Free runs and three beer!

...or maybe that should be...
Yes, that's it! With the full moon falling on Monday, but a lot of people being otherwise engaged, the full moon run has been brought forward and will now follow the SH3 run on Saturday, and since the Full Moon Hash finds itself unaccountably flush, it will be sponsoring the booze and some food after the run.
Details are:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers run #1772, Saturday May 30th 2015, 4:30 p.m.
Hare: Sex Sprinter
Misdirections: From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4.7k and turn left, then follow the road for 8k to Wat Keow Kloy and turn right into Poonakan and follow it for about 1.2k, then turn left and follow the new concrete road for about 300m to the run site on the right...
And,
Hatyai Full Moon Hash House Harriers run #119, Hare: Sex Printer, details as above, except that the run will start shortly after the end of the SH3 circle - around 6:45 p.m. Up to that point beer will as usual be on sale from the beer truck, but once the Full Moon hash takes over, the beer will be free and there will be some wine as well for those with more discerning palates who don't have to worry about hangovers on Sunday! There is likely to be enough beer and wine to last all evening but do bring some food along (emphasis added at the request of the HFMH3GMette!) if you feel like it, and don't forget your hand/headlight if you intend to do the full moon run.

Sunday's Hatyai Hash run will be set by Pong Ning, aka In-u-Endo who will be undertaking his virgin lay for HH3 and is looking for a bag carrier with a GPS to keep him company on an early afternoon trek around the hills above Ban Nai Rai. precise directions on the map below; directions from Songkhla up to the map are: From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4.7k and turn left then follow the road for 8k to Wat Keow Kloy and turn right into Poonakan and follow it for about 7.5k, then turn left and follow the road for 3k then turn RIGHT and follow the directions below. There was talk of the run starting at 4:00 p.m. last week so if you think you will be later than that, give someone a call to warn them!

Not the Hatyai Marathon

With Several HH3 regulars involved in either running or organizing the morning's Hatyai marathon, Kai Jeow stepped into the breach to set a modest run, just in case the early morning start had been a bit much for those involved. As it turned out, the run was 7.1k without the F's and X's, well over 8k with them all, and had a total ascent of 289m even though the highest point was only just over 170m. But that didn't seem to bother Tsunami  who was first home in 1hr 10mins. The short run was 4.9k and although it briefly got above the height of the runsite (108m) at the first check, it seemed to involve a lot more downhill than uphill until right at the very end when there was a 50m climb from the point of departure from the long run up to the runsite. Generally well recieved though, proving that using familiar territory from a new runsite is always a good ploy when you need to set a run at short notice.

The Directionally Challenging Run

A new scientifically proven fact was established at the hash on Saturday, when it was discovered that beer interferes with the homing instincts of even the most experienced species of hashers. After having consumed just one can each at the beer stop located at C05, all of the front running hounds decided that the runsite lay in an easterly direction, just 180degs from it’s true location. Lucky enough it was down to our relatively new runners Teewee & Olive Oil, to find the paper in the rough direction of the runsite with all the long runners coming in more or less together, having been tightly herded by the clever use (sic) of the 7 checks and 8 false trails (& a beer stop).

After almost killing the old geezer hares Yardstick & R2D2, the previous day while laying the paper, the long run, which was a measly 4.9kms (and only 6.2kms if you were unlucky enough to find all the false trails and the checkback), still managed to take 1hr 20mins to complete. Even the ascent was only 300m, so why did it feel so long?

The short run was a lengthy 2.9kms by comparison, with an ascent of 122m. This run was completed by nearly all those not on the long run, although with a bit of coercing by R2D2 who promised an easy stroll with only rolling hills. New runner Gary was not impressed by the mountain goat country, but he too managed to complete it along with short runners in just over 1 hour.

 

 

Big Nutbrown Hare saves the day (with help from little Nutbrown Hare!)

