The hashpaedia

Index letter Ii

Index 

About the hashpaedia

Hashers

Countries

Events

Miscellaneous

Ice

Ice is a common pre-fix for hash names. Ice Nuts, Ice Box, Ice Baby, Ice Prick, etc.

Ice

‘Ice the bastard,’ is a common cry when a mere down-down is considered an insufficient punishment. On such occasions the offender sits on the ice to drink their punishment, sometimes being left there until the RA ordains they can get up – which might be at the end of the evening.

The cry that goes with it is ‘flesh’, meaning shorts to be dropped.

The origins of this ceremony are unknown, some claim it is an Australian idea, others credit the Americans. However ice was certainly being used in Jakarta as early as 1979, making Indonesia the likely place of origin.

Iceland Updated

An Icelandic 'Fire and Ash'  Hash was started by Bill ‘Wild Bill’ Higgins around 1995 and was based on the US Air Base. The kennel folded after a short lifespan.

It is amazing nobody has ever got a  hash restarted, as this would be great Hash territory. However there is a theory that Icelandic people don't need a hash to get together to drink and party. Alternatively, at the moment perhaps none of them could afford to pay their hash fees!

The Wolf organized a 4 day Icelandic Hash weekend in May 2008.

Ice Queen

In 1999 ‘Ice Queen’ was discovered by the Vienna pack ice dancing on a local rink and has been an enthusiastic hasher ever since, dragging along partner Slush puppy. Her main claim to fame is her ability to crush a boiled egg with her breast – as demonstrated on the top of ‘Clever Dick’s’ head in the Interscandic circle 2005.

Ides of March

Annual run in the centre of Rome, organized by Rome H3. Has grown into a three-day event that attracts a number of visitors. Sunday’s Togo Run is considered the highlight.

I Dream of Jeannie

Saigon Hasher who set, what is possibly a hash record, by being arrested at his first attempt at being a hare. ‘Hang Down Your Head’ was her partner in crime.

Ikeja run 1008

Two hash vehicles driving out for Ikea’s run number 1008 found a tanker over-turned on a busy underpass. As they got closer the hashers started to smell gasoline. At this point another vehicle stalled, slowing down traffic and trapping them in this dangerous area. Suddenly the petrol ignited.

    The leading hash vehicle was a pickup with the windows open and flames swept into the cab. Three of the occupations, Max the driver, ‘Overnight Bag’ and ‘Wizard of Oz’ were killed and two others, Cuckoo and Scratchier, badly burnt.

    Hashers in the second vehicle fared better. Their windows were shut, giving them time to escape on the passenger side, away from the flames. The four passengers in this vehicle escaped with minor burns.

    The incident might have been even worse as a third hash car had been delayed by traffic, while many hashers had recently left town for the summer.

Imelda

Wichanee ‘Imelda’ Ratanapa has been a hasher since 1984. She has attended every InterHash since 1986 in Pattaya, where she was a both a hare and on the committee.

A decade later she became the first Harriette to act as Chairperson for an InterHash event.

Her home Hashes are Bangkok Harriettes and the ‘Thinking Drinking’ Hash. 

India

     India has yet to develop the same rich Hash culture as South East Asia. Many of the kennels only meet bi-weekly, or even monthly, and packs are often modest in size. However it is hardly a Hash wilderness - there are some 15 hashes and Indians have now taken up hashing with enthusiasm, becoming the majority on most packs. The Indian Nash Hash has been running since 1991 and of course, with the successful staging of Goa 2002, they became one of the select band of nations to have hosted InterHash.

A list of Indian websites can be found at kennelson the subcontinent

Delhi  Updated

Delhi H3 was founded in 1982 at the second attempt. According to the Global Website, Chuka, Charlie Stevens (ex-Islamabad H3) and Brian Wells were the founding fathers, but their own website credits Avi Bindra ‘and gang’. By the 1990's they were getting 100 hashers to a run and many people who were there, consider this to be golden period for Indian hashing. There was a 50-50 division between ex-pats and locals and although the Monday date kept them in town there was plenty of opportunity to stage interesting runs, including monthly train trips to get 'up country'. Dangers, apart form traffic and fumes, include open drains and it is possible that it was Delhi runners who pioneered the running with headlamps!

