The smiles, the laughter and the energy were all out in force at the historic Halswell Quarry in south-west Christchurch on Saturday 12 October for the launch of the suburb’s inaugural parkrun event.

An incredible turnout of exactly 450 runners and walkers, and 41 volunteers, blew all initial expectations out of the water, demonstrating not only the community appetite for this free, inclusive event, but also the passion and dedication of the team behind it.

Officially New Zealand’s steepest parkrun, the course offers striking vistas of Canterbury out to the Southern Alps. Like all the global parkrun events - they are in over 20 countries! - Halswell Quarry parkrun is a completely free, 5km community event that you can run, walk, jog, volunteer or spectate at every Saturday morning at 8am.

Event Directors Anna Phillips and Kylie Greig, are absolutely blown away by how the community has got in behind the event. “This has been such a beautiful journey to get to where we are now, not only because of how people are getting out and improving their health and wellbeing through exercise, but also through the amazing community spirit that has helped get this off the ground,” Anna says.

“We’ve had local teenagers building course signage for us, volunteers baking for the wider parkrun whānau and local supporters from Halswell Run Group purchasing items like safety cones to make the event an overwhelming success.

“It all came together in the most amazing way possible!”

The ongoing event needs regular volunteers to help out. There are a wide range of volunteer roles that go into the successful running of local parkruns, from marshalls to barcode scanners and tailwalkers. To find out more, visit the New Zealand parkrun website at parkrun.co.nz. Jump on the website to register for your unique parkrun ID.

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