Qingdao Hash House Harriers

Hello everybody!

Wet Dream mades an update to the running dates of our summer schedule. You can find the dates and more information about our great programme by clicking on “Upcoming runs” somewhere on the right side. I hope you have time to join the runs.

Straydog

Finally have time for a short update. The next run will be on Saturday, April 19th, and we’ll meet at 1 pm in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza. Don’t be scared by the name. A long run for most Hasher here means that it will be about one hour running and if you walk then about 90 minutes. The idea of the long run is to give some of us a chance to actually get some exercise and to run a bit. Of course there will be the usuall markings on the road and some stopps on the way, so you can still pick your own speed and have a good run.

I can’t say where the trail will be. Saturday is an “open park” day here in Qingdao and many mountain parks will be free of charge. But that will also mean that lots and lots of other people will be in the parks. I have to think about it. If the weather stays nice then we can hang out at a beach after the run and enjoy a drink in the sun.

If you have any questions then please contact me. Hope to see you for the run, On On!

Straydog

Dear Hashers,

finally an update of the website. The Crowne Plaza run was a big success. A total of 34 runners made it to the top and Qingdao TV was there to cover the event. There were two runners who made it up to the top in 7:14 minutes and the winner had to chosen by drawing straws. The first prize went to our own Qingdao Hasher Wet Dream and the second prize went to Robert Staples. The prize for the fastest lady went to Yen Zi who made it to 39th floor in only 8:21 minutes. Congratulations to the winners!

Thanks go out to the Crowne Plaza for all their help and support throughout the whole event. It has been great and we hope we can do it again.

A total of 1420 RMB was collected on that day and given to the Qingdao Expat charity. I have no idea where the 20 RMB come from but I’m sure they will be used for a good cause.

April runs: As you can see on the calendar on the right, we will have two runs this month. There will be a ‘fun run’ on the 5th. It pretty much depends on the weather where we’ll go. If the weather is good then we might end up near a beach. Let’s hope for the best. On the 19th we’ll have a ‘long run’ which will be longer than our regular trail - hence the name. But that doesn’t mean that we’ll run a marathon but simply that we run a bit more. Maybe around 7 or 8 kilometers, with refreshments along the way.
For each run we will meet at 1 pm in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza hotel on Hong Kong Road.

Other announcements: Pretty soon there will be two special Hashes in China. One is the 1000th run of the Shanghai Hash House Harriers. It’s on the weekend of the 25th April and will be held in and around Shanghai. The people have put together a program for the whole weekend and the total fee is 350 RMB. If you would like more information then contact me or follow the link on the right.
The next All China Nash Hash will be held in Tianjin from 20th to 22nd June 2008. You can find more information on www.hashchina.com.

So much for now. Hope to see you on one of the next Hashes. Don’t forget to check out our new pictures in the gallery. On on!

Straydog

Only a few more days to go! Time to get ready for the big event of early spring! We are looking forward to this exciting run and hope that a big number of runners, walkers and spectators come to the Crowne Plaza on the 23rd to support the Qingdao Expat charity by climbing up the stairs of the Crowne Plaza tower.

Everybody is welcome! Come and cheer for the runners!

When is it? It’s on 23.02.2008 (that’s a Saturday) at 1 pm. Please come to the hotel by 12:40 pm so that we can start at 1 pm.

Where does it start? Come to the lobby of the Crowne Plaza hotel. There will be signs directing you to the starting point.

How much does is cost? We collect 50 RMB from every runner. All the money we collect on that day will be donated to the Qingdao Expat charity. Please bring the money with you on the 23rd. Other donations are of course very welcome!

Everyone who registers before the 19th will receive a free shirt on the 23rd.

Do I need to register? Yes, please. It helps us a lot if we know how many people will come to the run. If you only want to watch then there’s no need to register. To register please send an email to info@qingdaohhh.com or leave a comment through the link above this post.

What information do you need for registration? Please just give us your name, Hash name (if you have one) and email address where we can reach you. And please indicate if you’re a runner (meaning you’ll try to run up fast) or a walker (meaning you don’t care about the time). We also need your T-shirt size.

I don’t want to run. Can I walk up? Sure. But even if you’d like to walk, please send us a small registration mail/comment.

I don’t even want to walk up. Can I still come and look? Yes, you can. Come and cheer for your friends, family and other runners.

How many floors are there? The run will start at the parking garage and then go all the way up to the hotel offices of 39th floor. It will also lead through two empty evacuation floors where you’ll have to change the staircase.

What if I can’t finish? Taking the elevator would be one option but that would also disqualify you for any prize. If you feel exhausted then you can stop anytime and join the other people cheering for the runners and remaining walkers.

39 floors. That’s sounds like it will take forever to get to the top. I managed to run it once in 7:30 minutes and another Hasher finished in 8:15 minutes. So it doesn’t take too long. If you walk you should calculate with 20 to 30 minutes.

