Introduction

Welcome to my blog. The title originates when my primary athletic activity was competitive walking, but now that I am back to running it also includes that.

Not all content is accessible from the main page: for example, the rogaines, racewalking, and ultramarathon pages all include content that is only accessible from those pages.

Ultramarathons

Ultramarathons are any event longer than the standard marathon distance of 26.2 miles / 42.195km. Standard distances for ultras are 50km, 50 miles, 100km, and 100 miles. There are also 12 hour and 24 hour track runs, and multi-day "stage races".

I have currently (September 2012) completed 30 ultramarathons, plus 1 DNF at about 66km at the Molesworth Run. Reports for most events are provided below.

See also

Rogaines

Rogaining is the sport of long distance cross-country navigation. Events can be as short as 2-3 hours or the standard 24 hours. Teamwork, endurance, competition and an appreciation for the natural environment are features of the sport. Rogaining involves both route planning and navigation between checkpoints using a variety of map types.

GN Phillips and RJ Phillips, Rogaining, 3rd ed, 2000


The two main umbrella organisations for rogaining in New Zealand are: My reports for selected events are provided below.


Hiking and Mountains

The Hiking, Trail Running, and Mountains pages are all inter-related, but with some subtle differences:
  • Hiking is not an organised race, and may include Coastal Adventures, activities in the Mountains, and hiking in other locations;
  • Trail Running covers organised events, some in the mountains, but others on local hills and trails; and
  • The Mountains category covers both events and hiking in various places that can be classed as mountains.


    • Racewalking

    Racewalking only has to meet two technical requirements:
    • no loss of contact, as judged by the human eye; and
    • the leg has to be straight from the moment of first contact until it is upright.
    More detailed rules are here.

    I'm not particularly good at racewalking, often falling foul of the straight leg rule. But I still give it a go and here are the results of my endeavours.


    Running

    This blog is primarily about my walking activities, but sometimes I do run. Here are reports for events where I have run.

    Shorter Races

    I classify events as ultramarathons, marathons, rogaines, and "shorter events". So a "shorter event" is just something that is shorter than a marathon and is not a rogaine. Consequently there's a mixed bag in here: running, racewalking, half marathons, 10k and 5k races, , etc.


    Saturday, September 13, 2003

    Marton-Wanganui Ultra

    Apart from showery conditions for the first half hour, the weather was generally fine and cool with a head wind that persisted for most of the course. The final stage of the race was altered from last year, diverting down Okoia Rd and through back roads in to Wanganui rather than sticking to the long straight road from Fordell that the course followed last year. This seemed to add some extra distance to the course, making it up to the full distance this year (perhaps 3km short last year?).

    The individual event had a field of 7 entrants again this year, with 4 returning from last year (myself, Ashley Smith, Kym Black, and Des Hussey), and 2 entrants making their first foray into ultra distrance. The eventual winner - Albie Jane - is a very experienced ultra distance competitor, and had to leave before prize giving so that he could get back to his farm in time to milk the cows!

    Finishers
    NameTime
    Albie Jane5:38:00
    Kym Black6:04:30
    Andrew Shelley6:27:54
    Ashley Smith6:33:10
    Bill Armstrong6:45:58
    Des Hussey6:59:15
    Alan Carter7:20:00
     
    I went through the marathon mark in 3:44:09 and 50k in 4:36:42. Only 18k to the finish, but my legs were very sore by this stage and I was doing a lot more walking than running. Late in the race I was spurred on by the thought that Ashley and Des must have been fast closing the gap and would soon catch me, but in the end no challenge eventuated. I finished in a time of 6:27:54, 7:45 faster than last year and sufficient to secure 3rd place. Albie's winning time was 5:38:00.

    Posted by Andrew Shelley
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