The increased pack saw more and more walkers joining and so an alternative Capital H3 was founded by Peter 'Freeloader' Heinlein in 1994 ‘because the parent Hash was becoming bigger and the runs shorter.’ There is a friendly rivalry between the two.

Delhi still run every Monday evening, usually in South Delhi where the majority of their members live. Sanjay ‘Chopsticks’ Chopra has complete over 700 runs with Avi ‘Love Chicken’ and Bindra Harpreet ‘The Commander’ Singh on 500 plus.

Party H3 is a third Delhi kennel, but is limited in numbers and is by invitation only. They have a short Wednesday run followed by partying.

            A growing problem for all the kennels is finding run sites as the city continues to expand outwards.

Thanks to Teapot

Bombay

Bombay H3 was founded by Jai Singh and David Reid in February 1983. They only meet on the last Sunday of every month so it took them until 1991 to get to a hundred runs. Hashes can take place ‘in the heart of the city or might be several hours away’. There are also trips to hill stations at weekends and holidays.  West Bombay was founded by Douglas 'White Trash' Barrett and Janak 'Virgin' Madhavdas in 1998.

Bangalore, Madras, Hyderabad

Hyderabad, Madras and Bangalore have traditionally had close Hash links, often supporting each other’s events. Madras H3 was founded by Steve Ponman, Sunil Narang and Vinod Reddy in 1989. A family Hash, they meet every alternate Sunday afternoon and claim to be the only hash in India where beer is served in cans. Madras hosted the 2nd Indian Nash Hash in 1992. They also have a reputation for organising relays, running from Neelangarai to Mahabalipuram for their 75^th anniversary and from Madras to Pondicherry for their 100^th. Hyderabad H3 was founded by Digit, although it was his wife, Elena Sex Object McGaw who held the record for the most runs when the family moved to the Middle East in 2005. Deccan Purnima H3 is a Full Moon Hash, not officially part of the Hyderabad H3, while sharing much the same membership. Bangalore H3 was founded in 1990.

Elsewhere

Calcutta has the ‘Hash House Harriers Walkers-cum-Cultural Awareness Group’, which was found by Michelle Esperdy and Harvey Bell in January 2001. They go for a walk on Sundays ‘to combine pleasure of early-morning walks with promoting awareness about the City of Calcutta.’ Kolkata Revolutionary H3 was founded by Paul ‘Molester’ Walsh in November 2002 and is based on more traditional hash lines. Aurangabad H3 founded in 1997 is a family hash that has more walkers than runners. Their numbers are small but they have some of the best hashing country in India. Chennai H3 was founded by Sashi 'Lord Krishna' Varma and Zac 'Zzzz' Samuel in September 2000.

Indian Nash Hash

     By 1991 there had been a growth of kennels in India and Hyderabad invited the other hashes to join them for a combined hash in January. The idea never got off the ground, with only four Hashers from Bangalore making the effort to attend. At the end of the year Bombay tried again, promoting an event in Goa. Madras, Bangalore and Hyderabad all chartered buses and this was the birth of the Indian Nash Hash.

     Host Hashes continue to follow the Bombay example and head for one of India’s many tourist locations and the event can attract between 150 and 250 runners. Digit missed 2006, having moved to the Middle East, leaving Vinod ‘Beep Beep’ Reddy as the last Nash Hash survivor to have been present at every event.

Indochina Hash

An increasingly popular regional event, which in many ways set the scene for the 2006 InterHash bid. Venues: 2001 Hanoi, 2002 Chiang Mai, 2003 Yangon, 2004 Siem Reap.

Indonesia

The beautiful island nation of Indonesia lies at the heart of Hashdom. There are some 80 kennels stretching from Sumatra to Irian Jaya and many of them have a long hash history and a rich  tradition.

The main centres of Indonesian Hashing can be found in the capital, Jakarta, Medan on Sumatra, in the Borneo oil town of Balikpapan and on the largely Hindu island of Bali.  However, cries of ‘on-on’ are by no means restricted to those areas.

     In Jakarta there is a balance of Indonesians and ex-pats but elsewhere – and perhaps most notably in the central Javan city of Bandung, Indonesians form the majority of the circle.

