Haring is the most important responsibility that can be entrusted to a hasher. It takes planning, insight, creativity, and yes, some panache to lay a safe, exciting trail coordinate a great ON-ON-ON afterward.

• A note for virgin (first time) hares: You must have a veteran co-hare! There's no substitute for experience - you can learn much from your grizzled old partner. If you don't arrange for a suitably experienced co-hare yourself, the Hare Razor will appoint one for you.

The first thing you should establish is the type of hash: Dead Hare or Live Hare.

Most Cairo Hashes use the Dead Hare where the entire trail is laid a few hours before the start of the hash and the Hares accompany - but do not lead - the pack on the the Trail. Anyone - of any ability - can be a Dead Hare.

Many people enjoy Live-Hared trails because of the additional element of suspense: the hares might be caught. For Live Hare hashes, the hares are given a 10 minute head start and lay the trail in real time. They try to provide a good trail while at the same time avoid being caught by the pack. If caught, the hare might briefly loose his/her pants and the catcher might become a co-hare from that point.

It's important that hares understand the use of Hash Cash and not unknowingly undertake expenditures which are not reimbursable. Hares assume the cost of flour, lentils or toilet paper used to set the trail.

Scout your trail early and often. This means actually running and/or walking the trail one or more times to get a good feel of it in terms of length, difficulty, and opportunities for shortcuts. You can't really scout a good trail from a car or off a topographic map, but both can be useful support items.

Trail should normally be in the 5 to 8 km range but certainly never more than 10 km or so. It should take between 45 and 75 minutes to complete, including the stops at the checks. A good rule of thumb is: It takes 2 hours walking to set a 45 minute to 1 hour trial with false trails.

• Be aware of military areas. Avoid them.
• Safety: Remember that not everyone is a rock climber. Avoid the truly dangerous stuff.
• Wanker's Way Home shortcut trails are supposed to be easy, not just easier.
• Use existing trails to avoid damage to slopes, and ensure reasonable footing on edges.
• Include a beer check or regroup to permit the less athletic (and the lost) time to catch up to the pack.
• Beer check: Plan the logistics of the beer check carefully. You'll need to get the beer there before the FRBs arrive and clean up the area after everyone leaves. You can also stash the beer, in a cooler or whatever (i.e., an unmanned beer check). If you do this, please leave a trash bag for the empties and don't forget to return and pick it up after the hash.
• Water: Always have sufficient drinking water available at the beer check. While it's an individual responsibility to prevent one's own dehydration (that is to carry a water bottle on trail), there should be little or no extra effort to provide water at the beer check. Hashers will use this water to both drink and to refill their water bottles. Many people prefer water on the trail and defer their beer drinking until the ON-IN. Others will enjoy a drink of water and a brew.

Live Hares:
Be creative. You're not catering to any special interest group, especially the competitive runners.
Don't use the hash to demonstrate your superb physical fitness. The point of the hash is for both hares and hounds to have fun.

Thanks to the Cairo Hash House Harriers for this content

• Before laying the trail, make sure that both you and your hare partner(s) are all using the same marking conventions. Otherwise you just may confuse the hounds, get them lost and into an ugly mood.
• Don't screw with the pack by making the trail difficult to find; screw with the pack by where the trail goes. It's far better to lay a trail that's easy to find and a challenge to traverse, than vice-versa.
• Assigning segments of the trail to different hares to lay independently can lead to disaster. You will generally enjoy it more if all hares lay the trail together. You may have individual hares set some of the false trails, but all hares should cover the main trail.

• Use lots of flour. Use lots of flour. This can't be emphasized enough.
• Ideally, hounds should be able to see the next mark from the last.
• Hash marks should be placed about 10-25 meters or so apart. Marks should never be more than 50 meters apart
• If you take the trail through gardens and farmland, consider using toilet paper as trail markers.
• Mark your trail with environmentally friendly substances. That means no spray paint and remember that after the hash you must remove anything you used that the rain won't easily eradicate (e.g., surveyor/engineer tape)..
• If you change direction, mark the change with either a check or a hare arrow. There is no requirement to lay false trails from a check, but there must be a true trail.
• End your false trails with a false trail mark
• Three flour marks after a check means true trail. After three hash marks it is not Kosher to lay a false trail mark. A check (which may include false trails) on the other hand is quite appropriate.
• Checks keep packs together and Front Running Bastards (FRB's) confused. Ideally, the Dead Fu*king Last (DFL's) should reach the beer-check & On-In within 5 minutes or so of the FRB's. If the slower hashers say the hash was a cake-walk while the FRB's ran their ass off, you've done a great job. On the other hand, too many checks can be quite annoying. In this matter, trail laying is more of an art than a science. Unfortunately, you it can only learn the proper balance from experience, both as hare and hound.

• Live Hare :
  • Not getting caught is a matter of cleverness (and luck), not speed.
  • Don't double back; you're bound to run into a short cutting bastard (SCB).
  • Do everything you can to screw up the SCBs. Most live hares are caught by SCBs, not from FRBs.
  • Screw the SCBs.

• Starting the Hash All Hashes
  • Give a chalk talk before the hash. Explain the markings of the trail, approximate number of checks, etc. Indicate about how long +- 15 minutes you expect the Trail to take. This is to aquatint the new Hashers with hashing in general and to apprise the old hands of the new twists you've introduced to confound them on the trail.
  • Point out the direction of the trail if the pack can't find it themselves in short order.
  Live Hare
  • Make it clear that you get a 10-minute head start.
  On On! Don't worry about trying to lay the perfect trail - there really isn't such thing. Something unforeseen will normally, generally, usually go wrong. Just try your best and your hash will be a success. Accept your down-down and if deserved - icing - with a smile, and the pack's gratitude.

Thanks to the Cairo Hash House Harriers for this content