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The Hash House Harriers (HHH or H3) is an international group of non-competitive running social clubs. An event organized by a club is known as a Hash or Run, or a Hash Run. A common denominal verb for this activity is Hashing, with participants calling themselves Hashers.

The hash is not a race, and you don’t have to run marathons to join us. As such the Hash is sometimes humorously and affectionately known as “A Drinking Club With A Running Problem,” with most clubs catering to both runners and walkers.

Hashing originated in December 1938 in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, then in the Federated Malay States (now Malaysia). A group of British immigrants began meeting on Friday evenings prior to the war (1938-1941), but switched to Monday evenings (starting in 1946) to run, in a fashion patterned after the traditional British game of hare and hounds, where one or two “hare” players scatter a trail of cut paper for the “hounds” to track.

Apart from the excitement of chasing the Hare and finding the trail, Harriers reaching the end of the trail would partake of beer, ginger beer, and cigarettes. With hash names in parentheses, the original members included Albert Stephen Ignatius Gispert (“G”), Cecil Lee, Frederick Thomson (“Horse”), Ronald Bennett (“Torch”), Eric Galvin, H.M. Doig, and John Woodrow.

A. S. Gispert suggested the name “Hash House Harriers” after the Selangor Club Annex, where several of the original hashers lived and dined, known as the “Hash House”. The “Hash House” got its name for “its hodgepodge of edible servings being passed off for food”. The term hash was used as an old British slang for “bad food”.

Alberto Esteban Ignacio Gispert, known to his friends as “G” is credited as the original founder of the Hash House Harriers (a.k.a. Mother Hash), along with Frederick “Horse” Thomson, Ronald “Torch” Bennett, Eric Galvin, H.M. Doig, Morris Edgar, John Barret, and Cecil Lee. Mother hash celebrated run # 100 on 15 Aug 1941, and had run a total of 117 runs, but due to the spread of the Japanese Empire, further activity was suspended on 12 Dec 1941. The first rebirth run was held in Aug 1946, as the world recovered from the war.

After World War II, in an attempt to reorganize in the city of Kuala Lumpur, hashers were informed by the Registrar of Societies that since they were a “group”, they would require a constitution. The objectives of the Hash House Harriers as recorded on the club registration card dated 1950 are:

• To promote physical fitness among our members

• To get rid of weekend hangovers

• To acquire a good thirst and to satisfy it in beer

• To persuade the older members that they are not as old as they feel

Chapters are commonly called Kennels, following in tradition to similar Hound & Hare clubs. The idea spread through the Far East and the South Pacific, Europe, and North America, expanding rapidly during the mid-1970s.

At present, there are almost 1500 chapters in all parts of the world, with members distributing newsletters, directories, and magazines, and organizing regional and world hashing events. As of 2003, there are even two organized chapters operating in Antarctica.

The Aloha H3 is based on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, and was founded by Ed “Hazukashii” Howell, Scott “Anal Farmer” Sheldon, and Kip “DOT” Carpenter with the first run taking place on 22 Sep 1991. Hazukashii and Anal Farmer met on a Tuesday evening while running a trail with the Honolulu hash in June of 1991.

For the full article on the history of Hashing in Hawaii, click here!