Venue : Kotak Damansara
Hare : Jothi Rama
Co-Hare : Jane Trane, Graham Woods
Scribe : Jimmy Leggett
Kota Damansara, eh? Well we will see if Jiving Jothi can set a proper Petaling run in this area. We admit she has selected a couple of cunning co-hares but this area will still be a challenge to set a good run.
As we loaded our carriages for the short trip to Kota Damansara it didn’t look good for the hares. Obviously they did not pray to the proper Gods as it was raining like Hades. Most of us suppressed a small giggle at the hares being out there laying paper in the rain while we drained a couple of 100 pluses.
A good crowd turned up considering the weather and thinking it might be a short run (Petaling seems to enjoy heartbreak runs). We set off promptly at 4:30 pm and very gently tip-toed along the muddy path next to the factory. Don’t want to get our running shoes wet. Well that didn’t last long. At the back of the factory there is a dry stream bed one must walk across to enter the rubber estate. It was not a dry stream bed today. Today it was a roaring sungai. Most of us went through at approximately belly deep water level. So much for dry shoes.
The paper led to the left through the rubber. Some of the smarter (oops….more experienced) hashers headed to the road and went left. A little easier running at the beginning. The pace was pretty good for about a kilometer where we crossed a bridge and started up a slight rise. Soon hashers were turning left and heading for a hill across a small valley. It appears the front runners had been sighted over there. Down we went and then back up following paper in a circular manner and sure enough we can upon the 1st check very near the paper we followed up the hill. Bloody circular check this early. Jothi wouldn’t do this. However, that frigging Graham would. Must be his warped sense of humor. Never mind start checking. The On Sec decides it must absolutely be on the other side of the hill (behind us) and heads off…..never to be seen again until the end of the run. I think it is back the other way and head off. I then see a Colin H. and Nick M. heading off to the right. Now I have always had a lot of respect for them as womanizers and hashers so along with 15 or 20 other hashers I follow them. Of course there is no paper where we go and people begin to mill around doing nothing but looking lost. Nick M. takes a bunch of them and heads back to the check. Colin and I decide it must be some other way and head off across a hill…..myself being at a slightly lower elevation. Then it is a call from the heavens…..very faint mind you but I can just barely hear someone calling On On. Low and behold in the very far distance on the other side of the bridge and river I can almost make out a body standing on the top of a sand hill calling On On. Very faint call as it was probably 300 to 500 meters from the check. Never mind…..I head for the call and as I am approaching the hasher that was calling disappears into the rubber. I assume the duty of horning and standing on the sand hill and calling On On. Eventually a few hashers come along and are back on trail. Patrick R. was only grumbling a little so it was all considered normal. Eventually a group of about 12 come running from the check directly towards me – as if the fools think they are going to cross the river. They circle around to cross the bridge and finally get back on paper. This was the Lost Tribe of Nick M. Finally Colin and Myna show up and get on paper…..a bit of grumbling but not too bad. Mama Christie finally comes dragging her fat butt across the bridge with two others – one of whom tries to shortcut across the mud and gets stuck up to his knees (hee hee hee).
As each of them straggles pass I ask if there are more behind them and they say “Oh yes – several more lost souls of there”. After more horning and hollering I decide I better go back to the check and find whoever may be left. Needless to say I could find no one. I head back to the paper and the run. I am trying to catch up with the pack. I can hear them off to my left in the far distance. However, there are fences and I stay on paper. I finally arrive back near to where we started and find the bloody On Sec stumbling around in the rubber. It appears some how he had found the home trail. It is now one hour into the run and we ain’t about to start the journey around and over the BIG hill. We head off to do a bit of recee in the general direction the hashers should be coming from and sure enough here they come.
It appears that at the first check Alex Y. immediately said “It’s on the other side of the river.” He went there and sure enough found paper. Alex not only broke the first check but the following five checks of the run. I only saw the beginning and the end. However, from the reports I got it was a pretty good run.
Alex Y. was the first in at 1 hour 20 minutes. Well done hares.
