A great team showed their commitment to the January Challenge with another fun Tuesday evening at the YMCA's Hawker Centre.

It never feels like a chore cleaning the soft play area and Emma, Claire, Levita, Tom, Dave, Emily, Anna, Rachel, Luke, Farzeen, Jonathan, Sabir, Marcus, Laurel all got stuck in wiping down chairs, tables, surfaces and the sensory area with a lifetime's supply of disinfectant products.

MVP award to Luke, who even managed to clean the whole of the big slide without making (much of) a spectacle of himself.

The reward for it all is getting to be a big kid and climbing on the equipment ourselves afterwards. Lovely to be out and about, doing good and clocking up those points and kilometres.

This is always a favourite task — and with plenty of sign-ups, it’s clear why! We needed all hands on deck to blitz the Hawker Centre’s soft play area and get it sparkling clean for the local families who use it so much.

We split into three teams to tackle different areas:

• Claire’s team took on the mighty ball pit — emptying it out and reaching every nook and cranny to make sure it was dust - and plaster-free.

• Julie’s group rolled up their sleeves to clean chairs, tables, high chairs and the outer spaces, including the multi-sensory room.

• Emma’s crew scaled the soft play structure, climbing through tunnels and down slides to sanitise all the high-touch areas with anti-bac spray.

This is a much-loved community space — many of us at the task tonight have fond memories of bringing our own children here — so it felt extra special to give something back. Families and little ones will now be able to enjoy a cleaner, safer, and brighter environment to play in.

Supporting This Girl Can

Tonight’s task also shone a light on Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign — an inspiring initiative that encourages women to be active in ways that work for them, no matter their age, background or ability.

This year, This Girl Can is going bigger and bolder, and we’re proud that GoodGym is part of the movement. Together, we’re raising awareness and taking real steps towards making outdoor exercise safer and more welcoming for women.

We showed our support by writing empowering messages on a large banner, to champion the cause!

And of course… we had the run!

In true GoodGym spirit, our evening wouldn’t be complete without some running! We clocked up around 3km there and back to the Quaker Centre, enjoying some great company along the way.

A fantastic task, a great cause, and brilliant teamwork — GoodGym Kingston at its best!

One of GoodGym Kingston's favourite missions this evening... cleaning the soft play at the YMCA Hawker Centre!

After a brisk run by the river, we were all excited to get cracking with our tasks. First on the list was to empty the ball pit, give it a deep cleanse and clean all of the balls. Whilst this was going on a second team wiped down the soft play equipment.

We're all big kids really and there were soon a few woops and hollers as Goodgymers slid down the slides and threw balls at each other. Gotta have a bit of fun whilst you work, eh!

When the work was done we took the opportunity to take a few fun pics in the freshly anti-bacced ball pit and all enthusiastically chucked balls at Rachel when she asked for a video. The things we do for Instagram...!

The hour flew by. Lots of fun had but also a whole lot of cleaning achieved and a good few dozen balls saved from behind and underneath the play equipment too!

For our final January Challenge, GoodGym Kingston went to the Hawker Centre to help clean up the pod. It's a soft play for children, or tonight for children at heart, and it has slides, obstacles courses and a sensory area. We were tasked tonight with cleaning up. Catherine, Claire, Rachel and Dave all met at the Quaker Centre to run 2.6km through the town centre and along the riverside. It was fresh but not as cold as previous weeks and it felt good to be out enjoying the early evening.

On the run we were papped by the paparazzi! Who tipped them off?! Oh, it was me, and it wasn't the paparazzi but it was Marie-Noelle striding to our destination - love a dynamic shot. We met up with Laurel there and got straight into it. We were tasked with deep cleaning the soft play floor and wiping down the sensory room. So many children come through the doors that it is hard to stay on top of cleaning sticky fingers and all the dust.

Marie-Noelle went straight to mopping and she got so on it that she even used two mops! What a legend. Catherine tackled the sweeping, David and Claire grabbed the anti-bacterial spray and went to clean the sensory room. Laurel and Rachel made it their misison to locate all the balls that had randomly located themselves throughout the soft-play - behind the soft play, on top of it and even under it - they were everywhere.

