3rd Summer Walk

On a day promising rain, 11 members of the walking club met at the pevious site of the Fairfield Tavern. I walked at the front with Kieran and Alan and a brisk pace was set. We headed north towards the motorway and Green Island. We then headed along the Brighton Road and passed through Waldronville. We then turned right after the bridge past Waldronville. It was a gradual uphill climb until we came to the Saddle Hill T-intersection. I decided to walk with Sandra and we had a great yarn and walked at a slightly slower pace than the leaders. We contined the climb until we reached the summit. It was a downhill walk alongside the motorway until we returned to Fairfield. The walk took 2 hrs 35 imins and I estimated we did 12kms.

Central Otago Walks

I accompanied Denise to Southland and Central Otago as she had to deliver cheese to the various medical centres. They were Christmas gifts from her company. Denise had to deliver training sessions in Frankton and Clyde as well. I would set up her power point presentation with a data projector and then go for a long walk.

Tues 8 December - Frankton to Queenstown - 6km


I decided to walk along the road rather than the walkway beside the lake. I wanted to have a look at the new developments. I did a leisurely pace and took a number of photos. The walk took 70 minutes.









Wed 9 December - Clyde to Alexandra - 8km.

I was thrilled to be able to walk the first stage of the Rail Trail as I had walked the other way when I completed the trail two years ago. It was relatively quiet with only 8 cyclists that passed me. The rain threatened and did the walk in 85 mins.

I have done some k's over the past three days

Friday 6 November

I had a number of chores to do in town so walked there and back. Distance 15km

Saturday 7 November

The grandchildren were playing t-ball at Bathgate Park so I decided to walk there and back. I left home at 8.45am and arrived at my destination at 10.35am. Managed to see a sea lion basking in the sun by the Yacht Club. As I was early it was nice to watch an Anderson's Bay School t-ball team play. I watched the game for an hour and left at 12 noon arriving home at 1:55pm. Distance 22kms

Sunday 8 November

Craig rang to say he would pick me up and drive towards Aramoana. He parked his car two bays before Aramoana and we walked to the settlement and along the mole. It took us 65 mins each way. Distance 11kms.

"Every Street in Dunedin" Walk

In my farewell speech from Anderson's Bay School I mentioned that one of my goals was to walk "every street in Dunedin". In my semi-retirement mode I have found it difficult to get into a routine. Today I walked the side streets from Cargill's Corner bewteen Hillside Road and Macandrew Road, up to and including Wesley Street.

So far I have done 5 specific days
1) Port Chalmers
2) St Leonards
3) Forbury/South Dunedin
4) Around wharf
5) South Dunedin (today)

I am also ticking off a number of streets as part of the Caversham Harrier Club, walking group.

3rd Year Completed

Today indicates three years since I started my walking for fitness campaign. I managed to do 2491 kms amd missed 32 days.

Previous stats
2006/07 1864kms
2007/08 2428kms

Nearing the End of The Walking Club Season

Saturday 19 September

This was my final club walk for the season as I will be in Auckland for the season closing this coming weekend. For my final walk I walked from home to Logan Park where I met around 20 club mates. We walked along the Ravensbourne cycleway to Maia and then up the steep Jesse Street. We walked along the top of Ravensbourne Road and back down Wanaka Street to the main Road. From here it was back along SH 88 to our starting point. I then walked back home. I esitmate I did around 20kms in total. The soles of my feet were sore.

Monday 21 September

I am keen to walk all the streets in Dunedin but am finding it difficult to get myself into a set pattern. However today I drove to the Wickliffe Street and spent 2 hours walking around the streets beside the harbour. I went as far as Birch Street. Distance - 8kms

Moro Marafun

As a warm up to the Moro marathon the Caversham club holds a marafun which is a 10km run or 5km walk. I decided to really go for it and managed 4th place in a PB of 33:38 minutes. I walked a lot of the course with Danny Knudson (2nd) and Gail Sharp (3rd). I was told off once for running which of course is unintentional. I also managed to get a t-shirt as a spot prize. As I headed to the finish line I felt a hamstring twinge.

