Goodgym Ipswich 2nd birthday celebrations got underway with a huge cheer for Tom achieving his 50th good deed and a warm welcome to Joe joining us for the first time.

Acknowledging 2 years since our launch there were 6 people who were there on the first ever Goodgm Ipswich group run - Steve, Eleanor, Libby, Robin, Nicola and Hayley - thank you for your loyalty and company over the last 24 months!

So the plan for the evening was to complete the task - Our last tour of Elmers Big Parade (which has brought so much joy and a great atmosphere to Ipswich during the summer) - cleaning and polishing the elephants for the final time before they disappear this weekend and get to the pub for a birthday social!

We started with a warm up game "Black Shirts" v "Red Shirts" competing to retain a tennis ball - no running with the ball and only holding the ball for 5 seconds max. It was very competetive with the ball flying around and changing teams several times. However the game was abandoned when (after a couple of close calls) the ball ended up out of bounds among traffic!

So we set off around the elephant trail with water spray, cloths and dusters in hand. This was to be a shortened route to the previous times we hand undertaken the same task...... along the Waterfront and through the town centre, stopping briefly for a few step up circuits, stair running and interval sprints.

Once again elephants were washed and buffed as we ran through the streets and as if it had been planned.......we finished cleaning the last elephant right outside the pub!

Happy Birthday Goodgym Ipswich!

A few heavy showers prior to our departure made tonight's elephant washing task slightly easier with all the sculptures on Elmers Big Parade getting a good soaking.

After a quick red shirts v black shirts warm up game of "tag" we set off with the aim of covering most of Elmers Big Parade and cleaning as many of the elephants as posssible.

Along the way and in between washing and polishing, we carried out various "fit" challenges including press ups, dips, step ups and steps circuits and even a few interval sprints.

A multitude of photos were taken with a variety of elephants across Ipswich town centre. It was lovely bumping into families out walking the trail and even offering to help us with the cleaning!

With just over 3 miles completed, 30+ elephants cleaned and checked for damage (and only one heavy rain shower) we were back at our Waterfront base for a cooldown stretch.

The Elmers Big Parade really has brought a great feel to Ipswich over the summer, with literally thousands of people visiting to see the elephants. It's been wonderful for Goodgym to play a small part in helping maintain the amazing sculptures.

** Big Congratulations Lizzie on hitting 50 good deeds done on this task**

Welcome to Ian and Pratyush who made their Goodgym debut on last night's Group Run - We hope you enjoyed the evening and we'll see you again soon.

It was hot, hot, hot in Ipswich as we set off for a run around the massively popular Elmers Big Parade to clean the elephant sculptures and check for any damage on behalf of St. Elizabeth Hospice.

This was our third time doing this task but with over 50 elephants to check we know we won't cover the whole trail in one go, so we headed off in the opposite direction to last time along the Waterfront then through the town centre and into Christchurch Park before turning back towards town and back along the Waterfront - around 4 miles in total!

A quick warm up (not really needed) game of tag with the black shirts being "it" got hearts beating and temperatures raised - with Lizzie earning her 50 shirt we will soon have more black shirts than red on the Group Runs.

Armed with cleaning materials we sprayed, washed, wiped and polished each elephant while also incorporating various challenges at each sculpture. - Squats, hill intervals, lunges, steps to name a few.

The very warm evening sapped strength and lots of water was needed not only to clean the elephants but also to keep runners hydrated!

The group was back marked by Steve and Daniela with Keith in charge of photography and promising some "moving" pictures - can't wait to see the emotional pics!

With around 30 elephants visited and left sparkling, it was a great night's work.

Next week we return to Castle Hill Community Centre to complete a painting job we started a few weeks ago - you can find all the info and sign up HERE

Huge congratulations to Adeline on completing her 50th good deed on tonight's group run

Our "Mammoth" task was in support of St Elizabeth Hospice and we were to run to as many of the Elephant sculptures onElmers Big Parade as possible, giving them a wash and polish where needed.

The trail has been set up for the summer with around 55 differently painted elephants dotted around Ipswich to form the Elmers Big Parade - named after the patchwork elephant in childrens books.

It was a great task, taking us around a large part of the Waterfront and town centre. (Thanks to Kerry for plotting the route) It was bright sunny evening and we saw families and several groups of cubs, brownies and guides following the trail. One group even called us "Legends" when they realised we were cleaning the elephants - we modestly accepted the complement!

In between we had some short burst of step ups, press ups and step running just to keep the excitement going!.

So we travelled almost 6k in total and checked on about 30 of the elephants some need very little attention and one or two required a good rub down with the soapy water and cloths we were carrying. Time wouldn't permit us to get to them all but we wil be repeating this task 2 or 3 more times before the trail finishes and the sculptures are auctioned to raise funds for the Hospice.

It's okay to be different and tonight Goodgym Ipswich had a different coach, who was in a different town and different runners but with same Goodgym vibe.

Tonight was humid and warm, much like the climate I would imagine an elephant may like! After a brief update of the news about The Great Get Together, the launch of Goodgym Poole (51st area) and of course the big partnership on this week's run with the East of England Co-op we set off for what was Adeline's 48th run.

The task was a brilliant one, Ipswich has around fifty-five artistically decorated elephants as part of Elmers Big Parade dotted around the town courtesy of St Elizabeth Hospice and we set off to check them for damage and clean litter from around them. I am pleased to say they were all in good condition and litter was at a minimum.

I won't pretend I know where we went other than a shopping centre, a lovely park with a beautiful hill and the fancy waterfront with Elmer really getting around. Each Elmer had a different, design, story and name with many people taking an interest, not just Goodgym runners!

*Kerry took us on a wonderful route and a big thank you to him for guiding me round the town. *

As I said it was warm and the runners worked up a sweat but we still managed an interval lap in the park (75% of maximum sprint with little recoveries) and nearly 8kms.

A big personal thank you from me and maybe see you Colchester one Wednesday soon.