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.


    Wednesday, May 29, 2013

    Grampians Trigs

    TV transmitter tower
    Not the Grampians in Australia, but in Nelson, New Zealand...

    In Nelson for work, what better thing to do than arrive half a day early and enjoy the local trails with our hosts? It turned out that one of the local trails had TWO trigs on it!

    The start of the Grampians trail is a steep zig-zag. At the top we were rewarded with great views, both of the city and to the mountains beyond. We were also rewarded with the first of the trigs: A6UR. We ate our lunch then continued on along the trail.

    Me, A6UR, Michael, Heather
    Name plate

    View from the trig

    Toward the end of Grampian Rd is a TV transmitter, and the topo map told us we should find a trig here. We had a good look around but were unable to find anything. Off through a well trod gap in the bush to the trail below, along about 5m, and there it was! Trig A6V3 was offset slightly from the top of the hill, far enough not to be a nuisance for servicing and maintaining the tower.

    Looking... not down here...
    Not up there...

    Off through the gap in the trees.
    Name plate for A6V3.

    Trig A6V3 with the TV transmitter behind.
    From here our run continued back down into Nelson, crossing Brook St, and then into Codgers Mountain Bike Park and the Dun Mountain Railway. After a pleasant afternoon's run we were picked up at the motor camp, and back to Tamara and Michael's place.
    Posted by Andrew Shelley
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