14 GoodGym runners helped CREOS spread woodchip over several pathways on a brilliant autumn's day.

CREOS is a conservation charity whose objective is to protect, maintain and improve the Crouch End Open Space area - a green oasis of open fields and woods located between Crouch End and Muswell Hill.

On the third Sunday of every month it holds working parties from 11am to 1pm, and this month 14 GoodGym runners joined in for a special community mission to move a mountain of woodchip onto the pathways snaking through the wooded part of their green space.

When Paul from CREOS saw how many of us there were he confidently declared it would be ‘a doddle’ for us to get this done.

In this doddle there were three main jobbles: shovelling woodchip into wheelbarrows; transporting the woodchip in wheelbarrows onto the pathways; and spreading out the woodchip on the pathways once it had been dumped from wheelbarrows. Our team quickly developed a fluid system of working, where at any moment shovellers might become transporters, transporters spreaders, and spreaders shovellers and transporters. Wheelbarrows were a common theme.

Luckily we had a good bunch of wheelbarrows, including one special musical wheelbarrow which drew from its two-note range to serenade us for much of the task. Unfortunately one of those notes doesn’t exist on any scale known to man. Who knows - maybe the other wheelbarrows appreciated it?

Frances seemed to end up with the musical wheelbarrow more often than not. She quickly mastered the instrument and gave impromptu recitals up and down the pathways.

There was quite a mound of woodchip to move, yet with so many hands on deck we made great progress and soon had to find more pathways to woodchip. By the time 1pm came around we had made a huge difference to the mound (now an upmarket molehill) and the pathways (now luxuriously appointed with so-fresh-its-steaming woodchip), and CREOS thanked us for our efforts by throwing us a picnic!

Massive thanks to all the GoodGym runners that came along to this community mission - you were all superb and the CREOS team were hugely appreciative of your hard work.

Meanwhile, where were you when Islington and Camden Trainer Paul Bown recorded his new marathon PB of 2:51:07 at Abingdon Marathon 2018? We were moving woodchip at CREOS! When the news came through of Paul's superb run some regulars of the group runs Paul leads assembled for a quick celebratory photo for PB and his new PB. #PB4PB