Run# 2004
Date: 22-May-2021
Hare: Cooch
Location: Maroondah Reservoir Picnic Area, Healesville
The committee decided to have the 2,000th run at Healesville. Healesville was reasonably close to Melbourne, is a vibrant little town and on paper looked to have many trail options
I’m not sure if I volunteered or if I was volunteered to set the trail. Which ever way, E&B and I did several reccees. There were lots of trails on the map, but it turned out that many were in protected catchments and not available to the public. Those that were available were closely managed to be one way in and the same way ou – not ideal for hashing. E&B and I recceed Maroondah Dam, Badger Weir, Donnelly Weir, Graceburn Aqueduct, Narbethong and Marysville. The Maroondah dam site was finally chosen after finding a way to run a loop and not an out-and-back run on the same trail.
The morning of the run came and Pythag and Whippet offered help with setting parts of the run as well as to arrange the drink stops. Their help was very much appreciated. I set off with my new bonker. I stole the design from Botack Chong and it worked a treat.
I always like to have a bit of variety in hash runs and the Maroondah Dam site ended up having lots of opportunity for variety. There was the park area, the reservoir wall, a lookout, a tunnel, an aqueduct, a water crossing, shiggy, my “Stairway to Heaven” and my “Bush bash from Hell”. I actually went a bit soft and set up a home-made temporary foot bridge over the water crossing to help some of our more delicate hashers so they wouldn’t get their feet wet. But all I got was criticism and not one bit of gratitude.
It was 12:30pm and time to set the pack loose. As well as these who came for the weekend, it was great to see a number of hashers come out for the day. Pog rode his Brompton push bike from Melbourne. The run/walk started, but in the wrong direction because Pythag and Whippet somehow weren’t able to follow the simple directions from the hare when helping with setting the start of the run. They missed the Rose Garden and the run under the reservoir wall.
The run and walk went over the dam and to a lookout. Then after a number of checks and onbacks, the pack got to the first drink stop at a pretty location where water from Maroondah Reservoir came out of Echo Tunnel into an aqueduct. The drink stop was ginger wine and dry. The runners set off along the aqueduct as the walkers came into the drink stop.
After the drink stop, the runners and walkers split. The walkers had a little back track and then two options to get to the second drink stop. The first option was over a bit of a hill with quite a climb. The second option was much flatter. All the walkers chose the first option, that is the hill option, but then complained about the hill. Who knows why, they had the choice?
The runners had a bigger loop along the aqueduct trail, then back towards Healesville on a dirt road, followed by a small diversion along a stream and through a farm paddock, then the “Stairway to Heaven”, the “Bush bash from Hell” and lastly a pretty downhill track to drink stop #2. The runners arrived first. They weren’t too spread out because of the checks and onbacks. The walkers then came in, grumbling about the hill. The run finished a further ½ km away, back at the start, but everyone was enjoying the drink stop too much to move on – for a while. The circle was eventually had and then everyone buggered off after hopefully enjoying a Saturday afternoon together in the bush and at the Maroondah Reservoir Park