I was amazed at the On On. As Jothi was on the chair and reminded about the maximum distance between check and true trail and our 10 week rule……I didn’t know her eyes could get that big. WOW.
We also concluded the first check had to be set by Jane T.
JakeWing Lookalike
Scribe of the Day
Venue : Ijok
Hare : Ah Wan, sub-contracted by Choo Nai Kwong, who was away
Co-Hare : Chris Tan
Scribe : Jothi Rama
Left early knowing runsite was far away. Run direction was a little bit better than the one given for Wednesday one and a half weeks ago, in that it at least stated it was about 22km to the Chinese cemetery from the Sungai Buluh toll – actually it was 26km, so first-timers to this area would have had to keep their eyes peeled for a Hash sign for 4 km, and in the rain too!
At the runsite spot Ah Wan, the Hare for the day, walking casually about and I ask him who then is the hare – he evades my question and I soon learn that he had sub-sub-contracted the job to Rob Stott and Chris Tan. Oh good, I think because on their Wednesday Run we had all reached the second check and couldn’t break it for ages and so everyone returned home after that without completing the run. Both the guys were disappointed and so I was sure they would have rectified their mistakes and done a good job for today.
4.30pm: the rain has stopped and our GM calls the Hash to order, and soon we are off. Down the bitumen road we go and drop left into the oil palm. Bottom of the slope we turn left and run for about 5mins. before we turn right and run down a long slope, and then suddenly – no more paper…. What’s up? Soon on-on is called to the right but turns out to be a false trail. Soon after on-on is called to the left and is declared a falsie too. Confusion reigns and finally on-on is called left again, and people are beginning to wonder whether we are actually running it all backwards because of the lack of a proper checkpoint.
When we reach paper, it is actually going up a hill not that far from home. A group (9) of us decides to follow this paper hoping that it is not taking us home. Another lot decides to follow the paper the other way to the right to see what happens. Within 15mins. of walking through bush we were back at the reservoir close to the runsite – what a shame. The others then were doing the run backwards – well good luck to them we declared and went back to the runsite.
At the beer wagon the cheeky duo of hare and co-hare declare they were recceeing for Mother Hash anyway! 5:45pm: Dave Wilson returns utterly confused. 6:22pm: 1st runner running backwards on paper, Andy Low, returns and just shakes his head. 5mins later, Lee returns and says everybody’s confused back there because when running backwards, you come to the end of paper and then have to look for the check. And then when you hit the paper in the middle, you don’t know whether to go right or left. He said people were all over the place arguing and lost. Whoa, what a disaster!
Dave Settergren returns and after drowning Chris Tan with a beer, sarcastically declares it the best backward run of the week. Colin King improves on that and says it is the best backward run of the year! First lady back, Sim, after catching her breath says, “But then, I like it backwards!” Paul Kirkman, our esteemed director of the forth-coming Xmas Panto, mused, “It would have made a good Aussie cum Irish run because everything was up-side-down and backwards.” Tony Morris cuts me short and bluntly retorts, “It was a F_ _ _ - UP!” No more need be said …..
Hare and co-hare saw some Indonesians while setting the run and told them not to pick up paper, but these sons of Mother Hash should know that besides throwing normal paper, they ought to have then also thrown torn up paper in case these guys were tempted to collect some for a notepad!
The duo further sub-contracted the responsibility of the On-on to Nan, and after hanging around for quite a while with no sign of our GM or more returning in the very near future, I too have decided to sub-contract the goings-on at the circle and the On-on to Jimmy (after all, he owes me plenty….). Thanks, Jimmy!
On-on!
Venue : Off New Bukit Beruntung-Rasa Road
Hare : John Dodgson
Co-Hare : Sarah Tan and Steve Robinson
Scribe : Hugh Murray
A new runsite where nobody – even the oldtimers appear to have been before, and even reasonably close to KL (the new road helps).
