No Woodchip No Cry

When you join GoodGym, you get all sorts of tasks you may sign up for - from the laid-back (unless you are a timekeeper!) sessions like this morning's volunteering at Gunnersbury parkrun to a woodchipping workout which we did afterwards.

In the Eastern part of Gunnersbury Park laid a woodchip pile of formidable dimensions. Next to it ran a virgin path, untouched by woodchip, which could have used a little bit of a cover before the wet winter months. But who would do the job? Only a gang powered by coffee and chocolate cake consumed courtesy of Michelle, who gave us the occasion to celebrate - her 700th good deed!

With a bit less than 90 minutes and as much energy as six GoodGymers could expend, we had not anticipated clearing the woodchip pile by the end of the task. But we pressed on! Bryon, Chris, Sevan and Steph Ducat took turns shovelling the woodchip and wheelbarrowing it along the path. Kash, who was scooping the woodchip from the top of the pile, proclaimed herself the Queen of the Hill, and, when confronted with a suggestion that she'd been skipping the barrow driving rounds, she gave the folk on the ground a challenge: "Take me down then! Take the pile down!". The guys wasted no time, and soon Kash decided to join them, seeing the ground being taken from underneath her.

Michelle was tirelessly spreading all the woodchip the rest of the team was bringing her to cover the surface of the path. The longer the task went on, the longer the barrow trips became, with the growing distance between the pile and Michelle. We must admit, today's session was pretty intense, especially since we were running, not walking, with the wheelbarrows.

Michelle and Chris were wondering whether this interval training was the best prep before their Vitality 10k run the next day. Steph, on the other hand, had no doubt he wouldn't struggle with his Shine Walk marathon overnight. Regardless of how challenging we made that task to be ourselves, it was extremely rewarding.

"It is the ultimate GoodGym workout!" - Chris

With that attitude, the combined power of GoodGym Hounslow and Ealing accomplished what they had deemed impossible: taking the whole woodchip pile down! It was a wonderful example of teamwork with an impact. The park visitors (with the exception of the dogs!) will surely enjoy the less muddy paths in the winter!