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La Antorcha Guadalupana, or the Guadalupan torch run, is organized annually by Asociación Tepeyac, in which a flame is brought overland from the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City to Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.

The runners will arrive in Mocksville on Wednesday, Nov. 8 around 4 p.m. at Rich Park.

Members of St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church will join the group following the lead runners from Rich Park, down Main Street, turning right on Gaither. They will take another right on Wilkesboro Street and run until they must take a left on Meroney St. due to the construction work at the “5-corners”. Continuing onto Hospital St., the group will take a right on Valley Road before turning right on Yadkinville Road entering the driveway to St. Francis.

The running of a torch was a pre-Columbian practice for carrying messages. It is said that when Juan Diego appeared before the bishop to deliver the Virgin of Guadalupe’s request for a shrine on the hill at Tepeyac and spilled roses at her feet, torch runners conveyed the news of the miraculous apparition.

The Antorcha Guadalupana – or torch run – is a traditional Mexican religious pilgrimage that dates back more than half a century to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe, that country’s patron. Association Tepeyac began organizing the Mexico-New York relay run in 1999.

Runners – most of them young adults – make the journey from Mexico City to their own towns. The torch run takes 72 days.

It left the Basilica in Mexico City on Sept. 21, the International Day of Peace, and is set to arrive  in New York City on Dec. 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.