Last Saturday, a great group of Goodgym runners were invited to get involved with the annual Metro Blind Sports games, held at Mile End Stadium. We were informed about the event by our friends at Achilles International, and were thrilled to help some of our regular Thursday evening session participants in their own races. As well as London locals, we had entrants visiting from as far as California and Poland to experience a classic athletics meeting, but made to be accessible for VI (visually impaired) competitors.

It was wonderful to see a full roster of runners, throwers, jumpers and sprinters- including school children and grandparents, and even former Paralympic world record holders (the legendary Noel Thatcher joined us!).

The core team who were running the event (coordinators, track officials, hosts) were really pleased to see so many new guides joining in this year, and thanked Goodgym directly for their contribution. We were so happy to see some of our Achilles International regulars coming away with some silverware as well (Congratulations to Naqi, Ashfaq and Toni on your excellent shotput, sprinting and long jump performances!).

It was also super heartening to meet VI runners and guides from other running communities too- and even encouraging them to join us for future sessions at Green Park and Paddington Rec Track.

A wonderful day out. Well done everyone!

Throughout the day 13 GoodGymers came along to share their Saturday with visually impaired athletes competing at this years Metro Blind Sport Athletics Open.

Most of us had no previous experience of helping athletes with a visual impairment but everyone was really keen to get involved, to help and to learn.

A large contingent started their day with nearby Mile End parkrun before heading to Mile End Stadium to contribute to the morning session which was labeled as the 'Come and try' part of the day. This is where younger participants and those new to competing could come and have a go at new events they hadn't tried before. Led by the amazing Coach Chris, we learnt how to support visually impaired atheletes with track running and long jump events.

I had a great time and really enjoyed doing something so different and rewarding - Dharmesh, GoodGym Redbridge

Later accompanied by Tracey, superstar Jodie stayed for the whole day and continued to support through the main event. My highlight of our time there was when an urgent plea late in the day (for a runner who was able to run a sub 22 5000m!) saw Hayley head all the way across London to guide a runner to a championship qualifier. What a hero!

24th June - 30th June is #DeafblindAwarenessWeek and it was great to partner up with Metro Blind Sport to provide support for this event leading into this week's theme.

What a wonderful experience to be a part of!