Today's run and yesterday's news

Today's HH3 run is behind the Chinese cemetery at Ban Phru, in front of the autistic school at 6.956081° N 100.486193° E. From Songkhla  (or Hatyai for that matter) Get to the Klong Wa intersection between Kanjanawanit road and Route 43 beyond Macro/Central Festival and head south towards Sadao for 2k, then turn left into the Chinese cemetery and follow signs for about 1k to the runsite. The hare is Robocop...

...who kind of saved the day yesterday as just as it looked as if the long run was going to struggle to get a decent pack together, turned up with Square Peg and made it look respectable. Ok, so he short cut remorselessly throughout the run then POE'd to avoid the ice, but with several notable absences yesterday his presence was much appreciated. The long run was 7.4k and traversed 2 small hills before heading around the third one to arrive at the beer stop at exactly the same time as the short run who covered 4.4k all told, including about half the F's and 360's, even finding one of the X's which the long run had avoided. Bob from Yala was our new runner who said he would try to come again; Jump Shot and Yardstick were the token sinners for calling on on when not on, and Stick Insect who was first to the beer stop and first home was done for competitive running. Egghead and Harram were faintly praised for a reasonable run at short notice despite the goat tracks with which it commenced (and Cherie is still smarting about that anti-ungulate slur!)

Business as usual

An artist's impression of Saturday's SH3 runsite

After all that excitement last week at the HH3 outstation run, it's back to the routine business of accommodating the hashing masses of SH3 who, judging from most of the responses to Yardo's latest appeal for hares, are located elsewhere than in Songkhla! So if you are in Songkhla or its environs, please try to come along this Saturday and swell the numbers to make up for those who sadly cannot be with us as we can't afford to pay their airfares home.

For the occasion, the hare has found a totally new runsite, set next to a river which gently meanders between trees and beneath a rustic bridge. And the run itself is in an area to which we have not ventured for about three years and which anyway has changed beyond all recognition, so the whole experience will feel like a new beginning in your hashing life... until you get back to the runsite when it will be the same old beer truck and the same old beer!

Details are:

Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1921, Saturday April 28, 2018, 4:30 p.m.

Hares: Egghead and Harram

Misdirections: from the Kao Seng intersection, take the old Yala road for 14k (3k past the intersection of the old and new Yala roads) and turn left for 2k then turn right onto the track by the bridge into the runsite at  7.058570° N 100.664136° E. If you are coming from Hatyai, get to Tha Kham and head East for 6k then go straight ahead at the big tree for a further 3.5k to reach the old Yala road at Wat Khun Thong. Turn left for 2.3k then right for 2k then turn right into the runsite.  Final message, the short run will be A-B so if you are intending to do it, please try not to be late or let us know by phone that you are on the way so that we can hold the transport for you.

HH3 on Sunday? Hmmm.... It'll be added later.

HH3 Outstation 23...

These two pictures just about sum it up - no words are necessary!

Gas station?

Information about this weekend's outstation run continues to seep out like blood from a stone. But there is now a new meeting point which is at the PTT station immediately before the turn off to the resort. The entrance to the PTT station is at 7.891071° N  99.929704° E, which is 121 km from the end of the New Hatyai road's intersection with Route 4/AH2 . Time? Well, I am not so politely informed that all Thais eat lunch at 12:00 noon so it should be before then!

HH3 outstation: the lowdown.

No runs in Songkhla this weekend as HH3 are taking us off to Phatthalung for an outstation run. The details of which are:

HH3 run # ? (outstation run # ?) April 20 - 22, 2018.
Location: Somewhere in Phatthalung
Hares: ?
Misdirections: From the Ko Yo intersection take the new Hatyai road for 25k then turn right/north onto route 4/AH 2. Go 120 km and look for a hash sign on the southbound carriageway outside a restaurant called ?. Do a U turn and come back to the restaurant for lunch at: ? a.m./p.m. If you don't want lunch then turn left off route 4/AH2 after 122 km at   7.893027° N 99.929456° E and head East for at least 10 km until you see a hash sign outside a resort rendered phonetically as Nam Chum Pon. Go in and register your presence!

Ok, so there are a few details missing but they will all be filled in by Friday! Keep checking this post for updates.

1920: the run that ate Mrs. Garmin

RIP GPS: Mrs' Garmin who narrowly avoided being drowned just down the road at HH3 last year, and has not been feeling herself ever since has tracked her last satellite, refusing to perform on Saturday morning for the short run (green) which is therefore an "artist's impression" of where the middle section of the 3.6k went. The long run (cerise) is however Mrs. G's swansong and was accurate enough to detect the fact that the run just barely impinged on Yardo territory after the 3rd F, but otherwise did not cross his trails from recent runs. She logged the whole run at 8.6k but Google Earth lopped 10% off that and without  the 8 F's the distance was under 7k with a total ascent of about 200m, topping out at that 3rd F at 106m.
A strong turnout from our HH3 buddies and a couple of surprise returnees kept us over the 30 mark for the third week in a row but there will be no run next week in view of the the HH3 outstation run.

Enough water, already!

With Songkran appearing to have started a day early this year and with the probability that it will extend into the weekend, SH3 on Saturday afternoon will be a dry haven for anyone who thinks enough is enough, as the likelihood of encountering anyone with a water gun, hose or even a bucket in the wilds of Pijit are pretty much zero! So, wring out your undies, drain the water from your ears, put on your runners and join us at:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1920, Saturday April 14th 2018, 4:30 p.m.
Hares: Egghead, Only a Yolk and Harram
Misdirections: From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4.6k and turn left for about 10.3k (2.3k past Wat Keow Kloy) and  turn left. After 150m, bear right and follow the road/track for 1.2k to the run site in the rubber on the left at 7 00.642N 100 35.704 E.