 See In-depth Report

IndoNostalgia H3

     With Ronnie ‘The Penguin’ Strachan as GM and Terrance ‘Bunter’ Kavanagh as Vice Master the IndoNostalgia brings ex-Indonesian Hashers together for two runs a year. The first such event was held in Darwell, East Sussex, in September 1993. Run number 8, in 1996, headed for Paris and set the present pattern of one ‘home’ and one ‘away’ trip a year. Wales, Portugal and Yorkshire were penciled in as the 2009 venues.

     Everyone of course is slowing down these days, the run in Shere brought complaints that it had taken two hours. Three weeks later the Surrey pack claimed the same course was too short at 50 minutes!

Inter Baltic

An occasional event hosted by the Baltic States. The first was in Tallinn in 1993 and is remembered for the pack getting mixed up with a 10k fun run. A second event took place in 2000.

Inter-Caribbean Hash

In 1995 Trinidad staged the first Inter-Caribbean Hash. With steel pan bands, beach barbeques and Carib beer the success of the event inspired the hosting of Americans InterHash later in the year.

Inter-Caribbean Island Cruise

The first ever Hash Cruise took place in April 1995 with stops and runs at St. Kitts, St Barts and two runs on Anguilla.

InterHash

A biannual gathering of the world’s hashers, first held in Hong Kong in 1978.

See In-Depth report

InterHash, Whither

An article by Frank ‘Whorator’ Benfield, then GM of Pattaya H3, published during 1986 in Magic’s Harrier International in which he reviewed where InterHash had come from since its 1978 inception and expressed his views - in a deliberately provocative manner - about the future of InterHash.

The discussion was not only of where InterHash should go, but also considered InterHash financing, the size of the event and how successful bids were to be identified.  The discussion was placed in the context of rapidly expanding InterHash attendances and a waste of valuable resources and money in a bidding process that he thought had got out of control.

Interscandic Updated

A biannual gathering of the Scandinavian nations, (Denmark, Sweden and Norway) plus regional neighbours, such as Finland and the Baltic States. The founding father of Interscandic is Wolfgang ‘The Wolf’’ Gust who organised the first event in Oslo in 1991. He and Likk’um are believed to be the only two Hashers who have attended every Interscandic.

1^st 1991 Oslo

The Norwegians hosted the first event in a school outside the city with Saturday and Sunday runs and a Friday pub-crawl. Best memories are a fight on the pub-crawl (between a Hasher and an outsider) and the backpack giveaways.

2^nd 1993 Copenhagen

Copenhagen was hosts and the venue was in a camping ground in the north of Zeeland. With 150 runners there was a choice of runs for the first time and hashers found the region surprisingly hilly. The event closed on Sunday with a scenic run through Copenhagen.

3^rd 1995 Stockholm

Stockholm based the event in a local school and there were a couple of problems, including warm beer and one of the longest Sunday runs on record. Numbers had now reached 160.

4^th 1997 Oslo

Interscandic completed a six-year circle by returning to Oslo in 1997.  However, numbers dropped to around a hundred. 'Flying Chicken' and 'Pope' were the main organisers of an event staged on the west side of Oslo fiord.

 5^th 1999 Arhaus

Report required

6^th 2001 Helsinki

Stockholm had expected to be hosts again, but the Finns stepped in and Interscandic went to Helsinki. The cost of the event kept numbers down.

7^th 2003 Tallinn

Again a surprise volunteer came forward and Tallinn took the event across the Baltic, where it was combined with the local beer festival. Two Canadians from the Stockholm H3 were denied entry at the dock, perhaps because the Canadian Prime Minister had mispronounced the name of the Estonian President a few days before.

8^th 2005 Stockholm

The Stockholm committee under ‘Ingrid Larsson’ surprised themselves by organising a most successful event from a hunting camp on the edge of the city. The Sunday run gave great views of the city centre and ended in a major thunderstorm. There was a large Scottish contingent, largely due to Stockholm supporting the recent Glasgow 1000^th run.

