Congratulations on a landmark 50 good deeds achieved tonight by Keith

Welcome to Nathan who was making his Goodgym debut on one of our longest runs and farewell to Jamie who was making a final appearance before heading off to New Zealand - best wishes from all of us.

Before we left we celebrated the achievements of those who had run the Ipswich Twilight 10k through the town centre on a hot and humid Friday evening.

Arriving at the Castle Hill Community Centre there appeared to have been a breakdown in communication as Trevor had been expecting us until a late message this evening., However Trevor leapt into action finding brushes ladders and creosote for painting an outbuilding we had started on a visit a few weeks ago.

With a long side and a short end of the building to be done the team spread out and made light work of the task, even having time to eat (while painting) chocolate cake Keith had provided to celebrate his 50 milestone... delicious, thank you!

The return run was a steady pace social run through the town with no appetite for any intervals given the exertions on Friday.

So the black shirts are becoming more prevalent with Keith joining the ranks - I'm very proud of all GG Ipswich participants and particular kudos to those reaching 50 good deeds and earning that black shirt.

Next week we are making the short journey to Brickmakers Wood - more info and sign up Here

** Big Congratulations Lizzie on hitting 50 good deeds done on this task**

Welcome to Ian and Pratyush who made their Goodgym debut on last night's Group Run - We hope you enjoyed the evening and we'll see you again soon.

It was hot, hot, hot in Ipswich as we set off for a run around the massively popular Elmers Big Parade to clean the elephant sculptures and check for any damage on behalf of St. Elizabeth Hospice.

This was our third time doing this task but with over 50 elephants to check we know we won't cover the whole trail in one go, so we headed off in the opposite direction to last time along the Waterfront then through the town centre and into Christchurch Park before turning back towards town and back along the Waterfront - around 4 miles in total!

A quick warm up (not really needed) game of tag with the black shirts being "it" got hearts beating and temperatures raised - with Lizzie earning her 50 shirt we will soon have more black shirts than red on the Group Runs.

Armed with cleaning materials we sprayed, washed, wiped and polished each elephant while also incorporating various challenges at each sculpture. - Squats, hill intervals, lunges, steps to name a few.

The very warm evening sapped strength and lots of water was needed not only to clean the elephants but also to keep runners hydrated!

The group was back marked by Steve and Daniela with Keith in charge of photography and promising some "moving" pictures - can't wait to see the emotional pics!

With around 30 elephants visited and left sparkling, it was a great night's work.

Next week we return to Castle Hill Community Centre to complete a painting job we started a few weeks ago - you can find all the info and sign up HERE

Huge congratulations to Adeline on completing her 50th good deed on tonight's group run

Our "Mammoth" task was in support of St Elizabeth Hospice and we were to run to as many of the Elephant sculptures onElmers Big Parade as possible, giving them a wash and polish where needed.

The trail has been set up for the summer with around 55 differently painted elephants dotted around Ipswich to form the Elmers Big Parade - named after the patchwork elephant in childrens books.

It was a great task, taking us around a large part of the Waterfront and town centre. (Thanks to Kerry for plotting the route) It was bright sunny evening and we saw families and several groups of cubs, brownies and guides following the trail. One group even called us "Legends" when they realised we were cleaning the elephants - we modestly accepted the complement!

In between we had some short burst of step ups, press ups and step running just to keep the excitement going!.

So we travelled almost 6k in total and checked on about 30 of the elephants some need very little attention and one or two required a good rub down with the soapy water and cloths we were carrying. Time wouldn't permit us to get to them all but we wil be repeating this task 2 or 3 more times before the trail finishes and the sculptures are auctioned to raise funds for the Hospice.

A warm evening, a 5 mile run and a painting task (with loads of brushes) - it's another Monday in the life of Goodgym Ipswich!

We were off to the Castle Hill Community Centre - a regular destination for us and one of our longest runs right across Ipswich.

On arrival we were greeted by Shane, who was very well prepared for us with lots of brushes and several buckets of brown creosote ready to paint a large outbuilding.

Brushes were grabbed enthusiastically and the group dottted themselves around the building covering two of the walls. Some great teamwork was evident to paint the higher and lower areas - with delicate manouvering required to avoid brown paint splashes on the Goodgym T-shirts.

Within half an hour we had two sides completed and Shane couldn't quite believe the area covered which he estimated would have taken him 2 days on his own. We will return to completed the job soon.

Our return run was pleasant with various people "peeling off" on the way, but we escorted Nicola almost to her doorstep with an adjustment to our usual route.

Next week is the second of our Elmers Big Parade runs - checking the elephants are keeping clean and being looked after in their temporary homes around Ipswich - Find out more and sign up here