Kentucky

Hey guys,

It's about time I kicked off my first post....

Things over here in Kentucky have turned out a little different as expected.

As many of you know I came over here to the states on a swimming scholarship to study my degree and compete for 4 years with University of The Cumberlands. I had been training hard in the pool until mid-October when I learned some bad news. The NAIA had decided to penalize me 3 years of competition due to my acceptance of financial reimbursements for nationals over the past few years which I had received from my club back home. They claimed this to be an unfair advantage having accepted 'money'. Consequently, the University made the decision to only allow my scholarship to run through to May when the academic year ends. As a result of this decision I will be continuing my studies here and in May I will be transferring to UTAS.

The University has appointed me to the positions of Assistant Swim Coach and the sole Fitness Coach (Personal Traning background) - taking charge of and the development a new dry-land program.


This means I can come home and resume modelling with Smitten Merino which is a huge plus!

Anyway, I arrived to a humid Kentucky August. Settling in was a little different.....manditory participation in the Annual Gallon Challenge....1 gallon (3.78 litres) of milk to be finished in 1 hour and held down. As being one of only 2 to succeed; throwing up after was inevitable (decided not to post the video!).


The Smitten sleeveless T was a perfect choice for the challenge when the air turned from humid to a little fresh.

Thanksgiving Break (November 23rd-28th) saw me travel to Rhode Island, down to Philadelphia via Connecticut, New York & New Jersey. I then headed back up to New York for a night and then travelled to Ohio and back down to Kentucky.


As one would expect, November's weather had turned to chilly zero degrees celcius so rugging up became vital. Hitting up Broadway (above) I wouldn't dare have left my hotel without wearing my Smitten Leggings and Crew Hoody underneath my coat. It was imperitive that my body core temperature remained stable.

It's now December and dumpings of snow have become a regular occurance. temperature is consistantly below freezing and as one can imagine, my Smitten gear: Leggings, Crew Hoody, Boxer Shorts, Zip Jacket, and both my long and short sleeved Crew Neck Top are getting a HUGE workout.


My Smitten Merino Singlet is working perfectly in the gym, keeping my body dry in allowing moisture to be whipped away from my skin.....

....Couldn't ask for more.

Keep up the good work Smitten Merino.



Until my next post...



Charlie Gard

Photos from the Asian Jungles

Hey Guys,
Quick update to say I am really happy to be part of the Smitten team.
I do not know how I did without Smitten products on the roads and rivers of the world.
I am in the middle of a 3 month tour of Asia and wearing Smitten almost every day.

In the Sumatran Jungles I was instructing an advanced white water course on the Asahan river with an Indonesian kayak group. From Indonesia I headed up into the cold mountains in amazing Central China. Here I was paddling the big waves and huge rapids of the Salween River, Yunaan Province.

In the hot and humid jungle I wear a light weight Smitten T's, both on and off the river, they breath save you from the sun and don't stink.

In the cold Mountains of China I was wearing the super heavy weight tops and bottoms as the sole layer under my dry suit.

Photos of China to come soon but for now enjoy the Asahan Valley - Sumatra

SMITTEN RANGE IN LAUNCESTON

Smitten merino is available at the Mill Providore above the Stillwater Restaurant in Launceston near the old Kings Bridge at Cataract Gorge. Both the Outdoor range and fashion range are there to be checked out and there is a great art exhibition above that you can check out while you are there.

Cheers Carl and Nic

SMITTEN GOES TO MAINLAND

SMITTEN MERINO GOES TO NORTHERN NSW. Smitten merino with the Mason family went on a trip to Northern NSW and Southern Queensland. In the attached picture above Holly is wearing smitten at Minyon Falls near Byron Bay and Brooke and Daniel are surfing at Byron Bay. There are a few shops looking to take on ranging smitten that we met on our trip. We will let you know when they start stocking.

Cheers Carl and Nic

Emma Weitnauer Wins Winter Challenge

Smitten Team member Emma Weitnauer wins the individual race in Tasmania's Winter Challenge multisport race. Emma who is the current Australian Multi Sport Champion won the Winter Challenge in the Huon region of Tasmania wearing a 150g long sleeve smitten merino crew top. The event consists of a run, mountain bike , road bike and paddle and is very grueling. Well, done Emma. Cheers Carl and Nic.

Tyenna river

Team Danger paddlers Carl Mason and yours truely, were joined by Dave's Alchin and Gray for an action packed lower Tyenna river trip last Saturday. Thus avoiding the possibility of bumping into Eric Abetz trying to conjour up some last minute votes. The water was cold, as was the air and the sight of snow laying on the nearby hills was comfirmation of this. A river level of just under 1m at Westerway gave the team just the excitement they'd come for.

Team Danger descend Ben Lomond

Team Danger, comprising of Yours truely paddling, Tom Wass mountain bike and Toms wife Sylvia doing the run managed a respectable 16th outof 34 teams in this months Ben Lomond Descent. Despite 2 members of the team drawing blood for the cause and a combined age of around 150 we're aiming for the top 15 next year.

Change in Polar Plans

An update on my upcoming polar trip with Pat Farmer. We had been scheduled to ski from South Pole to the coast in December this year but a delay in funding means we will now head north to south, beginning at the North Pole mid-April next year. This compresses Pat's running schedule to 6 months from Canada to Chile but is well within the capabilities of this running veteran.

