On the final Monday of the January Challenge, our 3rd birthday group run and my last ever night leading GoodGym York, an amazing group of 75 pitched up to do a stonking amount of good!

In that enormous group we had:

• THREE brand new runners - big cheers for Charlee, Thomas and Francisco.
• TEN GoodGym tourists from Newcastle, Ealing, Leeds, Bath and Portsmouth!
• TWO people celebrating their 50th good deed and donning the Cape of Good Deeds Give some hearty Yorkie cheers to Emma (who has been running with us for almost the three whole years but just likes to spread out all her good!), Rich and also to Louise who couldn't make it tonight but also did her 50th last week.
• TWO people celebrating their 100th good deed and swishing the Centurion Cape! (massive cheers please for Debs and Al who got their wings over the last few days.

We split into three running groups and a walking group, on a collective mission to transform the Nunnery Lane residential area.. with this list of mini and not-so-mini tasks to tackle:

1. Digging up topsoil, laying a weed membrane and covering a large border with pea shingle
2. The lamppost task (we'll come back to this)
3. Digging up deep set rubble from a community garden (saving the one young tree), taking all the rubble to a skip and laying a new layer of three tonnes of topsoil
4. Locating all the broken and rusty road signs within the area which need replacing
5. Building three raised beds and filling with 5 tonnes of topsoil
6. Edging the path in Scarcroft Green
7. Digging and raking up weeds and ivy roots from the Scarcroft Green border
8. Litter picking every street and snicket
9. Locate and mark on a map the locations of all graffiti on the estate
10. Levelling the area where we dug up elders last year ready for a spring seed sowing session!

The walking group were split into three sub groups to tackle tasks 2, 4 and 9. It took a while to figure out who was going to go with who due to lack of reading glasses. The lamppost task was absolutely the most complicated as appropriate lampposts needed to be identified according to a strict set of criteria, and marked as to whether or not they'd be suitable to display a neighbourhood watch sign.

So we're looking for dark lampposts that are approximately 2.2m tall?? - Paul

Leanne's group arrived at the Task 1 location (actually Task 5: raised beds) and Max was delighted to be able to use the IMPACT DRIVER, imagine a nail gun but for giant bolts and you won't be far off.

Then Mitch's team arrived and were split up to litter picking, community garden rubble clearing and adding extra people power for the raised beds.

Jenny, one of the three task owners, did more running than most of the GoodGymers as she went back and forth between the zones retreiving various tools from the van.

I need a boltcutter! Jenny

Then pea shingle team finished and moved onto Scarcroft Green, they were shortly joined by the litter picking squad and eventually the community garden team (though a few of those went up to help the raised bed team too).

We had a crazy ten minutes of raking, edging, digging, standing around having a chat, and frantically attempting to put all the tools back into the van. Then we only had five minutes remaining for the biggest, fastest game of Cones of Joy, ever.

It's a two lane motorway of circular running!!! Katie

There was just enough time for a gigantic group photo before the short run back to base. That truly was an enormous amount we achieved in about an hour.

Massive thanks to everyone who showed up tonight, or has showed up any time over the last three years. It really has been eggcellent and I think you're all the best.

Don't forget to do your lunges.

On the week that GoodGym celebrates 10 whole years of doing good, 39 runners and walkers turned out for a huge triple task at Millennium Fields.

We welcomed along newbie Robert and current member Annis who was doing her first ever group run. Give them both a big cheer!

Aron led our 10-themed warm-up with 10 reps of 10 exercises.

Is this just our warm up, not our work out?

We headed over to Millennium Fields where we were faced with THREE really big tasks.

1. Raking up vast, vast amounts of grass which had been power-scythed
2. Moving a huge pile of woodchip to line the dirt track across the meadow
3. 'Sorting out' a composting area in the Fulford Cross Allotments

The compost area was a bigger task than originally planned. Much bigger. The idea had been to separate out non compostable items into a skip, then to turn over the proper composty stuff. Unfortunately someone had cut down what looked like a small orchard of cherry trees and surrounding brambles, and piled them all on top.

