45 GG Yorkies completed two huge multi-part tasks!

It was another night for celebration as Vicky ran her 50th good deed and got to run in the Cape of Good Deeds - go Vicky (make sure you give her a big cheer)!

We also welcomed along Chris for his first ever GoodGym run, extra exciting because Chris is one of the founding members of GoodGym in Harrogate and is working hard to bring another GG to North Yorkshire.

Our warm-up (and subsequent fitness session) was a test of coordination and concentration as we introduced new game, Slappy Slappy Point Point. Leanne and I demonstrated rather badly but some people picked up the concept straight away. See the video below!

I led a team out to St Paul's C of E School's allotment in Holgate, where we were met by Charlotte and three of the teachers from the school too, they were already busy digging up weeds. Our jobs list was hefty:

• Clear the whole bed on the right of the entrance
• Clear the weeds from the wood pile
• Sand and paint the yellow bench
• Sand the three picnic benches
• Completely weed and clear four large and four small raised beds
• Empty out the two plastic compost bins and put compost in (newly cleared) raised beds

Not only that but in the process we added two new tasks to the list:

• Relocate the waste from the compost piles into the emptied compost bins
• Get the bug hotel open for business

Esther, Maddy and Laura seemed to unearth a nest of frogs and so carefully went about popping them back into the beck, which Carl and Paul had now cleared the way for by weeding an area along the fence line.

Caped-Vicky and Nick were busy getting all the lovely compost out of the bins to top up the newly-weeded raised beds whilst Debs was on a mission to restore the bug hotel to it's former glory.

The three picnic benches were sanded down in no time at all and looked much better for it, whilst the yellow bench to a little more elbow grease. Zoe has a sure-fire way to check it was sanded effectively prior to painting.

If I rub it and it doesn't hurt me, it's fine.

We had one last dash to take many filled bags to the van just outside the allotment before we attempted some Slappy Slappy Point Point fitness variations with squats instead of slaps and lunges instead of points. Success was limited. Mel and Katie absolutely nailed the original version and were going so fast nobody could stop them, whilst Zoe and Helen created their own interpretive dance version.

After the run back, Vicky announced she'd made Creme Egg cookies and they were the best ever.

Tim's team ran to the lovely Hull Road Park. They trotted in on our lovely hand-crafted path which we'd constructed over winter and were quickly set to task in 4 separate areas by Rachael and Kristina. The areas were spread out all over the park so Tim covered a lot of extra mileage in his run leading duties.

In the first team was by newbie Chris from the wannabe-future-Harrogate-GoodGym folk and parkrun-tourist-extraordinaire Tom, they got stuck in. Their job was clearing the remaining waste from a composting area and dragging it all the way over to where it could be picked up by a skip later this week.

"Love a good Drag" - Tim's louder than intended response to the task

The second team met their match with some surprisingly deep rooted plants that needed clearing so they can install a new bench. The plants lured Tom D into a false sense of security sending him tumbling as it snapped earlier than he expected.

The third team were there to pop the last remaining bits of self-binding path gravel down on our path. They might have laid it on a bit thick as it ran out just short of completion but some frantic scraping of sand just about got the job done!

The fourth and final team were tasked with speed-staking wooden stakes into the ground to protect some newly planted flowers from the lawnmowers. Their mission was to speed through it so they could run to the aid of the other teams. Craig and Max both for a boost of enthusiasm when Tim told them how much destruction was happening elsewhere.

After collecting up all the tools, there was just enough time for a quick fitness themed slappy slappy pointy pointy game/coordinated falling over if you watch Pete and Max's video (standby for link).

With so many tasks happening they overran slightly so were all super out of breath on arrival back at the Priory Street Centre after a fast run; husband and wife dream team John and Lauren Forecast even raced for a sprint finish. Unfortunately Lauren went the wrong way handing John the lead. But don't worry Lauren next time you'll have him!

Only a few of Vicky's amazing cookies were left so we incorporated a stretch and walk-out-plank challenge for those who wanted one (read: everyone).

We shortlisted these entries for the Slappy Slappy Point Point competition, vite for your favourite by commenting below!

On the first light evening of 2019, an absolutely massive crew turned up to do some good!

Our team included three brand new runners, a surprisingly unbroken Nikki (even after running a casual 65km over the weekend), a very happy Craig who beat his 5k PB again at the weekend, breaking that 20-minute barrier AND of course, the GG Yorkie of the Month for March.

The accolade for March goes to Christine who did loads of community missions in March, also wrote loads of run reports and takes fantastic photos for us regularly, well done Christine!

We sent a speedy crew of of ten blokes and a Jessie (led by Paul) off to a bonus task of planting lavender on the bank in Clifton, whilst the rest of us headed over to Fishergate School for a whole list of tasks in their outside forest school area.

The task list at Fishergate included:

• weaving willow into the igloo shelter
• weaving willow into the fence
• weeding the raised beds
• weeding the bases of all the hedgerow trees
• excavating an old brick fire pit

The excavation was actually quite exciting. On first glance, the 'fire pit' was just a flat muddy area, but as the team scraped away, a circle of bricks emerged.

I feel like we are time team! - Helen

Over at the raised beds, Lucy had ended up with what was definitely the smallest trowel that has ever been manufactured. Still effective.

Huw, Ben and Simon were really chuffed because they'd bagged another task which involved digging a big hole. There isn't a GoodGymer out there who doesn't love a good bit of hole-digging. The hole they dug was 100% big enough for the quite small tree which had to go in it. Some might say 200%, either way they were all very happy.

The speedy crew made it to Clifton in double quick time and got to work planting 45 lavender plants in amongst the daffodils on the steep bank. Craig had forgotten his gloves so borrowed a pair from the pile. He gleefully handed them back once the task was over, proclaiming them to be the comfiest garden gloves he'd ever worn.

