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AFRICA


It is appropriate that Africa is alphabetically the first of the continents, not only because Africa is “the birthplace of humankind itself” (to quote Zeinab Badawi), but also because Africa was the first continent on which I ran. As mentioned in the introductory essay on the Running page of my website, I was a 15-year-old pupil at a boarding school in Johannesburg, South Africa, when – as part of a training regime for an unsuccessful attempt to climb Mt Kilimanjaro in 1959 – I ran cross-country around the perimeter of the school's 240-acre grounds on more than twenty occasions. After that, however, I didn’t run in Africa again until late 1985. Since then, though, I’ve run in three African states: South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe.

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AFRICA: SOUTH AFRICA


In August 1998, I attended an electoral systems’ conference in South Africa, and on 10 August 1998 I ran for 48 minutes and 18 seconds in Pietermaritzburg. Six days later I ran to and around Cape Town’s Kirstenbosch botanic gardens. Then, 21 years later, when I next visited South Africa in order to see my youngest brother Charlie, I went running in Johannesburg on three occasions – each time for slightly more than an hour. Those five runs are the sum total of all the documented running I ever did in South Africa. I am pleased to say, though, that Charlie took this photograph of me while I was running past his apartment-complex in Parktown on 5 September 2019.

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AFRICA: SWAZILAND (now ESWATINI)


During my August 1998 trip to South Africa, I also went to Swaziland in order to see a friend whom I’d first met at primary school 43 years earlier. On 6 August, I got up early in the morning and went for a roughly nine kilometre run (that took me 46 minutes and 24 seconds) in the Sibetsamoya district, which is in the south-western corner of the country. My friend, Marie Holstensson, took this photograph of me afterwards. It was the only time I have ever run in Swaziland / Eswatini.

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AFRICA: ZIMBABWE


I have run three times in Zimbabwe. My first run there was on 18 December 1985, while I was visiting my brother Charlie, who was then working for Qantas and based in Harare (the country’s capital city). I ran from the centre of the city, past Prime Minister Robert Mugabe’s residence, along Borrowdale Road, and out to the house that Charlie was renting. The roughly nine kilometre run took me 46 minutes and 31 seconds, and led to a special note in my diary: “I’ve now run in 5 continents: Antarctica, Australia, North America, Europe, and Africa.” The next day I ran for 65 minutes in the Borrowdale / Chancellor Avenue area, and 13 years later – when I was again visiting Charlie, who by that stage was married to his landlord’s daughter and had four children – I went for my third and final run in Zimbabwe. I ran about 11 kilometres (in 56 minutes and 27 seconds) on the circuit road round the Connemara Lakes at Nyanga, after which Charlie took this photograph of me running together with his children.

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ANTARCTICA


I was hugely privileged to spend four months in Antarctica, where I worked from mid-October 1979 to mid-February 1980 as the Information Officer / Photographer for the Antarctic Division of the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR). Without that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it’s likely I’d never have been able to run in Antarctica. Because I went to Antarctica early in my running “career,” Antarctica was – quite unexpectedly – the first continent on which a run of mine merited a specific diary entry.

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ANTARCTICA


Prior to going to Antarctica, I’d run the Christchurch City-to-Surf race on four occasions. As a result, I decided I would sign up to take part in the annual Scott’s Hut race. Seven other New Zealanders spending some of the 1979-80 summer research season at Scott Base did so too, as well as an unknown (but far larger) number of Americans from McMurdo Station, the United States’ main Antarctic base. The race was held on 2 December 1979, and this is a photograph of the eight Kiwis who ran the 1979 race. Back row (from left to right): Daryll Thomson, Mark Sinclair, Doug Keown, and Rex Hendry. Front row (from left to right): Nigel Roberts, John McDonald, Ray Goldring, and Graham Lees.

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ASIA


Asia was the sixth continent on which I ran (having previously run in Antarctica, Australia, North America, Europe, and Africa). In all, I ran in five Asian countries over a period of 18 years: the first time I ran in Asia was in Nepal in September 1991, and the final time was in Japan in April 2009.

