What a spectacular event which brings the running community of Surrey together each year with an opportunity to run a half marathon, 5k or vounteer, including a kids race.

The morning started rather fresh but the sun burst through the clouds to brighten up the day for the runners and the many supporters along the route.

Woking GoodGym were out in force with Anne deserving a gold medal for all the medals she handed out to the finishers. It is always a joy to see Anne as you cross the finish line. James ran with Woking AC and smashed a finishing time of 1:36:51.

Adam managed to crack the sub 2hrs that many runners aspire to with a finish time of 1:57:22.

Melanie did a great job cheering all the way around and finishing in 2:09:25 closely followed by

Rebecca at 2:11:10. A big thank you to Maya for cheering us along for the final push with 1.5k to go. Another thank you to the spectators, especially all the funny signs, the scouts for operating the water/fuel stations and the Woking litter picking warriors who make the most of the closed road event to help clean up the community.

A wonderful day all round. Same again next year?!

Stephanie, Ellie and Katie made their way to today's Goodgym task at Knaphill Lower School. The team met Vicki and Mark and helped with planting some flowers and plants into the flower bed in the garden area.

Goodgym members have been volunteering with the garden for several weeks and it was great to see how it's coming along.

It was great to welcome Ellie to her first task and we hope to see her again soon!

The Phoenix Cultural Centre is an amazing venue! I myself have attended a community music and food/drink festival there outside with a friend; it was my first time inside the building. We found out the huge site used to be the headquarters for KFC but now a community centre new to GoodGym we helped to decorate and transform some of the areas into brighter creative settings. There was a large table to move that Ola, Julie, Stephanie and myself moved together from one part of the building to the other. The rest was mostly decorating with posters and our own creative input. Elaine who met us there was lovely, she made us so welcome! Was happy for us to help her... Looking forward to helping out more at the centre! What a great project for Woking!

Saturday’s task at Knaphill Lower School came with a welcome change — sunshine! With blue skies overhead, it was a perfect morning to get stuck into some outdoor volunteering.

The job for the session was helping prepare materials for the school’s bug hotel. A pile of branches needed cutting down into smaller lengths so they could be packed neatly into the structure and create plenty of cosy hiding spots for insects and other mini-beasts.

With cutters in hand, I set about cutting the branches into suitable lengths to be stacked and packed, gradually turning the pile into bug-friendly building materials ready to be added to the hotel. It was a slow but satisfying task, and one that will help create a great habitat for wildlife around the school grounds.

A productive morning and a great step towards making the bug hotel even more welcoming for its tiny future residents!

Work continues at Knaphill Lower School Garden. This week only Julie was there to support Vikki and Mark as they get closer to completing the restoration. The beds are taking shape and Julie dug and weeded the front beds so that they are ready for some more topsoil and then the fun bit - planting will be happening soon so do sign up for the next session!

*Junior Park Run *

Another damp and dreary morning couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the runners, with around 12 children taking part in their very first Junior Parkrun!

Karen and Olalekan enjoyed an early catch-up before heading off to their respective roles, helping the children safely around the course and making sure everyone got their finish times.

It was fantastic to see so many smiling faces despite the weather – another brilliant GoodGym session!