And We're Off! Race(s) for World Peace (part 2)

While we were busy squaring away our event in during dark morning hours in Washington, DC, our 1st Race for World Peace was busy 'going global.'

Illinois & France's Race Exchange

The Palatine (IL) Sister Cities program hosted it's own mini-walk locally. Members of Palatine Sister Cities braved the cold and the rain to take a an architectural tour in downtown Palatine. The walk, created by Marg Duer, gave historical information about past owners of homes. At the end of the tour, the group enjoyed an inside tour of a home over 100 years old, which took 20+ years to renovate by the current owners. The walk concluded at Palatine’s farmers market, with hot coffee, fresh baguettes and French butter.

Earlier that day, Palatine’s sister city in France (Fontenay-le-Comte) took a walk in their own downtown, where the buildings are much, much older but shared a similar day of cold weather.

With the economy in its present state, it is difficult for Palatine and Fontenay to schedule an exchange, so this sister city partnership opted to “share something together” through the mutual event without being on the same continent.

(Thanks to Sue Minott for her reporting on these events.)

Fort Worth, Texas
(As reported from one of the Fort Worth participants)

It’s very dark, and very cold at 6am in Ft. Worth in October. That was check-in time for Team Texas at our satellite Sister Cities Race for World Peace. The race course wound along the Trinity River in a park in downtown Ft. Worth - we ran by a sign for geese crossing, underneath a beautiful canopy of trees and past a statue of Mark Twain reading in the park – a far cry from the city course in Washington, but that’s the way we roll in Texas!

We had lots of energy (for being as early as it was, and for the lack of caffeine prior to the race) and managed to get the crowd involved, so much so that along the course, and the turn we had runners as well as several of the course marshals chanting “Go Sister Cities! Go World Peace!” It was a great experience, and it was fun to participate, even remotely, with the amazing efforts that took place in Washington DC!

Cluj, Romania
A small but hearty group of citizen diplomats (of all ages!) in the third largest city in Romania took to the streets and mountains in their efforts to spread the word of world peace.

Thank you to each of the local sister cities programs that organized a satellite race/walk in conjunction with Sister Cities International. Bravo!

Add your hometown to our list of host cities for 2010 - email us and we'll tell you how easy it is.


Many thanks to our major sponsors of the event: Collective Media, The Hill, and BP, as well as all of in-kind donors,