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AUT Millennium last week marked its 15 year anniversary as a centre for excellence in community health, wellness, research and education and sport.

AUT Millennium, then Millennium Institute of Sport and Health, began operations as a charitable trust in February 2002, quickly establishing itself as an integral part of both the local and national community.

The organisation is tasked with improving national, regional and local needs in physical activity, community health and fitness and sport.

Located on Auckland's North Shore, AUT Millennium is home to a diverse range of organisations from sports clubs and national sporting organisations, through to medical services and AUT Millennium-run programmes and services for the community and schools.

Founder, Sir Graeme Avery, expressed his delight that the organisation has reached the milestone, stating “it is extremely rewarding to see what a multi-disciplinary centre of excellence in sports, community health and well-being, research and education AUT Millennium has become.

“It has been particularly satisfying to see so many athletes who train at AUT Millennium succeeding on the world stage. It was one of the drivers to establish AUT Millennium.

“Equally, I am delighted with the success of our foundation sports clubs and the emergence of new stars, with the undoubted highlight being the pole vault Bronze of Eliza McCartney at the recent 2016 Rio Olympics.”

Since opening in 2002, AUT Millennium has made significant contributions to community health and wellness, research and education and sport.

The organisation now receives over 800,000 user visits annually and has a community of well over 10,000 active members.

100,000 children have learnt to swim, totalling 1.4 million lessons and 124,000 children have participated in the Schools Programme, including 60,000 who have completed a water safety lesson.

The four foundation clubs (Bays Athletics, NorthSport Olympic Weightlifting, North Shore Swimming & North Harbour Water Polo) have produced over 30 Olympians and 200 New Zealand athletes and coaches.

In 2016, AUT Millennium was home to nearly 100 Auckland University of Technology postgraduate students, 40 academic staff and two research centres.

AUT Millennium Chief Executive Mike Stanley (who is also President of the New Zealand Olympic Committee)is proud of the achievements and contributions it has made.

Stanley explained "the past 15 years has seen remarkable growth across all areas of our endeavours from high performance and community sport, our community services, in health and education.

“AUT Millennium has established a reputation for excellence and innovation and for providing all members of the community opportunities to improve their lives and perform at higher levels. We want to build on this for the future.”

Key improvements to the facility since 2002 include the creation of High Performance Sport New Zealand’s National Training Centre and the world-class Sir Owen G. Glenn National Aquatic Centre, an international-calibre aquatic facility.

Earmarked for the future are the establishment of a Human Performance Innovation Centre, Business Hub and National Indoor Sports Training Centre.

For the future, Sir Graeme explains that he is committed to assisting regional needs for improvements to health, wellness and sport, concluding "it is inevitable that there will be satellites of AUT Millennium, both locally and regionally, which help enhance community health and wellbeing and sports performance.”

Images: AUT Millennium from the air (top), the Sir Owen G. Glenn National Aquatic Centre (middle) and North Harbour Waterpolo (below)

2nd August 2015 - NEW NATIONAL AQUATIC CENTRE OPENS IN AUCKLAND

6th October 2012 - SPORT NEW ZEALAND APPOINTS NEW GENERAL MANAGER, COMMUNITY SPORT AND RECREATION

24th October 2011 - NEW ZEALAND OPENS NATIONAL TRAINING CENTRE FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE ATHLETES

9th May 2011 - FUNDING TO COMPLETE AUT’S HIGH PERFORMANCE SPORTS CENTRE

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