We bin diggin' and plantin'

A massive 32 GG Yorkies turned out to dig up bits of Rowntree Park and then fill them in again

Since Egg is off 'recovering' from her foot operation, Leanne was leading the charge tonight. We started by welcoming new runners Katie and Freya, and nearly new runner Ed who was trying out his first group run after having such a good time on a community mission last week.

There was a quick health and safety themed warm-up (probably more fun than it sounds) before setting out on our short run to Rowntree Park. Stef immediately ran off into the distance, like he hadn't run a trail half marathon yesterday. He was first on the scene, with the rest of our cheerful crowd not too far behind him. Egg had also managed to hobble from the car park and decided to make herself useful by being on photography duty.

We split into three teams, each with their own distinct job, all at different ends of the park. It turns out that Egg had stitched Leanne right up - instead of a nice relaxing chat with the task owner whilst making sure everyone stayed safe and worked to time, she spent 45 minutes sprinting from one end of the park to the other to make sure everyone was okay!

The first group were tasked with digging up the perimeter of a rectangle of turf, to make just the right size foundations for four giant planters. Fortunately, the task owners had spray-painted the outline on the turf. For the first time in the history of GoodGym York, some straight lines were dug! Not to make it too easy, they also needed to dig out some litter bins with concrete foundations, then replant them elsewhere in the park.

Our second group of good deeders got to work in preparing a long trail of worn down turf for new grass seeds. They grabbed forks and spades to turn over the sections that had worn away after becoming waterlogged. Without this work, the worn out sections of grass would just get larger, eventually turning the park into a mud bath.

Meanwhile, group three were presented with a wheelbarrow and shovel each, and 5 tonnes of topsoil. Their task was to relocate the soil on top of the newly turned-over turf so that it was ready for the digging group to sprinkle grass seeds and then stamp them into the ground. It looked like heavy work. Even so, Aidan declined the suggestion of swapping jobs with someone else at the half way point:

It's not really a workout unless you're destroyed at the end

On the other side of the coin, Marathon-Legs-Nick declared that this was enough of a workout and he should be excused from any sort of fitness session.

After 45 minutes, the group gathered back together for the end-of-task photo before being led to a patch of park for a relay challenge with added fitness stations. The relay included:

• Star jumps
• Walking lunges
• Squats
• Skipping
• Mountain climbers
• A bit of running.

One of the teams was short a member, so one-legged Egg stepped in and heroically hobbled through all of the exercises, helping her team to come last!

Since it was Lucy's birthday, everyone completed some 'Happy Birthday Squats' to celebrate before running back to base for a cool down, then a post run pint.