Could you hear us last night? Around 7pm, a big cheer from south-west London? Thought so. That was the moment we realised we had set a Wandsworth record! With no less than 41 wonderful runners, it was our biggest run yet. GO GOODGYM. You are all running legends, every single one of you.

There has been some seriously good running recently, a lot of saintly do-gooding, and a bucket-load of lovely news. So here goes.

• A huge well done to you amazing Larmer Tree runners who smashed a tough old trail course. Check out the race team page to find out when the next race is happening. https://www.goodgym.org/race-team • As an extra Monday night bonus we welcomed the lovey new Cardiff trainer Ben to the group last night. GG Cardiff will be kicking off in May, and with ultra-runner and trainer extraordinaire Ben running the show it’s sure to be a huge success. If you fancy a bit of GG tourism, I hear Cardiff has no less than 1518 hours of sunshine during an average year. So there you go. • The marvellous Luke, David and Ben all sped round the Reading half marathon course which was a tough and hilly old job. Well done to those speedsters – give them a cheer, why don’t you? • We had a fantastic lot of lovely new runners to join the group this week. One of the best parts of the weekly run is getting to welcome new faces, we love it! So please all raise your glasses for Sara, Julia, Mat, Ed, Lauren, Ella, Alyx and Holly. Wandsworth, throw a cheer their way, they’ve earned it! And while you’re at it, say a big GG hello to Shanice, Alice and Kike from Lambeth and Islington, who were visiting us for the day! Lovely to have you. • Finally, our HEROES. Whoop whoop, Luke, you ran the furthest. Hurrah David, you are topping the good deed tables and getting the most cheers! Toot toot, Matthew, you are making everyone feel good by giving the most cheers! If YOU want to see where you rank on the heroes board, have a shufti here: https://www.goodgym.org/heroes?area=wandsworth

Phew. With all this do-gooding, fast-running, cheer-giving, high-fiving fun out the way, we were off on our run. With a last minute cancellation (boooo) we had a quick swerve, and headed not for church deep cleaning, but for compost bed filling instead at our lovely local primary school. Luckily (said Ella and Sam) it was still a short run, so off we trotted down the hill, a blaze of red tshirts and happiness.

We were met by Barry, the most cheerful and characterful caretaker you could hope to meet, and set about forming a bucket chain to fill up the empty raised beds. bucket chain bucket chain bucket chain came the chant, which I’m sure the neighbours really loved.

With the beds filled and the buckets chained, we sprinted round the corner for a fun fitness session, kicking off with ‘fish and chips’. It’s fair, I think, to say this worked with varying levels of success but there were still a few burpees being knocked out across the field. We then made a huge circle, with individual runners deciding on what exercise the group had to do while they sprinted to a nearby tree and back. Then came British Bulldog. Always contentious, always competitive, always a huge amount of fun. And this week there was, despite a big effort and a minimal low-level violence, one clear and outright winner. Step forward Dan, and receive your crown. Nice running! Finally we finished off with a squat-off, to see the mighty Jack outlast us all.

Session done, we set off in two groups back to the BAC for some stretches, but not without a good old hill sprint to end the night. And everybody knows that Wandsworth hearts hill sprints. Thinking about technique – positive backwards arm drive, high chest, straight back, light toes and relaxed shoulders – everybody bossed that hill. Way to go.

While we were stretching it out, there was only time left for the CoRUNdrum, courtesy of the lovely Vicki, who we missed this week. St Paul’s was the tallest structure in London until 1962 when which building broke its record? Give Matt a cheer, for the clever lad knew it was the BT Tower in record time!

Brilliant running everyone. Next week we’re off to Balham to form a human chain to clear junk out of a community hall basement. Last time we found a 6ft crucifix and Jen’s new friend Manfred the mannequin. Sign up here to find out what treasures we unearth next….

https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/run-to-clear-junk-37fd428c-f5bc-4f3c-a7dd-daf6598de797

27 runners ran 5km or 10km to sort materials at the Work and Play Scrapstore

'Monday runny Monday' as a famous Irish band once did not sing. 27 runners gathered at Battersea Arts Centre for a run, some fun, and probably at least one pun at 18.30 last night. After a briefing we set off into the Wandsworth night with our trusted front and back markers keeping the group safe and together.

5km is a long way and we arrived at the Work and Play Scrapstore sweaty but smiley and were put to work by Rachel. GoodGym Wandsworth has visited the Scrapstore before and it's a treasure trove of materials that have been saved from landfill to be re-used and re-purposed by all kinds of groups within the community.

'There's no right or wrong - make things look pretty!' Rachel

We split into groups taking on different tasks to help Rachel out:

*Tidying the overflowing fabric section

*Bagging up glitter and removing fabric samples from their boards

*Sorting tiles

*Measuring and wrapping fabrics

*Cutting wire into measured lengths

*Flattening boxes for recycling

It was like some kind of Apprentice task! Whilst the fabric-measurers were busy perfecting their methodology and dubbing themselves 'master tailors'; the tile-team were showing off their knowledge of shapes using their previous experience sorting carpet tiles. Everybody got sew into their tasks that there was some surprise when suddenly there was only five minutes to go. Last night team GoodGym Wandsworth weren't so much fabric conditioners as fabric high-commisioners but unfortunately these material girls (and boys) had to leave their material world to get back to base.

Some runners headed directly home from the Scrapstore, some ran to Earlsfield station to get the train back to Battersea Arts Centre and the rest of us went boldly into the night to nail the 5km home. A brave choice by all accounts! As the front runners disappeared at alarming speeds, we settled into the run home. You know those deceptive inclines where everything feels really hard and you're not sure why because it doesn't look like a hill? That was about half of our run home. Not to be daunted, GoodGym Wandsworth fought bravely on and there were many congratulations when we arrived back at base. What did we find back at Battersea Arts Centre? The front runners had actually beat the public-transporters home! Maybe you guys should think about racing another train in August... You know what they say - no train, no gain!

Everyone deserves a huge congratulations on a brilliant, bold run - whatever distance you chose - and another excellent task.

Join Ana next week for a shorter run to St Barnabus Church for a spot of maintenance work. It'll be another corker and there may or may not be burpees...

Lucy J