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ASIA: HONG KONG


In September 2000, I spent a week in Hong Kong, primarily to take part in an electoral systems’ symposium. On 21 September, I went for a roughly nine kilometre run on Victoria Peak (often simply referred to as “The Peak”), which took me 54 minutes and 32 seconds. Three days later, I went for my second and last run in the S.A.R. (i.e., the special administrative region) of the People’s Republic of China. This is a photograph I took from the lower slopes of The Peak looking down onto Hong Kong’s harbour.

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ASIA: JAPAN


In April 2009 I spent almost a week in Japan, mainly because I’d been invited to give a talk about New Zealand’s electoral system to diplomats and political scientists. While in Tokyo, I twice went for a run of about 10 kilometres. On both occasions – on 26 April and on 30 April – I ran from the Hibiya subway station to the Imperial Palace Gardens, then twice around the gardens before heading back to my start point; and each time the run took me just over an hour. This is a photograph that I took of other runners doing what I had done – that is, running round the Imperial Palace Gardens.

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ASIA: MONGOLIA


In November 2005 I was invited to Ulaanbaatar to brief a Mongolian parliamentary committee about a range of possibilities for electoral reform. After a long series of flights from Wellington to Ulaanbaatar (via Auckland, Singapore, and Beijing), I arrived in Mongolia’s capital late on Sunday morning, 13 November, and that afternoon headed off on the only run I went on during the week I spent in Mongolia. I ran from the Bayangol Hotel to – and then four times around – Nairamdal Park. It took me 60 minutes and 49 seconds, and I estimate that I ran about 11 kilometres. This is a photograph I took from my hotel looking across at central Ulaanbaatar on the left and at part of the park on the right.

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ASIA: NEPAL


I flew into Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital city, in late September 1991 to join a climbing expedition to Lobuje East, a 6,000-metre peak near Mt Everest. I ran twice while I was in Kathmandu: the first time was prior to leaving Kathmandu to start trekking to Lobuje East (and I duly noted in my diary that it was “my first run on the Asian continent”), and the second time was after we had returned to Kathmandu after our ultimately unsuccessful climb. On both occasions – on 29 September and on 2 November – I ran from the Hotel Kathmandu to the northern ring road, then past the Royal Palace to Durbar Marg, and back to my hotel, a distance of about nine kilometres. Each time the run took just over 42 minutes. This is a photograph I took of the entrance to the Royal Palace in Kathmandu.

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ASIA: VIETNAM


In the early 2000s. Heather spent three years in Vietnam working for VSA (Volunteer Service Abroad). I visited her there on four occasions – but I only ran once in all the times that I went there. On 8 June 2001, I ran from the Quy Hotel in Qui Nhon (the city Heather lived and worked in) to the Quy Hoa (pronounced ‘Wee Whah’) leprosy colony, and back. It was very hot and humid, and I ran very slowly: covering an estimated 10 kilometres took me 1 hour, 12 minutes, and 18 seconds. This is a photograph I took in the grounds of the leprosy colony of some of the busts of medical and scientific heroes (such as Alexander Fleming, Hippocrates, and Ivan Pavlov).

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AUSTRALIA


Australia is the only continent on earth that’s home to just one country – namely, Australia. It’s also the closest continent to New Zealand (which is why I have included New Zealand in this photograph that I took of a map of Australia), and as a result I’ve run in Australia on a large number of occasions.

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AUSTRALIA


As I have explained on another of the pages on my website, “After I started running seriously in early 1981, the first time I went to Australia was in December 1983. Heather, Evan, and I caught a direct flight from Christchurch to Hobart (a route that is sadly no longer in use). We landed in Tasmania at 5:30 pm on Saturday, 17 December 1983, and the next morning I went for 41-minute run along some of Hobart’s suburban streets.” Since then, I have run multiple times in each of Australia’s six states and two mainland territories. One of the most iconic features in Australia is Uluru / Ayres Rock – it’s unmistakeably Australian: this picture couldn’t have been taken anywhere else on earth – and, as a result, I chose this photograph taken by Eric Hodge to illustrate my running in Australia. Eric took it on 15 May 2013 when he and I ran the 10.6 kilometre loop-track round the rock in 57 minutes and 32 seconds.

