NamesMost hashers have a ‘hash name’ or ‘handle’. Indeed in some ex-pat communities you are sometimes only ever known by your hash name, leading to this kind of conversation:
Hasher phoning local embassy: ‘I’d like to speak to Mr….errr..errr ..I can’t remember his name…but the guy who runs….’ Embassy Receptionist: ‘You mean Tight Arse? I’ll see if he is back from lunch yet.’
It is in fact human nature to give people nicknames – think ‘Wild Bill’ Hitchcock – and this goes back at least to the Viking age, think ‘Ethel the Red’. When however did it spread to hashing? ‘Horse’ and ‘Torch’ had their nicknames long before they joined the Mother Hash, indeed Horse’s name is said to refer to his facial features, suggesting a cruelty dating from school days, rather than a hash circle. ‘The Colonel’ records that Arthur Broome was nicknamed ‘Belukar’ or ‘Secondary Jungle’ in the 1950’s but this was probably more for his hiking expeditions, perhaps, or perhaps not, supported by his hashing. Hash names occasionally appear in various hash trashes from the late sixties, but again there is some uncertainty as to whether these were nicknames already in use, or awarded on the hash. Richard Murphy’s acquisition of ‘Gunga Dick’ around 1969 is probably the first time we can identity with any certainty the acquisition of a nicknamed at the hash. However, the widespread use of hash names can be linked to Jakarta H3 in the early seventies when ‘secret names’ were adopted in the newsletters to hide the activities of runners from wives, girlfriends and bosses. The spread of hash names continued via the hash trash. By 1982, for example, Geoff Williams, the scribe for Dar es Salaam H3, had started to use hash names in the weekly write-up. These names were of the scribe's invention and never discussed in the circle. Some of the names were immediately adopted and within a week had spread into the ex-pat community at large. Other names never caught on and were only ever used in the newsletter. Today hash names are generally given in the circle, usually after some debate and probably with a christening or initiation ceremony. Some hashes, Batavia for example, give the name after a set number of runs, others wait for a name to suggest itself. This means some people can get christened on their first run, while others can do hundreds of hashes without ever being recognized. There is some debate on what is the most common hash name. At Cardiff InterHash it was ‘Deep Throat’ and ‘Ever Ready’, followed by ‘Snow White’, ‘Cunning Linguist’ and ‘Skidmarks’. At InterHash Goa ‘Tarzan’, ‘Spiderman’, ‘Pussy Galore’ and ‘Rambo’ were the most popular. Hash names are sometimes changed but only rarely and then only at the initiative of the Hash and this should never at the initiative of the hasher. Usually a person dissatisfied with the name bestowed by the hash will realise that the options are limited to leaving the hash (which some people have done), adopting the original name or accepting a re-naming which will never be any more pleasant then the original name.
NOTE One exception to the above rule occurred on one of the African hashers when a local runner, who was a very senior member of the army, was named after the rebel group he was fighting. The Hash accepted the political embarrassment this could cause and agreed to change the name.
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Names, Random GeneratorManneke Piss H3 use a ‘random hash name generator’ to help with their christenings. It seems to work quite well.
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NamibiaNamibia only has the one hash, Windhoek H3 in the capital. They meet on a Monday and are now past the 700 run mark. Windhoek is a small city and the surrounding area can quickly take you from suburbs, to bush, to hills.However in winter the dark evenings usually restrict running to the city. Few people have hashed elsewhere, so Windhoek Hash is low on ceremony with a few down downs (taken from a children’s plastic potty) being quickly followed by the food. There are occasional weekend runs somewhere in the bush.
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NauruNauru is a tiny island nation in the South Pacific. It is the world's smallest independent Republic and only four kilometres across at the widest point. This naturally limits the opportunities for hashing. However Nauru H3 (founded in December 2001 by Bill ‘Infallible’ O'Brien) runs every Tuesday from the Memen Hotel.
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Nash HashesNash is a contraction of ‘national’ and refers to events where the various hash kennels within a country – or occasionally a region - come together for an annual or bi-annual gathering. The term ‘Nash Hash’ was adopted, and should always be used, to avoid confusion with ‘InterHash’. Guests from further a-field are welcome at such events and often some effort will go into attracting visitors. The first Nash Hash was held in New Zealand in 1977, but they didn’t adopt that term until 1984. Perhaps the biggest Nash Hash ever was the Pan-Indo (or Indonesian Nash hash by another name) in Bandung in 1991 when more than 3000 Hashers attended. Today the biggest Nash Hashes include:
Australia, China, England, Dutch, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand and the USA, although the latter is over shadowed by Americas InterHash.
