Joanna was so excited this morning that she'd woken up as a football! QPR were visiting Acton Junior parkrun, which meant lots of children, as many as would normally take part in the summer months. After Joanna's call for help with the event, lots of GoodGymers came too. 13 of them, plus a group from parkrun Poland!

No one was really sure what to expect and it all looked quite low key until Jude, one of the QPR mascots, appeared before the warm up. Not only did they show up, but they took part along with the other warm up leaders.

All around the course, our GoodGym volunteers were hoping to catch a glimpse of Jude rushing past them, on the way to a 4 leg powered Junior parkrun record (is that allowed?!). Michelle, Chris, Florian, Alan, Pippa, Steph Ducat and Johhny were all keeping an eye our from their marshal posts. It turned out that Jude was too old to run the course as they've been the QPR mascot for over 14 years, so only Chikako as the VI Guide and Harvey as the tail walker were out on the course with the runners. In the funnel area, we had Lucy, Kash, and Sevan, while Joanna led the first timers welcome.

Everything was going to plan as the 61 participants set off around the course. Then, half way around, Harvey seemed to lose his bearings and went off track. A little later, he was back on the tail of the last runner, or so he thought. A couple more minutes passed, then Michelle ran past trying to find Harvey. The boy who'd taken a loo break and was assumed to have dropped out was back in the parkrun. Cue confusion and Harvey returning to the other tail of the field.

After possibly the longest Junior parkrun ever, 31:51 with a pit stop, QPR had arranged for some fun at the finish. Jude was high fiving runners into the funnel, managing to confuse a few of them who stopped before the finish line. Then, there were some games to play and merch to be given out too.

After parkrun, some GoodGymers were seen wearing their new blue and white scarves as everyone went for coffee to congratulate Sevan on reaching 600 good deeds and to eat Michelle's fabulous lemon drizzle cake.

One the loveliest things about helping at junior parkrun is the joy you see on (almost) all of the young runners. This morning, it was damp, there were puddles, and a bit of mud straying onto the path. Despite this, one young woman ran all the way round with a smile on her face. There are children being encouraged every step of the way by parents. And there are young people doing it all by themselves - marvelous! If you haven't helped out at junior parkrun before, give it try - be it as a marshal, giving out finish tokens, or any of the other important roles - it's a joy!

This Sunday Acton junior parkrun had six GoodGymers around the winter course: Steph, Sevan, Alan, Kash, Chikako and Joanna. Kash could swear she could have seen Michelle (and heard the Midlands accent!) but no one else noticed her and she was not on the roster.

Some ominous signs were seen in Acton Park: terns flying low, witches and snakes on trees, faces on tree trunks. Something was cooking up.

The volunteers did their best to make sure the event went well despite the strange aura in Acton. Joanna gave the first-timers a warm, cheery welcome, Alan, Sevan and Kash secured the course as marshals and did a lot of clapping to chase away any anxious ghosts of Acton, Chikako guided her VI daughter, and Steph escorted the last runner safely to the finish line. He remained calm even though a leopard tail suddenly grew out of his back!

Despite three runners dropping out, including a pram with a wonky wheel, which was clearly not a race pram, 49 youngsters successfully finished the course! Once the stampede was over, the uneasy spirits of the park returned to their slumber. The run director no longer had to offer them sacrificial biscuits, so the treats went to the volunteers!

Save the date and join us at the special event at Acton junior parkrun on 24th March, featuring Queens Park Rangers! Sign up here!

Part way through the week, Steph realised that he'd be volunteering at 2 Junior parkruns this weekend, Pitshanger and Acton. He clocked this early enough to fix it and join the rest of the GoodGymers at Acton Juniors. Madhan meanwhile was still signed up for Pitshanger, so, GoodGym Ealing along with some friends from Hounslow split themselves between 2 Junior parkruns, helping out a total of 124 children.

Over at Pitshanger Park, Madhan was encouraging 72 runners around the course as a marshal. Meanwhile in Acton Park, 52 children were on the winter course due to the mud. They were cheered around the course by Kash and Steph, with Chikako as the VI Guide and Sevan as the tail walker, shaking his tail. Once in the funnel, Joanna recorded their times, Michelle was handing out finish tokens and Alan was publishing the historic records of the day (a.k.a. barcode scanning).

Next week, we'll all be at Pitshanger Junior parkrun... we think 🤞

Does the early bird get the worm? There were not too many worms this morning in Acton Park. They would surely come out after sensing the rain but today's junior parkrunners and volunteers luckily just dodged the wet weather. Speaking of dodging... Run leader Sevan, who monthly organises the GoodGym volunteers to get them involved in junior parkruns, had no chance of dodging the crown today!

Sevan just reached a royal milestone of 500 good deeds and there were no escape from the regal insignia! 👑

Sevan was the King of Time today, filling the timekeeper role. Florian was just behind him at the funnel, handing out the finish tokens, later scanned by Kash. Joanna was orchestrating the whole event as the run director and Chikako acted as the VI Guide as usual. Harvey, Michelle, Emmanuella and Alan covered the marshal posts - today on a slightly different, winter version of the course.

After seeing all 26 young runners passing the finish line and uploading the parkrun results, the crew wrapped up. The GoodGymers, headed to a coffee place to celebrate Sevan's milestone and cause despair for those who were behind their long queue for coffee, tea and matcha latte. GoodGym apologises to everyone who needed just a quick dose of caffeine this morning, but 500 good deeds milestones don't happen every week! 😅

Seven GoodGymers helped Acton Juniors parkrun this morning, with a surprise non-GoodGym helper also participating. Joanna, who is a parkrun Run Director, a Visually Impaired running guide and all round motivating person had encouraged one of her regular group of VI runners to volunteer as a marshal!

Kash and Sevan had met Mark in the summer at Bushy Park parkrun (he's the one with the distinctive beard). He's run at adult parkruns with his VI Guide and this was Mark's first time volunteering. The more experienced GoodGymers talked him through the logistics of Junior parkrun and he was surprised to see that there's a warm up session for the children, which doesn't happen at the adult version.

Back with the GoodGym volunteers, Sevan and Alan were marshalling along with Mark, while Chikako was in her regular role as a VI Guide. Joanna had the hardest job, overseeing the running of the whole event as today's Run Director. Everyone else was working hard in the funnel area, with Florian managing 41 young runners through the funnel and barcode scanners Kash and Michelle ensuring that their times were correctly recorded.

Thanks to all involved. We'll be back again on the 10th of December, so keep an eye out for the Community Mission listing.