Team A

The girls' team left Mackillop House in Canberra this morning at 6:45am after fond farewells to Kate Volkhardt who kindly arranged our accommodation. Many thanks to the beautiful staff at Mackillop house as well!

It was with great excitement we finished our (fabulous) three-day stay in Canberra and took to the open road on our way to the tiny town of Bredbo (commonly, but not to be mistaken with Thredbo).

Whilst driving from Canberra to Michelago we found ourselves travelling through what appeared to be an enormous and never-ending cloud, which seemed to obliterate every last degree of warmth. Talk about freezing! Again, one of those I-didn't-expect-to-see-this-in-Australia moments for some of our international guests.

Running in this weather was extremely cold, but very refreshing. Quite problematic, however, for carrying a torch, as our hands became virtually numb. Re-lighting the torch on the road was out of the question. Then, without warning, we emerged from the fog into crystal, cloudless blue skies which, while still freezing, revealed some beautiful scenery.

After 29km of running we took in a change of activity and visited Bredbo Primary school. We talked to the whole school (all 23 them), and learned the students have been doing quite a bit of work on harmony themselves. This was self evident, as all the students from kindergarten to grade 6 co-operated with us and each other beautifully.

When we invited the class to close their eyes and make a silent wish for world harmony, teacher and Principal Mark Gardiner declared it gave him goose bumps – always a good sign. We also enjoyed the students trying to locate the various countries of our runners on a digitally projected map up the front of the classroom – they really got into the spirit of it!

Before we knew it students were lining up to hold the torch and it was time for us to go! We won't forget this lovely little school, whose motto "Deeds Not Words" shone through the warm and enthusiastic welcome we received. Thanks Bredbo Primary, and good luck on the upcoming half-marathon, Mark!

– Julie Anderson (Australia)

Team B

Today saw us running through amazing landscapes, first having to run in thick fog until the sky opened up into an awesome blue. The sun shone so brightly but its touch was soft upon the land.

We ran through vast undulating hills of golden grass with endless gum trees and areas of intriguing rocky outcrops.

Around midday we called in to Dalgety Public School which has a grand total of 17 students. They were a cute bunch and smiled brightly as we told them about the World Harmony Run. We played some games with them which included a little play with Colm and Sandro doing some juggling.

There happened to be a map of Australia painted on the surface of the playground so we gave a demonstration of "running around the continent" – if only it could be this easy!

We sang the World Harmony Run song with our resident minstrel, Rathin Boulton strumming along on guitar to which one boy exclaimed "That song is really cool!" And then with great joy everyone ran with the torch around the school grounds.

After crossing the legendary Snowy River, we ran onwards to Jindabyne working together with Team C to cover the distance.

– Colm Magee (Ireland)

Team C

We left Canberra before the sun came up. The teeth of winter could be felt as the mercury hovered somewhere below zero. We drove up to Cooma through dense fog, heading into Snowy Mountains country. Our first stop was at the Snowy Hydro Visitors Centre, where we looked at models and videos pertaining to the Snowy Hydro Scheme, a massive series of dams, reservoirs, aqueducts, pipelines and power stations that generate hydro-electric power for three States. One of the best displays featured stationary bikes which you can pedal whilst a series of lights illuminate to show how many watts of power you are generating. You really have to pedal like crazy to generate enough power to boil a jug of water!

Runners multi-tasking

At 9 am we joined team B and ran into the centre of Cooma with the torch. The mayor, Roger Norton was there to greet us, as were several students from St Patrick's School, along with their music teacher Leslie Spencer, representatives of the local multicultural forum and members of the Press.

Leslie led the students in an extremely charming rendition of the World-Harmony-Run song, accompanied by guitar, violin, and several tambourines. Torch-Bearer awards were presented to Mrs Valmai Mylan,

Mrs Helen Mills

and Mr Jim Brindle.

Our gratitude to Caroline Fox of the Cooma Visitors Centre for making all the arrangements for this most enjoyable occasion. Notably, the sun burst through right in the middle of the ceremony and we enjoyed cloudless skies for the remainder of the day.

Next we ran to Berridale, where we were met by Richard Wallace, the mayor of the Snowy Mountains Shire Council, and the general manager, Joe Vescio.

They had arranged a reception for us inside the council chambers, which featured a truly enormous cream-filled sponge cake

(it's almost as if they knew that today was my birthday!) Several students from Berridale Public School were there and we did a short presentation about the Harmony Run. Next we presented a Torch-Bearer Award to Les Threlfo, controller of the Snowy River State Emergency Service. Mayor Wallace endorsed this award wholeheartedly.

After a ceremony at Dalgety Public School (see report from Team B above), Runar bonded with a llama.

On the road we all learn something valuable every day. Today, Runar learned that llamas are not enamoured of carrots! Then we ran to Jindabyne. Our part of the team only had 15 km to run, and had fun doing it!

By the time I got out of the van, 13 km had already been completed. A piece of cake, I thought. Except for the fact that after 1 km, I encountered a very serious hill. It went straight up, as hills do, only more so. Several eternities passed as I toiled uphill. Finally I saw the support van parked by the road, waiting for me. It still seemed to take a long long time to reach it. When I got close, Edi told me that I still had 200 metres to run! It felt like 200 miles. Sandro joined me for the last bit.

Next we went to Banjo Patterson Park in Jindabyne, where we were greeted by students from Snowy Mountains Grammar School.

The torch, along with team B, arrived by boat, courtesy of the State Emergency Service. There followed a most convivial ceremony with everybody, Lake Jindabyne forming a spectacular backdrop.

A short distance up the road, at the National Parks and Wildlife Service office we met with David Darlington, area manager of Kosciuszko National Park. After accepting the torch and offering the runners some inspiring words of encouragement, David and members of his staff posed for a photo in front of the plaque which commemorates the inauguration of the Park as a Sri Chinmoy Peace Park.

Our sincere and heartfelt thanks to the dynamic and cheerful staff of the Jindabyne Sport and Recreation Centre which

is providing our ever-growing team of runners with accommodation tonight, and to Capriccio restaurant for supplying the team with a much-appreciated hot pizza dinner.

 

– Rathin Boulton (Australia)

From the whole World Harmony Run Team, we would like to wish Rathin a very Happy Birthday for today!

– Julie Anderson (Australia)

If you would like to place a link or a write a story about the World Harmony Run on your website, click here to Link to Us. We'll be happy to place a reciprocal link and list you on our Friends Online page.

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Team Members:
Prabhakar Street (Canada), Edi Serban (Romania), Standa Zubaty (Czech Republic), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Runar Gigja (Iceland), Marichi Clarke (Australia), Misha Kulagin (Russia), Dima Lehonkova (Ukraine), Colm Magee (Ireland), Angela Muhs (Germany), Anubha Baird (Australia), Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine), (New Zealand), Julie Anderson (Australia), Peter Elliot (Australia), Rathin Bolton (Australia), Prachar Stegemann (Australia)

Harmonemail:
You can send a message to the runners or read the messages.

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