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 10, 2009

    Mt Wainui

    Photo-0045
    Had been thinking about doing this for quite a long time, and finally got around to doing it. The route can be divided into three sections:
    • an initial easy section along an unsealed road that roughly follows the electricity transmission pylons;
    • a route across farmland, at which point it is never entirely clear that you are where you are supposed to be; and
    • a long section up through the bush, marked with pink ribbons.

    We didn't chose the best day to do this -- it was very cold with hail showers. The photo above shows one such shower on its way in. Going up was ok as the exertion kept us warm. But once we were on the way down we became quite cold.

    A further mission to Mt Wainui beckons: the route appeared to continue across the other side, and it would be good to find out just where it comes out! (Maps are provided on the full post).

    Photo-0051
    Me at the Mt Wainui Trig
    		Photo-0053
    Jan at the Trig.

    Map
    Topo Map. The three sections can be seen on the map: the first section follows the electricity pylons; the second section follows a track across farmland; and the third section through the bush starts when the last vehicle tracks is left behind.
    Campbells Mill Road
    The official map. We went in on Campbell's Mill Road, which is marked by the dashed blue line.


    Maps and more photos are available on Flickr.
    Posted by Andrew Shelley
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