Corner of High and Symons Streets, Blenheim 7201.
Type of Course – One lap
Shoes Required – Road
Things to know
Toilet and free parking (until 9.30am) at the Farmers car park.
There is space for motorhome parking.
Forgot your barcode? Email the RD to print out, printing also at Warehouse Stationery
Nearest showers at Stadium 2000.
Very low risk of cancellation
Not permanently marked
Cafe: Thomas & Sons, 54 Market St, Blenheim.
Location of start:
The run starts from the edge of the boardwalk at the Amphitheatre on the Taylor River.
Getting there by public transport
There is no public transport available for this parkrun.
Getting there on foot
Walk to the Amphitheatre in town and go down to the boardwalk by the Taylor River.
Getting there by road
From the north: Follow State Highway 1 into Blenheim. Turn right onto Main St, then right onto Symons St, follow the road around and park in the Farmers’ car park.
From the south: Follow State Highway 1 into Blenheim. At the roundabout keep on Main St and turn right onto Symons St, follow the road around and park in the Farmers’ car park.
Stats
First run: July 9, 2016
Inaugural attendance: 27
Record attendance: 85 (28/12/2019)
Course records
Women: Hannah Oldroyd 17:24 (03/04/2021)
Men: Andy Good 14:40 (06/02/2021)
The Story Behind Blenheim parkrun…
Phil Muir, event director
I owned the Blenheim New Zealand Home Loans branch and up until 2019 they were the national sponsor.
I do a bit of running but more multisport and mountain biking. I wanted to get parkrun up and running but I knew that I couldn’t do it on my own. That’s where Oliver (Carne) came in. He was from the UK and trying to get a police job in New Zealand.
He popped into the office one day and asked if we’d heard of parkrun and if we would be interested in starting one up.
That’s where it all kicked off in terms of knowing there were people other than myself who were interested.
We’d asked a shop earlier – they were doing a Tuesday run – then we let it sit for 12 months.
In the end we were like, “well this is what we’re doing, are you able to promote it?”
Part of the reason I got involved was the NZHL sponsorship, but like any other parkrun it’s down to the local people to get it going. It’s not necessarily all the big centres, it’s where people are who have had affiliation with parkrun before.
We usually get small fields, in winter around 25-30 runners. One thing that surprised me was the level of international interest.
Marlborough is quite common visitor destination and we get a lot of people coming along on a Friday night to do parkrun.
Some people come over from holidaying in Nelson since they don’t have a parkrun. We have an office in Nelson and we’ve looked for a course there but we’ve not found anything suitable yet.
I’ve found two things about parkrun after starting it up. One is the tourism and having people from overseas, they stay on the Friday so they can do parkrun.
The second is hearing stories from people who just want to do something as group but at their own pace. It eases themselves back into movement, whether it’s after having kids or an operation, or those who just want to lose a bit of weight.
While in Blenheim…
Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre
Take a wine tour
Walk the Queen Charlotte Track
Short walks in Picton.
Take a cruise in the Marlborough Sounds.