Meet the Sheffield runners putting good deeds at the heart of keeping fit

The thought of pounding the streets on a cold, dark February night can be too much.

Well, one Sheffield running group thinks that it has the answer.

GoodGym – a running club that makes volunteering an integral part of exercise – has been going in the city for around 18 months.

In that time the group have done hundreds of good deeds for charities and individuals across Sheffield.

But, as well as that, they have also provided dozens of people a way of getting fit that puts them in contact with like-minded people in the place they live.

And it has even been responsible for at least two new relationships.

Tom Mutton, the GoodGym trainer for Sheffield, said: “I think it combines a number of things that people like to do and want to do in a really time efficient way.

“You get to get fit, you get to meet new people, you get to find things out about your local area and you get to contribute to your environment.

“That is already about four of five things that you get out of it in a very short space of time. A big thing about it is that it attracts a really nice group of people.

“Everyone has come into it wanting to do something nice for someone else.”

The altruistic athletes meet every Monday evening at the Showroom Cinema.

From there, they run to different local organisations and charities and spend about three quarters of an hour helping out.

Last Monday, they ran to Abbeydale Picture House where they were helping Sheffield’s Creative Arts Development Space – CADS – bring the building back to its former glory.

After splitting up into three groups, one team focused on painting an upstairs room and the other two on shifting and lifting.

“The people we work with are grateful,” said Tom.

“They rely on the help of volunteers so to have 20 or 30 willing, energetic, full of life people get a huge amount done in 45 minutes is fantastic. It’s a bit of a whirlwind but they really appreciate the work we do with them.”

As well as the weekly group runs, GoodGym also do ‘coach runs’ where they pair individual runners with elderly, isolated individuals and run to them on a weekly basis. And they also do ‘missions’ where a few of them get together and do a task for a person who can no longer do it for themselves.

GoodGym was started over a decade ago by a man called Ivo Gormley in the London borough of Tower Hamlets.

Ivo used to run to an elderly man’s house every week to and bring him the paper and a pint of milk and just sit with him for a while.

This gave him a buzz knowing he was helping someone but also made sure he turned up every week because someone was relying on him.

From these humble beginnings, GoodGym has now spread to 39 cities in the UK and there are more coming on board all the time.

Florist Sarah King has been coming to the sessions for just over a year now.

On Monday, she was proudly displaying a black GoodGym T-shirt which participants receive when they have completed 50 good deeds.

She said: “I do a lot of volunteering anyway but I really like the social aspect of it. Everybody is like-minded here and we do a lot of things outside of GoodGym together.

“I feel like I have really made some strong friendships. Tonight I felt really tired and debated not coming but it meant I wouldn’t have seen everybody for a week. I think that is what keeps the group coming every week – the people.”

In her spare time Sarah also rehabilitates rescue dogs and works with cancer charity Anthony Nolan.

She says volunteering with GoodGym not only makes her feel really good about herself but gives her more to talk about.

“When I go into work tomorrow and say ‘what did you do’ people will be like ‘I watched Coronation Street’,” she says.

“But I will be able to say we did a run and moved a load of cement pillars.

“A lot of people say to me you do so much but I always want to do more. Doing good is an addictive feeling.”

In terms of fitness, Sarah says she has noticed a huge change in herself over the last 12 months.

“The first week I came I was really worried about how far we were going to run because I hadn’t run for a couple of years,” she said

“And now I am doing the marathon in April. Tom’s really pushed me and said you can do it – it has been amazing for my confidence.

“Now I’m sprinting off the front and sprinting up hills. So you end up doing good for others but you are doing good for yourself as well.

“GoodGym makes you feel spiritually good and physically good.”

To find out more, click here or follow them on Twitter @GGSheff.