Hash Roots

(A bit of history from one of our co-founders..."Dances with Dogs")

The Hash began in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1938 when a bunch of mostly expatriates led by Albert Ignatius Gispert - or "G" as he was known - began a hare and hounds paper chase on a Monday evening following which they would enjoy a few beers around the "bucket" before retiring to some establishment for a meal. This regular event was interrupted by World War Two and "G" was unfortunately killed in Singapore with all trace of his family connections lost.

The Hash was restarted after the war by stalwarts "Horse" Thompson, "Torch" Bennet and Cecil "Curly" Lee plus a few others. As you will see, nicknames were almost de rigueur in those days. A small splinter group rose and fell in Italy, however it wasn't until 1969 that a second substantial Hash was established in Singapore. Thereafter, with bankers, accountants, engineers and others being posted around the region, they set up other chapters until there were around fifty groups in the mid-seventies.

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The first Hong Kong chapter the "Hong Kong Hash House Harriers" or "H4" as it is known, was started in February 1970 with a run on the peak. The second chapter, Kowloon or "KH3" was started later that year by people who - in the pre-cross harbour tunnel days, could not make the starts on Hong Kong side. There are now thirteen active Hashes in Hong Kong with the odd peripheral group rising and falling from time to time. H4 and KH3, which both run on Monday, are still men only, as is the Royal South Side "RS2H3", which runs on Thursday. In Hong Kong men can actually hash most any day, including Tuesday if the Ladies of Hongkong "LH4" invite them, but note that not all groups are weekly. Free China "FCH3", Hong Kong Friday "HKFH3" & Sai Kung Saturday "SKSH3" run only monthly, while the Babes "HKH2B" run once every two months and Typhoon 8 "T8H3" have to wait for the #8 signal to be raised by the Hong Kong Observatory. The other weekly groups include Little Sai Wan "LSWH3" and Northern New Territories "N2TH3" on Wednesday and Sek Kong "SKH3" on Sunday, similar to Wanchai "WH3".

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WH3 was founded in 1988 by Bruce "Shirley Temple" Fletcher and Howard "Dances with Dogs" McKay who, over a cold beer in "The Wanch" pub mused over how Hong Kong had very few Asian girls in the Hash whereas in Malaysia, Indonesia and other Asian countries there were many. They thought that a Sunday hash could redress this anomaly and thus WH3 was formed.

The Wanchai Hash is probably the most vibrant in terms of numbers turning out with an average of 60 runners/joggers/walkers each week. Although we don't advertise it as a dating club, there have been over 30 marriages between people who met on WH3 since it began - so you can guess that there is more to this than simple exercise and beer drinking.

"Am I fit enough?" you might ask. Well, like most hashes, WH3 has its share of skinny "watch clickers" who like to talk about their "10K times", but there are also the rotund and the walkers among the group so you can just take your own time. The age group ranges from kids up to septuagenarians and the sexes are usually even in numbers. Generally the trails are set so that the faint runners get back in about 40 minutes with the last walker being back in about 1 hour 15 minutes - there are the occasional "disasters" however when an inexperienced "hare" gets carried away so if you are so unfortunate on your first "run" don't let that put you off.

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Interesting fact

The Wanchai Hash and its birthplace "The Wanch" pub in Wanchai were instrumental in regaining contact with the lost Gispert family when pub owner Dances With Dogs employed a barman by that name. As it was a fairly uncommon name, Dances With Dogs made further inquiries and determined that his barman, Charles Gispert, was in fact the Grandson of "G" who, until that time, had had no knowledge of the hash or his late Grandfather's role as the founder. Charles put Dances With Dogs in touch with his father / "G's" son, Simon Gispert, who was then sponsored by "The Wanch" to attend as a guest at "Interhash" in Phuket in 1994.

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