 🌳The company certainly made the hills more bearable. Lastly, a thank you to Julie for the puns in the report title.