Feral Postcards
Date: Sunday, 13 May 2012
From: Anthony
Nail Can Hill 2012
The 2nd road trip of the year is complete. It should have been our 3rd but Yarrawonga was not possible due to the recent floods. This time we tackled the infamous Nail Can Hill in Albury, a hill we had read about but never really understood just how tough it is, until now!
Waiting at the starting line it was amazing to see local runners recognize the Griffith Ferals club. Just like at Falls Creek, as a group in our club shirts we are instantly recognisable and people stop to say g'day.
Adam & Sav led the pack of over 1500 runners early on, setting a good pace for the first 2km's before tackling the hill. Heff & Salmon were not taking the hill for granted and paced themselves ready for the challenge that laid ahead. And what a challenge it was. Over the next 2km we rose 150m, which may not sound like much but consider Dom's Dilemma is a 50m rise and you get a better idea. The gradient was quite steep, and as Heff noted "my legs were moving but I had to check that I actually was!"
The rest of the run was enjoyable. We followed the ridge line and then back down the other side to the finish line. Adam, although disappointed with his time, still managed a great result leading the Griffith team home. He came in 28th overall in a time of 46:16m. Sav was 39th in 47:38. The old blokes of Heff (91st 51:20m) and Salmon (241st 58:13m) did well, and even better in their age groups. Overall, we think we did pretty good given the toughness of the early parts of the course.
It was cold. Bloody cold. We stood at the finish line freezing, but lucky Salmon's brother lives in Albury and offered us a warm shower, that we happily (and separately) accepted! A quick trip to The Albion for a couple of schooners and counter lunch and the day was done.
Nail Can is a fantastic run and a real mental & physical challenge. Who is up for the trip next year?
Date: Sunday, 12 February 2012
From: Anthony
Falls Creek
Well we did it. Rodney, Adam, Heff and I went to Falls Creek to compete in the 9.4k (Rodney and Heff) and 1/2 Marathon (Adam & I) races on Saturday. We think we look pretty good in our Feral shirts and we certainly got a few comments too.
Rodney finished 3rd in his race, a great effort given the guy who came first is an Australian rep in cross country running. Adam did extremely well, finishing 8th overall in a field of over 100 1/2 marathon competitors. Heff & I were just happy to finish - it was a tough course given the mountains and higher altitude. Nothing a few beers last night didn't fix!
Date: Monday, 8 August 2011
From: Matt
Matt's visit to Pakistan
well, as is often the case postcards arrive after you get back from holidays.
I'm back from a 5 1/2 week trip to the Karakoram mountains in Northern Pakistan. I trekked the Deosai Plains and the Biafo and Hispar Glaciers. The Hispar La (5100m) is the glaciated pass that links the Biafo and Hispar glaciers, the Karakoram's second and fifth longest glaciers. Together they form the longest continuous stretch of glacier (114km). At the base of Hispar La is Lukpe Lawo, commonly called Snow Lake, one of the world's largest glacial basins. More than a dozen 7000m peaks tower above these glaciers.
The photo is of the Latok group - 7145 meters.
Date: Wednesday, 25 May 2011
From: Robyn
Feral Running Shoes
Dear Tracey,
Thanks to you and all the Ferals for the abundant supply of old running shoes. Rest assured, they were put to good use! (see attached photo). The Environmental club members at Griffith North PS took home an interesting herb garden to share with their families. Your help was much appreciated.
Keep running ... and keep wearing out those shoes!
Many thanks
Robyn
Date: Sunday, 20 March 2011
From: Bon