Tornado Alley Hash House Harriers
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
In 1938, A.S. Gispert, an accountant working at a Malaysian rubber plantation,
organized a group of his friends for runs to work off the rigors of the weekend.
They met at the Sanegal Hash House (hash house being a British term for a diner)
and there played the poor man’s version of the fox hunt called “paper chase.” This
involved giving one runner a few minutes head start, then following the trail of
discarded paper left by the fleeing man. “G” (Gispert) added a twist: at various
points in the trail, an intersection was set. Trail could head off in any direction, but
only one direction was ‘true’. Faster runners were slowed as they solved the trail,
allowing slower runners or walkers to catch up. Thus, the Hash House Harriers
were born.
Is It for Me, you ask?
The trail can be one of the most exciting parts of a hash run. Rather than running
laps around a local track, be prepared to run through fields, woods or jungle, ford
streams and jump fences. Your time on trail might be 45 minutes to an hour and a
half. But relax, this doesn’t mean flat out sprinting (you might often be waiting at
an ‘intersection’ for others to find a way) and there is always a refreshing ‘beer
near’ (sometimes more than one) about halfway through the trail. Each week the
hashes start and end in different places. No boring exercise here!
Sex
YES! Oops … um … right. Hashing is for both males and females, but because we
sometimes have parts of the runs or the end of runs in bars, hashing is restricted
to adults (21 and over). The hash is a fun group, but far from politically correct. We
have filthy drinking songs, mostly stolen from English rugby teams, which would
make many respectable people blush. A good sense of humor is the hash’s only real
requirement.
The Down-Down:
After finishing the trail, the Circle commences. The Circle is both the celebration
at the end of the trail, and the place to award or "punish" hashers guilty of some
misdeeds. That special someone is called into the center of the circle and sung a
Down-Down song, after which he and or she is permitted a hearty drink of choice!
There are ways to avoid drinking, (although we don't know why you would), but you
must take your chances and attend an event to find out such secrets!
(We forthrightly admit we shamelessly stole the tedious descriptions above from Kansas City's
page. But they admit they stole it from another hash site too, and we wrote cool stuff over the
top to make it special, so we don't really feel too bad about it! So there!)
What the %&$# is Hashing??
| Boring! Hashing is Drinking, running and perpetual youth all rolled into one! |
| Nevermind the particulars - Just show up, get a little exercise, meet incredible people and let loose! |
| Hey! You! Virgin! Backslider! Quit stalling and pretending you're reading this crap! Click the Calendar page, show up, and experience the Hash for yourself! "Drink It Down Down Down Down..." |
