Ngā Puna Wai Sports Hub : Christchurch City Council

Christchurch's new sporting home for Canterbury athletics, hockey, tennis and rugby league.

Christchurch’s premier outdoor sports facility combines community playing fields and recreation opportunities with international standard sports facilities.

Ngā Puna Wai features athletics track and field, hockey pitches, rugby league fields, tennis courts, a centralised sports hub, boulevard and two grass multi-purpose community fields.

Everyone is welcome to come and use Ngā Puna Wai, take part in sports, support the players or use the sporting fields.

Stay up to date with Ngā Puna Wai news and events

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Nga Puna Wai map

How to get to Ngā Puna Wai

Whether you’re walking, cycling, taking the car or catching public transport, there’s plenty of ways to get to Ngā Puna Wai.

Walking and cycling

If you’re walking or cycling, the easiest way to access Ngā Puna Wai is via Augustine Drive or via McMahan Drive if you are walking from Aidenfield.

Several walking paths and cycle ways lead to the venue from Halswell or Curletts Road and there are numerous cycle parks throughout the facility.

Driving

If you’re driving, then the best way to access Ngā Puna Wai is to follow the signs to the Ngā Puna Wai from Augustine Drive, off Halswell Road in Halswell.

There are 458 parking spaces including 11 mobility car parks available at the venue and a grass area beside the main car park for temporary parking. Check Google Maps (external link)for the best route for you.

Public transport

The Halswell Road bus stop on the Orange Line is the closest stop to Ngā Puna Wai, a 30-minute ride from the central city bus exchange. The bus stops on Halswell Road, a short 5 minute (400m) walk from the venue via Augustine Drive.

Head to the Metro website for bus timetables, maps and information(external link).

Ngā Puna Wai is Canterbury’s new home of sport. Everyone is welcome to come and use Ngā Puna Wai, take part in sports, support the players or use the sporting fields.

To make a booking:

for school or casual athletics, contact Athletics Canterbury(external link).
for school, club or casual hockey, contact Canterbury Hockey(external link).
for rugby league, email Canterbury Rugby League on info@crfl.co.nz.

For all other booking enquiries please email npwbookings@ccc.govt.nz.

Ngā Puna Wai hosts Canterbury Secondary Schools Athletics Championships

10 November 2022.
Article and photo courtesy of Sport Canterbury(external link).

You really can’t beat Ngā Puna Wai on a good day and last week Ōtautahi really turned on the weather, which made for a great week of sport at the facility.

One such event that experienced Ngā Puna Wai at its best was the postponed March 2022 Canterbury Secondary Schools Athletics Championships, held from Thursday 3 November to Saturday 5 November.

A total of 403 athletes from 35 schools ranging from Mt Hutt College to Greymouth High came together over the three days – a great turnout considering the event was postponed from March due to Covid-19 and had never been run in November previously.

A new format was also introduced by event organisers Secondary School Sport Canterbury with two twilight meetings held from 4pm to 7pm on the Thursday and Friday as well as an afternoon session held from 1pm to 6pm on Saturday 5 November.

Event Director, Bill Grogan was pleased with how the new twilight sessions were received saying, “The format worked very well and gave parents the opportunity to be there – it’s something we will consider again in the future.

“It was good to see the level of support from schools who engaged with this opportunity outside the usual school athletics final dates, when the event is usually held earlier in the year,” he adds.

Every year the event is held with support from the schools and Athletics Canterbury who volunteer as officials, who were again a prominent feature of this year’s event.

Adding the event to the end of the school calendar instead of skipping it entirely, ensured that the Year 13’s got to participate in their last event, while the Year 9’s were able to represent their school for the first time at this event.

“It also provided a great opportunity for those athletes who are going to the New Zealand Secondary Schools Champs in Taranaki to have a good level of competition in the lead up to the event in December.

“Over the three days, a total of 17 new records were set, 11 field events and six track events, which proves the benefit of having a high-quality all-weather track,” adds Bill.

One record in particular to note, was the achievement of Cooper Wightman, an Under 15 Christchurch Boys High student who ran the 800m in 1:59.21, a record that was set at Christchurch’s last all-weather track at QEII in 1974.

Volunteers Plant Over 2000 Trees at Ngā Puna Wai

8 September 2022.
Article and photo courtesy of Sport Canterbury(external link).

On Sunday 4 September, 200 volunteers from Ngā Puna Wai’s partner sports and the local community donned their gardening gloves, grabbed their shovels, and connected as they came together at the sports hub to plant over 2000 trees onsite.

