HFMH3 113, 4/12, SH3 1745, 6/12 & HH3, 7/12

.. which roughly translated means that the next full moon run will be on Thursday of this week, 4th December and the run site will be in the vicinity of the old football field on Poonakan. If you are coming from Songkhla that probably means that it will be about 3.8k down Poonakan from the Wat Keow Kloy junction, on the left just before the football field or if you are coming from Hatyai it will be on the right about 250m after the football field. The hare is Sex Printer and the public holiday the following day and the proximity to Hatyai should guarantee a big turn out of HH3 runners even if some of the SH3 regulars will be elsewhere engaged.

Click at your own risk to make it legible

Usual stuff applies: bring a hand/head light if you intend to run; beer is up to you, although there will be beer on sale as usual at 3 cans for 120 Baht, and contributions of food would be gratefully appreciated. The run should start at or shortly after 7 p.m.

Songkhla H3's offering this week is:

Songkhla Hash House Harriers run #1745, Saturday, December 6, 2014, 4:00 p.m.

Hares: Egghead and Harram

Misdirections: From the Kao Seng intersection take the old Yala road for 11.8k (800m past the Ang Thong intersection with the New Yala road) and turn right (just before the market at Tung Wang). Go 2k to a crossroad and go straight across then follow the (bendy) road for 1.7k and turn sharp right onto the road leading up Khao Long for 1k to the runsite on the right.

From Hatyai, get to the Tha Kham crossroads (2k North of Wat Keow Kloy, 7k West of Nam Noi) and take the road East towards Tung Wang for about 5k, then turn left under the new temple arch onto the Khao Long road and follow it for 1.6k (keep left at the Y junction after 600m) to the runsite on the right.

HH3's run on Sunday (7th December) was announced as being from Nam Noi School (Old Hatyai road, 10k, on the right) last week, but on recent form, the runsite may be up the road behind the school. Stay tuned for a map which will be passed on/posted when available. Hares unknown but likely to include Robocop. 

A few more Batu snaps

Khii Leum befriends a security guard.

Crack technicians prepare the runsite.

Just before the run.

At Batu Caves on Sunday.

And one more from Handjob . . . .

A rogues gallery on the ice after the run.

You know you're a hasher....

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers (and sisters)

Back in the days when I first discovered the joys of hashing, I recall writing a rehash which consisted entirely of sentences based on the pattern: You know you're a... when... etc., the upshot being to point out the fundamental illogicality of hashing. The point is amply illustrated by the recent trip to KL - a trip we have all been saying for many years we should make, which finally came to fruition on the occasion of the Batu Hash 25th anniversary run last Saturday.

Koala Humper, better known as Brian - chairman of the Batu H4 Anniversary
run organising committee makes Peppered Pussy feel...welcome.

On the positive side, Batu Hash put on a great event which 800 or so people attended, with copious food and as much beer or cider as a camel could drink. They also treated the SH3 contingent like visiting royalty, entertaining us at the Batu Hash clubhouse on Friday evening and generally making us feel as welcome as they possibly could. Sadly however the rain gods decreed that the day itself would be wet and the evening's entertainment had to be enjoyed from under the scant shelter available at the quarry where the run was held, and the conditions reduced the run - challenging by anybody's standards, to a combination of impossible ascents up muddy slopes and perilous descents best attempted with ropes and belays.

As shown above, it began in the quarry and after a small fireworks display, a modest pack estimated at no more than 100 and possibly as few as 60 long runners set off upwards then down to a road before cutting off along a track which should have afforded some good running had the rain not already made it treacherous. At the end there were 2 false trails which successfully brought the pack back to some sort of togetherness, after which the trail crossed the valley and headed up... and up....and up, eventually reaching a maximum height of 377m a little over half way round the trail and at least an hour and a quarter into the run - for some much more.  
From there the trail headed downwards, and if the muddy slopes upwards had been difficult, the downward slopes were at times suicidal. But eventually the in-trail rejoined the out-trail via a final descent which tested the nerves of everyone except Stick Insect who skied down it.  A total ascent of 416m was measured but this may have been an under-estimate bearing in mind that the starting height measured by the new mini-GPS was 187m whereas the ending height at the same point was measured at 125m. Technology, huh? You just can't trust it! The full run was measured at 7.9k for those who avoided the F's and took the fastest runners about 2 hours with lesser mortals struggling in after dark in over 3 hours.

