So many hoes, so little time

21 GG Yorkies ran nearly 8km in the rain to do some good in Foxwood.

At 18:05 I thought we might end up with a small but hardy group of runners. Then, at the last minute, loads more showed up despite the rainy and grim Yorkshire weather. Our secondary task had been cancelled due to waterlogging so all of us were to descend upon Foxwood Park.

Fresh from the very tough Edale Skyline Fell Race, Nikki was more than happy to be our backmarker for the evening and (brand new GG run leader) Paul took the lead.

There's a running joke about the route to Foxwood because the first time we went there we did accidentally get quite lost. Paul thought it would be hilarious to 'test me' as he gleefully took the lead group the wrong way to see at what point I would have to start shouting. I was too busy chatting but Leanne did it for me.

We were running a marginally longer route to avoid the quagmire that is Hob Moor, and almost everyone arrived at the task with clean, dry feet. There were a few who had misjudged massive puddles and those people could now be smug because the park was very muddy indeed.

Neil looks after the park and wanted us to clear a section of brambles, either by digging them up completely or just chopping low to the ground. We then had to rake all the brambles into a huge pile, and we had 20 minutes on the clock.

I feel like I'm just stabbing at stuff randomly - Nikki

There were four choices of tools; spade, hoe, small rake and large rake. Hoes were a popular choice for staying at arms length from the brambles and for avoiding having to actually dig anything.

15 minutes down and the patch was looking much clearer.

Look at those massive piles!

.... I know I was bent over but didn't think you'd be able to see! - Nick

Unsure whether Nick was joking or not, we moved swiftly on to gathering the brambles into one super pile. Then a few faster runners stayed back to help Neil put everything away whilst everybody else made their way back to base.

We challenged our cores with a few partner exercises, including:

• Plank High Fives
• Sit up high tens
• Sit up twisting punches

Then we all had a good long stretch out and made the whole room smell like wet dog. Wonderful.