What a month of running tag antics! Well done to everyone who has tagged, nearly tagged, been inspired by the game to plot a new route, or helped the rest of us with clues on the WhatsApp group. As many of you will already know, we've enjoyed this game so much that we've decided to keep it going for another month. Hurrah! If you haven't already signed up, then click here for the May listing.

**Report written by our brilliant Quest Quizmaster James Lovell:

Well done to everyone who took part in the Mad March Quest, and especially to the amazing eight people who got all the questions, Juli, Sophie, Claire, Michelle, Matt, Tara, Amy and Jess!

Looking back on it all now, what an exciting month it was. Juli leapt into an early lead with a stonking 10 on the first day, a lead that she would never relinquish for too long. Jason put up a strong challenge early in the month keeping Juli on her toes. Meanwhile Sophie and Claire gradually accumulated away. At the end of the first week the most popular question was about a pub – perhaps we were all dreaming that they were open!

At the half way mark, Juli, Sophie and Claire were all within 10 of the end, but the clues were getting trickier to get to. Sophie and Claire ticked them off one by one, edging towards the finish over a couple of days. Juli on the other hand went on one long run, smashing the last few clues to jump to the top of the leaderboard and be the first to finish. Sophie followed within hours to claim silver, and Claire a few days later for bronze. Juli’s effort was particularly impressive, not only did she finish first, but she also completed all of it on foot – 160Km in 18 days. A special mention also to Matt who started late, but completed it quicker than anyone else, in just 15 days.

One of the main challenges for the Maidenhead-based people was how to get the Windsor questions. Sophie and Claire, and Paul and Tara, went on epic bike rides to achieve this – Sophie in particular complaining of a sore rear for days afterwards! Paul and Tara were on a birthday outing and racked up a massive 32 answers, the most in a single outing! What a way to celebrate! On a separate occasion, Tara demonstrated her route planning ability, plotting a route in the shape of a large…finger.

There were interesting scenes in Littlewick Green where they were filming a Midsummer Murder about scarecrows, and a couple of people reported asking bemused film crew members to go and get the answer for them. From scarecrows to scary, Jess and Sophie terrified themselves on a ghostly night run in the woods looking for a memorial to a crashed WW2 plane.

Some incredible distances were covered in pursuit of the truth. Jess completed her first half marathon by accident, just going for one more clue a few times too many. Clare had an amazing 30km walk/run adventure around Cookham and Hurley, fuelled by ice cream delivered to her on route by her husband.

But for me the highlight of the month long quest was Sophie and Jess, at dusk by the river, having to ask two men smoking ‘special’ cigarettes to move off the bench they were sitting on to see which organisation had donated the bench. Well done ladies!

Congratulations to everyone who took part, here is a links to the finishing leaderboard and answers.

Welcome and well done to Jason for his first good deed with GoodGym, and to Matt and Vikie, who were returning for their second community missions and ALSO squeezed in a GoodGym fitness session with Amy earlier in the evening. It was also great to meet Louisa, who has an awesome 31 good deeds under her belt, having joined GoodGym in Ealing in 2018 - before most of the rest of us had ever heard of GoodGym! Thanks to Matt, who has written the following to capture the spirit of the evening:

With the nights getting shorter and with new found freedom as restrictions ease, a team of pickers descended on a parade of shops and surrounding roads in search of litter. What turned out to be a large amount of cigarette butts and other rubbish it quickly became more than just the litter.

As the first outings for some and the beginning of many more missions on the horizon it gave a great opportunity to connect with new members, learn about each other and even engage with local residents who were very thankful for our efforts. Perhaps even laying the path for them to become members in the future.

Great work team!

DaznBone (aka David Bone and Darren Strachan) are a pair of ultra running coaches, super experienced long distance runners and race directors of the Camino Ultra series. At least 10 Goodgym runners and volunteers will be attempting the Camino London Ultra in June (a 50km run from Welwyn Garden City to Hackney Wick), and ultra running has certainly become increasingly popular in the Goodgym community. We were super thrilled to be able to host a special Q & A call with two running legends, and we took the opportunity to talk about:

• Nutrition and kit essentials
• Training for long distance races, and safely ramping up your mileage
• Mindset tips and tricks, and how to conquer race day nerves
• Race organising in the time of Covid
• How to make the most out of your first ultra running race!

Enter the Camino Ultra London 50km here:

https://www.racedirector.co.uk/events/lea-valley-50km-2021

Here are some great links relating to our talk:

https://daznboneultra.com/camino-ultra https://www.caminoultra.com/ https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/camino-ultra-london-50km https://komfuel.co.uk/ https://ultrarunninghistory.com/15-sandra-brown/ https://open.spotify.com/show/3twsKMDmH6YdsKF1jIeRAJ?si=2iZTU54CRR-z3KdeR5MKhw https://open.spotify.com/show/3bFd9VVlaTy4Id8CS8Ctmc?si=s9qS27JORH2e5-b8kkUDag

Check out a recording from the event by downloading the video here:

https://we.tl/t-O1hv4cRdc2