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.


    Friday, August 26, 2011

    Naseby Pre-Race Course Recce

    Miner's Cottage
    Miner's Cottage. Very warm and cozy with the log
    burner going.
    Arrived in Naseby and was pleased to find that some of the previous week's big dump of snow was still around. While it had been a pain for the Naseby residents, it was very pretty and it was a rare chance in New Zealand to have some proper snow on the course.

    After checking in to the Miner's Cottage at the Larchview Holiday Park, Heather and I went for a walk to check out the condition of the course. There was a LOT more snow than we were expecting, and the chance of wet feet seemed high, as it was melting in some places and turning quite slushy. But most of it was still powdery and there didn't seem to be too many problems with slippery ice.

    GNWR course
    Just along from the start/finish area and the snow is
    about two inches deep.
    Bridge
    We run from the right in this picture and then cross
    either bridge. The snow was several inches deep
    in places here.

    Slope
    Just after crossing the little bridge we head up this
    slope. The snow was deep here with slushy areas
    where it was melting. The best footing was the dry
    area to the left at the edge of the trees.
    Translator Road
    Translator Road. The course emerges from the
    forest on the right and then we run up this road.

    The full set of photos is available on Flickr:

    Footprints Miner's Cottage GNWR course Campsite Slope Bridge
    Slush Translator Road Naseby Forest

    Posted by Andrew Shelley
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