9^th 2007 Scotland Updated

At the end of Interscandic 2005 the German contingent departed for their plane early, having virtually been promised the 9^th Interscandic. However in the circle Scotland came in with a late, passionate and successful bid. They suggested hosting the following year, taking Interscandic onto a 2-year cycle that no longer clashed with EuroHash, but eventually announced a June 2007 date. The event received mixed reports with a good run on the Saturday but the need for rather more organized events during the evenings.

10^th 2009 Norway Updated

The 2009 Interccandic went to Norway who hosted a highly successful Midnight Sun Run. Use of a military camp gave the perfect isolated venue and allowed space for 120 hashers. The event started on the beach on Friday with crayfish and hashers still drinking beer in sunlight at one o’clock in the morning.

The main Saturday run started with a schooner trip and then an A to B return to camp where the sauna stayed open until the early hours of the morning. Even the weather was kind, the rain holding off until the Sunday. Fucking Beep Beep was a good RA and many of the old hands were there, including Wolf who kept up his 100% record for attendance in what was  to be his final Interscandic.

11th

Interscandic 2011 was awarded to Dublin.

Iran updated

Sadly there is no hashing in Iran anymore, but Tehran H3 was once one of the great, great kennels. 

Founded in 1977 by Ted Quirk, who later became GM, they made their mark in Hong Kong the following year with their enthusiastic singing. There was always a large turnover of hashers coming and going but the pack once reached a record 59 runners.

There was beer in those days and the locally brewed Tuborg was considered okay if the Danish beer master was in town.

Not that this was ever a ‘soft’ posting, and the pack was once shot at for running through the Shah’s private game park. A leader who keeps a private game park, and shoots at the trespassing peasants, is always likely to be a bit remote from his people and sure enough 1979 brought the revolution.

A few ex-pats stayed around beyond the embassy's ‘best leave now’ advice and it is uncertain exactly when the last hash was run. According to urban legend the brewery also kept going, until somebody discovered the words ‘non-alcoholic’ printed on the label actually did only refer to the label and not the contents.

Sometime after the last hasher left 30 ex-Tehran Hashers gathered in Brussels to enjoy a final reunion run with the remaining Hash Cash.

Tehran H3 made one comeback in or around 2007 when  a one off, invitation only hash was organized around the 40 acres of the British Embassy Compound.

With thanks to Self-Abuse

Iraq  updated

Baghdad H3, founded by John Haste in 1981, was once one of the Middle East’s strongest kennels. At the time President Hussein was seen as the great pro-west hope for the region, a stream of ex-pats worked in the oil and gas industries and within a short time mixed packs of 60-70 hashers were gathering for the Saturday runs.

The various trails took them through palm groves, desert and even into the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. They once had to run in what they claim was a hash world record 50 degrees, but there was always plenty of Ferida beer to cool them down afterwards. By 1987 Davie Bland was one of the few survivors from the original group.

Andrew Offer was GM between 1987 and 1991, and many old hands claim this was the golden period for the kennel. In 1985 a 2^nd group, Babylon H3, started up, specialising in live hare runs and from 1986 there was an Assyrian H3 out at the Baiji Railway Camp.

However, while the rest of the world remained ignorant of events, ex-pats saw the darker side of Iraqi. The police occasionally detained the hares, a scud missile once landed on the trail and it was very prudent to have the down-downs in the privacy of a garden.

Then came the invasion of Kuwait and ten years of sanctions and beer rationing, during which the hash died away, although not before having a great party drinking up their stocks.

     When President Bush invaded Iraqi and famously quoted that, within a year the country would ‘be back to normal’, that was widely taken to mean there would be lots of hashing. Sure enough troops waiting for the invasion formed the Al Kat H3 (May 2003, founding father Phil ‘Turd Bird’ Kendro) and the Erbil H3, who claim to be the first kennel up and running in ‘Free Iraqi’.

Once the initial fighting died out Baghdad H3 started running in the capital. They saw themselves as a completely new kennel, with no historical links to the former Baghdad Hash and their motto was ‘The First Runners in Baghdad Not Being Chased by Men with Guns’. They met every Friday opposite the American Embassy and the pre-run instructions included the latest news on car bombs and rockets. Prudently they stay within the relatively safe Green Zone, but that is actually a fair chunk of the city.