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EUROPE


I first ran in Europe in 1985, and since then I have also run in Europe in 1991, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010, and 2012. In all, I’ve run in a total of 14 European countries – which is nearly half of all the countries I’ve ever run in.

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EUROPE: DENMARK

It’s appropriate that Denmark comes first alphabetically in the list of European countries in which I’ve run, because Denmark is the country in Europe in which I have run the most often – and that’s because Denmark was twice my base during a period of sabbatical leave after which I was going to climb one of the Seven Summits, and on both occasions I did a lot of running in order to get as fit as possible. This photograph of me was taken on 28 October 1994 while I was on a 13-kilometre / 66-minute run through the Marselisborg woods on the outskirts of Århus.

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EUROPE: ENGLAND

My first run in England (which was also my first run in Europe) was on 31 May 1985. Heather, Evan, and I had landed at Heathrow early that morning (after flying from Boston to London), and that afternoon – in an attempt to get over jetlag – I went for a run for 41 minutes and 53 seconds around Welwyn Garden City’s Stanborough lakes. This is a photograph I took of one of the lakes on 20 June 1985.

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EUROPE: FRANCE


I’ve run in France on only a couple of occasions – first, for 61 minutes and 9 seconds on 23 September 2006 in the Place d’Italie and Parc Kellerman vicinity in Paris; and, second, for 70 minutes and 49 seconds on 6 November 2012 in the Tuileries and River Seine area in Paris. This is a photograph that I took in 2012 of a section of the Seine’s riverside embankment along which I ran.

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EUROPE: GERMANY


I have visited the reunified Germany on three occasions – in 1994, 1998, and 2009 – and I ran in Germany on each of those three trips. The German cities in which I have run are Heidelberg, Mannheim, Grevenbroich (which is near Düsseldorf), Ulm, and Berlin. My 51-minute and 33-seconds run in Berlin on 22 April 2009 included both banks of the Spree river where it flows past the Reichstag building (which can be seen in this photograph I took a few days later).

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EUROPE: GREECE


While in Thessaloniki to attend Tonia Novitz’s wedding, I also enjoyed the only run I’ve ever been on in Greece. On 29 August 2001, I went for a 51-minute and 24-seconds run along the waterfront of Greece’s second-largest city. As this photograph I took of a portion of the Thessaloniki waterfront shows, I had to do a fair amount of people-dodging during the run.

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EUROPE: ICELAND


During a quick three-night / four-day research trip to Iceland, I was able to go for one run: on 19 November 2002, I ran from my Reykjavik hotel to Tjörnin, the city’s ponds, around them four times, and then back to my hotel. The run – somewhat more than eight kilometres – took me 47 minutes and 18 seconds. It was early winter, and a thin layer of ice on the ponds made views of the city across them especially attractive.

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EUROPE: IRELAND


During a quick four-night / three-day research trip to Dublin, I was again able to go for only one run. On 28 September 2006, I went for a nine-kilometre / 55-minute and 54-seconds run beside the Royal Canal in the Drumcondra Road area. This statue of the Irish poet, Brendan Behan, sits beside the canal.

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EUROPE: ITALY


In April 2006, I was fortunate to be able to spend 16 days in Italy studying the country’s electoral systems and that year’s parliamentary elections. I was also able to run five times while in Italy – four times in Rome and once in Calci, near Pisa. On 4 April 2006, for example, I ran from my hotel to the Garibaldi bridge, across the Tiber river and onto its west bank, then north, up river to the Ponte Margherita, before I turned round and ran back to my hotel. It was a run of roughly 11 kilometres and took me an hour and 56 seconds. While running along the west bank of the Tiber, I passed the Castel Sant’Angelo, which can be seen in this photograph that I took both of the river and of the castle.

