Who We Are:
Welcome to an overview of the Zonie Hash House Harriers. Hashing is a sporting event borne of complete and total boredom. In the 1930’s many foreigners living in Malaysia found little in the way of social enjoyment. In search of activities with low requirements for intellectual discourse, and a high requirement for beer drinking, a small adventurous group of drinkers with a running problem formed the first Harriers club and named themselves after their favorite drinking establishment, the Selangor Club. The local nickname was the Hash House because the food was so bad.
Two of the healthier ones, the Hares, would devise and lay a paper trail through the city, the countryside, the swamps or wherever. The remainder of the group, the Harriers, would attempt to follow the devious trail and catch the Hares before the trail ended. One important difference between the Zonie Hash House Harriers and most other hashes is our use of “Live Hare” hashes, whereby the hares get a head start (typically 15 minutes) and mark the trail as they go. The rest of the pack have been known to come up with devious ways of trying to catch the hares, such as Shortcutting, Spying, or Running around for 10 miles, in often vain attempts to show off their hashing prowess to the rest of the pack. At the end they would indulge in what was to become the more popular aspect of Hashing, the Down-Down Ceremony.
Any Harrier found by consensus to have broken any rule would have to pay a penalty Down-Down by drinking a beer in 5 seconds. These ceremonies became so popular and the actual rules were so few, that Down-Downs were given by anyone to anyone for anything. This history is now enshrined in our “General Penalties”, the longest and often silliest part part of the Ceremonies. The Down-Down ceremony could politely be described as “boisterous”. Everything is in good fun, if not good taste, with the main intent being enjoyment for one and all. The traditions continue today with Hash clubs all over the world, including the Zonie Hash House Harriers based in the East Valley in the Phoenix, Arizona area.
When We Hash:
Our hashes are posted on the Big Ass Calendar: CLICK HERE
What We Do:
We have runs all over Arizona but they are usually in the east valley area. The actual run location is a closely guarded secret because very few of us are fit enough to outrun a crowd of people who are armed with a measure of advance planning.
Our runs are open to anyone over the age of 0, but beer will only be given to those of legal drinking age. There is a charge for each run to help defray costs, usually $10 (kids free, teenagers $5, family discounts available,) with most runs also including barbecued hamburgers and hot-dogs or some other food or the hares’ choosing. Membership in the Zonie Hash House Harriers, and thereby becoming a Hasher world wide, is bestowed upon the newcomer after their third run. At that time the new Hasher will also have bestowed upon them a Hash Name which they are sure to never forget.Kids as mentioned are welcome at any run but parents are encouraged to come on their own once or twice first to see what we get up to – you might not want your kids to see the beer or hear the innuendo. On On!
Contact Us:
We are on FaceBook! Click here to visit our page!
Contact us via email: zoniehhh@gmail.com