We worked hard to give it a thorough clean and after 45 minutes we gave ourselves a little reward got into the soft play course. The slides were ours! And then to the ball pit for a chill out.

Great task and lots of fun. Well done, GoodGym Kingston!

A great turnout for tonight's mission! 12 GoodGymers in total with 4 walkers, 6 runners and 2 meeting at the task.

During a quick warm up at the Quaker Centre, we celebrated Samantha's 10th GG mission (Congrats Sam!) and were promptly stretched and ready to go. The walking group was soon on its way with the runners following close behind. The route led us along the river path next to the Thames river - 2.6 k there and the same on the way back.

The mission this evening was to help out with some cleaning at the YMCA Hawker Centre soft play. They had dozens of chairs and tables in need of a wipe down and a large flooring area requiring a mop. Given the headcount we had, we made short work of the tasks in hand which left us with a bit of time to spare... what better way to pass a few minutes than head into the soft play, chuck a few balls around in the ball-pit and hurl ourselves down the slides!

What a fun task to do, especially nice being inside and not getting rained on!

A few shout outs - Tom - for seamlessly joining the runners en route without any of them or you breaking stride. Impressive. Callum - for joining us for your first Kingston GG mission! Welcome :) Samantha - for your TENTH mission! Woo! Rachel - all round GG legend. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you!] Laurel - GG mission no.2! Welcome back :)

See you next time!

Goodgym runners were cancelling other appointments to take part in this task tonight! They were strapping on their already mud filled trainers, zipping up their many layers and preparing their waterproofs to meet their challenger....and no , it wasnt blustery Brendan... it was the soft play ball pit!!

15 runners came together to help their local community; and it wasnt just us long in the tooth GG runners that braved the gail force winds and unforgiving showers to meet at Guildhall for a 5km run and to do some good, but 3 sparkling new runners felt pulled by good will despite the promise of soggy trainers , a huge welcome to Susi, Graham and Claire (if you can run in tonights weather, you can do anything!)

With Jo and Laura leading the way as our walking group we headed along the river to the YMCA Hawker Centre where we met Ciaran who divided us into two groups...the apparatus and the ball pit.

Who thought cleaning lots and lots and lots of tiny balls could be so much fun! #softplay #ballpond #ballpit #ymcahawker #ymca #kingston #gooddeed #volunteering #runtodogood pic.twitter.com/4lOHx3y89f

— GoodGym Kingston-upon-Thames (@GoodGymKingston) January 15, 2020

The YMCA centre puts on many sports and fitness activities for the community including the incredibly fun soft play area for kids (or adults, I'm not judging) which includes a ball pit. This ball pit needed a good clean, so one team set to work removing all of the balls from the pit, cleaning them with a good rattle around in disinfectant spray and the putting them back in the ball pit looking all shiny and new...while the other team got to work cleaning the soft play apparatus , so channeling our inner 5 year old we weaved in and out with joy as we wiped and dusted, using the slide as our mode of transport from one section to another.

Last night we shook things up! Come along to GoodGym Kingston every Tuesday, 6.45pm at Main Guildhall building and you can too#goodgym #kingston #runninggroup #volunteering #ymcahawkercentre #ymca #doinggood pic.twitter.com/vB6rGUGnRv

— GoodGym Kingston-upon-Thames (@GoodGymKingston) January 15, 2020

We then regrouped to put all the clean balls back in the pit ready for the kids and of course our group photo!

We tackled the raging gusts once more as we headed back to Guildhall for a cool down and debrief

Great group, great task, great night!

How much fun can you have at GoodGym? This much fun!!!! #runninggroup #volunteering #exercise #running #getfitdogood #kingston #tuesdays pic.twitter.com/yf5LW1tlxU

— GoodGym Kingston-upon-Thames (@GoodGymKingston) January 15, 2020

Don't forget we have a Starter Run this Sunday, sign up here