I collected some of the Smitten Adventure Wear clothing last week, spending an hour with Carl looking at the best fabrics and styles for our polar journeys. Zip necks, thumb holes, 180g weight and a few different colours - all good for months of skiing over the frozen wastes. Here are some pics of previous trips using Smitten gear - the Victorian High Country, Greenland, Tasmania's Overland Track and the Antarctic Peninsula. The last pic is near my home in Mt Nelson, Tas, training for the first leg of Pole to Pole Run, from North Pole to Canada.

Thanks Carl and Nic, great gear!

Eric

DON MCINTYRE BOUNTY VOYAGE ON 60 MINUTES

Don McIntyre and his crew were on 60 minutes tonight. It was a great story of a remarkable voyage. Congratulations Don we were proud that smitten merino thermals were on the voyage. To view the story go to 60 minutes Austraia website. Click on video library and then click on Hell and high water to watch video of the voyage.

Carl and Nic Mason

Dan Hall ( Team Smitten) wins Ben Lomond Descent

DAN HALL WINS BEN LOMOND DESCENT



Smitten Merino team athlete Dan Hall Australian Extreme Whitewater Kayak Champion and Wildwater Champion wins Ben Lomond Descent. Great stuff Dan. Cheers Carl and Nic Mason

Smitten to South Pole

Hi all. I'm glad to announce that I'll be heading to the South Pole again in December. Instead of skiing there I'll be flying in and then skiing over 1000km back to the coast. So begins the first leg of Pat Farmer's epic trip from South Pole to North Pole over more than a year. I'll be guiding him on the polar sections, everything else he does on the run, literally. see www.poletopolerun.com. As always Smitten will be with us for the long haul. Thanks guys. Eric (www.icetrek.com)

More pics from Europe

Rapid Descent Racing team paddlers Stewart Bennett and Ben Maynard have flicked us more great shots from their European tour - cheers boys!

Tassie Boaters do Good at the Worlds

A big shout-out to Tassie paddlers Ben Maynard, Dan Hall, Stuart Bennett and Matt Dalziel, who are back from another successful European tour.

Here's the highlights:

Dan Hall

• 5th World Championhips Sprint Teams - Sort, Spain

Stewart Bennett

• 1st Soca International Classic - Kobarid, Slovenia
• 2 x 5th World Championships Sprint and Classic Teams - Sort, Spain
• 18th individual classic

Matt Dalziel

• 5th World Champiosnhips Classic Teams - Sort, Spain
• 17th individual classic
• World Masters Champion Classic

Ben Maynard - Overall World Cup Rank 18th!

• 2 x 9th Pyrenees Cup Sprint and Classic - Sort, Spain
• 3rd Austrian Championships Classic on the Steyr River
• 6th Soca International Sprint - Kobarid, Slovenia
• 2 x 5th World Championships Sprint and Classic Teams - Sort, Spain
• 20th individual Classic
• 22nd individual sprint
• 19th World Cup 1 Classic - Bovec, Slovenia
• 21st World Cup 2 Sprint
• 14th World Cup 3 Classic - Valtellina, Italy
• 8th World Cup 4 Sprint
• 16th World Cup 5 Sprint - Lofer, Austria
• 22nd World Cup 6 Classic

For complete results and images, check out Rapid Descent Racing. Top job boys - time to kick back on some Tassie creeks!

Bounty Boat Completes Epic Voyage!

Congratulations Don McIntyre and the fabulous crew for completing their Bounty Boat voyage. Check out the Bounty Boat Blog for all the details.

We are proud that Don chose Smitten Merino thermals for him and the crew to wear on the adventure.

Amazing job guys!

Freyscape Campbell Town to Coles Bay

It was a chilly start, but this year's Freyscape Campbell Town to Coles Bay still attracted a brilliant turn out. With some of Tassie's best local riders, all the ingredients were there for a great day's racing.

The chasing group hung together pretty tightly until the Cherry Tree Hill climb saw Genesys riders Ben Grenda and Nathan Earle break away - a decisive move that saw them take the number 1 and 2 spots. Big effort also from Adam Hartley who finished on the podium after a strong bunch sprint, a few minutes behind Grenda and Earle.

Check out the Cycling Tas site for the full race results.

Big thanks to Mark and Louise Padget from Freyscape for putting on an awesome event.

Cheers,
Zain Wright.

Bounty sails from Tonga

ok -our intrepid adventurers on the Bounty replica are now out on the high seas and wearing their smitten - go boys, we are very excited and proud of you all! Good luck! Take a look at http://www.bountyboat.blogspot.com

AgFest 2010

OK - countdown is on , only 6 sleeps until AgFest - we will be at site M87-cant miss us opposite the sheepdog trials , near the Eastern Entrance - see you there http://agfest.com.au

A fresh look

We headed out around Hobart on Saturday to get some pics of Smitten's new designs - take a look!



For more images, check out the Smitten Merino Flickrstream.

A big thanks to our models Holly and Charlie (good luck with that US swimming scholarship mate!)

Welcome!

Hi there, and thanks for dropping by!

We're all about connecting with the people and communities that love getting outside and doing their thing.

So please stay in touch. Send us your photos, stories, videos - whatever it is, we just love hearing from you!

Cheers
Nicola and Carl Mason - Co-Founders, Smitten Merino