Stokes to run a 10K a day for Hope House

Thirteen year-old Rebecca Stokes from Peachtree City has a grand purpose for her running this year ­ she is raising money for her young friends at Hope House in Atlanta.

Hope House is a new respite facility that provides care to medically fragile children and their families. This care, given at no cost, for two hours to two weeks, helps families with children suffering from progressive life-threatening illnesses and severe disabilities. Their individualized programs provide an integrated blend of respite services for families across the United States at Hope House and in some Atlanta counties they provide home-based care.

Stokes is running to raise awareness for the unique services offered to families at Hope House and to help them raise $783,295 needed to pay for their new facility. She plans to run 1,000 miles in 2002 and run a 10K every day this July, along the 1,646-mile Pioneer/Westward Emigration Trail. She also wants to spread the message to the youth of America, "Go out and play each day, have some fun and get some exercise."

Stokes is a Georgia state champion in the 1,600-meter run, 12U girls division, and has been running for three years. She is also the state runner-up in the 800M and in cross-country. "I try to use the running talent the Lord gave me to better myself," said Stokes. "Now with Hope House I can do something that is very important for others who cannot do it themselves. I like that."

When asked how she came up with the idea of running a pioneer trail she replied, "My dad was talking about the Pioneers who crossed the plains by walking, pushing and pulling handcarts or by covered wagons. He told me that some of my ancestors crossed the plains this way back in the 1850s and if our family crossed the plains as modern pioneers we would use a golf cart since we drive one all around our town. I said jokingly that I'd run it. Well, I should have learned by now not to joke like that around my Dad. He thought I was on to something. A few months later he told me that Yamaha, a golf cart manufacturer was going to supply the golf cart and my run was on."

Isn't that a difficult journey for a 13-year-old? The family consulted Patrick Shane, who is the cousin of Stokes' father. Shane coaches the NCAA national champion Brigham Young University women's cross-country team.

"I was thinking about running a 10K distance everyday, along the way," said Stokes. "Coach Shane said that was a lot of miles to run for someone my age. He recommended that I only run that far each day and no more. He said I could run a few miles in the morning, then a few more miles mid-day and then finish it up later on in the afternoon so I don't hurt myself."

Stokes has a future goal of improving each year so she can get a scholarship to run at college and be good enough for the Olympics someday.

This past summer she traveled to Scotland to compete in the Scottish Highland Games in the 800M. She also competed in a cross-country race near London in January 2001 and took second in her age division at the Deseret News/Granite Furniture 10K race in Salt Lake City last July.

Stokes is a member of the Peachtree City Running Club. She competes for the Peachtree City Flash Youth Track Team in Georgia and also runs with the Atlanta Track Club.

She runs a 5:40 mile, 2:35 800M and a 49 minute 10K. Her goal is to lower each of those times this year as she is running about 20-25 miles a week on her way toward 1,000 miles and the July Pioneer Trail Trek.

Stokes begins her westward run this July from the banks of the Mississippi River near Nauvoo, Illinois. The Trail crosses Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming and into Salt Lake City, Utah. Her father will follow Rebecca while she runs using a new Yamaha sponsored Golf Cart and when she is not running, both will travel about 12 hours a day on the cart.

They plan to arrive in Salt Lake on July 21 so Stokes can get ready for her last 10K of the trip which starts at 6:15am on July 24. It is the big founders day race in Utah commemorating the day the original pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, 1847.

After that race these "modern pioneers" will load up there cart and weary bones and journey back to Georgia.

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