Attempts to induct some of our less age-endowed runners into the haring hall of fame didn't quite come to fruition this week. But never mind! Yardo is back to make it all ok, with R2D2, his faithful sidekick to boot.
Details are:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers run # 1771, Saturday 23rd May 2015, 4:30 p.m.
Hares: Yardstick and R2D2
Misdirections: From the Kao Seng intersection take the old Yala road for 16k, then turn right (at Wat Khun Thong) for 2.7k. Turn left just after the inverted ‘V’ arch over the road, and proceed 1.5k to the runsite (about 200m past the end of the concrete). Anyone coming from Hatyai should get to Ban Tha Kham then take the Eastbound arm of the crossroads past Sai Kao Resort, past the big tree and on for another 800m, then turn right before the arch and follow the road etc. for 1.5k to the runsite.


Sunday's H3 run is being set by Kai Jeow from a runsite  out beyond Nern Pijit. From the top of Poonakan Rd by Wat Keow Kloy, take the Southbound road for 3.4k, following the road as it bends right at Wat Nern Pijit, then turn left just after the wat and follow the black-top road for 500m, then turn left onto a track and follow it for 1,.6k. The run site is on the partially cleared area on the left.

1770: The hare's indulgance

Not long go, HH3 treated us to a run which, crudely speaking, went in the same general area as today's SH3 run albeit in the opposite direction, from a different run site and at a lower elevation. The result was not universally lauded, and today's hare was so underwhelmed by the prospect of not getting up to the top of the hill and running along the ridge, that he went up anyway and did what amounted to a recce for today's run.
Ok, so this is not exactly unknown territory although some arboreal cleansing has turned what was, when it was first used, in the lost boy run (run 1290) more than 9  years back, a pleasant shady climb up the hill, into a rocky trail best got out of the way quickly. But the ridge trail that follows is still worth the climb as it snakes its way eastwards affording some simply glorious views of Songkhla.
Today's run was in fact a fairly close copy of the lost boy run although rejecting the valley trail on the South side of the runsite by which the short run returned in favor of a brief flirtation with the hill on  the northward side of the valley. But having got that out of the way, the trail was almost identical, and at 8k all up (7.1k without the F's and X's) with a maximum height reached of 225m and a total ascent in excess of 350m, was a demanding ask, which took the first runners home about 1 hr 15 mins. The short run, in contrast was a mere 2.4k and was described as pleasant but undemanding although it did take in the flirtation on the right hand hill before following the familiar trail back along the river.
There was a brief moment of deja vu when it was discovered that new runner Jannine had opted to follow the long run paper rather than follow the short run, but she was happily discovered having done the sensible thing that Tapeworm's son managed not to do on run 1290, and was picked up by the hare coming down the road from the top of the hill. Otherwise, the long and short runs seem to have managed to arrive more or less together give or take the odd short cut.
We do a lot of runs in the same country - that's inevitable. But there are some runs that stay in the memory, often for the wrong reasons. But today's run, or bits of it represent the best of Songkhla hashing. We are lucky that we live in a part of the country, or maybe even the world, where the geography and the economy conspire to render the area almost perfect for hashing. The hills behind Sai Kao vilage might have been designed by a creator with hashing in mind and of all the 200 runs which this hare has laid for SH3, this is the run that sticks in my mind. So I hope the older hands will excuse this piece of nostalgia - an indulgence in resetting a run so perfect in its mixture of flat trails and manageable hills, exhilarating down-hills and wonderful views,  and the ability to use the country to keep the pack together (ok, let's leave Gan Yao out of this!) right up until the end.
On! On! to 300!

A rant and a special run

 Beaver draws a line in the silicon (see comments on Is it a mountain yet? below)

Some months ago it occurred to me that around New Year 2016, if all went well, I would celebrate both my 800th run and  my 200th lay. Ok, so I was a bit behind schedule with the lays but raising the hare rate from 24% to 25% seemed perfectly feasible; so some sort of special run with maybe a T shirt was penciled in for the first run of 2016.

But that's all gone to pot, because though run 800 is still due in early 2016, the 200th lay will now take place on Saturday, the hare rate having risen to 26%, largely because the number of active hares these days has fallen from a historical low to a level where only 5 or 6 people are regularly setting runs. No problem! I love doing it and I know that In-u-endo would have liked to set the run this week but has been prevented from doing so by work. Work also seems to be interfering with other people's hashing these days on far too regular a basis, but not everybody works on Friday and Saturday and as last weekend's live hare run proved, even if you do work on Saturday you can still set the run with a bit of forward planning and not risk getting debagged in the process!