It's Been Five Weeks

A friend pointed out to me last night after dinner at the "Small Poppy" that my blog has not been updated since 22 July. Why? I do not know as I have increased the intensity of my walking.

Daily Walking

I had planned to walk every street in Dunedin but this has been put on hold since doing contract work for the Ministry of Education.
July - 241kms with 5 missed days, August (to date) - 197kms with 3 days to go.
Year total - 1612 which is on target to do 2400kms for the year.

Club Walking

I have not missed one club walk since the last post. They have been between 5-10lms. The club is having great turnouts with good numbers. On two occasions we either joined with Civil Service or Hill City clubs.

Clyde to Alexandra

I have not particpated in this event previously. Last year I got tendonitis in my foot so had to pull out. The Caversham Club hired a bus and it was full when harriers and walkers headed off to Clyde. There were 25 walkers entered from the club.

I decided to really go for it. I was 3rd off the bridge and stayed that way until I was passed by Colin Dick. Everything was going well and Gordon Cameron caught up with me. We managed to pass the 5km mark under 35 minutes which was a PB for me but I started to wilt. I managed to finish 9th in 1:12:18 and was the 5th man home. It was a PB for me but I was hoping to do 7o mins for the race.

Link: http://alexandraharriers.orconhosting.net.nz/2009clyde2alex_results.pdf

Moro Marathon Committee

I was so pleased with my Moro marathon effort last year I decided to join the organising committee from the start of July. My job is to help with the Spot Prizes. I manged to get prizes from Filadelfios, Millers, Netball Otago and Whiley Golf Shop.

Walking the St Leonards Hills

Today I left from home and walked all the streets of St Leonards from Gannet Lane to Wren Lane and then St Leonards Road onto SH 88 and back to home. I was amazed at the steepness of some of the hills.

Started 10am Finished 12.25pm Distance 10km (estimated)

Semi-Retirement Starts Today

Today is the first official date of my "semi" retirement. One of my goals is to walk "every" street in Dunedin.

I parked in the main street of Port Chalmers and walked around the eastern portion of Port Chalmers. The walk finished with a 4km walk around the Back Beach

Started 9:10 Finished 11:38 Time 2hrs 28mins Approximate Distance 12kms

The Rain Won't Stop

This afternoon the walker's group of the Caversham Harrier's Club met at the Southern Rugby Clubrooms. 16 of us headed up Macandrew Road turning left into Forbury Road and headed off to St Clair Beach. As we walked onto Kettle Park the head wind was biting. We travelled along Victoria Road and onto Queen Street. Somewhere down this street we turned left and then onto Bayfield Road. At Prince Albert Road we turned right and then later, left onto Macandrew Road until we hit the clubrooms to complete the 6km walk. It took an hour. It rained for the entire walk.

Club Cross Country

Saturday 27 June

This annual event was held at Brockville Park comprising of walking twice around a 2km circuit. I had my farewell party the night before and got to bed at 2.45pm. I was feeling a bit jaded.

Colin Dick, Gordon Cameron, Dave Russell and myself went to the lead and walked together for half of the first lap. I had no idea where I was going and there were no marshalls. Colin and I broke ahead and I felt I could have gone ahead but chose to stay as I was not comfortable about leading.

I started to feel the effects of the night before with about 1/2 kilometre to go. Colin took off and I was not able to keep up. My second placing for the 4kms was 28:34 which was 14 seconds behind Colin.

There were 17 walkers but 4 were diaqualified as they took the wrong turn.

Brighton - Green Island Race

Saturday 20 June

For the first time I took part in the Caversham Harrier Club's handicapped walking race from the Brighton Domain to the Green Island landfill. Distance 9.6km. I was given the third largest handicap of 9 minutes with Kerry Killhorn. Gordon Cameron had 18 minutes and Colin Dick had a tough 22 minutes. Both Gordon and Colin are the club's quickest walkers.

