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, December 12, 2009

    Christmas Rogaine

    Santa_Hat
    A short four hour rogaine held in a window of good weather. Many of the tracks were familiar, but we still managed to find some new places. Scored 550 points to be 14th out of 17 teams.


    091212_XmasRog_sm
    Up the river trail to the underpass, then up the road to #25 and #48. Through the area that has recently been logged out (pale yellow) and climbed up to #38. Around to the track for #94, but we missed it and the boys weren't keen to go back up to look for it. Across to #66, checking each of three hairpins carefully. Back across logged over ground to regain the 4WD road and up the creek to #84. #74 was a new track for us and looked like it would be straightforward to get, but it turned out to be a very steep track. #56, #45, and #24. Then we made our way west along the stream to try and find #73. Gaining the track took much longer than we were expecting, and finding the marker also took longer. Contemplated #64 but decided we were running low on time. Down to the stream for #35, and wade down the stream to the track. Through the culvert under the road for #22, up to #23, and then home.

    PC120007
    Richard and James on the steep climb to #74.
    PC120011
    Travelling down the creek after #35.

    The results would have been the same even if we had collected the 90 points for #94, as the 13th team had 800 points. Finished in 4h57m30s, so the decision to skip #64 was probably right.

    Photos on Flickr
    Santa hat from Free EPS Christmas Hat.
    Posted by Andrew Shelley
    Labels: ,

    2 comments:

    Nyle said...

    ummm I have to be blonde and ask.............what is a Rogaine? is it like orienteering? or something different.

    But I love the rugged country side that you are in. Looks like alot of fun.

    December 13, 2009 at 4:27 PM
    Anonymous said...

    Yep, it's like orienteering,they are 'sister' sports.

    Orienteering is usually short duration (< 2hrs), single competitors, all control points must be visited in a set order, and winning is based on time to complete the course.

    Rogaining is longer duration (classic length is 24hrs, but also 12, 8, 6, 3, etc), controls have a points value and you have to plan a route that will give you best points within the allowed time. 10 points are lost for every minute or part thereof that you are late. The longer rogaines are usually in the backcountry, so competitors are in teams which gives an extra element of safety.

    December 13, 2009 at 5:40 PM

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