The new task - therefore - was to remove all the woody items and create 'habitat piles' along the wall and to get all the brambles, rubbish and non-compostables into the skip.

I'm pretty sure we did a mission here where we put the brambles in... NIkki G

The dirt path was quickly being topped with up, but once the top surface of the woodchip pile had been removed, it turned out it was a bit mouldy underneath and was steaming nicely.

Mould makes cheese, it must be good for you!

Debs located a full - and very warm - tree trunk which had obviously not been chipped, so she carried it all the way to the composting area like a trooper, to be added to the other woody bits in the wildlife area.

Those who had already been doing lots of scything over the weekend were amazed at just how much grass needed to be raked, because the power-scyther had been in and done the work of many normal scythers.

It's like a cross between a lawn mower and lots of scythes!

There was much excitement from the rakers as people kept finding frogs and Katie did several rescue missions to take them down to the river bank.

At the composting area we had done as much as we could do, the skip was completely full, even with Debs and Nick using any wooden item they could find to compress the contents. Our final job was to clear the path of brambley and branchy debris, and just as Jonathan was saying how useful it would have been to have a broom, Paul Kelly found a tiny brush in amongst the compost. Probably a shoe brush, but he swept the path with it anyway.

We all gathered back together for the fitness session, led by Aron. He'd found a way to keep nearly 40 GoodGymers busy with fitness on a piece of outdoor exercise equipment with only eight stations.

Each team will have someone exercising, someone sprinting, someone squatting, and someone resting!

To any outsider it would have looked like mayhem, but we all knew exactly what was going on and those who were 'resting' took on the role of cheering on the rest of their team. Everyone except Mitch, who just laid down and had a little nap.

We finished the session by taking a team picture with our brand new #GG10 flag on Millennium Bridge, before the run back to base and the post-run party!

On a drizzly autumnal evening, 35 GG Yorkies pitched up to complete a whole load of tasks at Westbank Park.

There were no big milestones this week so we gave a cheer to everyone who had completed the Great North Run at the weekend and we mostly celebrated being in possession of the Golden Trowel. For anyone who doesn't know, the Golden Trowel is a mystical item awarded to the winner of the January Challenge, and we only just recently retrieved it from the 2018 winners, GoodGym Bristol. There are many, many photos of us enjoying the trowel, take your time to peruse them all!

With (his full title is getting longer) Amazing GG Yorkie Original and GG Leeds Trainer Aron supporting tonight and Pete as our back marker, we headed over to Westbank Park where we had all of 50 minutes to complete the following:

• raking up all the arisings from the wildflower meadow
• piling said arisings onto giant tarps to drag to compost heap
• clearing overgrown nettles from in front of compost area
• taking all good compost out of four small compost bins into the one big one
• taking all woody and non-compostables out of four small into giant non-compostable pile
• removing dodgy graffiti from picnic bench area
• cutting back overgrown brambles/nettles from picnic area
• cutting back overgrown ivy from the paved tunnel

Phew! Luckily we had a LOT of tools and Debs even blagged using a battery powered strimmer (with mandatory eye protection).

The rakers made swift work of the arisings and were waiting for the nettle slashers to create a clear path for tarps full of piles of wet grass to be dragged through. Everyone took one giant step back for Debs to go large with the strimmer and clear a space for the first tarp.

It was an impressive sight, seeing a carpet of grass being hoisted onto a giant compost bin, and with most of the nettles slashed or strimmed it was now a hive of activity as the newly accessible compost bins could have all the compost shifted out into the one giant compost bin.

Ellie and Paul and had taken on the graffiti removal challenge. Unfortunately we couldn't take any photos of the graffti.

It was sweary, crude and had possible GDPR implications - Ellie

With five minutes to go, the compost crew had finished and were gathering tools, whilst all the other task teams were just finishing up. A huge amount had been achieved in 50 minutes and after a group piccie, we marked our achievement with a sprinty fitness session.

It's flying 30s, but uphill and longer!

The goal was to take a very easy downhill recovery, accelerate along the flat, sprint up the gentle hill, decelerate into the final corner and recover again.... as many times as possible in five minutes. Ellie and Paul were an excellent cheer squad and kept everyone very motivated for this short but tough fitness sesh.

