SH3 in HH3land

This week's SH3 run is being set by In-U-Endo who being Hatyai-ishly inclined is using a runsite familiar to all of us who regularly frequent HH3. Details are:

Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1815, Saturday April 2, 2016, 4:30 p.m.
Hare: In-U-Endo
Misdirections: From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4.7k and turn left for 8k, then right (at Wat Keow Kloy into Poonakan) for 7.35k  and turn left at the hash sign. Follow the bendy road  (i.e. don't turn off) for 3.3k and turn left at the hash sign (500m past the Wat and 300m before the railway crossing). Follow the road for 200m to the run site on the right.From Hatyai, the turning off of Poonakan is about 5.5k up from the Kanjanawit junction at the corner of PSU and is on the right.

HH3 are still agonizing about their run on Sunday. Details will be posted and/or emailed should they come to hand before Sunday!

The Anonymous Cartoonist

Today's HH3 run

Misdirecions from Songkhla are:

From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Htatyai road for 4.7k and turn left then go 8k to Wat Keow Kloy and turn tight into Th. Poonakan. Go 5k and turn left just before Wat Tungnai then follow the road for about 3.5 - 4k until you see the hash sign on the right. Turn right and follow the road for about 1k to the run site at the end of the concrete where the road turns into a track.

From Hatyai, take Poonakan for about 6k from its junction with Kanjanawit Rd at the corner of PSU, to Wat Tungnai and turn right then follow the directions above.

Scenic Saturday

Saturday's SH3 run is more or less guaranteed to include some of the most gob-smacking views of Songkhla around - those above were posted on facebook by hare Olive Oyle after a recce earlier in the week; so you know what to expect.

Details are:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1814, Saturday March 26, 2016, 4:30 p.m.
Hares: Pee Wee and Olive Oyle
Misdirections: From the Kao Seng intersection take the old Yala road for 4.1k and turn right at the end of the army base wall. After 500m, turn left onto the gravel road and go about 300m to the run site on the left. (From Hatyai. the turning off the old Yala road is 6.4k North of the Ang Thong Intersection with the New Yala road and is on the left).
Hatyai H3's run this week has not been announced yet so watch this space - or any other space you want to watch; or more practically come to the SH3 run on Saturday and get the directions there.
Finally, don't forget there's a quiz night tonight at the Office Bar, at 8:00 p.m. Quiz master: Eightball.

Full Moon 127 - for all those who couldn't make it....

A great trail (even if I say so myself), a lovely warm evening, the moon rising over the hill tops, some great jack-fruit curry and a couple of cases of Leo on ice. Last nights full moon run had it all...except people. With the rest of the hash mysteriously otherwise engaged, attendance plumetted to a new low of 10 people - 2 hares, 2 non-runners, 4 long runners 2 short walkers and a dog, although they don't count at HFMH3! But it didn't matter much as those who made the effort bravely did their duty and more or less polished off the Leo, leaving the run site a little after 11 p.m. having put the world to rights once again.

For the record the long run was about 7k and the short run about 4k. The checks seemed to keep everyone together until about number 5 when the long runners found the trail and left before the walkers, Stick Insect and Perky and accompanying hare, Egghead, who was having difficulty finding the paper, arrived. The gap which developed was instrumental in the decision for the walkers to do justice to the efforts of virgin hare, Spotted Dick, who set the short run, rather than walking the whole long run, leaving Beavershot, Innuendo Yardstick and Buk Toy (in that order) accompanied by Mii to polish off the rest of the long run in about 1hour 20 minutes.

Footnote: It is traditional for hash names to be rendered in HH3 format when referring to Full Moon runs, since HFMH3 is after all, the daughter hash of HH3. However as this is the second month in a row when HH3 have to all intents and purposes abandoned HFMH3 to its fate (and we are counting the ever faithful Buk Toy as an SH3 runner which he most assuredly is) this might just as well be Songkhla Full Moon H3.

Granted there were also some significant absences from the Songkhla fold but if we are going to carry on holding HFMH3 runs, HH3 might like to give some consideration to actually supporting the hares, who put a lot of effort in on a very hot day to make sure that there was a trail to run and to Only a Yolk a.k.a. Moo Sahb who kept us all fed and watered as well as supplying and administering the Leo.

