The fantastic five fly(ering)-by: We relay gave it our best (mail)shot

With the Chief and Jenna on holiday, half-term breaks, illnesses, injuries and visitors to host, Richmond folk appeared to be a tad elusive this evening. Sat alone at the usual hub of a table in Whole Foods, Samia has made it on time (for once!) and wondered if she’d be leading herself and herself only on the run... but then the fabulous four arrived in force: Madurai from Kingston, Ed on his first GoodGym run, and Mark A and Imogen. Already dark by “run-off” and the clear sky meaning a crisp, cool evening, we did a quick warm-up outside Whole Foods and opted for the well-lit, albeit slightly less scenic route to ETNA.

After a gentle 3km there, we were met by the biggest of bags, full to the brim with four different leaflets for us to flyer. What would we be spreading the news about? Well...:

1. ETNA's halloween feast and fun day on Saturday 3rd November, featuring food from the Real Junk Food Project.
2. ETNA's call for pledges to support them to build their community kitchen.
3. What's on at ETNA (and boy, their timetable is jam-packed!).
4. Richmond CVS' speed networking, info and "become a Trustee" event on Thursday 15th November

Not only that, but the wonderful ETNA had compiled a challenge for us this evening with our very own instructions sheet and leaflet orienteering maps. The mission: to leaflet as many streets as possible on map 1, moving on to maps 2 and 3 should time permit, and recording where we had been on the aforementioned map.

With a runner per type of leaflet and the run leader armed with the map and marker, it was time to embark on Extreme Leafleting. There was talk of strategy, huddles to rethink efficiency tactics and route planning.

This was flyering like nothing else.

Huddles and rehuddles led to Mark’s masterplan of the inaugral leafleting relay. A little confusing at first and almost culminating in some kind of leaflet avalanche on the streets of St Margaret’s, Team GoodGym Richmond nailed the 4x4 relay. There was no baton drop, nor any lane infringements, they were a well-oiled machine with a cox barking directions (and either a dog or small child barking through the letterbox at one point, we weren’t entirely sure which).

As addictive as this game became, we accepted that we couldn’t deliver quite as many leaflets as hoped, but took pride in having created a team to be reckoned with.

A just-over-3km run back, we arrived safely and soundly at Whole Foods for some stretching (yes, my top 5 stretches all featured!).

Well done on your first run Ed and thank you for backmarking, Madurai! And don’t forget next week’s Halloween themed run, followed by our social after... - fancy some fancy dress?