28 GG Yorkies gathered to tackle one enormous bush.

Big shout out to all the Yorkies who ran the very hot York 10k yesterday, great to see so many PBs being achieved despite the temperature. New runner Lindsay ran yesterday and rocked up without knowing what to expect and a special shout out goes to Debs who has been on a fitness journey with us at GoodGym, she ran a big PB and boshed through the 8km tonight like a champ, go and give her a cheer.

The Centurion Cape!

Here's someone else who needs a big cheer, run leader and all round good'un Nick ran his 100th good deed tonight and managed to coincide it with his actual birthday too, what a legend. Not only that but he made the most delicious carrot cake which he didn't even get to eat because he's so selfless he gave it to everyone else!

Anyway, back to the task in hand. The task was to take a massive, massive bush down to ground, in 30 minutes.

Straight away there were some fascinating techniques happening. With only so many tools, you do have to be creative if you get a spade to cut down a hedge. Emily ended up with a tiny hand hook and made a strong effort with hearty slashing, whilst Max got a rake and was surprisingly effective at raking the bush down - so effective that everyone gave him a really wide berth.

Beware of spiky surprises - Katie F did an excellent job of reiterating the safety advice

There were indeed a lot of brambles, but that meant there were also a lot of blackberries! Mark C was looting them and filling up a shovel for everyone to feast on, and every time a big branch got cut off, a few people descended on it to strip it of all the sweet, blackberry goodness.

Not bend and snap, it's the snap and peel

Debs and Katie had come up with their own special technique and were also trying to educate Ed on Legally Blonde, but soon gave up and went back to hacking.

With five minutes on the clock, the transformation was immense. We'd revealed a beautiful holly tree which the task owners decided to keep, nobody even knew it was there. Finally it was just a case of clearing as much as possible and tidying the pathways, a difficult job with only one teeny tiny broom but Ellie G was going for it.

With our task complete, we ran back via the awesome Derwenthorpe Mini Trim Trail for a bit of fitness fun.

Baggsy climbing frame!!! - Massive kid, Ed

There were step ups and clambering, push ups, tricep dips and some epic core exercises going on. Paul Kelly, Leanne and Carl got themselves into some very bizarre scenario with Carl holding PK's feet and Leanne doing sit-ups with Carl's bum as the target - very hard to describe but check out the pics!

My two favourite things, playgrounds and vandalism!

Pretty sure it isn't vandalism if someone asks you to do it, but it made Mitch happy. All that was left was a run back along the Foss Islands cycleway and of course, birthday squats for Nick. And cake, lots of lovely cake.

A crowd of GG Yorkies ran to Applefields School to do all sorts of good!

First of all though, we had some massive cheers to give out:

• New runner Gabby joining us on a big run despite 'not being a runner'
• Barbara gaining her wings having done 100 good deeds
• Veteran Leanne casually slipping in her 200th good deed on a coach run last week
• Another cheer for Carl who got to wear the (delayed) Cape of Good Deeds for 50 good deeds!

At the school we were met by May, who had a clipboard and a plan. In the plan was a photograph, which was our guide of which plants were plants (and needed keeping). May handed the plan to me but I knew this was a terrible plan so I quickly palmed it off to Caped-Carl who did an excellent job of being in charge and making sure the weeds got pulled and the plants stayed safe.

People were saying they didn't think you'd get all this done! - May (little did she know....)

Another group had been tasked with painting a bench. Easy? Well.. no. This group had 12 minutes to paint said bench, which was in the computer room, before the school went into lockdown at 7pm. Not only were there concerns about being trapped in the school overnight, but the bench was on a tiny sheet in a very clean room with very clean carpet. Paint-team member, Mel, does not have the best track record with paint but the challenge was on.

Meanwhile Paul had found himself solo in the sensory garden, emptying all the old pot plants and tubs and thoroughly enjoying himself in amongst the smell of all the rosemary and sage.

BEST TOOL EVER! It's a turbo gripping tool! - Leanne

Leanne had found her happy place with a tool which scraped the ground like no other before it. She gleefully grappled the weeds whilst everyone else was digging some holes for the roses which needed to be planted. We'd made quick work of that job and so it was onto another; digging over a grassy/weedy area to lay compost and plant more plants (and roses) along the edge of a big wire fence.