Come on guys! The next full moon run will be held on 12th April and will be from Egg Towers and we will be entertaining the Malaysian guests who will be joining the SH3 run on Songkran day. So let's get that date firmly into your personal organizers and make sure we have a good turnout!

Spotted moon and quiz night

This month's full moon run will take place tomorrow, Thursday March 24th and will feature virgin  (as far as HFMH3 is concerned), hare, Spotted Dick who along with Kai Jeow, will be trying to find some trails we haven't run around the environs of Napong.



Details are:
Hatyai Full Moon Hash House Harriers run #127,
Thursday March 24, 7:00 p.m.
Hares Spotted Dick and Kai Jeow
Misdirections: From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4k and turn left for 5.2k, then turn left (opposite the temple arch at Borogam) for 500m to the run site opposite the big sala.
Usual stuff applies: Bring a hand/head-light if you are intending to run and some food if you think you're going to be hungry. Beer will be on sale at 3 cans/bottles for 120 Baht, or if you prefer, bring your own and share with your mates.

This month's quiz night is on Friday (25th March) at the Office Bar (8:00 p.m.) and will feature Eightball as quiz master, thus revealing the vulnerable flank of the teachers team, ripe for exploitation by the currently victorious hash team. A likely surfeit of hash members threatens however, and there could be two teams; so come along and help the hash to spread itself too thinly and give the opposition a chance.

Finally, details of Saturdays SH3 run will be posted separately a bit later, but pictures posted on facebook suggest that a trip down the old Yala road to the reservoir is on the cards.
Keep ya' posted.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

No, not the hare, well not only the hare anyway, but Saturday’s run. The Good, the pleasant winding running trails at the top of the hill; the Bad, the overgrown trails and rubber plantations that we previously knew like the back of our hand; and the Ugly, the scared hillsides and valleys brutally decimated by the bulldozers and diggers, which were once either boulder strewn almost virgin jungle, or otherwise were scenic hand worked terraces with lovely winding trails.

After 3 days of scouting a slightly longer than planned run was able to be salvaged from what was left of this previously fantastic piece of country. Well, it still is quite wonderful country but due to the increasing use of machinery in the transport and terraforming of the rubber plantations, there are very few walking trails up and down the hills as there once were. If you are planning on setting a run in this area it may well be best served in consulting with Egghead and a couple of others who have extensively scouted the area (it would have saved me countless hours).

The long run overall length was 9.3kms, but that included the 8 checks, 8 false trails, and 3 check-backs. The total ascent on the long run was about 350m, reaching a maximum height of approximately 200m. The first long runners were back in about 1 hour 40 mins. The medium run was 4.2kms with an approx total ascent of about 200m. The short run was just 3.1kms, with a total ascent of about 70m.

Directional guidance

Greetings from glorious Phuket! Where your directional guidance person is currently enjoying a few days well-earned directional guidance.

But do not despair! Yardo is on the case and has sent these well-guided directional... directions to ensure that you are well guided (directionaly speaking) to this Saturday's runsite.

Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1813, Saturday March 19, 2016, 4:30 p.m.
Hare: Yardstick
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 1.1k to the run site on the left (a total of 2.2k from the big tree).

Hatyai H3's run on Sunday? well, er.. got no idea and will have to update the blog later 
Sorry! 
Meanwhile where's that beach.... er, bitch, er,.... beer. Directional guidance needed here!

1812 and all that

Three official runs with a number of interesting variants: The long run (cyan-red-cyan was about 6k with a total ascent of 255m and took about an hour five. The medium (cyan), which Olive Oyle made her own was about 4.9k and hit the same maximum height of 177m. The short run (cyan-green) was a mere 2.5m except for Only a Yolk and Super Pig who went off to try and find a different medium run but were eventually forced to accept that it didn't exist and returned the way they came. New runner Chris Grimes found the hill on the long run challenging and accepted the hare's invitation to take the short run home. Gan Yao and Perky did their own things - separately. But the upshot was that everybody did something - even Bung borrowed the GM's motorbike and went off to trim his tappings, or whatever it is that one does to a rubber tree.

Aliens!

Part of the farang contingent on this afternoon's HH3 run. Click on it!

A quick one behind the school.

