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.

It was a gloriously muddy morning at London Fields junior parkrun, with 28 young runners lining up despite wet and muddy conditions. We welcomed two first timers to the course — one of whom took part in an incredibly close photo finish for first and second place, edging it on her debut!

GoodGym was out in force, with Lobo, Anna, Sarah and Rue supporting the event, and Nick expertly taking on the role of Race Director. Huge thanks to the whole team for keeping things running smoothly in tricky conditions.

The mud didn’t slow anyone down, with some super-strong finishes, impressive determination, and even a few joyful slides over the finish line. Some may have slipped on the course too, but as Nick said it was all character building! (and definitely not an incident)

As always a brilliant display of effort, encouragement and community spirit from start to finish. All the mud, all the smiles, all the reasons we love junior parkrun — we’ll be back for more next week.

It was somewhat atmospheric first thing at the Fields this morning as Rue and I laid out the cones for event #355, as a thin layer of mist hung in the air. We felt we might be short of volunteers but true to form as the clock clicked closer to 9, we welcomed Lucinda and Kareem for another week of high vizzing - with Rue directing the show once again and leading the warm up with the Hackney Haka, and Nick on barcode scanning we had decent GG representation - 6 other helpful volunteers stepped up, and we were able to get the show on the road for another week.

4 first timers took on the slightly muddy 2 laps today, and our first two finishers sprinted down the home straight to only finish a few seconds apart in an exciting finish. 44 keen runners took to the course, setting 4 pbs and everything seemed to go remarkably smoothly in spite of the slippery conditions underfoot!

Run director Rue seemingly had almost everything perfectly under control at about 0850 this morning (tokens aside...ahem), and as we discussed between us all where to deploy our helpful volunteer team, including GoodGymmers Hilary, Nick and Kitty (on her GG debut!), around the course, a mass of little people seemed to arrive from all directions and we momentarily when into slight chaos mode as it suddenly felt like we were in the school dining hall and fielding questions from all directions!

However, like all the great masterpieces, once he'd picked up the baton to conduct today's proceedings everything seemingly fell back into place, and any fracture lines were quickly covered over as if it was all intended. One of our newest volunteers, Evie, led today's warmup, which certainly got both participants and onlookers hearts racing...and then it was 3-2-1 go.

38 enthusiastic runners took on the the slightly muddy 2 laps today, including 6 first timers, and our first runner home was crossing the line in a very impressive 8:17, with another 7 posting PBs - excellent work by all concerned, and thank you as always to all of today's volunteers.

See you next week under the big tree for more fun at the Fields.