Two Mile Bay Reserve, Mapou Rd (off Lake Terrace), Taupo, 3330
Type of Course – Out and back
Shoes Required – Road
Things to know
Toilets, drinking fountain and car parking at Two Mile Bay Reserve.
Parking is free and suitable for motorhomes.
Permanently marked.
Left your barcode at home? Email the RD Friday night to print for you.
Nearest showers are at Taupo Superloo, Story Place.
Very low risk of cancellation, annual cancellation for Across the Lake Swim (usually last Saturday in February).
Cafe: Cafe venue changes each week, the RD will advise.
Location of start:
The event starts beside the path in Two Mile Bay Reserve.
Getting there by public transport
There is no public transport available for this parkrun.
Getting there on foot
From town centre head south along Lake Terrace for 3.5 kms, 2 Mile Bay Reserve is on the lake at Mapou Rd.
Getting there by road
From town centre head south along Lake Terrace for 3.5 kms, 2 Mile Bay Reserve is on the lake at Mapou Rd.
Stats
First run: January 21, 2017
Inaugural attendance: 128
Record attendance: 141 (04/01/2020)
Course records
Women: Nicole Van Der Kaay 17:11 (05/02/2022)
Men: Jack Moody 15:07 (12/03/2022)
The Story Behind Taupo parkrun…
Nick Marshall, original event director
I lived in Brisbane, Queensland, for a few years and first heard about parkrun while there.
I participated and/or volunteered quite often at various parkruns around Brisbane and thought it was a fantastic idea.
Upon moving back to New Zealand I was stoked to see parkrun was taking off in New Zealand but gutted to see there wasn’t one in Taupo!
I got in touch with the country managers for parkrun NZ (Noel and Lian) and asked if they had any plans to start a parkrun in Taupo.
Their answer was that they would love to but were looking for a local enthusiast to take the reins and get it set up. So I put up my hand and the rest is history.
I liaised with the council and got set up with local sponsors then submitted my proposed course. There were a number of requirements so I had to change the course once based on this.
We ran a trial event in early January 2017 to test everything out then officially started on 21 January 2017.
Colin Little, event director
I did my first parkrun in Lower Hutt in 2015, I was introduced to it by a run director from Hagley parkrun who was on the same training course after doing some midweek runs together.
I have always just run to keep fit, not belonging to any run clubs or anything, just for my own pure enjoyment and the occasional event.
Taupo didn’t have its own parkrun back then so I had to wait nearly two years to do my next one. I started volunteering shortly after and became a run director in 2018 then event director in 2019 when the current ED left to grow his family and get back into studies.
I RD more than run so still only done 64 runs to date (67 volunteer), I will get to 100 one day. We have had our first local reach 100 only recently this year prior to the lockdown.
We have a healthy mix of ages and abilities with many walkers, and a lot of visitors being a Tourist destination town, in fact we quite often have more tourists than locals.
Why should visitors run Taupo parkrun? I am biased but it is just such a beautiful parkrun course, tourists comment on just how picturesque and beautiful our course is.
While in Taupo…
Taupo Bungy – New Zeaand’s only cliff-top bungy