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EUROPE: NORWAY


I’ve run in Norway on several occasions: in September 1991 (while I was observing the Norwegian local government elections); in November 1994 (while studying the Norwegian EU referendum); in September 2001 (while studying Norway’s parliamentary elections); and finally in 2006 (while passing through Norway on my way to Sweden). My last run in Norway was in Oslo on 9 September 2006, when I ran for 49 minutes and 15 seconds through and around the gardens surrounding the Royal Palace. I also took this photograph of the palace on the same day.

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EUROPE: PORTUGAL


While I was at a political science conference in Lisbon in April 2009, I went for two runs – the first (on 17 April) was for about nine kilometres and took me 51 minutes and 31 seconds, while the second (two days later) was probably for a bit more than eight kilometres and it took me 46 minutes and 4 seconds. Both runs included running in the Campo Grande park and round Lisbon’s bull ring (which is the building in the photograph).

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EUROPE: RUSSIA


In August 1994, I went to Russia in order to climb Mt Elbrus (which is Europe’s highest mountain and was the second of the Seven Summits that I climbed). I ran twice while in Russia. The first time was on 15 August when Greg Matte and I went on a roughly eight-kilometre run in the Adylsu valley (in a time of 47 minutes and 5 seconds). Because we were at roughly 7,000 feet above sea-level, the run was both tough and tiring. Thankfully, my second run in Russia was at sea-level and was far easier. On 21 August, I ran for 54 minutes and 22 seconds in St Petersburg, covering about 11 kilometres. My route included running past the Hermitage and round St Isaacs Cathedral, which is the building in the photograph above.

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EUROPE: SPAIN


In 2010, Heather and I spent eight weeks in Spain. Most of that time we were walking the Camino de Santiago, but we also visited several other places and while we were in the country I was able to run three times – once in Barcelona, once in Bilbao, and finally in Seville. Most of my 61-minute and 24-seconds run in Bilbao on 20 September was along the banks of the Nervión river and across six of the city’s bridges. This is a photograph I took on 20 September 2010 of the La Salve bridge, which is right next to (and looks almost a part of) the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim museum.

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EUROPE: SWEDEN


I’ve run in Sweden on several occasions in 1991, 1994, and 2006. My last run in the country was in Stockholm on 18 September 2006 when I ran for 1 hour, 14 minutes, and 50 seconds on a route that took me past many of the city’s well-known sights, including the Swedish Riksdag (i.e., parliament), and this is a photograph that I took on 13 September 2024 of the Riksdag (plus the Royal Palace behind it).

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EUROPE: SWITZERLAND


I’ve only ever run once in Switzerland. While on a climbing trip with Eric Hodge in France and Switzerland, I left the Hof hotel in the centre of Visp, ran down the Rhone valley, turned round after 33 minutes and 39 seconds, and ran back to the hotel in 32 minutes and 33 seconds (making it a run with a negative split – something that was fairly unusual for me). It was 4 August 2004, and this photograph looking down onto Visp’s railway station from my hotel bedroom window was taken on the same morning.

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NORTH AMERICA


After Africa, Antarctica, and Australia, in 1985 North America became the fourth continent on which I had run. However, because I’ve made countless visits since then to the United States, in particular, North America is the continent on which I have run the most often (even though I’ve run in only three North American countries – namely, Canada, Cuba, and the USA).

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NORTH AMERICA: CANADA


In 1988 I ran in two provinces, Alberta and Ontario, and 18 years later I added a third province, British Columbia, to my Canadian tally. In 1988, I stayed at the Inn on the Park hotel while attending a public opinion research conference in Toronto, and simply crossed the road on three successive days – 20, 21, and 22 May – to run in and around Wilket Creek Park and the Edwards Gardens. They were, I noted, “marvellous for running in.” The longest run I went on in them was for about 12 kilometres, which took me 54 minutes and 8 seconds. Seen above is a photograph I took looking out from my hotel bedroom and across at the park).

