Best
Alternative Running Group
New York Magazine
"Best of New York", 1997
New York April 14, 1997
Page 125
For a break from the
early-rising, oat-bran-munching Road Runners, the
local chapter of the Hash House Harriers (427-4692)
offers a "drinking club with a running
problem," where walkers are welcome, cheating is
"a highly prized skill," and competitive
natures are not encouraged.
Formed in the thirties by bored
British soldiers stationed Malaysia, the group now
has chapters all over the world. Members convene a
few times a week to hunt down a trail of chalk marks
drawn by a designated "hare." The course
disappears every mile or so and picks up again
somewhere in the vicinity - the runners must hunt
around for it. The total distance works out to
between three and five miles, and the finish line is
at a bar, of course, where $15 buys you all the food
and beer you can consume, post-sprints.
All the gamesmanship doesn't
mean real fitness is frowned upon: "We usually
have half a dozen or a dozen who run in the
marathon," says Keith Kanaga, head of the local
Harriers. Meanwhile, the rest of the club members run
their usual-length race on marathon day, meeting up
with the big event at the 23-mile mark, where they
stand and cheer the real runners on, beers in hand.