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, May 28, 2011

    Blood and a Swim at the Club Cross Country

    trentham
    Time for the Trentham United Harriers' Club Cross Country Championships again. The same two-lap course as the last couple of years, but the stream had recently been dredged out and "remodelled", leaving a much deeper section for the course to be routed through. Made it through the first crossing with no problems - that was only about mid-calf depth. Looped around on the grass for the return crossing - this time it was mid-thigh depth and I took a tumble as I reached the other side. Hands down on to the bank, soaked the front of my singlet and my shorts, and cut my left knee on some stones or rocks on the stream bed.

    Straight back up and kept on and on to a gravel track through one of the patches of bush. Then a long stretch of good running on grass, with only a small slippery patch as we went through a ditch. Another long stretch on a gravel path through bush, a bit more grass, and then the "horse paddock". The horse paddock is used by the local pony club - into a ditch and up a short hill to get to it, then three low jumps, down into another ditch, and then climb out of the ditch and up and over the stop bank. Long grass with soft conditions and a large puddle, more rough grass, then up over the stop bank and very short firm grass over the cricket field back to the start finish.

    20:11 for the first lap, and then on to the second lap. I walked through the second deeper stream crossing this time and stayed upright! Through the second lap in 20:41 for a total of 40:52 over 8.37km. 40s faster than last year, so I'm happy enough with that. A few cuts and scrapes and a bit of blood on my left knee, but nothing that should cause any problems.
    Posted by Andrew Shelley
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