Neigh-bourhood Marathon

On 2 November 2025, Millie Harrex completed a Neigh-bourhood Marathon right in her backyard to raise funds for New Zealand Riding for the Disabled (NZRDA).

Horses have always been a part of Millie’s life. She grew up riding alongside her two sisters, and both her parents also rode when they were younger and attended the same Pony Club, where Millie and her sisters also went.

Her first pony, Pollyanna, was a wild chestnut pony. She was a handful to say the least, but nevertheless Millie adored her. Pollyanna moved on to teach other little girls to ride and eventually became a riding school pony. By then, she had found her groove and went on to be one of Central Otago RDA’s ponies.

Millie raised funds for NZRDA in honour of her late Nan, Rose Harrex, who was a dedicated volunteer with Central Otago RDA.

Millie’s Nan and Pop (Rose and Vic Harrex) had seven children of their own. Most of whom rode horses, Millie’s Dad is their youngest son, Wayne Harrex. Rose didn’t mind the horses as long as they were a few meters away from her. Despite this, she always got stuck into plaiting when her kids had competitions. According to Vic, she would park the ponies up next to a fence and plait from the other side.

After many years of contributions to Clyde Pony Club, Rose and Vic became life members and were involved where they could when their Grandkids, Millie and her sisters, started riding too.

When Rose got older, she got involved with RDA through some friends and dedicated much of her time there. She couldn’t do much with the horses, but she was always providing morning tea and started helping with volunteer inductions and organisational support.

Rose was an integral member of a lot of volunteer programs, but she really did love the riders at RDA. She was such an important member of her local community. She was strong, outspoken, an amazing leader, conscientious, empathetic, and bold.

Rose passed away just before Christmas last year; she was the Queen of an enormous family. The family’s loss is shared with so many amazing people and groups that Rose was a part of.

Millie started running in 2020 and did her first marathon, the Hawkes Bay marathon, in 2021. Millie and her Mum ran the Dunstan trail for 42km in their own marathon when the 2021 Queenstown marathon got cancelled. She’s continued to run for the last few years but has been career and study focused, so hasn’t done long distances again until this year.

A big shout out to Millie for completing her marathon with a stunning time of 3:57, meeting her goal of sub 4 hours.