A Lovely summers evening on the riverbank at Goodgym BATH for a sweet 16 who weedy enjoyed themselves at on a 5k run involving some hill climbing with bags of mulch and weeds for The Canal and River trust.

A few announcements to kick off this evening:

Well done Pascale and Alison who ran the Salisbury 54321 on Sunday 42 & 33 k

New Taskforce - Lucy, Emma and Alison .. WHOOP!!

Welcome to Holly and Ben

Nicola and Dora were chatting away in spanish (i think so anyway) something about Mexico i think and the possibility of a night out on the plus side..keep you posted team!!

As promised a nice flat run along the canal or at least until we arrived at our destination when 7 merry men were required to head up that hill and carry bags of mulch back down to the riverbank.

The remaining members were already hard at work chopping back ash and weeding an overgrown area, Ben was in fact working so hard he broke his garden trowel...Ooops!! lot's of banter and laughter along the way.

30 minutes later

Time to spread the bags of mulch over the cleared area before filling the now empty bags with cuttings and weeds before a group effort to carry everything back up the hill where its transport was waiting to carry it off to the compost heap in the sky.

A touch of fitness stuff and looping thrown into the mix for good measure and because they enjoy it so much, although you would never guess it from their little faces...HA!!

A suitably short run back down the hill and along the river back to the leisure centre for a nice stretch and chat, perfect end to a beautiful day.

Smashing job achieved yet again team,

fabulous...fabulous...fabulous!!

GOOD LUCK to everyone racing the TWO TUNNELS this weekend especially Rhiannon on her first 10k ...GO GIRL!!

GOOD LUCK to everyone racing the train from Goodgym this weekend, can't wait to read all about that one.

Until next time, keep running and stay safe

‘Thunderstorm and hail warning for Brighton issued by Met office’ said The Argus, Brighton’s local newspaper. Surely not again! After another week of dry and balmy weather could it be possible that the only bit of rain that we’ve had in a whole week would coincide with our second Goodgym run?! The first spots were felt early on but the full deluge held off until near the end. Although the thunder and lightening felt a little ominous in the end we got the nice running rain, the welcoming kind that cools you down and refreshes.

It was a longer run tonight, 4km each way and uphill on the way there, so we cracked on with quite a pace to maximise the time at the task. The speedsters went ahead led by me and back marked by Dani, with Tess (who wrote a fantastic blog about last weeks task) read about it here leading the rest, back marked by Gillian from head office.

Our task tonight was banishing bind weed at The Bevy. I LOVE the Bevy! The pub was previously closed down because of anti social behaviour but the local community raised the funds to refurbish it and now it serves as a community pub and hub for the Moulsecoomb estate. There are all sorts of things going on there from quiz nights and live music nights, and ‘Brains at the Bevy’ where local academics come and give short and enlightening talks. The food is pretty good as well and even cheaper than chips in some other parts of town! And the locals are super friendly! Check out their website for more info and if you haven’t been there before, go check them out here. There is even a parkrun on its doorstep, of the hilly and off road variety, and the Bevy hosts coffee and breakfast after.

So there was a massive amount of bind weed that needed to be pulled up and that is exactly what we did. Whilst Jonathon & Tom did great work weeding the raised area above the pub garden (and thankfully not falling off the wall!) everybody else tackled the bind weed in the kitchen garden to the side. And after just 20 minutes we had removed 2 massive building sacks full of the stuff. Great work gang!

Bind weed banished we headed home, this time downhill. On the way back we injected a little bit of speed into the proceedings by running fast for a couple of timed intervals, stopping when I blew my whistle (that was fun, I felt like a school sports teacher!) and recovered by jogging back to join the group where we continued as one until the next burst of speed. If you want to run faster you have to, well …run faster! But by doing it in short bursts you get your body to adjust to the faster pace until before you know it that has become your new normal.

As we stretched at the end Gillian reminded us that Goodgym is about more than the group runs, so if you want to get involved with Missions and Coached runs then please join up and bring your documents along so we can get you DBS checked and doing even more good!

