Peace torch blazes through P.C.
September 5, 2024 at 1:22 a.m.
Less than a week after the Olympic flame was extinguished in Paris, another torch made its way through Port Chester—one carried by runners of the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run.
The biannual relay-style run sees teams of athletes trekking across 30 states and parts of Canada, starting in Jamaica, Queens. This year, the 10,000-mile trek took four months, kicking off in April and ending on Aug. 17.
On the last day, the group of international runners entered New York from the Hillside Avenue bridge as they began the final stretch back to Queens.
“It’s really been a long trip,” Arpan DeAngelo, an organizer of the event, said. “We’ve covered anywhere between 50 to 70 miles each day. Sometimes more. But it’s all worth it because we’re running to spread the most important message of all: Peace.”
The run was started in 1987 by Sri Chinmoy, a spiritual leader, to promote unity and nonviolence.
“He spent most of his life pushing for peace,” DeAngelo said. “In 1970, he was invited by United Nations Secretary General U Thant to host weekly meditations and prayers for world peace. The idea was to have delegates and diplomats feel inner peace and spread it outward.”
Chinmoy spent several years founding events to spread those teachings, though the Peace Run has become the largest of his initiatives.
“I’ve been here since the beginning and it’s really grown since then,” DeAngelo said. “Every two years we do the big one through the United States, Canada and sometimes we go through parts of Mexico. But we also do some in other parts of the world.”
Events are held regularly in Asia, South America and Europe, all organized by volunteers. “It’s really just a big team that’s funded through heart,” DeAngelo said. “We don’t have any sponsorships, because Sri Chinmoy didn’t want us representing any corporation.”
They do accept direct donations, which go towards food, hotels and gas for the vehicles they use to follow the runners.
“But sometimes, people will get so inspired by our message that they’ll feed us, or a hotel will donate some rooms they aren’t using for the night,” the New Haven, Conn. native said. “Our expression of peace helps bring generosity out in people.”
The runners themselves are also volunteers, taking time off work or school to participate. The women’s team DeAngelo was traveling with included citizens of Ukraine, Russia, Rhode Island, North Macedonia and Italy.
“It’s nice having people from around the world work with us because they typically don’t know about this part of the U.S.,” he said. “They’ve never seen the nature or small villages like Port Chester. But seeing them and meeting people there really opens their eyes to the beauty here.”
DeAngelo said that while some of the participants are professional runners, the group welcomes those of all experience levels.
“Some of us are long-distance, some of us are recreational and others are basic runners. Anyone can join us,” the 72-year-old said. “We aren’t promoting running, it’s just the vehicle we’re using to draw attention to peace.”
DeAngelo said the teams meet with various organizations, municipalities and schools along their route to spread the message of peace.
“We want to show people that by working together, anything is possible,” he said. “Running 10,000 miles would be difficult for someone to do by themselves. But as a team, that’s a lot easier to do. We want to people to know we’re capable of doing anything if we all work together.”
Several times during the conversation with this reporter, DeAngelo stopped to speak with drivers who pulled over to ask what the group was doing.
“That actually happens a couple of times a day,” he said. “And it gives us a lot of joy because it means people are seeing what we’re doing. It gives us a chance to spread our message to even more people.”
As Ruslana Kupinets of Ukraine and Todorka Petrovska of North Macedonia crossed over the Hillside Avenue bridge on Aug. 17 and began their run towards Boston Post Road, which would take them into New York City, DeAngelo reflected on the state of the world.
“Right now, we have a lot of conflict going on,” he said. “But I believe we, as a people, can overcome that. I have faith and hope that we’ll have world peace. There’s a long way to go, but I think humanity will be able to get there.”
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