School holidays had hit Acton Junior parkrun attendance today as volunteer and runner numbers were down. The children were either on holiday or still in bed. An emergency call to action had gone out for volunteers and the rota had filled with West 4 Harriers and GoodGymers (sometimes both), including Maria who came to her first GoodGym task and used her past experience of working with children to make a positive impact on the runners. Welcome Maria! 🥳👏

With the barebones set of volunteers, all the essential roles were covered. Michelle, Kash and Joanna were marshalling, with Maria and Sevan on finish tokens and barcode scanning respectively. Jon came in disguise, funnel managing in his West 4 Harriers kit and Steph had the sometimes entertaining, sometimes agonising task of tailwalking.

Of the 40 finishers today, as is often the case, the last one needed some motivation to get to cross the line. Their "motivator" parent tried different techniques until their last resort, to say no sweets and that they would fart in the refusenik child's bed🤢. That last threat scared the little girl and she broke into a run all the way to the finish with Steph close behind.

Enthusiasm for taking part in Acton Junior parkrun was a bit low this week as the runners could see that it wasn't summer anymore by looking out of their windows. The rain held off for the parkrun, it was just miserable before and after, making the achievement of the 37 finishers all the more impressive.

Divya almost missed out on completing his 250th good deed - which he only mentioned after the run - with the Run Director searching around for her missing funnel manager. He did make it on time though to keep children in order and heading straight through the funnel to collect their finish tokens from Joanna. Ahead of the start, most GoodGymers were more concerned with a smaller number. The number of sides on the sculpture that Ariane would be marshalling at. The ad-hoc marshal point for the day that Alan discovered was made up of dodecahedrons ("the big metal things") and was actually meant for bouldering.

Around the course, Steph took on the role of tail walker, encouraging the children at the back to keep going to the finish. Kash was barcode scanning and Alan tried to keep time, battling his iPhone screen that was sensitive to raindrops and could randomly record phantom runners. Sevan was also marshalling and spotted one cheeky participant run through a gate late and join his friend at around 1/3rd distance.

If you'd like to join us next month, in any role around the course, sign up here!

One of hottest days of 2025 so far brought into Acton Park 86 young runners who crossed the junior parkrun finish line. It wouldn't be possible without our superb volunteers - and there was an abundance of them! GoodGym alone provided 4 pairs of hands to clap for the children around the course (Steph, Alan and Kash) or hand out the finish tokens (Joanna), one pair of eyes to keep them on time (Harvey) and a pair of legs to make sure no child was left behind (Chikako). The volunteer roster was so busy, that Alan, Kash and a Duke of Edinburgh volunteer were all three deployed to secure the roundabout - the landmark of Acton juniors course!

Join us for the next junior parkrun volunteering task at Pitshanger Park or wait for another monthly Acton juniors gig - keep an eye on the second Sunday of each month!

GoodGym Ealing were volunteering at their regular monthly session with Acton Junior parkrun today. Joanna, who was Run Director, was on her best behaviour as Barry, the parkrun Regional Ambassador for North West London, was visiting 🫡

As usual, GoodGymers were present all around the course. With Sevan at marshal point 1, Chikako as the VI Guide and Steph tailwalking and highfiving (should that be an official role?) children at the turnaround points. In the funnel, Chris was dishing out finish tokens while Kash and Louise were scanning the barcodes back in.

At the start, Joanna added an extra twist following the warm up. A high speed version of Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes to raise the runners heart rates before they set off. It made the warm up way more interactive and might have contributed to some new PBs!

🧒🙎🦵🦶🦵🦶
👀👂👄👃
🧒🙎🦵🦶🦵🦶

GoodGymers from Ealing, Hounslow and Newham were at Acton Junior parkrun today, where the glorious spring morning brought 66 finishers to the park. The 8 GoodGym volunteers came to the park for some sunbathing, then decided to help out when they saw that Junior parkrun was on. Joanna was the Run Director, Harvey was marshalling, Chikako took the role of the VI guide and tail walking duties were shared by Steph and Louise, who was very excited to wear the be-tailed orange hi-vis. In the funnel, Michelle was handing out finish tokens before Kash and Sevan scanned barcodes.

On the weekend of International Womens' Day, 2 of the top 4 finishers were girls again. A common occurrence at Acton Juniors. What was really encouraging at the finish was that they and their parents were praising and encouraging each other, commenting how the other was pushing them onwards due to how consistently similar their performances were. It was great to see them trying to achieve more themselves and also to help their fellow runner do the same.

Sunshine on tarmac and cheers that quicken
Bright crisp hi-vis and foam hands as mittens
Neat finish tokens tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite parkrun things

When the mud slides
When the cold clings
When I'm feeling drowned
I simply remember my favorite parkrun things
And then I don't feel so bad

It was pretty wet and miserable at Acton Junior parkrun this morning and bets were being taken on how many children would actually take part. Guesses ranged from 6 to 12. The children proved us wrong though as 20 of them ran the distance. Well done Kash for being the most optimistic!

The volunteers too were troopers, adding some humour into less than ideal conditions. Most were varying degrees of wet. Around the course there were:

• Sevan: Marshalling. Wet feet
• Kash: Barcode scanning. Wet all over
• Alan: Timekeeping. Wet jeans and wet phone, meaning some extra runners were recorded
• Chikako: VI Guide. Wet feet
• Joanna: Marshalling. Not wet in her signature DryRobe 💡