Sunday's HH3 run will be set by Robocop and details will probably be announced on Saturday so will be posted here later. Meanwhile back to Friday the 13th when there will be the usual mayhem in Songkhla although the hash will not be 'running' officially for the first time in living memory. But Little Tool and Tool Box have stepped into the breach and will be holding a BBQ at their house at 11/2 Thanon Sadao Soi 3, (7°12'31.1"N 100°35'38.6"E or https://goo.gl/maps/jDLpD9wC7xH2, which is near the Chinese Consulate) between 10 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Leave your water guns at the door and take some beer instead!

HH3 saves the day

Ok, so SH3-1919 isn't necessarily the run that you are going to want to carry with you as you slip into senile oblivion as representing the zenith of hash perfection. But then HH3 went a long way towards healing the wounds. To begin with, any lingering after-burn from Saturday was dispelled as HH3 turned out more than 30 marshals (count them!) at 5:00 a.m. for the Songkhla Triathlon, who variously handed out rubber bands or plastic medals and generally kept the 5 and 10 k'ers in line, Then for some it was off to set a run or two which was completed in good time for the HH3 short-cut-crew to basically ignore the paper and run where they felt it ought to have been in the first place. But justice was done as Sex Printer in seeking to take one short cut too many at the last F, ended up rejoining the beginning of the run and limping in 20 minutes after everybody else.

The long run (cerise ) was about 7.2 k expanding to 8.4k with the 8 F's, while Jumbo logged the short run (green + cerise lower half) at a whopping 6.3k. Despite that he was the first at the beer stop on 45 minutes with most of the short runners arriving before the short-cutting duo of Sex Printer and Toy Boy arrived from the wrong direction, followed by the long run pack who drifted in and polished off all the beer within about 10 minutes. The final section then took 20 minutes to complete with a lot of the short runners realizing that the final F was right on top of their out trail and not bothering to check at all and thus tempting many of the long runners to do the same.

The dusty run site sent the assembled throng off into the rubber for dinner and the circle, which went on forever particularly once the hare was dumped on the ice as upcoming events were again discussed.  Registrations for the outstation run are at about the 30 level so if you are going to be joining you need to register next weekend which is your last chance.A good farang turnout seems to be guaranteed though, as Jumbo and Sex Beaver were added to the list today

An insect of habit

Ok, so no guesses as to who the SH3 hare is this week which on current form means that the run site will be in Napong. Sooner or later he's going to get it right, then we can move on to another run site!
Details are:
Songkhla Hash House Harriers' run #1919, Saturday, April 7, 2017, 4:30 p.m.
Hare: Stick Insect
Misdirections: From the Ko Yo intersection take the old Hatyai road for 4k and turn left at the Kuan Hin traffic lights then go about 6.5k (avoiding the straight ahead/left turn at 4k) then turn left for 500m to the run site just beyond the water tower at 7.070652°N 100.611909°E. From Songkhla town  you can avoid the Ko Yo intersection by taking the old Yala road for 11k from the Kao Seng intersection and turning right by the beer shop (about 1k past the Angthong intersection) then go 2k, passing Wat Kao Lam in the process, then at the crossroads go right for about 2k and the turning to the run site will be on your right. From Hatyai, take the old road to Kuan Hin then turn right at the traffic lights for 6.5k, etc.

Sunday's HH3 run also features a recycled run site from another habitual hare. The runsite is on the road between Keow Kloy and Nern Pijit: go South past Wat Keow Kloy for 1k and the run site is on the right at  7.011713°N 100.582178°E. The hare is Kai Jeow.

More smiles from Scotland

So that's where he belongs! Let's hope he doesn't get captured and taken back to his cage before Saturday when he will be the hare (more of which anon).

A smile from Scotland

...a "cold barbaric and sunless land" to quote McMucky. But as you can see, he, Perky and Luk Lang are having a wonderful time in Edinburgh, presumably having tired of the delights of Belfast Never mind, it'll be summer soon and Perky will be able to put the hood down at least!

Finally...

The 30 barrier was well and truly broken at yesterday's SH3 run and it looked as if we might get to 40 as well, but that target eluded us although there were more than 40 at the Full Moon run which followed. More importantly we had 6 new runners, 3 of whom enjoyed the experience enough to stick around for the FM run with another 3 newbies turning up for that.

The runs were... interesting, with the short runners reporting some varied terrain and the long run featuring the F from hell from which Egghead and Palm Job managed to find the FM paper so arriving home somewhat sooner than the rest of the pack who persevered at the top of the hill and eventually found the real trail. The FM run itself split the biggish pack into two groups with the front runners reporting good trails and a pleasant run, while the strugglers at the back lead by Jumbo and swept along by Buk Toy found the going tough and the paper hard to follow.

Back at the run site there was an early panic about the sufficiency of the beer which was duly supplemented from the SH3 remnants, but then it didn't all get drunk anyway as the card-school apparently needed their wits about them to ensure that they didn't get taken to the cleaners by Short Time who was on a streak. Last to bed was Palm Job who was all for carrying on with the party at 4 a.m. but was ordered into his tent by Sex Printer. Meanwhile the farangs all ducked the camping bit and snuck off, Conebrain being the last to leave around midnight.

Mi feels the strain