Your Very Own
Hash House Harriers Primer
Rocky Mountain Sports
September 1, 1994
By Tom White
This document is most rare.
Generally, one learns the customs and peculiarities
of hashing by “trail” and error. However,
since I've come to know a lot of hashers, I realize
that “bit error” is their preferred method,
so to save me a grand mal seizure I have whipped up
this little treatise. Be aware, though, that it is by
no means exhaustive – although the actual act of
hashing often is!
The Rules of Hashing
- Rule #1: There are no
rules.
- Rule #2: A hash is not a
race.
Hash Theory
A hash is a hound and hare run.
The designated hares get a 15-minute head start and
lay a trail, which the hounds then follow. At the
halfway point there is a beer check provided for the
replenishment of carbo stores. At the finish there
is, of course, more beer! You see, the Hash House
Harriers are not a track team. They are, actually, a
drinking club with a serious running problem.
Sounds simple, huh? NOT! You
thought you could just come, run, drink beer and then
fall down, right? Well the good news is that you get
to drink beer. The bad news is that the hares will do
their damnedest to see to it that you fall down
before you get to the beer.
Hash Practice
But enough about theory –
on to the nuts an bolts of successful hashing. There
are certain “hare-sign” conventions. The
basic trail is marked with splotches of flour. Where
possible, arrows will be drawn with chalk (on trees,
under rocks, etc. I once even saw a hare arrow frawn
on a sleeping dog!) You will come to
“CHECKS”. Now pay attention, because this
is important. A CHECK looks like this:
When you encounter a CHECK be
aware that the trail picks up again within a 360
degree radius of the CHECK and within 100 hash meters
(naturally a hash meter is subject od some individual
interpretations on the part of the hares). Watch out
for false trails. If you are following a trail and
you come to a false trail sign, then backtrack to the
last CHECK because (duh) you're on a false trail! But
enough of hare signs. You people will just have to
learn about the other hare signs – like famous
Eagle-Turkey Split on the job.
Oh, yeah, another crucial
point. The whole object of the game is to get all the
hounds together so you can have a great party at the
end. Generally the faster runners ferret out the
false trails and solve the checkpoints so that the
slower (or more inebriated) runners can follow along
without getting too far behind of (tsk tsk) lost.
Thus we have pack arrows and whistles. The lead
hounds must take responsibility for laying pack
arrows (diagrams) and everyone must toot on their
whistles (don't forget to bring a whistle – to
do so would be a hash crime) frequently. The
traditional shout of a hound on the hare trail is
“On-On.” Only shout “On-On” if
you are indeed (or at least believe yourself to be)
on the trail. If you see some fellow hounds in the
distance and you want to know if they are on trail,
yell “Are You?” They will respond
“On-On” if they are on trail, or
“Checking” if they are in the process of
exploring a potential hare trail.
Remember, the point is to get
all the hounds successfully to the beer check and
then to the finish and its Solemn and Mystic
Ceremonial (read: stupid drinking games).