25 years to the day after the inaugural run for the Himalayan Hash House Harriers took place on Monday 15 October at 4.30 pm along Bhaktapur main road west of Thimi a hardy group of 31 Hashers gathered on a grassy ridge about 20km further east beyond Dhulikhel. Clearly the Hares had failed to make the necessary weather arrangements through the RA as, 5 minutes before the run was due to start, the heavens opened with a short sharp and freezing cold shower of mixed rain and hail. This caused a last minute review of the route and the abandonment of the first section through the rhododendrons, so Keeled Over led the pack off directly to Check 2. Earlier, the Hares had briefed the pack on the run, pursuing the 25th Anniversary theme by announcing 25 Checks in a 25km Run! Runners would be shepherded by Towed and Keeled, and the walkers guided by Dead Dog and Lazy Towed.

Before we could all start, Keeled Over insisted on reading out the names of those who had run on the Inaugural Himalayan Hash House Harriers Run who were:

Steven Midgley, Anthony Keeloy, David Young, Fredrik Nedegard, John Wyatt Smith, Niel Nielson, and Hares Roger Binks and Keith Robinson

The route from the second check took the pack southwards on a long climb up the ridge, dropping Viaggro and then Jonathan who decided discretion was the better part of valour and joined the walkers. Holding Check 3 was at the high point on the ridge, offering super views over the Panauti valley. The trail continued along the ridge, swinging eastwards and down through numerous checks, potato fields and finally into the khet. Night Owl, along with Lost Ark seemed to have done much of the front running, including a good number of false trails. Rotter was fooled on a number of occasions, much to the Hares’ delight.

From the third holding check at a small temple, reached in something well over an hour, there were good views of the mountains and of the ridge in the distance, behind which lay the On-In! Down through another valley and up to a road and, eventually, the sight of pink paper, although no sign of the walkers who had probably passed through some 15 minutes into their walk. Sadly, shortly after this Rotter managed to re-establish contact with the pack just when we thought that we’d managed to lose him for the rest of the day. The trail continued in roughly the right direction, climbing up to a vantage point from where we had excellent views of Manaslu, Ganesh Himal and Langtang. Tshering wanted to know, at this point, which one was Sagarmatha! The pack had by this time been reduced to around 10 with the departure of Grumble and Lost Ark on an exploration of their own.

One more valley crossing saw the pack heading for a long uphill haul home, the only minor distraction being a sudden screech from Moosette (who’d better be careful for the next day or so wandering the forests with a hash name like that when Lost Ark’s around!) when she thought she’d managed to lose her car keys. Fortunately this was a false alarm and the keys were discovered in the depths of a pocket. Continuing the 25 theme, it should be recorded that the Back Hare arrived back at the On-In exactly 2 hours and 5 minutes after setting off.

Eventually Grumble and Lost Ark trotted in a few minutes later and the circle was called to order in the gathering gloom.

The Hares were, of course, awarded a score of 25.

Virgins were introduced: Reg, who is Dead Dog’s Dad, Prem, our excellent host for the weekend and the owner of Dhulikhel Lodge Resort, and Rita, Lost Ark’s secretary.

Others to be rewarded were:

- and many more. The only interruption before we headed back to the Resort for a welcome hot shower, evening meal and pleasant evening around the fire consuming modest quantities of ale was the award of the Hashit to Grumblewald for accusing the Hares of paper mismanagement

Finally, the closing extract from the trash of Run No. 1: “NEXT WEEKS HASH 22 OCT 4.30 PM – Why not join us on a gentlemen's run where you meet only the best people - open to all men.” How times change.