KO teamed with Poo to set a run out towards Sameong. KO has been mixing up her co-hares recently, and the past couple of runs in the area caused lots of confusion – perhaps Poo would help? I didn’t listen to the hare brief, but when we set off it seemed like it was a live hare with KO just ahead of me desperately stapling paper to trees… Huh? This would last long – normally a live hare at least gets a little bit of a headstart! Fortunately after half a km or so she pointed me off and there was trail already marked.
We looped down the road I’d driven in on (eventually), and yes, that first check you completely foxed me! I hadn’t seen paper when we drove in, so chose the option to get off the main road. I was wrong, and rejoined the pack behind again. Christ it was hot! The 2nd check wasn’t so much of a test, although quite a number were wrong, I followed NOYB in the right direction. Did I mention how hot it was? We followed the rubber wall, so there were no options to the right, it was either straight or left.
Another check, and NOYB checked left and ended up back in the resort just next to the cars. Had it been me, I might have been tempted to grab a beer and sit down! Another check – either straight or left. Piggy and I went left, and sure enough we got paper. Piggy wasn’t 100% convinced as the paper seemed a bit close when he turned around and looked backwards. But we looked closely and it definitely had the trademark “KO” on it. We jogged on and then saw KO ahead of us waving! We waved back! She kept waving! We kept jogging and waving! She came running towards us, not waving but panicking. We met and had a discussion. I was hot, and would be happy to carry on – proficient short cutting, the beer must be cold by now? KO was insistent, and reluctantly we turned back to do the trail.
Interestingly here, none of us guessed quite how this trail would be used – we all assumed we were going backwards on it (afterall the trail was hidden from one direction). Back to the trail, and we continued. Hot and reluctant. How many times do I have to climb this hill? We went along the rubber wall, and missed great opportunities for checks. Why? Whenever there is a clear missed check alarm bells start ringing. How close was the trail?
Finally we turned left away from the rubber wall, and I got to a check. Hole in None was checking my first choice to the left. Chuckie checking my 2nd choice to the right. Toe Sucker guarding the circle, refusing to check the other trail. I knew it rejoined the trail to the left if I could just get far enough before anyone called On. I tried my best, but the On call came from the left. Having climbed the god damn mountain a couple of times already I wasn’t going back, and cheerfully slipped in next to Piggy & Hole in None at the front. They left me for dead. Did they realise it was uphill, do they not feel the heat?
We cut off to the left and went back down the hill we’d just climbed up. Huh? We’d done this before. Frenchman was up front, and CW & Piggy caught me as we got back to the rubber wall, this time it was on our left, and our only options were straight or right. Frenchman was way ahead, but got confused and came back for moral support. I had figured out what was going on and saw my opportunity. I ran past all three of them heading for the arrows pointing us back up the (fucking) hill we’d already climbed. My spurt was feeble, and the heat hit me. From there is was just a case of finding somewhere I could cool off.
The circle was great! The OnOnOn was great, even though when the storm hit we were lucky to not be killed by flying umbrellas or tiles dropping on our heads…