Hash 2719 - Minnesvärd tur!

9.5 km genom en delvis mycket tuff terräng

Skymning över djungeln, kl 18.57 på kvällen. Fotograf Mats Lingblad. Jag passerade platsen 5 min tidigare

Glad över att vara först tillbaka i mål.
Hash flash (ficklampan som vi fick vid starten visade sig vara nödvändig)

Anders Berglund firar 20 år av hash i Singapore med att lägga dagens lopp. Alla förutsättningar för en intressant löpining fanns där; regnet hade slutat, det var ett busslopp (mao från A till B) och det utlovades ny intressant terräng. Dessutom delade Anders ut en "hash flash" till alla deltagare och det skulle visa sig att den ficklampa var välbehövlig. Något oväntat slutade det med att jag blev först tillbaka på långa turen som tog mig 1h & 45 min för 9.5 km och det var helt klart de mest utmanade 9.5 km jag sprungit på länge.

Här är Anders beskrivning av terrängen och spåret. Notera särskilt beskrivningen av Western loop.

 An extremely tough and difficult path followed along the edge of the quarry and lit by glow sticks. Without the “Hash Flash” almost impossible to navigate…   

...through more difficult and thorny hell...    

Eastern loop – lazy run around Mandai shooting range

Start at the entrance to what once was Mandai Orchid Gardens. The Hash Trail straight up following an old trail to an old farmer’s plot, after which it turned right down to an old dirt road.  Short road run left to first circle check. Trail to be find up ahead and  then left through a swampy grass area into the woods and soon up to the northern end of the shooting range. Up left through a bit of high grass and onto the trail that leads down to one of the pointed bays of Upper Seletar Reservoir. T-check along the northern shoreline.  Trail found straight south to cut over the cape to the southern shore and then along the shoreline west all the way to the extension of old Track 15. T-check to the left, trail to be found to the right, then a short cut through the woods and onto the mountainbike track.  Follow this track north for a few hundred meters after which the trail went left into the shiggy. A few twists and turns later, down a grassy sloop and over a stream and up to second circle inside a half completed jungle hut.  The trail found to the left and then along the path/road up to BKE where the trail merged with the old farts walk for about 100m.

Western loop – including possibly one of the toughest trails ever – not for the fainthearted

After crossing under BKE on the tarmac road, both Hash Trail and Old Fart’s Walk went straight left onto the grassy pipeline area and to the second split point.  Sign board: Hashers left (5km), Old Fart’s right (2.2km)…  (How difficult could it be…!!??)

Hash Trail up the steps to the left (common T-check place but not this time!!!) and onto the high ridge along BKE for 600-700 m, then down right and back to the grassy pipeline path. Continue south and a final circle check. Trail up ahead (south) and soon turning right into the woods where it followed old trails all the way down to KJE. Through some farmer’s plot, down under KJE and through the racing tracks for radio controlled dirt cars. After a few hundred meters, the trail went up north west and zig zagged along various old trails up to the military test drive area.  600 m road run and then straight into the shiggy on the left. An extremely tough and difficult path followed along the edge of the quarry and lit by glow sticks. Without the “Hash Flash” almost impossible to navigate… Up a steep sloop, aided by a rope, through more difficult and thorny hell and down to Mandai Quarry Road (west entrance).  Over the road, down a “step drain”, sharp left turn and up to the higher grounds, once again with the help of a rope.  A bit of more glow stick aided shiggy and out on the dirt road, where the trail went left and then onto a grassy path on the high ridge over the new Woodland Road MRT depot and eventually turning right through shiggy and high grass and finally onto the path that lead the hasher down and over the stream and HOME.