The Panorama cross country team will be participating in their Homecoming fundraiser run today. The nearly 60 mile journey with a football began early this morning at Interstate 35 High School in Truro and will end when the final runner delivers the game ball to the football field in Panora tonight. Head coach Greg Thompson says the team is hoping to raise $3,000 in donations from the event. Half the proceeds will go to send the team to summer camp, a quarter will go to help Principal Mark Johnston who is battling cancer and a quarter will go to the Christofferson family, who also have a family member battling cancer.

Thompson says each athlete will run between two and three miles. Each student will miss a couple hours of school today during the run but Thompson says it’s worth it for the life lesson. “We are student athletes, so we want to keep that focus going. We want to teach kids that there’s more to life than just school, but school is important and that’s part of what you’re doing right now. We’re going to try combining athletics, the charity event and school all at the same time.”

Kickoff for tonight’s Homecoming football game in Panora is scheduled for 7 p.m.