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2025 -Time Marches On On . . .

Year 6 of this grand adventure . . . Leggi altro
  • Bicester H3 #2645

    1 settembre 2025, Inghilterra ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    I have been having the best time wandering around the countryside here in England, running with another hash club almost every day (have run 12 hash trails in the past 13 days). Today, I had the opportunity to run with the longest running ‘weekly’ hash in all of the UK, the Bicester H3. For a quick review, the first hash club in the UK was the Longmoor H3, founded by Richard ‘Mountain Rescue’ McAllister on 12 May 1969. The second club to form was the Commando Forces H3 founded by Ray Thornton on 1 Mar 1971. On the heels of the Commando Forces H3, another club was formed months later when Mike Read arrived from the Lagos H3 in Nigeria. Eager to extend his hashing lifestyle, Mike founded Westcombe Park H3 on 19 Dec 1971, and this hash is still active, making it the now longest running hash club in the UK.

    Both the Longmoor H3 and the Commando Forces H3 were military based hash clubs, and due to force rotations, they folded with the departure of their founders. Ray Thornton subsequently was reassigned to Oxfordshire and wasted no time founding yet another hash club, the Bicester H3 on 1 Apr 1974. While the Westcombe Park H3 is the longest running hash in the UK, Bicester H3 is the longest running weekly hash, and has racked up the numbers to show for it, having completed over 2600 trails.

    Now, back to the trail today, the pack could not have been any nicer and more welcoming to a ragamuffin visitor such as myself. Once the pack had gathered, we had a quick chalk talk and off we went. Now the Bicester H3 has one mark that is a first for my travels. A check is a bar, just one long line of flour. Everywhere else I have seen this mark it was a false, but a false here is an X which is found many places (it is also a check in many places, but here there are no circles to be seen. There were only four marks on trail . . . A standard blob of flour, an arrow, the bar which is a check, and an X for a false. That’s it!! I love the simplicity, and most of the trails I set have just a few basic marks too, so I would fit in just fine with this club. 😊

    Trail was all out in the countryside, mostly crisscrossing farmer’s fields and a bit of old road, with the final km or so snaking its way through some single file dirt paths between buildings as we rambled into the finish. A most excellent trail. As the pack reassembled, everyone made their way to the bar to quench their thirst with their beverage of choice until circle started. Short and sweet the circle was, we all had a few laughs and then recessed to the bar for one last round and talked a bit of hash history.

    Another great day on the hash . . . I really liked this pack, will have to come back for another visit.
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  • Didcot H3 #1707

    2 settembre 2025, Inghilterra ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Taking advantage of every hash I can get to while I am here in England, and today it was very rural . . . way off the beaten path. Ran with a great pack of hashers in Aldworth, a very small community about an hour west of London.

    It was a pretty good turn out according to the GM, Whimpey, of about 25 hashers. Trail was about 7 kms mostly out along farmer's fields, with amazing views of the countryside.

    As you can see from the photo, marks were very basic and to the point. Circle was a check, but wait for 6 to gather before checking. Circle with an X in it was a regroup. Arrow with a number was a fish hook . . . very few regroups or fish hooks, so all good. 🙂 Besides those, the only other marks were plops of flour, and basic arrows.

    Didcot H3 does not hold a circle, no down downs, just friendly socializing while we grab a pub sandwich and drink a beer or two. A great night on the hash.
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  • Deepcut H3 #661

    3 settembre 2025, Inghilterra ⋅ 🌧 19 °C

    It was a surprise to see there was a Wednesday morning hash run in the greater London area, and since I was headed that direction anyway, off I go. We met at 1100 this morning, and despite the grey skies and a bit of a drizzle, we still had about 25 hashers turn up. At one point, a fellow hasher pointed over to an older gentlemen and said he had been here the longest, but does not do trail anymore.

