Iowa State’s Campanile will soon be taking a new shape — as the route of the 2003 Veishea Voyage Torch Run.

The voyage will begin in Ames on April 8 and will cover about 200 miles of highway throughout Iowa on its four-day tour.

After tracing the outline of the Campanile, the event will end at the Veishea Opening Ceremonies on April 11, where the torch will be handed off to the master of ceremonies.

“The goal is just to kind of announce Veishea to the smaller towns in Iowa and get people psyched up for it,” said Chris Annicella, Veishea Voyage co-chairman.

“The Veishea Voyage committee usually tries to select a route that symbolizes something,” said Terry Sponheim, Veishea Voyage co-chairman. “Last year the route represented Iowa, but on a smaller scale.”

The theme for this year’s Veishea celebration is “Iowa State on Display.”

“[The Campanile] is kind of something that symbolized Iowa State University,” Annicella said. “The committee didn’t really debate on any other shape. We thought of this one and went with it.”

After leaving Ames, the voyage will travel to Webster City and Woolstock in its first day. The tour will resume on day two, traveling through Clarion, Hampton and Iowa Falls. Day three will run through Hubbard, Colo and Nevada before returning to Ames on day four.

Students, alumni and community members wishing to participate in the Torch Run are encouraged to register via the online registration form that can be found at www.veishea.org under the tournaments site by March 24, Sponheim said. Late registrations will likely be accepted, he said, especially if more runners are needed.

“I’m hoping to get, realistically, 100 people to register and I’ll be happy, really happy,” he said. “But I would like to get 150 people.”

Each participant, for a $10 registration fee, will receive a T-shirt and will be provided transportation and food.

Participants can choose to run any day during various allotted time slots, Sponheim said.

“It all depends on how much the person wants to run,” Annicella said. “They can run as much, or as little, as they want.”