Date: Sunday, 17 March 2013

From: Rodney

Yarrawonga Splash and Dash

The pack is back! Well, sort of. The old tour team of Heff, Johnson, Savage and Salmon were heading off to Yarrawonga for the 2013 Splash n Dash, a 10km run along the shore of Lake Mulwala. It was all organized earlier in the week - we will meet at 5:30am for the 2.5hr trip, giving us plenty of time for the 9am race start. But things soon changed.

Firstly, Heff & Salmon agreed to bring the meeting time back to 5:15am knowing all too well that the body clocks of these old guys will no doubt have the call of nature during the trip. We didn't want to be late for the race. For the record, lucky we left early! Then, during his regular Thursday morning training run, Heff was spotted holding his hamstring after emerging from a bush with a rabbit in his hand (Heff can explain if you are interested)! "I'll be good fellas" Heff told us. As you know, Heff was spotted finishing the Saturday hill run after sunset, his hamstring gone "but at least my drinking arm is still ok".

Heff was a no show, the pack was no more. But Heff being the top bloke he is, after agreeing to drive this trip, entrusted his car to Johnson so we could still travel in comfort. Thanks mate, much appreciated. It made for an interesting trip though - all Heff's 80's classics pre-loaded to the in-car entertainment system. Guns N Roses, AC/DC, Cold Chisel. This was looking good so we searched his collection further. One Direction, Boyz to Men, Culture Club, Spice Girls, Wham. Never knew he had that in him.

Anyway, we rocked up to the start line ready to tackle the 10 degrees temperature and 40km /hr headwinds. Yep, it was tough running. We met up with Fellow Ferals Kellie Kelly and Cheryl Wood who were competing in the 5km run and 1.4km swim respectively. Hats of to Cheryl who completed the swim in choppy waters in a whisker over 32 minutes. Brilliant effort!

As we expected, the run was hard work. Those headwinds were punishing and made for a tough run regardless of how beautiful the course was. Johnson finished 4th with a time of 39:09, Savage 6th in 39:29 and Salmon ran a 46:13. Kellie, not to be outdone, ran the 5km course in a great time of 36 minutes. As you can see by the photo, Kellie is now an official member of the pack, although her drinking skills are yet to be put through Heff's approval process.

Some of the Yarrawonga locals did very well. The winner crossed the line in an incredible 32 minutes and one young lass was so well endowed she finished after Salmon but before Savage!

The obligatory chicken parmigiana and beer was to follow, but 10am was just a little too early so we headed up the road to Berrigan and the local watering hole. Alas, the pub was closed so Jerilderie was going to get our business. Shock, all 3 pubs in Jerilderie were closed too! What is this? We don't live in Mongolia - this is Australia! So we headed north to Coleambally where the locals were more than accommodating and shared stories of knitting, taxidermists and rabbits.