    Since it is a weekday daytime hash, as you might expect, we were all retirees. Trail was a most excellent 5+ miles (10K) of shiggy trails through small forest patches, pastures, dirt tracks, and a few bits of pavement in between. At first it was less of a hare & hounds event, and more of a shepherd herding his sheep. We would run along, then the hare would make a new mark and turn us all around in a different direction. By the second half of trail things smoothed out and we were able to follow along in a more traditional fashion.

    Most of the run was fine, but it started to drizzle again just as we were finishing, so we quickly put on some dry clothes and headed into the pub for lunch. No real circle, only one set of down downs all at once for a few assorted categories, and good conversation. At one point, a hasher pointed at the older gentlemen from earlier, and said he founded the first hash in Germany. I immediately perked up, and said "Is that Mountain Rescue?" He said, yes. My response . . . "WHAT?"

    I made my way over to say hello. The first historical article I wrote on hashing was on the first hash in Germany, from back in 2011. In my research I eventually found my way to Richard "Mountain Rescue" McAllister . . . and summarized our conversation into this article: https://dsth3.gotothehash.net/hhhistoryinde.html

    I have since expanded on his hashing history in a full article on Hashing & the Military at https://www.gotothehash.net/.../ItS-Hashing&amp… . . . so it was an unexpected, but pleasant surprise to meet him.
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  • Frankfurt H3 - Unofficial

    4 settembre 2025, Germania ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    So there I was, minding my own business, and flying from the UK to Germany. I thought since I was arriving in Frankfurt on a Thursday, I could catch the weekly hash. BUT, they had already moved to their winter schedule (back on Sunday).

    I offered to set an in-betweener, and 6 hashers turned up for some fun. It was a 7+ km offroad affair, with wild animals on display. Good times, just for the heck of it. We got lucky with the weather, as it was supposed to rain, but it held off . . . just for us. 🙂
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  • German Hashathon - 2025

    6 settembre 2025, Germania ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Note: this was the 750th trail I have hared over the past 40+ years of hashing.

    Getting caught up after a long weekend. I rolled into the campsite on Friday afternoon in order to scout my trail for the weekend. Hashathon is a one day, (usually) 4 trail day, with all 4 trails combined achieving the distance of a marathon. This year, due to small numbers, we did it all in 3 trails.

    My Friday afternoon scout covered 18 kms of scenic joy, trying to figure out a fun and interesting path to lead the pack on. There were a couple spots of NO JOY, that I was able to bypass on Saturday.

    After a fun Friday night around the campfire (and I made sure not to drink toooo much), I tried to get a good night's sleep so I was ready to go Saturday morning . . . BUT, elsewhere in the tent was a snorer (name redacted to be fair, not his fault he is a f*cking human lawnmower when sleeping). I got a solid 4 hours of sleep, but awoke to the old John Deere revving up. You can have a listen in the photos section.

    Anyway, as the sun broke on a new day, the pack gathered for trail 1, and off they go . . . at this time, I set off to set my trail. With a few edits along the way, and eliminating some of the worst bits, it came in at 16.5 kms. When I asked the pack if they preferred me to run it with them . . . OR . . . provide drink stops, for some reason they unanimously chose drink stops. So I got a break there, but most of the pictures I have were from the scouting, or a few from other hashers on trail.
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  • Dienstag Schnitzeljagd Trupp H3 #832

    9 settembre 2025, Germania ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    I strapped on the flour bag one more time, for my last hash trail in Europe for 2025. Was great to see Weenie Woman & The Saint out for a DSTH3 once again. We had about 15 on trail today, and it was a fun 8 km trail. After a morning of rain and grey skies, all cleared up by trail time, so we had lovely sunny skies in all directions.

    I am off to Nigeria tomorrow, for some new adventures.
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  • Surulere H3 - Beerathon 4.0

    14 settembre 2025, Nigeria ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    It has become an annual tradition with the SH3 to have the beerathon. It is basically a day of games and fun, then a hash trail with numerous beer checks . . . today we had 6, over a 6 km trail (as you know I don't drink on trail, and decided to score a few extra kms. Tweaked it out to 10).

