Hospital Hill Rebels

Runners: Love them or hate them. They’re either sporty do-gooders who fill charity coffers with their weekend fun runs or obsessive health freaks who snarl Saturday morning traffic with parades of Nike prima donnas. Take the Hospital Hill Run, which is just about the worst day to be downtown or in midtown if you’re not wearing tiny running shorts. Just the same, the race has become a centerpiece of the Kansas City race scene.

But in June, a band of rebel runners will stage a mutiny against the beloved event.

The problem began earlier this year when the Mid-America Running Association, a Kansas City-based nonprofit, was run off by a new board of directors that oversees the Hospital Hill Run. MARA had been involved with the Hospital Hill Run since it began in 1974 with 99 runners. In recent years, the race has signed up as many as 3,000 participants. But as the numbers began to stagnate like a forgotten Camelbak, a major sponsor of the race, Crown Center, suggested that the run operate under a board of directors.

Russ Niemi, a MARA member and former Hospital Hill race director, says his group had no input when the board was chosen last year and no say when the new board outsourced the race-director position to Beth Salinger, a seasoned promoter in Chicago. When Niemi and his group submitted a proposal to continue their previous level of involvement, he says, Salinger “downsized” their role so much that the proud organization reluctantly walked away.

Sandy Cohen, the media rep for the board, says the new leadership is improving race management by pimping the run as a premier regional event and adding better schwag to the goodie bags. Despite being dissed, Niemi says MARA hopes the race continues to grow.

Some MARA supporters, though, want to stick it to the highfalutin Hospital Hill organizers for commandeering a hometown favorite.

Dee Bahr, a local runner and former Hospital Hill Run volunteer, was miffed when the management changed. She loves the half-marathon course and looks forward to it every year. She says she doesn’t appreciate MARA being kicked to the curb, so she’s staging a protest.

Instead of paying the hiked entry fee (which jumped to $50 this year) to line up at Hospital Hill the morning of June 2, she’ll be lapping Wyandotte County Lake. She won’t be alone, either. When Bahr started circulating her intent, other runners joined her cause.

MARA recently posted a bulletin on its Web site, saying the Hospital Hill bandits were not representing MARA. The rebel group has come up with an official name for its event: The Medical Mound. But only after deciding that the “Up Yours” race might be a little over the top.