Lifestyle Sports Waterfront 5k Fun Run and Walk Series, Chicago Bar, 31 August 2010 137 competitors fronted for Race 5 in the Lifestyle Sports Waterfront 5k series. The moderate (but chilly) southerly wind made for reasonable racing conditions, with a lot of competitors recording their best time so far in the series. Leading everyone home was Hamish Carson, 2010 NZ 1500m champion. Hamish was all class, winning with a time of 15min 12sec and the biggest winning margin (1min 38sec) in the history of the Waterfront Series. He was just 21sec outside his course record. The first person to break the course record will win $250. Second was Matt Harrop with Neil Sampson third. Leading the women home was Stephanie Mackenzie with a smart time of 18min 21sec. Bernie Portenski was second (19min 04) just ahead of Piret Klade. Walking machines Tim Dutton (28min 10sec) and Terri Grimmett (32min 37sec) continued their fantastic start to the series, making it five wins in a row in the men's and women's walk respectively. More

Official Opening of the Wellington Scottish Athletics Clubrooms, 28 August 2010 ANZ President Jim Blair's words,"I now declare the clubhouse reopened," brought a long process of rebuilding to a close. On show were a new kitchen, a new servery area, new honour boards, a set of 2010 photos of club members in action: marshalling, steaming across the finish line, falling over fences, pinning on numbers, and one race walker preparing for what appears to be a head-high tackle. All having fun, one way or another, in our sport.

Ruamahanga Ramblers' Annual Child Cancer Open Handicap Relay and Half Marathon, Belvedere Hall, West Carterton, 25 September 2010 The half marathon and relay is held over a three lap course (7.1/7/7) starting and finishing at the Belvedere hall. Relay teams can comprise three walkers and/or runners and teams may use under 16 athletes who can do split laps. Teams and runners are handicapped on their estimated times. A very social and enjoyable event, it can be also be used for a hit-out before the road relay champs. If you want to enter a team, or run as an individual please see Glen Wallis for an entry form. Entry fees are Individuals $15, teams $24 with all fees going to Child Cancer.

Lifestyle Sports Waterfront 5k Fun Run and Walk Series, Chicago Bar, 24 August 2010 The weather conditions were ideal for the 4th Lifestyle Sports Waterfront 5k. A very light (but cold) southerly and a clear sky resulted in a number of personal bests. 130 keen runners and walkers fronted, another excellent turnout. Leading everyone home was Levente Timar in a time of 15min 53sec, a substantial improvement on last week’s time. Brian Garmonsway was second in his first showing of the season with Jason Waite third. Tineke Berthelson won in a time of 18min 20sec on her season debut, with top local junior Florence Reynolds second and Natalie Gaskin third. Tim Dutton recorded a 20-second improvement over last week to win the men’s walk again (28min 13sec) with Terri Grimmett winning the women’s walk (30min 44sec). More

New Caledonia Marathon, 21 August 2010 Scottish veteran Grant McLean finished 6th in 2:43, in the hottest conditions he's ever raced in. It's now time for some serious work sipping mint juleps at poolside. Other Kiwis: Shireen Crumpton (Otago), 2:59; and Johan Van Hoovels (Auckland), 2:42. Grant was invited to run in New Caledonia off the back of his 2:31 marathon in New Plymouth earlier this year. He is making the most of the opportunity and taking his family along for a much needed, late-winter holiday. Results.

Mukamuka Munter Race, Orongorongo River area, 21 August 2010 WIth most of our members at the champs, Scottish turnout for the 29k mixed terrain race (including the assault on the Mt Matthews saddle) was limited. I spotted Andrew Kerr, and some "did not starts." Here are the results.

Wellington Road Champs, Reservoir Road, Wainuiomata, 21 August 2010 Plenty to cheer about here - a different course, but with a bit of a hill, a good Scottish turnout (just under half of the 10k field), good club performances, fair weather, and an event that was smoothly organised by the Wainuiomata Harriers. Stefan Smith and Tina Harris repeated their success at the Wellington Cross Country and took both first places in the senior grades. Scottish senior men ran in the first five places in the 10k. That plus an 8th place for the sixth runner meant retaining the 1921 teams trophy. Nicole Mitchell had a similarly dominant position at the head of the W19 race. Another start-to-finish leader was Jonathan Beresford in the B13 race (photo below). Bernie Portenski had her sights set on a W60 road record over the 10k, but missed by only 12 seconds. Among the runners, Scottish finishers numbered 87. Teams results for Scottish: 3B13, 1M16, 1W, 1M, 1M40, 1M50, 1W35. In the walking champs, Scottish were 1-3: Peter Baillie, Robyn McArthur and Terri Grimmett. Wellington Road Champs Final Results (Wainuiomata Harriers) | Rowan Greig's photos | Michael and Sharon Wray's photos