I feel like I'm looking into a prison of manual labour - Emily

Again, the team made quick progress, even with Tim just constantly trying to throw compost in all the wrong places. Loz and Nick ran off to plant the last rose whilst Norb finished up sprinkling the rest of the compost over both the newly scarified beds.

The painting team had escaped and it was all fine, so we ran back via a celebratory workout.

The 100 workout!

Small teams had a series of exercises to complete and could choose how many of each they did so long as the total added up to 100. Simple. The team log roll was extremely popular and some people did a forward roll for the first time in many, many years.

Becky, Ellie B, Norb and Gabby had gone to our originally planned destination and so stickler Tim ran to them and made sure they did their workout too. Ellie B apparently kicked Becky in the face (but everyone was fine) and Becky had extremely tired legs so opted to pretty much do 100 sit-ups, phew!

Gabby was new so I had to try really hard not to kick her in the face - well done Becky

We came back and ate lots of lovely cake from Huw and brownies from Babs, yay!

An enormous team of GG Yorkies ran to complete three tasks helping out in Scarcroft Green, Glen Gardens and 'The Nose' at St Clements Church

After welcoming our new runners we gave some massive cheers to Carl as it was his 50th Good Deed! Carl has been with us since the very first run and he shall wear the Cape of Good Deeds next week once err.. I've found it in my house move.

We also gave a massive shout out to all the runners who raced at Endure24 over the weekend and turned up all tired and with sore legs, especially Tim and Becky who not only came 2nd in the mixed pairs, running 135 miles, but also both volunteered for the longer run this evening!

Hardcore Endure24 runner, Paul, led out the longer run team to Glen Gardens whilst other hardcore Endure24 runner, Leanne, led out the second longest group to St Clements Church (which was a whole extra 200m past our shortest run of 550m).

At Scarcroft Green we had loads of different tasks going on:

• edging the pathways
• clearing overgrown greenery from the path
• cutting back low branches on trees
• clearing a huge area of overgrown shrubbery
• doing a litter pick

Everyone swiftly split into their teams, grabbed some tools and ran off. Whilst Graham was chuntering away about blisters on his delicate hands, new runner Karen was straight in, scraping the path edges and pulling up the rogue turf and weeds. Everyone on path edging was very amused with the teeny tiny brushes that sort of looked like giant toothbrushes, but they were surprisingly effective.

Whilst John was litter picking he found a painted stone which we gave to Helen to take on an adventure to the Lake District. So thorough with his task, he accidentally found the same stone 5 minutes later!

Maddy managed to find a tiny bicycle on her litter picking adventure and it was taken for a spin before being added to the growing pile of bags. With 3 minutes left on the clock, everyone joined in to frantically sweep and clear the last of the paths before we met the other teams for a group pic and fitness sesh.

Team Nose Weed (written by Leanne)

This super six must have run really fast on the way out as they arrived at St Clement's Church 10 minutes early. While they waited for taskmaster, Lyndall to arrive they located "The Nose" and had a 'nose' around. It's a community garden full of delicious treats: raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, potatoes, courgettes, and much more.

Lyndall asked us to edge the flower beds and get rid of any weeds to make it look more presentable for a forthcoming open day.

It wasn't long before everyone was hard at work. Every so often there was a shout of:

Has this bit been done? (practically everyone at some point)

Despite this, it did look a fair bit neater and most certainly 'done' by the end of the task. At the 30 second call, Mitch quadrupled his productivity in removing some grass from the last flower bed and just managed to finish his patch within the allotted time.

We paused for a quick snack picked freshly from the garden before the long run back round the corner to Scarcroft Green. There we joined the rest of the crew for Egg's fitness session.

FITNESS!!!

Tonight's fitness session involved a bit of push/pull with a partner and I think we have to applaud Katie F who gave a heroic effort in pushing Huw who is at least double her height. Kudos to Barbara also who paired with her own daughter and immediately regretted it, Ellie G is an absolute powerhouse!

After all that we split into four big teams for a planking and commando crawling relay - which everyone definitely completed and there was no cheating, none.

As we gathering for our final group piccie of the night, we were joined by the ward councillor, Jonny Crawshaw, who gave us a big thank you before we ran the whole 550m back to base.

