Cooks Gardens in Whanganui made international headlines in January 1962, when New Zealand athlete Peter Snell ran a mile in 3 minutes and 54.4 seconds, setting a new world record. A protégé of the coach Arthur Lydiard, Snell won gold medals for New Zealand at the 1960 and 1964 Olympics. He is commemorated at Cooks Gardens by a statue gazing towards the finish line.
Listen to a Roadside Story about Snell and Cooks Gardens. Roadside Stories is a series of audio guides to places around New Zealand.
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YouTube: Manatu Taonga's channel
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Archival audio sourced from Radio New Zealand Sound Archives. Sound files may not be reused without permission from Radio New Zealand Sound Archives (Reference number sa-t-0130-su01-pm).
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