The week's rain cleared the air and turned the Bagmati to mud brown from sewer black -- encouragement to 30 runners and Ms. Mutt who gathered at the Sue Lepery memorial parking place for the 3:00 p.m. start of our Saturday marathon (at Grumblewald's request). The energetic gang headed west up the hill and right to Check 1 a little above the main road. Most missed the turn to the check but eventually realized paper had stopped, so wandered around a while so that the shortcutters could get going west up a motor road. With a little hare prodding, the gang got moving up the same road, and then swung right onto a trail, looping back to the road and Check 2. Again, there was a little checking up the road, with Hurry Krishna out in front. Again, the hare encouraged a few faithful runners onto the backcheck. The gang scattered up the road all turned north to join the pack, on a level trail running parallel to the road. Paper turned north and down to a bridge to Check 3. Hurry, heading towards home, crested the next hill before he looked for paper. Slowly the pack climbed back to the original trail. By now the back runners, with Nicolet in the lead, were well on their way to holding Check 4, back on that road.

No shortcuts this time, but the pack continued west up the road to Check 5. Two years ago we met Fingerinthedike's colleague there, and enjoyed some local spirits. We were not so lucky this time. Paper headed south to an irrigation ditch, and upstream to holding Check 6. No one paid much attention to that, but the Fox is hardly in a position to complain. At least the short cutters were together, and headed home along the water channel. The more energetic, if less intelligent, climbed towards Champa Devi peak for a while, to Backcheck 7. Grumblewald and Jodi continued to the pass, while the rest stumbled down to a level trail traversing the mountain's north slope. We dropped to holding Check 8 on a point, and Rodent was soon on paper, leading the gang down the motor road, across the Dakshinkali Road, to Check 9 by a stream. Towed did not fall for the backcheck and was off east again, looping up to Tauda Pond, and then east again to Check 10. A level run through wheat-marijuana fields got the pack home.

Our vastly improved hash publicity is paying off. We had three OUTSTANDING virgin runners today:

1. Ian, from the Nepal Leprosy Trust, not only excelled in running, but demonstrated a creative stance for holding beer bottles while taking pictures.
2. Bimala Rana Magar, Nepal's current women's marathon champion, joined us for an easy jog. Does this explain Hurry Krishna's GREAT enthusiasm, and inability to see checks, on the run?
3. Doma Chogyal, our enthusiastic late arrival, quickly had the GM backpedaling.

Our two RETURNEES brightened up the run:

1. Martina, back from a trip to Cambodia.
2. Wendy, returned from Myanmar.

We honoured hash crashers Mrs. Towed, Ian Towed and Virgin Ian.

We noted that Grumblewald was swearing in English - a sure sign of a successful run.

We also noted the great care the Norwegian Embassy takes of its citizens, but inform Lill that cell phone conversations cannot be more important than the GM's sermons.

Twenty minutes after everybody had arrived back Hurry K noticed Apple's motorbike parked at the edge of the circle. It had not been there earlier on. Dangling from the handlebars was a plastic bag, the suspicious 'knobbly' content of which was examined forthwith. There was just time to debag the Hashit, pour in the beer, and have it ready for Apple as he puffed in, having set out on paper one hour later than everyone else.

Not satisfied with last week's assault on hash stomachs with banana disguised as rock cake, Mrs. Towed switched to carrot this week, but this time with such success that the GM only just managed to grab a small morsel before it was gone.

The Fos