The Hasher’s Red Dress Run in DC

Hashing dates back to 1938 when a  group of British military officers and expats in Malaysia formed a running and drinking club called the Hash House Harriers.

Over the years its evolved into an international collection of non-competitive running, social and drinking clubs around the globe.

Designed to help cure the hangover from the previous night’s drinking, to get a bit of exercise and to work up a good thirst to be quenched by a cold beer, hashing runs are similar to hare and hound chases or a game of hide-and-go-seek. 

The “hare”, or trail setter plots out a course ahead of the hashers marking the trail with special symbols written in caulk or colored flour.  But to confuse the followers, they use dead-ends, double-backs, create split trails and leave false clues.  Trails and associated hints are rarely straightforward or easy to follow.  This practice is designed to keep the group together as the faster runners must slow down to follow the true trail while the rest of the group can more easily keep up. 

Along the route, runners may be rewarded with stashes of beer if they stay on the correct trail.  At the end of the trail, the event usually ends with a keg of beer or at a pub for more beer. (Catching a theme here?)

The annual Red Dress Run started in the 1980s after, as one story goes, a woman new to hashing showed up at an evening hashing event in San Diego dressed in a semi-formal red dress and high heels.  Not aware she was attending a running event, she decided to run in her dress anyway.  Other members, in honor of her fortitude, started running in red dresses as well and eventually it evolved into an annual event, spreading across the thousands of hashing clubs globally.

Participation in the New Orleans Red Dress Run topped 5,500 this year and over 2,000 hashers attended in San Diego. This past weekend, about 600 hashers, all dressed in red ran in Washington, DC.

 

Participation is usually limited to hashers that belong to an active hashing group and understand the rules, language and special trail symbols.   The use of real names is also discouraged, as hasher’s personas along with special names (most racy, bawdy, sexual or totally unprintable) are created by each member or by the club’s members.

Seeing a massive wave of red dressed runners along the waterfront in Washington was definately a sight to see.

Images – - from personal collection – ©2009, Jon Rochetti