The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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July 18, 2008

This little light: Run comes to St. Peter

Harmony Run torch travels to bring message of peace

By Tanner Kent

ST PETER — Even to a large group of kids, there’s still something about a torch that inspires.

On Friday, members of the World Harmony Run — an international run that carries torches more than 30,000 miles each year as symbols of harmony — stopped by TREEmendous Park in St. Peter. They shared a message about the meaning of harmony and played games with a large group of Mankato YMCA summer campers.

But the torch stole the show.

Founded in 1987 by visionary Sri Chinmoy, the World Harmony Run is a no-politics, no-profit effort that aims to raise goodwill. Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have held the torch. So have Olympian Carl Lewis, Muhammad Ali, Mother Teresa and Mikhail Gorbachev. Russian cosmonauts even took one to space.

But Harmony Run team captain Yuyudhan Hoppe said the most important people took the torch Friday.

“The flame represents the little light inside of us that hopes and dreams for a better world,” said Hoppe, addressing his youthful audience. “Harmony begins with all of you.”

The first kids to touch the torch did so with solemnity and reverence. Those who touched it afterward followed the example, not wanting to smudge its integrity.

Hoppe asked each kid to make a personal wish for harmony. Some bowed their heads and closed their eyes. Some whispered their wishes into the flame. Others simply took a long look and passed it on.

“It was pretty cool to hold the torch,” Louie Colway said. “It made me feel very special.”

Colway and fellow camper Logan Swanson said they might even be leading the pack the next time the torch comes to the Minnesota River valley.

“It’s cool that people from all over the world are running,” Swanson said. “Maybe I’ll run someday.”

After everyone had a chance to hold it, event organizers even let kids escort the flame around the park —which meant more running for Abhejali Bernardova, one of two runners who carried the torch into St. Peter along Highway 169.

One of thousands of runners internationally, Bernardova hails from the Czech Republic and is running the entire Harmony route from Seattle to New York. Bernardova already has trekked through Montana, Idaho and South Dakota — and she’s still on her first pair of shoes.

“It took a long time for me to get enough vacation from work to do this,” she said. “I just love running. ... But I don’t like all the cars here in Minnesota.”

The Harmony Run has stopped in Mankato several times in its 21-year history. Local runners are always encouraged to participate and run whatever distance they choose.

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