13 Winter warriors, faced some fierce icy winds, to run 8km and task for GG Brent's first one back for the year!! pow pow!

FIRST ONE BACK!!! & Boy oh Boy was it a frosty one! But no weather was going to keep this gang of gutsy go-getters from the glory of the first task back in Jan! hurrah.

Joining the ranks of old familiar faces were two newbies in the midst - Kathy and Harold, who were wrapped up and raring to go along with the OG's on deck - Mouse, Dimple, Simon, Uzman, Karen, Liz, Joe, Debs, Pete and our very own Dinesh who's birthday it was today!!!!

In celebration of our fav warrior Dinesh's years on this planet, we sang a spritely rendition of HAPPY BIRTHDAY before heading out onto the pavements to pound the first half of the 5mile route.

The weather may have been cold and bitter, but the troops were quite the opposite. Gassing, chatting and smiling all the way, up hills and big climbs and windy, dark roads to the destination at hand - The Brent waterways stretch in Wembley, our adopted pride of land that we will be tending to for the whole of 2018!

After an excellent demo of fitness finese arrival came swiftly as we landed and approached Jack our host for the eve and his trusty white van.

As always the van was filled to the brim with pickers, high viz vests, bins bags, torches, sticks and stones and everything else you could possibly imagine that could get the job of clearing our patch achieved!! So wasting no time (as we only had 30mins on the clock), the team set to work on the rocking and rolling and lets watch this show unfolding!

For 25mins the team picked and pulled, dragged and grabbed all number of articles of disguarded waste from the canal and its banks. From peculiar pants, to mossy plants. Beer cans and follys and supermarket trollys. The spoils were as varied as a stocking stuffed full on xmas morning thats for sure!!

After a cold 20mins, the weather took a turn for the even colder and this sped up our efforts indeed! A quick final flourish took us to the end of our mission and we packed up quick smart, thanked our host and waved goodbye before our fingers froze too much to wave!!

The last leg of the journey was a mad dash for home, with every runner lifting legs and making dashes through every gust of chill, to get back to base before turning into ice sculptures!! But do you know what, it was a blessing in disguise this cold, because it proved to us all that no matter how many mince pies we'd all enjoyed over the festive season, we still had the skills and thrills to throw caution to the damn wind and bang out some fast miles home, smiling all the way no less!!

Back at base and we all couldn't believe our speed through the last legs! Perhaps there is something to say about being based out of a pub - The promise of beer jackets and toasty fires for relaxing! HA HA!!

But in all seriousness, this troop of terrific taskers, could not have proved their honours in a more gallant way, on this first session back! Demonstrating the promise of our teams capabilities of wonderful, worthwhile magic, for the new year ahead!!

I cannot wait to see you all next time!!!!

** DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE**

A Sensational Six, met this very cold Saturday morning to bring in the year with style.

Change of address Kilburn station was the chosen meet point today on this first for January starter session. Showing up was an impressive seven soldiers who were pumped and prepped to learn more about our Brent brigade.

After a welcome, which did a decent job of warming up our cockles, we set off on the mini jaunt of 0.4 miles down the high road to Kilburn Grange Park, where our hosts from Kingsgate Garden Club awaited us.

King of Kings AJ our excellent lead for the task was ready and waiting upon our arrival, is the manager of the Kingsgate Garden Association. A super organisation of community volunteers who work hard to preserve little plots of land across the park. They are hoping to enter one particular plot into the Chelsea flower show next year, so it needs some serious all year round tending to.

Straight to work Without wasting any time at all, the team had rakes and hoes thrust into their hands and got straight down to work with the first fifteen minutes blast of super speed raking, filling 2 giant bags in no time at all!

Fitness Fun Break out time, for some fitness fun to be had. Starting with 2 laps round the 400m track, with a lovely little speed progression at the half way point. Next up - Walking lunges, squats and partner held squat punches for 1 minutes intervals. Which by the way the team absolutely smashed to pieces like champs!!

Finished there? Leaf it out!! After the break out fitness fun it was back to work and for the final blast of leaf raking and soil hoeing which the team carried out in speedy time, like a set of Goodgym Pros. One last challenge was drag the 4, yes 4 full bags of leaves over the fence and into the compost. Just goes to show many hands make light work and what could have been a laborious task, was done and dusted in 25mins flat.

Joining the squad After the session it was back to Kilburn for a cool down jog and stretch. Thanking the team for showing up and showing out on such a cold first weekend in Jan, I couldn't have been happier with the excellent group. So hoping we've secured a few new members of our team, I saluted the troops and invited them to the next Monday meet! Hope to see you all there as well!!

DO GOOD. FEEL GOOD. INSPIRE