Having been started in 1938 by four expatriates working in Malaysia, the Hash House Harriers (“Hash”, for short) has subsequently grown into a large ‘movement’ of “drinkers with a running problem”.  The Kampala Hash started in July 1986 with 37 like-minded individuals but today attracts over 120 Hashers from all walks of life, including diplomats, teachers, bankers, mechanics and firemen.

Hashers follow a “trail” laid beforehand by the “Hares” for the day, who place blobs of lime along a pre-determined route.  False trails, check-backs, hooks and whip-ins (not literally!) are marked in order to keep the group close together, given the varying running/walking abilities of those taking part.  People usually take an hour or so to complete the Trail, which can (and usually does) pass anywhere – through back gardens, rivers, hotel lobbies, back roads, alleys between houses, market places, fields, swamps, drainage channels, foot-paths and roads.  A different venue is chosen each week, with the start/finish points typically being a bar or restaurant where sweat is usually replaced – at speed – with copious quantities of “amber nectar”.   As many readers will have already seen, the Kampala Hash meets every Monday evening in a different part of the city and its suburbs; week-end Hashes have also been held at such local beauty spots as Lake Bunyonyi, Jinja’s source of the Nile, Lake Nabugabo and Sipi Falls.

Every two years an international gathering of Hashers known as the “World Inter-Hash” is held, with up to 5,000 people taking part in a series of Hashes over a long week-end.  Last year’s was held in Perth, Western Australia, while Kuching in Malaysia, will host the 2010 event.

In the “off”-year, Africa holds its own Hash gathering and Kampala is the venue for 2009.  Maputo, Mombasa, Durban, Victoria Falls and Cape Town have all hosted it over the past decade.

The May Day week-end kicks-off with a trail through the city centre which will raise money for a local charity and where visitors from abroad will get an early introduction to a number of local hostelries and the best that our breweries have to offer.  Trails for the remainder of the week-end will be set in Jinja, Mabira forest, up-and-down some of the hills within Kampala, along the equator and through Entebbe’s botanical gardens.

Hashers from Australia, Europe, Indonesia, Saudi  Arabia, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the USA and Vanuatu in the South Pacific have already registered for the event!  Africa will be represented by Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania and Zambia, among others.  Kampala Hashers are to be joined by representatives from the small yet active “Sukari Hash” at Kinyara.  Many Hashers from abroad who will be coming to Uganda for the first time are making the most of their visit by combining the event with excursions to our national parks and the River Nile. 

For further details contact: Martin Fowler on 0712-859-502 mfowler@utlonline.co.ug or africahash@gmail.com