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Show A i . ! i - , ....? ,.A. j ., . . v " ;i ' . - v.. -. . II j ' i t ,, -1 TOM KNOLL, retired United States Marine Corps Sergeant, is running from Washington D. C. to Los Angeles. He hopes to raise $1 million for the Sunshine Foundation, which grants last wishes of terminally ill children. Tom was in Vernal Tuesday, about 2050 miles toward his 3100 mile destination. Running coast to coast Fifty-year-old Tom Knoll set out Tuesday to run from Vernal to Los Angeles. Maybe that would be easier to believe considering the fact that Tom has already run 2,041 miles from Washington D.C. The run isn't just to prove it can be done, nor is it just to prove Tom can do it. The Sunshine Foundation is sponsoring spon-soring Tom's effort, and all donations will go to the non-profit organization dedicated to granting the last wish of terminally ill children. Tom hopes to raise at least $1 million for the charity. The journey started July 13 from Washington, D.C, went to Philadelphia, then proceeded in a nearly straight line to Vernal. The run will continue across Utah, Nevada, then southwest to Los Angeles. The entire en-tire trip will entail over 3,100 miles. Tom will reach Los Angeles Sept. 24. At the beginning of the run, Knoll was constantly concerned about support. sup-port. It is imperative for someone to accompany a runner on this type of a journey'. At first, the Sunshine Foundation Foun-dation was arranging for a support car for each day or two, then someone else would take over. That is until Tom reached Indiana. Since he is a retired Marine, military groups along the route were helping coordinate the effort. ef-fort. This is where Harvey Salyer became involved. Harvey says it is destiny that he became involved with Tom. He said support was getting bogged down in Indiana. The American Legion called Harvey and asked if he could accompany accom-pany Tom for a day or two. Harvey told them he couldn't, because he just didn't have the money. This was on the first day of September. Harvey said . his disability check had never once come on the first of the month, but within 15 minutes of hanging up the Phone, the check was in his mailbox. Harvey made a phone call and started out to meet Tom. At first he intended to provide sup-Port sup-Port for a day or two, but he got caught UP in the expedition. When he was about 150 miles west of Terre Haute, be made up his mind he was going the rest of the way to Los Angeles with Tm. He called his wife, and "she snowed a little hostility in her voice." But Harvey believes he was spared in rder to do this, and his wife has become more used to the idea now. Harvey has been the victim of six heart attacks in his life. Over 11 years "go doctors gave Harvey 10 years to lv- if he quit smoking and drinking. he didn't, they guaranteed him he ould be dead within 5 years. He oecided to take the 5 years and went r'8ht on smoking and drinking. Harvey believes Tom Knoll is the reason he has been spared. In order to average the 45 or 46 miles Pessary to complete the journey on Tom gets up about 4 a.m. and wads down the road. He says it's Jn easier to run when it's cool. "arvey stays in bed, and usually cat- nes up to Tom about 6:30 a.m or 7 . "J- He keeps Tom fed and in water, alln the Van Harvey drives always ws Tom to get out of the sun oc-asionally. oc-asionally. He rests and runs the rest ineday, usually ending about 6 p.m. Harvey is getting nothing for accom-pTnymg accom-pTnymg Tom, although the Sunshine Undation is paying both men's ex-Ses. ex-Ses. At night Harvey sleeps in the "and Tom pitches a pup tent. About Hon three or four n'8hts they rent 3 el rom, in order to get a good night's sleep and be able to shower and really get cleaned up. To look at a thousand miles of running runn-ing might scare a person, but Tom says he keeps going by thinking about the 2,000 miles already behind him. He looks at getting through each day and keeps thinking about all the children who will benefit from what he is doing. Tom says a million dollars is a lot of money, but when you think there are 230 million people in the United States, it would only take one million of those people donating $1 each to reach the goal. There has already been one radio station that donated $1,000, and he is contacting large corporations on his way across the country. Harvey makes a lot of the contacts, simply because Tom is busy running and keeping notes for a book he plans to write. This isn't the first time Tom has run to raise money for charity. Every year he runs in Okinawa and in Hawaii in events to benefit children. He has run over 45,000 miles for charity and personally per-sonally has generated over $70,000. This trip will eclipse that total many times over. Tom was also one of the instigators of the"Ironman" competition which was held in Hawaii in 1978 and has continued con-tinued every year since. The Ironman competition is comprised of a 2.4 mile ocean swim, then a bicycle race of 112 miles, then a marathon run, which is 26.2 miles, done consecutively. Tom places sixth in that first competition. Both Tom and Harvey say the experience ex-perience has been incredible. Harvey has a lot of time on his hands, and it has given him a chance to meet people peo-ple and see the country from a very different perspective. Tom says every area of the country has a distinct personality. per-sonality. He is learning much in the way of history, as well as sociological variations from the trip. Along the way Tom is also pushing the President's Council on Physical Fitness. Tom says the main point he wants to get across is that exercise can benefit everyone. No matter how old a person is, there are things they can do to get in better shape. It makes people peo-ple feel better and will add years to a person's life. Tom even has Harvey exercising. Many times Harvey will drive a few miles ahead of Tom, then walk back down the road. He said he actually walked four miles one day. For an overweight smoker who has had six heart attacks, that's doing pretty good, Harvey said. On Tuesday, Tom was about 20 miles ahead of schedule. He plans to be in Provo Friday, where he plans to take a day off and do some campaigning campaign-ing for his cause in Salt Lake City. People interested in knowing more about the Sunshine Foundation or people peo-ple wishing to make contributions should send letters to: Sunshine Foundation, Foun-dation, 2842 Normandy Drive, Philadelphia, Penn. 19154. rr. I .... ... ii i pnAfjn OPENING ribbon cutting ceremony was conducted GRAND OPbN iNr Restaurant on east highway Fnday at the ack d am h y , Cnamber 0f Com-mer?: Com-mer?: Din s In "center is llene Haakinson, ZnLr and David and Jackie Haakinson. |