GoodGymers from Ealing, Hounslow and Newham were at Acton Junior parkrun today, where the glorious spring morning brought 66 finishers to the park. The 8 GoodGym volunteers came to the park for some sunbathing, then decided to help out when they saw that Junior parkrun was on. Joanna was the Run Director, Harvey was marshalling, Chikako took the role of the VI guide and tail walking duties were shared by Steph and Louise, who was very excited to wear the be-tailed orange hi-vis. In the funnel, Michelle was handing out finish tokens before Kash and Sevan scanned barcodes.

On the weekend of International Womens' Day, 2 of the top 4 finishers were girls again. A common occurrence at Acton Juniors. What was really encouraging at the finish was that they and their parents were praising and encouraging each other, commenting how the other was pushing them onwards due to how consistently similar their performances were. It was great to see them trying to achieve more themselves and also to help their fellow runner do the same.

Sunshine on tarmac and cheers that quicken
Bright crisp hi-vis and foam hands as mittens
Neat finish tokens tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite parkrun things

When the mud slides
When the cold clings
When I'm feeling drowned
I simply remember my favorite parkrun things
And then I don't feel so bad

It was pretty wet and miserable at Acton Junior parkrun this morning and bets were being taken on how many children would actually take part. Guesses ranged from 6 to 12. The children proved us wrong though as 20 of them ran the distance. Well done Kash for being the most optimistic!

The volunteers too were troopers, adding some humour into less than ideal conditions. Most were varying degrees of wet. Around the course there were:

• Sevan: Marshalling. Wet feet
• Kash: Barcode scanning. Wet all over
• Alan: Timekeeping. Wet jeans and wet phone, meaning some extra runners were recorded
• Chikako: VI Guide. Wet feet
• Joanna: Marshalling. Not wet in her signature DryRobe 💡

In the aftermath of storm Darragh, no one knew who would be at Acton Junior parkrun this morning. Today, the volunteers were hardier than the runners with 20 helpers around the course compared to 16 finishers. The weather didn't even put off Santa Steph, who flew down from north pole, through the storm to be today's tail walker.

Steph didn't fly around the course, using his legs to run instead. On his way, he passed Joanna, Kash, Mohamed and Sevan who were marshalling around the course, Chikako who was today's VI guide, Chris, who did an expert job managing the busy funnel 😂 and Harvey who was timekeeping.

There were a few children who wished they'd stayed in bed - like the volunteers, probably. Most of the runners were happy to be there and equally happy to have finished and go to the park café for a warm drink afterwards.

Five GoodGymers responded to the last-minute call to recycle their old sports shoes at Acton junior parkrun. Some of us couldn't make it the day before to the very successful shoe recycling initiative by We Run Ealing and GoodGym at Gunnersbury parkrun, so we gave those GoodGymers a chance to drop their shoes while volunteering at Acton juniors anyway.

Harvey made the most of both sessions: taking the lead in organising the Saturday collection at Gunnersbury with Tom and Steph, then bringing his daughter's shoes to Acton junior parkrun on Sunday. Chikako brought a couple of her daughter's sports footwear, and Sevan and Joanna donated their old running shoes. Kash, after a long wait, finally found a way to recycle her worn trainers that were getting a bit too slippery to run to GoodGym missions on pavements covered with wet leaves.

Ten collected pairs of used sports shoes will be packed up into a box early next week and sent to Jog On for reusing or recycling. That's twenty shoes saved from landfill!

Across the country, it was a Bert windy today and Acton Park was no different. Sevan and Mohamed arrived early to find Geoff, today's Run Director, almost finished with the course set up. The funnel poles were in the ground and Mohamed placed the "Caution Runners" signs at the top and bottom gates. Everything else was at risk of blowing away, including the runners and volunteers, so there were no cones to mark the course or lightweight table for the token sorting.

Harvey took advantage of the conditions, deciding to fly down the hill to the start line, where there were a good group of brave runners. 38 of them were blown around the course including Chikako who was the VI guide and Alan, whose tail walker tail was blowing in the wind. They flew past Mohamed and Joanna who were marshalling. They then tumbled over the finish line and into the funnel, where the other GoodGymers were at work. Sevan and Harvey were timekeeping, Divy was handing out finish tokens and Kash in her favourite role scanning barcodes.

There was little to pack up, so results were quickly submitted and then it was onto collecting all of the shoes that were brought for recycling.