23 brave Hackney GoodGymers ran an impressive 6k to Abney Park Cemetery to shovel, barrow and rake 4 tonnes of special gravel to create a path around the park.

On a moon lit evening in the enchanting Abney Park Cemetery we were ecstatic to welcome 5 newbies to the GoodGym Hackney fold! Loved having Ben, Steffica, Dominique, Lara, and Ramy along!!

Setting off on through the back streets of Hackney working our way the 3k up to one of our furthest locations of Abney Park Cemetery, which is one of the Magnificent 7 cemeteries in London. Where we got stuck at traffic lights we burst into some strength building action and knocked out 2 minutes of alternating lunges. Soon enough with a little navigation from our resident free running Coach Runner rep Andreana we had run 3k in 18minutes to reach Tom at Abney park.

With military precision Tom have 15 wheel barrows, a stack of gloves and a range of rakes and shovels waiting for us to get cracking with. We hot footed it down to gravel and got to work, 4 of us shovelling away loading up the barrows while 15 barrows safely navigated the spooky path up to the 5 rakers who modded the path creating a perfect camber for the rain to wash off. We set a steady and efficient pace with the keeping everyone working hard throughout! The 4 tonne mound of special gravel was going down nicely with excellent work from Will, Ros and Rich the barrow pushers kept a high leg turnover and kept coming back for more! While the rakers guided by Tom created 50 metres of path which is a GG Hackney best effort!!

With the gravel gone after 35 minutes of action we wheeled out way back up the main road, thanked Tom for his amazing organisation and begged him to let us come back for a GoodGym Halloween dress up special on the 1st of November (fingers crossed).

For the run back 10 steady eddies came with me and got going with some Cautiously aggressive running on the 3k run back to base while 13 speedsters completed 40 Lunges, 20 squats and 2 minutes of Ab planks before beginning the chase back to base!

Some impressive running from everyone saw us arrive back to base pretty much together so our Team stretch. We relaxed the muscles, wished the Cardiff Half marathon crew of Patrick, Anna, Dan, Nico and Jack (sorry if I forget anyone) the very best of luck on Sunday! I will be following you around and look forward to hear all about your races in the next couple of weeks!!

Looking forward to a big turn out for the Hackney Marshes GoodGym Parkrun tour on Saturday! All the information is here be a fun free 5k run and if you are able a breakfast after to.

Next week we are back to the unmistakable Gillett Square to finish off our work cleaning the Pop up Kids adventure playground equipment!! Would love to have you along for another fun filled Tuesday evening sign up here.

Thank you to Ros and Rich for the pun and Michele for some pictures!

Smooth and positive

Joel

Opening night for GoodGym Barnet was a huge success; 23 incredible GoodGymmers ran almost 4km to rake hay at a local nature reserve.

We were welcomed by our wonderful GoodGym Barnet base, the Phoenix Cinema, and joined by the mayor, Councillor David Longstaff, as well as councillor Sachin Rajput and Age UK representitive Sian Jones.

We ran a mostly downhill route through secret footpaths all the way to Long Lane Nature Reserve, where we were met by Harriet and Wayne who had tools laid out waiting for us. In what proved to be the speediest display of raking and carrying, the Barnet GoodGymmers cleared two areas and built the biggest pile of hay we'd ever seen.

Everyone got stuck in, including councillor Rajput – getting his very smart suit a little dirty!

I then took the team through a quick strength and conditioning workout, smashing out some incredible squats, jumps and lunges. We then ran ourselves back to base (all up hill, surprisingly!) and had a quick stretch.

Oh BONUS: The Phoenix has offered to reward GoodGym Barnet regulars with free cinema tickets. Log 10 tasks in Barnet to get a pair! Brilliant evening. Thank you to everyone who came!

We'll be back next week - see you there!