‘9.8 km as the crow flies (if it was lost and flying in a circular route instead of a straight line), and 1hr 36 minutes to do the run’, said Incredible Hulk to the rather bemused 5 hashers sitting in a cafe in Normafa. He was looking at his rather sophisticated wrist chronograph / GPS device, which he wears in case he should get lost.‘So your estimate of 5 km plus or minus 5 km’ was spot on!’ he said to NFG Paresh, who set the trail the day before with the help of StAnus.
It was a hot Sunday morning when 12 hashers gathered at the usual meeting place in Batthyany
Ter, and were joined by a late comer, Rabies, who just arrived in his car as the pack were setting off to start the run / walk in Normafa. The same Rabies who left early after the run thus avoiding the circle and down-downs he was sure to get, and despite all that and to add insult to injury he in fact succeeded in making sure NFG Paresh did get a down-down for laying the rather less than adequately marked trail. NFG Paresh maintains to this date that the trail was well marked and that it was only challenging because the sunlight shining through the trees was very good at camouflaging the flour. Besides the runners should stop moaning and get on with the job in hand!And so the eventful day began with about 5 cars transporting the pack to the site, not before on
e hasher, 10 Minutes Late, decided to follow another car, not part of the pack, on to their home before realising he was following the wrong car. Just how he managed to do so is still beyond comprehension, as the car he was supposed to follow, occupied by Smokey Donkey and NFG Paresh, was a totally different make and model which he had been waiting behind for quite some time before they set off. So after some frantic phone calls to Run By Battery, he was guided back to the correct destination! Funnily he escaped a down-down for keeping the pack waiting.On the way up, Smokey Donkey decided that they needed to buy some water as Run By Battery
had failed to do so, for which she was gracious enough to accept a down-down. NFG Paresh and Smokey Donkey stopped at a ‘Match’ and quickly bought 16 bottles of cold water. Just as they were getting back to the car NFG Paresh looked at the receipt and noticed that they had just paid for 24 bottles. So a quick return back to the shop, and some words were exchanged in Hungarian. The tiller was apologetic as a queue of other shoppers was gathering for her attention, but it was agreed that rather than get money back as this would have completely confused the poor girl and cause a much larger queue to develop, they should collect another 8 bottles of water, which they did and were on their way. Smokey Donkey ignored the very large diversion sign and just as soon realised his mistake so did a quick U-turn to get back on the right road. Was this becoming a sign of things to come?The pack gathered at the starting point and was briefed by NFG Paresh, who accepted full responsibility for setting the course, but warned that that was the first course he had set, and reminded everyone that his accomplice mentor had been StAnus. He also rather fortuitously observed that this was a pack of 13, unlucky for some. The pack included three new comers/Virgins; a Financial Controller from New York, a Wizzair pilot from UK, now living in Budapest, and a Wind Energy expert from USA, hoping to build wind farms in Hungary. In their wisdom / ignorance they decided to run the course.
Straight away there was a false trail, as six set off to run, and seven walk the course. There were to be no pit stops along the way.
The course was broadly a round route which started at the car park in Normafa, headed North
West towards and past the Viragvology Station and then cut across the woods South West to Makkosmaria. It continued on roughly South from there for some 1-2 km before cutting across East to Csilleberc, and then along the Konkoly Thege Miklos ut., back to Normafa. There was a view point along the way.As one of the runners NFG Paresh let slip at the view point that they had covered about two thirds of the course, but the last third was regrettably uphill all the way. He would hav
e liked to say ‘It’s all downhill from here’. He kind of guessed that the mood of the runners was perhaps not the most enthusiastic he had ever encountered. So it was a good excuse to rest a while and rather optimistically hope that the walkers would soon catch up with them! At this point Incredible Hulk’s horn was mentioned, as they wondered whether Haggis would be with the walkers. NFG Paresh had thought that the walkers also had a horn as he could have sworn he heard it a few times. It was pointed out to him that that was the children’s railway. NFG Paresh had a vision of 10 Minutes Late running after the children’s railway. Meanwhile, Rabies was remarkably still so full of energy that he had started to climb the vertical face of the view point. He said he wanted to see if he could spot the next bit of flour on the trail from above. NFG Paresh then offered to catch Rabies if he jumped off the top of the view point, but Rabies didn’t take up the offer.
The last stretch of the course was uneventful, but it was great to see the Normafa car park. The six headed for the cafe there and discussed the course. Another half an hour later or thereabouts, the walkers arrived. As they all prepared for the circle, Run By Battery cried out that she could not find her phone! NFG Paresh and 10 Minutes Late both rang her number but no sound of a ringing phone. Incredibly, French Made and Run By Battery decided to go look for the phone by re-tracing the course!(Which somehow the trunk of her car)Even more incredibly, they were both back in about ten minutes having found her phone almost at the starting point of the course. How fortunate. (Some nice soul had found her phone and would return it later in the day)
And so the insults, penalties, moans and groans were vented in the circle. Strangely no down-downs for no-hash gear. Some hashers had a close escape. NFG Thomas (French) had quickly made his escape as soon as he had finished the course on some excuse of a prior engagement. So he and Rabies probably need to catch up. Rabies did get voted on setting the next course, and NFG Paresh got bullied into being the scribe despite protestations that the trail blazer could not be expected to write about the same trail…..
As is customary this was followed by Lunch, which was held at Szechenyi Hegy, and a good time was had by all.
It may have escaped most peoples notice but the walkers were not glowing as much as the runners. This suggests that they took a short cut back to the start, because if they hadn’t they would have walked past the nuclear facility that the runners went past on the last part of the course. A heavily fortified compound with watch towers and barbed wire, probably designed to keep the employees in.....Did NFG Paresh imagine a number of people running past them very fast on that last stretch? Perhaps the excessive dose of radiation and the heat may explain away the events of the day.
On On
NFG Paresh
Hulk's Photos
Hares: NFG Paresh with StAnus
Hashers: NFG Paresh, St Anus, Smokey Donkey, NFG Thomas (French), French Made, Rabies, Incredible Hulk, H'agi's, 10 Minutes Late, Run By Battery, Leaking Twat (John), and NFGs Thomas and Andrea
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