The recent rain had inconsiderately left large puddles and muddy areas all around the course this morning, so inevitably anyone wearing their shiny new(ish) trainers to the Fields was going to find they were going home in a slightly darker, more mottled, pair.

However the conditions didn't seem to keep the crowds away, and it was great to welcome 49 runners under the big tree this morning (including at least 4 first timers), along with 13 volunteers keen to don the Hi Viz, including GoodGym regulars Rue, Hilary, Louise, Sarah, Sooz and Nick who all performed their respective roles perfectly to ensure everything ran to plan (and received a number of high fives from our runners by way of reward).

The conditions underfoot also didn't seem to be a hindrance to performance, as we saw a super speedy winner, 5 PBs and 49 shiny happy faces cross the finish line - a great way to start the new month. More of the same next week under the big tree - join us if you can.

It might have been a real feel of -7 degrees, but that didn't put off six brave GoodGym-ers who started the year off right by assembling to tackle some planters near Maryland that needed a refresh. The local community has been working hard to brighten up an area around Henniker Point, tackling flytipping and littering by setting up some planters and growing trees, flowers and even edible plants.

Saturday's mission was to remove old soil, weeds and even a dead tree from two of the planters, and add fresh soil in ready for spring planting. Thanks to a great effort by all we quickly tidied them up, ready for us to come back for planting in a few weeks! Shout out to Nick and Sooz for a great effort on a very stubborn tree, and great to see Sher join us for his first mission too - look forward to welcoming you back again soon!

A hardy gang of local goodgymmers from GG Hackney and Newham provided chilled hands and toes today to support the Hackney Marshes parkrun team across a wide range of the volunteer roles. Hilary was on timekeeping duty, Rosa on barcode scanning, Graham as Funnel Manager, Nick on finish tokens and Sooz as tail walker. Between us we did spend a lot of time discussing just how many layers we all had on between us...and what the best techniques were to stop fingers freezing up.

Undeterred by the arctic conditions, 459 runners took to the course with some sparkling times at the front of the field, and our tail walkers crossing the line in just under an hour. A really enjoyable morning of volunteering (we'll certainly be back to do it again), and we then walked (via a welcome coffee) to Maryland for our next spring planter mission - always great when a plan comes together in spite of the chilly conditions!