Today was thankfully cooler than our last visit to Acton Junior parkrun. Either due to that or more of the runners not being away on their summer holidays, there were a few more finishers today and by the next time we're here, schools will be back and they should return to the normal numbers of children 🤞.

For today's run, Maria took centre stage, leading the warm up session again. Steph, Kash and Sevan marshalled around the course, Chris took on the role of timekeeper and Maria completed the circle of parkrun, being at the start and the end, by scanning barcodes too.

Sevan paired up with a new-to-Acton marshal at the roundabout and showed them how and when the children would appear at their marshal point. He also tried to explain the complicated course layout, which is still indescribable. Is it like a snail? 🐌 Some of the new children didn't get it either, needing the marshals to point them in the right direction to get them to the finish. They'll have learned from the guidance and will know what to do next time.

Since last year's cutback session at Hobbayne's Half Acre Woodland, the GoodGymers doubled in numbers, while the brambles, nettles, hawthorn and other nasties encroaching the public paths seemed to weaken. Our task owner, Dee, believed the drought was the reason and that a bit of rain would make the overgrowth explode as it had in the previous years.

Six GoodGym runners met in front of Ealing Broadway station for a 3.5km run to Hanwell and the same distance back. Among them was a new joiner, Kristian, who had thought the 7km would be a good challenge for him. While running in a group with Steph Ducat, Conor, Sevan, Chris and Kash, the distance turned out not to be such a challenge after all - Kristian kept a good, consistent pace all the way. Welcome, Kristian, and congratulations on your first GoodGym run!

Maria, Scott and Amy cycled, and Harvey walked to meet Dee and the runners under the Wharncliffe Viaduct near the Hanwell station. You may not know that the viaduct is quite a big thing in British industrial history - constructed in 1837, it was the first major design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the engineer responsible for the rest of the Great Western Railway and the iconic Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol.

I couldn't resist that bridge tangent. Let's get back to Hanwell.

After a short ice-cream themed icebreaker, Dee handed the GoodGymers shears and suggested the best section of the path to tackle would be the tarmac way closest to Station Road. Doomed were all the brambles, nettles, hawthorns, ivy, and, surprisingly, bamboo plants that dared to grow through or over the fence. The most ambitious GoodGymers even cut tree branches with shears (and some solid willpower) alone! A sackful of rubbish was uncovered while cutting back the unruly plants, bagged, and diligently binned before the end of the session.

Shortly after 8pm, most of the team disbanded to make their way home. Conor, Kristian, Sevan and Kash decided to run back to Ealing Broadway. Little did they know, they were racing the Elizabeth line, which Chris decided to take. And they won! Was it a testament to GoodGymers' prowess, Hanwell station being underserved, or Lizzy's unreliability? I'll let you decide.

Next week, we are off for a similar route to reach the Stables in Brent Lodge Park and help sort the festival equipment after the Hanwell Hootie fever finally settled down. Sign up now to join us!

The scorching sun had already climbed high above Elthorne Park, and the meadows where Hanwell Carnival was about to take place offered very little shade. Since the morning, Kash had been battling tangled strings, Pythagorean geometry and an acrylic line marker alongside a couple of Carnival volunteers. Luckily, reinforcements were on their way.

At 11:00, GoodGymers Angela, Chris and Harvey arrived to lend the event organisers a hand in setting up Hanwell's big community celebration. Little did they know that their task would involve marking out stall pitches rather than assembling gazebos.

"I've marked football pitches before." - Harvey.
"Great, so we have an expert now!" - Kash.
"No, I wouldn't say that..."

By GoodGym standards, Harvey was definitely an expert - and Angela and Chris quickly rose to that level, rapidly gaining experience on the job.

The team rushed to finish a batch of stall pitches before the midday break (it was really hot, so a break was very much needed!). Perhaps feeling a little too confident, they left one corner of a rectangle unchecked. It soon became clear that the shape didn't satisfy the Pythagorean theorem - in other words, it wasn't straight. The rectangle wasn't really a rectangle at all, but an impostor quadrilateral.

The mistake was quickly corrected, and the rogue white line on the grass was sprayed over with red paint. Kash kept hold of the red spray can to mark the pitch numbers, which turned out to be a lot of fun.

"Kash, you're a tagging natural!" - Chris.

When you think about it, GoodGym offers a rare opportunity to do graffiti-style tagging without being accused of vandalism. How cool is that?

Having marked and divided the large rectangle into smaller pitches, the team moved on to six more boxes around the crafts tent, which was still being erected. The speedy GoodGym crew finished their grass graffiti before the tent was completed and just in time for a well-earned lunch break.

Great work, everyone!

After burning through an impressive pile of woodchip in a single session in March at Lammas Enclosure Community Orchard, the bar was raised for GoodGymers: the woodchip delivery that followed almost doubled the size of the heap! We’d like to say that the number of GoodGymers at the Tuesday sessions also doubled. Well, we are not there yet, but last night we came with a strong team of eight to destroy the new pile, and - more importantly - refresh the path in the enclosure and the Forest School seating area by spreading fresh woodchip.

A range of runners, cyclists and walkers made their way to Walpole Park to help pick up the tools for the task. Sevan, who led the task, Conor and Kash ran from Ealing Broadway, Jo and James cycled, and Marie, Chris and Anna walked to the task. Marie made a big comeback after a break from GoodGym, combining the woodchipping session with plenty of walking for her step challenge - we’re sure she’ll smash it!

While pushing wheelbarrows offered a perfect way to get more steps in the day, raking and loading woodchip into barrows targeted different muscle groups.

”The shovelling is a proper upper body workout!”

With a dedicated team of GoodGymers hungry for an impactful activity, only the number of wheelbarrows available stood in the way of finishing off the woodchip pile. In less than an hour, a thick layer of woodchip was covering the path from the orchard gate to the circle of logs in the Forest School, which was also neatly surrounded by woodchip. Great work, everyone!

Next week, we’re heading 2km East of Ealing Broadway to tackle the litter haunting an alleyway between West Acton and Park Royal. Sign up now!