North Hagley Park, Rolleston Ave, Christchurch 8013.
Type of Course – A figure of eight, single lap
Shoes Required – Road
Things to Know
There are public toilets next to the Rolleston Ave car park and over footbridge into the Botanic Gardens.
Children’s playground and paddling pool over footbridge into Botanic Gardens.
Free parking, also suitable for motorhomes.
Forgotten your barcode? Email the Run Director to see if they can print out for you.
No showers nearby.
Very low risk of cancellation
Cafe: Ilex café, Botanic Gardens visitor centre.
Location of start:
The run starts at Victoria Lake next to the Botanic Gardens Armagh St car park in North Hagley Park.
Getting there by public transport
Please see the metro website for details.
Getting there on foot
Hagley Park can be accessed from a number of entry points on foot.
Armagh footbridge off Rolleston Ave
Rolleston Ave
West Bridge off Riccarton Ave
Woodland Bridge off Riccarton Ave
Getting there by road
Access the Armagh St car park via Rolleston Ave and Lake Tce.
Stats
First run: October 4, 2014
Inaugural attendance: 82
Record attendance: 523 (25/01/2020)
Course records
Women: Angie Petty 16:40 (23/12/2017)
Men: Oska Baynes 14:29 (5/12/2020)
The Story Behind Hagley parkrun…
Brad Henderson, founding event director
My wife and I lived in Melbourne from 2006 to 2014, when we moved back to New Zealand to raise a family.
I was involved in the setting up of Albert parkrun in 2011, which was the third event to start in Australia and the first out of Queensland.
I wasn’t part of the event team but I knew the event director and I was there on opening day. I did some run directing and ran it a lot.
We left just prior to parkrun exploding in Australia.
When we left there were only a handful of events in Melbourne, now there are so many that I’ve lost track.
We came back here and the first thing I said was “let’s go to parkrun” and there wasn’t one.
I got in touch with Lian and Noel and asked if they had they heard from anyone about setting one up in Christchurch and they said there’d been a couple of inquiries. They put me in touch with Jo Taylor, she was really keen.
She wanted to launch in April but my wife was pregnant and going into winter probably wasn’t the best time.
When we first planned our route my idea was to run around South Hagley Park.
I planned out a route that seemed to work quite well. Then Richard McChesney came down one weekend, he was about to head back to the UK and wanted to see our course.
It was a horrible day in the middle of winter. As I took him round he pointed out a number of driveways that would need marshals – I’d never thought of that. He asked if we had any other options – we did, North Hagley Park.
One of the other guys in our crew had made a course that had no crossings and was totally contained, it was a no brainer so we shifted to that one.
It’s not a pure figure of eight but close enough. It’s pretty unusual; there are lots of single loops, double lappers or out and backs at other parkruns.
We had 82 at our first event and it gradually grew in popularity. Me and Jo were run directors for most of the first year. I’ve since stepped aside as event director but I’m still a run director.
Every year it gets bigger, which is great to see. We have the highest attendance in New Zealand (500) which we’re pretty proud of.
I’ve made some great friends through it.
Based on people I’ve talked to it’s more than a run, they come for the social connection than the run itself.
I come from a running background so parkrun isn’t about fitness. I train hard at other times.
It’s about connecting with people. It’s got something for everyone and that’s the beauty of it, whether you’re a 16 minute runner or doing the run/walk thing. That’s what we love about it, the diversity of speeds, gender and ethnicity.
While in Christchurch…
Explore Hagley Park and the Botanic Gardens
Quake City Museum and Air Force Museum
New Brighton Pier
Visit Quail Island
International Antarctica Centre