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 13, 2012

    XTERRA Belmont

    Stream crossing at the bottom of Horokiwi Bridleway
    This was the long course, total distance 16.8km with 880m of climb. This is a tough run, made tougher by steep slippery downhills on grass and clay. I was well and truly knackered at the end of this, always a good outcome!

    From the start its 500m of easy running and then it’s in to the first climb, about 230m over 2km. This climb takes in the Danzig MTB track with lots of switchbacks.

    Downhill is a pleasant grade on an unsealed (mainly clay) road. The gradient along here is good, allowing for fast running. At about 3.8km the track pops out onto Normandale road for about 1.3km. The grade is much the same as for the unsealed road, so the fast running continues.

    Around the corner into Stratton St, and then a hard right onto the trail. This is instantly much steeper, and with the rain the grass and the clay were both wet and slippery. I caught up to about half a dozen people along here as they tip-toed along and tried not to slip. I took a couple of photos and chuckled to myself at how timid people were, then promptly slipped, became airborne and landed hard on my backside. No damage done and no mud on the camera lens!

    Down to the flat, a quick road crossing, a water crossing, and a few hundred metres of farm track, then it was in to the big climb up Belmont Hill. Climbing 324m over 2.36km, this is a long, hard climb. I am used to being relatively fast up hills, normally being able to walk them faster than other competitors. But not today! Today other competitors caught and passed me, and then pulled away into the distance.

    At the top we didn’t go over the trig, but instead took the track to the west along the hill tops and then south down along the Horokiwi Bridleway. This is another steep, slippery descent of 377m, and I caught everyone who had passed me. I passed them again by the bottom, and then slowly pulled away. A very steep short climb of 42m and then another climb of 146m. I was spent and then competitors I had passed caught and passed me again. A fast descent of 114m brings us down to the 16km mark. From there it’s just a gentle climb and about three stream crossings over the last 800m to the finish.

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