Hey, Runners: Help Name the Philly Hill That Kills You Every Time You Run It

The dreaded hill | Photo via Facebook

If you ran the Philadelphia Marathon this past weekend, then you are familiar with the dreaded hill that takes you from Martin Luther King Drive to the Please Touch Museum in Fairmount Park. As Carl Ewald, the executive director of the ODDyssey Half Marathon, tells us, “Every Philly runner knows it.” And, as he points out, they mostly describe it using curse words that can’t be printed here. But as he says, “We want the running community to take ownership and pride in it instead of swearing at it.” So the ODDyssey Half Marathon, in which runners also work their way up the hill, is putting on a contest to name it. And there are perfect-for-running prizes involved!

As the press release for the hill-naming contest says, “Boston has Heartbreak Hill, Atlanta has Cardiac Hill and DC has Hospital Hill. All are badges of triumph as runners reach the top. Philly’s hill needs a name as prideful as those.” That’s where you come in: ODDyssey will be taking nominations for names on their Facebook page through November 30th. Then, a panel of folks involved in the Philly running community will narrow it down to four top-notch name nominations and they’ll be posted on the race’s Facebook page in December for the running community to vote on. They aren’t working with the city to make the name official, but the idea is that it’ll be the official name throughout the running community.

So, what do you get if your name takes the winning spot? Welllll, you’ll get a sweet array of running-related goodies: an LED beanie, a reflective vest, free entry to the 2016 ODDyssey Half Marathon (!!) and more. So yeah, go put your wordsmith hat on and drop your nomination in the comments section of this post. Just be warned: There are already over a hundred nominations, so you’ve got some competition!

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