Other known Nash hashes include:Belgium, France, Germany, Japan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Vietnam.
Bali, Texas and Borneo, although not nations, also have Nash hashes.
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History The original Kathmandu based Himalayan H3 was founded by Keith Robinson (ex Dhaka) who laid the first trail with the assistance of Roger Binks in 1979. Eight turned out for that first run, including John Wyatt-Smith, a legend of the pre-war days in KL. The hash evolved as 'a gentlemen's run' with British Ghurkha officers playing a central role, one attraction being that the officer's mess had imported beer, which was hard to find at the time. Early and notable grandmasters included Robinson, Tony Russell, Derek Millbank, Dave Shannon, and Mike ‘Stand to Attention’ Barrett. It was quite a relaxed community in those days and few people had trouble getting away for the 4:00 start on a Monday evening. In 1983 the hash held a run to the north of Kathmandu, where one of the Malaysian visitors died of altitude sickness. Since then the pack has tended to stay away from the higher attitudes, although this is as much to do with the deteriorating political situation as anything else. The Himalayan Mixed Hash was established in the early 1980s and took the vacant Thursday evening spot. Around 1985 the ladies were allowed to join the men’s hash and it became the ‘Fast Hash’. However, in the early 1990s this group faded out ‘due to dreadful mismanagement' and hashing was kept going by the mixed kennel. They moved to the Saturday spot and somewhere along the way ‘Mixed’ was dropped from the title. Today they consider themselves the direct descendants of the original hash, and operate under the motto ‘Trashing the Valley since 1979’. Dharan H3 was a family based hash linked with the Ghurkhas, but they folded in 1989 with the closing of the military camp, by which time they had completed some 250 runs Hashing TodayFinding good trails is becoming more difficult as the urbanization of the Kathmandu Valley forces hares to go further and further beyond the Ring Road. Crossing the Bagmati River is also considered a ‘no no’ on account of the high level of pollution, although newcomer Mark ‘Shrivelled’ Squirrel, unaware of the dangers, did take the pack on their first river crossing in 15 years. ‘However, there is still a great range of hashing terrain, from level paths meandering through picturesque rice fields and traditional Newari villages, to steep climbs up through pine forests on the valley rim. Being on the edge of the Himalayas means there is the chance of some tough runs with Jalak ‘Yogi Hare’ Ananda, the recently departed Ron ‘Run Crafty’ Crabtree, and Stephen ‘Keeled Over‘ Keeling the master of the craft.’ Memorable recent events include the Dhapasi Half-marathon, the twenty-fifth anniversary 25-check-long run out at Dhulikhel, and the Three Gorges Run. The latter was an extreme hash put on for a visiting crowd from Kuala Lumpur and nearly resorted in a second fatality as one of their aging joggers had to be abseiled down a waterfall. Sources: Himalayan H3 Website, World Hash Directory |
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see Holland
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Netherlands AntillesThe Netherlands Antilles is made up of two island groups in the Caribbean but hash-wise we are only concerned with Curacao, which lies just off the coast of Venezuela. Curacao Monday H3 (they like to be called the CuMHash) runs every Wednesday at 6:00pm. Their 5k trails can go anywhere, but runs mainly centre around the main city of Willemstad. That’s not as boring as it sounds; Willemstad is a beautiful place and a World Heritage Site
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Neville, SirNeville, ‘Sir Neville’, Watson was a Singapore hasher famous for his Himalayan hash treks. He died in 1996. On on Sir Neville.
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When Daniel Salchow, an ophthalmologist and a recent arrival in New Heaven, Connecticut, set off to lay a hash trail on August 23rd 2007 he was looking forward to a simple afternoon’s exercise and fun. Although new in town, Daniel was a hash veteran, and helping him to lay the trail was his sister Dorothee, who was visiting from Hamburg. Having laid the trail they noticed officials in hazmat suits inspecting the flour laid across the car park of the local IKEA store. Daniel tried to defuse the situation, explaining it was just flour and offering to sweep it up. Although it was quickly obvious that there was no public danger, officials stubbornly pursued the matter. Both city and State prepared to file charges and City Police tried to claim $4,100 in costs. ‘They acted irresponsibly in doing something they knew could have instilled fear,’ defended the mayoral spokeswoman Jessica Mayorga. At one stage the siblings faced a felony crime, a serious first-degree breach of the peace. However that probably helped, as it made the authorities seemed ridiculously heavy handed and it enabled lawyer Michael Jefferson to argue that there had been no intent to cause ‘inconvenience, annoyance or alarm’ as was required by Connecticut law. The hash community was now roused, raising money for lawyers fees and writing to the authorities complaining of the persecution of the ‘New Haven 2’ By September authorities seemed ready to drop the idea of issues any major charges and talk was now of some compromise between the Daniel, IKEA and the city to prompt a community event in return for the City dropping any claims of damages. Read more in the local New Haven New Independent
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New Haven 2,
Song
Written by Moustache Rider of NH4 to the tune of Yankee Doodle. |
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Many, indeed most, hashes frown upon hashers turning up in new shoes. Presumably it is linked with competitiveness and enthusiasm or perhaps a sense of egalitarianism. Offenders are likely to be made to drink a down down out of one of the offending shoes. On some kennels virgins are sometimes given one warning. Origins of the tradition are unknown.
