Raciest Racers
Come to Paint The Town Red
The Washington Post
September 12, 1998; Page D03
By Jim Hage Special to The
Washington Post Saturday
Five hundred runners in red
dresses -- the Hash House Harriers from chapters up
and down the East Coast -- arrive in Washington today
for the fifth Red Dress Run at 3 p.m. "It's
hashing at its finest -- or lowest," said Eric
Hodgson, a veteran hasher and software engineer from
Reston. Hashing began 60 years ago when British army
officers encouraged soldiers to run to purge toxins
after a weekend of alcoholic overindulgence. Today,
however, the therapeutic origins of hashing have
devolved into a drinking party that is five miles
long.
There are an estimated 900
chapters and 100,000 hashers worldwide. Buses loaded
with Red Dress runners from New York City and
Virginia Beach already have arrived for this
weekend's festivities. Known as "Drinkers with a
Running Problem," Hash House Harriers congregate
regularly to run, often traipsing from bar to bar.
The runners adopt hash names, most too ribald to
print. "Politically correct we're not,"
Hodgson admits. But today's Red Dress Run is
something different altogether. The hashers will meet
at Lulu's New Orleans Cafe at 22nd and M streets NW,
then will follow a trail laid out in the road with
flour. Dress -- red, that is – is definitely not
optional.
After the pre-run party, which
starts at 1:30 p.m., the hashers will run, stop for
"refreshment," run again and even ride the
subway to the next bar. A race it is not. While men
outnumber women in most hashing chapters, today's
event is coed. Bill Singleton, a Washington
stockbroker closing in on his 1,000th hash run, said,
"It was virtually inconceivable that women would
want to participate 20 years ago." The red dress
tradition dates from 1986, when a woman in a red
dress allegedly joined a group of runners for
post-run drinks and hot- tubbing.
Fact or fantasy, a tradition
was born and continues today through the streets of
Washington. Beware.