Mid-Autumn Festival Lai Chi Kok Park

Hare - Hopeless

Hashers - Britarse, Beer Tits, Blow Job, Mountain, Robusta, Kim KardaXXXian, Lap Sap Gow, Eddie, Keg on Legs, Hoover, Indyanus, Jannie, Victim, Jenny, Timbits, Castrato, JV, Liberace, Lotus, Hopeless, Meredith, Father C*nt Punch, Moonie, Myra, Golden Balls, Stunt Double

Write-up - JV

Full Moon Hash at Lai Chi Kok Park: I was encouraged to see so many unfamiliar faces from half a dozen HK hash groups in attendance. The only thing I remember from Hopeless’ briefing is that all checks would be open checks.

Passing through the graffiti covered underpass and found the first Checkback (CB) up the waterfall stairs, but no check in sight. Weird I thought. Into the shiggy, up and up stairs and back onto a small road where Jannie and I found yet another CB leading to a lollipop up around the top of the hill, featuring nice views of western Kowloon, which then led back down to reconnect just a few meters ahead of the previous CB (Jannie and I ducked low like special forces to prevent the runners in back from spotting us through the lollipop, lest they attempt to shortcut!)

Through the lush mountain village (closely resembling the Little Hawaii Falls region), Jannie and I were in the front chatting away in Zone 2 mode and missed yet another CB (by at least 400m I reckon) before we realize we hadn’t seen a marking in ages. Up the hill in the village we heard dogs barking and knew the group had found true trail. Cut upwards through the village towards the sound of voracious barking and caught the seasoned runners trodding uphill and cursing Hopeless’ hopeless checks.

Never before had I seen so many CBs without any actual checks. “I guess we need to check every split from now on” says Jannie. Sneaky bugger, Mark!

Upwards towards a plethora of trail splits and CBs, of which I reckon Jannie and I found 5 or 6 of those before the end of the day, giving us the extra distance we were after and keeping most of the group together, so much so that I think I crossed paths with JV 1.0 on at least 5 separate occasions.

Down down the hill and back into LCK town proper we go, on fast and smooth paths that allowed for quicker downhill pace than usual.

Final section back through LCK park which was buzzing with Mid-Autumn energy and dozens of grannies blocking the sidewalk with oversized umbrellas, providing extra agility training on the final 200m as we dodged them left and right at full speed.

Today I learned that routes don’t need checks, rather, numerous check backs alone can suffice. Well done, Hopeless, on deceptive yet creative wayfinding that kept even the most experienced hashers guessing…so much so that those same experienced hashers consumed a quantity of beer I’ve never seen before post-run. True experience in action 👏 🍺