World record at AUT Millennium open day
Olympic champion Danyon Loader was part of a team that beat a swimming world record at the ActivePost open day at AUT Millennium on Sunday 4 November. The 1996 double Olympic gold medalist in the 200m and 400m freestyle helped the North Shore Swimming Club to smash the world record for the 100 x 25 metres. The club, anchored by Olympian Lauren Boyle, recorded a time of 21minutes 22 seconds which is more than eight minutes quicker than the previous mark set by Swedish club Kristianstad SLS in 1992.
Family fun day
Families from all over Auckland descended on AUT Millennium for a fun day which included a multitude of activities and a chance to meet their favourite sports stars. Kevin Locke and other New Zealand Warriors players ran with the under 10s in the 800 metre Free2Move fun run. Olympic decathlete Brent Newdick was at the finish line to hand out water and congratulate the over 10s in the 3.5km run.
Free2Move is an AUT initiative which aims to get inactive people active by organising free runs/walks in park environments.
The AUT Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand staff demonstrated the cycling mechanics clinic equipment and tested the children’s sprinting speed and power.
Other activities included hockey demonstrations by Hockey New Zealand. The indoor rock climbing wall was a popular attraction as was the outdoor mini-tennis. The public gym and pool at AUT Millennium were also open to the public.
AUT Millennium services open to the public
The objective of the open day was to increase awareness of the facilities, clubs and services at AUT Millennium. In addition to the public pool and gym, AUT Millennium is the national headquarters of High Performance Sport New Zealand and Athletics New Zealand and has a wide arrange of medical services including the very latest in sport science at AUT’s SPRINZ laboratories.
Former All Black doctor John Mayhew is based at AUT Millennium as is a host of sports medical practitioners including orthopaedics specialist Dr Matthew Brick.