All in the name of finding a solution and ensuring the facility continues to improve and remain one of the best sports facilities in Aotearoa.

Since the opening of the sports hub in October 2018, hundreds of thousands of people have come through the gates, making the most of the world-class facilities for club sport and community day-to-day use, as well as national, regional, and major international sporting events.

Given that the facility has only been open for four years, initial native plantings and landscaped areas within the facility are still being established and have at times, struggled with windy and dry conditions not suited to native plants, however, an ongoing maintenance plan is in place and managed by the Parks team at the Christchurch City Council(external link) to help these areas thrive.

Existing native and oak plantings surrounding the boundary of Ngā Puna Wai(external link) have provided limited wind protection and shelter. To address this, the Parks team from the Christchurch City Council developed a further site-wide Planting Plan, and together with the Partnership and Activation Manager at Ngā Puna Wai, Katrina Mansfield enlisted the help of the sporting partners - Athletics, Hockey, Tennis and Rugby League to establish a shelter belt of trees surrounding the facility to improve the usability and function.

“Wind has at times, been an issue for the sporting partners and other users since the opening of Ngā Puna Wai, and the Christchurch City Council Parks team have listened and responded to the issue where possible.

“The Christchurch City Council Parks team, based at Ngā Puna Wai, engaged landscape architects to create a Landscape Management Plan and from this and the wind assessments, a proposal for the shelter belts for the facility was created and supported by the sporting partners operating onsite,” says Dan Hooper, Christchurch City Council Parks Team Leader for Ngā Puna Wai.

Specific trees and plants were selected for the shelter belt based on certain parameters that will allow them to flourish. All plants had to be evergreen, fast-growing, dense to medium density and suited to the Canterbury climate and the soil conditions at Ngā Puna Wai. Also taken into consideration were things such as the impact on shading and the maintenance required. For this reason, the following trees were selected - Ovens Cypress, Coastal Redwoods, European Hornbeams, Pin Oaks and Tarata/Lemonwoods and positioned in the designated places for planting

On a crisp and sunny Father’s Day morning, the keen planters of all ages got to work planting over 2000 trees, as well as weeding and relocating flax bushes, on the existing ring road behind the community and Rugby League fields, behind the Tennis courts, up on the Athletics embankment and down the boulevard.

“As the saying goes, ‘many hands make light work,’ so having the numbers turn up on the day was fantastic and meant we were all done by noon and could enjoy a much-deserved sausage sizzle afterwards. We look forward to seeing the impact of the plantings for years to come,” says Mansfield. A huge thank you from the CCC Parks team to all those that turned up to help out on Sunday, the response was fantastic and much appreciated!

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Ngā Puna Wai hosts The Miles Toyota Cup Final

22 August 2022.
Article and photo courtesy of Sport Canterbury(external link).

August is a busy month for the core winter sports that call Ngā Puna Wai(external link) home with finals being played across all grades for both hockey and rugby league.

Other codes that may not have held their general competitions at Ngā Puna Wai during the winter season have also been making use of the quality sports hub to hold their finals due to the larger crowds the venue can hold and its world-class facilities.

On Wednesday 17 August, wā̄hine rangatahi from Ōtautahi secondary schools came together to play the final of the Miles Toyota 1st XV Cup(external link), Canterbury Rugby’s(external link) female secondary school competition.

In the grand final, Christchurch Girls High School 1st XV took on Avonside Girls High School 1st XV in a captivating game of rugby which showcased great skill and athleticism.

Christchurch Girls High School took out this game with a 69 to 17 win, reflecting another strong season for the school.

Canterbury Rugby Football Union’s Female competition has grown in recent years and this season saw nine schools in the division including, Christchurch Girls High 1st XV, Christchurch Girls High 2nd XV, Marion Combined, Lincoln Combined, Rangiora High School, Kaiapoi High, Forward Foundation, Avonside Girls and Villa Maria College.

Liz Worthington, Canterbury Rugby’s Female and Teenage Rugby Development Officer, reflected on this year’s female competition, saying, “It has been another successful season for our school girls. We saw nine teams enter our mid-week Miles Toyota Cup, with it being especially exciting to have newcomers Kaiapoi High School joining for the first time.

This year saw a bit of disruption within the competition with the consistent rain and sickness, but aside from this, we still saw schools and girls turning up each week, enjoying playing rugby at Burnside Park.”

