Saturday, February 17, 12:30 p.m.
Shenanigan's Irish Pub, 303 West Third Street, Davenport IA
The Quad City Hash House Harriers' Dirty Pirate Chapter – part of the loosely affiliated international organization and a self-described “Drinking Club with a Running Problem” – hosts its 8th Annual Red Dress Run on February 17, with all participants, female and make alike, donning red dresses to show their spirit and draw attention to this charity event.
Participants will gather at Shenanigan's Irish Pub at 12:30 p.m., and runners will take off just after 2 p.m. In true hashing tradition, they will follow a trail marked with chalk or flour that will include stops for games, contests, cold beverages, and socializing. All proceeds and donations from this year's run will go to Ribbons for Kellsey, a local non-profit that serves families in the greater Quad City area who live with the effects of epilepsy and autism. Last year, with more than 250 runners participating, the Dirty Pirate Chapter raised in excess of $13,000 for Girls on the Run Quad Cities, allowing the organization to give program scholarships to 130 young women.
Hashing was started in 1937 by A.S.I. Gispert, a British expatriate living in Malaysia, and is based on the old English game Hares and Hounds. The group was named after the “Hash House,” where many of the Kuala Lumpur-based Brits lived and ate, and after World War II, similar clubs began to emerge worldwide. There are currently nearly 2,000 active chapters (or kennels) of Hash House Harriers, including roughly 400 in the United States, and annual Red Dress Runs take place internationally in cities including Beijing, Montreal, Ho Chi Minh City, Helsinki, Moscow, and Tokyo.
A post-run celebration at Shenanigan's will include complimentary food, and more information on the 8th Annual Red Dress Run is available by calling (703)909-5088 or visiting Facebook.com/quadcitiesh3.