    As the pack got farther into trail, and pumped in more beer, they become more hilarious. It actually was a great day on trail. Circle was the usual antics, plus a couple of namings. Then we had some snacks and relaxed a bit before heading back into the city.

    Back at the hotel, our prelube gang had a meet&greet to get things started, and pass out our goodie bags (two shirts and a Happi Coat). Tomorrow is a new day, and some of the pack will head out for a tour. For me, it is laundry day, to reduce the smell of four days of hashing.

    Tomorrow we have one final hash in Nigeria, with the Lagos H3. Tuesday it is time to board the bus and head to Benin. Wooo Hooo, more adventures.
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  • Lagos H3 #2532

    15 settembre 2025, Nigeria ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    This is our final hash trail here in Nigeria as we prepare to set off on our land excursion headed towards Ghana for Pan Africa 2025 in Accra. The history of hashing in Nigeria is as follows . . .

    Hashing is more popular in Nigeria per capita, than most any other country in Africa. I cannot be totally sure, but it appears there are over 30 hash clubs here, more than the rest of Africa combined. The first hash club to form was the Lagos H3, founded by Albert Withnall on 5 Mar 1979. Albert had come to Nigeria from Singapore, where he was a legend, being appointed as the very first Grand Master of the HHH Singapore in 1974. Albert was assisted by Robin Jackson, Andrew Wilson, Angus Robertson, Bob Ashman, and Peter Taylor.

    Today, we had a city trail of about 6 kms starting and ending at Fiki Marina on the inland waterway. We had about 50 hashers on trail, as we dodged the traffic in search of the three beer stops offered up by the hares. Now I don't care about beer stops, but the pack did, and they had a great time.
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  • Cotonou H3 - Special Trail

    16 settembre 2025, Benin ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    It was a brilliant week in Lagos, but it was time to start moving towards Ghana for Pan Africa Hash 2025. We started loading the bus at 0730, but a few hashers decided they were going to breakfast at that time, and kept us waiting. Once we were all loaded, we stopped at a store for beer, that took another hour.

    Finally hitting the road, we then stopped to fuel the bus, that took another 45 minutes. So you can see this trip was going to be special. Once we got to the border of Benin, it took us over 4 hours to process, holy crap. We were so late, that once we finally arrived at the special hash site the Cotonou H3 had setup for us, we were at least 3 hours overdue.

    Since we were late, and it was drizzling rain, the hares decided to cut our trail short and just run up the beach. Not to be deterred, Dildo and I decided we were going to take over and run a real trail. Zigging and zagging along the beach front, Dildo got us started. Then he called a checkpoint, and as the pack waited, I ran out into the distance waving my phone light to signal the pack to come. I then led them over the highway to the village for a bit, and then did the same, turning it over to the original hare who said we had made it to his trail anyway, so in the end, we still had a real hash trail, albeit a bit improvised.

    We then had a nice circle with the local hashers, all in French (with a little translation mixed in). Next we still had another hour plus drive to our hotel, so it was midnight by the time we arrived. What a day, 17 hours of transport with a hash in the middle, and all was well.

    Next we have a similar encounter with the border to Togo. Let's see if things go a bit smoother today. 🙂
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  • Lomé H3 - Special Trail in Togo

    17 settembre 2025, Andare ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

    As with everything on this prelube bus excursion, everything has been behind schedule. We spent 3 hours at the border crossing, and along with other delays, once again it was well after dark when we finally reached the hash site. The Lomé H3 was very kind to wait for us, and very welcoming once we arrived.

