Caught red handed lifting the wetpour
37 GoodGymers made their way 4.1km to help their local community in York.
- Monday, 11th of March 2019
- Led by Aron Fulton
GG Yorkies ran to Clarence Gardens to rip up some wetpour
As Egg was busy lunging her way across the ski slopes, self-styled Amazing Aron stepped in to lead after a little time away. In what was an ominous sign of things to come, the alarm was set-off by Mitch before the runners had even managed to get to the meeting point, but once that was sorted we could get on with a strenuous evening of Goodgym.
We welcomed Jane for her first ever group run, as well as celebrating everyone's awesome achievements over the weekend, including Paul who ran his first ever half -marathon. It was also a momentous occasion, as Lucy got to wear the cape of good deeds for hitting 50 good deeds! Great work everyone, make sure you give them all a cheer!
We headed out to towards the task with Paul A kindly backmarking. We arrived to find Iain had laid out loads of wheelbarrows, spades, and two different sizes of saw. We had two tasks ahead of us: * A small group of 5 were needed to lay some grass seed in four oval beds * The rest of the crew would be ripping up wetpour from what used to be two different areas of a children's playground.
The small group set off to rake the soil before spreading out the grass seed, and stamping it into place. After confirming exactly which areas of wetpour needed to be ripped up (so we didn't get Iain into some serious trouble) the bigger group split into two to tackle the wetpour. Those who had done this before took the lead.
"The best technique is to get a spade under the edge, then saw off sections" Huw
After the groups got stuck in, it seemed that this bit of wetpour was a bit trickier than the last time we'd tackled it. Everyone pitched in, and with some great teamwork, the best method was soon devised, which seemed to involve lifting a big strip of the rubber, before folding it over, and tearing/sawing it off, otherwise known as the 'Bend and snap'. Getting the rubber to break proved pretty difficult, with each subgroup finding their own methods, including coordinated squats, lying on top of the rolled over wetpour, and jumping up and down in the hope that it would break.
It's quite fun jumping on it. It's a makeshift trampoline!
The jumping started to get a little too exuberant and was in danger of getting out of hand.
"It's going to catapult me away!" Tim
As Aron was feeling particularly nervous to avoid any major accidents or incidents while Egg was away, everyone calmed down a little and after looking impossible at the start, we really started to make some progress. With a constant stream of wheelbarrows heading for the growing mountain of discarded wetpour, the end was in sight. With everyone chipping in to get as much done as possible, it was a blur of activity.
"Oh! It's coming at both ends!" Tim
At some point in amongst all this excitement, it appears that our Good-deeding attracted some unwanted attention, and the police arrived to see what all the fuss was about. Apparently some concerned local residents had called the police, worried that we were up to no Good. A large group of noisy runners, ripping up a children's play area probably does look a little suspicious, but after a brief explanation, they were happy that we meant no harm, and left us to finish the job.
While the grass seeders finished up their pigeon feet stomp and a final raking, the last chunks of wetpour were collected and loaded into the wheelbarrows. The only thing left to do was get a group shot around the mountain of wetpour, and of course, one of Lucy atop the pile in her cape of good deeds.
After a short run back to base, we had a nice stretch before heading to the pub for some post-run refreshment and some of Huw's wetpour-inspired Vegan millionaire shortbread.
Report written by Aron Fulton
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Led by Aron Fulton
Former GoodGym Leeds trainer. Love running, cycling, and generally being outdoors
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Shrub tidying and tree guard removal at Ashton Park
Monday 18:15 - 20:00
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Ed Woollard
York CVS, Denham Room
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LOVE that the police turned up! Hahah
That report's so funny, thank you Aron!
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