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.


    Saturday, June 20, 2009

    Powell Hut in Mid Winter

    This was originally planned as a trip up to Mt Holdsworth in the snow, blizzard conditions meant the sensible option was to only go as far as Powell Hut.

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    Pig Flat boardwalk
     
     
    Just light snow on Pig Flat, but it looked like there must have been a considerable amount more earlier in the week. Stopped at Mountain House for a snack and to prepare for the upward journey. Fully provisioned just in case things didn't go to plan, my pack was somewhat heavier than normal for a day trip and it was good to have a break. Given the conditions I had decided to take a sleeping bag, billy, gas burner, change of clothes, and extra food. Some of that could be left behind in the summer, but not with the expected heavy snow.

    Mountain House is followed by a slight descent and then the track starts to climb at a significantly greater gradient. The was some snow on the ground, but still relatively little due to the trees.

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    There was a dramatic change as we left the tree line: suddenly the snow was deep and it was snowing with a very strong wind was blowing sharp, sugary snow into our faces. It was easy to get very cold very quickly up here, and we plugged on towards the hut. Two faster trampers headed up past us, and a group that had stayed the night at the hut came down with a dog.

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    When we got to the hut it was time to boil the billy, eat some lunch, and have a hot cup of soup. Dry clothes were also the order of the day. A trip up to the summit was off as the conditions were just too treacherous.

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    Heading back down was fun. It was easy to slip over on some of the steeper parts, and at one stage I fell and then glissaded some 50m down the track.

    Before long we were back in the trees and on our way down. Another stop at Mountain House and a quick visit to the lookout. The peaks were shrouded in cloud, with little hint of how bad the conditions were up there.

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    Map

    Map

    Photos available on Flickr.
    Posted by Andrew Shelley
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