Acton Junior parkrun's roster was overflowing with volunteers today. So much so that there were 5 (yup, five!) tail walkers who included Kash. She was disappointed that today's Run Director, Joanna, didn't assign her the orange tail walker hi-vis with the leopard's tail. Maybe next time...

Most of the ice around the course had melted by the time the runners got going, so the black ice warning cones, placed during the course check, were redundant. They looked like they were randomly placed for the children to slalom through and dance around. They left marshals Steph and Sevan a bit confused too.

There were more confused people on the course too as 3 adult men showed up after the start and asked if they were late for the start of today's parkrun. They may have been young at heart, but Sevan explained that today's event was for children only and they should head to Gunnersbury Park next Saturday. Not counting the 3 men, 45 other young hearts enjoyed today's free, organised parkrun, whizzing past Harvey who recorded their times and Alan who dished out finish tokens to the happy finishers.

Cold but sunny Sunday morning with the sun on the horizon in a frosty park, but this did not stop the 29 children to turn up and run with parents. Volunteers were present with gloves, hats, extra layers and warm coats to keep warm. Some icy patches near the roundabout, but that was it on the course. The ground was hard and the pond was frozen. Alan, Michelle and Steph Ducat were marshals today. Michelle had a new position we did not know about - the one near the logs on the path going up to the top of the park. Joanna was at the finish line giving tokens. Everybody survived the cold and went back safely to their next occupations.

Sunny morning and just over 40 juniors attended parkrun this morning. Goodgymers helped setup before going to their positions for the run. Marshals today were Harvey and [Steph Ducat](/v3/profile/stephane-vessaud. Maria was on tokens with Joanna at the finish funnel. Joanna also on communions. The junior parkrunners started to wear Xmas tops and socks like sone of the marshals. Xmas is coming. There was also a person playing guitar at the bottom of the course.

Maria , Steph Ducat and Harveyarrived early as ran to the park, so helped setup the course, mainly around the roundabout. we out signs up and Harvey did a course check. Alan arrived and joined the crew. While we were waiting for the children, a small girl arrived with her special necklace....a princess necklace which was going to help her with her running. Apparently she would not come without it : so we had a princess on the course.Maria then did the warm up: well done!! Joannaand the others were marshalling around the course which saw roughly 50 finish the course on a sunny chilly morning.

At Acton Junior parkrun this morning, there was a debate over shorts or not as it felt a lot chillier than previous days. There were still a lot of children having fun in their short sleeves who clearly hadn't felt the change in seasons yet and 48 in total finished the 2km run.

Mostly wrapped up warm, 5 GoodGymers were on the volunteer roster to help the event run smoothly. Maria and Sevan were marshalling, Alan timekeeping and Joanna was handing out finish tokens.

Kash was today's tailwalker and had the most exciting role. When the last child dropped out with 500m to go, she sprang into action, transforming from having a cheetah's tail on her tailwalker high-vis into an actual cheetah. She hunted down the next child who was much further around the course, finishing with them to allow the event pack up to begin. "Great running" as the marshals say 🏃.

Nothing can stop Goodgymers on a Sunday morning even injuries to attend a junior parkrun. Despite a bad injury, Alan still made his way to be timekeeper : unstoppable. Chikako was tailwalker with her daughter, Maria was marshal at the top gate, Joanna was handing out tokens to the children and I Steph Ducat was marshal at the bottom gate(had to make sure no one took a shortcut. 53 children completed this Sundays Junior Parkrun including a few new comers.

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!