Media Release 21 October 2010

Stadium 2000 Recognised With Top Honour

The Marlborough Stadium Trust won the New Zealand Recreation Association’s (NZRA) 2010 Outstanding Facility Award for its Marlborough Lines Stadium 2000 at Tuesday night’s NZRA annual awards ceremony.

This innovative facility, built in 2000, delivers high impact, successful programmes in the Marlborough community. It shows significant community involvement, has affordable pricing for entry and fitness classes and offers a huge array of programming targeting all sectors of the population.

NZRA Chief Executive Steve Gibling said, “Stadium 2000’s achievement as a rural provincial centre facility exceeding the highest level of national standards deserved to be recognised with this prestigious award.”

With over five million visits in 10 years of operation, Gibling said that the judges noted it as an efficient, effective and sustainable facility. “It fills a niche in the area and is a true community hub,” he added.

The NZRA Outstanding Awards were presented during NZRA’s annual conference awards dinner, which was held at Wellington’s Te Papa National Museum. Recreation professionals from all around the country attended the conference, entitled “Connect…the dots”, which focussed on connecting policy and practice, politics and programmes, as well as different sectors within the community.

“Recreation is essential to our physical and mental health,” says Gibling. “We are lucky in New Zealand that we have access to fantastic outdoor parks and reserves, we have modern recreation facilities and a dedicated group of professionals who strive to deliver appealing, safe, appropriate and enjoyable recreational services.

“The awards are about thanking those people, and recognising those among them who raise the bar, develop innovative solutions and inspire New Zealanders to get active and healthy,” he says.

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