Now I'm not the hare-raiser, but I think the time is fast approaching where we are going to have to force people to set more runs by allocating them a date and leaving them to negotiate a swap with someone else to a more convenient date if it doesn't suit. Otherwise what am I going to be aiming at for my 1000th run in 4 years time, 300 lays or 400?

"Nuff said (well, no, actually that needs to be said over and over again!). Saturday's run details are:

Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run # 1770, Saturday, May 16th, 2015, 4:30 p.m.
Hares: Egghead and mutts
Misdirections: From the Kao Seng intersection take the old Yala road for 16k (5k beyond the An Thong intersection with the new Yala road) and turn right before Wat Khun Thong. Go 3.5k and turn left just after the big tree, then bear right after 200m and follow the road through the village, following signs and paper for 900 meters onto the concrete road and turn right just before the chicken farm. Follow the road for 700 meters to the run site on the left.

Hatyai H3 will be running again this Sunday, but post-outstation lassitude has set in and no one seems to know who is doing what! Details will follow...

Beaver respect

Turns out Zombeavers wasn't so far-fetched after all. I normally wouldn't recommend a six-minute audio interview from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, but they say that this one is one of the most requested clips from from their entire radio archives, and when you hear it you'll understand why. You'll also think twice before you ever consider going mano-a-mano with a beaver.

We were ere 'ere were we?

Familiar territory indeed for Saturday's live-hare run but with the threat of being caught by the pack the hare probably knew the country a little better, and by the time the first two checks had gone "the wrong way" (whatever that means), there was little chance that short of a miracle the hounds were in with a chance of catching him. There was a further delay at the 6th check which is surprising as we have passed that way many times before, but then by that point Stick Insect's ailing Achilles tendon had forced him to abandon the chase and none of the other runners had much experience of the area. So the hare was in and safe just inside an hour with the pack taking about 1 hour and 10 minutes for the 6.7k.
Meanwhile, the short runners under the firm but fair guidance of R2D2 found the hare's un-recce'd trail a little too wild to follow, with the result that they spent rather longer picking their way across the rice paddies than anticipated and were another 10 minutes or so in arriving. A good turnout though, bearing in mind that the vernacular contingent were largely absent, although fair dos to the harriets, with Crackwurst, Thorny Hing, Wildflower and Temporary Relief keeping the local flag flying and, to give full credit to our ladies, Throbbin' Hood and Olive Oyle were also up there with the long runners as well.
At the end of the circle, it was discovered that, horror of horrors, the single slab of beer provided by the hare against the departure of the beer truck (which had anyway been relieved orally of its contents) had turned into one slab and 2 cases. Thanks to Conebrain  for the Tiger Light and a nameless donor for the bottled Leo which prompted a trip down memory lane as the remains of the box of bottle openers from a birthday run about 10 years ago were distributed to the rump remaining, valiantly attempting to drink all the beer. They narrowly failed, stumps being drawn at about 9:30, due as much to the fact that most people were, not to put too fine a point on it, a bit knackered, as well as being aware that there was a drive home to contend with.
But it was fun. We should do it more often!

I war was I ere I saw Rawi

This weekend is the Hatyai H3 island outstation run on Rawi, so Songkhla H3 this Saturday will consist of the exiles who can’t or didn’t want to join the trip, plus anyone one else who fancies joining us for a little light exercise followed by the odd beer or five. The run site will be at Egg Towers and the run will feature a live hare and should be capable of being managed by both long and short runners alike. Following the run there will be some food and the beer truck will be in attendance as usual, plus the hare will chuck in a slab for later, in case we want to sit and put the world to rights by moonlight.

Details are:

Songkhla Hash House Harriers run #1769, Saturday May 9^th 2015, 4:30 p.m.

Hare: Egghead

Misdirections; From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4k and turn left for 5.2k then turn right through the temple arch. Go ahead 200m and turn right keeping the temple wall on your left for 300m, then at the T junction turn left for 100m to the run site. Parking is up the road on the right.

No HH3 run this weekend as they will all be making their way back from Pakbara.