{"id":130832,"date":"2026-05-27T20:54:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T02:54:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-mayor-welcomes-international-peace-runners\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T20:54:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T02:54:17","slug":"cortez-mayor-welcomes-international-peace-runners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-mayor-welcomes-international-peace-runners\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez mayor welcomes international peace runners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Cortez
Cortez Mayor Dennis Spruell holds the peace torch alongside the team of international runners traversing the United States to support world peace. Queen Elizabeth, Jane Goodall and Muhammad Ali have been some of the acclaimed people to hold the torch. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

As a man carrying a large torch once held by Pope Francis and Paul McCartney veered toward Cortez City Hall, residents and local government officials burst into applause, cheering as he triumphantly ascended the steps. The sweat-soaked runner smiled and joined the rest of his team in greeting Mayor Dennis Spruell.<\/p>\n

A 10,000-mile relay run across all 50 states that commenced April 16 in New York has landed this team of international runners in Cortez. The Sri Chinmoy Oneness Home Peace Run began in 1987, so far passing through more than 150 nations and territories, bringing with it a torch promoting world peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way peace works is it\u2019s something we transmit to each other,\u201d Devashishu Torpy, coordinator for the European peace run, said.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s route through the U.S. honors the country\u2019s 250th anniversary and what the runners say is the kindness and compassion within its people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been the most rewarding and inspiring experience,\u201d said Torpy, who is also a first-time U.S. team participant. \u201cI\u2019ll be running along with the torch and just meet people on the street and they\u2019ll just start talking to you. I\u2019m really overwhelmed by friendliness of people here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harita Davies, a New Zealander on the team, agreed, praising the character and resilience of the small places tucked inside the U.S., like Cortez.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a lot of ways we have an advantage being in a smaller place because we see how people have to set aside their differences and come together and work as a community, and that\u2019s what our message is all about,\u201d Davies said. \u201cWe are seeing that here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team presented Cortez with a certificate of appreciation containing a poem by the run\u2019s founder reading, \u201cO dreamers of peace, come. Let us walk together. O lovers of peace, come. Let us run together. O servers of peace, come. Let us grow together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cortez
Cortez Mayor Dennis Spruell reads a poem by Sri Chinmoy, founder of the peace run, after the runners bestowed upon the city a certificate of appreciation. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cCortez has no problem with being the town that started world peace,\u201d Spruell said to a couple of laughs.<\/p>\n

The team thanked the city for its welcoming front and supportive residents, spotlighting Thai Cortez, which sponsored the team a free meal and whose staff ran a portion of the morning\u2019s run. Members of the team also praised Cow Horse Coffee, which sponsored its beverage order.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe America that you might see on the news is not the America that exists,\u201d Executive Director Salil Wilson from Australia said in a speech to Cortez government officials. \u201cBetween the goodness, the kindness, the generosity that we have the good fortune to bask in \u2013 it\u2019s really been remarkable and you all deserve credit for that because you create America.\u201d<\/p>\n

The runners are now headed to Bluff, Utah, commencing their journey toward the West Coast, but for many, Cortez has made a lasting impact. Sweta Pradhan, a runner from Nepal, was astounded by the pueblo dwellings surrounding Cortez which she said looked like a \u201cland castle.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we go back home we\u2019ll be able to share that such places exist,\u201d Pradhan said.<\/p>\n

She added that the kind heartedness of Cortez residents will not be forgotten.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are carrying the love and peace that we are receiving from this beautiful city back to our home,\u201d Pradhan said.<\/p>\n

avanderveen@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of the Sri Chinmoy Oneness Home Peace Run are traveling across the country<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130833,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[28,29,1914,6419],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-130832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-running","tag-tj-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130832"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=130832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}