Barnsley

Group run

Run of the mill British weather!

4 GoodGymers made their way 8.2km to help their local community in Barnsley.

  • Grace Feeney
  • James Smith
  • Mairead Feeney
  • Deborah Embleton
 
Tuesday, 25th of June 2019
 
Led by Grace Feeney

On a lovely drippy drizzly evening in mighty Barnsley, 4 fearless GoodGymmers assembled to brave the hills, puddles and strong gusts all the way to Worsbrough Mill!

A few runners were certainly put off tonight by the driving rain, but not Marvellous Mairead, Jovial-James and Debbie the Destroyer! Tonight the group were in for a longer, much hiller run than usual, so having turned up ready to face that, the rain was nothing! We headed off through town and up to the top of the hill that looks down to Worsbrough mill reservoir, it was a very mystical view down into the valley that was filled with clouds and fog. We could just about make out the reservoir below so headed down carefully avoiding parked cars, puddles and dangly over-hanging trees.

We arrived in really good time and were greeted by Catherine, who volunteers to try and keep the country park maintained, with the help of workplace volunteers. Catherine was rain ready, wearing a huge hi-vis coat almost to her feet, you definitely couldn't miss her! After collecting some tools we made our way to the area over bushes and trees that had grown somewhat out of control. The plan had been to bash some balsam by the river, but thanks to the rain, the river had flooded over the balsam, making it a very risky/impossible task!

The first job was to remove the sticky willy that covered the bushes we were to trim. It has been raining heavily in the days leading up to our task, so as you can imagine, everything was VERY wet - and soon enough, so were we! James - aka daddy long-legs - helped cut down the tall trees and over hanging branches, whilst Mairead entertained herself by using branches to do some cheerleading! Meanwhile, Debbie-the-destroyer was attacking a section of bush over the other side and doing a great job of it too! Once finished, we moved onto another section, continuing to tidy and trim back the bush, whilst James sawed and pulled down huge branches, drenching us all in the process!

When our time was up, we were all pretty soggy, cold and our feet squelched in our shoes... PERFECT for the run back up the huge hill and 4km from home! We said our goodbyes and headed off back up and over to the town centre. The conditions were really tough and it really isn't an easy run back up that hill, so I have to say I am super proud of everyone for continuing to keep pushing themselves up that hill, with the wind and rain against them!

It was a valiant effort from all!!

We finally reached the top, got our breathe back and set of down down down back to our meeting point! Hurrah! We all made it back alive and in one piece! Make sure you give everyone a cheer for this one, it really was a toughy and they did amazingly! Also...tonight was Debbie's 5th good deed... woop woop, let's give her an extra cheer here.

Go team GoodGym Barnsley, so proud!

See you next week for more fun...

Pray for sunshine!

Report written by Grace Feeney


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Grace Feeney
Led by Grace Feeney

Ex-trainer for Barnsley. Goodgym has helped me improve my running and learn more about the local community.

GoodGymers helping out
  • Back marker

    Make sure that no one is left behind

    • James Smith

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