This is a bit of Hash nostalgia: a hash history written around 1987 by one of the founding members, Peni Critchell. Thanks to Mother Chalker (Mike Chambers) for digging this up.
Click here for a PDF of the original document
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| Naoe Hiruta |
In 1978, the Hash House Harriets began - by default. It all started when Naoe Hiruta, formerly a stewardess with Cathay Pacific, and an avid HHH in Hong Kong, arrived in D.C. to pursue, (well, we'll leave him out), her "studies". With two good friends in the men's hash, she began running as their guest, hoping to meet new friends, and explore the area in her own style, on foot, and at a good pace. Low and behold it was soon realized that she was more than an international visitor when she rented space in a group house. At the general meeting it was made final - Naoe was not welcome in that male bastion of running, the D.C. HASH HOUSE HARRIERS.
Naoe felt somewhat lonely, and complained to her landlord and housemate, Joe Shantz. An entrepreneur, he encouraged her to start her own club, based on the international model she knew and loved. Thus began the D.C.HASH HOUSE HARRIETS.
Using Joe's friends as the initial, and, as it turns out, temporary nucleus, and with Art Bruestle and Tom Crowley's help, Naoe was off and running. Runs were set every week, and a newsletter typed and circulated. (The grammer and syntax rivaled the jokes for chuckles of amusement.) This was about June.
Lest you envision a hash as it is today, let me explain a little more about Naoe, and my first meeting with her. She and I had both been on the one day "walk" from D.C. to Harper's Ferry that year (another story in itself!) A few weekends later we were both on the same canoe trip. We had a mutual friend and began talking. She was very friendly and said, "Weren't you on the Sierra Club walk?" Following a nod from me, she went on "I recognized you by the way you chewed!"
She must have liked the way I chewed, because she called every weekend after that to tell me I SHOULD run with her-- it would be FUN! I continued to play tennis instead, afterall, the walk to Harper's Ferry was anything but fun! After about two months of invitations Naoe said, "This is the last time I call you!"...so I went, what can I say?
On that afternoon the trail was set by Joe, and run by Naoe and me. It was long and wound through a hilly suburb. We were still running as the sun set and Naoe murmered something about more people less time at checks. Needless to say we waited for each other and continued to do so as a group the first year or so. Anyway it must have been fun because, except for the birth of my son, I've been running ever since.
The Harriets was a fun group from the beginning. We often went out to eat after drinking and running and throughout the year we would camp, ski, and party together. The club continued to grow as we convinced our friends to join us. Lorraine Ford, a hasher from the New Zealand Embassy was a strong supported before moving in 1981 onto the Moscow and eventually London hashes. Carol Patch, then a runner, as well as a seamstress, joined us and embroidered our existing logo. Other hashers who I believe are proud owners of our 50th T-Shirt include: Ted Osgood (now in the Singapore hash), Pam Williams, and David Conrad.
In the beginning Naoe set a lot of runs and made a lot of very hot curried chicken. (Her philosophy was that the hotter it was, the less you had to make. I don't think it worked, because I, for one, have grown extremely fond of hot spicy food!) Anyway, because she was tired of setting runs, or for whatever reason, Naoe was a one person PR team for the Hash. Whenever she was at a party she would "chat up" all the people there, saying either, "You look like you have good legs. You should run with us." or "You look like you work too hard. You should run with us!"
Slowly but surely out numbers grew, and men and women have always been there to help. Chris Poncia was a very early convert to the Harriets from the Harriers, and Mike Gould and Len Vaughn soon followed. The 100th run, (navy blue T-shirts for those of you who can dig them out) was immortalized by the T.V. crew of Baltimore's PM magazine. They were impressed with the part of the ran which ran through water, so they asked us to do that again and... on in! (The funniest part of the whole television broadcast was the segment before us, featuring a woman who ate grass-- we'll have to show that at our next memorial run video show. What, you had to be there? oh well).
Sometime around 1980, Mette Jurgenson joined us from the Jakarta hash and established our club initiation ritual - Danish aquivite. Sven Burmeister, the only man known to wear a tux at memorial runs, decided to help Mette with the Danish traditions, and began running the hash in addition to men's hash. Masako Immakado also joined us, as did Jim Finucane, Frank Lysey, Alie Berka, and many others.
Everyone liked everyone else-- yet there were still advantages to a larger club. Much debate ensued over public advertising, as there was a lot of concern about hordes of strangers joining our group. In the end a one page article in the Post listed our number for those interested. Were our fears realized? NO, and in fact we got one of our hardest working memners-- Ron Stevenson! (No one else called).
Thanks to Naoe's early determination and "hootspa" our club has evolved with a life of its own. We have a history we can be proud of (even if it's not publicly known). I remember after a run in Virginia, I stopped at a gas station. After reading my T-shirt, the attendant looked at me with awe, "You can smoke that stuff and run too?"
Naoe is currently living in Tokyo, and will be at the 1988 Interhash in Bali. After giving birth in September, she hopes to visit D.C. in December.
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