The Ramsey Round is the original Scottish endurance distance mountain running challenge, stretching for 58 miles over 24 summits (including Ben Nevis), reaching a total climb of around 28,500 feet. Key figures in the ultra running community have set records on this course (Nicky Spinks, Helene Diamantides, Jasmin Paris), and Goodgym Islington approached the Ramsey Round last night...

However, the "Ramsey Round" we are referring to is a double task group run on Ramsey Walk, a green neighbourhood in Canonbury. We were invited over by Ramsey Flowers N1, and Rose Bowl Community Centre- literally a stone's throw away from each over!

20 happy running folks joined us tonight (including new members Deirdre, Conor, Jack and Ashling- welcome!), and we saw the return of Taskforce member James after his New York Marathon running adventure- congratulations! Before setting off, we made a few announcements (listed in the news below), and asked the question: "If you could be an animal, what would you be?"

Our responses included:

• Red Panda
• Water Bear
• T-Rex
• Penguin
• Rhino
• Stick Insect
• Sloth
• Otter
• Dog... but I'm probably a Cat, really. Probably.

The Canonbury area is a 5km round trip from the Emirates Stadium, and we used the Drayton Park route to run along the back of Highbury Fields Park.

Upon arrival, we met up with Paola and Chris of Ramsey Flowers N1, a resident-led community garden project in St Paul's Park. Half of our group stayed to help with this task, which included raking leaves from various flower beds, planting small bulbs, trimming some overgrown bushes from the main walkway, and installing remembrance poppies onto the railings next to the Rose Bowl Youth Centre. We made sure we had enough time to gather and collect the greeen waste clippings and leaves before setting off, and deposited them all near the appropriate recycling point.

Our second group continued along to Rose Bowl Youth Centre to meet Dawn, the volunteer coordinator. One of our classic tasks- we raked and swept all of the playground surfaces around the centre to allow children to keeping playing outside in Winter, and bagged all the leaves up to keep everything looking neat and tidy. Really amazing how quickly an area is transformed when a big group of people start working on it- we have included some before and after photos in the photo reel.

We gathered up on Clephane Road, and before our return trip to the Emirates, we were treated to vegan cookies and veggie muffins from local baker Chris! Absolutely delicious- Thank you!

NEWS

Monthly CREOS Mission

Crouch End Open Space (CREOS) is a regular community mission hosted by GG Islington, and is a great one for new folks! Goodgym have been maintaining a wooded garden patch, just off the Parkland Walk for years now, and we are very proud of it. Working from 11am - 1pm, and always includes a picnic, chatting and dog spotting. A lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon (Sunday 17th November).

Sign up here.

Mini Mermaids Running Club x Goodgym - Highbury Fields parkrun Takeover

Mini Mermaids Running Club is an amazing charity set-up to encourage girls under the age 11 to engage in phyiscal activity and exercise in fun and engaging ways. Goodgym have been invited to help the Mini Mermaids to complete their 5km challenge (each of the girls have worked towards this over 8 weeks) at Highbury Fields parkrun on Saturday 7th December.

We are looking for:

"Mama Mermaids"- female Goodgym runners who would be willing to be an accompanying adult for a Mini Mermaid during their 5km run. This would include offering support and encouragement to help them achieve their goals.

parkrun Volunteers- Goodgymmers willing to marshal, cheer, support and help with the general running of parkrun from the sidelines. Or to come and run and represent Goodgym!

Sign up here for more details.

Official Goodgym Christmas Party

Huge Christmas Party for all of Goodgym, hosted at Stephen's House (a bar, not the house of a poor guy called Stephen) in Finchley. Drinks, dancing and celebrations- Fancy dress contest included.

Friday 6th December. Only 38 tickets remaining so grab them quick! Sign up here

Have an awesome week. See you next Monday!

Despite the looming rain clouds, 12 hardy Goodgymmers came down to our double task combo last night (including 4 members of our Taskforce), and a new starter (welcome Alex!).

We split up into 2 groups- one headed by Aidan and Steve (we still haven't figured out his middle name beginning with "B"- suggestions can be left in the comments below) running to Caxton House in Archway. The other team set off over to the Rose Bowl in Canonbury.

Caxton House

Aidan wrote a nice summary for Group 1's activities:

Six of us headed off to Caxton House, just in time for the rain to start again. We all loved the well known uphill run towards Archway, a nice little workout for the legs. We had a couple of tasks awaiting us, a lovely pile of bricks and a grand field of weeds. Both needing shifting, and with 3 on each it was easy work. Lots of squats and weights for the bricks crew and erm...mud and worms for the weeders ...

The lovely Caxton guys are working hard to improve their space with lots of plans in and out, always worth a visit!

With our work complete we looked forward to the lovely declining road home.

Rose Bowl

Six runners ran towards Canonbury through a great route via the back of the Emirates Stadium, zig zagging through cobbled paths to link onto Highbury Fields. We even ran a completely intentional extra half kilometre around the New River Green Estate (honest!).

Upon arrival, we got to work on clearing up the youth club's playground and football pitch, clearing autumn leaves with rakes and spades to avoid accidents. Green and organic disposal was due to pick up these bags of leaves and branches on Tuesday morning, so having extra hands to help out really speeded up the job for the volunteers.

