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, May 16, 2010

    City Safari 2010

    Updated 27 May 2010: copy of map added.

    P5160189
    As with previous years the event started with a 10 minute prologue. We didn’t look at the map until given the instruction to start so there was no time to plan a route: it was just start running and look at the map as we go. We went north and collected 1, 20, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 5 from the prologue map.


    P5160178
    The harbour was calm, so we planned a route that included catching the ferry across to Seatoun. The ferry left 30 minutes after the event start, so after collecting the ferry ticket we collected a few nearby controls: 1E, 28, 27, and 1D. That gave us 60 points and we were back to the ferry with a few minutes to spare.

    P5160194
    The Ataturk Memorial
    A 20 minute ferry ride across to the Seatoun wharf, and we were at the far side of Seatoun in half the time it would have taken to get there on the bus. Then it was 2N, 1V, 3N, 1W, along a nice trail to 46 and then 2M for a combined total of an extra 130 points. At this point it was decision time: back into central Seatoun or south to the 110 points down by the south coast. We decided to head south and made a start up the ridge track. We very quickly decided that was a bad idea and dropped back down to the road and went around the coast. Up to the Ataturk Memorial for 73, and then round to a “small but rugged hill” by the airport for 45. From there it was through the airport carpark and back into central Seatoun for 3M, 1T, and 2L.

    Having just picked up 2L we saw a bus coming towards us and made a split second decision to catch it. It turned out to be heading into the hills of south Seatoun before returning back past the spot where we caught it, and then through to Kilbirnie and past the Hospital.

    P5160203
    Brooklyn War Memorial from the top of Todman Street
    		P5160207
    Man on a Donkey, National War Memorial
     

    Getting off the bus just before the hospital we headed across to 3H, 1N, 2G, 3G, 2F, up Todman St (steep) to 41 at the Brooklyn War Memorial. Then 1L, 2D, and 3F the sculpture of a man on a donkey at the National War Memorial. Then through the chaos of central Wellington for another 60 points from 2C, 1J, 2B, and 1H.

    Along to the cable car, 30 minutes to go. We debated whether we’d have enough time to go up, get the points at the top. We decided we would go up, and then sat there stressing as first it didn’t move, and then when it finally moved off it travelled at a very sedate speed.

    P5160212
    View of Lambton Quay / the Old Bank Arcade from
    the bottom of the Plimmer Steps
    At the top we raced across the carpark to get 29, then down to Salamanca Rd for 1G, then run along a trail down to a motorway overbridge. Down to Plimmer Steps then along to Jervois Quay and the finish with about 12 minutes to spare.

    Our final score was 75 from the prologue plus 660 from the main event, for a total of 735. This placed us 13th of 26 mixed teams, and 30th overall of 63 teams.

    City Safari Map
    Map showing route taken: red = motorised transport (ferry, bus); black = foot. Map has been warped to fit my mapping software.


    Photos available on Flickr.
    Posted by Andrew Shelley
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