A Norman Conquest

It is always good to have some GoodGymmers from other areas visiting, and this week we had 3 guests who had traveled all the way from York to join us. Leanne Allsop, Lizzie Kershaw and Becky Moglett, are seasoned GoodGym tourists, keen to add Huddersfield to their list. And for runners from the relative flatlands of York they had chosen a good night to visit hilly Huddersfield.

Tonight's run was uncharacteristically flat for a Huddersfield GoodGym one. At just 2K there and 2K back it was fairly short too , but what was lacking in hills and distance was made up for by a pretty tough task. Jason from The Friends of Norman Park had a challenge for GoodGym Huddersfield to clear a patch of the park which had become overgrown with, brambles, bindweed and other vegetation.

Arriving at just after 7pm, we donned our head torches and work gloves, took up our tools and set forth with typical enthusiasm to battle the brambles into submission. With 7 GoodGymmers cutting and chopping, the rampant vegetation stood little chance and was soon being beaten back. This was yet another GoodGym task which was providing an thorough workout, bending, stretching, lifting, twisting, turning and tugging meant that no one was in danger of getting cold. The team's tongues were also getting their usual workout too, with our friends from York being particularly chatty and relating tales of their various GoodGym exploits.

45 minutes later our conquest was complete and the battle of the brambles won. A significant area of the park had been cleared of the prickly pests. Jason declared himself very happy with our work and there was time enough to make use of Norman Park's running route for a little relay.

It would have been remiss not to take the opportunity for a little competition between the two towns, so the inaugural York v Huddersfield Halloween Relay Race was swiftly convened. Two teams of four had to run one lap of the park each, but in keeping with the Halloween theme the baton was to be a pumpkin. As our guests, York were given the advantage of the smaller of the two pumpkins. Jason's son Alf was swiftly drafted into the Huddersfield squad and I was recruited into York's to make up the numbers. A quick practice lap to ensure everyone knew where they were going was completed, and then we were off.

Leanne from York made a strong start, leading in Louise Galvin from the home team by a second of two at the first handover. The second leg was to be an even more closely fought one though, with Huddersfield's Heather Wilshaw Jones' competitive instincts showing through as she swiftly made up the deficit on York's Becky Allsop. Becky refused to relinquish her lead however, and held on to pass the pumpkin to Lizzie Kershaw for York. The third leg was a tight one, as young Alf representing Huddersfield and Lizzie matched one another stride for stride. All the rest of us could see were their head torches bobbing as they raced around the park and we could only speculate as to who was leading. It was Alf who just made it back first, and Ben Godfrey led out lead the final leg for Huddersfield with a tiny advantage over myself. Then half way around disaster....Ben took a wrong turn giving the lead back to York for the final stages. His recovery was impressive however, and with shouts of support from the other runners he caught back up with me to cross the line for a photo finish.

After recovering from our exertions and saying goodbye to Jason and Alf, GoodGym headed back to the Stadium via the Birkby Bradley cycleway. Showing the York GoodGymmers what are arguably some of the less salubrious sights of the area! A quick stretch and a few more photos later and we were finished, another GoodGym Huddersfield job done, on this occasion with a little help from our friends from York.

Thanks to everyone once again, I hope you all enjoyed the running, the task and the relay as much as I did. Thanks particularly to Ben for coming up with this week's run report title.

Congratulations also to Ben for being the winner of the first ever Huddersfield GoodGymmer of the month award, in recognition of his 100% attendance over the first five sessions.