Goodgymmers took part in the Great British Spring clean today starting from Leicester City Centre walking towards the King Power stadium, where GoodGymmers Stu and Jimmy took part in the Loros 5k King Power run. Jimmy had already cycled to town and Stu had already run a 5K, they were on top form today!

Whilst the runners completed approx 1km laps of King Power the rest of us litterpicked down the canal as there was zero rubbish around the run.

Weldone GoodGymmers, nice to enjoy a walk/run in the sunshine collecting 2 full bags of grot along the way.

3 GoodGymmers litter picked their way down the canal through Leicester city centre. Stu had a fantastic method picking the cans from higher up the bank for me and Dan to fill our bags, Stu has deffinatly done this before!

Lots of running chat with Dan's next marathon being Valencia which is also Stu's fave race ever, and how Dan has managed to run 50 miles already this week. brilliant how he used running to and from the task to bulk up his weekly mileage and fit in a good deed on the route.

Weldone both great to see you and fantastic work with 3 full bags and a nice Autumn morning.

3 fantastic Goodgymmers braved the cold, icey start to run across the Meadows, which was looking very picturesque.

Along the canal we targeted our first lock with plenty of graffiti marks to start spraying with GRAFFITI GO! Hand delivered my the Canal and River Trust, cheers. We let the spray work its magic then wiped off, not quite like a cleaning TV advert, some elbow grease and all my rags and drinking water were needed. Soon the lock was back to looking itself its beautiful natural surroundings.

We ran along the tow path spraying the Canal and River Trust signs with GRAFFITI GO! As we passed, then on our return we wiped them clean and continued back to Everards Meadows. It was a pleasure to run with both Jimmy and Steve in such a natural beauty spot, with the sun glimmering down giving us a tiny bit of warmth.

First outing for my brand new first aid kit, so pleased I didn't have to use it! Even more pleased I didn't have to use the throw line! Keep up the great work we're smashing the January Challenge.

At the second time of asking and after almost delaying again due to the weather we finally finished our sleeper painting project tonight along the canal for the Canal & River Trust!

380m of sleepers, six or seven visits and we're done, just in time for winter! With another task already lined up for next week and the light (and weather) closing in on us fast, tonight was probably the last sensible Tuesday group run opportunity to get the job done.

Ashley and Mel headed up and down the tow path litter picking while Dave, Jen, Nick and Huw finished off the painting, using up the remaining paint on some lower level sleepers in between this project and our previous project up to Belgrave Lock. The main disappointment was that we didn't get to leave a little painted message on the next section to be painted because now it's all done!

We heard about week 2 of Watermead parkrun and Jen's trip this weekend to take on Manchester Marathon - good luck!

After the task, Huw and Ashley headed into Abbey Park for some rainy fitness.

Great work gang. Next week, all being well, we're off to deliver leaflets to local residents ahead of the forthcoming Leicester Half Marathon on behalf of LOROS.

Happy running, HD

GoodGym Richmond and Kingston members with SUP boards joined forces with Dittons Paddling to help British Canoeing, National Trust, Angling Trust and the Environment Agency for their Floating Pennywort Voluntary Removal Day - Papercourt Lock/Newark Lock, River Wey Navigation.

With over 60 volunteers and partners in team work at its best we removed huge amounts of the invasive species Floating Pennywort from the Wey Navigation so it is clearer for use by all!

Pennywort? Pennywent! We were not ‘board’! With so many great partners working together including the Scouts, we were not ‘Wey’d’ down!

And home to be back soon to maintain this invasive non-native species that apparently escaped from aquatic fish ponds…

Enjoy the video summary to accompany this report

As the Paralympics swung into action, we approached the last (but one) leg of our project to stain a 300m section of wooden sleepers along the towpath north of Abbey Park.

We were delighted to welcome Gwyn and Tracey (self styled as G&T!) along on tour from GoodGym Derby who both got stuck straight into both the painting and the chatting in true GoodGym style!

Mel and Lindsay had a mini litter pick to start with while Huw and Jen started attacking the overhanging vegetation before the four of them combined hedge cutting and wire brushing to clear the sleepers for the painting squad of Dave, Stu, Gwyn and Tracey.

Fantastic teamwork and progress and now one more visit will easily complete the job with just 25m of staining (and no prep work!) left to do.

Dave led the runners back via Abbey Park for their fitness work, dodging the Billy Bates Fun Fair and the highly reduced crowds as the school holidays come to a close!

HD