The Otago Daily Times counts down the 150 greatest moments in Otago sport.
No 20: Joe Scott becomes New Zealand's first world champion (1888)
Of course, when your dominant skill is something called "pedestrianism", you are probably going to struggle to leave a lasting impression.
But Scott was a superstar of his time, and he was also New Zealand's first sporting world champion.
He walked. And walked and walked and walked.
In a simpler time, before the glitz and glamour of the Super 15 and the NBA and the English Premier League, competitive walking was one of the most popular sports.
The athletes - yes, they were athletes - competed over distances but also over time, seeing who could cover the most ground in a set period.
Scott was born in Ireland, in County Donegal. His family then lived in Australia for a time before settling in Otago.
The New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame's profile of Scott reports he was 10 years old, weighed just 23kg and was just over 1m tall when he won his first significant race, an invitation two-mile at the Caledonian Ground.
"He beat the previous year's winner and was said to have been congratulated by the Governor, Sir George Bowen, with the words: 'Bravo little man. Well walked indeed. Some day you will be champion of the world'.
"Scott was almost unbeatable in New Zealand over the next 10 years."
In 1879, he became New Zealand champion, after walking 106 miles in 24 hours against eight others. In 1885, he beat the visiting British champion, Arthur Hancock, by walking 114 miles in a 24-hour match.
In 1888, Scott went to Britain and won an extraordinary six-day contest (12 hours a day) for the world title at London's Agricultural Hall. He won in a record distance of 365 miles, 1150 yards.
When he returned to Dunedin, Scott was "carried triumphantly around the ring at the Caledonian Sports wearing his silver championship belt, as the band played See The Conquering Hero Comes", according to The Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
Scott worked as a bootmaker in Dunedin, but continued to walk long distances for the exercise. He and wife Isabella had seven children.
He was just 49 when he died on February 9, 1908.
He was inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.
