Ngā Puna Wai Sports Hub is a multi-sports complex located in the suburb of Aidanfield in the city of

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, in New Zealand's

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

. The complex contains international standard sports facilities and was developed using a partnership between

Christchurch City Council The Christchurch City Council (CCC) is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Christchurch is Phil Ma ...

and regional sports organisations. Ngā Puna Wai Sports Hub was officially opened on 8 March 2019.

Toponymy

The name means "many spring waters", referring to the artesian springs and streams in the area.

History

The Ngā Puna Wai Sports Hub was developed on a greenfield site in a reserve in Aidanfield adjacent to the Canterbury Agricultural Park. The new venue replaced international–quality sports facilities lost during the

2011 Christchurch earthquake A major earthquake occurred in Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February 2011 at 12:51 p.m. New Zealand Daylight Time, local time (23:51 Coordinated Universal Time, UTC, 21 February). The () earthquake struck the Canterbury Region ...

, including athletics facilities at

Queen Elizabeth II Park Queen Elizabeth II Stadium was a multi-use stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand, located in a large park called Queen Elizabeth II Park. The stadium had a capacity of 25,000 people and was built in 1973 to host the 1974 British Commonwealth Ga ...

, rugby league fields at Lancaster Park (AMI Stadium), hockey pitches at Porritt Park, and tennis courts damaged at

Wilding Park Wilding Park is a tennis facility located in Christchurch, New Zealand. The land at Wilding Park was purchased by the Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association in the early 1920s and gradually developed into a tennis centre. Several years ago, during ...

. The sports hub was developed by the

in collaboration with regional sporting organisations and philanthropic trusts. Sports organisations that participated in the development included Sport Canterbury, Canterbury Hockey, Athletics Canterbury, Tennis Canterbury and Rugby League Canterbury. The initial commitment to the project was made by the Christchurch City Council in March 2015, with the intention of developing the facility in stages over 10—30 years. The athletics track was the first stage of the complex to be opened, with the first track meet held in October 2018. The formal opening of Ngā Puna Wai Sports Hub was held on 8 March 2019.

Facilities

The sports hub includes international standard facilities for track and field athletics, hockey, rugby league and tennis. It also has multi-purpose grass fields for community activities.

Track and field athletics

The athletics track is nine lanes, with an additional tenth lane in the front and rear straits. Construction of the track was completed in July 2018. The arena includes facilities for

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

and

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

, a steeplechase water jump that is inside the main track, plus event stations for

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

, and the throwing events

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...

, discus,

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

and

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon. Today, the javelin is predominantly used for sporting purposes such as the javelin throw. The javelin is nearly always thrown by hand, unlike the sling ...

. A grandstand provides covered seating for up to 300 spectators, and a three-storey athletics event control building houses the

photo-finish A photo finish occurs in a sporting race when multiple competitors cross the finishing line at nearly the same time. As the naked eye may not be able to determine which of the competitors crossed the line first, a photo or video taken at the fini ...

facilities. The first track and field meet at the new venue was held in October 2018. As at July 2023, Ngā Puna Wai is accredited as a Class 1 certified facility by

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

. The new facility was used to host the

Athletics New Zealand Athletics New Zealand (ANZ) is the national governing body for athletics (sport), athletics in New Zealand. This includes responsibility for Track and field, cross country running, road running and racewalking. History The organisation was fou ...

National Track and Field Championships in 2019 and 2020.

Hockey

There are 2 hockey pitches that meet the category 2 standard set by the

International Hockey Federation The International Hockey Federation, commonly known by the acronym FIH, is the international governing body of field hockey and indoor field hockey. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland. FIH is responsible for field hockey's major int ...

for international and top-level national competitions. There is also a grandstand with covered seating for up to 300 spectators. The new artificial turf pitches were opened in December 2018.

Rugby league

Canterbury Rugby League moved from its previous venue at Christchurch Stadium (formerly Rugby League Park), to new dedicated Rugby League facilities at Ngā Puna Wai in 2019. The new sand-carpet pitches were opened on 23 February 2019. The facility includes covered seating for around 550 spectators.

Tennis

The sports hub includes 12 outdoor tennis courts meeting the

International Tennis Federation The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is the governing body of world tennis, wheelchair tennis, and beach tennis. It was founded in 1913 as the International Lawn Tennis Federation by twelve national tennis associations. there are 211 nat ...

class 1 standard. , the headquarters of Tennis Canterbury remain at

Netsal Sports Centre

The Netsal Sports Centre was opened at the Ngā Puna Wai site in November 2023. This facility is owned by the Christchurch Netball Centre and built on land leased from the Christchurch City Council. It has ten indoor courts and can host indoor sports including

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

korfball Korfball ( ) is a ball sport, with similarities to netball, basketball, and ringball. The objective is to throw a ball into a netless basket that is mounted on a pole. Each team is composed of four female players and four male players. The s ...

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

and

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

and is also a venue for gymnastics.

Association football

In 2023, the venue hosted three

New Zealand National League The New Zealand Men's National League (NZNL), known as the Dettol Men's National League for sponsorship reasons, is an amateur men's football league at the top of the New Zealand football league system. Founded in 2021, the New Zealand Nationa ...

matches on the main Rugby League field, this is the first time that a national club level football match was hosted at the venue with each match drawing over 600 attendees. The venue is set to host three more New Zealand National League matches in 2024.

Awards

The Ngā Puna Wai Sports Hub was recognised with the Outstanding Project Award at the Recreation Aotearoa Awards in 2019.

References

External links

Ngā Puna Wai Sports Hub
Official website
Aerial images of Ngā Puna Wai Sports Hub
at Polytan {{NZNL fb stadiums, state=collapsed Sports venues in Christchurch Athletics (track and field) venues in New Zealand Netball venues in New Zealand Multi-purpose stadiums in New Zealand 2019 establishments in New Zealand Rugby league stadiums in New Zealand Tennis venues in New Zealand