In August of 1987, a young lady wearing a red dress emerged from an airplane that had landed in southern California to visit a friend from her high school years. Shortly thereafter, she found herself transported to Long Beach, where her friend introduce her to a zany running group called the Hash House Harriers. While talking with the group she mentioned she came because of a promise of having a beer, one member of the Harrier group, noting her attire, said, “just wait in the truck until we return”. Choosing not to wait, she decided to follow the group and ran into history sporting her red dress and heels.
  To commemorate the event, in August of the following year (1988), the San Diego Hash House Harriers sent “The Lady In Red” an airline ticket to attend a Hash run in San Diego. This run was a themed event at which all attendees, both male and female adorned themselves in red dresses. Hashers always looking for a way to make a run more fun and entertaining for the pack, made this Red Dress Run an annual event.
  The Red Dress run quickly caught on among Hash groups around the world and spread to every corner of the globe, including Beijing, Montreal, Ho Chi Minh City, Helsinki, Moscow, Tokyo, Washington, DC, Hobart (Australia) and countless other locations. The tradition of the Hash House Harriers Red Dress Run and has become a regular event before world Interhash events often used raise funds for a local charity. Over the years, the Red Dress Run has been very successful in raising millions of dollars for a wide variety of local charities.

Article courtesy of Harrier Magazine
Written by Joseph Beam