Something a tad different this week...

On a stormy looking Bank Holiday Monday we headed up hill to the SUSTRANS lock up to help Simon with sorting the SUSTRANS tools to make it easier for Sustrans volunteers to get into the lock up, find what they need and get out to do the fantastic work that they do all over the city helping to look after the active travel routes all over Sheffield.

After some discussion and tool placement trying we settled on some designs for how we would recycle/upcycle bookshelves and pallets to store and organise the various different tools that are in the lock up.

By the end of our time at the lock up it was already looking loads better and more organised and we think with one more session there, we should have a really useful and well organised lock up for the volunteers to use.

Until next time, happy running! :)

5 Women Goodgym runners went in a group run to Lynnwood Gardens. With spades the wonder women digged dashed and cleared soil and debri along the path to make it tidy and safe. John and Liz from Sustrans really appreciated our teamwork. strength and cooperation. Worked really hard in the dark with additional lighting.

We had a bit of a false start with a bit of lock up confusion... Turns out we were waiting for Andy and Andy was waiting for us in 2 slightly different places, but once we found each other we got straight to it!

We had a look at the lock up and discussed that we needed the mastermind of SUSTRANS SIMON to orchestrate the lock up sort, but we did discuss some possible ideas for future projects in this regard and SIMON has been sent some photos, so watch this space for an exciting possible future pallet project!

We got tooled up with bags, pickers and rings and headed for the underpass near the lock up under the main ring road which is a definite hot spot for litter, but also a really useful active travel route to get under the ring road without so much as a barrier or traffic light!

It didn't take us long to fill our bags and need to get a new one out. We had two thank you's from passer by's which is always nice to get and makes you feel like the work is appreciated and not going un-noticed.

We tied up our bags after the obligatory photos of filled bags and happy faces and headed back to the lock up to put bags to one side where Andy would report them to the council to be collected. It was really nice to meet Andy, another Sustrans volunteer who was giving Simon a well earned brake.

Until next time, happy running! :)

Monday at 6.45pm 3 of us set off from Showroom to Netherthorpe to our friends at Sustrans. Shoutout Tarj for joining us on his 2nd GoodGym run! 2 more met us there making us the fab 5.

At the Sustrans lockup Steve gave us a (re)introduction to the organisation : not just cycle paths - any kind of sustainable travel, horses included. He set us up with litter pickers, hoops and trashbags and off we went. A solid 30 mins (and a rain shower, rainbow and sunshine) later, we'd filled 4 bags.

We snapped some photos, left the bags for the council to collect and headed back to Steve. He was really chuffed with what we'd done, the area looked really neat and tidy. We said our goodbyes and thank yous and headed back to Showroom - the long way this time!

Thanks for a great evening folks, see you soon!

Tonight's run was to litterpick for Sustrans around Netherthorpe, focussing on the area in and around the tunnel under the road and tram tracks. The first task on the cards was to locate the garage lock-up where all of the equipment is stored. When the garage was found, litterpickers, rubbish bags and a light were retrieved and then it was time to head back down the road to the tunnel area.

Sex, Drugs and Sausage Rolls

There are many bushes in the surrounding area and, as we all know well, this is where all the litter likes to congregate. No time to be beating around the bush, rubbish was picked right out of them on both sides of the tunnel. Inside the tunnel, where it is well lit, small pieces of rubbish could be spotted and picked out of the gutters. A couple of literary works were stumbled upon in the evening- an odd painted rock was found by one of the drains in the underpass with some inspirational quotes on and a punny bit of graffiti 'Sex, Drugs and Sausage Rolls'.

When a huge bag of litter had been filled, all of the tools were put back in the lock-up and it was time to run back. Once back at the Showroom, all of the key stretches were performed on the grass.

Huge congrats to @Tim on his 100th run! Check the photos for Tims honorary GG bear photo, courtesy of @Rachael.

Tonight we headed up to help @Craig with the upkeep of the Sustrans National Cycle Network.

We got a great brief from @Craig who told us the tasks for the eve:

• Litter picking
• Chopping back overgrowth
• Sweeping back glass

After all the work was done we did some Olympic themed clean and jerks with gardening equipment for our fitness session before heading home.