Lifestyle Sports Waterfront 5k Fun Run and Walk Series, Chicago Bar, 17 August 2010 After great weather for the opening two races in the Lifestyle Sports Waterfront 5k series, race 3 saw the return of the dreaded Wellington northerly. 116 keen competitors fronted for Race 3. The incentive of a peanut slab for anyone doing all three of the opening races no doubt helped boost the numbers. Leading everyone home was Levente Timar in a smart time of 16min 48sec. He was just 3sec in front of Peter Kelly with Matt Harrop third. Bernie Portenski recorded her first win of the series with a time of 19min 29sec. She managed to hold off fellow Scottish Athletics team-mates Tricia Sloan and Jenny McDonald. Walking machines Tim Dutton (28min 43sec) and Terri Grimmett (32mn 37sec) made it three wins in a row in the men's and women's walk respectively. More

Hit counts and hosting

Number of visitors since 1 July 2010 has been

Visitors in the year to 30 June 2010 were counted at 80,805, up by 12.7% on last year.  That's a hit every 6 minutes and 30 seconds, 24/7!

Scenic Sunday Series Run: 5 September - Aro Valley and beyond - 8am Start/finish at Aro Cafe, 90 Aro Street, cruising up tracks to George Denton Park then along Highbury Fling, Sawmill, Carparts past the Windmill and along Carparts Extension, retracing steps along the Carparts tracks, and heading down either Planet Ride or Transient. Most of these tracks are pretty sheltered so should be OK even if it's windy. Approx time 1.30-40.

On the agony of the half-mile race: 

A race is a conversation with yourself, motivational in quality, until somebody interrupts by pulling away from you, and then it becomes an exercise in fathoming limits. Losing is like knowing that, in the movie scene where a thousand die but the hero lives, you’re one of the obliterated . . . the right track term is "running in a pack." That’s us – a band of runners hardly separated. One keeps exhaling humidly on my shoulders. Another’s left forearm hits my right elbow on its backswing. A runner pulls up beside me – the way a freeway driver pulls even in the adjacent lane to take your pulse – and I assess his chances with a panicked glance. Not strictured yet; striding with more ease than I feel; biding his time; relaxed. Working up a freshly adrenalised surge, I gain a quarter-step on him, but purchased with the last of my reserves . . . . 

Ask any track coach. The half-mile is a race for unadulterated masochists. Neither a sprint nor a distance event, it has the worst qualities of both. It’s not a glorious race either.  A lot of people can name a sprinter or miler – Carl Lewis, for example – or a famous miler like Roger Bannister, but can very many name even a single half-miler? It’s not a legendary or even notable feat to beat other runners over 880 yards. At track meets, the half-mile contest is somehow lost between more compelling competitions, an event that unfolds while fans thumb their programmes or use the bathroom. Into this gap of a race, this sideshow, runners in search of a deeper agony than they can find elsewhere. They want to do battle with suffering itself. It’s the trauma they want, the anguished ordeal. It’s the approximately two minutes of self-mortification or private crucifixion. All half-milers have a similar love of pain. So this race is an intimation and an opening. In two minutes’ time, you get a glimpse. - "The Other" by David Guterson

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails.  Explore.  Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain, American writer and humorist

I cannot overstate the importance of having a vision. It is what you cling to, for dear life, when the project is proving particularly difficult — Sebastian Coe

How to find results: The newest results are put in the left hand column of the home page (here). Generally there will be also a link to more detailed results on this site or off site. Eventually they disappear off the bottom of the page as new material arrives at the top. By that stage, a title and a link is placed in the dated list below. Soon after the month has been finished, this list is copied into Results, a calendar of results, but the list also stays on the home page for a while. If you know the month of the event you are after, click on that month in Results. If from an earlier (October) year, click on the years at the top of the results page. If the result is in the miscellaneous page (small events or small Scottish participation), you search in the current year by date or go to the bottom to find earlier years. (There must be a smarter way of doing this, but I haven't thought of it yet!