Sunday, June 10, 2001

[LIKE TRY?]

KEN IGE / STAR-BULLETIN
Never too serious, hashers lazily started their run, which
took place in Hawaii Kai last week. They followed chalk
marks left by two runners who had left about 30 minutes earlier.

A pastime that’s
never old hash

It can be bawdy and it's
not for everybody

---

By C.R. Dudley
Special to the Star-Bulletin

Don't be alarmed if a group in red dresses comes through your neighborhood, blowing whistles and yelling, "On, on."

It's all in good fun, and it's known as hashing.

There are two things anyone who considers participating in a Hash House Harriers' event should know. The first is that the game itself is really pleasurable. A typical run will include jogs through rarely seen parts of the island coupled with a convivial atmosphere of English-style camaraderie.

The second is that the people who hash sometimes skirt the bounds of decency and legality.

This is not a sport for the sensitive, politically correct or strict law-abiding citizen.

Hashing began in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 1938. A group of Brits working there started a hare and hounds running group. They met at a local restaurant and so named their club after the "Hash House."

The sport blends athleticism and friendship. It is a combination of running, orienteering, and partying.

As hashers like to say again and again, "we're drinkers with a running problem."

A runner or two, known as hares, run ahead of the rest of the pack, marking a trail through woods, forests, neighborhoods or even Waikiki.

The pack must follow. The hares wait a good distance along the trail with a cooler full of cold beer. Each hasher who successfully follows the hares is welcomed with a smile and a can.

The trails range from short distances, called Turkey Trails, to several miles. The trails can be circuitous, returning to the point of origin, or point-to-point, where the destination is not known by the hashers until they get to the finish.

Wish you could find that uniquely safe place to be a little kid again? It's at the hash.

"My husband knows that this is where I come to blow off steam and get away every week," a working mother known as Short Stroker said. "He knows these are a great bunch of guys and that I'm safe."

Taking care of each other belies the other more juvenile aspects of the sport.

"Yes, we do inappropriate things, we sing bawdy songs. We know we're not for everybody," the aptly nicknamed Chest Checker said. "We say and do things that many people would find offensive.''

Chest Checker is a local lung doctor, one of several physicians who are regular hashers.

"We've got doctors, lawyers, journeymen, housewives," he said. "Everyone's invited to hash.

"They just better not be too sensitive. We aren't politically correct."

The nom de hash for Chest Checker was born of his profession. Short Stroker paddles outrigger canoes.

"We don't give nicknames until someone has been to the Tuesday night hash for at least a couple of years," Chest Checker said. "We want to know what their real personality is before we name them so that the name is fitting."

Chest Checker has been hashing in Hawaii since 1979, one year after the Tuesday night hash was started.

There is also a Saturday hash with much more structure and a tighter adherence to hashing traditions. Also, participants are nicknamed much more quickly -- after his or her sixth hash. There is a great deal of singing and not much of it will be mature.

Upcoming big events include the KMC Volcano Weekend, July 27-29 on the Big Island, and the 1,000th running of the Tuesday night hash on Aug. 21.

Tuesday runs start at 6 p.m. On Saturdays, the start times vary.

GETTING STARTED What: Hashing Who: Hash House Harriers Where: Various locations When: Tuesdays at 6 p.m. and Saturdays at various times. Information: 948-HASH Internet: >>http://www.gthhh.com/database/hash.asp?hashno=4 >>http://www.surf.to/alohah3/ >>http://www.half-mind.com >>http://hometown.aol.com/bob2os/page1.html >>Google search