Kerry and I got away to a great start quickly passing the 8 minute handicapped walkers. Kerry set a great pace which I had to work hard at keeping up. After 20 minutes he cramped up so I sailed on alone. By the time I got to Waldronville I had passed all the walkers in front but was anxious of Colin and Cameron somewhere in the background. To my surprise and delight I managed to come in first in a time of 1:10:17. This was the third fastest time. Colin's time was 1:05:16 and Gordon's tome was1:07:29.

Back at the clubrooms I was awarded a cup for my efforts.

I had my new walking trainers and got a blister on the sole of my foot. With a handicapped race I found it great having people in front and setting goals to try and pass by a certain place on the course.

Christchurch Half Marathon

I travelled to Christchurch the day before the half marathon walk, arriving around 11.30am. I registered in the afternoon at the Town Hall which was the start and end of the race. The forecast was not promising with snow a possibility.

It rained heavily overnight with sleet and hail. I arrived at the Town Hall at 8.15am to get myself acclimatised. The walkers had to start a half block behind the runners. We all had a chip attached to our shoe laces and this recorded when you reached the official start line and at the end. Just as we were about to start a short hail storm arrived. There were 5300 competitors. It took just over three minutes to reach the start line.

I was happy with my start averaging 7 and 1/2 minute kilometres for the first 5 kilometres. I averaged 8 min kilometres between the 5 and 15 kilometre marks. At the 10 kilometre mark I had to use the portaloo.

My small left toe started to hurt with a blister and this slowed me down a bit. I finished in 2:52:45 a personal best by just under a minute. I was the 40th person home and the 13th male to reach the finish line.

The race was very well organised. I liked the 1 km markings which helped me to calculate my times.

Link: http://res.championchip.co.nz/download.asp?format=HTML&type=E&id=1414&race=21W

The Start of May

2 May

The walking club met at Port Chalmers and repeated the walk we did in the summer. A good turnout of 30 walkers set off at 1.20pm around the Back Beach, Carey's Bay, past the cemetery, Sawyers Bay and back to the start. It was around 10kms. I managed to get stung by a wasp and it proved to be painful for the rest of the day.

3 May

It was my time to pick the route for Craig and I to walk along. We met at the Nairn Street/Taieri Road intersection at 8.15pm. We walked along the entire length of Kaikorai Valley Road, both ways. A highlight was calling into the Kenmure Intermediate site where "Designer Trees" operate. The school is atarting to be turned into accommodation units. The hall has holes at both ends with bays for various products like soil, fertiliser etc that you can drive up to. We walked for 10kms.

Two 10km+ Walks

Saturday 25 April (ANZAC Day)

The walking group (25) left the Portobello Reserve at 1.45pm and headed along Allan's Beach Road to Hooper's Inlet. We walked over a hill to Papanui Inlet and back over another steep hill back to Allan's Beach Road and back to the Reserve. Distance 10km. Time 1:45hrs

Sunday 26 April

Craig and I left the Kitchener Street carpark at 8.20am. We walked to Anderson's Bay, South Cemetery, St Kilda, St Clair Beach, up Cliffs Road to Bedford Street, Norfolk Street, Allandale Road, Forbury Road, Hillside Road, Orari Street back to our car. Time 2:25hrs. Distance 13km

1500 metres walking race

18 April

The Caversham Harrier's Club had its annual 1500 metres walking race at the Caledonian Ground. There were 15 entrants and we all started from scratch.

I had no pre-conceived ideas as to how I would go. To my surprise I finished in the lead with Gordon Cameron and we stayed together until he took off with 100 metres from the finish. I was delighted to do the race in 9:59, six seconds behind Gordon.

The club then did a walk up to Opoho, through the upper Gardens and back to the Caledonian for a 6km walk. It took 1hr 10 mins.

Stewart Island

10-13 April

Crossed Foveaux Strait by ferry. Stayed at Stewart Island Backpackers. Went over as part of a group of 16.

