Hammersley

Friday`s run is with the notorious Hammersley men`s run. They are from Perth Australia. Enos is a member and I have met their former GM, Screwdriver also. They have taken over a hotel across the street from the start of yesterday`s run. Over 300 hashers are signed up and we all have yellow Hammersley t-shirts. Trail starts at 12:30 and follows a route similar to the RDR. We get to the waterfront and there is a beer check, complete with icings and singing. A hasher is sitting bare assed on the ice when a toothles beggar on crutches walks up to the ice. He gets up and the beggar points to his crotch and bursts out laughing. Its priceless! We loop around and finish in a grassy area between 2 apartment blocks. There` s an alter of ice set up and they start their legendary circle. They are crude and rowdy with lots of tits and bare asses. Their theme song is"Hammersley takes it up the ass,do-dah,do-dah" Unfortunately there is a large crowd and its hard to hear, as everyone is talking at once and the apartments amplify the sound. I give up and go inside the bar to eat our box lunch. Its an un appetising pile of noodles so I eat a little and go off in search of some real food.
At 7 I head to the venue for the opening ceremonies. Its about a 15 minute walk from my hotel and when I arrive there are swarms of hashers converging of the place.There is a stage set up in the parking lot and behind that are rows of tents set up for vendors and the beer and food service. There are some speeches and then some traditional cultural dances. We hashers love our culture! One of the dances is headhunters with blowguns. They are quite convincing and bring out a white guy blindfolded. They put him on his knees and pretend to chop off his head, holding up a fake head. Now thats entertainment! A terrible cover band comes on and at 9:30 I leave to watch futball,staying out again until 3.