*# 4 awesome runners ran 3km to help the Friends of Locke Park dig out bushes for their new colour garden. *

As Tom was living it large in France, Grace stepped in to lead the three musketeers up the hill to the park. We welcomed back Beckie to the Goodgym crew - let’s give her a cheer!

We started as with a quick warm up of bunny hops and ankle circles before heading off onwards and upwards. We were greeted by the lovely Anne who showed us the area she wanted us to dig up. Anne explained that the current shrubs were all very green, but what they had planned would provide the area with colour all year round. To make their dream a reality, they must first remove the old bushes to make space for the new ones, and that’s where we came in!

Anne handed out spades, forks, gloves and bin bags from the shed and we got stuck in. Mairead got happy snappy with the loppers hacking away at the bushes whilst Steve stuck a fork in it. We worked our way down the sloped area of bushes, removing old leaves and rubbish to find the roots of the bushes. Beckie and Steve got to work on the deep roots, making it look easy!

Mairead got spooked by a wasp part way through so became pro-bag filler in a safer area away from potential stingers! Anne was pro-sweeper, collecting stray leaves and twigs from the bottom of the slope. The whole group got a decent upper-body workout from all the digging, pulling, sweeping and chopping involved.

Within 20 minutes we’d filled 10 large bin liners which we then carried across to the other side of the park - upper-body and cardio workout in one! Everyone wanted to get as much as possible done so we spent more time on the task in hand! Once we’d returned the tools to the shed we said our goodbyes and headed back to Shaw Lane - a nice steady down hill jog.

With 3 minutes to spare at the end, Grace tried out her new fitness session on the group. Using a pack of playing cards, the group did a mini HIIT workout:

• SPADES - Squats
• CLUBS - Mountain Climbers
• DIAMONDS - Dips
• HEARTS - High Knees
• JOKER - Jog to the post and back

The number determined the amount of each exercise and there was a time limit set to do as many cards as we could in that time. Everyone dug deep to finish off the evening on a sweaty note!

Amazing effort everyone! It would have taken the 3 park volunteers the whole day to have achieved what we did in an hour and they were very grateful for our help. We’ll be back to finish the job next month!