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NORTH AMERICA: CUBA


In late November 2010, Heather and I spent two weeks in Cuba, and while we were in Cuba, I went for two runs – one in Havana, and one near Trinidad. On my first run, on 19 November, I headed out and back along the Malecón for a total of 64 minutes and 22 seconds. I took this photograph the previous evening of a woman running along the Malecón, which is probably the best-known street in Cuba.

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NORTH AMERICA: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA


I’ve run more frequently in the USA than in any other country except New Zealand. Indeed, I’ve run at least once in all 50 states, as well as in the District of Columbia. (With the aid of quirky poetry and 50 photos, a sizeable page that’s accessible via the main Running page of my website details the first run that I went on in each of the states.) I’ve specially chosen the above picture to illustrate my running in the USA because it was taken by Evan on 12 November 2016 and it shows me running and pushing three-year-old Simon (Evan’s son and my grandson) in his stroller on the Stone Arch Bridge across the Mississippi river in Minneapolis on a roughly 10-kilometre run that took us 63 minutes and 52 seconds.

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OCEANIA


Three countries in which I’ve run are not regarded as being part of any of the world’s standard seven continents, but they are all in a part of the Pacific Ocean that’s often referred to as Oceania. (Australia is also regarded as being a part of Oceania, but as it’s also clearly understood to be a continent in its own right, I am not including it here.) The three countries in Oceania in which I have run are Fiji, New Zealand, and Vanuatu.

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OCEANIA: FIJI


Although I have been to Fiji on five different occasions, I only ran in Fiji on the fourth of my five trips there. In 1999, I went to Suva – the country’s capital city – to study the May 1999 parliamentary elections and to take part in a post-election forum. I ran in Suva five times during the week I was there. Each of the runs was for about 54 minutes and on each occasion my route took me past the presidential palace, where I took the above photograph of a guard at the entrance to the palace.

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OCEANIA: NEW ZEALAND


I have lived in New Zealand for well over 50 years. It’s where I started running seriously, and it’s where I’ve run all my marathons – not that I’ve run many. I’ve only run seven, but at least I can boast that more than half the marathons I ran were sub-three-hour marathons. The photograph above was taken of me on 5 May 1984 when I was finishing the Rotorua marathon (which was my first marathon as a “vet” – i.e., as a veteran or masters runner, because I was over 40 years old). My time for the 42.2 kilometres was 2 hours, 53 minutes, and 53 seconds.

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OCEANIA: VANUATU


I’ve been to Vanuatu three times, but I only ran there once. On 6 March 1995, I ran from the main wharf in Port Vila, the country’s capital city, into the centre of the city and back again. The roughly 10-kilometre run took me 45 minutes and 35 seconds. Shown above is a photograph that I took looking across Port Vila’s harbour at the ship, the mv Marco Polo, on which I was a guest lecturer on three separate occasions – in 1994, 1995, and 1997.

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SOUTH AMERICA


It’s appropriate that South America is alphabetically the last of the seven continents, because – as I explained at the top of this webpage – it was the last of the seven continents on which I ran. I’ve only ever run in one South American country, namely – Argentina, so it’s appropriate too that Argentina comes first in an alphabetical list of South American countries.

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SOUTH AMERICA: ARGENTINA


I ran four times while I was in Argentina. All four runs were in Mendoza – the first three times were in December 1994, prior to going on an expedition to climb Aconcagua, and the fourth time was in January 1995, when we’d returned to Mendoza after a successful climb. On each occasion, my running in Mendoza involved going to the city’s Parque General San Martin and running on the park’s lakeside circuit. The longest of the four runs was on 16 December 1994, when I ran some 14 to 15 kilometres in a time of 1 hour, 12 minutes, and 56 seconds. Shown above is a photograph I took of an unknown runner running round the Circuito del Lago in Mendoza’s Parque General San Martin.

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