Runz dis wik

Huge thanks to Palm Job and R2D2 for stepping up  to set this week's SH3 run. Details are:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers run #1608, March 31, 2012: 4:30 p.m.
Hares Palm Job and R2D2
Misdirections: From the Ko Yo intersection take the new Yala road for 3.5k to the runsite on the left.
Hatyai H3's run on Sundays is at Sala Unteng. None the wiser? Neither are we, but it seems likely to be down Poonakan at around the 6k mark beyond Wat Keow Kloy. More details at SH3 on Saturday.

The day before's Songkhla run: an ode to Beaver

(With apologies to Led Zeppelin).
             It's been a long time since I did the stroll
             Ooh, let me get  back, let me get back, let me get  back
             mm-baby, where I come from
             It's been a long time, been a long time
             been a long lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely, lonely time 

Here's a question: When was the last time that two rescue operations were mounted for the same hasher on the same weekend? And more to the point, when did we ever have to rescue a hare for chrissakes? Ok, so on both occasions Beaver managed to get back under his own steam, but Kii Leum was looking worried on Saturday as night was falling and Beaver was still out practicing for his long lonely lay the next morning.

For the record Kii Leum/R2D2/Cattle Prod's epic was just under 8k, reached a measly 281 meters and involved only about 350m total ascent. 

Let's forgive them the finer distinctions of what kind of check was laid under the village latrine and let's not quibble about the F down Chum Pho 1 - this was a great run, and whilst Beaver's Sunday hop got the top marks for technical merit and artistic impression, Saturday's run got 10/10 for effort - most of which was put in by the pack as it struggled to get back in 1 hour 30'ish.

Today's Hatyai run

As you can see here, it was mostly along the rim of a bowl-shaped and very steep valley. From the beer stop (just left of the lowest point of the top line) we could hear you all the way around. Vital stats: total length 7.7km, total ascent 620m, highest point 340m (about 25m below the peak). This was supposed to be a dry run for the Midsummer Monster, if it happens, but I'm beginning to wonder it that's a good idea . . . .

Our inspiration: shouldn't all hares be like this?

Ok, Ok, It's been done before, but you've got to admit this is the definitive picture of tomorrow's chief hare and the inspiration behind the team of experts who have been working around the clock to bring you...

Songkhla Hash House Harriers run #1607, Saturday March 24th 2012, 4:30 p.m.
Hares: Kii Leum, R2D2 and Cattle Prod
Misdirections: From the Kao Saeng intersection take the old Yala road for 8k and turn right before Ban Dan School then go 1.5k to the run site on the left.

The word is that this is a great run with lots of nice shady trails, some of which DO NOT APPEAR ON YARDO's DATABASE!!!!! so we may never have run them before - at least not in the last 3 or 4 years. So this is not a run to be missed.

Sunday's HH3 follow up to last weeks glorious run and party is another not-to-be-missed run and details of the directions from Hatyai can be found below. If you are coming from Songkhla, take the old Hatyai road for 4.7k and turn left for 8k then turn right at Wat Keow Kloy for 7.33191 kilometers and turn left into Soi Baan Nai Rai then go 1.3k and the run site is on the left scenically located under an electricity pylon. The hare is Sex Focus aka the Beaver and the run will start at 4: Off T arrival p.m.

The aviator

After, what is it now, 12 years? -- only one person has figured out how to deal with the inevitable vagaries* of an Egghead run . . . circle overhead in an ultra-light till it's over, then come down and drink the beer.

*Not to say they're not totally enjoyable to those of us stuck on the ground running them . . . really!

It's official . . . the Ides of March Run

The pack express their appreciation to the hare.

Yes, it's finally here . . . the Ides of March Run. 2,056 years and nine recces in the making! Daring new heights where no hasher has ever gone before! You'll run like a Roman Centurion, and then party like one too!

Time and date: 4 pm. Sunday, March 25
Hare: Beavershot
Misdirections: This is an HH3 run so all we can tell you is to go down Punnakan Rd. from the Hatyai end* for 3.5km, then turn right on Soi Baan Nai Rai. Turn left under the big power pylons at 1.3km and you'll see the runsite on your left.

*We trust that SH3 Trailmaster Egghead should shortly be able to provide the distance down Punnakan from the other end, at Wat Khao Kloi.

