This was it –the last Suzhou Hash of 2009, and we had a good crowd on hand, ready to enjoy it. There were about 20 Suzhou hashers signed up and another 8 or so drove in from the Wuxi H3 to be with us for the event. The Hares had us meet up at Zapata’s on the lake where despite the pricey beer, the pre-Hash meet-up got us all in the proper state of mind for the event.

14:00 came and no Hares to be seen anywhere, so at 14:15, the Religious Advisor called the group together for the appropriate pre-Hash ceremony. The Wuxi visitors were treated with gifts and presents befitting their status (to the great amusement of the Zapata’s staff and passers-by) and the Hash got off to a rowdy start. We started circling the starting point looking for the trail, but nothing to be found anywhere. It seemed all was lost when there were cries of ‘Live Hare, Live Hare!” off in the distance. And the pack was off. We tracked the Hare along Jinji Lake, following the sets of chalk arrows and markings, including instructions vital to staying on trail, such as “Kiss the Bride” and “Photo Shoot with Groom”. True, there were brides and grooms out with their wedding photographers at the lake in droves, but some of us couldn’t help but wonder if this might just be a diversionary tactic on the part of the Hare? We wound through Ligong Di and over bridges and around the Outlets shopping plaza and along the canals until we were stumped by a wall. The chalk marks took us over the wall and onto a bridge, with a short jump over a rather long drop into the icy waters of a canal, but from there, the trail went dead. One by one and in small groups the Hashers came panting up to the same place, and fanned out and back again, but the trail was nowhere to be seen. Some ran back towards the Bash location in the stated hope of picking up the scent, and the unstated one of at least ending up at the place where beer and food was being served. Others cut across to the next bridge to see if there was a Hare to be found. The trail got hot again about one kilometer from the Big and Whistle Pub and chalk marks were again to be seen, but as it ended up, all but a lucky few found they had missed the entire trail leading to the beer stop at Ebony, as well as the short cut through the underground parking garage and back to the Big and Whistle where the Hare was waiting for the group.

This was a really fun and exciting run, and the Live Hare aspect kept everyone on their toes. Hats off to the Hare on this one!