10 Westminster GoodGymers ran nearly 7k to Little Venice to help keep our waterways as clear and plastic free as possible by collecting 14buckets of rubbish from the Canal path.

On our longest run we do was great to see a load of GoodGym first timers come and dominate a really important task for our environment.

Running from Oxford Street all the way up to little Venice in the summer warmer and humidity is no easy effort. But we powered through and made good time!

Getting to our store at the HQ of the Canal & River Trust we kitted up and headed out to grab as many waterway pollutants as we could!

2 litre plastic bottles a load of drinks cans and a million cigarette butts (which contain 3 different types of plastic) were all picked up and bucketed!

With the rubbish piling high we emptied it into the recycling bins and smoothly and strongly powered our way back to base!

Thanks for your efforts and hard work on making such a big contribution to our adopted area of Canal path in Little Venice!!

Hope to see you all next week for a special, fun, and sweaty visit to St Andrews Youth Club for our Kin Ball match up!!

Joel

21 amazing Westminster GoodGymers ran a brilliant 7k and sorted out all of One Big Family home less charity’s Winter clothing donations!

** News**

Chi let us know about the assault course training sessions that will be taking place twice a month leading up to the ** Spartan Race** in May!! Get yourself signed up for the training sessions. And the volunteering and racing info for the Spartan Race.

Thanks to Olivia for the shout out for this Sunday’s GoodGym Long Run training session starting in Kew. All the information is here.

After a flurry of DBS checks to enable runners to access the delights of Missions and Coach runs we got down to the business of Starting GG Westminster 2019 with some energetic and happy running and sorting!

With Danny controlling the back of the group we headed through the busy streets of Central London avoiding as many pockets on pedestrian congestion as possible!! We managed to get a good glimpse of loads of London’s Landmarks as we elegantly glided South towards the River. Managing to keep together for most of the session which was a minor miracle but not as unbelievable as the unprecedented run of Green man (person?) lights we were lucky enough to catch!! Allowing us to speedily get down to the Ebury Estate to meet One Big Family Homeless Charity.

One Big Family Victoria are as small a charity as it gets providing food, clothing and other assistance to Westminster’s homeless community twice a week every week of the year.

After a bumper load of clothing donations piled high in the charities lock ups we had the task of sorting through all the clothing to find the Winter wear then bag it into The type of clothing and splitting by gender and size as well as getting a kids bag ready to go.

15 bags of warm clothes all bagged up and ready to be given out to the homeless community later in the evening.

With the task complete we blitzed the run back laying down some seriously speedy segments of running through Victoria, up to Buckingham Palace then a final big burst up the legendary Green Park drag!

A little trot bag to the New Balance Store finished off a great evening!!

Thanks for a top session and hope to see you all next week for our trip to the River!

Smooth Running

Joel

There was a bumper turnout at GoodGym Westminster this Wednesday, as a group of runners from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel joined us – hope to see you again next week guys! There was also a bumper crop of Frances’, as I filled in for Joel alongside the regular Frances, who led one of two groups to Victoria.

After a jog through central London and past Buckingham Palace, we reached our regular task at One Big Family, where we again split into two groups. One group made sandwiches and packed pastries which the volunteers hand out to homeless people around Victoria, while the other went with Graham and took turns at choosing exercises, ranging from some gentle stretching to burpees. The groups swapped halfway through so that everyone got a chance at doing some good.

With the task completed swiftly, we set off back to base – this time taking in the sights of Green Park, with some of us taking the opportunity to push the pace a little. All in all, a productive evening with the cooler weather making for an enjoyable run!

12 energetic GoodGymers ran 9.5k around the Royal Parks to spread running joy!

On a seriously chilly Wednesday we had a quality turnout ready for action!! However the task fairies had other ideas!! Between the Open Age leaflets being left for us at the store and us arriving they vanished!!! After calls, emails and New Balance managers WhatsApp group getting exhausted we had to admit leafleting defeat!

But undeterred we strived for running glory in its place! With Emma leafing is to Hyde Park at a very zippy pace, we worked our speed, running strength and Endurance as we glided around Hyde, Green and St James’ Parks with options for a shorter steady route or a faster longer route at each. Some fantastic running form and fitness on show, particularly impressive to see the Spring Half marathon runners showing some top form in the lead up to their respective races.

Well done on such a long mixed pace run!! A hot shower and serious refuel was definitely earned!!

Thanks for coming along and look forward to seeing you again next week!

Smooth Running

Joel