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, August 28, 2010

    Great Naseby Water Race

    Ida Range
    Ida Range
    The Great Naseby Water Race is held over a 10km course through the Naseby forest, with a number of hills, but also several km of flat trail beside water races on each lap. There are 50km,80km, and 100km options; this year I elected to do the 80km event.

    Naseby takes a while to get to, but is a great setting for a race. On several of the forestry roads there were clear views of the snow-covered Ida Range, the conifers are pretty, and there are several very picturesque small lakes.

    P8280334
    A small lake on the way to Coalpit Dam.
    I had hoped to be walking about 7m:30s per km (about 1h:15m per lap), but with a very hilly first half to each lap I was only managing just fractionally quicker than 8m:00s per km. I quickly took a number of photos on the first four laps; I wasn't particularly worried about the time taken in these stops, as each one was only short and also provided a mini recovery break.

    P8280341
    50k runners waiting for their start.

    IMG_0162
    What the 50k runners saw. (Photo: Paul Charteris)

    I reached the end of my first three laps (30k, so 50k to go) just a minute or two before the 50k race was about to begin. I took a photo of everyone as a photo was being taken of me, and then went over to the aid station table to get some pizza and boiled potato before heading off again. I kept moving quickly, as I wanted to cover some distance before the 50k runners came through. The lead runners came through about 700m into the lap, and the main bunch passed within the next few hundred metres.

    My longest training sessions heading in to Naseby had been of marathon length, and that showed in my lap times. I recorded the first four laps as 80m:12s, 78m:44s, 78m:21s, and 78m:20s. The 5th lap rapidly became a lot harder and my lap time increased to 82m:51s. The final three laps were 89m:19s, 89m:28s, and 88m:07s.

    Naseby Map
    Map of the 10k loop.

    I always know when an ultra has taken a lot out of me as it takes a long time for me to write the report. This happened with Naseby, but more because I was already tired before the race than because the course was difficult. Work had been hectic in the weeks leading up to the race and I had been short on sleep on a number of occaisions. I was also treating this event as training for the 24 hour race on 2/3 October, so rather than tapering as the race drew near I walked a total of 50km (over 4 sessions) earlier in the week. All told I was happy with my time of 11h:05m:25s. I had hoped that I might be about 45 minutes faster, but that didn't take account of my already tired state.

    Links:
  • Race website
  • Preview article in the NZ Herald
  • My photos on Flickr
  • Photos and report from Paul Charteris
    • Posted by Andrew Shelley
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