Digging on the Edge

28 GG Yorkies ran to complete two different tasks in York!

But before we did that, we gave a massive cheer to taskforcer and run-leader-to-be, Marvellous Mitch who completed his 50th good deed at the weekend and was awarded the Cape of Good Deeds to run in. Go and give him a big cheer, or give him three cheers and get closer to that mythical '3, 2, 1' badge.

We had to skip GG Yorkie of the Month because November's winner was absent.. could it be you?! Find out next week!

Becky led out the Hull Road Park group, our third visit to the park to reinstate the former footpath across the bottom field. The first challenge was carrying five wheelbarrows full of tools down the steps whilst avoiding the puddle, and then the main task was to:

• dig out the turf to find the old wooden path edges (which were hidden)
• dig out a layer of soil and make the path as flat as possible
• put all dug up soil and grass into wheebarrows and dump it at the side
• fill up wheelbarrows with hardcore from the far end of the path
• decant hardcore onto new, wide path
• rake out hardcore into a good camber (higher in the middle, lower at the edges)
• bang down hardcore with a tamper

Before we started all of that, we tried to find the lines that Kristina had made which showed where the edge of the path was supposed to be. It wasn't easy because it was dark and muddy and the lines were made last week.. so we gave up with that and just guessed. There were little squeals of joy when we came across the buried wooden boards and knew we were in the right place.

Of course some people had gotten a bit too carried away and had gone much too wide, so re-turfing was added to the task-list.

Zoe meticulously put the seven floodlights out to give the best possible lighting (after spending a longer than average time figuring out how to unfold them) and was then a wheelbarrow warrior, bringing several loads to the raking and tamping crew.

It's like crunchy cake icing!

Ellie B never stops thinking about cake, ever.

With five minutes left on the clock we shut down the digging operations and put everyone onto gathering hardcore or raking it in, and we finished with another good chunk of footpath completed.

Going back, Becky developed some sort of superhero strength and just casually picked up a wheelbarrow full of spades and single-handedly carried it up the stairs like it was nothing. Then we celebrated another good deed with a mini-step rep circuit with squats, single leg squats, split squats and walking lunges, yay!

Split squat!? This is just another lunge! - Furious Ellie B

Leanne's group of nine nimble GG Yorkies, ran to Clifton to meet Kay who had a barrow-full of daffodil bulbs for us to plant on some steep grassy banks.

We were a few tools short for the size of the group, not helped by the fact that Max immediately broke a trowel... even so, everyone quickly found something to do when Leanne offered the possibility of step reps for anyone who was at a loose end. Within 10 minutes, Kay had managed to borrow a few spades from a neighbour so we could increase our productivity.

When Kay got her phone out to take a photo for her newsletter, Tristan offered to turn around so she wasn't taking a photo of his bottom.

No, I like it like that! - Kay

40 minutes later, with most of the bulbs in the ground, we gathered for our group photo and fitness session. Except for Max who seemed have far too much energy to stick around and listen to instructions.

The group were asked to do a relay in pairs with one partner doing step reps while the other completed a loop, taking in the hill leading up to the top of the steps, then swapping over. As Max sprinted off into the distance, he shouted:

Whoever hasn't got a partner is with me!

Then it was back to base where Tim tested his new Leadership in Running Fitness qualification by leading the cool down.