Those are my cycling gloves - Kay, task owner.

After just 40 minutes, we'd finished the whole Fishergate task list and new runner Lionel finished beautifying the fire pit by washing away the last of the dirt was a bucket of water. It was an amazing transformation. There was some chat about igloo weavers stealing willow from fence weavers but all rumours were unfounded.

We celebrated a great evening of tasks and the lovely light, sunny evening with the super duper Cones of Joy!! Paul's team got back just in time to join us and it was fitness mayhem as people lunged, planked, can-can-kicked, ran in circles and did extreme cheering from the cheering station.

I was paired with Stef, he just kept running so I had to do all the exercises - Craig (lucky)

Pun credit - Tim (excellent work)

GG Yorkies split into four teams to complete different tasks around the city!

Well, I say GG Yorkies, we had one GG tourist join us tonight all the way from Hammersmith & Fulham so a big welcome to Catriona, and also a big welcome to new runner Amy, who joined us for her first ever GoodGym run this evening - make sure you go and give them both a cheer.

We also had some celebrating to do tonight because Splendid Stef was running his 50th good deed and got to wear the Cape of Good Deeds.

Happy to wear the uniform - Stef

Our original task had been cancelled so we'd found lots of smaller tasks to keep us busy.

• A 2km run/walk to Millthorpe School to clear their allotment plots (led by Leanne, backmarked by John)
• A 4km run to Get Cycling to clean their exhibition trailer (led by Mitch, backmarked by Ed)
• 2 x 10km(ish) mystery routes to scout walking route instructions for YUMI (led by Becky and Paul)

Paul led a brilliant team warm up whilst I led the walking group (Ellie B) to Millthorpe School. We also had Gareth from Streets Ahead magazine taking some photos for an article so it was all going on. Each group had a specific rendezvous point and our goal was to meet back at Scarcroft Green for a little team fitness sesh at the end.

At the allotment we had 40 minutes to clear 4 overgrown vegetable beds.

Only ten minutes per bed, easy!

The team purposely tried not to work too quickly for fear of extra fitness, but they were making quick work of de-weeding and digging over whilst Beth relentlessly used a giant shovel to 'rake' everything smooth.

Becky and Paul's tasks involved their team following a set of written instructions to check accuracy for a community walking trail project called Fishergate Footprints. They also need to mark on their maps the locations of any benches and sitting points. Running whilst reading isn't always the best option though and Becky (winner: Most Accident Prone GG Yorkie 2017) did manage to trip over a paving slab and cut her knee.

Sorry I bled on the map...

A quick plaster repair and they were back in. A bit less drama on Paul's team though apparently someone did get chased by a big dog.

It was like a scene from Hound of the Baskervilles

Over at Get Cycling, Mitch's team didn't waste any time. They were straight on it with soapy sponges, scrubbing the muck off the old exhibition trailer. Katie and Freya were very excited at the prospect of using a jet cleaner but since it had a big leak in the pipe it wasn't quite as exciting as anticipated.

The allotment team finished ahead of schedule so we headed to Scarcroft Green for a bonus extra bit of fitness with loads of lunges and the team tyre challenge. Everyone was very relieved to see the other three groups coming in bang on time to save them!

We completed a short but tough bit of exercise with teams doing exercises in zones:

• The squatting zone
• The tricep press zone
• The press-up zone
• The lunging zone
• The hang zone
• The bonus burpee zone

It's like GoodGym does Crystal Maze!

..and with that, we had just enough time to gather for a big group pic before heading back to base.

On our first official group run of 2019 - a huge crowd turned up to help us build a footpath!

Originally we were supposed to have two tasks tonight, but we'd been too efficient last week and finished one already, so I'd already let Kristina know to bring a lot of wheelbarrows, and she did...along with a lot of spades, shovels and rakes too.

It was our very first night meeting at our new venue in the York CVS conference rooms at Priory Street Centre, taskforcers were on hand to point runners in the right direction including a few people who were brand new to GoodGym - give some big cheers to Gav, Isobel, Kirsty, Emma, Amy and Fazeh!

Ellie B led the walking crew off whilst Paul led our running warm up in the car park (which is a much better spot than warming up in an already very warm room!) and with Christine and Debs as our back markers, we headed off en masse to Hull Road Park.

On arrival we split into three teams, and the original plan was to have one team doing fitness whilst the other two worked - but Kristina had extra tasks to do so we had one team on digging, to expand the width of the current footpath, one team on limestone shoveling and barrowing, to drop limestone into the already widened path and the third team were pouring sand across the already limestoned areas to fill in all the cracks and gaps.

It was Fazeh's first ever time using a spade, serious life skills you get to learn at GoodGym..

Next time I think I'll Google how to dig beforehand

The father/daughter Griffin duo of Ellie and Nick were doing some amazing work trying to make the limestone easier to dig out of the giant sack. It was a bit like jump squats but whilst holding onto a corner of a very, very heavy bag. Surprisingly effective. Too effective, as it seemed to be no time at all before the limestone had all been dished out and the limestone team went over to help the digging team.

The sand team had already spread all the sand, even the bonus extra sand that was supposed to be for next week. So Tim took his team up to the courts to start their fitness session of sprints.

Meanwhile with hoardes of people on digging, that task got finished really quickly too. So we decided once the last bit of path was dug out, everyone would leave all the their tools, head up to do their fitness session and Tim's team could come back and clear everything away.

Nick and Paul led their teams through some drills before everyone was going for it on their mini sprints, working on high knees and using the arms. Those who didn't fancy sprints got to do wall sits, which they seemed to enjoy very much.

Remember another 4 tonnes of limestone is being delivered so we can go back on Wednesday to do more on the path, you can sign up for that community mission here.