Fri 10 April: To Golden Bay and then over to Ringaringa Beach. 5km
Sat 11 April: To Ryans Creek in morning. 8km
To Acker's Point Light House 8km
Sun 12 April: To Port William - first hut on Rakiura Track 25km
Mon 13 April: To Leask Bay - 4km

City2Surf

On Friday 27 March Denise, Grandchildren Daneka and Shayla and I went to Christchurch for the weekend to catch up with Nadine and Meika. While there I discovered that the annual City2Surf event was on. I decided to register on Saturday for the Sunday morning walk.

I parked in the Farmer's building just after 8am and walked to Cathedral Square for the start. 12,500 people ran, walked or skated. We all started at 9am and the congestion was amazing. It took about 1km before we were spread out. We followed the Avon River to QE 11 Park. When we got to the 6km mark we merged with the start of the 6km race. Again it was very congested.

I reached the finish in 1:41:09 but was slowed down by the congestion.

Karetai Challenge 2009

This was the second consecutive year that I entered this event. It is part of the Coastal Series with the Papatowai Walk two weeks earlier. Unfortunately I missed the Papatowai Walk as Denise and I were in Auckland for the weekend.
It was a brilliant day for the Karetai Walk even though there was a cold nip in the air at the start. As the day progressed it was overcast with no wind. The sun appeared for the last section of around 5km.

My time was a personal best of 2:13:01 taking 5 minutes of my time from last year for this 16.5km race.

I came in 13th (6th man) out of 47 but was in 10th place for 2/3 of the race. I was able to power up the hill but 3 people passed me coming down the Highcliff Road decline to the finish at the Shiel Hill Tavern.

It was nice having Craig to support me and his sister-in-law.

A Physical Weekend

It has been quite a while since posting a blog. On Saturday morning I biked to Bathgate Park to watch the children play tee ball and then back home. It took 34 mins there and 40 minutes return.

On Saturday afternoon 13 of the walking group carpooled to Buskin Road which we had planned to do 3 weeks ago. We treked down to Boulder Beach and saw 3 penguins sitting and lying on the beach. It was a lovely calm day. There were also 3 surfers body surfing. We walked back up to Highcliff Road up the Paradise Track. It was a steady climb. We then walked along Highcliff Road for about a kilometre to our parked cars. I estimated the trip was around 8km.

Sunday

Craig and I met at the Kitchener carpark at 8.20am and walked to Maia and back. We went along the cycle track to our destination and then came along State Highway 88 to town. Our 12km trip was quite slow at 2 hrs 10 mins. Craig was keen to set the pace but I felt lethargic at times.

Harbour Cone and Flagstaff Forest

Saturday 14 February

The walking group's first preference on the Peminsula was closed because of the Yellow Eyed Penguin's breeding season. We decided to go to Turnbull's Bay close to Broad Bay. 16 of us walked up the Bacon Track to Highcliff Road and then up to the summit of Harbour Cone. It was fairly steep but I enjoyed the walk. I estimate the return trip would be 5kms.

Sunday 15 February

I met Craig at the Nairn St /Taieri Road interesection. Craig drove to Flagstaff Forest and we walked up the tracks for 45 minutes and did the return trip in 40 mins. It was a very steep track.

When I got home I rode a bike from home to Display n Sell and back. The 12km trip took 40 minutes

Otago Peninsula Challenge

245 walkers left Allans Beach at 9am. I decided to push myself up the first hill and found myself in 16th place. The walk over the farmland was pleasant but rain and wi nd in the first 3o minutes dampened" the enthusiasm slightly.

On the way down to Papanui Inlet the grass was very long and slippery. Apparently some competitors were battle scared on this section.However our inflatable dinghy was ready to ferry us across the inlet as soom as I arroved. From here it was a stroll along Victory Beach. We passed a sea lion and seals. Department of Conservation workers were close by to the wildlife. It was a very nice beach.

