After running miles across the city with an American flag waving overhead, a visibly winded runner was greeted by cheering supporters Friday at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Marion.

The Old Glory Cost to Coast relay started Sept. 11 at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in San Francisco and ends Nov. 9 at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Washington, D.C. The participants, who are both civilians and veterans, will have traveled a distance of approximately 3,800 miles, according to the team’s website. The American flag, used as a symbol of patriotism and brotherhood, is passed between each runner in support of military veterans throughout the relay.

Day 44 of the relay began Friday morning at the Chamber of Commerce in Chester and ended at the VA in Marion. More than 30 people ran in the even Ryan McKennedy, chapter captain and SIU alumnus, said.

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He founded the Carbondale chapter of the relay in April of last year. McKennedy said he learned about Team RWB after he saw members on the coverage of the Boston bombing.

Allison Lampe, a senior from Polo studying advertising who is ROTC liaison for team RWB, said the race was about establishing a sense of brotherhood between civilians as well as other veterans.

“[The relay] is about camaraderie, as well as moving around and getting ourselves out there,” she said. “It’s a really good thing to get our cadets involved in because when they leave here, or if they’re stationed somewhere else, wherever they go there’s going to be RWB members in those places.”

Lampe also said the SIU Reserve Officers’ Training Corps was the only ROTC program in the nation that volunteered to take part in the run.

A crowd of the runners’ family members and friends gathered at various community buildings throughout Carbondale and Marion to cheer them on.

Matthew Elmore, a senior from Clarksville, Tenn. studying English education, said one of the most exciting things about participating in the event was seeing the way citizens of Carbondale reacted to the runners.

“What made it worth it was when we had the flag in our hands, and we were coming down the main streets,” he said. “We weren’t there yet, but we were almost to our destination. And it just brings up your morale to have people honking and cheering for you.”

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There are many military veterans who live in the Carbondale-Marion area said Allison Barringer, the community outreach coordinator for Team RWB. One of the SIU Veterans Center’s missions is to help veterans who served actively transition to being students. Team RWB collaborates with the center.

Ashley Followell, an SIU Affirmative Action Office assistant from Marion, has been involved with Team RWB’s Carbondale chapter since it was founded.

“There are so many service members, trying to get back into college or trying to get back into parenting or whatever their civilian job,” she said. “Just trying to find a way to help veterans get involved in their communities is one of the major missions of Team Red, White & Blue.”

Individual donations, as well as a contribution from Cooks Portable Warehouse, amounted to more than $600 for Team RWB.

Muriel Berry can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter @Muriel_Berry_DE or at 536-3311.