An excellent turnout on the volunteer front to support 46 enthusiastic junior runners this morning at a still muddy, and slightly misty, London Fields - but thankfully the rain stayed away. The slippery conditions underfoot didn't seem to trouble our first three finishers, who ran as a pack the whole way round, and only the finishing sprint down the home straight separated them by just a few seconds...exciting stuff. Lots of (slightly breathless) happy faces then followed them into the finish funnel, setting 9 PBs between them - great work.

Twelve first timers joined us this morning on what was our second biggest attendance of the year, and thankfully our team of 16 volunteers, which included GoodGymmers Rue, Hilary, Bea, Louise, Sarah, Chandrima and Nick, did a great job of ensuring everything ran smoothly for another week - thank you all.

Same time next week under the big tree for more fun at the Fields.

An almost GoodGym takeover made life easy for this week’s junior parkrun at the Fields.

With a full house on the roster, and newcomer Kim joining the ranks, the team made swift work with the set up.

Simon, Harvey, Sooz and Kim set about laying the course on one side of the fields, whilst Sarah completed the opposite side.

Sooz led the warm up and welcomed a lot of new parkrunners!

As timekeeper, Louise counted down 3-2-1 and they were off - heading up the opening straight to Lucinda then onto Harvey. Sarah, Simon and Kim kept the runners going all the way round both laps with lots of encouragement.

40 incredible youngsters made it round today including 13 newcomers and setting 4 new personal best times. Thanks to all the GoodGym volunteers for making it happen!

What connects today's top 3 finishers, 13 of the 23 runners, and 7 of the 12 volunteers...

If today's run title didn't give it away, then I'll provide the answer...they were all female.

Parkrun really is a great leveller in so many different ways, and long may it continue to encourage anyone and everyone to participate, even on a rainy and muddy February morning at the Fields.

Thanks very much to today's GoodGym "regulars" - Hilary, Louise, Lucinda, Rue and Nick, as well as our three DoE volunteers, and everyone else who donned the Hi Viz for another successful morning of slip sliding around the course by our 23 intrepid junior runners.

A few GoodGym volunteers braved the pouring rain to help lay the course for more than ten (!) young runners on Sunday. We waited until the last moment to make sure there were enough people attending in the ever-increasing rainfall, before laying out the 2k run with high-vis poles and vests. Despite several slippery falls, every runner was determined to finish. A hot coffee and a pastry well needed afterwards!

Lots of unexpected highlights greeted us at the Fields this morning - the best being a hint of blue sky and sunshine, which was most welcome, as there were still huge puddles on the ground and the going was definitely soft to muddy - unfortunately this meant an area of the course had been fenced off, which we neatly solved by putting the route flags around the fencing...

We welcomed GG regulars Rue, Sarah, Hilary, Nick, Louise and Nicolas today, who were all dispatched to various corners of the course to do their relevant marshalling duties in their hi viz, and Rue as RD then successfully filled the remaining marshalling roles with enthusiastic parents and we were good to go.

Highlight no.2 was welcoming Wendy Pallant to London Fields, who told us the story of Boomerang B16 which is one of ten boomerangs that started off a long journey in Australia, and been on tour in the UK for the past few months being passed each week from parkrun to parkrun around the country. Wendy led an entertaining Australian themed warmup with today's runners, which included boomerang throws, squats to pickup suitcases, kangaroo jumps and so much more...

Out on the course we were all impressed by today's first finisher, who crossed the line in 8:01, over 45 seconds ahead of the second placer - we witnessed 2 PBs, 2 first timers, and one runner collecting her half marathon wristband, and we had no fallers in the mud - another successful Sunday morning on the wet and muddy fields then!

The recent rain had inconsiderately left large puddles and muddy areas all around the course this morning, so inevitably anyone wearing their shiny new(ish) trainers to the Fields was going to find they were going home in a slightly darker, more mottled, pair.

However the conditions didn't seem to keep the crowds away, and it was great to welcome 49 runners under the big tree this morning (including at least 4 first timers), along with 13 volunteers keen to don the Hi Viz, including GoodGym regulars Rue, Hilary, Louise, Sarah, Sooz and Nick who all performed their respective roles perfectly to ensure everything ran to plan (and received a number of high fives from our runners by way of reward).

The conditions underfoot also didn't seem to be a hindrance to performance, as we saw a super speedy winner, 5 PBs and 49 shiny happy faces cross the finish line - a great way to start the new month. More of the same next week under the big tree - join us if you can.