MH3 and Tuesday are interrelated. Come every Tuesday whether rain or shine, its members will be converging at a scheduled venue where they will sweat-out on a run set by a hare on rotation.
It was of no exception last Tuesday. The run was set jointly by none other than veteran hashers Websitekang and Sweetie Pie at the ever popular Malaccan hashing runsite of Lendu.
It was a cool and cloudy afternoon after a heavy mid-noon downpour. Itching for a good sweat-out, my partner and I arrived at the runsite at 5.15 pm. Except for 3 cars which belonged to the hares and Hawaii Goh, not a single soul was seen there. Understandably, the hares must have gone in early to set the trail whereas Hawaii Goh might have accompanied them as co-hare. Judging from their past records, we expected the run to be of moderate distance and enjoyable.
The first hashers to arrive after us were Ah Keow and Albert. As time passed by, more and more trickled in. They included Yogi Bear, Bombastic, Dr. Iqbal, Kiasu Lee, Sharp Shooter Robert, Sleeping Beauty, Denis the Menace, GM Cocker, Gerald, Killer Tony, Sexy Chan, Helen, Nancy, Rubbish Bui and a few guests. Glad to see GM Cocker, Bombastic and Dr. Iqbal back in one piece after attending an invitation hash run in Bandung, Indonesia. They were seen smiling while recounting their sweet encounters.
MH3 has made some changes since the election of its new mismanagement committee headed by its new GM Cocker last July. Among them are the prohibition of early bird who started the run before 6.00 pm and the compulsory pre run warm-up exercise. As such, when the clock struck 6 Bombastic conducted a short and sweet stretching exercise to loosen the muscles attended by some 40 hashers.
The run was led by Yogi Bear on a laterite road into a rubber plantation on the left. He was closely followed by Rubbish Bui, Dr. Iqbal, Dennis the Menace, Bombastic and a few young and energetic runners. The paper went uphill and downhill for some 20 minutes before arriving at the foot of a barren hill. A few front runners who included Dr. Iqbal were seen running up the sloping terrace which looked strenuous. For the purpose of avoiding it, a big number of us SCBs which included Yogi Bear, Helen, Killer Tony, Sexy Chan, Capt. Tay, Holy and guest Wendy followed the old paper (believed to be the old trail of other hashing chapter) on the right at the foot of the hill, across a bushy ditch and into the fruit and oil palm plantations for some 30 minutes before hitting the new paper. From then on, it was another 30 minutes of trekking through the undulating terrains of oil palm, mango and rubber plantations and crossing 3 deep ditches before arriving at a barbwire fencing. On the way, we were overtaken by late starter Pecker who told us that GM Cocker was running at the back. The land owner assisted us to cross it after showing some displeasure over our intrusion for which we apologized. Upon enquiry, he told us that the remaining distance to our runsite was 2 km. By then, the sky had started to turn dark and only Wendy, my partner and I were left behind. Luckily Wendy and I had brought along a small torch light each. Otherwise, we would be finding problem in locating and following the trail.
A short distance after crossing the said barbwire fencing, the paper turned left on a bushy trail, meandering through the undulating terrain of a rubber plantation on the hill before arriving at a locked high fencing gate. It took us quite some efforts to climb over it. Luckily my balls did not get stuck. Otherwise I have to seek the assistance of Dr. Tan to get them replaced.
The paper continued to track across a few farm houses and on a laterite road for another 10 minutes before we saw the head lights of a vehicle coming from the opposite direction. Upon approaching it, we were relieved to find that it was driven by kind-hearted Kiasu Lee who came to locate and fetch us for fear that we were lost. Without wasting time, the 3 of us jumped into his vehicle and took a drive back to the runsite which was some ½ km away. The time then was 7.50 pm. We were the last runners to come out. Websitekang was seen in the midst of conducting the hash circle which saw some sinners being put on ice and on-downed.
It was a challenging and well-set run of some 8 km through some new terrains. As back runners, we did not encounter any check. We only learnt from co-hares Peter and Hawaii Goh that there were 4 checks. Credits should be given to the hares and co-hares for their efforts. Admiration should be given to guest runner Wendy who had only attended 2 hash runs so far and yet was able to complete it with great effort and strong determination. Feel free to join us again. We are looking forward for your continued participation and fellowship.
On-On was held at the nearby Dimensi Restaurant. Four tables were taken up. A delicious 6-course Chinese food with 2 bottles of beer was served. They were on the hares who were on-downed. It was then that the energetic GM Cocker took the opportunity to crack jokes and educate the new members and guest runners on the various hashing rules, terminologies and songs.
It was a marvellous evening. The pack had only started to disperse at 10.00 pm. A big thank you to you, hares. On! On!
Scribe: Drug Buster
Date: 31st August, 2006.
