This had to be the best run of the year… <Cough>. I got up early, with a fuzzy head and drove out to the shelter I’d chosen in Doi Saket. 3 1/2 hours later I’d negotiated the trails, macheted my way through the jungle, dodged the spiders and I was back home for a shower, a quick nap and then back in time for the hare brief.
I warned them about my brush with the dogs, and set them off promptly at 5 and settled back to wait. After 45 minutes, I was starting to wonder where they were, and Cumming Slow was also starting to fret. My last run had taken 1hr 20 minutes, but it was getting darker earlier now…
Finally the phone rang, and it was Belly saying he, Frozen Dick and Big Top were at a lake (around half way) and could they bail out somewhere? I sent them to the road and went to pick them up later – although Big Top sprinted off from the others and decided to complete the route. I don’t blame her!
Just under an hour, HRA came running up the hill arms waving in the air like an olympic champion. He’d WON! He started a play-by-play of the route and said what a great run it was, where he’d got a check right and got away from everyone, and how he recognised the ending from last time we’d scouted, but I shouldn’t tell anyone (oops!) While all this was happening, nobody else was getting back, and it was a good 8-9 minutes before Brown Finger, Poo & Chuck Wao jogged in leading the rest of the pack.
For Chuck Wao it was a hash in 2 halves – the first half he liked (while he was in front), but the 2nd half he didn’t (while he wasn’t in front). I sloped off to get Belly Dancer & Frozen Dick and spent some time until it got dark retracing the trail in search of Big Top – who was merrily back at the shelter tucking into a beer.