On this weeks edition of GG does parkrun, we were joined by a group of Swans, who posed some potential obstacles at the start of the run! John was joined this week by Bal at Perry Hall, while Matt helped out at Edgbaston Reservoir, stepping in at the last minute again to help out!

This morning we once again split our forces between Perry Hall and Edgbaston. John helped to set-up Perry Hall before running it himself and getting FIRST place, so huge congrats to John! 👏 Richard gave barcode scanning a go at Edgbaston Reservoir, joined by myself once I'd got round the course for the first time!

Another strong effort from this weeks GoodGymers helping out the local parkrun events in Birmingham. John helped to set-up the Perry Hall course before completing the run too, while I was on Run Director duties for the first time at Edgbaston Reservoirs 9th event!

Today I set up the course with Naneesh and Bal, who will be doing a few more set ups over the next few weeks, so were making sure they knew the positions of the cones and signs. Doing this, we were all able to take part in the 5k, thanks to the other volunteers, including Aslaug, who was doing her first GoodGym task today. It was great to see her although I can't say we met properly as it was mainly very breathy thank you's as I pushed around to get a fast time.

It was great that James also reached out and volunteered at Cannon Hill parkrun, as Perry Hall had managed to fill their volunteer rota. Fiona also volunteered at Brueton parkrun. It was a valuable thing to do as all of the parkruns are having to find more volunteers than ever because of the Covid framework that they are setting up events with for the foreseeable future. On that note, if you are free on any Saturday mornings coming up, find one of the community missions coming up for information about how you can get involved with your local parkrun.

Today we had three goodgymers donning the pink hi-viz vests to help at Perry Hall parkrun. Again, I helped to set out the course with Bal and Naneesh. We had done our duties, walking and chatting around the park, by the time the runners had gathered for the start. It was great to see James as we ran around, as he was marshalling at the bridge and giving much needed vocal encouragement to us and everyone as they took part in parkrun today.

It has been quite a month for parkrun in Birmingham, with most events resuming 4 weeks ago, the inaugural Woodgate Valley last week and the first parkrun at Edgbaston Reservoir that two of us volunteered at today. Liam has been involved with organising this parkrun and getting it ready to start, and he was timekeeping today on the app. I was also using the parkrun volunteer app to scan barcodes for finishers at the end of the run. We were joined by Miriam and Balal who took part in the run and it went well with all runners enjoying the picturesque surroundings.

Across the city, after two weeks of training, Naneesh and Bal set up the course at Perry Hall, and as you can see in the pictures, the cones were laid out in exquisitely straight lines. I definitely couldn't have done better myself.