THE Jersey Hash House Harriers will be celebrating their 1,000th run in the Island next weekend – and members past, present and, hopefully, future are invited to take part.

The events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mark nearly 20 years of hash running in Jersey.

Ross Wilcox, chairman of the 1,000th organising committee said: ‘It will be a great pleasure to welcome Hashers both locally and internationally to help us celebrate.

We have registrations from chapters in Guernsey, UK and Prague.’ The runs are planned as follows: Friday at 6.30 pm from the Tipsy Toad Town House (red dresses may be much in evidence); Saturday 8 October, 1.30 pm from Noirmont point and on Sunday, at 10.45 am from the Youth Hostel at Haut de la Garenne, Grouville – the actual 1000th run.

The name and idea of the Hash House Harriers originated in 1938 when a number of British ex-patriots living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia invited other like minded individuals to assemble at a venue called the ‘Hash House’ for a cross country run, to recover from the excesses of the previous night! A trail was set beforehand by ‘Hares’ probably in paper, chalk or sawdust, much as it is today, to ensure the safe return of all participants from the hills with tropical forest, jungle and swamps.

Next week’s runs should be rather less arduous, but still a fun challenge that is open to all.