Ragnar Relay runners go the distance FTK

Cutting corners doesn’t sound like such a bad idea, but kids with cancer can’t cut corners.

They have to beat cancer every second of every day.

That’s why when HopeExpress runners in the Ragnar Relay ran 200.1 miles for kids with cancer they run every step of every mile until they reach the finish line.

The Ragnar Relay was completed two weekends ago by 12 runners that rotated for all of the 200.1 miles from Stauffer Park in Lancaster, PA to the Pocono Mountains. That’s a 2 and a half hour car drive, but it’s a demanding 31-hour journey for runners.

Hope Express, which was founded by Hank Agnus in 2006, goes beyond spreading awareness and raising funds for the Four Diamonds Fund. In fact, when THON arrives in 117 days, Hope Express will be arriving at THON for the 6^th consecutive year to connect Four Diamonds Children from Hershey Medical Center to the Bryce Jordan Center.

Of course, they’ll run the entire way to THON, all 135 miles, a 24-hour trip between two teams of runners.

“The Hope Express Team runs 3-mile legs, and our Extreme Team runs 6-mile legs,” said Molly Thomas, a moraler for the Hope Express Team.

On the day before THON, the runners and moralers spend time with the Four Diamonds Families that cannot attend THON due to poor health.

“The kids there love it,” Thomas said.

The way that Hope Express has connected children in the Hershey Medica Center goes beyond running, too. Some of the thousands of letters that THON dancers receive throughout the weekend are from children at the Hershey Medical Center during THON weekend.

Those letters are carried in backpacks that the runners have on for the entire duration of their marathon.

It’s just one more way to make sure THON is felt by every kid with cancer.