Tuesday, April 27, 1999 -- Morgantown
The Hash Harriers Annual Spring Formal Fun Run

Story and photos by Julie Bertsch with additional photos by Lew McGrath

[Coverage] [Pic Set 1] [Pic Set 2] [Pic Set 3]

If you'd like to know more about local Hashing, just check out our
Hash House Harriers information page!

Marilyn Monroe? Marilyn Manson? No, it's Rocky Kimble!

There's more to see in West Virginia than just the scenery, and the Hash House Harriers made sure of that when they held their Annual Spring Formal in downtown Morgantown. With scenes reminiscent of a Halloween day parade, the formally dressed runners began their game of Hounds & Hares in a parking lot full of "ladies" and gents in lavish attire. The weather was perfect, and the anticipation hung in the air as thick as the lipstick on Rocky Kimble's lips. In a flash they were gone, and yelling "on-on," with chalk in hand to mark the Hare's trail, everyone started the fun run through WVU's campus. Running up hills and down streets, through shrubbery and the Mountain Lair, under bridges and over curbs, the fearless Hounds tried to follow the Hare's path, (the Hare was Charlie Schaffer). The fun run wound up being about 3 miles with pit-stops along the way such as WVU's Mountain Lair, and Jim's Gym (boxing gym.) With the final pit-stop being Bent Willys, the Harriers were all smiles. The Annual Formal Run ceremonies began and the good times continued for all.

Happy Hashers on the Hare's trail

The Morgantown - Fairmont Harriers are just one of many Hash Running Clubs. There are Hash House Harrier Running Clubs all over the world, from Montreal to Tokyo! Just about every Hash Running Club has their own version of a Spring Formal, most of which call it a "Red Dress Run," where men and women alike dress in red attire of the flowing kind and go out and run the streets of their town. The runs always end with celebration and smiles at a local pub. Here's some of the rich history about the International Running Club...

The HASH HOUSE HARRIERS are a social club of runners that have been described as "a drinking club with a running problem." Ex-pat British businessmen, accountants, lawyers, civil servants, etc., started the HASH in 1938 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

It is a club based on the old English game of hares and hounds where one or two members would be given several minutes head start and would drop shredded paper as the "scent". The hounds would then follow, after the prescribed time, and attempt to catch the hares. The hares would lay the trail in a straight or obvious line, but then would stop laying trail and run off in another direction and begin laying the trail after 100 meters or so. When the hounds discovered that they were no longer on trail, they would fan out in all directions in search of the "scent" and would call to the others when the trail was once again discovered.

The founder of the HASH, A.S."G" Gispert, in 1937 discovered the Springgit Harriers, one of the paperchase clubs in Malacca. He introduced Ronald "Torch" Bennett to the concept and the stage was set. (Some of the Hash info. above was supplied by the Oakville Hash House Harriers.)

Bosom buddys? Delivery boys? Hashers extraordinaires!

The Beer Prayer

Our lager
Which art in barrels
Hallowed be thy drink
Thy will be drunk
At home as I am in tavern
Give us this day our foamy head
And forgive us our spillages
As we forgive those who spill against us
And lead us not to incarceration
But deliver us from hangovers
For thine is beer
The bitter, the ale and the lager
Forever and ever
Barmen

"If you've half a mind to join the Hash ... thats all you'll need"

Poem by - Phil Kirkland, 1978