Whanganui’s Cooks Gardens resurfacing project set to start on Monday

Work will start on Monday on resurfacing the Cooks Gardens athletics track. Photo / NZME

The “cornerstone of Whanganui’s sporting heritage” will undergo a make-over during the next six weeks.

Resurfacing of the Cooks Gardens’ athletics track, redeveloped in 1996, starts on Monday, November 18. It’s the first time since 2012 it has been done.

The track has seen athletic records broken; most notably, Peter Snell broke the world mile record in 1962 with 3m 54s.

The resurfacing will restore the track’s International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) certification status, as well as allow the continuation of national athletic events. In the meantime, club-level athletics events will be held elsewhere.

An IAAF rule change meant the track’s certification could not be extended without resurfacing as it had surpassed 12 years in March 2024.

Whanganui District Council community property and spaces general manager Sarah O’Hagan said the venue “has been a cornerstone of Whanganui’s sporting heritage and the resurfacing of the track will enable the facility to continue hosting elite sporting events”.

The council said Cooks Gardens would close to activities inside the track until the work was finished but the Cooks Gardens Events Centre and the velodrome would remain open.

“We look forward to welcoming everyone back to a refreshed Cooks Gardens, ready to support athletes and sporting events in the New Year,” council capital works manager Rosemary Fletcher said.

“We timed the project to avoid the high-use periods for organised events and early enough to ensure delivery prior to major planned events - such as the Cooks Classic.”

The track’s closure from this Saturday will require the Whanganui Athletics Club to train and perform at Whanganui Collegiate School.

“We’ve got three weeks until the National Schools Championship, so we are without an all-weather surface for them - but we’ll manage,” Athletics Club president Alec McNab said.

The change of location should not affect the athletes. “It’s got eight lanes, it’s tight like an indoor track, we don’t need to mark a track - or pay for it to be marked.

“For a short term, it should serve us well.”

The club has made contingency plans for the next two weeks, including potential trips to Wellington and Palmerston North to practice on all-weather surfaces.

The estimated six-week project is significantly weather-dependent and requires three straight days of dry climate to execute the pour.

Despite the necessary inconvenience, McNab was grateful for the time and effort put in by the likes of Fletcher and contractor Polytan.

“They are starting immediately, which is a really good sign - they’ve looked and thought they can start now,” McNab said.

It was hoped the track would be available for the Cooks Classic - a World Athletics Continental Tour event scheduled for January 25.

Fin Ocheduszko Brown is a multimedia journalist based in Whanganui.