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.


    Tuesday, January 3, 2012

    Jumbo-Holdsworth

    Holdsworth Trig
    At Holdsworth Trig
    My first trail for 2012, and also my first time doing the loop in this direction. The first leg up the Atiwhakatu River track to Atiwhakatu Hut was quite pleasant, runnable in most places, and at 7.3km a wee bit longer than DOC's posted 5.5km.

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    View of the Atiwhakatu River through the trees
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    Atiwhakatu Hut

    From Atiwhakatu it was up the rain guage spur track to Jumbo Hut. This seemed to be even worse going up than going down. After an age of slowly making our way up the steep rooty climb we emerged from the bush into the clouds just a little short of Jumbo Hut.

    A short stop for food and to change into dry tops then it was off to Jumbo Summit. Most of this was in the clouds, although visibility was still reasonable and they added dramatic effect to some scenes.

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    At Jumbo, the ridge to Holdsworth behind
    Just short of Jumbo Summit we broke through the clouds, and from the summit were treated to spectacular views along to Angle Knob, down into Mid Waiohine, and along the ridge to Mt Holdsworth. The Jumbo-Holdsworth ridge was particularly spectacular, with cloud on the eastern side of the ridge and clear skies on the western side.

    After photos we set off along the ridge. As always the climbs and apparently narrow sections looked a lot worse than they actually were. I must be getting old or out of practice though, as very little of this actually seemed to be runnable.

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    Holdsworth Trig from the sign
    Once at Holdsworth it was time to stop at the trig for more photos. I have passed the trig on many occasions, but never made the very short detour! Cloud would come and go, sometimes obscuring the view and sometimes allowing us a clear view of the ridge we had just travelled.
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    Powell Hut
    Powell Hut emerges from the cloud

    All climbing done, it was time to head down to Powell Hut. Most of this section of track was very pleasant and easy, and before long the hut suddenly emerged from the cloud. A quick stop to fill in the log book and replenish water, then it was downhill again. Heading down from Powell there are some big drops, much easier to climb up than scramble down, and then there is the steep section of track that heads down to Mountain House. From there it is all straightforward - across Pig Flat and down the Gentle Annie to the carpark.

    We had started relatively late in the day, so it was now time to find some food. Mid-way takeaways in Carterton did not disappoint - not only were they open on a public holiday, but their Hawaiian Burgers were excellent!

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