Well, what a run! Perfect hashing conditions (non-stop p*****g rain that had been falling all day) saw us arriving at the appointed hour of 15.00 to meet the GM in his chariot, followed by Peter, Fast Forward and The Fox all headed in the opposite direction. One of the drawbacks of a live run is that if the Hare ain’t there, it’s difficult to hold the run, so they all seemed to be headed home. Anyway they were persuaded to return to the On-In and, in due course, a fair number of other hashers turned up. At around 15.20 the Hare eventually arrived to much abuse and, after he had briefed Tibetgal who was volunteered to take the walkers, the rest of the pack was briefed and the Hare set off up the road towards Trisuli.

Five minutes later we all set off in pursuit for a kilometre or so up the road before the first of millions of checks saw us head steeply uphill through the forest. Eventually we made it up onto the ridge and followed the road to a junction with the first of the walkers arrows on it. A bit of advice from the locals ensured that we found the trail reasonably quickly, heading briefly along the ridge then down the other side. A steep descent was followed by a superb long traverse through the forest that seemed to spread the pack out considerably.

At the check at the start of the final descent to the alleged holding check, most of the FRBs went straight on, allowing the following group to catch up, although Big Jim and The Fox had not been seen for some time. The steep downhill section saw a number of crashes, fortunately away from the massive drop-offs that appeared on our left from time to time. Arriving at the Holding Check we found scribbled notes advising the runners to keep going and the walkers to wait.

This was where it all started to go wrong for the Hare. A few minutes out from the Holding Check (or what was left of it after Duckbill, back from maternity leave, had started tucking in to the milk powder markings that the Hare had used) he was spotted out in the open paddy. Chaos ensued with the pack initially setting off on the chase only to lose him again, despite Rotter being within three metres of him but falling into the khulo that lay between them and missing the contact. Totally disorientated, and lacking any guidance in the form of trail markings, the pack then scattered far and wide across the paddy fields. I found myself running with Tadpole and we finally managed to work out where we were and in which direction the chariots lay, but what happened to the rest I have no idea, other than that they got back to the On-In well before us. We found Big Jim and Minder after a while, both happily trotting along the road, and eventually came across what may have been the walkers trail.

As we finally stepped out onto the main road again, we were met by a convoy of Hash vehicles, led by the GM, heading back towards Kathmandu. They announced that they were headed for a restaurant which had a covered area that we could hold the circle under – presumably the miserable wusses didn’t want to get any wetter. Arriving back at the On-In we found the Hare and the rest of the pack awaiting our arrival and that of the missing Shrivelled. Showing great concern for our antipodean chum, we all hopped into our cars and headed for the beer. That is, all except Norwegian Peter who had been rash enough to leave his car keys in Shrivelled’s truck!

About 10 minutes after our arrival the lost one appeared from the south in a taxi, having apparently run halfway back to Kathmandu. There was sufficient time left to finish off the chilli potatoes and tuna dip before he returned and we were able to start the circle before darkness set in.
The Hare was invited into the circle to receive the accolades of the 16 or so hashers who had the stamina to stick around (for which read “sad bastards with an empty Saturday night diary”). The general consensus was that the trail was fantastic but the execution was crap. Various comments were made about the edible nature of the trail which, had he been a bit sharper, Flair Pair could have blamed for everyone getting lost because they were so far behind him that the trail had been eaten. A pretty bloody good 9.9 was awarded.

Virgin Howard was then welcomed. He has been in Kathmandu for about six months, and works for Her Majesty (so should have been around 2 weeks ago to hear the GM's stunning rendition of the British national anthem). He did claim that he would return, but did not specify when!

Returnees Satcheen and Tadpole were then welcomed back, after which it all got a bit vague again. The GM got one for trying to claim that (not so) Fast Forward (as he used to be) was a returnee, because it was the first time the GM had seen him back; Alfie, the hooded one (silly girl said “don’t ever call me Alfie”!), was given a down-down for something or other; there was almost certainly a wanker; the GM got done for crashing at the same time as missing catching the Hare and so on and so forth.

The running girls were, or if not they should have been, awarded a down-down for doing it with the fast boys, followed by Medium-Paced Forward, the GM, Satcheen and Shrivelled, the big blokes with the girly hairdos (not that this hash is gender insensitive). Its good to have an increase in the mixed running pack.

The Hashit caused considerable debate. Should it be awarded to the Hare for turning up late for his own run, or to Shrivelled for getting totally lost and having to take a taxi? Or to the Hare for getting caught on a live run? Or to the Hare for no-one getting any leeches despite the fact that it was a monsoon run in the higher forests? Or to the Hare for having to leave written instructions at a holding check? Or to the Hare for getting everyone well and truly lost after the holding check? Or to the Hare for laying the trail with food in a food deficit country? Or to the Hare for ……..???
Surprisingly, the GM eventually made the award to the Hare, although the specific reason was not too clear.

Thanks to the Hare for a chaotic run on a great trail and to Mrs Rotter for the Hash Fare (Tuna Dip: note that you missed it again). Thanks also to the restaurant owner for tolerating us. Next week’s run was awarded, in absentia, to The Fox. That’ll teach him to bugger off early on his bike just because its about 10km to get back to the ring road.