On a beautifully warm and sunny evening in York - a big bunch of runners turned out to help with lots of different tasks!

Amongst them was a GoodGym tourist, Clare from Lewisham, so let's make sure we give her a big ol' Yorkshire cheer for joining us. We also need to give some massive cheers to Nick, who ran the 55 mile ultra, Race to the King, at the weekend. Nick very sensibly volunteered to be our walking back marker and give his legs a bit of a well-earned rest.

Leanne, Tim and Lizzie each led out a flyering team allocated to a different zone. Our challenge was to deliver 1500 leaflets to the South Bank/Fishergate area advertising the Millennium Field Summer Fair. Each leader had to photographically memorise their zones from the master map and had nothing but a piece of paper listing the streets they needed to flyer but they were unfazed by the challenge.

The rest of us ran to Rowntree Park to meet Beki and Rosemary. Our jobs were:

• To clear/wheelbarrow 3 x 1 tonne sacks of soil and deliver to trenches in the playpark
• To bag up a big pile of green waste into sacks
• Plant begonias in raised beds (which we dug in a few weeks ago)

errr.. and..

• The technical challenge of undoing an access gate using a sprocket set.

With 35 minutes on the clock, the challenge begun. Wheelbarrows of soil were swiftly loaded and waited outside the fence whilst Paul Kelly and Debs battled the technical challenge. There was talk of team lifting the heavy barrows over but we decided to be safe (and patient) instead.

Over at the big pile of stuff, one bag was filled quickly and Huw, Helen and Carl were busy breaking down as much as possible whilst Tristan was sent off on a sack-finding mission. He succeeded and the team were able to continue their excellent work.

Lizzie's flyering team were first back, with the other teams not far behind. As they all arrived back, runners were diverted to digging, wheelbarrowing, sack-filling and begonia planting. Beki was running back and forth like a proper GoodGymer, checking what was happening and making sure we were filling all the right holes.

With everyone back, the pace picked up and we cleared all the soil with five minutes to spare; just enough time for everyone to do lots of good stamping to bed it in.

Cones of Joy!

What better way to celebrate a good deed than with a brilliant fitness session?! Max hadn't fully understood what was happening and had managed to sneak off and get his very own cone of joy in the shape of a massive ice cream, but he did manage to demonstrate sit ups whilst holding it, which was very impressive.

Everyone else paired off and mentally prepared for the challenge ahead. Beki - who is now officially an honourary GG Yorkie, even joined in to make up even numbers. 25 stations of fitness. 15 minutes. Best stations included:

• Crab kicks (yes, Nick, crabs do kick like that!)
• Laying down cycling
• The cheering cone
• The dancing cone (may have to be renamed 'the rave cone')
• Sit down/Stand up

There were serious things like squats and lunges too, and everyone enjoyed a bit of sleeping lions before we composed ourselves for a big group piccie and a gentle run/walk back.

Next week is another double tasker - long or short, you decide!

Thirty minutes before our group run was due to start, the heavens opened. A torrential downpour that struck fear into the heart of many a GG Yorkie. Despite that, a super 27 Yorkies turned out to help with two graveyard tasks.

We welcomed along three brand new runners to the team, so give some hearty cheers to Jesse, Fiona and Elder Chand!

TEAM DICK TURPIN

I delegated the lead out run to Catherine and Lucy, it turns out Lucy can navigate anywhere if it's near a Wetherspoons. We arrived at George St, where the infamous Dick Turpin is apparently buried , and Iain greeted us with a huge pile of woodchip to top up the perimeter path.

Before that though, Ellie B had to clear up some confusion from a passer-by.

Where's GoodGym? Does it have a sauna?

With 40 minutes on the clock it was an all-action affair, with wheelbarrows of woodchip shuttling back and forth. Once the bark was all shifted, we did a bit of fast feet to bed it in properly, with new runner Jesse, doing all sorts of fancy footwork.

The path was done in no time at all so we focused our energy on edging the rest of the gravestones and having a good old tidy-up before celebrating our good deed with a fitness session at Clifford's Tower.

STEP REPS!!

The challenge involved doing a set of exercises between rounds of step reps, all 55 steps of the tower.

• Elevated lunges
• Quick steps
• Side Steps
• Split squats
• Box jumps
• Descending squat jumps

We even finished off with a run back along the bar walls.

