Torch run to travel through Sanders County

SANDERS COUNTY - The Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) for Special Olympics Montana will come to Sanders County on Saturday, May 10. 

Starting at the Idaho state line and ending at Subway on Highway 200 in Plains, the torch will travel over a large swath of Sanders County.

The torch has been traveling across northwestern Montana over the last few days going through Missoula and Kalispell. 

All proceeds raised by the event will be donated to the Special Olympics of Montana. 

Deputy April Phillips of the Sanders County Sheriff’s Office has been in charge of organizing the event. 

“It is my second year putting it on and I believe the torch run has been going on for the last five or six years in Sanders County,” Phillips said. 

In addition to being a major fundraiser for the Special Olympics, the Torch Run is a way to get the word out and raise awareness about yearlong Special Olympics programs, while also encouraging local residents to get out and enjoy the weather as the county warms up. 

The Sanders County leg of the run is a part of the larger relay, in which the torch will travel all across the state of Montana, eventually ending its journey in Billings. 

So far the torch has been through Malta, Havre, Polson, Kalispell, Missoula, Darby, Cut Bank, Great Falls, Lewiston and Drummond. 

The Torch Run is not your typical relay in that a portion of the event is carried out on horseback, riders relay the torch from one to another before the run transitions to the standard format of person-to-person handoffs as Special Olympics athletes and other runners ferry the torch across Sanders County. 

The Torch Run was first held in Kansas in 1981, first coming to portions of Montana in 1985. 

Since then the Torch Run has spread throughout Montana, raising over $4 million for the Special Olympics. 

The Sanders County portion of the Torch Run will cover over 77 miles and will be accompanied by a sheriff department’s escort through the course of its journey.