MH3 Run 225, Alexandra Hotel, Derby. 12/03/2012

For a drinking club with a running problem the Alexandra Hotel is an excellent hash venue. A great selection of real ales, drinks at good prices and close to the railway station for those who like to drink and not drive. Thirty minutes before the start I got a text from the hares (Too Tuf and Chicki) to say this was going to be a “live hare” with a kind of message that requested we didn’t go too fast just in case we caught them up. So we started promptly on time with Bugger shooting off in front on a mission to catch the hares.

First mile was a large loop that returned back to the Alex but on the other side of the road. That’s the walkers route sorted I thought but even the walkers weren’t tempted by the closeness of the ON-INN where rule 7b could have applied – if you can see the pub from the trail, follow the pub and not the flour. I was already well at the back having checked well past the Derby Telegraph building and having to get over the devastation of finding out the Smithfield (another good real ale house) had closed down.

Checks worked well and I seemed to get caught by most of the early ones. It was only in the latter part of the trail, when I could smell the fear of the hares, that I got on a roll, out in front with welcome back Eunuch in pursuit. We headed for the railway station, surely the hares hadn’t crossed the railway here. Oh yes they had. The flour stopped at the entrance to the footbridge and started again outside the main entrance not far from the ON INN. After being let through the ticket barriers this was a check of no return. Just as well Chicki had been accompanied through the station else she might have ended up in Sheffield.

Dobber led the circle outside the pub (it’s only Quorn that’s going soft) and the hares were dealt with first being thanked for a good run. Eunuch was welcomed back and Parker also got a DD for something. Many now run with smartphones or GPSs so we can all work out where we’ve been, how long the hash was and how many beers we can drink before calories on the run have been exceeded. Chicki has learnt to tell the time on her GPS (Tuf sold her the idea that a GPS was a Get to Pub Sooner device). Malteaser on the other hand operates her mapping application by voice control on her iPhone which recorded her distance as 0 km. Did she get her DD as a non-runner?

Good Hash, plenty of checks that got me as shown by my GPS route for MH3 Run 225 .