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New Year Run New During the eighties Angels City traditionally staged the first hash run of the year, setting off at one minute past midnight. In 1989 New Year Eve was on a Sunday so they stayed in the Bird of Paradise after the run 'San Miguel was flowing as if going out of fashion' and then, at one minute past midnight, the pack left the 4th floor to have the first beer stop of the New Year on the 3rd floor.
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New Zealand
New Zealand, known for its kiwi fruit, sheep and a ‘love hate’ relationship with Australians is also a great centre of hashing. There are around 40 kennels and hashing is amazingly well organized which includes the staging of the oldest Nash Hash in the world and having an elected ‘All New Zealand’ GM. In addition, Rotorua hosted a hugely successful InterHash in 1994. There is also an All-New Zealand website at www.nzhhh.co.nz
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The New Zealand GM’ship started as something of a joke, with ‘Fartin Martin’ declaring himself, ‘self appointed GM of South Pacific from Antarctica to the top of the Pacific, except for Australia’. The position was formalised at an early Nash Hash and has continued to be passed to senior members (of either gender!) of the NZ hash community each year. The job was summed up by General Tooth, who gave the following advise to JRGEE, ‘just visit a few Hashes, mutter a few words of wisdom to the assembled multitudes, sink ten or so pints and hope the Hussies muster up for the NZGM's entitlement of blowjobs.
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New Zealand Nash Hash
The roots of New Zealand Nash Hash can be traced back to Wellington’s 1st anniversary weekend, held in Turangi in February 1977. They invited Auckland H3, then the only other New Zealand kennel, to join them and the two ‘senior hashes’ continued to organize a joint hash at Turangi until 1982, when the growth in hashing made it sensible to throw the event open. Initially known as the New Zealand InterHash, the title was changed to avoid confusion with InterHash. After 1989 Nash Hash became bi-annual.
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NicaraguaThe good news: (1) Nicaragua is emerging from its violent recent past and (2) is a country of stunning beauty.Managua, the capital, has a quarter of the country’s population and is always likely to be either flattened by an earthquake or buried in a volcanic eruption.
Managua H3
started
on 21 January 1990 and has run on every other Sunday since. Trails are
usually in or close to the city and packs average between 25 to 30 runners
and walkers. It can get exciting. On run 503 the pack was attacked by a
machete-wheeling farmer and according to the hash trash:
‘picking up a dead tree branch, Highly
Sassy uttered an African war cry and charged towards him. While she
parried his
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NigerNiameny H3 was founded in the mid 1980’s and runs rather spasmodically. Summer for example is considered too hot and the kennel closes down.
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Nigeria
Nigeria is a strange place. Crime, corruption, large-scale unemployment and terrible poverty seem to have the country continually hovering on the edge of chaos. Yet people still retain an optimism and generally have a magnificent pride in being Nigerian. This is also true for many hashers. Those ex-pats who get past the first few weeks often fall in love with the place and many ex-Lagos hashers have a sickening affection towards their old kennel. One point many other African hashes would be surprised at is the racial balance of the hashes - middle class Nigerians have taken to hashing with enthusiasm. A great advantage of this is that Nigerians know how to dance and party! There are traditionally two main hash strongholds, Lagos and the Niger River Delta.
