Serving cups of grit (and determination)

19 GoodGymmers came out today to volunteer at the final aid station along this year's Hackney Half Marathon route.

Inside the Olympic Park, whilst a pleasant place to spend the morning volunteering, it was on a long straight stretch of the course with otherwise not much support - so 38 GoodGym lungs was just what was needed to get people through that all-important last mile.

With the race completely plastic bottle-free this year, the water was served from recyclable paper cups - meaning the delicate task of filling and stacking layer upon layer on tables ready to hand-off to the runners was needed to set up.

Being on this long stretch meant it was easy to spot the many GoodGymmers who were running today. They were racing and pacing, and included plenty who'd volunteered for Virgin Sport before with GG, back to redeem their free place. Making his Hackney Half debut this year, local face and GoodGym founder Ivo, raaa!!

As the morning wore on and with the majority of the 17,000+ runners passed and the demand for water now diminished, all that was left to do was pack down the aid station - starting by tipping the hundreds of remaining cups onto the gritty gravel path, by any means necessary. (thanks to Jay for the report title 😊) Luckily the kind folks from Hackney Council were on hand to help clean them up and do something sensible with all the cups.

The job now done and the volunteers signed-off, the vast running festival site just up on Hackney Marsh beckoned, so those that wanted to snag a nice finishers shirt came up there where things were still in full swing, and two days later erstwhile ex-GG trainer Corey was STILL dancing and yelling from beside the finish-line. Blimey! 😨

Hopefully the next outing with Virgin Sport will be the Asics London 10K on 21st July. Make a note in your diary to help get GG down there one way or another...

Thanks to our volunteers for their great pictures!! 📷