Sunny Bay

Hares - Bondi Barbie and Octopussy.

Well after three days of T1 rains it was always going to be a difficult one. Combine that with Bondi's somewhat adventurous and creative streak and it was going to be an interesting one too!

Storms raced past. We gathered at Sunny Bay in good form. Enthusiastic and raring to go and we were off the blocks. North up the shoreline until the flyover and a checkback. A fair amount of faffing around under the flyover and finally we found the route through the fences and up a muddy bank to the main road leading to Disneyland. The markings were pretty light - and that's to put it mildly.

We first went up the stairs towards Tai Yam Teng mountain. There was the odd patch of flour but not a lot. So down into the drains under the roads. Along the drains until we got to a veritable river. Impassable. Back again. A lot of to and fro but no flour action. Finally after about 20 minutes Cheesy Flying Fox called Bondi on his Blackberry and got Special Clues.

Up the road towards Disneyland but there were no markings at all. We had been told it was off to the side and up the hill and indeed some went up the hill. However with the complete lack of markings the trail was very difficult to find and the pack spread out over the best part of a quarter of a mile trying various different routes. Finally with a somewhat muffled 'on-on' they broke through onto a muddy trail up the hillside scattered with death money.

Up the hill was pretty slippery with very little trail. The red notes difficult to see against the red mud in the mist. The wet grass hung over the path so often you didn't realize where the trail was until you found you weren't on it. But up up into the peaks and finally at the 3km mark we broke out onto the top and a set of rolling hills off into the distance.

The trail was a bit easier here and went off north east, over a small hill, down into a valley and up over another hill. A peak (Fa Peng Teng) at 4k and then down another hill with a trail off on the left. But that would be too easy. So up and down another hill hopping from stone to stone down an old river bed (orgasmic - Bondi tells me) until finally the sea lay in front of us and a beautiful beach (Fa Peng) filled with rubbish.

The front runners were immediately off south through a derelict house but soon realized that they were on a falsie. So back and up the coast to another splendid rubbish filled beach.

The trail was off further North through Sam Chuen with the Tsing Yi bridge sparkling in the distance. Up to Yi Chuen and then we rejoined the road via an underpass. At that point (8k) it was pretty straight running all the way back. Following the main road westward along the contours, under the underpass near the Tai Ting Chau building yard, then along the seaside path and back to Sunny Bay.

A truly remarkable run in true Bondi style. Twelve kilometers, a little under three hours. But everyone came back chipper and cheerful. Nuff said.

The down downs by Wanchai Wanker and company

The Hares. For setting a 12 Km run on a Wednesday evening.

The Hares. For setting a three hour run in T1 conditions.

The Hares. For making it wet.

The Hares. For marking the trail in sugar.

The Hares. For organizing take-away spaghetti but no plates or cutlery.

The Hares. For lots of other things.

The song was sung by some hashers. Afterwards everyone joined in.