Once upon a time, back in the
Summer of `88, one Ed “Surelee” Hazelwood
invaded Colorado Springs from the land of the Atlanta
Barbarians. Shortly thereafter, he spent an afternoon
plying two locals, one Peter Munding, and one Bill
Slaughter, with beer and bullshit at the Navajo
Hogan. His silver tongue soon convinced these
innocent lads to help him start a local group of the
infamous Hash House Harriers. Indeed, these fine
young athletes laid the inaugural P2H4 hash, hosting
supporters from Atlanta, Denver, and Boulder. Peter
was exposed and anointed “Peter Cock n'
Tell”, and old Bill never showed up again. Thus
my friends, the legend began and the Hashes followed,
one by one...
So, if the P2H4 is an Atlanta
H4 offspring, where did our mother hash come from? As
told by Atlanta's Marquis de Shiggy, it's quite an
interesting story of trial and error.
Early in 1982 an article
appeared in the Atlanta Track Club newsletter
"Wingfoot" describing a running activity
called Hashing. The article likened the activity to
hare and hounds running and was authored by a
Harriette on Okinawa. The Harriette was named Seiko
and she promised to introduce the sport to anyone
interested in running a Hash. Marquis de Shiggy
corresponded with Seiko and received the promise of a
full description and written instructions when Seiko
returned to Atlanta in the summer. Marquis' job was
to prepare the runners of Atlanta for the delightful
experience Seiko would allow them to have under her
leadership.
Following Seiko's direction,
Marquis made sure that a weekly venue was prepared
for Seiko's grand introduction of Hashing. Three
running clubs; The Northeast Striders, The Buckhead
Runners, and The Chatahoochee Road Runners; agreed to
alternate the hosting of a Hash run on a weekly
basis. This arrangement lasted through one rotation.
It seems that when each club got a taste of Hash
their immediate reaction was to spit it out. The
grand introduction was scheduled for the Saturday of
June 2, 1982.
Seiko returned to Georgia but
not to Atlanta. She took up residence in Douglasville
and found a job as lifeguard at the local swimming
pool. With her new job and junior status on the
lifeguard roster, she was scheduled to work
Saturdays. This prevented her from performing reccies
and the necessary preparations for putting on a Hash.
She also coveted the instructions and insisted that
the Marquis be patient and allow her the opportunity
to lay the first Hash. Marquis made the arrangements
for the three running clubs to slide the start of the
rotation until June 9, 1982. At the last minute,
Seiko again was scheduled to work that Saturday and
the Marquis again approached the three running clubs
to slide the beginning of the rotation to June 18,
1982. And so it was set that the first Hash of the
Atlanta Hash House Harriers and Harriettes was to run
on June 18, 1982. The three running clubs were not
going to tell their members of any more changes.
The week preceding the first
Hash found Seiko again unable to attend and still
unwilling to provide her written instructions.
Marquis told her to piss off. Since he had raced hare
and hound motorcycle races in southern California, he
reasoned that a similar race on foot could be staged.
A motorcycle hare and hound race in the desert would
have the hare take off on his motorcycle with a bag
of lime laying a trail for the pack to follow. He
would rendezvous with another hare before his bag ran
out and the new hare would take off. The original
hare then became a checkpoint and listed the order of
the riders as they came through his check. There
would be several hare exchanges and the eventual
winner would be the first rider to finish that had
passed through all of the checks. Trophies were given
and all riders would wash the dirt of the desert out
of their systems with much beer. (Continued inside
back cover)
And so ran the first Hash. Five
checkpoints of Northeast Striders members were set up
and Marquis laid the flour for the run. There was
much bitching on the part of the Striders members
because they couldn't run. The trail led through
Northlake Mall and the pack got evicted. They
eventually found flour again with the aid of one of
the checkpoint volunteers and TwoTrip finished first
and received the first (and only) trophy. He also
received instructions to bring it to the next Hash as
it was the only trophy we could get. The trophy was
donated by the Atlanta Track Club. It was found in
their basement and had a plaque on it from some
unheard of race in 1954. The Hash then retired to an
apartment clubhouse and pool where the hare, the
hounds, and all volunteers proceeded to get drunk.
The residents of the apartment complex got into the
swing of things and soon there was much merriment and
drinking. Now this may not sound like Hash to many of
you but it embodies all of the elements of Hashing.
Running in strange places, flaunting authority,
sweating, and drinking with good companions.
Seiko again was going to be
unable to come to the second Hash but when she
learned that we had run the first without her, she
agreed to give the Okinawa Hash instructions to the
Marquis. As soon as Marquis read the instructions for
laying Hash he realized that the world class Hairless
Hare for the second Hash would have to be appraised
of the instructions. Marquis and the Hairless Hare
met and the instructions were passed on. Both had no
idea how much flour would be needed and they decided
that one pound would probably be enough.
The second Hash got underway on
June 25, 1982 as a live hare run (the Hairless Hare
was a previous indoor mile world record holder.) He
led the pack through creeks and byways and all seemed
to go well until the flour gave out. Soon the trail
was marked by arrows made from grass clippings and
chalk stolen from children as they played on the
sidewalk. After a fair amount of running and a good
bit of milling about, Skypilot (who had hashed in
Indonesia) declared the run to be a Hashit and the
pack retired to a bar. The Hairless Hare finally
showed up at the bar and Skypilot proceeded to
introduce us to the art of down-downs.
The third Hash at the
Chatahoochee River was another Hashit. The pack was
on schedule but the hare didn't come. When it became
obvious that there was no flour laid, the hash cash
took up the fee and the pack retired to a nearby bar
to drink. So went the third Atlanta Hash.
The highlight (but it shouldn't
have been) of the 8th Hash was the appearance
(finally) of Seiko. She showed up with the running
chick from Channel 5 TV and her whole entourage of
cameras and news people. It became a media event with
Seiko as the centerpiece. With cameras rolling at the
On-On Skypilot renamed Seiko, to be forevermore
known, as No Show Seiko. Seiko stated that her name
in Japanese meant cover girl and that No Show Cover
Girl just didn't make sense. Skypilot said
"Exactly!", poured her down-down on her and
she was so christened.
So Seiko can only claim to have
started the Atlanta Hash if this beer in my hand can
be the result of some airborne spore of yeast falling
in St. Louis. Marquis de Shiggy can only claim to
have started the Atlanta Hash if the monks in Belgium
had really planned to let airborne spores get into
their fermenting vats. The Atlanta Hash was born by
the excitement of difference and the desire to
experience the unknown. All Hash communities evolve
from these elements of human nature. The Atlanta Hash
merely had the opportunity to have the nurturing
guidance of Skypilot and as a result of that guidance
to have evolved into a leader in the world of
Hashing.