Other tasks included unloading a large bag of gravel, and shoveling it into a hand-made shelter to create a secure, non-slip surface for children to play on. We finished up with some additional raking around the main entrance to the playground, whilst talking about future running plans, races and objectives.

Upcoming Events with Goodgym

Goodgym Monthly Social is happening this Thursday, in Islington!

This is Pritesh's penultimate social before he hands the reins on to another Goodgymmer, and it is happening just down the road from the GG Islington start point! A great opportunity to meet up with like-minded Goodgym folks from other areas, and to enjoy a refreshment or two.

Thursday 10th October, 6.30pm onwards, Islington Townhouse (13 Liverpool Rd, N1 0RW)

Sign up here

Cross Country with the Goodgym Race Team

The first event for the Met League will occur on Saturday 12th October in Claybury (nearest tube: Woodford).

Cross country is awesome fun, and accessible to anyone who is willing to run around 7-8km in the mud! Super friendly, really inclusive, an absolute blast. Cheer squad also super welcome if you don't fancy running.

Sign up here to enter this weekend's event, and click here to find out more about the Goodgym Race Team.

Have an awesome week, everyone.

Happy Running!

Cracking run (and cycle) tonight with 22 lovely Goodgymmers, tackling a huge pile of branches and foliage at Sunnyside Community Centre.

After a short warm-up around the slopes of the Emirates Stadium, we connected on to Hornsey Road and powered up the 2.5km of incline to Sunnyside Community Centre. Upon arrival at the volunteers portacabin, Bridget handed us rakes, shearers and clippers and directed us to a large mound of branches, leaves and bushes, collected from the gardens. This would usually be a task for a shredder, but the groups machine suddenly broke down just as Autumn began, leaving the space covered in green foliage!

In 40 minutes, our Goodgymmers raked the massive pile of branches into lots of smaller piles, and snipped them down to a smaller concentration of greenery. Before we left, we moved all the branches back into an orderly spot, away from the main entrance to the community centre. Amazing effort considering the light was fading as we worked. We were treated to a steady downhill slope back to the Emirates, some nice easy relaxed stretches and a few jammy dodgers and lotus biscoff biscuits for the road!

Plenty of runs, events and get-togethers next week, continuing Goodgym's 10 year anniversary celebrations:

• Goodgym Lambeth will be leading a monthly long run this Sunday, starting in Brixton, and following the Green Chain Walk to Crystal Palace. Sign up here.
• Former Islington trainer and all round excellent fellow, Paul Bown has announced the dates and details for Goodgym Euro Trip Kiev 2020. 4-5 days of holiday fun with 10km or half marathon races in between! More info can be found here.
• We will be visiting Thornhill Gardens for next weeks task, helping the organisers with some willow tree weaving for decorations (pop your name on the list here). Hoping to test out some new portable flood lights as well, but I still recommend bringing a headtorch if you can!
• Also, we plan to visiting the Victoria Tavern after our run next week and you are very much invited to join us!

Have a smashing week everyone, and see you for the next one!

It is my pleasure to announce that 21 lovely Goodgymmers joined us for Simon Fitzmaurice's first outing as GoodGym Islington's new trainer, and ran to fix up an overgrown garden at the amazing Mildmay Community Centre. Great to see familiar faces, Goodgym tourists (Thanks Nurjehan!) and new participants (Becca, Caitlin and Gerry- welcome everyone) getting stuck in!

Shout outs to the Goodgymmers who helped out at the Crouch End Open Space over the weekend- the well-deserved picnic looked delicious. More information can be found here.

If anyone fancies a long social training run (not for setting PBs!) next weekend, Trainer Simon will be leading the Goodgym Monthly Long Run on Sunday, a route called "The Tour of the Docklands". 10km, 10 mile and 16 mile distances are available, starting from Greenwich and finishing in Stratford Olympic Park, passing loads of River Thames landmarks on the way. Sign up here if you want to get involved!

After a few warm-up exercises, and learning everyone's favourite biscuit preferences (I think Dark Chocolate Hobnob was the most popular...), our crew ran through Highbury Fields Park and past Newington Green to Mildmay Community Centre, and were greeted by Mus, the head gardener for this evening's task. Armed with secateurs and trowels, the team uprooted weeds and snipped back thistles and thorns from the main garden area at the site, whilst concentrating on staying upright on a steep slope! Lots of really impressive teamwork on display, and we ended up with loads of bags full of green waste by the end of our session.

The Mildmay Community Centre is a fascinating building- the whole place is fully sustainable and eco-friendly, boasting a roof full of solar panels for everyday energy usage, green gardening spaces and rain water receptacles to store water for the plants. Some really exciting projects are coming up, so we will be sure to return soon.

Just a reminder- next weeks task to Caledonian Park will start at a different location due to the Bank Holiday. Our start location will be:

The Arc Centre 98b St Paul Street London N1 7DF

(Nearest tube stations are: Highbury & Islington or Angel)

Have a fantastic week! Happy Running! See you soon!