It’s Wh¯anau Tri time in Manawatu¯
COMMENT: It’s that time again. On Saturday, it’s time for the annual Humphries Construction Wha¯ nau Tri at Ongley Park and the Lido Aquatic Centre in Palmerston North.
Here at Sport Manawatu¯ , we really love putting this event together for the families of the region to get out there, get active and have a crack at one of the various events and distances on offer.
Building into the event, we run the Wha¯ nau Tri 10-week training programme, with the support of the Midcentral District Health Board. This is an opportunity for people of all ages to get a taste for triathlon and an active lifestyle, culminating with the attendees completing the Wha¯ nau Tri.
Keen to have a go? You can enter on the Sport Manawatu¯ website. We’ll also be taking entries this afternoon at the Lido and tomorrow morning at Ongley Park to ensure everyone has ample opportunity to get involved.
In our last column, we mentioned the move across the road to 47 Queen St. This is a part of a wider goal of building our new Sport House at the Central Energy Trust Arena by the end of 2019. It’s all part of the Palmerston North City Council’s Arena masterplan and the council is proposing a $1.5 million contribution to our overall build cost, albeit Sport Manawatu will own the building and fundraise for the majority of the cost. The council is asking for feedback on this as part of its Longterm Plan.
To us, the overall Arena masterplan project is an important part of growing and supporting participation in sport and recreation across the region. It is about creating ease of access and better facilities for both local, national and international users and events.
On top of this, our vision for Sports House is to create a thriving regional sporting centre in central Palmerston North to support the wider Manawatu¯ region. We began this process years back and we have local and national sporting bodies located within our current building.
This gives us an amazing opportunity to work together. The key here is not only that we do that to get people engaged in sport, but we also share services that may not otherwise be available to smaller sports, such as marketing, HR and finance support.
Keen to support Sports House or would like to know more? Head on over to the Palmerston North City Council website thebigpicture.pncc.govt.nz.
The Long-term Plan feedback process is open until April 23.
Trevor Shailer is the chief executive of Sport Manawatu¯ .