Handjob's birthday cake. How old was it again?

By that time the 'circle', which because of the inclement weather consisted of two rows of people sheltering under the food stalls running down either side of the run site, consuming the copious food and beer and largely ignoring the icing of various groups of hashers, was already well advanced. This was followed by some hash entertainment during which most people headed to the washing areas and did their best to get clean before returning to the shelter of the food stalls to await the disco.

At this point, the collective view of the SH3 contingent was that enough was enough and that with the rain showing no sign of abating and the dance floor already under water, the lure of more free beer was not enough to override the general feeling that we were all completely knackered.

But let's stay positive: everyone who went enjoyed the weekend and all agreed that we really should do this more often. We can't always expect to be treated as well as we were by Batu H4, but just being together in a new environment is a great experience as we all know from the trip to Ubon earlier in the year. If it hadn't rained there would probably have been absolutely no hesitation in declaring the Batu run and party a huge success - they had clearly put an enormous amount of effort into organizing the event, and as usual the bon-homie and fellowship of the hashing fraternity was very evident.

So to summarize, in the spirit of my rehash so many years ago, you know you're a hasher when you drive 500k to Kuala Lumpur, spend two and a half hours clambering up a 400m hill then sliding back down it, to a rain soaked run site full of pissed hashers but are too knackered to hang around and do full justice to the free beer, and you say "let's do it again soon!"

PS On the way home, having taken custody of Yardstick's navigator, Kii Leum just short of Georgetown, the Egg car suffered a massive coup de stupidité when having got over the border just before 3:30 p.m., its occupants decided to make a dash for the HH3 run, which they made with 10 minutes to spare thanks to some elasticity in the space-time continuum. The run which ensued was "challenging" and prompted several painful flashbacks to the previous day's outing, but was nevertheless heaped with faint praise. So to extend my earlier definition: You know you're a hasher when you drive 500k .... and say "lets do it again soon", then just can't wait to get back to Hatyai for the next run!

SH3 this week?

Sad to say, there will be no SH3 run this Saturday (29th November) mainly because the athletic cream of the hash (ahem! ahem!) will be in Kuala Lumpur joining the Batu H3 25th anniversary run, while the vernacular contingent have an engagement in Hatyai that evening which will make it difficult for them to join a run in Songkhla.

Late registrants for the Batu run would however be welcome. It's no more than a 5-hour drive down after crossing the border and there is still some scope in the accommodation arrangements to fit some more people in at the Greenview Hotel. Registration is MYR80.

The HH3 run on Sunday 30th November is out Na Mom way - convenient for the returnees from KL to make the run. A thinly disguised forgery of a Sex Sprinter map below. If the real thing should turn up before departure for KL, it will be added later.

Finally, don't forget that there will be a Hatyai Full Moon H3 run on Thursday 4th December with the real Sex Printer as hare. Details of the location will be sent out early next week.

That ridge ...AGAIN!!

This is what last week's SH3 ran looked like, well on paper anyway. The short run had some liberties taken with it when interpreted by R2D2, which meant that it was run backwards by the short runners, most of whom apparently decided that it was all too hard and decided to make a beeline for the runsite after waiting for the beer truck to arrive at the designated beer stop. Never mind, by all accounts it was greatly appreciated by the long runners who finally happened upon it after negotiating the third and final hill, but even they opted out of the malicious little loop after the beer stop, and enjoyed the lovely riverside jog back to the runsite. There was no intention by the hare to go to the top of the hill, but there must be some mysterious magnet by this range that no matter where you start from, you still end up on top of the ridge. I must make a note to myself next time ...- don't go up!!

The long run was a shortish 6.8kms and 257m up, but that didn't include the false trails, of which nine were planned, but may well have ended up being somewhat more. The hares were too exhausted by the end of the setting to remember.

