Himalayan Mixed Hash Run No. 1290 30 August 2003
Location south-west end of Chapagaon Virgins Rajendra
Hares Lost Ark, Handphun, Rasmus, Alexander Leavers none
Hashers 43 Returnees Megabyte, Erlinda (at last)
Hashit Rotter, by a mile Visitors Arno 'Flasher'
Trash Towed Trashflash Rotter and Tadpole
The Pictures The Trash

14:15 hrs . . . 2 minutes from Rotter's Roost. Keeled Over whips out his camera leaving the GM to do the real work. Is the record more important than the beer?

14:50 hrs . . . so Sona's tin-can Maruti got me here. Where's the excitement in that?

75% of the Hares

Flasher the Visitor

Returnees Duveiller

A celebration of Bread Pudding (left), and damp biscuits (right)

I gave her the job as I could see her abilities

The GM prepares for another Maruti ride

 This seems to be the season for mishaps on the way to the Hash. Last week it was Night Owl’s road being washed out, this time it was the Master’s failure to negotiate the trail through the padi, or at least the Great British Vehicle’s inability to haul itself out of axle deep glar. So, arriving at the On-In, we found the Hares, a few other Hashers, Sock Sucker and Carrot Brain, but no GM, Mrs Rotter, Chariot or beer. Sock Sucker announced after some time that we were expected to go back to the rescue but, shortly after we set off, Beaufort and Sona were encountered bringing the stranded GM and party to the site.

Due to the delays, a succinct run briefing was given. The multitudinous Hares announced seven checks with 2 and 4 holding for both walkers and runners, some false trails and then we were off. First paper was down the road heading further south. The runners were soon diverted off to the east and up towards the ridge, but what was going on? No check had been seen but the front runners were calling “false trail”. Hadn’t the Hares read the rule book? False trails should be laid from checks otherwise you lose people. A few more of these rogue trails followed, along with Check 1 and sure enough, by the time Holding Check 2 was reached, Custard Tart had gone missing. A brave Rasmuss set off back to look for her after Towed had taken a cursory look around and decided that his priorities lay with finding the trail rather than a lost offspring.

From Check 2 the paper led down and down the concrete steps to the Nakhu Khola, with Oliver in the van (where he seemed to continue all the way through to Check 4). After events last week (see Trash 1289 main photo), the Hares had obviously decided that the pack were a bunch of softies and had the river crossing at a new bridge. This was fine for all except Duckbill who spurned the bridge and swam across, ending up some 20 metres further downstream than when she jumped in. A steady climb up through the village saw the pack to Check 3 which fooled only Towed. Holding Check 4 was on the road, with Tadpole completely missing it and arriving back at the check about five minutes after most had got there, having happily carried on along one of the Lost Ark’s many false trails.

“Check it out” was soon called, despite (or possibly because of) the walkers being nowhere to be seen, with Run Crafty and Towed the first to find paper, although The Fox and Rotter, having heard the calling, managed a swift shortcut to arrive at Check 5 shortly after these two, and were soon on the trail to Check 6. The trail led along the ridge with superb views and some excellent running until the check was found at the side of the road. The Fox soon sussed out where the trail went, even though he was still up on the ridge and not actually on paper, and was shouting instructions from on high to all and sundry. Rotter, having managed to take yet another false trail, managed to find himself still ahead of the pack as the trail led up past Teej celebrating choirs in red and then down along the ridge to the west of Champi. Check 7 at the end of the road from Bungamati was soon solved by Rotter, Keeled Over and The Fox, with the trail leading straight down to the river, across the bridge and back up to Chapagoan.

The rest of the pack and the walkers soon rolled in and the cold boxes and table were dragged out of the back of Beaufort’s car. But wait, where was the Hash Nosh? Keeled Over, in his rush to escape the Master’s sinking chariot, had forgotten the rescue the snacks that Mrs Rotter had spent the morning sweating over a hot stove to make. The day was saved by Roger producing a couple of boxes of his wonderful bread pudding and the moment passed.

There seemed to be a very brief run discussion, even briefer than the briefing, before the Hares (minus Alexander) were quaffing their down-downs. A belated score of 9.9 was awarded, despite the rule breaking on false trails and the dry river crossings, for what was considered to be a rare home win for Norway.

Virgin Rajendra, who is into sanitary wear (or is that ware?) was welcomed in the usual way, as was visitor and temporary bureaucrat, Finnish Flasher (not sure whether that is a real name or a Hash name). He’s here to break the NTC monopoly on really crap phone services.

Other down-downs were awarded as follows:
- Returnees Etienne and Greg
- Handphun for yawning instead of singing
- Belated returnee Erlinda
- Apple, for being in the pink (and being late, but what’s new)
- Crasher Richard
- Kathie for drinking instead of singing
- Roger for stepping in with the loaves and fishes, along with Keeled Over for forgetting Mrs Rotter’s painstakingly prepared picks (and not being around before the pud dissappeared, having complained of hunger and gone to the bazaar to look for something - GM)
- Tsering and boss, Run Crafty. Not sure what the Master was trying to say here, but at least she demonstrated on the run that she can run faster than RC.
- The Master, for trying to ignore the Hashit
- The Rescuers, Beaufort and Sona
- Hashit to the Master for ignoring Mrs Rotter’s advice/instruction not to be so stupid and to only drive along roads that are wider than Land Rovers.
The Master then embarked on some interminable waffle involving Keeled Over, The MD of NTC, the Editor of the Kathmandu Post and the NTC website address which Keeled apparently doesn’t know. Flasher got involved as well, showing that the Finns are just as good at mediating as the Norwegians.

Next weeks run will not be at Godavari because of the festival but, by the time this gets posted on the webshite, it is highly likely that you’ll all be there anyway.