From here it was up another long steep hill ono a road, more farmland and the final road home.

The walk took 2:38:42. I wanted to do under 2:45 hrs so was pleased with this achievement.

It was nice to met met by my friend, Craig who took me back to my car at Allan's Beach.

Sandfly Bay

This afternoon the Caversham walking group carpooled to Sandfly Bay after meeting at the Woolworths carpark.

It was a warm and overcast day as 16 of us headed to a viewing platform. From here we went down some steps and a steep sand dune onto the beach. It was not a long walk but the views and wildlife were wonderful. We saw a sealion ad its pup, seals, oyster catchers and one penguin.

We walked along the beach and up to the viewing hide. This was where we saw a penguin .

The walk up the sand dune that we came down was a small challenge.

Sandymount

Saturday 24 January

Today was the first summer walk for 2009. 11 members from the walking group met at Woolworths carpark and carpooled to Sandymount on the Otago Peninsula. The walk was a loop taking in the "Chasm" and "Lover's Leap". It was a very hot day so we did the 2.3km walk in just over an hour. We had a number of stops which were awe inspiring.

Old Soldier's Monument with Noel

Yesterday Noel Matthews and I left my school at 1.15pm and walked to the Old Soldier's Monument via Tomahawk. Once at the monument we came back to school via Highcliff Road. We got back at 3.45pm.

It was a lovely warm day with no wind. We took a leisurely stroll as we had a great catch-up. I also took a number of photos as I was annoyed with myself for not taking my camera last time I did this walk.

Silverstream Walk

Yesterday John and I drove to the outskirts of the Waiora Scout Camp and started our walk at 1.10pm. It took 1hr 20mins to reach the start of the Rain Gauge Spur Track. The first part of the walk was mainly uphill through the bush beside the old water race. I felt comfortable on this track but felt the stinging neetle often.

The next stage on the spur started with a very steep climb on hands and feet. After that it was a steady climb for 1hr 10 mins until we hit the gravel road.

The gravel road down to the car took 1hr 15mins which was walked at a steady pace. I estimate the distance for the 3hr 35min walk was about 18km.

Rock and Pillar Summit

Today John Aldis and I left Dunedin at 7.30am to drive to Middlemarch then to the foot of the mountain range. We started on our ascent at 9.50am. The ground was very damp and my feet and trousers got soaked. We reached Big Hut at 11.30am and had a brief stop before travelling to the summit in 25 minutes. We had lunch and came back to the hut.

We started our descent from Big Hut at 12.35am and we reached the car at 2pm. It was a slow descent for me as my knees bedcame very sore.

On or way up we met a lot of low cloud but great conditions for walking.

To School and Back

As I had to do a small task at school I decided to walk there and back. I left at 8.20am taking 2 hours and 5 mins. I spent 25 minutes at school leaving at 10:50am. The walk back took 2 hours and 10 minutes. The walk was 24kms return.

I had no blisters but felt quite tired when I had finished.

Poolburn

On Friday 2nd January, Denise and I walked on the Rail Trail from Lauder to the Poolburn Viaduct and return. We travelled toLauder via Middlemarch and Ranfurly.








The walk was held in very blustery conditions especially once we got close to thye Poolburn Gorge. At some stages the wind was so strong that the small bits of gravel felt like pin pricks as the wind swept the gravel onto our legs. When wew alked between the two tunnels we had to keep our head downs because of the grit getting into our eyes.

The 14km return tip took two and a half hours. We had a drink at the Lauder Hotel to get out of the wind.

Sunday 4 January

Craig and I resumed our Sunday walks. We met at the North Ground at 8.40am and walked up Leith Valley Road, Rockside Road, Tanner Road and around the outside of the Ross Creek Reserve until we came to John McGlashan College. From here it was onto Maori Hill, along Highgate and down Newington Avenue until we came to Queen Street. We resumed alongside St Hildas, Carrington Hall, down Park Street and back to North Ground. The walk took 1 hour 50 minutes which was around 9kms.