Into the unknown

Like a flashback from 11 (or was it 10?) years ago, there was some debate at the Full Moon run the other night about whether tomorrow, 1 January 2011, marks the start of a new decade or not. Taking the nay side was Softcock, who quite reasonably maintained that the first year of the Christian era should have been Year 0. Logically it probably should have been, but unfortunately:

1) It wasn't.

2) Even if they'd wanted it to be, they didn't have a zero

Anyhow 1/1/2011 has the look of a new decade to me, so here are a few thoughts on the last one and the new one to come.

Cast your mind back exactly ten years, to New Year's Day 2001, and you may remember a very different Songkhla Hash. Well I don't, because I didn't even start running here till six months after that, but I think we can safely say that:

• We were a much larger hash, with a steady stream of new runners, returnees, and visitors.

• We had many more active hares, and few if any of them set (or needed to set) more than a handful of runs per year.

• We still had a real hash bar, the late lamented Parlang, and regularly practiced that grand Hash tradition of the on-after.

• We were generating new breakaway hashes. Our first offspring, the Hatyai [Sunday] Hash, was already in the process of establishing itself, to be followed a couple years later by a second one, the lively little bastard known as Sadao H3.

In short, we were a big, active group still pretty much in the mold of the classic 1980s and 90s' SE Asian international hashes, as still found today in places like KL, Singapore, and Phnom Penh.

Well, we're not that anymore. We're much smaller, we get disappointingly few new runners and visitors, we're largely dependent on just four or five superhares, and for all purposes we've become reunited with what remains of Hatyai Hash. (And Sadao Hash? Who knows, but let's hope it carries on in some form, if only once or twice per year.) On the other hand, consider the upside:

• We may be small but we're more dedicated than ever. As you'll see below, almost two dozen people came to 40 runs or more this past year. Whatever the weather, wherever the runsite, whatever the reputation of the hare, we can always count on the hardcore turning up and going out.

• Ditto with our hares. They're fewer in number but they're there when we need them. And one result of fewer people setting more runs is that they're now generally far more experienced and skilled than the average hare a decade ago. Together with GPS, that means a better standard of runs (uh . . . usually). In fact I can't remember a year more filled with good to great runs than this past one.

• We may seldom meet up anywhere after runs, but we now bring our dinner party with us, every single run. No one seems to know of any other hash anywhere that has food of the quality and quantity that we do. We should be hugely grateful for the generosity of our food providers.

• Songkhla-Hatyai have in effect become a single hash offering up two good runs every weekend. Many of us always run both whenever we can, and the styles of the runs and the circles are just different enough to keep things interesting. Plus our partnership has led to some really good extra-hash activities, notably the treks up Khao Luang (2008) and Khao Jet Yawd (2010), a revival in outstation runs, and even a few sleepover hashes close to home.

So it seems that for each thing we've lost, we've gained something else. Even the new roads that have cut into our running country have opened access to new areas and runsites. Really the only big question for the coming years is whether we can maintain enough critical mass to carry on at this level. Oh, and how long we can continue to sneer at the physical limits of geezerhood. Ten years ago most of us were in our 40s (OK, late 40s, but still). By the end of the decade that begins tomorrow most of us will be pushing 70. The only rational response? Ignore the calendar, continue the stupidity, and redouble our efforts to grow old disgracefully.

Now the drumroll please . . . courtesy of Egghead, the godhead of all Songkhla/Hatyai hash data, here are stats on the top SH3 runners and hares in 2010 (dogs excluded, sorry). No big surprises, though we would note that Stick Insect, with more runs than anyone else including even the Beer Truck Driver, clearly wins this year's "Get A Life" honors. In addition to the usual suspects, we also note the strong haring performance of R2D2 and The Pussies, the latter of whom continued to go well above and beyond the call of duty in the food arena as well. And is it possible that Knob Goblin has run with us only 69 times, and has set just 3 Songkhla runs? It seems far more traumatic than that. (Apologies for the crap formatting -- if this site does columns I certainly can't figure them out.)

Runner -- Runs (2010/Lifetime)

Stick Insect 51 926
Buk Toy 50 772
Egghead 50 548
B. T. Driver 50 362
Only a Yolk 49 509
Peppered Pussy 49 434
Nosin 46 944
Crackwurst 46 701
City Tits 45 1002
Knackerwurst 45 936
Meals on Wheels 45 264
Sex Sprinter 45 195
R2D2 44 193
Temporary Relief 44 164
Tutee Fruity 43 326
Chao Ngor 42 544
Solong 41 777
Ram It In 41 444
Safe Sex 41 356
After Ours 40 642
Softcock 40 311
Beavershot 36 292
Knob Goblin 33 69
Palm Job 31 423
Phone Sex 31 97
Self Pumper 30 458
Yardstick 30 342

Hare -- Lays (2010/Lifetime)

Egghead 16 131
Only a Yolk 15 93
Sex Sprinter 9 31
Buk Toy 8 63
Beavershot 7 55
R2D2 6 15
Hand Job 6 8
Stick Insect 5 68
Crackwurst 5 53
Meals on Wheels 5 13
Peppered Pussy 4 35
After Ours 4 23
Temporary Relief 3 12
Tutee Fruity 3 28
Knob Goblin 3 3
Yardstick 3 23
Roadrunner 3 30
Khii Leum 3 22

1 lay each in 2010: Ram It In, Softcock, Palm Job, Gaseous Clay, Gan Yao, Phuk, Schmuckme Witherspoon, Dung Beetle, Rotten Johnny, Last Lover, Wet Spot, Smeghead, Pig Porker, Yolk's Polk

Kurt Vonnegut in one of his books claimed to distill the ultimate wisdom about life into three words: "It goes on." For Songkhla Hash, past, present, and future, it's even simpler: On on!