After a upper body warm up session, 3 of the GoodGymers at Pitshanger Junior parkrun this morning arrived with fast beating hearts and warm fingers and toes. That was good as winter wasn't coming, it had already arrived overnight with the cold Pitshanger wind sweeping through the park.

To keep warm, Gaby ran to her marshal post, while Kash, Maria and Sevan had more easy going roles. Kash was tailwalking for the second parkrun in a row, Maria barcode scanned and Sevan was cheering runners over the line and trying to record their times correctly. That was challenging as waves of children finished in quick succession. The first finisher was rapid too as she entered the funnel in under 7 minutes!

At the back, there was a relay taking place. Not with the runners, but the boy's support crew. As Kash passed marshal posts on the the final lap, the would be 120th finisher upgraded his granny for his mum who'd been volunteering as marshal number 2. The team effort of granny, mum, Kash and later Gaby too helped him make it to the finish line and get to a nice round number of finishers.

Early Sunday morning and it was another big turn up from both the children but also the volunteers. Kash, Gabriela and Steph Ducat arrived after a small fitness session in the park to join both Sevan and Jacquie. As there was a lot of volunteers some roles were doubled up so we had double marshalling to keep the children out of trouble around the course. Gabriela and Kash were at marshal point 8 and were giving high 5's. Steph Ducat was also doubling up as tail walker : yes 2 tails walkers today! Sevan had the task of giving out the tokens, but realised that token number 67 was not in the batch. Will token 67 make it's way back to the next park run?In the meantime it was high security and no messing around at the funnel with Jacquie and 3 other volunteers. Another successful junior park run with 105 children getting over the finish line.

This was an extra session for Ealing GoogGym helping out at Pitshanger junior parkrun, and it's just as well we did - with 135 young people taking part, it was all hands on deck for run number 491! There was also great support from young people undertaking their Duke of Edinburgh award, as well the regular and loyal local volunteers. And the best set of neatly aligned, colour-coordinated finish funnel cones you'll see this side of Ealing Broadway!

Just one question, when is the start a sta?! (see photos)

There was another bumper showing of children at Pitshanger Junior parkrun this week, with the Ealing Half Marathon next week, as well as the Mini Mile for children. There were 131 finishers, which isn't a record for Pitshanger Juniors, but isn't far off.

Sevan had the tough task of tapping the button to record finish times multiple times a second as the children were bunched together and racing each other to the line. Almost all of them completed the course in under 19 minutes and the first finisher, a girl, finishing in 7:20! Around the course, Steph, Kash and Maria were marshalling and taking some hard high fives as parents as well as children were being motivated by our trio.

As well as mashing the button to record finishers, at the same time Sevan was discussing the food history of Marmite and Hershey's chocolate with others in the funnel. He learned that Vegemite came to exist when Marmite supply lines broke down after the First World War in 1923, forcing Australian Marmite lovers to create their own yeasty spread.

Extra session this month at Pitshanger Junior Parkrun and as its the end of the holiday and back to school. Today we had 112 children present!!! Highest number since October 2024.Its was Maria first time at Pitshanger and she was marshal at pint 8 where some children try to cut the corners. Jacquie was on finishers tokens. Steph Ducat was on marshal point 7. alot of high 5 today as 112 children.

Sunny Sunday morning and 61 children turned up at Pitshanger Junior Parkrun. Still a good amount of children despite it being the holiday season. We were not lacking of volunteers either and you could see yellow hi-vis all around the course from the start to the finish line. Some are undercover : especially 3 of them who were marshals cheering and giving high 5. Who are these undercover marshals? Yes 3 Ealing Goodgymers were undercover!!We also had brand new lanyards!!