ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 1996 TAG: 9603030016
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
The Roanoke and New River valleys will be represented in the 15,000-mile Olympic Torch Relay this summer.
Janet York of Roanoke and Kevin Cropper of Radford will run the portion of the relay route that goes through Charlottesville on June 21. Each will carry the 3 1/2-pound Olympic torch a half-mile.
York and Cropper are two of 143 Virginia residents - some of them former Olympians - who will carry the torch on a 22-city route through the state.
York, an employee of the Glenn Flippin Feldmann & Darby law firm in Roanoke, is a longtime volunteer for the Virginia Special Olympics, the Commonwealth Games of Virginia, the IronKid Triathlon and the Tour DuPont.
York was nominated by Virginia Amateur Sports, a Roanoke-based organization that sponsors the Commonwealth Games.
"It's quite an honor," said York, 43, who has run in several road races, once receiving a gold medal in a Commonwealth Games cross-country run in her age division. "I'm very excited."
Cropper, a computer science student at Virginia Tech, volunteers for the RAFT Community Crisis Center hot line in Blacksburg and several activities at his church. He is studying abroad this semester at Virginia Tech's campus in Riva San Vitale, Switzerland.
York and Cropper were chosen through the Community Hero program, sponsored by the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games and United Way affiliates across the country.
Torch bearers were selected to participate because of their significant contributions through volunteer work and community leadership, acts of generosity and kindness, and extraordinary feats and accomplishments.
The 84-day Olympic Torch Relay starts April 27 in Los Angeles and ends July 19 at the opening of the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta.
The relay route is designed to bring the Olympic flame within a two-hour drive of 90 percent of the U.S. population. The torch will travel by runner, bicycle, horseback, boat, plane and 19-car train throughout America.
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: chart - The Olympic Torch. APby CNB