The 2014 Wellington Color Run

This year The Colo(u)r Run (spot the event that started in the USA) came to New Zealand for the first time and the Wellington event took place in Upper Hutt at Trentham Park. Thousands of people had signed up and ran or walked a 5km course which took in a number of colour stations.

Keryn, Alayna and I arrived after the first bunch of runners had set off and walked around checking our some of the colour stations and watching the happy runners. The whole thing was really well organised with no apparent issues, certainly we rocked up, parked and found our way to the course easily. The best area for us was the blue colour station which was right next to the forest which shadowed the wind and enabled the blue power to just hang in the air leading to great photo opportunities.

The other really interesting place was at the stage found after the finish line. Here there was loud, happy music and every 15 minutes or so the colour throws took place. The crowd was supplied with packets of colour powder and after the countdown the colour was thrown to the sky which resulted in a riot of pastel hues descending into a powdery fog churned up by the dancing crowd beneath. It was great fun to watch, the only issue trying to keep the camera gear as powder free as possible (small particles and cameras not going together very well). I did get dusted lightly, clothing and cameras, but thankfully don’t seem to have suffered any issues (for myself or the photographic equipment) as a consequence.

Throughout Alayna was in her pram (other than when she was being fed in a relatively quiet location by Keryn) and she was largely oblivious to the surrounding activity. The following photo sums up her opinion of the event.

Maybe in future years we’ll go for a run with Alayna. There were plenty of kids and even some people running with their prams. I think we’ll wait until Alayna can appreciate the fun and take enjoyment from the happy mess :).