It was laundry day in Wandsworth last night, as 26 GoodGymers met at the Battersea Arts Centre ready to help out Love to Learn - a project aimed at supporting local young people and families from refugee backgrounds.

But first we welcomed some lovely new faces – hello Dagmar, Lulu and James. Nice to see Chris who was visiting us from Camden as well. We had some huge shout outs this week. A round of applause to Jack, who not only helped out at missions on both Saturday and Sunday but also is smashing the Wandsworth leader board with a huge 10 good deeds so far in September. Way to go! Well done to Lucy and Sophie who are not far behind him. We also wished Jack and Tom the best of luck for their half marathon in Cardiff this weekend – we’ll be spurring the whole GoodGym team on from here in London!

We were under some serious time pressure to pick up a load of laundry from Love to Learn and get it to the launderette, which was staying open an extra ten minutes just for us lucky lot. So with the wind behind us and the Challenge Anneka theme music in our heads, we covered the mile to the charity in record time. One human chain, and a quick pick up later, most of the team were back pounding the pavement to the launderette whilst Asifa, Lulu, Jack, Tom, Roshan and Dagmar stayed behind to do some tasks.

We reached the laundrette as the owner was standing on the doorstop with his cycle helmet on his head ready to go, and all but threw ourselves over the threshold. It was with a giant sigh of relief that, free of bags of washing, we made our way to a darkening Battersea Park for our fitness session.

Whilst waiting for the rest of the team to join us after their marathon cleaning session, we played a quick game of British Bulldog, with Sarah emerging as champion on the first match, and Matthew reigning supreme the second time. Then the fitness session. It was always going to be a hard one, but with a few ABC (agility, balance, coordination) exercises, some intervals, the plank challenge and a monster relay later, it still wasn’t over. We split ourselves into three groups, and set off back to the BAC, stopping at our favourite hill for a couple of hill sprints to round off the evening. And despite some colourful language, everybody faced their nemesis and smashed it.

Of course, the night wasn’t over without the weekly CoRUNdrum. It seemed fair enough – what stone fruit sits atop the towers at St Paul’s Cathedral? Pineapples. However, there was some dispute over the wording, with the upshot that Will is going to come up with a better London based quiz question next week. Good Luck, Will, make it a good un’!

It was Sophie’s birthday (Happy hill sprint birthday, Sophie!) this week, so we all took ourselves off to the bar for some cake and drinks to finish off a tough but fun evening. Special hat tip to Dave and Sarah who both made it to the session despite both having taken international flights that very day. That’s commitment, well done team! Congrats also to Kylee who nailed her fitness goal in record time, and to Daniel who ran his first parkrun this weekend in a great time. Keep it up everyone.

See you next week for a longer run to Tooting – sign up here you lovely lot:

https://www.goodgym.org/group_runs/tooting-charity-needs-our-help

While some people say that if Monday had a face they would punch it, here at GoodGym we LOVE Mondays. Because when Monday evening rolls around, we get to meet up at the amazing Battersea Arts Centre, see some ace people, run like we stole something, and make our borough a better place to live. What’s not to love?

Last night was no exception when a group of lovely Wandsworth regulars and a few excellent new faces met up ready to do some good at Balham Community Centre, a charity that works to support families in Wandsworth. Hello to first-timers Georgie, Kate and Elizabeth, we're really happy you’ve joined us!

After our briefing we had race reports – great job Cath and Sally who both smashed races in the past week – announced an exciting new pairing with a local physio (watch this space, more coming soon), and then it was over to Matthew for this week’s CoRUNdrum. Which underground station has the river Westbourne flowing through it? With that headscratcher from Matthew we set off towards Balham. Will made himself very popular by suggesting a quick fartlek session as we ran through the common. It may have been painful, but this form of speed work (from the Swedish for ‘speed play’) is great for training. It speeds up anaerobic fitness, burns more calories, increases your heartrate and mixes up your training. So well done Will, thanks for pushing us!

Before long we had run the two-and-a-bit miles to the community centre and while one group set about pruning the trees that surround the kids’ playground, the other half began weeding with a vengeance. 24 pairs of gloves, four loppers and three secateurs later, the trees were denuded and the playground was deweeded. The difference was obvious, well done team.

Off we ran, amid a chorus of cat calls from the open-fronted Italian restaurant opposite the centre. We almost invited them to join us for a speed-off but the temptation of pasta was too great, and we charged up Balham High Road, stopping again at the common for a session on technique and a turbo-charged plank challenge. With Will leading one group, and Vicki taking the other, we split up and raced each other home to the BAC. We got back in record time – it turns out that cakes are a good incentive for getting that PB. Who knew?

A few quick stretches and the answer to Matthew’s great CoRUNdrum revealed – Sloane Square has a river running through the overhead pipes – we ate cake, talked about who would be at the GoodGym-wide drinks in Brixton on Thursday, and wiped away our sweat. Great job everybody, can’t wait to see you all next Monday. You can sign up here: https://www.goodgym.org/group_runs/do-good-for-your-borough

Before then, we have a mission this Saturday morning (10th) for which we need some more helpers. We’ll meet at 9am at Smuggler’s Way to help the Wandle Wheelers set up for their ride until 10am, then run a quick 5k by the river together. Sign up here: https://www.goodgym.org/missions/help-wandle-wheelers-set-up-for-their-big-ride