Did you know that Pancake Day always coincides with GoodGym Ealing's group run? This time, Shrove Tuesday also happened to be a Hot Choc Day as we visited Blondin Pavilion, where Linda, the manager, offered us hot drinks again. But we got to work for them first!

The gang welcomed new joiner, Helene, who ran from Bodyline with the running group through Walpole, Lammas and Blondin Parks.

Eight eager GoodGymers showed up at the pavilion, which was a pretty good turnout for an outdoor task in February. Was it the mild weather, the location, the promise of hot chocolate or the task of putting up signs? Who knows! Because there were only four signs to attach, we split into two teams and drew a second job from Linda's deck of task cards. It was... the woodchip!

Team Runway Riot

The Riot team marched with big signs along the pathways in Blondin Park lit with dotted lines of small lights which made them look like an airport runway. Claire was ready to take off! The rioters protested against Blondin Park Pavilion not being sufficiently recognised. They attached the signs to two lampposts and two fences near entrances, using Liv's expert knowledge of the park and Mike's height. Madhan was in charge of trimming the cable ties, which has proven more difficult than putting up the signs!

Team Barrow Barbarians

The group woodchipping the waterlogged edge of a path to the pavilion kept rotating team members between three tasks: loading the wheelbarrows, transporting the woodchip and levelling the unloaded woodchip with a rake. Helene stuck most of the time to the barrow driving, Sevan was perfecting the surface of the woodchipped area and Christos and Kash discovered the quickest way of filling the wheelbarrow with two shovels. The secret was teamwork: breaking down the dense woodchip pile and filling the massive shovel with the help of the smaller one - much faster than shovelling individually!

Wrap-up

After all four signs were up, proudly announcing the presence of the community pavilion in the park, and the source woodchip pile was reduced to a woodchip plainland, the GoodGymers header to the pavilion for hot chocolate and tea. Due to half term, there was no Zumba class tonight, but the silence was quickly filled with chatter.

Next week we'll have a rare chance of an indoor task at Impact Theatre! Fancy a run plus an upper body workout while rubbing down walls before painting? Sign up now!