Runners bring World Harmony flame to Le Mars

Shyamala Stott, of Scotland, Uddyogini Holl, of Australia, and Abhejali Bernardova, of the Czech Republic, stopped for a cool treat at the Ice Cream Capital of the World parlor Wednesday. They just carried the torch from Sioux City to Le Mars on one leg of the U.S. World Harmony Run. The runners will bring the torch to all 50 states. Others will run in Europe, Central America, Canada and Australia. [Click to enlarge]

The Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor is usually a cool place.

But on Wednesday afternoon a flame blazed there.

Three torch runners, one from Scotland, one from Australia and one from the Czech Republic, stopped in Le Mars during the Iowa leg of the World Harmony Run.

"The vision is that in order for world harmony to become a reality, individuals have to take their own steps," said Shyamala Stott, a Scottish woman who started with the run at its April 15 kickoff in New York.

"By running we unite different cities, then communities, then countries," she said.

The nearly 10,000-mile U.S. World Harmony run, which will bring runners carrying the flaming torch to all 50 states, is part of the larger global run. Runners will travel through more than 100 nations around the world.

Early Wednesday morning the U.S. team started in Sioux City, along with runners from the Sioux City Bishop Heelan high school track team, and headed north to Le Mars on Highway 75, Stott said.

By noon, they reached the Highway 60 turnoff, which they will follow north to Minnesota. They took a break for a cool treat in Le Mars.

"We told the track coach this morning that we were going to Le Mars, and he said, 'It's the Ice Cream Capital of the World,'" Stott said. "It's a nice place to finish."

The team puts in a total of about 100 miles each day, taking turns running or driving the support vehicles.

"We're done now," Stott laughed. "That's why we're hanging out eating ice cream."

They're not running to raise money, she said, just awareness.

"The creator of the run didn't want to accept big donations. He wanted it to be a pure event," she said.

They accept only in-kind donations -- a night's stay at a hotel, food at a restaurant, a meal at a community potluck or a night at a family farm.

"We get a lot of help like that along the way," Stott said.

Wednesday was hot and humid, but Stott said they'd seen worse weather.

"In Alabama, I was running in rain that was up to my knees basically," she said.

Teammate Uddyogini Holl, a runner from Australia, laughed and agreed.

"She was really wading," she said. "I was driving the van, and it was the kind of rain where the windshield wipers couldn't keep up."

Another teammate, Abhejali Bernardova, a Czech woman, said she had run with the torch in Europe before, but this was her first time in the U.S.

"It was always my dream to come to America," she said.

She joined the run because she liked the message behind it.

"Harmony really begins with each one of us," she said. "The running step is a symbolic step. We have to do steps toward harmony in our own life. I try to transcend myself, be a better person."

Along the run, they speak with student groups at schools and encourage others to take steps toward world harmony.

"And if people want to come out and run with us a few miles, they can," Stott said.

Interested runners can visit the website at www.worldharmonyrun.org or call the U.S. coordinator at 1-888-882-4081.

The torch run was inspired by the late Sri Chinmoy, according to the World Harmony Run website. Chinmoy was known as an athlete, philosopher, musician, artist and poet who strove for global peace, saying, "If we have perseverance, then that is our first step toward world harmony."

Notables like Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, Muhammad Ali and Mikhail Gorbachev have held the World Harmony torch.

Runners completed the first World Harmony trek in 1987. Now people from around the world complete the run every other year.

"I took part in the first one -- my father was involved. I was this tall," Stott said, holding her hand up to her waist. "The run started small, grassroots. Now it touches more than 100 countries."