Scribe: Broken Boner
Date: 9th July 2023
Hares: Bush Fire + Fullerair
Run Type: A to B
Distance: 8Km(Eagle)
Weather: Sunny
Participants: 32
Hayama Hash House Harriers Run Number 172 at Higashi Zushi Station ending at a BBQ Place in Hayama
The run was hosted by Bush Fire and Fullerair on a hot humid summer’s day in Japan. The meeting point was close to the Higashi Zushi station in a coin parking place. Opposite the meeting place, there was a Tanabata festival (marks the start of the summer and 7/7 date) which was dotted with bamboo trees, temporary shops, and food stands. A band was playing which added to the atmosphere. There was also an old Japanese lady who looked like she had one too many chuhais (alcopop) at the opposite Izakaya (is she a hasher?). Bush Fire explained that the trail will be “A to B” which meant the trail will end up at a different place (hence the meeting time of 230pm for 3pm start so that there would be no stragglers). Thanks to Bush Fire for being the Hare and Fullerair for carrying all the Hashers luggage in his SUV. There was a well written explanation of the Hash signs (check point, CBs, VPs) and your correspondent (Broken Boner) didn’t know that the runners should only mark the arrow with one dash instead of two, which was done by some English guy.
The run hit a check point immediately after the start, which confused the runners (your correspondent prefers the first 1km of the run to be a warm up with no major stops for the check points or CBs (check backs). After the check point, which took us up the hill rather than across the train tracks, there were a couple CBs which also took us off our guards. The run then went up a massive set of stairs, the last of which veered towards the left into the jungle. The FRBs (front running bastards) cut the veer and found the way out of the Sakura Yama Chuo Park (meaning cherry blossom park). The middle pack went further into the jungle, mistook a bird poop for the flour mark (!) and went up a roped steep slope. Cliffhanger went further into the hiking route and found nothing and turned back. The first timers (Ahmed and Rika) and a bunch of hashers also followed us back up the rope and turned around in the middle. The trail went around a high school which Ito Junya, the Japan National Team player who played in the World Cup Qatar 2022 that beat Germany and Spain graduated from.
The middle hashers eventually found the trail again which went past a kindergarten, then a nice View Point (is there going to be a nice house being built?) and then a couple of blocks around the housing block led us to the BEER STOP, kindly hosted by Cliffhanger. His house is opposite the water reservoir tank, which shows it is on top of a hill, and he had ice cold Coors Light (from the base), Itoen tea and Aquarius, which was very welcome on such a hot day. We talked to a random local lady who passed us by at the beer stop too, and she appreciated a cup of cold tea.
After the beer stop, the trail split into Turkey (easy) and Eagle (difficult). Broken Boner (BB) took the Eagle route which went into the forests (another two major hills!). BB overtook the Ahmed which gave him a bit of a fright as he was listening to the music, at the last hill. However, there was an inter section which BB, took the wrong turn and ended up down the hill to a camp site, and past the famous Hayama Marina (the birth place of yachting in Japan). BB thought he could find the restaurant finish as he thought he would eventually find an arrow in Hayama but couldn’t. He messaged Shibayama-san with no reply but after circling the forest trail, got a message from the girl German Suzanne to meet at the BBQ place, where the hare took care of the bags too. As it turned out by walking back to Zushi station at the end, the run came out the park with a bunch of stairs next to the tunnel connecting Zushi and Hayama (route 311) and it goes over a pedestrian crossing and onto the finish.
There were two DNFs (Did Not Finish) for the run. First was Susan (Enter the Dragon) from the UK, who took a taxi back to Zushi after being dehydrated. Thanks to the two other hashers who looked after her. The second lady, Hiroe (Just a Pick Up), was more serious as the group lost track of her after the beer stop. After not arriving at the finish (with her bag and mobile phone still in the bag), we called the police and worried that she may have collapsed on the trail with nobody around her. We eventually found that she went home without collecting the bag to our relief. We need to 1) note all phone numbers or email addresses at the beginning 2) all participants to carry the phone for emergency, at least in an A to B trail 3) Everyone should know the telephone number of the Hare 4) maybe we should reveal the finish point once the FRBs reach the finish point or about 1.5 hours into the run for safety in a group email so there is no danger of a massive short cut but this may avoid a stranded hasher. The run was meant to be about 9km but Broken Boner as a result did about 12km and he was probably about 1 hour late to the finish! As a result of this, BB missed the “circle up” The elevation gain was a solid 300m as well! The evening was ended by a delicious BBQ with chicken legs and salad in a nice location in Hayama after the trail. Thanks to Bush Fire and Fullerair, the Hares and all the participants.
Written up by Broken Boner