Up until 2004 they were doing fine, with packs of 30 or so meeting at 7.00 in the evening. In summer it was still light (but very hot) and iinjuries on the hash were limited to running into bared wire. There was however the very real possibly of a rocket attack or worse, which added element of excitement to it all. Sometime in 2004 first the Americans, and then the Brits, advised their embassy personal that running in the streets was no longer really wise.

A couple of hashes exist out on the bases including the Al-Asad H3 and the Saddam Bash H3 out at the Balad Airbase. Lost Lake H3  runs on the Victory Base Complex in Baghdad. This was where Saddam was kept after being captured, but there is no record of him turning out with the pack. Most recently Garfield has formed the New Babylon HHH.  However George’s promise of a ‘normal Iraqi’ seems as distant as ever and unless there is a dramatic change Hashing might only last as long as the troops stay.

Thanks to Door Mat and zwirnera

Ireland updated

There is surprisingly little Hashing taking place in Ireland, although one reason might be the that Ireland lacks the rambling tradition of the rest of the British Isles and it difficult to find areas of countryside that are not fenced off.

 Dublin H3 was founded in March 1986, by Tom Balzer (ex-Athlone H3), and is ‘the only Hash which runs in Ireland (Eire) on a regular basis’. They started as a monthly kennel and now run every week, alternating between Sundays and Mondays.

In the north Belfast H3 was founded by Henry 'Mr. Motivator' McKee in September 1987. Athlone H3, founded in 1978, and Cork H3 who operated in the late eighties, appear to have folded. Belfast and Dublin get together for a joint hash at least once a year.

It is of interest to note that the contact listed in the 2006 World Hash Directory for Dublin H3 is none other than Richard ’Polly’ Hadfield.  Polly was, of course, one of the Hash Directory keepers in the mid 1980s from his base in Kuala Belait.

Iron

There are several ‘Iron’ Hash names. Iron Ball, Iron Lady, Iron Man, Iron Sheep and the musically inspired ‘Ironing Maiden’.

Ironman Run

Annual run by Ipswich H3 (that’s Ipswich Australia, not Ipswich England) which covers 19 pubs in 9km

Israel  

There might have been a Sinai Hash some time in the early eighties, but  Hashing officially came to Israel in 1993 with the founding of the Tel Aviv based Holyland H3. They are family orientated, with children and dogs welcome. Jerusalem H3 was not up and running until 2002. They run fortnightly on Saturdays. The American Embassy has now moved to Jerusalem, bringing a notable marine element to the pack. (They tend to be the loud guys with the short hair.) Loud can actually be a problem on urban runs, as the pack meet on the Sabbath and such behaviour is frowned upon in many neighbourhoods.

Italy   

     The big two hashes are Milan and Rome, but there is a growing number of smaller kennels. Milan goes by the title ‘The Royal Milan and Bordighera H3’ (see Bordighera H3) and therefore claims a heritage dating back to 1947. Rome H3 was founded in 1986 by Bob ‘Uptown’ Brodie. They run in both suburbs and city centre and claim to have run past every one of Rome’s numerous monuments at least once. They have also hashed through the Vatican just as the Pope was giving his blessing. The main event on the Rome H3 calendar is the annual Ides of March Toga Run. A Full Moon Hash was founded in September 2000, and this specialised in Vatican runs.          

     Naples has the recently formed Bella Napoli H3, which possibly has some tenuous links to the old NATO Naples H3 which dates back to 1988. The Aviano based Sacile Madenss H3 has military links (tiny village, giant air base) while recent hashes include the Etna Ash Hash (1997) in Sicily, a Straits of Bonafacio H3 that switches between north Sardinia and the mainland and a Vicenza based Vento Winners H3 (2003).

badges Napoli and Mila

Ivory Coast

Andrew Martin founded Abidjan H3 in November 1981. At the time the Ivory Coast was considered the economic miracle of the continent and the hash clamed 250 members with the pack reaching 90 on a good night. Events such as the Hash Ball (formal Hash dress – jackets and shorts) attracted attention outside of hashing circles. By the nineties the economy was declining, crime was rising and hashing numbers were halved. Things got worse after the civil war and the kennel went into hibernation in 2003 but was up and running again by 2007.