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.


    Sunday, March 23, 2008

    Cape Kidnappers

    P3230053
    ... one of the [Maoris], watching his opportunity, suddenly seized him, and dragged him down into the canoe; ... and the others, with great activity, paddled her off...
    To the cape off which this unhappy transaction happened, I gave the name of Cape Kidnappers. It... is rendered remarkable by two white rocks like haystacks, and the high white cliffs on each side.
    Lt. J. Cook, October 1769, The Voyages of Captain James Cook, p. 131

    Spending Easter in Hastings, how could we not visit the gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers? Although most people travel the 8.5km along the beach on a tractor-drawn trailer, we elected to walk. For the most part the walk was quite pleasant along a mainly shingle beach, with a few sections of more solid rock.

    P3230079
    Aside from the gannets there are a few other sights to see, including narrow side canyons, impressive fluted cliffs, and bands of colour and shells in the cliffs.

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    		P3230077

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    The first gannet colony reached is a small one at Black Reef. There is a small wade around this and then it is back to the beach. Near the end of the beach section there is another spot where it is necessary to wade, with the water potentially reaching mid-thigh.

    Black Reef Gannet Colony
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    		P3230047
    Juvenile tests its wings

    At the end of the beach section the track climbs up over farmland to reach the plateau where the gannets nest. The climb only took us about 12 minutes including photo stops, so it is not a big climb for the reasonably fit. The colony is an impressive sight, but comes with a very strong smell of guano. We looked around for about 10 minutes before retiring to an area with a fresh sea breeze to eat our lunch. Then it was back down the track and along the beach to the car.

    The main gannet colony at Cape Kidnappers
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    View back down to the beach. Tourist transport is
    visible in the large version.
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    Inquisitive juveniles.
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    The cape viewed from the south side.

    More photos available on Flickr.
    The Voyages of Captain James Cook is available online at Google Books.
    Posted by Andrew Shelley
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