Leafy goodness

With the rain lashing down and football on, Harriet and Paul were prepared for a small and efficient GoodGym team to return to battle with the Vicky Park leaves.They were wrong.From the mist outside the Arch gallery a flood of soaked runners appeared looking like they’d been diverted through the local car wash en route, swelling the numbers to thirteen. Harriet inspired the team in a dynamic ‘studio 54’ warm up before leading the way on the 2.5 km run to the park. Before arming us with an impressive array of raking and bagging kit, Marcelo the Park Ranger asked us to load his 2 trucks with the leaf-bags from the previous team’s record-breaking 102 bag monster pile. The gauntlet had been laid down and 40 minutes of Competitive Leaf Sweeping began... Splitting into 2 teams taking on 150m of the Parks leafiest fence-line, the air was thick with leaves, laughter and some surprisingly innovative techniques. Debate raged (between breaths) over fastest bagging methods, left v right handed raking and whether it was better to bag or rake. Firmly in the bag camp Jessie’s clever railing-suspended bag trick contrasted with Pete’s gritty, ground based, speed-shoveling skills and bags were piling up fast from everyone. Meanwhile in some far flung, composty corner of the Park, bags were being delivered to their final destination and a special mention must go out to those stalwarts whose unseen efforts working in pairs alongside Marcelo, kept the whole system moving. Accusations of lightweight bags from the previous team’s record were rightly renounced and a guestimate of 85 bags was made for tonight’s efforts after Paul’s bag counting App was deemed generous ...½ km of single file fartlek raised heart rates before a happy GoodGym crew turned the final miles into smiles with some fast finishes and a stretch in the warmth of the gallery. Post and photos by Paul Barnes