Two marching teams with Central members stepped in time at a leisure marching event in Alexandra on Saturday. 

IceInline was the venue for the fun occasion, hosted by the Cromwell marching team, The Gate.

It involved a march past, displays from individual teams and 120 marchers on the floor for a maze march to finish.

The action kicked off at 1pm and friends and family members came down to support marchers.

Tracey McLean, coach and member of the Invercargill Diamonds team said the day was ‘’wonderful’’. 

She marches with her mum Margaret, who despite living in Alexandra is in the Invercargill based team of seven. 

Tracey said her team was using the “South of the South event as a run through before the New Zealand Nationals in Palmerston North.”

Tracey’s marching career started back when she was only two years old, as a mascot, but now she enjoys coaching a mature team to give back to the sport she grew up with.

“We practice once a week for an hour… There are the physical exercise benefits as well as mental wellbeing, and then you’ve got to remember the routines… it’s harder than you think.”

The Invercargill Diamonds team. PHOTO: Supplied 

Twelve teams from across the South Island participated from Invercargill and Timaru. After the display there was a shared afternoon tea and a chance to mix and mingle with other teams.

Cromwell’s team has been together for the past 18 years and still has two original members, Kate Dundass and Sandra Shaw, involved.. 

The Gate Cromwell Marching team. PHOTO: Supplied 

Alexandra’s Rhoda Moulin, president of the hosting team, thanked sponsors for their support and IceInline for allowing them to hold the event at the facility.  

Women involved in Leisure Marching were aged from 35 up to 90 years old, and the main focus of the sport is fun, fitness and friendship. 

Leisure marching is a non-competitive sport (there is no judging) and many people return to it later in life, perhaps after taking a break from senior marching teams which are competitive.

The $1.6million roof over IceInline, completed in 2024 allows different uses of the facility as it protects people from the weather, along with extending the ice season for figure skating, ice hockey, curling and recreational ice skating. 

The ice rink would be opening for the 2025 season on the evening of Friday April 25, earlier than ever before, all thanks to the roof. 

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