    Trail was a well organized concentric circle of backchecks and twists. The on in had plenty of cold beer, and the circle was short but high energy. Another great day on the hash.
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  • Hash Founders' Hash #17

    18 settembre 2025, Ghana ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    After 41 years of hashing, I had my first actual run in with the law. On my 752nd lifetime hare, while hashing in Ghana on our way from Nigeria to Accra, Ghana, we stopped for an overnight in Keta, Ghana. Two weeks ago I was asked to hare a trail here, and it ended up being a Hash Founders Hash. Totally in the dark, I-feel Tower and I set off to set a short trail at about 2130. It all worked out well last night, but this morning on our way out of town, we were told the police wanted us to come in for questioning. The people of the town thought I was spreading Jaz, a voodoo poison. 90 minutes of waiting ended with an... OK, we understand and let us go.Leggi altro

  • Pan Africa Hash 2025 - Accra, Ghana

    20 settembre 2025, Ghana ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    This was the main event. It was initially explained as . . .

    "The trail is set up in 4 sections, you can run them all or choose what you want to run. The first section in 5 kms for the runners, and 1 km for the walkers, others just stay on the bus to the first beer check. Section 2 is set up the same way, runners will go about 5 kms, the walkers will be dropped off about 1 km away from the second stop. The third leg will be about 3 kms, and the last leg will be about 2.5 kms."

    So, what we got was . . .

    The first leg was about 5 kms, down the sidewalk to the first beer stop of about 30 min. Runners took off from there for another 4 kms, and the bus took the rest. At the second stop, we were told we ALL had to get on the bus to ride to the next stop. After boarding the bus, we ended up in a traffic jam for 30 minutes, and then the lead bus broke down. Eventually arriving at the third stop, we exited the busses and walked about 2.5 kms to the next beer stop. From there, it was all back on the buses to the venue.

    Overall, a fairly long day of bus rides and standing around, with 9 kms of running and 2.5 of walking. The party, dinner, and dancing back at the venue was excellent. Food was tasty and plentiful, the beer was on tap, cold and plentiful, The music was fun, and all around a fine day. I give it 9 out of 10 👍😀 for all aspects other than the trail, which was more like a 4 out of 10. 🫤
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  • Back to Bangkok

    24 settembre 2025, Tailandia ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Bangkok Harriettes #2232
    Bangkok Thursday H3 #497
    Bangkok H3 #2478

    After wrapping up Pan Africa Hash in Ghana last weekend, I made my way over to Bangkok for some more warm weather hashing. Flying on Monday night, arriving Tuesday afternoon, and kicked off another week of hashing on Wednesday with the Harriettes . . . a fun 8 km trail. Then the Bangkok Thursday H3, another excellent all in the dark 8 kms of joy. Then followed those two up with the Bangkok H3 on Saturday. Getting lots of distance again, with about 25 kms for all three. More to follow . . .Leggi altro

  • Bangkok Monday H3 #2179

    29 settembre 2025, Tailandia ⋅ 🌧 28 °C

    It was one of those . . . it might rain, it won't rain . . . kind of days. In the end . . . it DID NOT rain.

    It was an A to B run, starting in the fading light of the afternoon, and finishing in the twilight evening hour. We had about 20 on trail this evening, and all seemed to have a splendid time.
    A little background story . . . I used an old bandana that I was handed in Fiji back in 2018, for Trinidad & Tobago. Seems I had not had the opportunity to wash it over the past 7 years. I did not notice until I finished trail today, that my sweat had fostered the drool of red dye all down my face, from the bandana. 🤪

    With a ton of awesome twists and turns, the pack managed to navigate this 8 + Km trail through China Town. A great day to be on the hash here in Bangkok. (waiting to see the other photos taken on trail, and will update this post later).
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  • Bangkok Thursday H3 #498

    2 ottobre 2025, Tailandia ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Lady Boy comes through with flying colors. Capitalizing on his excellent trail last night, he nailed it again with another awesome trail . . . and this one was fully in the dark from start to finish. Have I mentioned I love hashing in the dark.

