BMPH3 Christmas Party 2006

The Brussels Manneke Piss Hash House Harriers always throws a spectacular Christmas Ball and this year was no exception. And, yes that is me with a rather fetching member of the Hash Committee called "Satan's Lill' Helper".

The Ball was held on 9th December in the Schuman district of Brussels only a few yards from the EU in L'Atelier, Rue Franklin. The whole thing kicked off at 7:30pm and the last guests were poured into their taxis at 05:15am the next morning - pretty good going as I know for a fact that many of those hardy souls had been out on the pre-Christmas pub-crawl the night before until the wee small hours. I left the former event at 4am and the latter - well I don't actually remember the time!

It is amazing how good some hashers look in dj's or posh frocks.

I did say, "some" - Higgins always looks kind of odd somehow!

The whole evening was very proper to start with


Then things started to get a bit wilder when the blow up doll appeared.


We had Oscar like nominations and awards for various categories like

• "Best Trail" for which myself and Baby Snatcher got a nomination for her farewell trail back in the spring (won by Puss in Boots and Naughty Nuke for an excellent trail earlier in the Autumn.
• "Best new comer" won by Half Monty (so called because he was always having his trousers pulled down)
• "Best turned out Hasher and Harriette" won by Lick'mm and Yark Sucker
  
• and finally the premier award was announced - "The Hashalong Memorial Award" for "Best Hare of the Year". To my amazement I WON! It was a real honour.

As well as the awards - and there were lots of others, but I forget what they were for we also had some entertainment and I was part of one of the sketches.

Four of us Brits got together and did the "Four Yorkshireman" sketch from Monty Python - you know the one "Eee Luxury, we used to dream of living in a cardboard box". It was very well received and we got a load of laughs.

After the dinner was over the dancing and disco started and things got a lot more hash like


To everyone's amazement no one, for the first time in living memory, took their clothes off (not even Higgins or Sex Goddess) - but we did have three or four gravity testers falling off bar stools, walking into glass doors or tripping over their own feet, but no one was hurt.

All in all an excellent night.

Of course, we were all out running the next morning. For further pictures see
Forrest Gulps official photographs of the Party and
Forrest Gulps photos of the hangover run

Spotted Dick's Birthday Run 2006 - 12 November 2006

Yes that is me in the silly hat. It is a BMPH3 tradition that you wear a hat on your birthday! A little late I know, but back last month I set a trail to celebrate my birthday.

I had been recce-ing the run for quite some time aided by a bit of direction from Mick Mac a veteran Hasher with the BMPH3 and my trusty GPS. I went out a total of 4 times before the run to walk in the Foret de Soignes to the south east of Brussels to find the trail.

I should have had a co-hare but I rather liked the idea of setting the trail by myself. Walking alone in the woods guided only by the GPS was a delight. The weather was wonderful - nice bright afternoons with a bit of a nip in the air and bright sunshine. The woods were incredibly beautiful.
Tall beech trees with silver green trunks seemingly propping up a canopy of green and gold. And apart from the occasional mountain biker no one around. I saw a little wildlife while was out - a deer and to my amazement 2 chipmunks - well they were small brown squirrels with pale stripes down their backs. Actually a few weeks after my run I actually saw a red squirrel in the forest.

The Google Earth/GPS map is a little complex to understand, but basically there were 3 trails. A Bulls' trail (a long one for good runners) that was about 12kms in length that went out deep into the forest using tunnels under the motorway that quarters the forest, a Chickens' trail that turns north and then loops down around the lakes to the south, and a Walker's trail that starts off following the Bulls trail, then short cuts across at the lakes to join the Chickens' trail. All the trails came together at a parking area under the motorway for a beer stop and then there was a 1km loop back through Rouge Cloitre to rejoin the out trail and then back to the start.

I started laying the trail at 11:30 and finally finished the last bit of the Bulls' trail at 3:00pm and then had to leg it (run) back along the main road to meet everyone at the start.

I was totally exhausted by the time I got to the start having been walking/running for three and a half hours and covering nearly 20km (12.5 miles), but I was really heartened to see such a large turn out - there were over 25 hashers keen to start running. I changed my tee-shirt, ate a banana, had a drink of water, put on the birthday hat and then was ready for the introduction. I explained there were 3 trails and asked for a show of hands as to who would be doing which trail - I was surprised to find there were at least 12 people who wanted to do the Bulls' trail - despite (or perhaps because of) my description of it as being "Long, smooth and hard".

I elected to re-run the Bulls' trail and had a great time watching the pack trying to solve the checks. I was very happy but totally exhausted by the time we got to the beer stop - and everyone was there - no one got lost and everyone said what a great trail it was.

Finally back at the start I estimated I had covered in excess of 32kms (20 miles) on foot that day! I was treated with the usual disrespect in the circle afterwards being given lots to drink - despite me saying I was trying to cut down and I was duct-taped to another birthday boy - Spare Rib.

We had an 'On After' in a local excellent restaurant, the Deauville, and again I was delighted by the turn out - 2 full tables. The food was wonderful - game - Yum Yum.

Everyone agreed that the trail was a really good one - I've now got a reputation to live up to!