Lagos Lagos is the second biggest city in Africa and let’s not pretends otherwise, there are serious problems here. However, that has not stopped hashing booming. Lagos H3 was founded in February 1979 when a handful of ex-pats drank too many Star Beers following a squash game. Albert Withnall (ex-Singapore) is considered the founding father although Magic gave joint credit to him and Keith Symes. The first official run took place on Monday 5th March, 1979. Two hares and three runners took part with 3 or 4 people drifting in after the run. The post Hash BBQ and drinks were on the beach and the police investigated the group, ‘but being easily satisfied in those days, disappeared after being ‘dashed’ with a soft drink each.’ Some 1500 runs later Lagos attracts packs of around 50 each week. The suburb of Ikeja has had its own hash since 1981. The founder was Jacques ‘Stirstick’ de Steur (ex Jakarta) and for many years activity centred on the Crocodile Bar. In May 2000, Ikeja H3 celebrated its 1000th run with a 5-hash long weekend. Sadly just 8 runs later there was a tragic road accident involving hash vehicles heading for the run. (See Ikeja run 1008). With ‘Cuckoo’ in Switzerland being treated for burns, the Crocodile Bar closed and at least for the time being Ikeja is using the Jolly Sailor. Lagos Badboys H3 meets on a Thursday, with women and children banned. Apapa H3 is a monthly Friday run, based on the mainland, which means many hashers arrive by ferry.
Niger Delta Nigeria’s oil industry is located on the east coast around the Niger Delta and all the problems of Nigeria exist here, plus additional border and local disputes. Port Harcourt H3 dates from 1986 when it was founded by Bob 'Bad Bastard' Williams. Runners gather at the Shell Residents’ Camp and normally have a bush run with a whimp’s trial. Packs can be anywhere from 80 to150. Warri, quite a distance to the west, runs from different locations around the port city. John ‘Bandit’ Binokas leads the statistics with 271 plus runs. Warri Hash alternates with Port Harcourt Hash, making it possible to hash every week, but there is also a Phantom H3 (founded by Geoff 'Jam Rag' Lill, Ton 'Clog & Frog' VanDijk and Steve 'Flasher' Chadwick) for those preferring to stay in the Warri area. Flasher was also the founder of the Boony Island H3. This large island is the centre of Nigeria’s natural gas industry and offers good hashing through both bush and swamp, with runs getting ‘very interesting’ in the rainy season. Note - at the moment hashing anywhere in the Delta is subject to curfew and local events.
Abuja and up country Updated
Lagos is not actually the capital of Nigeria, that distinction falls to Abuja, which lies in the centre of the country. The project of building a capital here started with enthusiasm, but then the money ran out, and Abuja still looks less than half finished. However, by 1997 the city had attracted enough foreigners for Tony ‘Hash Mouth’ Bowles (ex Lagos), Brian 'Old Lag' Smith and Don 'Stormtrooper' Adamson to start up a kennel. Sadly another of the founders, Henri Jarniac, died of malaria before Run 1. Today Abuja H3 turns out biweekly on Saturdays, unless ‘pre-empted by local events’, with a very respectably sized pack of 60 plus, but there is a fast turnover in the city and very few hashers stay around long enough to be considered veterans. When it comes to hashing the new capital enjoys several advantages over Lagos. There isn’t much else to do and the traffic generally flows, giving easy access to the surrounding bush. Once out of the city security is not a great issue but there are snakes and more than one hasher has been attacked by aggressive fire-ants. It is also important to find a secluded spot well back from the road, as the sight of 30 or 40 ex-pats standing in a circle can attract hundreds of spectators. Abuja H3 has not attracted the middle class Nigerians that hash in Lagos and is largely ex-pat. The local contingent does however included many younger people working for NGO’s. There is a kennel at Eket (founded by Linda Ellison and Brian Harding in September 1995) and there have been recent attempts to start a hash in the northern city of Kano. Jos H3, founded in 1986 by a core of McAlpine workers, once attracted packs 50 but was not listed in the 2006 hash directory. Neither was Kaduna H3, founded by Terry Potter in 1982, and which was once attracting packs of 30. Thanks to Big Country |
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NightjarVictor ‘Nightjar’ Mason is an eccentric Englishman of many talents, including but not limited to author, birdwatcher, hasher and connoisseur of icy cold Bir Bintang. An old Asia Hand, he had, by the late 1970’s, made his home at the Beggars Bush in the beautiful mountainous town of Ubud. While Victor owned the Beggars Bush it was the spiritual home of Bali Hashing and for many years Nightjar was the abrasive GM of Bali H3. He is remembered for strolling along the trails barefooted, dogs by his side. Nightjar played the leading role in bringing InterHash to Bali in 1988. The following is from the Bali Hash 2 website:
In May 1977 Victor "Nightjar" Mason and several accomplices decided to get together once each Friday afternoon at The Beggars Bush in Ubud. There they would sit drinking beer while the Beggars Bush minions would trek out into the jungle with a bag of shredded paper and litter the countryside while laying the trail. Hashing heroes would later follow into the wet muddy shiggy before returning to the comfort of the pub, where Nightjar, the self styled religious advisor would deal with those guilty of offences or deserving of rewards. Both punishment and reward attracted forced consumption of huge mugs of Bintang Beer (punishment indeed for anyone who happened not to share Victor’s taste for Bintang, usually those from Jakarta Hash who were sponsored by Anker brewery).
