Sumner Half HeadsBeginner - Intermediate
Submitted by Matt Doherty
Urban fringe
Loop
Undulating, small hills only
BeachCoastalOpen farmlandsOpen ridges/tops
Beginner - Intermediate
3.30 (Slow)
2.30 (Moderate)
1.45 (Fast)
-10.8%
+10.9%
Route passes straight through the currently closed Godley Head area, but this section can be easy bypassed without cutting more than a few hundred meters off by going around to the left. If you an update on this please email us.
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Description
Nice wee half marathon loop around Sumner/Godley Heads that manages to stay off the roads. Lots of small undulating hills including a couple of grunty climbs that will be testing for the beginner. Awesome continuos views over the penninsular. If you fancy an early start dawn over the heads can be spectacular.
Head up Captain Thomas Track to the sumit road. Left through the crossroads, over the cattle stop and immediately right onto the mtb trail. Follow this mtb trail over the next 2 hills. When starting this next hill after a few meters on the road you are aiming for the 2nd mtb trail that heads up it (the trail that heads over the hill about half way up between the road and the summit as you are looking from this saddle)
Head up and over the hill and down to Godley Heads car park. From the carpark run through the kissing gate by the picnic tables and follow the gravel tourist trail which undulates its way through old WW2 buildings then out to Boulder Bay & Taylors Mistake Surf Club. From the car park, head along the back of the surf club then follow your nose towards the houses keeping the beach to your right. The track starts to climb with a few steps and board walks for a couple of hundred metres, take the left hand turn sign posted the 195? steps.
At the top of the steps cross the road and pick up the track a few metres to your right. Follow this (staying on the obvious track) up through the farmland aiming for the lefthand side of a patch of trees up the hill. Over the stile, across the gravel road and follow the fence to your right along a stockyard. After a sharp right hand bend take the track to your left marked by a post. Follow this tack as it sidles along the hill and climbs into a patch of bush. At the junction in the bush take the left hand turn to the summit rd crossroads. As you head out of the bush head uphill across the crossroads then pick up Captain Thomas and return to the start.
Trail Community
Features of interest
World War 2 Building and gun emplacements at Godley Heads
Make Up of Run
Technical Single Track: 20%
Moderate Single Track: 40%
Easy Single Track: 40%
Route Data
Reviews:
Overlapping Runs
The following trails overlap with this run to some degree. You may wish to combine them but please note that to qualify for FKTs on these runs you should record a separate Strava activity for each
Godley Head loop
Length: 18.10km
Horse Longitudes
Length: 10.56km
Whigs' Flying Fifty (WFF)
Length: 50.30km
Punk Rock Assault On Windsor Castle
Length: 12.00km
Gates Of The East
Length: 14.00km
Christchurch 360 Trail - Godley Cliffs Section
Length: 16.10km
Photos:
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Access
Captain Thomas Track in Sumner. From LOWER Sumnervale Drive. Warm up jog from the dead end of the road round the side of the horse field and up the steps to the start of Captain Thomas on the right hand side of the roundabout.
Sumnervale Drive Lower has plenty of parking along one side where the houses have been removed post quakes
Bus stop . Purple bus route termination100m from Lower Sumnervale Drive14 km
25 minutes
Yes
No
-
Staying Safe
Easy.
Make navigation of this route super-easy by using the Capra app on your phone. View on Capra .
Generally good.
Thermal leggings, Long-sleeved thermal top, Seam-sealed waterproof jacket, Gloves, Beanie/thermal headwear, Whistle, First aid kit, Extra food for emergencies, Cellphone, Map.
Water at Godley Heads and Taylers Mistake at toilet blocks and at the campground at aGodley Heads
Can be very windy on the saddles
Dog friendly although be aware there are lots of sheep in this area
Mountain bikes on 50% of the track -
Sponsor this trail
See other runs nearby:
Godley Head loop
Lyttelton to Diamond Harbour
Halswell and Kennedys
Summit Walkway
The Bowenvale Elevator
The Gorsetrack Strikes Back
Rapaki Sugarloaf Return
Sign Of The Takahe - Rapaki
Port Hills Nearly Half Marathon
Horse Longitudes
Horse Latitudes
Whigs' Flying Fifty (WFF)
VKV challenge
Banks Peninsula Ultra Beer Run
Bottle Lake Blue Loop
Gebbies to Packhorse Romp
Hagley Figure of 8
Bowenvale / Huntsbury Loop
Avon City Loops
Avon - Source to Surf
Okuti to Hilltop Amble
Gondola Gallop
Orton Bradley Loop
The ATH (Around The Harbour)
Lava - H.ELL Loop
Travis Wetland Loop
Punk Rock Assault On Windsor Castle
The Guv'nor & His Birds
The Crater Rim
Lava Lite
Takahe Half
North New Brighton Spit
Mt Pleasant Trig
God's Con - Rehab Road
Gang of Four
Dog Sniffing Rhythms - Harbour Crusin'
Trinity - Harbour Bruisin'
Gates Of The East
Hunting Out A Gorge-ous Loop
Lyttelton Dress Circle
A Diamond in the Rough
Port Hills Spur Challenge!
Up Hill Down Valley
The Coffee Run
Pour Some Sugarloaf On Me
Never Trust A Crocodile
Lyttelton Semi-Circle
Hagley Perimeter
Holliss Stairway to Heaven
Diamond, Herbert & Fitzgerald
Barnett Bunker Buster
The Pipeline of Pain
Mt Vernon Farm Track
Vicki Vale
Heathcote River Run - Opawa to Hoon Hay
Christchurch 360 Trail - Sugarloaf Hills Section
Little Learner Loop (Halswell Quarry)
Bird to Bird
Port Hills Protocol
Bodybag
O'Farrells For Shore
The Governator
Heathcote Meander
Spitting Distance
Montgomery Loop
Canterbury Agricultural Park Loop
2 Sugars, 2 Vernons & a Half Shot
Quail Island Looping
The Chairlift Choice
Tussock Hill Ridge
Mt Pleasant Elevator
McLeans Meander
Girdle the Groynes
Governator 2 - Judgement Day
Christchurch 360 Trail - Godley Cliffs Section
Westmorland Wetland Time Trial
Loopy in Siberia
The North Faces
Westmorland Hill Reps
360 Trail - Dunes Wetlands Section
Rocking Gibraltar
Dune Bugging
Hey Sisters!
Living Springs Loop
Springing Around Longhurst
Lady Isaac Loop
The Missing Link
Beer Bum Bluffs
Brooklands for the Birds.
Surf's Up!!!
Styx Pick Me Up
Orton Odyssey
Shoeing the Horse
Tauhinu-Korokio TKO
Double Top
Beginner's Adventure Park Loop
Boulder Dash
Clan of the Cave Runner
Taiora Track
Landfill Lark
Morgans Baa Baa Loop
Mary Had a Little Lamb
Horsing Around
Port Hills 8-Attack
Pinecone Pirate - Waitākiri/Bottle Lake Forest Park
Frogger
Takahe to Taylors
