Be’nch you didn’t expect such a Monster transformation?

A wet but warm Kingston tonight we were 9 runners strong – welcome back Jo and Tom to the group run.

A short warm up was the order of the night particularly as Martel didn’t want to get her hands wet (till later) by planking on wet grass, so Mark kept us upright but still threw in his awesome creativity with the Guildhall railings – like a Barre class!

We had a fabulously ‘refreshing’ 5k pre task run tonight out to Hampton Court and back through Bushy Park…the park looked stunning tonight against the grey showery clouds.

It was interesting just finding the task tonight as not even us locals knew this public outdoor space was there - on the Hogsmill River just off the main roundabout by Unilever and along from Guildhall. And hidden because it was so overgrown.

Andrew from ID Verde was waiting for us with all the tools and gear surrounded by the overhanging jungle and quickly got us to task clearing sacks and sacks of rubbish – clearly the place had been a drinking den with Monster amounts of energy cans, beer and cider, plastic bottles and junk food wrappers.

We cut back and cleared reams and reams of Virginia creeper and ivy to open the entrance up, reclaim the benches from the foliage, and open up the rapidly flowing Hogsmill river vista like some lost paradise…the ‘hole Hogsmill!

Having just cleared all the rubbish, on the way back GoodGym showed up an unexpected piece of (let's say "undesirable character") dropping his plastic bottle into the river but trying to claim he was interested in fishes. We hope we’ve stopped his drinking den and transformed it into a small green oasis for local office workers, families, the elderly and everyone to enjoy.

A couple of shout- outs – good luck to Dave for the Ride 100 on Sunday, and for anyone volunteering at Kingston parkrun on Saturday or doing Bushy’s 800th parkrun, be easy to spot in your red GG top!

Lastly, let's try and win the prize for the best Strava Art for the GG 1km race - all you have to do is create an image with your run route. This years theme is emoji. Please add #art in the description when you log it on Strava. More information about the 1km race can be found here https://www.goodgym.org/happenings/goodgym-oiympics-the-nationwide-race