They found their way – eventually.

Seven ISU students ran from Ames to Des Moines on Monday to present Iowa Lt. Gov. Sally Pederson with an invitation to attend Veishea.

All of the runners are residents of Pearson House in Friley Hall. The team said it started at Beardshear Hall at about 8:30 a.m., and the run took three hours and 22 minutes – well beyond the record time of two hours and 12 minutes.

“We were a little slower this year because we got lost,” said Greg Speer, sophomore in industrial technology.

Speer said they followed U.S. Highway 69 most of the time, so traffic was not much of a problem.

He said the biggest trouble they had with traffic was getting semis to honk at them.

Students from Pearson House have been completing the run since 1967, said John Daniels, co-chairman of Veishea Voyage.

“Pearson carries a formal invitation from [ISU] President [Gregory] Geoffroy to the Governor’s office every year,” Daniels said. “They’ve also traditionally carried the two wooden batons.”

This is Veishea’s first year back since its one-year hiatus. Geoffroy cancelled the student celebration for 2005 following a riot that took place during Veishea 2004, which resulted in 38 arrests and more than $100,000 in damage. It was the first cancellation of the event since it began in 1922.

Geoffroy and other ISU administrators warn students this year that the celebration could be pulled permanently if things get out of hand again.

Pederson also lit the Veishea Voyage torch, which will be carried to 20 cities across Iowa. She added the ceremony holds extra meaning for her because she graduated with a degree in home economics from Iowa State. “I used to help out with baking the cherry pies,” she said.

After being lit by Pederson, the torch will be returned to the ISU campus at noon Friday, said Jessica Lecy, Veishea executive co-chairwoman. Lecy said this year, ISU football coach Dan McCarney will carry the torch to the base of the Campanile. The torch will then be used to light a cauldron as part of the Veishea opening ceremony.

Lecy said the torch-lighting tradition – one of the first official Veishea activities of the week – traces back to 1949.