Whanganui Airport control tower to be unveiled after runway race

Whanganui's airport control tower - as it was when commissioned on December 9, 1961. Photo /

Whanganui will have a second famous one-mile race on December 9 as the restoration of its airport control tower moves into a new phase.

The Run the Runway Mile race for three age groups takes place in the morning, before the first flight from Auckland arrives. After that a flag will be unfurled on the airport control tower, to mark the finish of its exterior restoration.

It also marks the start of interior work by the voluntary Whanganui Airport Control Tower Restoration Group, secretary John Henderson said. The group aims to make the interior a museum and education centre.

The one-mile race is an echo of the one in 1962 at Cooks Gardens, when Peter Snell broke the world mile record. There will be three races - one at 9.45am for primary-aged children on skateboards, one at 10.30 for secondary-age people running, and one at 11.45 for men and women, also running.

The runway is 1274m long, Henderson said, and the race will only be on part of it.

Entry will range from $5 to $10, to cover costs. Entry forms are available from Sport Whanganui and online at www.sportwhanganui.co.nz.

Entries close on December 5 and late entries will cost more.

The runway has to be clear by 12.30pm, before the first Air Chathams flight arrives an hour later. Air Chathams is donating return flights as prizes, and there will be other prizes as well.

A flag on the tower will be unfurled at noon, and Whanganui Mayor Hamish McDouall and a representative from Airways, New Zealand's air navigation service provider, will speak.

Guests will be able to go inside the tower after that.

The control tower was opened 57 years ago, on December 9, 1961. It was designed by Gordon Smith, who also designed the Whanganui War Memorial Centre.

It was the prototype for other provincial control towers, Henderson said, and Whanganui District Council has listed it as a heritage building.

It was decommissioned in 1989. By 2004 the council was considering demolishing it, but an aviation enthusiast, the late Owen Cantillon-Rice, started a group to refurbish it.

Eventually the interior will tell stories of the airport's past, including its history with aerial top dressing, and show video of early flights.

The work has cost $470,000 so far. Volunteers worked on the windows and roof. After that it took a long time to raise enough money to pay contractors to repair the rest of the exterior.

The biggest funders were Lotteries Environment and Heritage, the Four Regions Trust, Lion Foundation and Infinity Foundation. The council put in about 20 per cent of the total, Henderson said.