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Team of runners gives voice to fallen soldiers

The group is running from Georgia to Tampa.

By KELLIE DIXON, Times Staff Writer
Published November 8, 2007

If you're driving the Suncoast Parkway on Friday morning, don't hesitate to honk your support. The Operation One Voice team won't mind.

By the time the group reaches the Suncoast Parkway at 5:15 a.m. on Friday, it will have logged 516 miles of running. At this point, the team will switch to biking.

The group is running from Duluth, Ga., to Tampa's MacDill Air Force Base as a way to honor and support the children of fallen Special Operations Forces. The Suncoast Trail is the only part of the trip that the group will bike.

"You can be dead tired and someone on the side of the road gives you a thumbs up or cheers you on, you can truck a few more miles," said Lt. Bill Stevens, spokesman for the Duluth Police Department.

The trail works perfect for the effort. To maintain the timetable and get into Hillsborough County at 8:15 a.m. on Friday, the group will bike 39 miles of the trail to State Road 54. From there, the group will run east on 54 and take 41 South into Tampa.

This is the third time the event has taken place, and this year's team is made up of four civilians, one deputy, two firefighters, five law enforcement officer and 13 military personnel.

The honorary team captains are Lt. Ivan Castro, a blind paratrooper from the 82nd Airborne, Sgt. Joe Kapacziewski, an amputee from the 75th Ranger regiment, and widow Jenn McCollum.

[Last modified November 7, 2007, 21:08:18]