The hash tradition continues to this day, and Bali H3 has increased in number to some 200 hashers which meet on Saturday each week, at various locations, often in remote areas, of this beautiful island. |
Niue H3 attracts a regular pack of 30 –40 or about 2% of the total population of the island. (On the same scale a London hash would get packs of 200,000 on each run!) This is probably a world record.
Northern Mariana lies in the north Pacific, east of the Philippines. Saipan H3 is based on one of the larger, and more southerly islands. Their home is about 23 kilometres long and 8 wide, giving some potential for setting trails. Curt ‘AC’ Clothier founded the kennel in December 1984 and the inaugural run is still legendary, thirty people turning out for a 3-hash weekend, with a bonfire on the golf course and a ‘towering Marpi Pyramid Moon’. SH3 now runs every Saturday, meeting at the parking lot of the Bank of Guam, Garapan. Their away trips include an Atomic Hash on Tinina, the island from which US bombers left to launch their nuclear attacks on Japan.
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The Troll Hash of Stavanger and Lillehammer H3 have collapsed, and the current existence of Kolbotn Grand H3 remains somewhat doubtful, leaving hashing opportunities somewhat limited in Norway.
Oslo H3
is the biggest kennel and
was founded in March 1989 by ‘Ahluetta’ and ‘Nye’
Hughes.
Indeed it is the enthusiasm of The Wolf, who became GM soon after their founding, that is credited with establishing Oslo as one of the senior European hashes. Today a core of enthusiastic hashers keeps Oslo going with packs ranging from 20 to 40. They meet on Saturdays during winter and Mondays during the light summer nights. Runs can be in the city centre or go out to take advantage of the beautiful surrounding countryside. The ‘typical’ Oslo hasher is a Norwegian who has worked overseas or an ex-pat who has settled in the city and there is a healthy combination of young fit runners and old hands to give experience in hash matters. Senior hashers include ‘Moby Dick’, ‘Double Dick’ and long time GM ‘The Vicar’. There is an annual Ski Hash trip which was added to the calendar after the first year. Oslo hashers are also noted travellers and they hosted the first Interscandic Hash in 1991 and the spectacular Midnight Sun event in 2010.
Kristiansen, in
southern Norway, is home of the
ScandiHooligan Hash. This
Drinking Club With NO Problems, was founded on 29 June 1991
by Petter 'Scar with 2 Ts' Nygard. Scar explains the origins
of the Scandihooligan Hash on their website:
“I had recently returned to Norway after living for one year in Pattaya, Thailand. Hashing with Pattaya Dirt Road H3 and Pattaya H3 I had got Hashing in my blood (together with lots of beer).” Scandihooligan Hash meet at the Megleren Pub the last Saturday of the month. Bergen H3 was founded by Finn, Atle 'Abominator' Haldorsen, in September 1996 and is known as the Viking Hash. Bergen hosts a yearly ‘Killer Hill’ run up one of the numerous hills that surround the city. Kristiansen, in southern Norway, is home of the ScandiHooligan Hash. This Drinking Club With NO Problems, was founded on 29 June 1991 by Petter 'Scar with 2 Ts' Nygard. Scar explains the origins of the Scandihooligan Hash on their website: “I had recently returned to Norway after living for one year in Pattaya, Thailand. Hashing with Pattaya Dirt Road H3 and Pattaya H3 I had got Hashing in my blood (together with lots of beer).” Scandihooligan Hash meet at the Megleren Pub the last Saturday of the month. Bergen H3 was founded by Finn, Atle 'Abominator' Haldorsen, in September 1996 and is known as the Viking Hash. Bergen hosts a yearly ‘Killer Hill’ run up one of the numerous hills that surround the city. Updated with thanks to Moby Dick |
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Many circles start a down down with ‘a note’, as in ‘Can we have a note?’ or 'Give us a note!' This, request/demand, is usually directed to Hash Music, somebody else, or to the circle in general and evokes the expected response which can vary from hash to hash.
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blows in true warrior maiden fashion, Miss Chevere snuck up
behind him and stunned him senseless with her water-bottle.’ We th
The
first run saw 55 hashers turn up, but a city noted for rain, snow,
mosquitoes, exorbitant beer prices and a July when everybody leaves
town was always going to struggle to maintain large numbers