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Who Put The Khunt in Gassan Khuntan?
A fab weekend of frolics, friends and fantastic trails courtesy of Dr Byte, Knockout, Chuckles and the hangover run hare HRA.
Friday night cheese and wine was a fun event and set us up for a great run thru the valley and hills around Gassan Khuntan. Hares BMY and CWao took us though the golf course and right through a building site into woods and orchards and rather splendidly along the narrow guage railway line.
Back across the line we went eventually and across part of the new 9 holes of the golf course, on on well spotted by Sex Pistol.
Along a weir and into forest trails, V check followed V check and up and down the wooded hills we went, across little sandy stream beds and winding around between bigger hills to the much awaited beer stop after 6 and a bit km and 75 mins of hard hashing.
Taste My Buns was off her sick bed going well and Sloppy Rod showed us a clean pair of heels. Piggy, Poo, HRA, Sex Pistol, Turkish, a young Pommy visitor and Angry Inch seemed to be doing the majority of the checking labours. Blows Herself certainly called loudly and Knockout now has competition in the decibels stakes, altho at a lower frequency of noise.
After the drinks stop, it was tricky and confusing, the checks were hard, paper was perhaps missing and a guilty farmer eventually showed TMB where he’d taken it down from! The rest of the missing paper was probably goggled by the insects who were still hungry after devouring the floor laid paper circles for 24 hrs.
Eventually the farm tracks opened up to a wide vista of river and the double span white railway bridge. Up we went and along the tracks just before a loco streamed into view! Finally the C bucket just the other side of the bridge. Well done Tiptoe and Catastrophe for completing the long trail!
Iconic views, cold Lao Dark, a long but nice natured circle and back to the resort for nosebag and well lubricated social banter.
Sunday’s hangover run was an entertaining 30 mins of orchards and hillside trails with a long asphalt on in. Many thanks to CWao and HRA for that not little gem.
An outstation to savour in the Land of Smiles.
On on!

KO stepped up at the last minute to fill in for Wooly Jumper… She had the help of her Mum for the scout and her Dad for the set… Due to the events in Thailand, we opted for a subdued affair, limiting the circle to casual drinking and announcements, along with a minutes silence. But first, the run…

Harebrief over, we set off back to the road and a circle by the entrance to the village (near the disco shelter off Sameong Road). I hadn’t seen any markings on my way in, so I turned confidently to the right, so did CW, and so did Toe Sucker, and looking over my shoulder, so did just about everyone else. I was starting to lose faith when finally I turned around and saw paper on the back of a bush. We were headed towards the hills.

I love the strava playback from this run! Strava! As we headed towards the hills, I kept nailing checks… I accelerated a little, and pushed on hard up the hill as the calls disappeared behind me. I opened up a gap, and as I got to the top of the hill, I couldn’t hear anything more from behind. A V-Check, with the choice between a mainish trail, and a much less obvious one. I picked the less obvious one to the right, and sure enough the trail just continued. Another circle, and again I had it locked in. Now I was descending already, and pressed on. Another couple of checks and I was out onto the trail at the bottom – a circle check. It was too short so far, there had to be a bit more… I turned left and headed up to the pig farm… Nothing… I heard voices in the distance as they started the descent – I called “Checking” cheerfully, and around the corner there was paper… “OnOn”, and off we go!

It was downhill towards the road, and I was home free, so long as there was no False Trail… Surely no false trail? Please no….. Instead there was the welcome sign of “OnIn” with an arrow pointing me back. It was perhaps a little short, but a good work out, nice trails, a nice climb, and steady descent, and great for a last minute put together.

RIPHRH

Turkish was the hare, with Alice apparently stepping up as co-hare / paper carrier. The hare wasn’t there at the start of the run though, so the incompetent co-hare set us off in 180 degrees the wrong direction. 300m or so later, I gave up and went back to ask Alice, who jumped on his motorbike to go search for where the trail started!!! Not the best start to a hash!

We headed towards the hill, and I knew this was a steep ass hill. I’ve run turkey runs and the possibility of a blind hack straight up through shiggy isn’t beyond him. I traverse to the right, and Tasty told me I hadn’t traversed enough… I traversed some more and then found a way up. No call… The first check and this was taking forever… I hacked up further and found a reasonable trail that went along the side of the hill. I was sure we’d be going up the hill somewhere, so would it be left or right. Finally some calls, but no clarity. I had no idea where it was coming from, or where it was headed. Poo was also hacking his way on the same hill, and intent on carrying on, even though he also had no idea where the calls were coming from. I traversed some more, but the calls weren’t helping.

Eventually I made it back down to the trail, and overtook Does Nothing. Already I was feeling weary and wary, or wary and weary. I got to the hares, looking agitated. As I got there Turkish took off running up the hill screaming, telling people to stop. I tried to get some sense out of Alice, who told me the trail was off to the left… I asked why people were calling from up the right, and he said it was because of Turkish… Turkish was the hare! The hare is the reason we call from all directions… I asked who had gone to the left already, and he said “everybody”, even though I knew there were people behind me, and I could hear those ahead of me calling from up the hill…! What am I supposed to believe? Cryptic comments / actions from the hares, or my ears?! I’m trying to rejoin the pack, but being sent away from where they are calling… My faith in the run was already waning…

We were back at the side of the night safari, and somehow I rejoined the front group of hashers. All confused. The next bit was actually a really smart set… – smart from the hares, but frustrating as hell for us runners. We ran essentially along the night safari fence, and at every opportunity we wanted to turn right. And every opportunity we had to turn right we were promptly met with a false trail or check back. My energy levels were drained by each misstep. We got so far around the Night Safari, that I almost though the hares would take us all the way around – and had I not seen them on trail, they might have had me going further…

But, we were 45 minutes into the run, the trail was still going away from home, and towards a hill that I remember… The cards were on the table – I didn’t spit my dummy, I just opted to fold my hand and enjoy the trail by the night safari back to the A. Having a beer with Sups trumps that killer hill climb in my book. While the co-hare was desperate, the hare was disparate.

On reflection the run was intricately clever. The checks were deviously well thought out, and ultimately even cleverer than expected. The incompetent cohare cost us some time at the start, and the checks combined with the fucked up confusion…. Well they tricked me into not trusting the hares anymore, so for that I congratulate you.