Event Midwest L.L.C. partnered with the Kansas City Zoo and Kansas City Missouri Parks and Recreation to provide the perfect venue for the 2004 inaugural event with the Eastern Black Rhino as our featured endangered species. In 2004, USA Olympians, Charlie Gruber, from the University of Kansas and Derrick Peterson, from the University of Missouri participated in the inaugural event and lead the 1-Mile event. Over 1000 participants loved the beautiful scenery, as they wound their way through the wetlands of Kenya, on past Botswana and up through Australia.

Since then, we have offered the event featuring the Cheetah in 2005, the African Elephant in 2006, the Orangutan in 2007. As you know, our featured endangered species this year is the FROG. This past year, the "Run for the Orangutans" brought a record number of almost 1500 total participants! We hope to grow the event each year, raising awareness and support for our featured endangered species.