Tradition

The Constitution of the Hash House Harriers is recorded on a Kuala Lumpur mother hash club registration card dated 1950:

• To promote physical fitness among our members
• To get rid of weekend hangovers
• To acquire a good thirst and to satisfy it in beer
• To persuade the older members that they are not as old as they feel

How it Works.

The people setting the trail are called Hares. Their job is to mark a trail which will ideally not endanger anyone, get anyone lost, or break any laws. Sometimes they even manage it! The trail is marked with chalk arrows, flour, shredded paper and sometimes toilet paper, when the undergrowth gets particularly high. They will explain how they've marked the trail at the pre-run Chalk Talk, if they can remember.

A trail might consist of a runners and walkers trail (approximately 8-10km and 5-6km respectively, giving people a choice of routes. These are typically marked with chalk arrows and an R (for Runners, or Rambos), and W (for Walkers or Wimps). There may be False Trails, which are usually marked with an FT or maybe a big X. If you encounter one of these, use the swearword of your choice, and head back to the last chalkmark / pile of paper / squirt of flour you saw, and look around for the correct trail. There may also be Checks, which are marked with a Circle with an X in the middle, or a large circle of paper/flour. If you find one of these, then the runners spread out checking all available directions until one finds the correct trail. They will probably shout "On On!" when they find the correct way, or they may just run off into the distance, depending on how much of an advantage they think they may get. You've gotta watch them sneaky runners ...

Alternatively the trail might just be a simple one with none of these tricks and traps, as the hare was suffering from a hangover.