Are there any prizes? The first prize, for the fastest runner, will be a one night complimentary stay in a junior suite in the Crowne Plaza. The 2nd and 3rd prize are complimentary meals worth 300 RMB in Murano’s and Cafe Asia respectively. We’d like to hand out more prizes so that everybody who made it to the top has a chance to win something. If you know someone who could be interested in sponsoring a prize then please contact me.

What will the run look like? On the 23rd please come to our registration desk in one of the function rooms on 3rd floor. There you’ll be given your start number and you can warm up a bit. To avoid a big chaos, there will be small numbers of people running at the same time. We’ll figure out the details as soon as we have a rough idea of how many people will come. Then you run up and up and up and up and you’ll probably get dizzy after a while. That’s when you’ll have to change the staircase. To get to the new staircase you have to run through an empty evacuation floor. Once you’re at the top you can recover a bit and then go to the meeting point. The finish area is not very big so not too many people will be able to hang out there so you can go back to the function room. While you wait for the other runners you can enjoy some refreshments and get your energy back. And after the last person made it to the top we will hand over the earnings to the Qingdao Expat Charity.

What does the charity do with the money? The Qingdao Expat charity supports schools and students in rural Shandong. It has a long history of helping people around Qingdao. E.g. they would support the construction of a playground of a school or give a student financial aid to be able to attend school. We will donate the starting fees and all other donations of that day to the charity.

What about the Hash traditions? This run will be special and probably we won’t be able to enforce all the Hash traditions. The pack will be too spread out and it’s hard to say if we can have a circle or not. But it’s a Hash run after all so there will be many elements of a Hash run.

Any refreshments for the thirsty runners? There will be water and our favorite refreshment - beer. That’s also one of the reasons we ask you to register. We need to know how much we need to buy. There might be some other refreshments, like mulled wine, as well, but that is not confirmed at the moment.

That all sound good. Can I help? Great! We can always need some help. If you’d like to help out a little bit it would be really appreciated. If you’d like to offer some refreshments (like mulled wine) then please contact me. If you’d like to volunteer for a post it would also be very helpful. There are many places where you can help: at the registration desk, at the starting point, at the finish, showing the people the way on the evacuation floors, in the elevator making sure no runners is using it, on the trail a few days before.

Any other important information? Yes. I hope you read all the way until here and didn’t stop after the second question. Running is at your own risk!

The Crowne Plaza Hotel and the Qingdao Hash House Harriers are not responsible for any injuries you get during the run.

Please be careful when you run and if you don’t feel well then better stop. There are a few hazardous parts along the way. In the first few floors the staircase is just high enough to let the average Chinese person walk without backpain. And in the evacuation floor some pipes cross the trail right on head level. And the whole thing is exhausting so don’t take it too easy.

I hope this answers your first questions. I will update this post as soon as I have new information. If you have any questions then please contact me. To contact me you can leave a comment here or email me at info@qingdaohhh.com. Or you can also give me a call at 139 64224100.

Let’s make the first staircase run of Qingdao a fun event! Show your support for the Qingdao Expat charity! Hope to see you all on the 23rd!

On on!

Christopher Straydog Liptau

Fellow Hashers!

I just updated the schedule and put in the dates for early 2008. The big event of this schedule will for sure be the Crowne Plaza Charity Run February. We’re currently working on the details for that run and will post them here in time for the run. You can also find the dates in our wonderful new calendar on the right.

For all runs, except the Late Night Run, we will meet in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza Hotel at 1pm!

First announcement for the 1st Qingdao Staircase Run:

Together with the Crowne Plaza Hotel Qingdao and the Qingdao Expats, we are currently preparing a staircase run for 23.02.2008. That’s right: staircase. The idea is to run up the stairs of the Crowne Plaza Hotel, starting from the first floor and then run all the way to the top floor. All the profits of this run will be donated to the Qingdao Expat charity. We’re all no athletes so don’t worry about the speed. You can pick your own pace and try to walk up all the way without getting too dizzy.

In the name of the Qingdao Hash House Harriers, I would like to thank Mr. Bamberg and everyone at the Crowne Plaza for helping us and letting us run up their stairs. I also thank Cathy Ben-David of the Qingdao Expats for her support of this run.

The details have yet to be worked out and once we have done that we will publish them here and in the Qingdao Expat Newsletter. The idea is that every runner pays a starting fee and maybe other sponsors donate money or prizes as well. Then the runners will run up the stairs (probably in small groups) and walkers will start after the runners. If we can arrange it then children will be able to go along with the walkers. Registration will start in early February through this website.

There will be prizes for the fastest runners and souvenirs for everyone who made it to the top (or at least tried). Depending on how many prizes we have to give away there might be a lucky draw where everyone has a chance to win a great prize. And we wouldn’t be Hashers if there wouldn’t be beer waiting at the top for the thirsty runners.

How can you participate?

