Cutting the ribbon on upgraded Lovelock track

Last Wednesday it was our very great pleasure to officially reopen the newly resurfaced Lovelock Track. 

We welcomed club and community to have a go at junior athletics, heard a little bit of track history from long-standing community members, cut the ribbon (which was pieced together, we think, from the ribbon cut at the reopening last time the track was resurfaced, in 2012) and wrapped things up with a sausage sizzle, 4x400 relays and a raffle for a piece of the Beijing Olympic track.

“It was a fun evening.  Great to see the kids enthusiasm in athletics.” Ella Kumar, Local Board Deputy Chair

About the track

The culmination of a concentrated few months of work pre-Christmas, the resurfaced track is a fantastic community asset, getting rave reviews from all who run on it - so bouncy!

But did you know it used to be a road - kind of? At the re-opening, Puketāpapa Local Board Chair Roseanne Hay shared a little of the history of the track, which opened in 1961. It was at the time the first all-weather track in New Zealand, and was funded and laid by roads man Sir William Stevenson (who had another club connection as manager of the 1964 NZ team to the Tokyo Olympics).

Wesley Community Trust Chair Graeme Mulholland also shared a little of the history of the club and community, before the ribbon was enthusiastically cut by Willow and Addison to officially open the track.

It takes a whole community…

We are grateful to the Puketāpapa Local Board for their support of the track resurfacing, and to project manager Spencer Myer who helped keep things on track. Auckland Council’s Michael Budd helped us find other places to train while the track was closed, and the entire project team worked hard to deliver a wonderful community asset. As well as the new track surface, we have improved and safer facilities for throwers - a new shotput circle and discus cage, with tie-downs for para athletes as well. There’s also a new running rail, and lane protection barriers. These are locked in place across lanes 1-3 when the track is not in use, and should extend the life of the new surface. 

The Local Board came along to the reopening, and even got involved in the 4x400 relays, roping project manager Spencer in too. Love to see you enjoying the track, what good sports! 

It was great to see Bryce Hall, Chair of AAI, and Cam Mitchell, Chief Executive of Athletics New Zealand at the event too. Cam was a member of Owai as a young ‘un and used to do junior athletics with us.

4x400s

The team of middle distance runners from Oratia and coached by Sarah Lewington from Glen Eden were the fastest in the relay, with a time of 3:38. Proof that distance runners can run fast 400s! It was great that they came along and ran impressively fast. They have been training with our young guys in the Waitaks on Sunday mornings. Hot on their heels - there were some very exciting laps - were Owai boys Timo, Christiaan, Ben and Mack, in 3:42.

The relays were a whole community affair, with brand new juniors getting involved, family teams, multi-generation teams, coach teams, teams across all our squads - juniors, seniors, sprinters - and local board members getting involved. Anyone can run a lap!

Raffle draw results

Angela Lewis won the framed singlet signed by Sir Peter Snell. Duncan Timmins won the framed certified piece of the 2008 Beijing Olympic track. Funds raised in the raffle will help us by a new track clock - the perfect accessory for a new track!

Ngā mihi nui

Huge thanks to everyone who showed up and helped to make the event such a success.

• Thank you to our supportive, enthusiastic Local Board - you guys rock!

• Thanks to our neighbours and friends at the community centre - always happy to be working alongside you in this awesome community.

• Terence took the fabulous pics in this post, check out the full gallery here

• We're grateful to relay organiser Nanne and all the helpers, timers, and wranglers

• Thanks to our sausage sizzle crew - on the tools every week keeping our kids fed and happy, and sizzling record numbers this week!

• Our awesome team of junior coaches: delivering a fun, engaging programme and adapting fast to the inclement conditions!

• Raffle sellers extraordinaire: Sheenal, Jo & Lisa

• The track project team: the results speak for themselves!

• And of course our hardworking committee :-)

“great turn up !! pleasure seeing our athletic community smiling faces…our connections are working!” Rudy Aso, Community Programme Specialist, Puketāpapa.