Our newest almost-runner

From today's funeral/run: this jovial fellow was best buddies with Sexy Cop's late father, and exactly the same age (77). He stuck around for the whole circle and seemed rather fascinated by it all. Listen, we're not getting a whole lot of new young runners. Maybe it's time to try for a new demographic.

HH3, 23 November 2014

Tomorrow's HH3 run will start at 3:00 p.m. From Songkhla the drive takes about 1 hour.

Directions: From The Kao Seng intersection take the 408 South until it joins the 43 coming from Hatyai at Khuan Mit (about 23k). After 6k, leave the 43 at the turn off right onto the 408, and go 21k then turn left about 2k after a PTT station on the right, near Wat Pradoo Moo, (the turning will be marked with a hash sign) for about 2k then turn left at a T junction to the wat as shown on the map in the post below then follow paper to the run site  about 1k beyond. If you are coming from Hatyai, go to the Khlong Rien junction beyond Macro and turn left towards Na Mom. Follow the road for 25k until it hits the 408 coming from Songkhla at Khuan Mit and follow it round to the right for 6k etc.

A good map is worth a thousand words

This week, our master cartographer, Sex Sprinter, who coincidentally is not one of the hares for either of this weekend's runs, has produced not one, but two superbly detailed images to ensure that NO ONE (ok, that doesn't include Perky) could possibly get lost on the way to either of this weekend's fabulous runs. Above is a period piece; vintage 2010. The map's legend has been lovingly updated to reflect the run details, but the sheer magnificence of the complete lack of scale and perspective demands that this classic piece of misrepresentation should once again see the light of day.

For the tragically literal who cannot immediately relate this fabulous piece of artistic license to the mundane reality in which we are all forced to exist, the run details are:

Songkhla Hash House Harriers run # 1744, Saturday 22 November 2014, 4:00 p.m.
Hares: Yardo and The Botty Boy
Misdirections: From the Kao Seng intersection, take the old Yala road for 16k and turn right at Wat Khun Tong, then follow the road for 3.5k past the big tree and turn immediately left. In 200m bear right with the road and follow paper, signs, your instincts to reach the runsite after a further 1k, located on the concrete road behind Sai Kao village.

Our social responsibility correspondent comments: It has been raining this week and the earth under the rubber trees will likely be wet and liable to be churned up by car wheels. Therefore, please do not leave the concrete road in your vehicle. Leave it on the road and thus prevent the embarrassment of the local villagers attacking us with back hoes and other implements of religious vengeance.

Sunday's (23rd November 2014:4:00 p.m.) HH3 run will be from a completely new run site in a completely new Ampur, where we have absolutely definitely never run before, so don't miss this once in a lifetime event. The occasion for this piece of innovation is the funeral of Sexy Cop's father who passed away this week and is currently lying at Wat Tha Phru just North of Na Thawee as advised earlier in the week. The funeral will be at 2:00 p.m. and after the ceremony, Robocop, Sexy Cop and their family will be setting the HH3 run from the vicinity of the temple.

Another classic Sex Printer map below which has been amended from Wednesday's slightly misleading version. Directions for thee of little faith are:

From The Kao Seng intersection take the 408 South until it joins the 43 coming from Hatyai at Khuan Mit (about 23k). After 6k, leave the 43 at the turn off right onto the 408, and go 21k then turn left about 2k after a PTT station on the right, near Wat Pradoo Moo, (the turning will be marked with a hash sign) for about 2k then turn left at a T junction to the wat as shown on the map below.

Finally, In case you have forgotten, next weekend the Batu H3 25th anniversary run takes place and a small but significant portion of SH3 will be travelling to KL for the event. A decision needs to be taken whether to run on Saturday 29th and if so which public spirited hasher will hare it in the knowledge that it may be a little under-run. Over to you R2D2!

The deadliest rodent

Laugh if you want. Our position is, eat them before they take us all out.

Assault rifles!

RPGs!

Squirrelapolypse!

Jennifer Lawrence, babe and squirrel killer. But mostly, babe.

Hollywood

Funny how a camera near the finish line inspires hashers to try to look like Usain Bolt. From today's Hatyai Hash, right by the artistic (oh, you mean "autistic"?) school. Click on it for full impact!