Annual Martian Race 👽

It was that time of the year again for the Woking Martian Race. It was not as hot as it has been previous years but still a very warm day. Today there were plenty of events going on with most GoodGym members either taking part in the race and volunteering as marshals.☀️

James unfortunately could not be at this years events as he was doing the Richmond 1OK and then straight after heading to Kingston for the Southern Athletics League event 🏃🏼‍♂️.

Wayne arrived at the event village early as he pulled out of the race due to not being 💯% so decided to volunteer as a marshal. Wayne had to be at the event for 07:30 for a safety briefing as well as picking up his high viz, instructions on how to get to his marshal spot as well as a goodie bag from the sponsors 😄. Wayne also helped some of the local vendors with setting up their stalls. Wayne was at checkpoint 29 which was quite close the event village and in the shaded woodland 🌳area of the common ☀️. Wayne had enough time to go and find his spot and come back to see his fellow goddgymers.

First to arrive was Annewith her beaming smile she was rearing to go, Annehas been getting her regular runs in the week in preparation for her tackling the 10k route 🏃‍♀️.

Next to arrive where the Jacksons. Katie & Phil had signed up to do the 10k and have been training really hard for it especially Katie. Shortly after Kirsty, Adam, & Alys arrived.

Alys was doing the 5k while Adam who is currently nursing an injury decided to do the 10k along with Kirsty who was running for the first time in Months after her injury they both decided to run together same as last year ❤️

Nadia & Andy arrived they were originally part of the cheering squad but decided to sign up t do the 5k which was great.It was fantastic to see so many local running clubs as well as local organisations that Woking GG have helped over the years. There was plenty of support for everyone from all over the course 😇

First to go were the kids who were doing 2k it was great to see many young faces from the junior park run that Woking GG have an active role.This was followed by the 21k, which was then followed by the 10k and finally the 5k.🏃🏼‍♂️

Wayne had to head off to his post which was checkpoint 27.The first GG Runner that Wayne saw was Nadia & Andy. Shortly after Phil came towards Wayne Phil got extra shouts of support as he is Wayne favourite 🤣. Wayne had to wait a while before he saw the next GG member and it was the lovely Katie always smiling and looking fresh as a daisy 💨.

There was another wait about 15mins before Wayne saw Alys all in Red, with her tutu and GG Cap laughing and smiling away 🏃‍♀️. In the distance Wayne saw a red shirt and it was Anne and went to see her but noticed that Anne had her hand wrapped up due to her falling a few times and cutting her palm as well a bruising her arm, but Anne being tough as old boots continued with her run (Superwomen)

Shortly after in the distance Wayne heard a familiar laugh it was Kirsty & Adamcome through the clearing in the tree’s, both of them doing incredibly well considering their injuries.🌎

It was now coming up to 3 hours and Karl the tail runner appeared with the final runner. We all ran back together and cheered the final runner across the finishing line.

Everyone did so well and once again plenty of money was raised for local charities 🏆

After the event some members headed home while a few headed into town for a well deserved lunch.😄

Fantastic work everyone see you all next year.

Wayne, Charlotte and Nadia were this month’s volunteers for the set up of the All Aboard Club’s train set for children’s playtime. The organisation supports children with ADHD and SEN.

Wayne and Nadia had been to Junior Parkrun beforehand so today was a double day for them. They arrived early and had a good chance to catch up. 💬

Soon after all the other volunteers arrived and we were joined by Charlotte who was telling us of her busy morning managing her household! It was great to see Charlotte again. 👋🏼

We have a few seasoned train track builders now so the team have more intuition on how to choo choo choose and place the tracks. It was an interesting configuration again and as always we were excited to do the final step of placing the choo choo trains on the tracks. 🚂

Some early arrivals jumped straight in which was a delight to see.

Great job everyone on a happy Sunday!

All Aboard Club

This morning we were back in Brookwood at the All Aboard Club helping set up a big train track for kids to enjoy. 😀

We welcomed Charlotte who is a Member of Goodgym Richmond. Charlotte has met some of our Woking GG members at the Martian Race a few years ago. Charlotte has recently moved to the area so hopefully we will be seeing more of her 😀 It was also great to see Claire back and what a great task to come back to. Wayne was pretty tired after completing a 10k run this morning but along with Richard (Mr All Aboard) and the group got stuck in. We all took up positions in different areas of the hall and started to lay the tracks. We were also joined by other volunteers doing their DofE which was fantastic.

In no time we had between us all made a very complex looking track with many twists and turns 🚂 which i am sure the kids will love.

Another great morning. Hope to see you all on Wednesday when we will be doing a leaflet drop for Sam Beare Hospice...😀