Venue: Taman Bukit Mantin
Hare: Lye Shyong Ling
Scribe: 'Jimmy Leggett
It was a long drive out to a beautiful runsite located on the top of a hill with majestic views of the countryside. Some parked a bit downhill but soon moved their carriages to the top of the hill so they could also enjoy the view – which as it turned out was an unfortunate choice for Paul Johnson.
The run started promptly on time and wandered down a dirt road for a short distance before going down into a valley at the first check. Some of the veterans lead by Mr. Opera continued on the road and were soon at the front of the pack as the others were most of the pack was climbing out of the valley. The run continued on circling around a couple of hills in a generally upward mode on the dirt road to reach the 2nd check which again had a beautiful view. A few hardy souls when even further up and there were unconfirmed reports of a false trail. It was steeply downhill behind so only one or two hard core lads checked that area. Paper was finally found in a more or less straight direction but slightly downhill. Paper continued downhill to the 3rd check and it was finally confirmed that the run would be a rather large loop in the mostly counterclockwise direction.
Up to this point it had been a great run in a beautiful area. However, it was at this point that thing went to Hades in a Handbag. There were two more checks and some very steep hills with a minimum (if any) paper. Very tough going for this stage of the run. Dave Parks while halfway up one of the mountains while gasping for what appeared to be his last breath stated what we were all thinking …. “Well the Hares really f**ked up what could and should have been a great run”. Like everyone else I spoke with back at the runsite – all were in full agreement. If the Hares had found a better way to get home from the halfway point it could well have been the run of the year.
First runner was in at 1 hour 55 minutes on this little 9 kilometer adventure. The Scribe was in at 2 hours 30 minutes. 1st check was broken by Tee. 2nd and 3rd checks were broken by Dave Parks (that was before the Killer Mountains). The 4th and 5th checks were reportedly broken by Choo Nai Kwong – the Scribe would have no idea since he was far behind the pack at this stage. The Hare was dutifully awarded a Toilet Seat. If only they had done a better job on the second half …… it would have been wonderful.
A few items of interest and we all know the Hash and Hashers are always interesting:
• In the Run Directions the Hares had clearly stated (in red) “Note: We will be running through commercial orchards – the fruit belongs to the farmers, so please do not take/eat any fruit.” With that clearly stated the pack would not partake of the fruits. However, do you know the Hares were caught on this run? Always a sin in the hash. Do you know what they were doing when they were caught? They were taking/eating durian from trees and ground!!!! I guess another example of “Do as I say, not as I do”.
• Somewhere between the toll road and the road to the runsite Paul Johnson managed to damage his front left wheel which resulted in tire going flat. This was noticed as he was jockeying his car further uphill. As always, before the run starts a hasher having carriage problems is great interest to the rest of the hashers. Everyone thinks he is a mechanic. There must have been 10 different hashers trying to help get the tire and wheel off the car while Paul was studying every booklet available that came with the car. Eventually the tire was changed but it was a major Endeavour… as it always is with hashers.
• Elaine Leong fell and was slightly injured during the circle when she went to take a piss. The injury was primarily to her pride but it does should the need to be attentive and not leave the circle.
• The circle did not convene until 8:00 pm with four runners still out. They came in just after Elaine completed her piss stop. They not only complained about the length and difficulty of the run but also lodged complaints about the wetness of the ground area at the runsite and the smell.
• Four 5 year mugs were given out. The first went to Stephanie Choong who accepted it with grace while dressed in only her towel. We liked that. The 2nd went to Raymond Lei who was fortunately fully clothed. Dave and Charlotta Parks each received and also were properly clothed.