“The Run4Unity was a huge success not only in Toronto but throughout the world,” said Manon Proulx, a Focolare member and organizer of the Toronto events “These youth have shown that they are committed to building unity and promoting peace in our world among people of all races, cultures and genders.”

The event began in the Fiji Islands in the Pacific at 4 p.m. Through the Internet, youth from each participating time zone passed on the torch to the next time zone. Paris, Lisbon, San Francisco, New York and Buenos Aires took part in the relay with it finishing in Vancouver, Lima , Peru and Santiago , Chile.

It took 24 hours to complete the event, which concluded with a live Internet transmission from youth celebrating the event in Piazza Navona in Rome.

Run4Unity came out of the 2002 International Youth Super Congress. Focolare’s foundress, Chiara Lubich, left youth with the golden rule, “Do to others what you would have them do to you.”

It was agreed upon that an international relay would take place in different cities, countries and time zones.

The Focolare movement, which has 150,000 teenaged participants in more than 182 countries around the world, was founded and dedicated to the charism of unity which builds relationships with people of different religions and cultures.

The Run4Unity was started in 2005. This was the first Run4Unity event since then.