We are the Kerteh Hash House Harriers
based on the beautiful East Coast of West Malaysia. We are the local
chapter of the international Hash House Harriers: A drinking club with a
running problem. We meet every Monday evening and start both a run and a
walk at 6.00 pm (5.45pm during Monsoon). After an hour of hashing through
the jungle, as darkness falls, we gather at a local restaurant for our
On-Down.
Kerteh area boasts some of the best hashing in
the country, with a superb mix of palm oil plantation, rubber estates,
secondary jungle and fruit orchards, with just the right amount of mud to
keep everyone happy. We encourage everyone to join in the fun, so if you
are visiting the Kerteh area, come and meet us at KH3. Annual membership is
RM30, with a RM4 sign up fee each week. The guest fee is RM6, which
includes a search party to look for lost guests (once beer is finished).
The object of the hash is not to be the winner but to avoid becoming a
tiger's dinner.
In January 1988, the beginning of the end for
the inhabitants of Kerteh was in sight as hashing finally arrived in the
area compliments of Nancy and Jim Rupple. Once every two
weeks beer was distributed from the back of their vehicle (a Trooper that
has no other real use) to the motley recipients, most of whom had not even
completed the run.
In late July the same year, a few of the
regulars, under the influence of alcohol, decided to form the pro-tem
committee and managed to stay sober long enough to record the number of
runs and who ran it. However, local has-lore says it took the committee two
planned drunks and a few impromptu cool downs before the constitution was
in a written form suitable for submission to the Registrar of Societies. By
November, the Hash has received fzck all from the the afore mentioned
office, except a request for all the names of the members to be submitted
in Chinese characters! (is it possible to write Gary Klashinsky in
Chinese?)
The fortnightly routine of escaping the wife
to enjoy a thirst generating run and then plenty of beer was, by popular
request (demand), changed to weekly in April 1989, as most members were not
getting enough! (it is left to the reader to decide whether the statement
refers to sex or drink but not both). In June that year, the Hash came of
age and celebrated the 25th run with 200 hashers, 40 cases of beer and a
cleared bank balance; only to be rewarded with a hell of a hangover, a
nagging wife and an evening of misplaced memories.
In January 1990, the 'official
registration' of the Hash arrived and the weekly runs now boasted an
average turn-out of forty to fifty. In November, 200 plus horrible
barstewards from Hash chapters around Peninsula Malaysia turned up to
support and fall down at the celebration of the 100th run, The run warm-up
consisted of a quick abseiling course before the motley crew were sent to
the on. Upon the return, though some made it back unsurprisingly early, the
Hash was quite literally forced to eat and drink until full to bursting.
However, there still appeared some dissatisfaction; judging by the few who
decided to five us back to the food and drink, pre-mixed with the
ubiquitous diced carrots, in a Technicolor display that remains unrivaled
to this day.
The celebration of the 150th run in October
1991 happed but it was not until the celebration of the 200th run (the
party was great even with a low turn-out) that renaissance of the Hash had
begun; in part due to the arrival in the area of some has animals and beer
monsters from other hashes around the world. Since then Kerteh Hash has
celebrated runs numbering 250, 300, 350, 400, 500 and 555. Those years have
also include special runs: Vicars and Tarts, Bondage, Body Check, Grab My
bag, family picnics, joint runs with KT Hash and the annual charity run.
Hashers have represented Kerteh all over the
world in Manila, Phuket, Rotorua, Bandung, Singapore, Langkawi, Cypress,
Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. The stories will live forever!