Next week, Aron is in charge of fitness and it's going to be brilliant, so don't miss it!

An amazing crowd of 48 GG Yorkies descended upon the riverside cycle path!!

You just never know how many people are going to come to GoodGym, there's no rhyme or reason to it. Tonight, even with some of our most loyal regulars off on holidays, a huge team gathered for a massive task to cut back overgrowing vegetation on the cycle path between the Clifton Bridge and Rawcliffe.

We welcomed along a swathe of new runners, including Martyn who conscientiously turned up early only to find a small and hardy sub-team completing a hardcore HIIT workout.

Don't worry, this isn't normal!

There were several big achievements to announce tonight:

• Lindsay was running her 50th good deed and was presented with the Cape of Good Deeds
• John was running his 100th good deed and was presented with the Centurion Cape
• Laura was finally presented with the accolade of GG Yorkie of the Month for July (after Katie and Becky completed a secret craft mission last week to create a new frame after the last one went AWOL)

After a little warm up we all headed out en masse, over Scarborough Bridge and along the River Ouse. The shorter run group (distance 2.2km out) stopped at Clifton Bridge were we were met by Beki and her van of tools. Everyone debated whether to stop or whether to carry on along the cycle path to search for Jenny (estimated distance 3.5-3.8km).

The task tonight was to reclaim the cycle path by cutting back overhanging vegetation and getting the path back to it's full width, making life easier for everyone who uses it.

Tim led the longer group and was watching the distance closely as his team ran further and further into Clifton Ings, eagerly looking out for the mysterious Jenny and her wheelbarrow of tools. They mistook a fair few dog walkers and pedestrians for her, but finally after 4.5km of running (sorry for the understimation there!), she was spotted with her stash of loppers!

At first it seemed an insurmountable task at the Rawcliffe end but it turned out that Jenny had started the crew at the hardest bit. Laurence, Pete and Emily dutifully cleared the lopped branches from the path. whilst Ed did his best to fall down a hole whilst carrying a saw.

Add that one to the risk assessment!

Speaking of risk assessments, at my end Beki was asking if we could use powertools but why would anyone want to use a powertool when you could hack with your best muscles?!

The only tool we could allow was a leaf-blower, and everyone was extremely excited about it. Everyone except Caped John who has one at home. John was taking his 100th good deed very seriously indeed, firstly helping Beki get the van down safely onto the path, then taking charge of some complex sawing tasks for the thicker overhanging branches, but then he did end up leaf blowing (after a few others had taken their turn) and had definitely lied about being excited about it.

We all gathered back together along the river for some fitness action of partner exercises including:

• walk out plank high fives
• lean out squats
• sit-up high-tens

...and the finisher, a huge team plank and commando crawl race with the smallest and most agile members doing commando crawl duties. Mitch and Tom did win for their team but we're pretty sure (having reviewed the video footage) that their team had fewer members and therefore less distance to travel. Really everyone was a winner as nobody dropped their plank so there were no burpee forfeits to be had!

On a sunny late summer eve, 38 GG Yorkies ran to St Nicks to continue the huge meadow keeper's project.

We welcomed along a brand new runner, Jane, who has been meaning to come along for ages after hearing about GoodGym at York Beer Runners, welcome Jane!

Tonight it was the turn of MAGNIFICENT MADDY to wear the Centurion Cape as she completed her 101st good deed (her 100th was a mission over the weekend) - make sure you go and give her some huge cheers.

We arrived at St Nicks to a beautiful display of rakes and scythes which Jonathan had lovingly created for us. As well as explaining why we need to scythe and rake (c'mon, you know this now; wildflowers thrive in nitrogen poor soil so grasses/weeds need cutting back and removing so they don't break down and add extra nutrients and stop wildflowers from living their best life), he also gave us a bit of an equality and diversity statement.

We have tiny scythes for the tiny people and massive rakes for massive people. We're very inclusive.

