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Lincoln Academy freshman Travis Knof ran 21 miles with the Special Olympics Torch Run. |
By Paula Roberts
Travis Knof has waited over a year to be able to carry the torch and run in the annual Maine Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics. In past years, he has ridden along with his mother Darcy, who runs a support vehicle for the event with her business Country Coach Charters.
Last year, Travis was not allowed to run, because he was not yet in high school. This year he got his chance.
And run he did. Travis started running at The First in Damariscotta and did not stop until he hit West Bath, a distance of 21 miles. He had the privilege of carrying the torch on a couple of occasions along the route.
“I thought it would be a neat thing to do,” the three-sport athlete from Lincoln Academy said. Knof ran cross-country last fall, wrestled last winter, and ran track this spring. “My legs were like jello,” Knof said after finishing the 21 miles. “The next day I went to school, and they didn’t hurt.”
Knof was by far the smallest person running in the Torch Run. The 80-pound L.A. freshman said, “I didn’t think it was hard at all. I think it is for a good cause. I wanted to do it for the people who couldn’t run.”
Knof is already looking forward to running in the 2016 Torch Run, and would someday like to run a marathon.
The Maine Torch Run started in 1985, and each year 700 members of the Maine law enforcement community run approximately 900 miles carrying the Flame of Hope.
Runners raise money through pledges, tip-a-cop events at local restaurants, roof sit-ins, bake sales, car washes, benefit basketball games, voluntary toll booths, T-shirt sales, raffle tickets, and other creative ways.
In the past 30 years, Law Enforcement Torch Runs for Special Olympics Maine have raised over $1 million.