Heavy rain on the way to the runsite and with the knowledge that the hares had borrowed my rope the day before, was a bit worried what they might have in store for us. Arrived at the runsite in reasonable time, with the knowledge that unless the JM Dave Wilson made an appearance that I would also be the Senior Committee member present, and would need to organize the circles etc. as well as my duty as ComMIC for the day. The designated parking area on the Right hand side is very muddy so the majority of cars decide to opt for the large verge on the left hand side of the road.
Anyway no sign of Dave Wilson, not unusual he is normally late, so get run away on time.
Run takes off into the palm on the Ulu Yam side of the road and gradually loops around onto an old logging track. 7-8 minutes later we hit a check at the side of the road and only 400m from where we have parked the cars. This allows all the late comers to take a gentle stroll up the tarmac to catch up. Initial call is across the road – know this cannot be right unless hare has been bullshitting me during recent hash challenge reccees, as he has stated that he has gone over 4km in on the other Ulu Yam side and found PH3 Hash Paper (believed to be left over from a Rambo influenced run from the site near the Supermarket at Ulu Yam Bharu). Sure enough a falsie is called. Next call is up the steep hill behind in the secondary – this sounds more like it. However another call is heard on the road to Rasa and the majority of the pack head in that direction. Me I going up the hill – PH3 does not do roads! This proves a good move as the hill is seep and slippery and with only about 10 people in front of me at this time, including Emilia the path is not all scraped away.
Eventually reach top of hill where paper goes left on ridge to a check – Back Check trail quickly found along right of ridge. Follow ridge in single filing with long strung out pack due to the steep hill and narrow path at top. Eventually drop off back of ridge (not sure if there was a check at the bottom here – there seemed to be some confusion but paper was continuous). Eventually make it back out into the old palm oil. After a big anticlockwise loop we exit the palm to our left into an area that has recently been logged and has good passable trails. A few fairly steep up and downs but nothing massive. Scramble in to and out of a small ravine again splits the pack as there is only really one feasible single file path.
After crossing what at first appears a fairly innocuous small muddy stream (goes above my waist and soaks all my dry paper for closing checks as plastic bag not sealed against immersion (will keep rain off). We have another steep uphill and then dive off into the secondary jungle only to emerge 15 minutes later by the stream. I suspect the hares were hoping that this would be connected through and the back of the pack would miss this area, but this did not happen.
We were now definitely on the way home, but a look at my watch, and even though I was at the back of the pack I realised that the hares could be in difficulty in getting the front runners in under 1.5 hours.
Emerging from old rubber we entered a stream and on exiting this we ended up in a flooded area that was in places over waist deep with potholes and ridges (The hares later assured me that this had always been dry on all their previous reccees and the stream was usually 3-6” deep). However every problem can have a bonus and after 10 years of hashing Chai Ling asked to hold my hand. Her threats that I must keep this a secret, otherwise Win would kill me, were of course totally ignored (and I am still alive).
One last hill to climb with a check halfway up, which the FROPS had broken the difficult way – straight up vertical terraces, easy way to follow the other track to the summit – obvious when you are at the top,
We then proceeded along the ridge before descending to the road at the final kilometre home.
The first runner was home in 1 hour 50 minutes with the last person out at 8:15pm and quite a few only making it out in the last remnants of daylight.
Noted on my return that Dave Wilson and his co-hare from the previous week were still not present – so were not just late. Wondered who they had appointed as scribe, thought I would ask one of their partners in crime Peter Miller to provisionally do the job in case the scribe had failed to do an appointment– but failed to speak to him before he left. It was not until another 10 days that I spoke to Dave and found that he also was going to ask Peter to do it and also failed. Therefore here I am doing another scribe report from memory and probably missing out important events – sorry lah!
An excellently conducted circle was held on site (I say modestly!). Firstly thanks to those who collected the beer softdrinks and ice as Ramli’s truck broke down before Rawang. He managed to get to the runsite later to serve the beer etc. Accusations amongst others for Dave Settergren for joining the Silver Hair Programme (Now called Malaysia my second home). Peter Brooke for complaining that there were too many women at Win’s Birthday Party the night before. Jimmy Leggett our esteemed GM for sneaking in very late from distant lands and hiding at the back of the circle, while letting me do the works. Chai Ling for holding my hand. Robin Cox again for probably being about to leave us (How many is this Robin?) Also all the visitors etc. who would not attend the ON ON.
