Science - October 13, 2005

Lots of down-downs at Hash

For the record: it was not the first hash ever in Wageningen. About fifteen years ago the student athletic club Tartlétos apparently organised some runs, but it did not last.

Nevertheless the hash on Sunday 9 October was a good one. About 25 people walked and ran the trail. Afterwards they gathered in the park along the Wallenpad for a post-run recap, standing in a circle drawn with sawdust. The hash master invited people one after the other to come into the circle for a particular reason; for example the ‘hash virgins’, those who took a short cut, a woman who regarded a black cat as a good omen, and a guy who used his mobile phone during the hash. They were sung to, and emptied their glass of beer as the crowd sang ’drink it down, down, down’. As the glass had to end bottom-up above their head, the hashers either drank the beer or threw it behind their head. The sack they brought for the empty beer cans was soon full.

The guy behind the Wageningen hash, Oliver op ten Noort, got his shoes baptised. First the hash master poured beer in Oliver’s right shoe, then asked for the left shoe claiming he’d got the wrong one, and poured beer into that one as well. But Oliver drank the beer with a smile. Mission accomplished. And On-On. / YdH

Hash House Harriers is a running and drinking social club. Wageningen Hash aims to organise runs every Sunday. Everyone is invited and English is spoken. Info: Wageningenhash@gmail.com