World Interhash
By Ed "Hazukashii" Howell
 

The first invitational gathering of Hash House Harriers clubs was the 1000th running of Mother Hash in March 1966, when there was only about ten clubs total, and all in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei.  By 1973 many other hash clubs had sprouted and spread out beyond Southeast Asia, so Mother Hash repeated the effort for their 1500th trail that drew about 300 hashers to Kuala Lumpur.  (Note: Mother hash runs weekly, with only a few extra events. So if you are doing the math, you see that Mother Hash went from 1000 trails to 1500 trails in just 7 years. That happened because on the occurrence of their 1000th run event, they unceremoniously added the original 117 runs from the pre-war era of 1938-1941. So the run immediately following the 1000th was 1118, and they have continued on from there).

Sometime in 1976, the Kowloon H3 thought they might host a major event (jokingly referred to as "The International Hash Unconvention").  By May of 1977, invitations had been sent for all good hashmen to come to Hong Kong for INTERHASH 78.  A reporter for the Washington Post, Jay Mathews, happened to be on hand and made this report.  Based on the success of this gathering in Hong Kong, Mother Hash stepped up to host again in two years, and the pattern was set.  We now have World Interhash every two years, and the chart below shows where it has been held over the years.

World Interhash has become a prime opportunity to catch up with many old friends from hash trails gone by.  Normally a 3-4 day event, it generally consists of a welcoming party on Friday night, followed by 2 days of hash trails of varying length and difficulty from short walkers trails to the Ball Breaker, all spread out around the countryside.  Many other hash clubs get into the action by hosting pre and post events in neighboring countries, which can turn an Interhash excursion into a two week adventure to many wonderful locations around the world.  And what would Interhash be without beer, and the goodie bag.  Coveted items from the goodie bags are the commemorative magazine (several of which are hyperlinked below), and the T-shirts.    

Date Location Aprox # attendees
1978 (24-26 Mar) Hong Kong 800
1980 (4-6 Apr) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 1200
1982 (29-31 Oct) Jakarta, Indonesia 1300
1984 (20-22 Apr) Sydney, Australia 1400
1986 (28-31 Mar) Pattaya, Thailand 2143
1988 (1-4 Jul) Bali, Indonesia 3600
1990 (16-18 Mar) Manila, Philippines 1600
1992 (3-5 Jul) Phuket, Thailand 2700
1994 (25-27 Feb) Rotorua, New Zealand 3400
1996 (7-9 Jun) Limassol, Cyprus 3000
1998 (2-4 Oct) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 5800
2000 (25-27 Feb) Hobart, Tasmania, Australia 3800
2002 (27-29 Sep) Goa, India 2600
2004 (23-25 Jul) Cardiff, Wales 5600
2006 (27-29 Oct) Chiang Mai, Thailand 5800
2008 (21-23 Mar) Perth, Australia 4474
2010 (2-4 Jul) Kuching, Borneo, Malaysia  
2012 (25-27 May) Borobudur, Java, Indonesia  
2014 (14-16 Mar) Hainan, China  
2016 (20-22 May) Bali, Indonesia  
2018 (24-27 May) Nadi, Fiji 1700
2020 Postponed Trinidad & Tobago 0
2022 Cancelled Trinidad & Tobago 0
2022 *OUTERHASH Trinidad & Tobago 400
2022 (10-13 Nov) Goa 125
2024 Queensland, New Zealand  

*OUTERHASH was established to provide an opportunity for those who wanted to go Trinidad anyway.

 

 

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