Cross Country Run Ends In OC On Saturday

OCEAN CITY — A 3,000-plus mile journey across the country will come to an end under the Boardwalk Arch at N. Division Street for three men who have run from San Francisco to raise funds and awareness for sarcoma, a relatively rare bone cancer.

If all goes as expected, the three runners from Miles 2 Give, an organization dedicated to raising funds and awareness for sarcoma, will finish their run across the country tomorrow on the Boardwalk at N. Division Street. The three runners, Landon Cooper, John McKay and Ryan Priest, along with their support crew, began their journey in San Francisco on Feb. 14.

In the months since, the Utah-based Miles 2 Give crew has covered roughly 3,000 miles, raising funds for sarcoma research through per mile pledges collected prior to and during the trip. The group averaged 28 miles per day throughout the length of the trip across the country’s midsection from the Pacific to the Atlantic.

The trip has taken them from San Francisco across the Rockies and eventually through Chicago and the Midwest into western Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh and finally down to the east coast. They arrived in Washington last Saturday and this week will finish the final 150-mile leg from the nation’s capital to Ocean City. When they run across the Route 50 bridge into downtown Ocean City on Saturday, they will have completed over 3,000 miles in 150 days. As of midweek, they had raised about $95,000 of the $100,000 goal they set at the start of the journey.

The Miles 2 Give tour is appropriately called the “Pursuit to Give and Inspire” and the three runners and their crew have done just that in their run across the country. The funds they have raised will be donated directly to the Sarcoma Foundation of America, which will be used for research grants. Along the tour, the crew has visited schools and hospitals, met with individuals battling sarcoma and held local fundraisers and events in the towns they visited. The team dedicated each day’s run of 24-30 miles to a person affected by sarcoma they have met along the way. The fact they have averaged 28 miles per day for about 150 days is remarkable considering a marathon is 26.2 miles.

When the men conclude the cross-country journey on the Boardwalk tomorrow, they will be greeted by local running enthusiasts and town officials, including Mayor Rick Meehan, who is scheduled to present them a key to the city. The Mile 2 Give team is expected to arrive in Ocean City around noon on Saturday.