Hash 444 – Harrow @ Wanborough

Our hash started from the Harrow in Wanborough, a nice pub with a good garden.

Hashers assembled in dribs and drabs, culminating in a good turn out of both runners and walkers. Keith was determined we should start on time muttering “none of this 11.15 nonsense” under his breath as he assembled us together and gave the pre-hash brief. He described a route beset by hills, hazardous pot holes marked by triangles (a new sign for me), horses and possibly cows. The route consisted of two circles that diverged at the beginning and end. The course was described as six miles for the runners and with the serious look on Keith’s face and the description that a lot of the course was uphill  (compensated for by the down hill) it sounded pretty tough.

We set off together as usual and the course was well marked, no one person struck out in front which was good as we all stuck together to start with. This was particularly helpful when we could only find signs on the wrong side of the road. Maurice assured us it was the right way and after running up one of the many hills we found that it was indeed the right way which Keith had thoughtfully marked on the wrong side of the road to stop us all getting run over!

After that we ran on and on up the hill towards the Ridgeway; the scenery was beautiful and you could see for miles. By this time the group had split and we ran along the Ridgeway for a while before descending downwards; a relief after the uphills. It was a lovely trail.

I was running with Paul and David and we were doing well, even seeing the on on sign, but then we decided to take a small diversion with the caveat that we needed the extra distance for training for the marathons that we foolishly have volunteered for. We had our local guide to help us so we didn’t get lost despite what others may think. When we arrived back at the Harrow everyone else was there. In fact Viv and John were first back.

We enjoyed a welcome drink and some birthday cake as it had been Laura’s birthday.
Everyone was wondering where Brian and Mike had got to, only to have them arrive and find that Mike had fallen and sustained some pretty serious looking wounds; quite a bit of blood, a bang to the head and a big lump to the elbow. He really did not need to do something so dramatic just to give me something to write in the Hash Mag! Hopefully the wounds are healing well and Mike will be out to run another trail soon.

After that we had the usual natter and catch up and it was very clear that Viv and John had finished first. The speeches were made and Brian thanked Keith for what was a fantastic trail. The shorts were awarded by David to Maurice for his fantastic chat up line that he tried out on an unsuspecting female runner!! The horn was awarded to Mike for his bravery for the cause.

We all enjoyed a drink in the sunshine, Viv and John came first and everyone was grateful to Keith for a super trail.