For part 2 of today's (ultra) marathon volunteering session for Queen of the Suburbs, the last 25km runners passed through and the first 50km runners were close behind with 29km already in their legs.

Each group or runners wanted different things from the GoodGym staffed aid station, with the 25k-ers mostly grabbing water and quickly moving on. The last pair through were a mother and daughter who were walking the distance. The mum was 75 years old. What an absolute legend to be walking and completing Queen of the Suburbs on such a hot day 🙇.

The 50k runners were more likely to stop and refuel, including familiar faces - and GoodGymers - Steph and Shan. Top food options for everyone were bananas and Ritz crackers, unsurprisingly. The 50km runners were much more pickle curious too than those covering the shorter distance. No one was brave enough to drink the pickle juice. Pickles munching was more common as there was a rumour that they were packed with electrolytes. One runner even broke out in song:

"Last night a pickle saved my life" 💃

Each runner was recommended to take 1 litre of water with them to the next aid station and a lot of jugs were poured and water sloshed around. A few runners showed poor bladder control. Some were directed to the toilets and the others were unable to reseal their water bladders after they were topped up by Kash, Maria, Richard and Sevan. They needed a lot of fiddling around to get moving again.

Half way through the session, reinforcements were called for. More bananas were delivered to avoid a shortage and sun cream too with the temperature rising and the sun getting stronger. Harvey arrived fresh from Pitshanger Junior parkrun to help the morale of runners and their supporters. He was almost mistaken for a QotS runner, except that he didn't look sweaty enough or tired enough.

After 11:30, the number of runners passing through tailed off. There was a lot of waiting around and the last run-walker eventually made it to the aid station at 12:45. That triggered a quick wrap up, with food and drinks being packed into a van and the aid station torn down. All that was left were the wet patches on the ground, the memories of the interesting people who'd passed through and the big thank you given to us by the organisers:

"A huge thank you to you and all the GoodGym runners. Have a great rest of the long weekend!"