Hundreds of runners, walkers and striders took part in the Māngere Bridge Fun Run on Sunday 28th September 2025. Whether it was the 21km half-marathon, the 10km event, or the 5km event, young and old, and those in between, turned up and took part. Families exercised together; one big group all wore something pink. Small kids rode their scooters, parents pushed their pushchairs, and people ran with their dogs on a lead beside them. Lots of family fun.
“It’s a wonderful event for our community. Encouraging people to get out and enjoy the scenery and environment, doing something together as a family, exercise, fresh air, it’s all good. It brings us together as a community.”
“The weather was fine and the scenery was perfect. The Fun Run took a wide route through Māngere Bridge- it was a real tour,” said Keith, who did the 21km run. Olivia who did the 10km run enthused ” Running over the pedestrian bridge and looking back at Mangere Bridge in the sunlight was fantastic and inspiring “.
One 21km entrant ran the whole way pushing a double buggy with two sleeping toddlers. That’s dedication!
As they finished, entrants were rewarded with an energy drink, water and chocolate milk. People could buy a BBQ sausage, with proceeds going to support local groups. A huge Bouncy Castle was set up for children to play on at no charge, plus there was face painting and balloon artist and live enterainment. Bike consultancy Crank stored bikes for Fun Run entrants while Jason from Pedal Easy gave the first 50 bikes a quick check and valet. Lots of spot prizes were given away once the runners and walkers returned.
Friends of the Farm Māngere Bridge were pleased to sponsor the waste bins for the event plus provide bin monitors Toha and Lenna, to ensure waste was sorted correctly.
The ‘can crusher’ was put to good use crushing cans, so they took up less space in the bins. This year, water stations throughout the course provided water in reusable cups. These were sponsored by FOF, in an effort to prevent 3000 plus paper cups going to landfill.
Local company Turn Cups provides reusable tumblers that are collected after each event and sanitized before the next use. The Fun Run entrants were interested to experience this new initiative which ticks all the wastewise boxes! Clean Event, a zero waste event company, supplied, emptied and measured the waste collected . It was a meagre 3kg, which shows how well the recycling and sorting went! Great job Lenna and Toha.
Awesome Waste Champion Toha said” The MC said it was all about having FUN. That’s exactly what I saw….crowds and crowds of people, babies, toddlers, kids, teens ,middle age and elderly…all enjoying the day out. Such a nice little community where everyone is a part of the FUN…
Local Shelley echoed Toha’s words. “It’s a wonderful event for our community. Encouraging people to get out and enjoy the scenery and environment, doing something together as a family, exercise, fresh air, it’s all good. It brings us together as a community.”