We then adjourned to a new restaurant in Bukit Beruntung where I was able to get the football turned on to watch Norwich City, unfortunately lose, but they are really Malaysia’s Premier League team being sponsored by Proton. A good meal for only RM10 with beer at pre budget prices
Circle followed where Doctor Lee suitably robed presented with rubber gloves and face masked presented the toilet seat for a run over 1.5 hours, and as the run was over 1 hour 45 minutes the ten week rule was also invoked. Guests and visitors were then suitably on downed.
So what went wrong with the run that it required the ten week rule to be invoked, other than the fact that it was over 1 hour and 45 minute. In my opinion there were a number of possible factors.
1 It rained heavily before the run making all the steep bits very slippery, especially the first hill. However it should be noted that this is late October and heavy rains can be expected to occur at this time of year.
2 Between the first and third/fourth checks there was a lot of single filing this spreads the pack and could delay clearing checks as too few people present initially to work on the check.
3 The hares used a GPS for setting the run. Not a bad thing in itself, but reliance on the GPS to state the distance, without downloading the results into a computer can actually be anything from 15-40% short depending on the terrain. Although I personally use a GPS, I still prefere the old method that if I can walk round the trail in about 2 hours 15 minutes (the time taken normally for the back of the pack to complete) then it will normally run in just under 1 hour 30 minutes.
Anyway the hares found a new area with the proper running terrain for an otherwise excellent run.
ON ON
Mother Sheep
Venue : Bukit Beruntung
Hare : Jake Win
Co-Hare :
Scribe : John Dodgson
As I drove up the highway through a torrential downpour I had visions of last week’s visit to the Bukit Beruntung area and was glad I had brought my floaties with me. However by the time we got to the toll it was dry, which was lucky indeed. The access road, particularly the last stretch up the hill, proved to be a challenge for those who do not have four wheel drives. Particularly if your Nissan has the full body kit. Looks the part on Friday night in Bangsar but made you wince as it scraped its way up to the run site.
Normally the only thing punctual in Malaysia is the start of Petaling’s runs but today we were late. This suited me as I had arrived late escorting a two wheel drive guest but meant before I got to the first check someone had called On On above the track on the Palm Oil terraces. Clambering up 6 terraces I am now among the FROPs feeling great that I have benefited from an excellent short cut. The feeling did not last long as it turned out to be a Falsie. Having climbed all those terraces I was reluctant to go back down the hill so waited in the hope I had not wasted too much energy. As usual the check was broken the opposite side of the check to me which meant by the time I caught up with the pack I was behind the walking talkers and stuck on a single file section of the run. The second check over the bridge had been long completed by the time I got there. While the run site was new to me the old hands were now starting to mutter about which way round the hill we were going to go and the general lack of bridges to get back.
The third check was a circular which left the FROPs in a confused bunch standing on top of the hill. Hearing a faint On-call forward a group of us followed the paper hoping we were not being suckered into completing the circular. However the trail was good and we ended up first at the forth check half way up a hill. Having climbed the hill we started checking at the same level only to hear the On-call back at the bottom of the hill. Most of the pack had now gone through and it was a question of catch up again.
The next part of the run was through open terrain and dirt roads. Being well back I now lost track of the checks. Due to an injury from the previous week I was not travelling very fast but after 1 ½ hours was dismayed to see the previous week’s run site across the river and realised there were still miles to go to get back to the beer wagon. So we followed the tracks till we crossed the river again at an even more dilapidated bridge. I was assured it had been fixed since the last time the Hash was in the area. Completed the figure of eight circuit and got back to the run site after well over 2 hours.
I did not attend the On-On but heard the Hares got an On-down for their efforts.