Peace run visits Sandpoint for first time in 12 years

SANDPOINT — With storm clouds looming over Lake Pend Oreille, the torch bearer of the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run arrived in Sandpoint on Monday afternoon. After a 77-mile day, the international team of relay runners rested for the night in Ponderay before resuming their 10,000-mile trek around the U.S. on Tuesday.

Harita Davies, coordinator of the relay, explained the impetus for the event.

“We want to give people the opportunity to take a moment to feel and express the yearning for peace that we all have inside. That can be expressed in so many different ways.”

The Peace Run was founded in 1987 by spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy, an advocate of meditation and athleticism. Since the original event, relay teams have covered more than 350,000 miles and visited more than 160 countries.

In Sandpoint, torch-bearer Rupasi Young was greeted by her teammates and a handful of locals at Windbag Marina. From there, Kim Woodruff, Sandpoint’s former parks and recreation director, led the team to City Beach.

Woodruff showed the runners a “peace pole” monument that was planted by former Sandpoint Mayor David Sawyer. The pole is inscribed with the words, “May Peace Prevail.”

“What I want to do today is to be able to touch the torch and touch the peace pole that David planted and make that connection,” Woodruff said.

Sawyer, who served as mayor from 1996 to 2000, passed away of ALS in 2022. During his tenure, he played a part in bringing internet to Sandpoint and in purchasing the land that would become Travers Park. He was a self-described Buddhist and slept on his sailboat at Sandpoint Marina while mayor.

“I don’t believe in life after death, but I do believe that you continue to live through the seeds that you sow,” Woodruff said while holding the torch. “What you guys are doing as runners is exactly that.”

Hastakamala Diaz, a runner who joined the relay in Seattle, Wash., shared her fascination with the local terrain. After coming through eastern Washington, Diaz thought, “Okay, we're going to have arid land now. And then you keep driving and you come here and you get more pine trees and a bit more hills and mountains and lots of water.”

“I'm astonished, actually, at the vast change in the landscape,” said Diaz, who lives in Canberra, Australia.

Devendra Cheatham, another runner, provided insight into the relay’s process. One person is always running while the others travel in a vehicle. When the runner needs a break, they trade places with a passenger.

Daily mileage varies between runners. “Each individual just offers what they can,” explained Cheatham, who is nursing an Achilles tendon injury.

Cheatham enjoys meeting members of the communities the team passes through. “Carrying the peace torch brings out the best people from the areas we pass through and brings out the best in them because they see that we're offering something selflessly,”

“We're not raising money,” he added. “We're not promoting a cause, other than the best of you.”

The relay team will stop next in Regina, Canada, on July 12. They are scheduled to end their run in New York City on Aug. 17.