On the left, Sunday's nuptual celebration run, on the right Stick Insect's SH3 run from Saturday. Not much between them, Saturday's long run was a couple of hundred meters shorter, and they both hit about 180 meters and featured downhills-from-hell. Sunday's run had slightly more checks and a few more runners but didn't feature lunatic Myanmese with parangs hunting dogs. Saturday's run on the other hand didn't feature a Miss Hash contest nor the consumption of almost the entire Hash reserve of beer (which now stands at 4 cans!) The short runners on Sunday got in at more or less the same time as the long runners - and some way ahead of the back of the pack (go on, guess...) The short run on Saturday despite being considerably shorter, straggled in well after the long runners were hitting the beer. Just another weekend.

Newlywed nightmare

So imagine, you're celebrating the joyous occasion of your wedding and then . . . this happens. Arggh!

Anyhow, congratulations Jim & Nok. A great run and a great party. On-on!

A remarkable discovery

Your correspondent has recently unearthed a fascinating discovery: a trove of old, hand-tinted postcards of scenery from around Songkhla. Their age and provenance are unknown, but regular hashers will recognize a number of the features of the local landscape, virtually unchanged today. More to follow if anyone is interested. (As always, click to embiggen.)

It's still coming!

"On-on! It's the Ides of March!"

. . . just delayed a week!

A Sticky nuptual weekend

Sunday's HH3 run has to marginally take precedence over Saturday's Sticky run, seeing as it is a special run to celebrate the marriage of SH3's very own ex GM, Sex Sprinter who also, coincidentally, in his guise as Sex Printer happens to be HH3's GM, and Budokan who equally coincidentally is SH3's Super Pig. 

The run details are shown below in SH3 format i.e. from Songkhla:

HH3 run #576 (at a guess!), Sunday March 18th 2012, 4:00 p.m.

Hare: Kai Jeow

Misdirections: From the Ko Yo Intersection, take the new Yala Road for 9k to the run site on the right in the Tung Jaeng restaurant. 

There will be a party immediately after the run starting at 6:00 p.m. with dinner and entertainment laid on. Ladies are being advised to concentrate on making themselves look beautiful and to leave the running to the men who are excused from looking beautiful but might want to bring a change of clothes to avoid being unsightly in the nuptual photographs.

SH3's warmer for the main event, is in itself an eagerly anticipated outing, as Stick Insect is the hare, and the run site is only just around the corner from Sunday's location. Details are:

SH3 run #1606, Saturday March 17th 2012, 4:30 p.m. 

Hares: Stick Insect and a rejuvenated Pak Ma

Misdirections: From The Kao Saeng intersection take the old Yala road for 11k and turn right for 1.5k to the run site on the right on or near to the football field.

On a final note, for those of you who notice these things, has anyone else spotted the deliberate error on the wedding invitation which might just prove to be prophetic in regard to blessed unions? Or am I just being a geek? Don't answer that! 

Auto Pilot's excellent run - better late than never

Thank you Beaver for that accolade; but it wasn't me sir, honest, it was the hill wot dunnit! It's hard to go wrong on that side of the Beaverchute, and even the trail down on the other side which R2D2 and Kii Leum memorably failed to find going up late last year, was actually pioneered by Yardo and needed some pruning to prevent it going the way of all trails. But Cat's disappearance notwithstanding Auto Pilot worked well and it felt about right - 5 1/2k and just over an hour even for those who unlike this weekend's bridegroom short cut the in trail; max. elevation 234 meters for whoever found the 3rd F and total ascent 220 meters.  

More Ruen Thai Thaksina pix

Lost and found, and a farewell

Well, SH3 can no longer claim never to have left a hasher out in the jungle overnight. (I don't even know if this was technically true, but I've heard it said to new runners . . . you know, back when we still had new runners.)

The lost member of our flock was Cat the Dog, who at the hash styles herself as Paak Maa. She failed to return from yesterday's run and even a dusk rescue mission by her owner, Stick Insect, turned up no sign of her. So in the darkness after the circle . . . we abandoned her.

Nonetheless Stick and I agreed to meet this morning for one more search attempt. I was actually looking forward to a dawn walk around Egghead's excellent run but it turned out otherwise . . . there was Cat, waiting patiently at the runsite. Now it only remains to be seen if she'll try harder to keep up with us, or will really start getting lazy, now that she knows she has a next-day pickup service.

On a sadder note, The Online Scum has been informed of the demise of Daeng a.k.a. Chickenkiller, the original and greatest of Songkhla hashing dogs. We hadn't seen much of her lately but despite her advancing years she still seemed to love the chance to come run with us. Happy trails, Daeng, as you romp through that giant chicken coop in the sky . . . .

Clunk whirr... Auto Pilot engaged.

