Dalston Rooftop Bee Box

For those in the know, Tuesday evening at Dalston Roof Park can only mean one thing: rooftop cinema club? That is unless you are a Hackney GoodGym runner, in which case it means hoofing it up and down the back stairs of the building lifting, carrying and loading heavy loads!

We met at our usual spot in London Fields and headed off for the mile long jog to the roof park. We were greeted by the super-energetic Amy, who jogged along with us to show us the bee “farm” (aka disused car park), the compost heap, the lift, the staircase, and the rooftop.

"bee farm"

The Bootstrappers want to start a new garden in the bee “farm” and on the rooftop, so we had to move compost up 7 floors and vegetable boxes down from the rooftop to the new site below.

"arms turned to jelly"

We split into two groups, with one group loading the compost into wheelbarrows on the ground, and the other group carrying vegetable boxes (containing soil and plants) down from the rooftop two floors to the lift. There was some serious muscle action going on - arms turned to jelly, backs and legs stiffened, hands went dead - all in the name of fitness and goodness!

With the compost and boxes neatly lined up at the bee “farm”, we finished off with dynamic stretches (much to the amusement of a couple of onlookers) before running the mile back to the meeting point. And I mean running.

"chase through the streets of Hackney"

Determined to finish on a higher high, we split into three mile groups - steady, fast and super fast. The steady group set off first with Ade, the second 3 minutes later with Ivo and the third 3 minutes after that with Lauren. The idea being we'd all converge at the finish at the same time…. It felt like chase through the streets of Hackney as teams neared each other spiriting for the finish line. All groups came in between 7 and 10 minutes. Not bad - after all that lifting!

Cinema club next Tuesday, anyone?

• Ilana Botha