On a balmy summer evening when most would be forgiven for heading to the nearest pub garden, 13 GoodGym runners ran 7km to help battle the bind weed threatening to strangle an allotment in Stepney.

In a change from the scheduled programming, the evening’s actives were led by James (of soon to be launching Redbridge fame) and Ken (of recently launched Chelmsford). It could have all gone horribly wrong (not really) had it not been for Anna, Patrick and Bryon who, with way over 100 tasks each, are some of the most experienced GoodGym-ers out there.

After a short run down to Stepney and some hunting for the secret allotment, the team set to work. The sun was out and the guns were out as the bind weed was ripped from the fencing around the allotment and vegetable beds. In 30 minutes the plot went from wild jungle to plantable garden and Andy, owner of the allotment, commented that he had never seen such an amazing turn around in such a short time. Boom!

With the hard work done it was time to have some fun. After a short run to Stepney Green Park the team split in to two groups for a bit of relay madness. A 500m tarmac path runs around the outside of the path and the race was to see which team could complete 6 laps in the fastest time. With the sun out the park was busy and runners had to negotiate dogs, slightly inebriated locals and the small hill. Somewhere along the way we lost count of who was winning, so with everyone feeling the burn we decided to make the whole group a winner and head back to base for some light stretching and some water.

Great work everyone. Here’s the night in numbers. 13 GoodGym members, 7kms run, 6m of fence cleared, 5 bags of mulch spread, 2 teams racing each other and 1 brilliant evening. Normal service resumes next week with the lovely Tom back at the helm and the monthly trip to Stepney City Farm.

Miss it, miss out!