Well done to you all, that was a long run in hot conditions, please come along for next week’s shorter run with another great task and it might not even rain!

On a wet midsummer's eve, the heavens laden with clouds, the Goodgym runners convened, united in goal and purpose, for they were to return to the Nuttery. Fifteen-fold in number, and clad in fine clothing as red as roses, they ran three leagues to provide aid to Virginia of Transition Bath and Keith of Dry Arch Growers whose holdings had become amassed with grass as high as the knees.

With haste, save for a few drills for the troops, we arrived at our destination, nestled deep between Widcombe, and Bathwick.

                        SCYTHES OUT FOR THE LONG GRASS!  

The runners began the task of felling the blades of grass with blades of their own, in the forms of scythes of Austrian make, together with fine shears, provided by Keith, who was of great aid in providing guidance on the use of the scythes. Despite the best efforts of the horseflies and an ambush to Ollie from a hidden colony of wasps, their morale was not wavered, when the day was done, the grass was hewn down, and the fruit trees released from its clutches. No tree missed the attention of Goodgym.

After a brisk run back, we arrived back at our starting position, ready to do good another day.

Many welcomes to Becky on her first run, and a thank you to Mary for back-marking, and Pascale for leading while Steph is away, and to Virginia and Keith for all their help!

Many thanks and wanton amusement to Sam and Rosie and Mary for their whimsical quips on the title of the quest. Kudos to the one and only Tom Packer for this 'ere mighty run report.

Should anyone wish to, there will be a social this Thursday evening at the Boater for our end-of-month pub quiz; all are welcome!

A beautiful summers evening in Bath for 16 runners and a nice flat 6k round trip to Alice Park community garden on the east side of Bath along the London road.

To kick off the evening a few announcements to make from the weekends racing within the group.

Saturday saw The Goodgym Olympics at Parliament Hill track in London-

Sam took Gold in the 800 meters ... Whoop!!

Emily 5.0 km 24:30 Alison 0.8 km 03:09 and 5.0 km 23:17 some very respectable times from both ladies on an unexpectedly hot day.

Rosie and Steph did the three legged race, Rosie egg n spooned.

Steph was disqualified from sack race for wearing it on her head and Rosie and Emily took part in the relay event.

All in all a fabulous event and everyone went home with a medal.

Sunday was Chew valley 10k race results-

Ollie 39.17 6th overall 4th in category

Cosmo 42.27 31st overall 18th in category

Jo 51.02 200 overall 19th in category PB

Steph 53.51 280 overall 4th in category

Well done everyone.

Welcome to Rob joining us for his first GG run... Whoop!!

Tom kindly led the group with Ollie along the canal for a more scenic route to our task destination at Alice Park, our host Kathy was there to direct the troops for a spot of hearty hedge maintenance. This involved some bind weed pulling and nettle trimming along the community garden hedge,

it was like pretty maids all in a row

Ollie, Rob Mary and Emma diving into the wild area with Steve joining in for good measure to cut everything back clearing the pathway but ensuring to leave elderberry flowers and bramble flowers intact for fruit picking at a later date.

35 minutes in total spent on the task with a last minute dash to bag up the bind weed and gather the cuttings to the compost area for sorting.

Group photo had to be taken in the lovely willow arbour made from willow cut at a previous task for Goodgym at Bloomfield orchard. Kathy had kindly gathered some fresh produce for the group to enjoy and take home, the strawberry eating made a fine Boomerang and didn't we look strange on the run back carrying lettuce and radish.

We made it back in the nick of time for a stretch out and vote on tonight's pun, it was a draw with a combination of Sam's and Nicolas Alice themed puns.

Thank you Tom and Ollie for leading and Alison for back marking and Sam and Nicola for fabulous pun.

Finally it is with great sadness to announce the departure of Emily and Rosie from GG Bath, they will be greatly missed but we will be having a farewell dinner for them before the Two Tunnels event. Details to follow

Thank you everyone for just being you and being fabulous folk to run with and have fun