Hash House
Harriers on the Run
Paper Chase
Munich Found
English Language Publication
Munich, Germany
by Carol Scheunemann
Tooting on a hunting bugle,
blowing whistles, and armed with mugs, beer money,
and maps, some 30 runners went galloping through
downtown Munich one recent sunny winter day. They
jumped up curbs, skirted around kids, and wove
through throngs of late-afternoon shoppers.
Pedestrians simply stopped and stared.
"Shouldn't the police have cordoned off the
area?" a spectator asked uncertainly, while
others, no doubt, wished that the police would put an
end to the spectacle as soon as possible. Yet the
impromptu stampede was not an organized foot race,
nor a student demonstration: it was a
"hash." The joggers-gone-wild were prime
specimens of the Hash House Harriers, a
"drinking club with a running problem."
For this particular event,
the harriers followed clues to navigate through the
downtown, along the Isar and around the English
Garden (hence the maps), with a drink stop (hence the
mugs) and a pub crawl (hence the beer money).
Granted, it was more like a treasure hunt than a
traditional hash, but in a club that makes up its own
rules as it goes along, tradition doesn't go very
far.
Hashes are patterned after
an English children's game called "Hares and
Hounds," in which the hares lay a complicated
trail, using bits of paper, flour, or sawdust, and
the hounds try to pick up the trail by following the
markings. A "harrier" is a dog similar to
but smaller than an English foxhound for hunting
hares and rabbits. Human harriers, however, don't
bark when they find the trail, they shout:
"On-On!" The nasal honk of the hunting
bugle begins the trail run.
Front runners function as
trail spotters, shouting when they see a clue, while
the slower-moving members follow the calls of their
comrades. False trails send the fastest harriers up
hills or circling aimlessly. These dead ends deter
the leaders so that trotters or walkers have a chance
to catch up. At checkpoints, the bugle sounds loudly
to let everyone know where the group has gathered;
the runners catch their breath while the decidedly
noncompetitive back-of-the-packers smugly swig
schnapps.
Hashing is recreational
cross country running-for-fun, it is not about
competition nor catching the hare nor even very much
about running, although many of the members are
serious - make that ambitious - runners. When asked
how often he runs, one harrier answered "Only at
the hashes." That earned him a disapproving
frown from a marathoner. "That's not
enough," she scolded. "You're right,"
he quipped, "It's not enough beer." Because
beer plays a central part in the cooling-off period
after a run, called the down-down. Members form a
circle and the grand master hands out
"punishments," usually beer, followed by a
raucous round of good-natured razzing and a night on
the town called the on-after.
The history of the Hash
House Harriers dates to 1938, when a group of British
businessmen in Kuala Lumpur decided to get together
on Monday s to run off the ruinous effects of a
weekend's carousing. Their starting and ending point
was the Selangor Club Chambers, dubbed the "Hash
House" for its unimaginative, monotonous food.
But soon the post-run frivolity became the outings'
hightlight. As the expatriates returned home or were
transferred elsewhere, they took their sport with
them.
Now a harrier network
circles the globe, and English remains the official
language. With over 1,250 active chapters worldwide,
and a community of about 100,000, hashers have a home
wherever they go. Members of any ex-pat community are
veteran movers; the easy familiarity of hashing gives
them a place to touch ground.That is where, no doubt,
some of the charm lies: if you run with 'em, you're
one of 'em.
When Bob Lojek, a project
manager for petrochemical plants, took part in his
first hash, he thought to himself, "This is
undoubtedly the most ridiculous thing I've ever
done." It soon dawned on him, though, that
hashing was also the most fun he'd had in a long
time. He's now Grand Master, a president-of-sorts of
the Munich harriers.
Anyone can join, at any
time: there are no regular dues to pay, just a DM
5-per-outing contribution for beer. You needn't be
fast or even physically fit. Just dress to fit the
weather, and bring along a change of clothes for
after the run. Be prepared to suspend rational
thought for a few hours, and don't forget your sense
of humor.
No matter what the
neighbors might think, hashing is a great release
from our stressful, adult world. It is a delightfully
disobedient, just plain noisy game: the hooting,
hollering and whistle blowing, accentuated by
intermittent trumpeting of the horn, keeps harriers
on the right trail - and stops passers-by in their
tracks. On-On! Munich's harriers run every other
weekend.