Woking junior parkrun – Event #308:

☀️ Woking junior parkrun #308 A sunny, dry morning brought perfect conditions for our young runners, and they delivered some fantastic performances!

🏃‍♂️ 100 boys took part, with the fastest finishing in an impressive 7:09.

🏃‍♀️ 90 girls joined the fun, with the quickest crossing the line in 7:20.

🎉 A whopping 94 personal bests were earned – great effort, juniors!

🙌 30 brilliant volunteers made the magic happen, including 6 GoodGym heroes: – James was up early for the course check 🦺 – Adam welcomed our first timers and cheered from the marshal point 👋 – Karen, Anne, and Phil kept everyone smiling on the course 🌟 – Katie kept her cool on the stopwatch ⏱️

Thanks to everyone who helped make it another special Sunday morning! 💙

Once a month, volunteers gather in one of the Woking community venues. People are invited to bring any item needing to be repaired.

Last Saturday we were at Andy's Café in Goldsworth Park. Woking Repair Café celebrated its second birthday, repaired 71 items from vacuum cleaners, kettles, ceramic pots, to bed throws, trousers and jackets. I am part of the Welcome Team who help people filling forms (to report to the Council), direct them to the right repairer and guide them towards the Sign Out desk where they have the possibility to make a donation as a thank you for the repair!

Repair Cafés are a fantastic initiative: people are happy not to have to buy a new item, the volunteers are delighted to have helped and the community and the council are relieved that so many objects are not placed in the landfill. Win, win!

Knaphill Community Fridge

This evening 5 Goodgym members met at Knaphill Community Fridge to give the shed a good dust down and a lick of paint 😀

Anne ran 6k along the canal to get to the fridge while Katie also ran 6k but from the opposite direction both ladies getting their runs in before the Martian Race in a few weekends time 👽 Wayne, Kirsty & Julie made there own way there. They were greeted my Jules who had two tasks that needed to be done. Wayne, Katie & Anne started to dust down the outside of the fridge before they applied a stain varnish onto the shed while Kirsty & Julie worked on a bedding in the pre-school removing weeds and planting new plants and flowers 🌼. It was a beautiful evening and plenty of conversations while the tasks were being carried out.

In no time both tasks had been completed and they looked great 😀

Jules was very pleased with the results

Wayne, Kirsty join me (Anne) in one of the gardens of the local school to help clear some weeds. In fact when we arrived, (please admire Kirsty's beautiful GoodGym red jacket on the photo), we were greeted by what looked like a jungle. It was difficult to see beyond the door frame!

It was great to see Kirsty back in action and super-Wayne who had just climbed Ben Nevis with a group of friends. Now they are planning an Everest Expedition...

While catching up on our news, we helped the volunteers from the school to cut back the bushes, gather the branches in a safe place and brush away all the dead wood covering the ground. There is still a lot of work to clear the overgrown site and we might be called back in the near future to help further.

The reward of a soft drink and a muffin were appreciated as I had to run all the way back home along the canal....

On Wednesday we will be back in Knaphill, this time to help at the Community Fridge; and next Sunday, you will be welcome to help at junior parkrun in Woking park.

In the meantime, happy running to you all.

*Woking Junior Park Run *

On this sunny ☀️ morning Wayne, Adam, Alys and Karen met at Woking park to carry out various roles at the junior park run 😀 Wayne, Adam and Karen were out on the course cheering and supporting the runners around the 2k course, while Alys wearing her flashy Goodgym cap was at the funnel making sure the runners came through.

In total there were an impressive 200 runners who took part, the fastest time being an impressive 07:34 with 64 PB's fantastic running by everyone 🏃‍♂️🏃🏼‍♀️🏃🏽

On this breezy Saturday morning, 5 GG Woking members helped set up for the annual Woking Athletics Club 5000m blast. 💨 Adam and Anne arrived first to be greeted by Connor from Woking AC, who had organised the event, swiftly followed by Andy and Nadia. We started off by setting up the refreshments room for the volunteers and officials, then moved onto setting up the spectators' area using hurdles and tape. Both Anne and Nadia had been away for a while so it was good to catch up all round! Connor was telling us how he did the set up on his own in previous years which would have taken a while, but with GoodGym helping out, it was a breeze! James also arrived as he was helping pace two of the waves, therefore doubling up the 5k blast! James and Adam are members at Woking AC so were well known amongst the guests/helpers who were arriving. Great job all, happy running!