Fantastisk utsikt från en av öppningarna i djungeln. Vi var tvugna
att hugga oss fram till denna öppning med en Parang när vi la spåret
Två hash-vänner som provade en lång springing för första gången.
Jag fick sätta dem på en buss tillbaka efter att de gjort 25% av loppet
Mike & Mats vilar ut efter att ha lagt klart banan tillsammans
med bloggförfattaren. 30 min marginal till hash-vännerna anländer
Målgången är vid foten av denna imponerande trappa med 120 steg som leder upp till Bukit Batok Hill
Klassika skyltar på allt som ägs/kontrolleras av staten.
Ser farligare ut än de är i verkligheten
Numera finns bara master för radio/TV på toppen av kullen
Lite fakta om krigsmonumenten som en gång stod här (och anledningen till trappan)
Tillbaka till loppet. Här ser ni början av loppet inritat på 1982 topografiska karta.
Som synes främst vägar men de försvinner fort i tropiskt klimat på 30 år...
Långa loppet på ca 8.9 kmIdag var det dags för vårt hash-lopp. Det regnade rejält under natten så vi beslutade oss för att skippa några tunnelpassager där högt vattenstånd kunde orsaka problem.
Långa loppet blev ca 8.9 km och jag sprang det som
sweeper för att fånga upp alla eftersläntare. Efter att solen har gått ner vid 19.15 blir det fort riktigt mörkt in djungeln. Det var som tur var halvmåne och hyffsat molnfritt vilket kompenserade en del. Kul med tidsödande att lägga springningar i terräng som denna. Till middag var det Mr Hoe's vietnamesiska kök vilket är en av de bästa middagar jag ätit på en hash.
När löprapporten (run report) kom ut från
On Sec stod följande att läsa om vår springning:
This was a bus out run so the chances of a ball-breaker must be quite high. Also, as the hapless Ray Ang discovered a few months ago, it is difficult if not impossible to short-cut an A to B run. However, the clever hares made sure everybody was catered for by providing a short run as well so those of us opting for the long run would only have ourselves to blame.
The bus left Lorong Sesuai slightly after 5.30pm and predictably a couple of plonkers missed it, but there were about 40 of us that were better timekeepers. The bus dropped us off for the long run near the junction of Ulu Pandan Road and Holland Road at 5.50pm and the extra 10 minutes were to prove very welcome later on. The trail takes us up Holland Road and then about 100 meters we go off to the left onto a tarmac track and then into the shiggy. We run along the side of a drain, down to the canal and then a T-check. It took a little while for some of us to click that as it was a T-check we should probably go back along the out-trail but when we did we soon picked up the trail and then into the yongle. Out of the yongle and through some long grass lined with nasty pointy sticks, like a very crude elongated animal trap. We made it through that and were back into the yongle where we were then faced with a very tricky steep muddy bank which was particularly nasty for the one-handed Colin (Wan) King. At the bottom we followed an old disused railway track and then we hit another T-check.
The trail was picked up along the railway track in the opposite direction, which soon turned into a muddy bog. That was followed by a tunnel under Clementi Road, where the mud was up to my chest. Fuck the hares! The paper then led us up a very steep slippery bank, at the top the trail went to the right and then we hit another T-check. Back in the other direction, where paper was soon found, out of the yongle and onto Sunset Heights, then Sunset Vale, right onto Sunset Way and then through a tunnel under the PIE. We went under another tunnel and then we were following a river, which the hares insisted we enjoy fully by wading through the bloody thing. The On Sec was up to his chest again in shitty water. How many times can we fuck those hares? Eventually we came out of the river and past a playground were we reached a circle check near the junction of Lorong Kismis and Toh Tuck Rise.
When the trail was found we were straight back into the yongle again. We crossed Toh Tuck Road, down the back of the houses on Burgundy Drive, then down into another river. This river went on for quite a while, before we went up another steep muddy bank. At the top of the bank the hares had hung up so much paper that it would have gladdened the heart of Ken Ong. They were obviously worried that the light might have started to fade by now, which it had, because it was now 7.25pm and we were still in the fucking yongle!
Luckily we did not have much more yongle before we came out behind the houses at Jalan Layang Layang (so good they named it twice!), then onto Shamah Terrace, over Old Jurong Road and into Bukit Batok Nature Park. From here we just had to climb through the park and we were home. First back on paper from the long run was Robert at 7.35pm, followed by Thomas B and Morten. When I got back at 7.40pm most of the pack had already returned, except Andrew Whitney and a couple of guests who didn’t get back until 7.55pm. Good job the guests were there to guide Andrew back or it might have been another 4 hour run for our bewildered statistician. The long run was about 8.5km and it was certainly one of the best runs that I have enjoyed since joining the hash. Well done hares – that was brilliant!
