Hares Crafty Linguist (CL) and Mountain Goat obviously must have harboured a secret desire to join the Mile High Club when they picked the location of the First Anniversary Run. You can imagine their disappointment when they found out that membership did not come with setting the highest run possible. However, by that stage it was too late to change the venue, and so Toulouse Hash House Harriers celebrated their first birthday at Pech David (elevation – v. high!). The weather looked good – not too sunny for what promised to be a very hilly run. At 3pm a crowd of about 45 people had gathered, and as quite a few of them were virgins, or new to the TH3, it was over to Coffee Bean to explain what all our signs and markings meant. CL then took over the briefing and gave a course description. Over the past couple of runs, hares have competed with each other trying to give extra route options together with confusing directions which would ensure that none of these extra trails were ever found (if, indeed, they ever existed!). It was only fitting, therefore, that CL saved the best until the anniversary run, effortlessly eclipsing the competition with a short, medium-short, medium-long and long combo coupled with directions that would make Christopher Columbus gulp. Still, not to be perturbed, the On-On was eventually given, to the accompaniment of a variety of Hash Horns, and the pack set off on their various routes. As expected, all routes tended to follow the same ‘roller coaster’ theme, but the markings were good, the scenery impressive (and small from this altitude) and the trail was sprinkled with candy / sweets to bribe the anklebiters into enthusiasm – although I did see a few FRB’s swiping some for a quick sugar fix! All in all it was a very good run, and, credit where credit is due, this was the first run in a long time where all participants reached the On-In by their own navigation, rather than relying on Quicksand’s assistance. Once all the pack was back, Acting Religious Advisor (ARA), Do-It-Yourself (DIY) called the Circle to order, bracing himself for the inevitable moans, groans and lack of response. Cattle prods and bribery were then employed, and a Circle was eventually arrived at. First up for Down Down’s (DD) were the hares CL and Mountain Goat, whose routes were rated before the DD’s were given. Given the plethora of routes available, an overall consensus was taken, resulting in a 90-95% approval rating. Once the DD’s had been given, CL took over his mantle as Grand Master (GM) Next up for DD’s were the Anklebiters. This was a new feature, a chocolate DD, and one which proved very successful – we had barely finished the first line of the chorus before all chocolate had been scoffed. Following in their footsteps (although not DD’ing with such speed) came the Virgins (6), the returnees (2) and new comers (3). Seeing as it was our first birthday, the GM then introduced every member of the Mis-management, explained their roles (apart from that of Song Meister which totally eluded him!) and the DD’d the lot of them. Once this was done, CL obviously felt himself to be on the home straight, and started gathering momentum. The next DD’s came in quick succession. First came a naming, as Well Hung’s wife was christened Swing Low. Then ET was chocolate DD’d for having an attendance record of 12/18 runs in the first year, before the miscreants were herded into the Circle. It turned out that it had been a fairly clean run, but 4 SCB’s were found, and ratted up by Taupe-less. To her horror, 3 of them were Mis-management – Quicksand, Bearded Clam (BC) and DIY – the fourth was Sarah, an innocent visitor who had been lead astray. Just as BC was dashing for safety, she was called back to be re-DD’d for not adopting the DD-stance. For company, Well Hung and a new comer were also DD’d for having new footwear. Final DD’s of the day went to the G.M. CL and Mountain Goat for their inspiring leadership over the past year. Then CL handed over to ARA Do-It-Yourself (B.J. come back – your Hash needs you) to lead the Hash Hymn (verses one, two and a double-timed (and Hashed-up) verse three). An excellent Hash. On-On Do-It-Yourself