Feral Postcards
Date: Monday, 21 June 2010
From: Johanna
Bye Bye - for now
Yes, it is true that I am leaving the Ferals - for a short while. I have accpeted the offer of an IT job at the My Baw Baw Alpine Resort for winter 2010. I will keep the website going from my remote location. I will also send postcards back to you all to make you want to be here with me. You can still reach me on my usual email addresses and if you need a snail mail address for me you can send red cross parcels and other mail paraphenalia to
Johanna Botman
c/- Mt Baw Baw Alpine Resort
PO Box 117
Rawson 3825
Just a quick g'day to say that I am alive and well and training at altitude. Well, sort of. Being in the office 6 days a week doesn't lend itself to getting out much. There's a gym with one treadmill but the competition for it is surprisingly steep. One of my lodgemates is training for a half marathon on Melbourne in July and regularly does 15km sessions on it. So on my day off, I have been walking and exploring the resort and the trails around it. We had 15cm of snow for the opening weekend and it was magic. No ski lifts running yet, though. Lots of people tobogganing. And since then it has rained all the snow away and returned the mountain to its green state.
The noise that woke me this morning was the sound of the snow making machines so there are white patches again.
Date: Tuesday, 25 May 2010
From: Brian
On the Gold Coast
Hi all
Just been lazing around on the gold coast, have been for a couple of runs , the first was to catch the number 700 bus to surfers paradise and the second was up the stairs and into the Kirra beach surf club for a couple of refreshing beers with tony where we watched plenty of people running. He is well and as you can see from the photo looking as fit as usual has even lost a couple a couple of kilos. Very proud of his stubby holder. Anyway ,will be back on the hill very soon and with a bit of luck Tony will catch up with those who make it to City to Surf.
Date: Tuesday, 25 May 2010
From: Tony
Here's Tony
And a photo from Tony reminding us all that he is still Feral.
Date: Thursday, 13 May 2010
From: Team Quade
from Team Quade:
Hi All,
Thought you may like a photo of our Tri ard.
Our family is extremely proud of his unrelenting determination.
Regards - Team Quade
Date: Sunday, 8 November 2009
From: Helen
Update from Helen ...
Just a quick note to let you know I backed up from the Olympic Distance Worlds on the Gold Coast by heading over to Perth for the Long Distance Worlds 5 weeks later. I was probably looking forward to this race more, because the distances suited me better – 3km swim, 80km bike, 20km run.
When race day dawned I knew it was going to be a tough one – it was blowing a gale, and the river looked like Bass Strait (but browner). We swam 2km straight into the chop and it was a real struggle, but then coming back with the wind behind us didn’t seem any easier – it was just plain hard. Swallowed a fair bit of water. Anyway, I came out of the water in 3rd place in y age group and jumped on the bike. I had decided not to use the disk because of the wind and I think that was a good decision, there were parts of the course where I was battling to keep the bike on the road anyway. I had caught the two in front by the 15km mark, and was still in the lead at the end of the bike. Averaged 35.6km/h which is pretty good for me, especially in those conditions.
Started the run with a 4 minute lead and still held that after the first 5km. I was starting to think maybe I could do this. Then things started to turn a little bit ugly – the soles of my feet started burning, then my knee and hip were giving me grief. I kept going, trying to ignore the pain and even saw 180 on the heart rate monitor, which I don’t do very often. It was also quite a hot day, well over 30 degrees. I was still in the lead with 5km to go, when alas, my main rival caught me and ran past me like a gazelle. Bugger! Still, I held on for 2nd and certainly can’t complain about another silver medal! Finished in 4.45 which I was pretty pleased with.
Of course, the day after the race was cool and cloudy, not a breath of wind and the river was like a millpond. Perfect for wine tasting ;-)
Bit of R&R now, then heading to Adelaide in January to see Cadel and the boys at the Tour Down Under.