Back in 1984, when the first hash took place on Portuguese soil, the worldwide “disorganisation” was already almost half a century old
Last weekend marked a red-letter day for the Algarve Hash House Harriers. This “drinking club with a running problem” celebrated the 40th anniversary of the local ‘Kennel’ with a ‘Red Dress Run’. This is a worldwide hashing tradition in which participants wear, er, red dresses on a cross-country run.
Back in 1984, when the first hash took place on Portuguese soil, the worldwide “disorganisation” was already almost half a century old. Started in the 1930s by British surveyors and soldiers in Malaya, hashing became popular in almost every country on Earth and is now the biggest running ‘club’ in the world with over a million participants. And, until the end of last century, this happened without any means of international communication except word of mouth and ads in local newspapers.
While hashing started with men-only ‘Harriers’ taking part, ‘Harriets’ appeared in the 1970s and now both sexes are fairly equally represented. Amazingly, the Hash House Harriers has no governing body, no constitution, no formal membership and, crucially, no rules! It does have quite a few traditions, however!
Kennels are (dis)organised by ‘(mis)management’ non-committees. Headed by a GM and supported by a loud-mouthed RA – that’s short for “Religious Adviser” (don’t even ask why!) -and are made up by hashers who are each dubbed with a ‘hash name’. These epithets are often discourteous, politically-incorrect or unprintable.
Each week a ‘hare’ is nominated to mark out a trail across any sort of terrain. Hashers follow these markings and (just occasionally) lose their way. Shouts of “On, on!” from front runners tell those lagging behind that they are heading in the right direction – they hope!
There is a beer-stop half-way around the course and, at the end, the ‘On-In’ offers further refreshment to the thirsty hashers.
This is followed by a ‘Circle’ around the GM and RA who deal with miscreants who have not worn the correct type of attire; have taken short-cuts; or have just been identified as being easy targets for ridicule.
Then, singing in Circle is generally course enough to make most rugby players blush. Generally, hashes then provide some food, either organised and prepared by the hare, or in a nearby restaurant.
Allowing for the demographic of expats in the Algarve – reflected in the ages of local hashers – it was quite an eye-opener that they decided to celebrate their coming of middle-age with a ‘Red Dress Run’. Balding and hairy-faced middle-aged men – as well as their more comely Harriets – donned appropriately-coloured red dresses for this ‘ruby’ anniversary.
The route, set in the very heart of the Algarve, took them over rugged terrain and, had it not been for so many going the wrong way, would have had the participants dragging their pretty frocks through muddy river crossings.
Such chaos is not uncommon in hashing. To add to the fun, the GM (“Grand Mattress”) lost control of her Circle and the RA, who is supposed to mete out vile punishments, performed a song and dance act instead. This was met with a barrage of red-dressed abuse by mutinous hashers who just wanted to get to the nearby restaurant for more beer.
By Rayner Otter
