World's
Biggest Laugh
Police in Aarhus expose world's biggest hash ring!
Ekxtra Bladet
27.11.1998
(Translated/Edited by Knuthead
with assistance from Floater)
A police internet expert was
sure that he was on the track of the world's biggest
hash ring, with more then 160,000 members in a world
wide organisation. And he found out that there was a
Danish man behind it, living in Aarhus.
Red-faced police in Aarhus had
to admit to Ekxtra Bladet yesterday, that they had
found instead an organisation of thirsty
cross-country runners with the name Hash House
Harriers.
Just the word "hash"
got the policeman excited. He found out, after a
quick look on the internet, that the Hash House
Harriers are to organize a big hash-event in Denmark
next year [Interskandi 99. Ed.]. He pictured 160,000
hash wrecks in the country of the little mermaid. So
he alerted his colleagues.
The policeman from Nordjyland
didn't think to keep on reading the screen, nor does
he understand too much English. He convinced the drug
police in Aarhus, that a big case was ready to be
solved. Even the telephone number of the hash contact
person was given on the internet.
Third Degree
Questioning
The busy policeman with the
limited reading skills did not realize that the Hash
House Harriers are the world's biggest club for
cross-country runners. At Aarhus police station this
hint from a colleague in another district was taken
seriously.
"I was shocked when I was
called in for questioning, where the accusation was
that I had something to do with hash", says 32
years old Tommy Roenn [aka Charlie Brown Ed.] of
Aarhus, to Ekxtra Bladet.
"Afterwards I could see
that it was a funny story, but that was not what I
was thinking of in the situation when I was called to
a third degree questioning!"
Tommy Roenn is the contact
person for the Aarhus Hash House Harriers. He runs
his EDP consulting company Alpha Tech at
Jaegergardsgade.
"I was told, that the
police had tried several times to get hold of me at
my address. On Wednesday, a summons from the police
said that I had to show up for a meeting on Thursday,
10 am. I called them and asked what it was all about.
I was told that it had something to do with drug
smuggling. They had found my name on the
internet."
After they threatened to pick
him up physically, Tommy Roenn offered to show up at
the police station immediately. And he took all kinds
of material about the Hash House Harriers with him.
"I reckon they still
thought that it was a drug issue, even though I told
them everything about our running club. However they
accepted all the material. Among other things there
was a video of a run which showed what we are
doing."
Cheap Fare
Tommy Roenn was recently in
Malaysia to celebrate the club's 60th
anniversary. And as he had also been on runs in
Belgium, Holland and Germany at various times, it is
easy to see what the police pictured for themselves.
He was the perfect hash courier!
"Hash House means cheap
food and service. After accusing me, the police did
not look up on the internet to check out further
pages where everything was explained."
Tommy Roenn tells us that The
Hash House Harriers were founded by British soldiers
in 1938, more or less by chance. They were bored in
Kuala Lumpur ("og fandt ud af, at en löbetur
var bedre end en morgen-bajer dagen derpå") and
figured out that a run was better than having another
hair of the dog the morning after. [Thanks Floater.
Ed.] Since then the organisation has grown to 160,000
members.
"It was all about
celebrating after a good run with a beer or two. And
the rules are still the same."
"Do you smoke hash?"
"NEVER. Our only drug is
beer, and in fact our main sponsor is Carlsberg. The
club has 60 members in Aarhus and 300 in Copenhagen,
and in fact many of them are policemen ..."