R2D2 Website - homepage
Welcome to the R2D2 Hash House Harriers
Whether you meant to come or you have stumbled across this page, welcome.
The R2D2 Hash House Harriers is a social running club open to everyone. We run every week of the year in and around the Andover area, mostly from a local pub. In the summer months, we run at 7pm on Thursdays, while once it gets a bit darker (typically from mid-September) we run on Saturdays at 11am. A full list of our runs is available here.
There's no joining fee; you just turn up and run the trail (see later for trail etiquette) that has been pre-set by one of our members. We ask for £1 from each runner per run to cover 'administration; costs. Regular hashers will be well aware what this means.
The length four runs can vary. A shorter trail will be around five miles; we've run up to 10 on rare occasions. Whatever the distance, there are always shorter options available for anyone who doesn't fancy doing the whole run, or just fancies a walk. Dogs and children are very welcome.
Here's a bit of history...
R2D2H3 was formed in April 2001 as a result of the sad demise of the Portway Hash. Our name is nothing to do with Star Wars, Darth Vader, C3PO, death stars or the actual R2D2 robot.
There's a load more background info on this page. Our first run was from The Queen Charlotte (an old coaching pub in Andover) on 6/4/2001 and we are still going strong.
R2D2 stands for Roman Road Decidedly Dodgy. The important bit is the Roman Road, which is actually the ancient Portway Roman Road, which passes through Andover on its way from Silcheter to Dorchester. We try to have some of our runs on sections of the Portway.
Hash markings and etiquette
Most hashes follow markings of flour laid discretely on the path/road/field by the 'Hare' - either the day before or (for the fitter hares) immediately before the run starts. The hare's aim is to be cunning in his or her trail-setting to give the following 'pack' a good and challenging run. The standard 'blobs' of flour are interspersed with 'checks' or 'regroups'.
A 'check' (a circle of flour) means the trail could go off in any number of directions, and it is the job of the hashers to find out which direction to run. The fitter runners try to second-guess which way the hare has gone, but are often wrong meaning they have to head back to the check (up to 400m each way) and try again to find the trail. This allows some of the less speedy runners to catch up and helps keep the 'pack' together. The first hasher to find three consecutive 'blobs' of flour is 'on-trail' and will call "on-on" to let the pack now to follow him or her.
A 'regroup' (a circle flour containing a cross) means that everyone waits. This could mean there is a viewpoint, beer stop or options for a short cut. Again, this keeps the 'pack' together.
There are a few other less widely used trail markings that you'll see once you start hashing.
If you turn up late to the start of the run to find that we have left, do not despair. The hare's responsibility is to lay arrows to indicate the direction of travel. Catching up is relatively easy as you are just following direction arrows and not doing any 'checking'.
It is the job of the hares to brief the pack at the start of the run, so you don't need to remember any of the above.
Next few runs - please use W3W links
The table below contains the details of our next few runs. Just click on the W3W Link next to the pub's name and you will see exactly where to meet - these are very accurate!
Run list
Click the logo above to see future run locations
Hare-raiser
We always need hares to set trails. If you've enjoyed hashing with us, why not volunteer your services to lay some flour?
If you're up for the challenge, then just contact Portia - stuarta.taylor at btopenworld.com (replace the at with an @).