A Story of Hashing

By Oyunga Pala

Cover of the Saturday Magazine

The Hash House Harriers is a social club of runners described as 'a drinking club with a running problem'. Expatriate British businessmen, accountants, lawyers, civil servants and the like started the hash in 1938 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is based on the old English sport of hares and hounds.

The founder of the hash, A.S. 'G' Gispert, in 1937 discovered the Springgit Harriers, one of the paper chase clubs, in Malacca. He introduced Ronald 'Torch' Bennett to the concept and the stage was set. When 'G' returned to Kuala Lumpur in 1938, he became a member of the Federated Malay States Volunteer Reserves which trained on Mondays. 'G' and many of the other expatriate Britons were housed in barracks in the Royal Selangor Club where he and 'Torch' would often discuss starting a harrier club in KL (Kuala Lumpur).

Finally, around December of 1938, 'G' convinced a dozen others to follow his inaugural paper trail. Gispert then suggested the name Hash House Harriers in mock allusion to the mess at the Selangor Club, where many of them dined. The runs were held on Monday evenings after reserve training, and were followed by refreshment with Tiger beer.

Gispert was killed in battle defending Singapore from the Japanese at 4am on February 11, 1942. The hash has grown from those humble beginnings to include thousands of chapters and tens of thousands of hashers world-wide.

The information above is extracted from the book 'On On! Run #2 Hash House Harriers 1938-1992' by Harrier International and the late Tim 'Magic' Hughes, PhD.

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