TEAM ACOMB (written by TIm)

There was electricity in the air as an intrepid 15 headed up the "hill" to Acomb. The sky trembled with excitement as I stepped up to the plate to assist Run Leader Leanne to lead out the long group. The hardy 15 had already braved thunder, lightning and deluge so nothing was going to stop us getting to St Stephens Church and cracking on with the task. Well, nothing except going the wrong way anyway, but luckily Katie was ready to leap to my aid and assure me that I was going the right way!

The lovely Stephen and John met us in the graveyard and quickly set us up with some awesome tasks. Firstly the legendary Norweigian tourist Are (on his last GoodGym with us!) and Huw got to work clearing the overgrown bark path around the graveyard whilst Katie and Mitch jumped in and started lopping off overhanging branches and holly.

A fearsome unit moved in and got to work trimming the grass and removing turf from around the World War 1 graves that the church are looking to restore. Meanwhile Lizzie, Ali and Elders Chand and Minnich got stuck in bagging up woodchips for donation to local gardens!

After protests (mainly from Mitch) of: "Tim do some actual work!" And "Tim you are not the boss of me!" We were all relieved to see the arrival of half a job Paul Anderson who proceeded to immediately spill a bag of carefully packed woodchips.

Before we knew it, time was up. Invigorated by our amazing task and thankful hosts we decided the hill at Acomb Green wasn't tough enough, so we headed over to the renowned "steepest hill in York" at Windmill Rise for some epic hill reps!

Tim we are going to put all the running watches on you and make you do the hill reps for everyone! - BadGym Becky

Back at base, the teams gathered back together for a stretch and we reminded everyone to sign up for next week's massive task. See you next week!

A massive 32 GG Yorkies turned out to dig up bits of Rowntree Park and then fill them in again

Since Egg is off 'recovering' from her foot operation, Leanne was leading the charge tonight. We started by welcoming new runners Katie and Freya, and nearly new runner Ed who was trying out his first group run after having such a good time on a community mission last week.

There was a quick health and safety themed warm-up (probably more fun than it sounds) before setting out on our short run to Rowntree Park. Stef immediately ran off into the distance, like he hadn't run a trail half marathon yesterday. He was first on the scene, with the rest of our cheerful crowd not too far behind him. Egg had also managed to hobble from the car park and decided to make herself useful by being on photography duty.

We split into three teams, each with their own distinct job, all at different ends of the park. It turns out that Egg had stitched Leanne right up - instead of a nice relaxing chat with the task owner whilst making sure everyone stayed safe and worked to time, she spent 45 minutes sprinting from one end of the park to the other to make sure everyone was okay!

The first group were tasked with digging up the perimeter of a rectangle of turf, to make just the right size foundations for four giant planters. Fortunately, the task owners had spray-painted the outline on the turf. For the first time in the history of GoodGym York, some straight lines were dug! Not to make it too easy, they also needed to dig out some litter bins with concrete foundations, then replant them elsewhere in the park.

Our second group of good deeders got to work in preparing a long trail of worn down turf for new grass seeds. They grabbed forks and spades to turn over the sections that had worn away after becoming waterlogged. Without this work, the worn out sections of grass would just get larger, eventually turning the park into a mud bath.

Meanwhile, group three were presented with a wheelbarrow and shovel each, and 5 tonnes of topsoil. Their task was to relocate the soil on top of the newly turned-over turf so that it was ready for the digging group to sprinkle grass seeds and then stamp them into the ground. It looked like heavy work. Even so, Aidan declined the suggestion of swapping jobs with someone else at the half way point:

It's not really a workout unless you're destroyed at the end

On the other side of the coin, Marathon-Legs-Nick declared that this was enough of a workout and he should be excused from any sort of fitness session.

After 45 minutes, the group gathered back together for the end-of-task photo before being led to a patch of park for a relay challenge with added fitness stations. The relay included:

• Star jumps
• Walking lunges
• Squats
• Skipping
• Mountain climbers
• A bit of running.

One of the teams was short a member, so one-legged Egg stepped in and heroically hobbled through all of the exercises, helping her team to come last!

Since it was Lucy's birthday, everyone completed some 'Happy Birthday Squats' to celebrate before running back to base for a cool down, then a post run pint.