This week's SH3 details are;
Songkhla Hash House Harriers run # 1812, Saturday 12th March 2016, 4:30 p.m.
Hares Egghead and Harram with technical guidance from Fatso (above) and White Meat.
Misdirections: From the Kao Seng intersection take the old Yala road for 8.1k and make a U turn about 100m before  the 7-11 at Ban Dan. Come back 100m, past the school and turn left then follow the road for about 1.5k until you see signs of a run site. Parking on the road may be advisable as our normal run sites are a wee bit overgrown.

In case you haven't heard, Bai Meang has closed it's gates for the last time so the beer truck will at some time be changing its weekly point of departure. As far as is known this week should still be ok, but in case a late change occurs it may be advisable to check out other likely in-town venues (notably the Hot Bread Shop in Sisuda Rd.) if for any reason the BT fails to materialize at the former Bai Meang by 3:00 p.m.

The whereabouts of Sunday's HH3 run were being kept a closely guarded secret as of the time of posting but details will emerge fully formed by the time of the SH3 run on Saturday.

This just in: Erection results!

Well, no. Actually we had our annual erection almost two weeks ago. But with typical hash efficiency, only now are we getting around to reporting the results. So without any further ado, here is your Mismanagement Committee for 2016:

  Grand Master              Kii Ling
  On Sec                           Throbbin' Hood
  Hash Cash                    Egghead
  Hare Raiser                  Yardstick*
  Beer Butch                    R2D2
  Hash Haberdasher      Only A Yolk
  Cultural Adviser           Sex Sprinter
  Bloggenführer               Beavershot

Within a day or three I'll put up these names and contact information on the side bar, over there with the humping dogs -->

*Yardstick also seems to have taken on the job of Beer Token Czar, and is currently trying to sort out quality control problems with the first batch of tokens.

Dehumped

Saturday's run. There was going to be a second hump to the lower right but after getting over that first hill I decided enough was enough. Including all checks it was about 8km, or just short of 7km without them. Roughly 300m of ascent with a high point of 225m, which is still about 150m below the top of the hill (near the scout camp). Next time we're going all the way!

Vietnam Mountain Marathon

Here's the link to the Vietnam Mountain Marathon site, as found by Pee Wee who reckons it's the perfect run for hashers. It takes place September 24-25 in Sapa, in the mountains 380km NW of Hanoi. It's easy enough to get to Hanoi via Don Meuang on Air Asia, but you'll then need to take either an overnight train or a death-defying bus ride.

Distances offered are 10km, 21km, 42km, 70km and 100km. If you're tempted by the 100km ultra marathon, keep in mind that it includes 4,300 meters of ascent. The shorter runs aren't quite so bad. In fact the 10km run looks no harder than some hashes we've done, with about 500m of ascent (though unfortunately all in the latter two-thirds of the run). Click on these to see them big.

The 21km has about 1,000 meters of ascent, but it's an A-to-B so there's a net descent, plus it's generally downhill after the 6km mark.

This is quite a small event. There were just 145 runners on last year's 10km run, with the fastest finishing in 55 minutes and the slowest in around 3 hours. There was nobody in the over-60 age category so any one of us geezers could have won it. (Fastest time for males ages 50-59 was 1:50.)

Winning time for the half marathon was 2:06. There were nine men in the over-60 category and the fastest came in at 3:26 and the slowest at 5:42. Well, actually the 9th guy didn't finish and it's hard to blame him.

See the site for all the details, including complete transport/accommodation packages.

One hump or two?

"I'd walk a mile for a Camel!" the old cigarette ads used to say. Saturday's runs will be a little longer than that but at least you have a choice: a nice gentle single-hump short run or a more ambitious double-hump long run. 

Songkhla Hash House Harriers' Run #1811, Saturday March 5th 2016, 4:30 p.m.

Hare: Beavershot

Misdirections: From the Koh Yor Intersection take the old Hat Yai road for 4.7k. Turn left and go 8k. Turn right into Punnakan Rd. and go about 5.5k before turning left (as if going to the Khuan Samrut Maditation Center). The runsite is on the right after 900m, just beyond the power pylons. 

Sunday's HH3 run is from opposite Gold Star on the left hand side of the old Hatyai road at about 11.5k, just after the elephant camp and just before the big black Buddha. The hare .is Sex Star. There is likely to be an on after in Buk Toy's yard following the run.