Come hashing with us in Carriacou
In case I wasn’t clear on this before, our sole reason for sailing to Carriacou this week was to participate in the annual hash that the Grenada Hash House Harriers hold here. Although we were one of only 2 or 3 yachts that sailed here, there was a huge number of people who traveled here on the ferries to participate. I was told last night that there was 140 (or was it 170) participants, including 50 first timers (virgins). That may not be quite as many as a typical hash held in Grenada but it is still HUGE considering the effort that people had to put in to get here. Since most of you reading this were not here in person to get sweaty with us, hopefully these pics will let you experience it vicariously. 🙂
Never knowing what to expect, we try to get at least one clean pre-hash pic before the event begins.
Multiple buses shuttled the participants from downtown Hillsborough to the other side of the island.
Is this really Carriacou’s best kept secret?
A bay of water?
Yup, here it is!
We had to wait quite a while for the three buses to get everyone on site.
I can’t believe that our friend Alex from Bluewater Sailing wore new shoes to the hash, a big no no.
They passed the test though, so all is well.
This is what you see when the trail splits off, one correct way and one or more false trails. Unfortunately we “found” several false trails.
Yes, those are hashers you see trailing far off into the distance.
After climbing so high we were rewarded with views like this.
I’m not sure what part of the island we’re looking at here.
Mmmmm… the smell of manure.
Who needs to run with the bulls in Spain when you can run with the goats in Carriacou?
I wonder if the DJ brought enough speakers?
Although it hasn’t rained here in two weeks, we were treated to a couple of nice downpours after the hash. Good thing we left our water-catching buckets set up on ZTC!
So how did the terminology “hash” come into use? I guess hash is not just for breakfast anymore.
http://www.gthhh.com/hashbible.aspx?gk=&bookno=1&chapterno=1
Roughly how far do you go on these runs?
Mike
That varies considerably. We hear that some hash groups run from bar to bar while the ones here in Grenada are quite athletic. It is impossible to measure distance here because of the hills involved but in terms of time, for those of us who run as much as we can, a typical hash would be 45 minutes to an hour. The week before last was extremely short, only being 20 minutes (some people repeated it 2 mores times after finding that it was that short). Three weeks ago the trail was long, an hour and 20 minutes. Sometimes the terrain is so rough that it takes more time even though the distance covered isn’t huge. The opposite can be true as well when the trail favors those who can run well.
There are also typically at least two trails set: a walkers (shorter) trail and a runners (longer trail).
The coolest thing about hashing though is that there is zero acknowledgement for who comes in first. In fact, the person who sets the trail often puts in false trails to slow up the FRBs. In this respect, the only competition is self imposed.
Thanks for sharing the beautiful vistas of Carriacou.
You’re welcome. Sorry you weren’t here to enjoy it with us. There was no mud!
Looks awesome guys!
Thanks!
Great photos!
Thanks Ryan.