Hume Pack-N-Cool celebrates 40 years with free fun run

More than 500 people took part in the debut fun run/walk. Photos / That Guy Photography

Hume Pack-N-Cool celebrated their milestone birthday with a few miles at the weekend.

The Katikati company honoured 40 years in fitting fashion on Saturday with a free community fun run/walk.

Participants showed that age is no barrier to participation with the youngest participant being under 1 and the oldest at 92.

Costumes ranged from a shark man, sumo man, cookie monsters and the run was a sea of blue across Katikati to celebrate 40 years of being in business.

Staff came up with the concept of sharing the occasion with the community with the walk/run through local streets, past Dave Hume pool, through a kiwifruit orchard and past Hume facilities.

Local singer Kirsty-Anne Stephens, 17, entertained.

A shark man was one of the entries at the Hume Pack-N-Cool event.

There were more than 500 registrations across four events - a 10km and 5km walk and run.

A Hume spokesperson says this was well beyond their expectations for this event in its first year.

“But the true success for this event isn’t measured by the number of participants or the distance covered, it’s a testament to the power of community spirit and collaboration.’’

Irene Hume, founder of Hume Pack-N-Cool Ltd, at 98 years old, was out and about with her children Mark, Jim, Owen, Gavin, Shirley and Gail enjoying cheering on participants, a very special moment for her and the family.

Nearly $1000 was raised for Katikati Christian Food Bank and there was a large amount of food items donated on the day.

More entrants in the Hume Pack-N-Cool event.

She said she never could have imagined the impact they would have had on the local community when they set out, or that so many people would gather to share this historic celebration with them.

Simon Bowker, Hume CEO, says seeing everybody come together and hearing the positive feedback shows just how big of an impact Hume Pack-N-Cool has had on the community. They hope to have enough support to see the event continue on in the future.