Maria turned up with a 'barrow full of spades for another task in the meadow for those who were feeling like they wanted a bit more of a workout. This task was to basically completely dig up a patch of very thick grass where scything simply wouldn't cut it.

The action kicked off with scythers making quick progress into the long grass, rakers raking up big piles and Gareth learning all about the benefits of a pitchfork.

It's actually amazing how much grass you can pick up with one!

Pete and Tom were the official grass removal crew, dragging bags and tarps full of cut grass to the composting area, whilst Tim was the official grass and soil remover for the digging team.

A bonus extra task came up when Jonathan re-emerged with some metal rakes and got a small team to start scarifying another area ready for more wildflower seeds (scarifying: rake the ground really hard to break up the soil).

This grass is definitely very scared, petrified! (not sure if it was John or Nick with the dad jokes)

In 50 minutes, a huge area of the meadow had been completely cut back. The diggers had finished their patch and enjoyed a little 'seed and stomp' action whilst Rich scythed to the bitter end to make sure he broke through to the 'other side'.

For our fitness session, we enjoyed a little game of Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Cones, which involved some fierce cone-grabbing action, forfeit burpees and a winner's game of "pick the exercise". I have to say I felt very proud of Vicky for choosing press-ups and Beth too who made her partner hold a plank - absolute heroes. For future reference (Katie and Mitch), 'rock, paper, scissors' is NOT an exercise.

Next week we're all together again for one massive cycle path clearance along the river, see you then.

It was another evening of celebrations as we marveled at Team Gover for having a crack at another absolutely bonkers endurance event, all the amazing York 10k performances, a successful fell race (and Emily's win) AND the elite squad of Leanne, Paul Kelly and Stef representing at the GG Olympics. What a weekend!

Tonight we welcomed along Izzy to her first ever group run, and we split into two teams with Tim and Mitch leading a group to Glen Gardens to shift around 10 tonnes of bark whilst I led the other group to the Groves to start a new project with Flower Power.

Tim's Glen Gardens Report

Our task was expertly lead out by vice-president of the task Mitch. When we arriving it took us a moment to locate task owner Iain and his massive pile of woodchip. We like a good pile, so were pleased with the simple task of moving the big pile of bark to a flowerbed, to help stop the weed grow back.

With expert raking and direction from our ladies who rake, Lauren, Lindsay, Jackie and Amy, we quickly had the whole area filled with bark. Despite some of our more naughty members playing some bumper barrows with the wheelbarrows. I am looking at you Katie and Craig!

Spotting some spare hands, we got to work speed weeding so we could tip all of the last woodchips into the flowerbeds. Whilst Rich and Barbara sneaked off for some extra secret lopping behind the basketball courts.

We swept up the last of the woodchips to keep the beautiful Glen Gardens clean and tidy and we dashed off to join Egg's crew for fit-tastic fitness sesh!

Egg's Flower Power Report

In the Groves we were welcomed by the lovely Mamta who told us a bit about Flower Power and their project to 'Green up the Groves', which is a residential area in York with very little green space. Our task was to initiate the transformation of a small corner plot into what will be a beautiful colourful flower bed.

It's too early in the season for planting but we had to edge the new flower bed border, dig out the turf whilst retaining as much soil as possible and turn over the soil to remove any weeds and roots. Maddy found herself spadeless and wondering how she could be helpful.

I'll let you shake my grass! - Leanne

The team made quick progress with edgers carefully carving out little squares which could be easily extracted by spaders. Our task officially ended when the Glen Gardens group ran over to join us and we'd just dug out the last section when they arrived. They even managed to photobomb our group shot.

We all headed into Park Grove Academy for our fitness session using their wooden outdoor play equipment. In pairs, everyone had to take turns in doing shuttle runs and a variety of exercises including:

• box jumps
• hurdles
• beam presses
• the floater
• uneven squats

Then we had a steady run back with Mitch doing a solo sprint finish. Both Huw and Becky provided some excellent cakes this week.

It's just generic cake. To celebrate running (Huw)

Marianne suggested that we're missing a trick by not advertising all the cake when people sign up to sessions but we love to keep it as a really amazing secret bonus!

Pun credit, Ed Woollard