The best way is to take part in this first ever staircase run in Qingdao. Your money will go towards a good cause. Another good way to support this charity run is to tell your friends and anyone you think might be interested in climbing stairs. Running is at your own risk and neither the Qingdao Hash House Harriers nor the Crowne Plaza take any responsibility if you hurt yourself (that had to be mentioned. Just to be safe)
If you, or your company, would like to sponsor this event either by donating money or a prize for the lucky draw, then that would be fantastic as well. Please contact Cathy of the Qingdao Expats or me in that case (you can leave a comment by clicking on “comment” above this article).

So, more information will follow in January. Be sure to get in shape after Christmas!

We also have other runs besides that (we meet every two weeks). The next run is on 08.12.2007 and it will be a winter run. The area where we’ll run will be decided by the hare shortly before the run. But for sure it will be an interesting area here in Qingdao. It will last for around one hour (including stops) and the cost is 10 RMB. Meet us in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza at 1 pm.
On 22.12.2007 we have a Christmas run. If you have a Santa hat then bring it along for this run. Santa will be very generous with his presents on this run (well, the Hash Santa only carries beer though). Again, meet us at 1 pm in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza.

If you have any questions then you can reach me at info@qingdaohhh.com or by leaving a comment above this article. I hope to see many of you on one of the next runs. On on!

Straydog

I found this article online on the website of the British newspaper “Telegraph” (www.telegraph.co.uk) on 02.11.07. It has some interesting new findings that are probably interesting to any Hasher. Here it is:

Beer after sport ‘is good for the body’
By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent
Last Updated: 5:01pm GMT 01/11/2007

A beer after playing a game of football, a long run, or a strenuous round of golf can be good for the body, scientists say.

In a rare piece of good news for those who like a pint, Spanish researchers say beer can help someone who is dehydrated retain liquid better than water.

Prof Manuel Garzon, of Granada University, also claimed the bubbles in beer help to quench the thirst and that its carbohydrate content can help to replace lost calories.

Prof Garzon asked a group of students to do strenuous exercise in temperatures of around 40ºC (104ºF). Half were given a pint of beer, while the others received the same volume of water.

Prof Garzon, who announced the results at a press conference in Granada beneath a banner declaring “Beer, Sport, Health”, said the hydration effect in those who drank beer was “slightly better”.

Juan Antonio Corbalan, a cardiologist who worked formerly with Real Madrid football players and Spain’s national basketball team, said beer had the perfect profile for re-hydration after sport.

He added that he had long recommended barley drinks to professional sportsmen after exercise.

Previous studies have shown most alcoholic drinks have a diuretic effect – meaning they increase the amount of liquid lost by the body through urination.

Dr James Betts, an expert on nutrition and metabolism at Bath University, said a moderate amount of beer might be just as good as water at helping the body retain liquid, but that he doubted it could be any better.

Dr Betts said: “If you are dehydrated to start with following exercise, a beer, as opposed to a spirit, probably does not have a high enough concentration of alcohol to induce a diuretic effect.”

So much for the article. Our next run will be on November 4th. We’ll have a live hare run and hopefully it will be a bit faster. We meet at 1pm at the Crowne Plaza and take a bus from there. I can’t say where we’ll go since that will be up to the hare to decide. Hope you have time to join us and then have a few healthy drinks after the run. On On!

Straydog

The next run on Saturday, 20. October will take us out of Qingdao so that we get a chance to see what else is out there. This is actually run 117, just in case we forget again. Rustle in the bush will organise this run for us and he has found a great area just outside of Qingdao.

We will run in Shazikou, which lies about 30 minutes east of Shilaoren. It’s at the final stop of bus 104, next to a big gate of Shilaoren park and right next to a wonderful beach. The trail will lead us through the mountains and hopefully there will be some nice views along the way. Beer is of course waiting for us when we come back.

We also plan to spend the night out there in one of the small guesthouses. So join us for a fun run and an evening together with all of us!

Important
We need to have a rough idea of how many people will spend the night out there. The more people spend the night there the cheaper it gets. So please leave a comment or contact me otherwise. In case you didn’t sign up then don’t worry. We’ll find a place to sleep for everybody.
It’s also possible to join the run and then go back home. Just keep in mind that the last bus from over there leaves around 7pm. After that it might be a bit tricky to find a taxi.

So:
Meet at 1pm in the Crowne Plaza lobby. Bring whatever you need to spend a night away from home and bring if you want bring other things for the beach or evening.

Cost is 30 RMB (or less) for sleepers and 10 RMB for the ones going home in the evening. Dinner will be on a shared basis but shouldn’t be too expensive out there.

Sunday we’ll just hang out, take it easy and go back downtown whenever we feel like it. If you can’t wait then there are busses from 6 am on.

The new autumn schedule is out now and there are some great runs coming up. You can find more on the left under “upcoming runs”. This schedule runs for the rest of 2007 and there’s a lot happening on the next runs. Highlights include an away run that we will use to get out of town and explore the suburbs of Qingdao. We will spend the night out of town as well so that we can all drink a bit longer. For later this year we plan a charity run to generate money for a local charity. The details will be posted here later (meaning we haven’t figured them out yet).

Come and join us for the next runs! Running and beer is guaranteed. On on!

Straydog