I have been an outdoor person all my life. We grew up with regular camping holidays, tramping and orienteering and we probably spent much of our childhoods outside.
Of course, my great love is orienteering. My parents began before any of us kids were born so we grew up with the sport but I used to go simply because, well, my parents made me so once I started university I stopped coming any more. It wasn't until 6 years later that I stumbled upon it again and have since become hopelessly addicted. I guess it was all about finding my own love of the sport. Related to orienteering is rogaining which I really started to get in to last year, even competing in the World Champs in November.
Oceania Orienteering Champs 2009
Through orienteering I got on to adventure racing (they seem to almost go hand in hand here in New Zealand) which meant I had to learn how to mountain bike and I am currently learning how to kayak. Endurance (rather than speed) is what I'm good at so adventure racing is pretty much perfect!
Macpac Autumn Challenge
And since I'd learnt how to mountain bike through adventure racing I thought I'd take up mountain bike orienteering (mtbo) too, racing in my first nationals a couple of years ago. Took me a while to master clipless pedals (I am naturally a slow learner and uncoordinated!) but now it comes naturally. Last year I competed in the Australian National MTBO Champs which was a totally awesome and amazing experience and am hoping to do it again this year.
Australian Mountain Bike Orienteering Champs 2010
Midway through 2009 I also took up rock climbing (again, after giving it a go the year before until I broke my arm and had to stop) and can be found at our local climbing wall with my climbing partner (my awesome brother) most weeks. We have finally got on to doing a lead climbing course and it's scary but awesome! I haven't done much outdoor climbing yet but just you wait...yeah, I'll pretty much give any outdoor sport a go at least once!
Rock climbing at Rapaki in Christchurch
In my life I've done so many events of so many different kinds that there is no way I could possibly keep track of them all but in the last 3 and a half years since "discovering" orienteering again I've got a lot more serious with training and racing. If you're ever bored, head over to my attackpoint log to see what I've been up to. Interestingly enough, the more serious I get about it all, the more fun it's becoming!
Running home from work