For those of you who are getting tired of Egghead runs, join the club - Egghead is getting tired of Egghead runs and Saturday's upcoming addition to the now approaching 250 lays in the last 12 years will be three in 6 days, which for someone with no imagination, less free time and precious little creativity is pushing it a bit. But it's being set at a favorite SH3 runsite and there will be a  modest hill, a wonderful waterfall as well as some great running along the rubber terraces and a pleasantly undulating in-run. The run will be under 6k and will take 1 hour ± 10 minutes. So it will probably be OK on the day.

Details of this apathy-fest are:
SH3 Run #1605, Saturday March 10th 2012, 4:30 p.m.
Hare: Egghead
Misdirections: From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4.7k and turn left for 10k, then turn left and follow the road bearing left after 300 meters, for 2.3k to the run site.


Sunday's HH3 run is being set by their very own harey workhorse, Nicheow and the run site is somewhere beyond the fishing-park-restaurant on the Prutoh-Tungyai road: from the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 10k and turn left at the Nam Noi traffic lights for 3.5k. Turn right and follow the road for about 1k until you see a sign (Lawdy! Lawdy! Ah see a sign!). 

A moon shot

More outstation run pix coming soon but, as promised, first this shot from last night's full moon run. 'Twas a fine romp through the rubber followed by entirely too much beer.

Full Moon 85: Your hare for today

Sensitively snapped by Beavershot, tonight's hare relaxes with a fellow pussy.

Hatyai Full Moon H3 run #85; tonight; Wednesday 7th March, 7:00 p.m.
Hares: Full Moon and Kai Jeow
Misdirections:From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4k and turn left for 6.8k to the run site on the left.
Bring a hand light, bring some food, and if you're Changophobic bring some beer.

HH3 Ruen Thai Thaksina Outstation Run pix, part I

Phatthalung groupies

In the absence of anything graphic from Hash-snap...

Post-Phatthalung rambling

A gentle 5k stroll for those who hadn't been able to make the highly successful HH3 outstation run and those who had but wanted more (or were brain-washed into believing that they wanted more) was turned into a more serious examination of our sanity as the rain which had accompanied the drive south and had also partially flooded Hatyai, moved over and stationed itself for the hour and ten minutes of the run above Kao Lam. It continued until just about the moment that a seriously disoriented Gan Yao who had been the instigator/inspiration for the run wandered back from the wrong direction, seconds after the final two runners on paper, Only a Yolk and Knob Goblin had wandered in from the correct direction. Other casualties of the rain included Stick Insect whose glasses got steamed up and Hand Job who aborted the short run just about as far from the run site as she could and took a long-cut home by road, arriving several minutes after the other 4 short runners.

But all-in-all a good turnout, for what should probably go down as an SH3 run although the meager beer sales will probably be carried forward to Wednesday's full moon run. Shame we didn't have a coffee machine on hand as we would have done a roaring trade at the post-run huddle which never quite ascended to the level of a circle.

Wednesday's Full Moon run will take place from the same run site. Details are:

Hatyai Full Moon H3 run #85, March 7th 2012; 7:00 p.m.

Hare: Kai Jeow

Misdirections: From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4k and turn left for 6.8k to the run site on the left.

Finally, whilst auto pilot is being dusted off and greased down (or maybe that's dusted up and greased down) for next Saturday's SH3 run, would anyone like to step up and volunteer to set a real human run? I know it's short notice but long notice doesn't seem to be working much better at the moment!

Sunday...maybe...or maybe not.

So far, the proposed non-denominational run on Sunday is teetering on the brink of viability. The run has been recce'd and can be set more or less at an hour's notice so a decision is likely only to be made based on the feelings of the bulk of SH3/HH3 who will be kayaking on Sunday morning. As long as there is enough interest, the run site will be:

From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4k and turn left for 6.8k to the run site on the left,

and the run would start at 4:30. 

Anyone who has already expressed interest and will not be at the outstation run (City Tits, Gan Yao, R2D2, Julie, ) will be contacted as a matter of course if the run goes ahead. Anyone else who is interested should call Egghead on 081 969 1227 after 1:00 p.m by which time a decision one way or the other will have been taken. 

But if it doesn't go ahead - no worries, there will hopefully be a full moon run next week on Wednesday and the run directions above may well be good for both that run and also for next Saturday's SH3 run!

It's coming!

Outstation II: A question of scale

Let it not be said that warnings were not issued! It turns out that Ruen Thai Taksina is a full 35 kilometers beyond the Trang - Phatthalung flyover and a good 7k beyond Taksin University. The map above is completely accurate with the red bed marking the spot. Thanks to Yardstick for his unerring eye for detail.
Red bed?