New 'carpet' gets a welcome soaking

A $2 million project was celebrated by water being squirted – all over Hockey South Canterbury's new state-of-the-art turf.

The water-based turf at Aorangi Park will be officially used for the first time at the Masters tournament on November 28.

It makes Timaru finally capable of holding international hockey fixtures, to the delight of the trustees.

The six water guns can each squirt 2600 litres a minute, with a 16-minute cycle needed to completely immerse the turf. The water is recycled after coming off the bitumen base.

The carpet on the original sand-based turf, installed in 1994, has also been refurbished as part of the project.

Hockey South Canterbury Turf Trust chairwoman Colleen Hardacre said there were many advantages to having a second turf.

"More tournaments are likely to come and we will hopefully be on the Black Ferns international schedule."

Most important was the fact those travelling away representing South Canterbury will be playing on a familiar surface, she said.

"It's about developing our players to be the best they can as well."

Five trustees – Ms Hardacre, her husband Alex, Trevor Stanbury, Mark Hervey and Brett King – were involved when the first sand-based turf went in in 1994 for about $800,000.

This time Murray Kuperus and Hugh McGillivray have also rolled up their sleeves to help the originals still working.

Ms Hardacre said the refurbishment of the carpet on the original turf and installing the water-based turf cost $2m.

Rising costs mean that the new lights will need to be installed later, at a cost of about $330,000.

"We had hoped to do it all at once but four of the towers may have to wait."

Ms Hardacre said all teams across all grades would get to play on the new surface.

The new turf took only two years to complete after the council gave the go-ahead after deciding on where the aquatic centre would be sited, with the money fundraised over four years.

It should have been played on over the winter but the contractors fell behind schedule due to the cold weather, which prevented the carpet being glued.

- © Fairfax NZ News