The secondary school boy’s competition, the Miles Toyota Championship Final, where Nelson College 1st XV will be taking on St Bede’s College 1st XV, is set to be played at Trafalgar Park in Nelson on August 27. This had to be postponed from August 20 due to flooding in the Tasman region.

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Celebration of Wāhine in Rugby and Matariki

7 July 2022.
Article and photo courtesy of Sport Canterbury(external link).

The sun was shining on a perfect winter’s day on Saturday 25 June as the women’s rugby community from all over Waitaha came together at Ngā Puna Wai in celebration of the women’s game and Matariki.

As part of this special day, all women’s teams playing in the Championship and Premiership Grades headed to (external link)Ngā Puna Wai to play their final club rugby games of the season.

This included the grand final and third and fourth playoff as well as some 10 aside games.

Organised by Canterbury Rugby(external link) Female Development Officer, Liz Worthington, the event was about bringing women together from across the rugby community into one space. It was also a good opportunity to host the Women’s World Cup trophy and some of the Black Ferns players in Ōtautahi as part of their nationwide tour.

“The idea was that we would enjoy bringing women together of all ages to have a great day - we have the bouncy castle, sausage sizzle, music, the Black Ferns skills session and some great footy out on the field. We wanted to incorporate a whole range of things, so the day could be really enjoyable for all the whānau,” says Liz.

This year, Canterbury Rugby also made a slight change to the timing of the Premiership Final, with the game not being played until 5pm.

This was made with the mindset that a lot of people struggle to get to a final by 2.45pm so they tried something new to see if that attracted a bigger crowd later in the afternoon.

The event also happened to fall on Matariki weekend – with Aotearoa’s first Matariki national holiday celebrated on Friday 24 June.

Liz and Canterbury Rugby were keen to recognise this significant moment and made sure to incorporate aspects of Matariki during the day.

“We were mindful that this event fell on Matariki weekend, and we just wanted to really treasure this special new holiday that we are all celebrating across New Zealand. That’s where the idea of the sausage sizzle came in – coming together and having kai. The idea was to invite in our whānau from our rugby communities to have some food together and share the amazing space.”

The skills sessions run by Kendra Cocksedge in her role as a Canterbury Rugby Ambassador, along with her teammates in the Back Ferns, Grace Steinmetz, Amy Rule and Pip Love were a big element of the day.

Under 11, 13 and 17 local teams, as well as the public, were welcome to join the sessions with the younger players and older players split into two groups.

“We just took a backs skills session this morning, there were two sessions going on, myself and Grace were with the younger kids and then Amy and Pip went with the Under 13 and 17 players, taking them through a front-row session because that’s their expertise,” says Cocksedge.

Kendra enjoyed the opportunity to not only run one of the skills sessions but to be part of the whole day.

“It’s a big women and girls day, it’s been pretty special to run around with the kids, seeing the skill level and the determination, it’s awesome – to see so many girls out and about is really cool, I never had that when I was younger.

And what a beautiful day for it, and a beautiful field – I love it out here, it’s fantastic” she adds.

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Past updates

Check out the events being held at Ngā Puna Wai below or download the latest events calendar [PDF, 181 KB].

Event	Location	Date	Find out more
Christchurch City Council Walking Festival	All areas	19 April	ccc.govt.nz/walkingfestival(external link)

Artistic impression of the completed Ngā Puna Wai Sports Hub

The story behind the name

Ngā Puna Wai means ‘many spring waters’, relating to the many springs and tributaries in the area, and is part of the ancestral landscape of Ngāi Tahu. This area was once an important place for local Māori, who came together to connect and collaborate.

Today, our recreational and sporting communities have continued this ethos by coming together to share our love of sport and outdoor spaces.

Development

Ngā Puna Wai comprises 32 hectares of recreation and esplanade reserve and other park land beside Canterbury Agricultural Park, near Wigram. Council staff and other stakeholders identified it as the preferred site for to replace sporting facilities damaged in the earthquakes.

Following strong support from the wider Christchurch recreational and sporting community, what was once 32ha of grassy reserve land has been transformed into a $53.65 million multi-sports facility.

Partners

Ngā Puna Wai is a collaborative partnership between Christchurch City Council, Sport Canterbury, Athletics Canterbury, Canterbury Hockey, Rugby League Canterbury, Tennis Canterbury and the local community.