The Hareway Code
by Kenny “Doggy” Pryor, former GM of Hardys H3 and longstanding hasher with the Sub60 H3
Here are my personal hints and tips for laying a hash in order to avoid punishment down downs! Remember the number one rule of hashing though: “there are no rules”.
As you probably will only set a few hashes, it’s worth putting in some effort to make it enjoyable for both you and the pack: do your homework, pick a venue with easy access, parking and if possible public transport links. Your venue should also provide you with varied terrain, open spaces, points of interest and of course, lots of possibilities for trails.
You are called the HARE for a good reason: hashing is derived from the old English public school game of Hare & Hounds or paper chase. The idea is to act as if you were a hunted animal. Think of yourself as the wily fox who can use all his cunning and tricks to outwit the not so bright hounds (usually the case for hash packs, particularly after a hard days’work). Remember you are not laying a well defined trail for people to follow, more like leaving scent for them to find.
The ideal hash is one where everybody feels that they have had as much exercise as they felt was necessary to build up a thirst and have done it in an enjoyable way with like minded or half minded individuals. If at all possible the pack should be kept together and finish at the same time….now that’s where the trick is.
As the hare your problem is that you will have hounds of differing ability and fitness. Some may be the “Yes, I was quite pleased with my PB time in the NY marathon last month” to the “You expect me to walk uphill?!” type. They are all hashers and deserve your consideration when laying the trail.
Front running bastards (FRBs), they are fair game for tricks as they are the ones who think they can out think as well as out run you. In order to stop FRBs running away from the pack, your trail should not be one big left or right handed loop; it should twist and turn so that they can’t run with confidence.
There are many ways of setting a hash but my personal favourite is “dust and on”. In this method, when you lay checks, you do not put any blobs of flour for about 100m and you only mark the right trail. The advantages are the hounds still have to find the right trail out of all the possibilities. When they do find it, they know they are right and can call everyone else on. You run less of a risk of the trail being tampered with and best of all, you don’t have to carry so much flour (I generally only use two bags).
Another method is to lay false trails from the check in the hope of tempting the leading hounds the wrong way. The pack should be told how the trail is laid before the start and you should stick to it.
You will receive more pats on the back for setting a good short hash than a long one, so be warned: it depends how much you like drinking beer fast. If you can walk the hash in about one hour forty without any false trails, you should end up with a hash that last just under the hour.
Here are some tactics/tricks
Checks (a circle of flour): on Sub 60 hash, all checks are regroups. These can be put anywhere on the trail and not just where there is a change of direction. They help keep the pack together and offer the opportunity for the pack to engage in social intercourse and good natured banter. Checks can also be 360º, so back the way the pack has just come. Only one trail off a check should be good, you can lay as many false trails as you like or none at all as the pack will have to search every likely trail until they find the right one.
Back checks: you set these by running past your intended route for say 4 blobs, then lay a circle with a 4 in it so the FRBs know they have to retrace their steps 4 blobs to find good trail. Use sparingly.
False trails: can be used anywhere and can act like a back check on good trail, or be used from a check depending on the method you are using.
The end of the false trail is marked with a bar of flour.
Loops: these are tricky to do well and need the right situation. Ideally you would set a loop after a longish straight section of trail when the FRBs have got away from the rest of the pack.
You would lay the trail in a loop say round a block of houses or a hill so that it comes back close to where it started. As the FRBs go off on the loop you direct everyone else on the shorter trail so that when the FRBs rejoin the trail they are at the back of the pack.
Arrows: can be used to point a clear direction such as crossing busy roads or crossing rough terrain or rivers where it is hard to lay blobs. Arrows should never lie.
As I have stated, this is only my thoughts on setting a hash but I hope you have found something useful. Best of luck with your hash!
On On in hashing
Doggy
