The Black Rock City Red Dress Run (and Bike. Mostly Bike.) pub crawl is by far the biggest event our camp hosts every year. With hundreds of participants, it is a mix of cross-dressing, exercise, drinking and tasteless jokes.
On Thursday at 3PM at the man, the Black Rock City Hash House Harriers host a biking and running pub crawl across playa with everyone involved wearing a red dress (or something red!). We move as a large group between bar camps, eventually making our way back to BRCH3 camp for more drinking and dirty songs and toasts.
Since 2008, there has been a Red Dress Run at Black Rock City every year. Last year had over 400 participants. It starts at 3PM on Thursday and will end around sundown. All are welcome.
Red Dress Runs have been run yearly since the mid 80s through different kennels (hash groups) all over the world.
The first Red Dress Run was in 1988 is San Diego, when a young lady was invited to go on a date to a hash. Not knowing that she was being invited to a run, she got dressed up in a pretty red dress and heels. When she arrived and found a group of drunk runners, she did what anyone would do in that situation: she went on a 6 mile run with them in her dress and heels, partially through beach sand and had a fantastic time.
She made quite an impression. The following year, in recognition of her very impressive feat, the San Diego Hash put on the very first Red Dress Run. Since then, there have been Red Dress Runs all over the world, and most Hash kennels put one on yearly.
The woman who accidentally showed up to a run in a Red Dress was given the hash name “The Lady in Red.”
The Lady in Red passed away a few years ago but her legacy lives on. She made it her mission to turn Red Dress Runs into an opportunity to give back. She spread the Red Dress Runs to all around the world and helped make it into a charity event. She flew herself to RDRs all around the world for more than 20 years and because of her efforts, untold thousands have been donated to charities. Without any centralized leadership for hashing, it’s hard to say exactly how much, but the BRCH3 Red Dress Run gave over $420.69 to Burners Without Borders in 2018 alone.
If you are interested in giving to our charity, please go here for more info.
If you don’t have a dress, the Hash camp hosts a “Frock Swap” a few hours before the event, so if need a red dress or would like to trade yours in, we have just the dress for you, whether it’s a women’s small or a men’s XXL.