    With numerous alleyways and khlong paths, this trail tonight was nonstop fun. Circle was fun, and then we moved on for an excellent Thai dinner. Great times in Bangkok. Next I am headed to Pattaya tomorrow for a week of hashing and the Thai Nash Hash next weekend, Non-stop FUN!!
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  • Pattaya Monkey H3 #120 -20th Anniversary

    4 ottobre 2025, Tailandia ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

    Another first for me, running this hash. They treat everyone as a virgin on their first run, so there was a bit of hazing, but all in good fun. Trail was an awesome near 13 km shiggy fest through assorted terrain, with hills, fields, streams, and a couple other water crossings.

    The main pack finished in just over 2 hours, but the back half of the pack streamed in over the next 2 hours, while the DFL was out for over 5 hours before opting for a ride, coming in at 6 hours. What a ride that must have been.

    This club only runs every other month, so have only accumulated 120 trails over the past 20 years . . . but quality over quantity is not a bad thing. Will have to come back for more.
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  • Pattaya Jungle Harriettes #2

    5 ottobre 2025, Tailandia ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    In a joint celebration with the Pattaya Jungle H3 #551, the ladies have established themselves to reign supreme for total harriettes organized run. They organized their first run 6 months ago, and plan to do again every 6 months.

    Today we had two trails, one for the walkers at about 5 kms . . . and a 10 Km trail for the runners. The runner's trail reminded me of all the primary reasons I love to hash. That is . . . I LOVE THE TRAIL more than anything else, and the trail today was absolutely fantastic. No pavement, all shiggy tracks through the jungle, palm trees, and pineapple fields. Trail included a few water crossings, and was so good. At one point for about 10 minutes, I was all by myself as I faded back towards the back of the main pack. It was quiet and peaceful, hardly a sound coming from any direction, felt like nirvana.

    Back at the finish, we all had the opportunity to rehydrate before dinner was served, followed by the circle. The circle includes a raffle of various donated items, including hash haberdashery, alcohol, and other things big and small. (I managed to win a nice bottle of Scotch.) This is how the keep the prices down for the wide array of offerings they provide at their biweekly trails. Normally they run on Saturday, but moved to Sunday this weekend to accommodate the 20th Anniversary of the Pattaya Monkey H3 yesterday.

    If you love shiggy trails, then make sure to visit Pattaya if you ever come to Thailand. You will not be disappointed.
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  • Pattaya H3 #2119

    6 ottobre 2025, Tailandia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    I have had the good fortune to run with the hash club a few times now, and today was yet another awesome adventure through the local countryside. This hash was originally founded as the Pattaya Mixed H3. Trail today was yet another great shiggy trail, with plenty of dirt tracks through farmer’s fields, water crossings, and lots of just general shiggy. Another great day of hashing in Pattaya. (One quick note . . . it was 41 years ago today, that I ran my first hash trail, in Japan.)

    Hashing spread to Pattaya, with the establishment of the Pattaya Mixed H3 on 7 Jan 1984. Founded by Molly Kirgis who had just been exposed to the Bangkok H3 on an outstation run, she was assisted by Bill 'BJ' Jones and her husband Hans. The written description of hash number one stated that the trail would start from Jomtien Beach, and included waterways, bushy nature, ponds covered with water lilies, and buffalos who fortunately were far enough away that they did not interfere with pursuit of the finish. After creating their thirst, they proceeded to the home of the GM to quench it with beer . . . and thus inaugurated the Pattaya Mixed H3.

    Hashing biweekly for the first year, they celebrated their first anniversary in conjunction with the 25th run. One hundred hashers gathered in Rio Park for the event, and it was at this point that founder and GM at that time suggested that Frank ‘Whorerator’ Benfield become the next GM. Years later, assistant founder Bill 'BJ' Jones is quoted as saying “It was after that the hash began to change from the mixed hash, that had originated a year earlier, into a more macho type atmosphere.” This probably saw the elimination of ‘mixed’ from the name, resulting in simply the Pattaya H3 as they are known today.
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