Investigation after child ‘severs tendon’ in foot in Parakiore incident
Friday, 19 December 2025
An investigation is under way after a child reportedly severed a tendon in their foot at the long-awaited Parakiore Recreation and Sports Centre.
An anonymous person on the online discussion platform Reddit said their child was hospitalised early Wednesday evening after their foot became caught under double doors at the complex.
The facility only opened to the public earlier that day.
Christchurch City Council on Friday confirmed it was aware of the incident.
“As with all incidents, we are conducting an investigation with the goal of eliminating any future risks,” said Nigel Cox, the council’s head of recreation, sports and events.
The online post said the child’s foot was “caught under the double doors between the main pool and kids’ pool area” and had resulted in a “severed tendon”.
“Handy to have the children's hospital so close by,” the user said.
A St John spokesperson said there was no record it had responded to the incident.
Stuff reported that Parakiore had experienced some teething issues, affecting leisure buckets, a water fountain, slides and lights. The council did not comment specifically on these issues.
On Sunday morning, a Special Olympics swimmer was taken to hospital for observation after swallowing water and becoming distressed.
Cox said the council had received a “significant amount of positive feedback” since opening Parakiore to the community.
“However, these are issues that have been identified during the first day of operation, when we welcomed over 3000 visitors. Our team is working on resolving these issues and addressing any feedback we have received.”
Eager members of the public waited in the rain for Parakiore to open at 5.30am on Wednesday. The central city complex – at 32,000m² the size of three or four rugby pitches – includes a 50m pool, spas, saunas, hydrotherapy pool, fitness facilities, and a terrifying trapdoor hydroslide.
It has been more than a decade in the making. Originally the project, announced in 2013, was to have cost $217 million, but the cost more than doubled to an expected $500m after a string of price escalations, delays and conflict over the contract.
The facility is expected to draw everything from national swimming championships to secondary school tournaments and world masters events, with those visitors expected to inject millions of dollars into the city.