![\"downdowns2\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/downdowns2.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Long Beach Hash House Harriers during “down downs”\u00a0last month in a commercial park located in the City of Bellflower. Photos by Jason Ruiz.<\/em><\/p>\n The Long Beach Hash House Harriers (LBH3) are part of what\u2019s probably the worst-kept secret in the world. Hashers, the name given to members of this running group, have kennels that literally stretch across the globe, yet you wouldn\u2019t know you were seeing a hash in action unless you were invited to be part of this \u201cdrinking club with a running problem.\u201d<\/p>\n They\u2019ve been called many things\u2014their own nicknames probably being among the worst\u2014but this club, like the city it calls home, has deeply ingrained military roots dating back to World War II.<\/p>\n Hashing\u2019s history got its start in December 1938, when British expatriates living in Malaysia decided to form a running club to cleanse their bodies of “weekend excess.” After fizzling out in the post-war years, the club regrouped in Kuala Lumpur, where they were notified by the local authorities that their club, which met up to run once a week, would require a constitution and needed to be registered with the Malaysian government.<\/p>\n The club\u2019s original registration card listed four objectives of the Hash House Harriers: to promote physical fitness among members, to get rid of weekend hangovers, to acquire a good thirst and to satisfy it with beer and to persuade older members that they were not as old as they feel. The Hash House was the name given to the dining hall in Salangor known to the running club founders for its sub-par food.<\/p>\n The club takes an age-old children’s\u2019 game of “hare and hounds,” where selected runners (hares) set out ahead, marking a trail with flour, and the hounds try to track down the trail. The hares are chased down by the hounds, who use chalk to relay the true direction of the hares to those in the back of the pack, and whistles to give audible direction of where the trail is hot and the initials “BN” let you know there’s a beer near.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Long Beach chapter\u2014headed by “Hairy,” a Grandmaster whose hash name is an X-rated spin on a particularly famous child wizard\u2014was founded in 1985 by Dal “Jock” Trader, who missed the hashes that he ran through the jungles of Taiwan. Hairy describes it as part drinking game, part tracking game, where there are no losers because the beer is always cold and anyone who gets lost will only get extra exercise.<\/p>\n Another way to think of it is Animal House for adults, as the number of beer checks can also vary from hash to hash.<\/p>\n Hairy\u2019s first hash had 106 beer checks, something that he described as more of a walking drunk fest than an actual chase to snare the hare. The typical run has just a handful of checks but occasionally expands to a more extreme number for special event hashes, but for reference, those beers are split between several dozen runners. This year marked the 10-year anniversary of the 106 beer check hash, meaning this year had 116 beer checks.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you are the first person to a beer check you can\u2019t leave until one of those beers is gone,\u201d Hairy said about the 116-check hash this year. \u201cIf you want to hold back and let somebody pass you, you don\u2019t have to drink, we don\u2019t force anyone to do it. I don\u2019t know why you\u2019d come here if you don\u2019t want to drink, but that\u2019s fine.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s obvious that the Hashers love themselves a frosty beverage or two, or three, but Hairy and fellow LBH3 Hasher, Kammonawannaleia, are quick to point out that that it\u2019s not complete chaos. However, there are several runners who don’t drink at all who are part of the kennel.<\/p>\n There are rules of the road that must be adhered to keep the group safe, as well as anyone around them. Alternate modes of transportation and designated drivers are strongly encouraged, especially for hashes with an exorbitant amount of beer checks or for those who to choose to \u201cpre-lube\u201d at a bar before the hash.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are professional drinkers, most of us aren\u2019t going to go out and get drunk unless we know we have a designated drivers,\u201d Kammona said. \u201cWe don\u2019t climb on buildings or harass police officers. There are certain rules of the road that we follow because it keeps us safe and it keeps us from getting in trouble. When you invite people who don\u2019t understand, we can get in trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n The last person to run into trouble with the law had that incident worked into his name (Drunk White Idiot) for obvious reasons. Naming a hasher takes time, it takes creativity and it takes a naming council to vote upon it once somebody has been deemed worthy of being adopted into the kennel. It also serves as a sieve of sorts to ensure that official hashers know the ins and outs and can reliably follow the rules.<\/p>\n Name styles vary by kennel, with some kennels like the Diaper Rash Hash opting for family-friendly monickers and others like the Long Beach unit going the more NC-17 route. They\u2019re witty\u2014Adam from West Los Angeles became “Batman,” a military veteran turned OB-GYN became “Thank You For Your Cervix”\u2014but they carry an important tradition set back in Kuala Lumpur that sought to eliminate rank and identity for the sole purpose of being equal and having fun together.<\/p>\n “Double Entry I thought was a bookkeeper, but what happened was he actually got locked out of his car twice in one night,” said Kammona, who got named in part for previously being married to a Hawaiian. “He had to have AAA come and let him in his car twice in one night, that\u2019s how he got his name. You want someone to name you who\u2019s very smart and very clever.”<\/p>\n While it seems like the group is centered on nonsense\u2014and it is\u2014it also contributes its fair share of altruism. One global example is the annual Red Dress Run held in honor of a past hasher who came to a Long Beach hash in 1987 in a red dress and heels but decided to run it anyway. The next year, a San Diego kennel flew her out for the annual Red Dress Run, a phenomenon that has morphed into a yearly fundraiser for local charities in cities from San Diego to New Orleans to Beijing, some of which are expected to draw thousands of hashers and “muggles” (non-hashers) alike.<\/p>\n There are few actual rules that don\u2019t pertain to basic safety. Two of the biggest are to have a sense of humor and don\u2019t ever wear new shoes to a hash unless you prefer your beverages sipped out of a cross-trainer.<\/p>\n At the end of every hash the group gathers for “down downs,” a ceremony of sorts where patches are awarded for reaching milestones within the group and “new boots” are roasted, usually with beer and Rugby songs sung in unison by the kennel. Patches are given out to be added to hasher’s “Happi Coats,” a kimono-styled jacket that pays homage to both the club’s Southeast Asian roots and the individual’s accomplishments within the kennel.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hairy presides over the ceremony like a pirate captain, doling out responsibilities for the next week\u2019s hash to his swashbuckling horde. If you find them, they\u2019d love to have you, just come thirsty and ready to laugh. Oh, and don\u2019t wear your newest pair of shoes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a very irreverent group,\u201d Hairy said. \u201cI invite everyone but I don\u2019t invite my very religious friends because they\u2019ll find something that\u2019s going to offend them. But if you have a good sense of humor and like beer, you\u2019re going to have a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Long Beach Hash House Harriers (LBH3) are part of what\u2019s probably the worst kept secret in the world. Hashers, the name given to members of this running group, have kennels that literally stretch across the globe, yet you wouldn\u2019t know you were seeing a hash in action unless you were invited to be part of this “drinking club with a running problem” that has a history dating back to World War II. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":16514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[81],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-hash-house-harriers","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=169"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"HairyArrow\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/HairyArrow.JPG\")
\u201cIt\u2019s a scavenger hunt for adults is one way I describe it frequently,\u201d Hairy said. \u201cYou don\u2019t know how long you\u2019ll be running, you don\u2019t know where the trail is going. It could three miles it could be nine miles, you never know.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"LBH3](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/LBH3_patches.JPG\")
The group is truly a melting pot of identities, professions and athletic (and drinking) levels. There are doctors, lawyers, police officers, people who have run dozens of marathons and people who opt to walk the handful of miles during each hash. There are hashers in their 20s and hashers in their 80s and even those who hash with their dogs, some of which have their own hashing names.<\/p>\n