Team A

Today was a day for just running. There were no ceremonies scheduled, no timetable to worry about, just the open road ahead of us.

Like yesterday, we enjoyed the sense of vastness and quietude as we looked around at a flat horizon for the entire 360 degrees. While running we were acknowledged by nearly every motorist, with either a wave or an enthusiastic hoot.

Along the road the team met up with Kathy Armitage, a retired nurse from Parkes, and her dog, Devil. Kathy was very enthusiastic about our message of harmony and peace beginning with each individual and applauded us for our efforts in running right around Australia. She is a splendid example of selflessness herself, telling us she missed nursing and wants to offer her services to Aboriginal Communities in the North.

As the day progressed the running became a little more challenging (heat and accumulated mileage in the legs), however the land teaches a lesson of patience and persistence. Its timeless nature makes a mockery of watches and timekeeping. I cleared my mind and just ran one step after another, attempting to become one with the land. The distance was done!

On our drive to the accommodation we crossed once again into Queensland, the state where our journey began three months earlier. However, there is a lot of Queensland to run before returning to Brisbane.

We would like to thank our host last night, the Barkly Homestead for their generosity.

– Amalendu Edelsten (Australia)

Team B

At 90 km, this was the greatest daily distance we had run since the northern section began in Darwin.

The distance wasn’t as long as previous team jaunts, through the north-west and the Nullarbor, but for relative newcomers like myself, still not acclimatised to the Central Australian heat, it was certainly a challenge.

As there were five of us, we agreed to run a total 18 km each in the course of the day. It was a great day for running, as the sun pelted down and turned the flat, straight, simple highway into a true obstacle course.

While people often greet us from their cars in all parts of Australia, a vehicle almost never goes by in the Northern Territory without a friendly wave from the drivers and passengers. Naturally, some of them stop to say hello. Today, one who stopped to visit was Ralph Williams of Mackay in Queensland, who ran with the Olympic Torch in 1956. Back then, he qualified by proving that he could run a mile in six minutes. No mean achievement, even today.

At the end of our course, due to a mis-measurement (a happily rare, but unavoidable situation in the World Harmony Run), we discovered that we had another 5 km to run. Eager to run the final straight, we momentarily forgot our exhaustion, putting in some of the fastest running of the day.

Rathin Boulton volunteered to do the very last kilometre. Rathin is not usually a sprinter. His forte is very, very long distances, and he has thrice completed the 3100-Mile Race in New York. But this time, he ran like a man possessed, like a champion heading for his victory lap. He crossed the 'finish line' at blinding speed, then collapsed triumphantly in the van.

Mission accomplished.

 

– Noivedya Juddery (Australia)

Team C

After collecting our washing, repacking the support van and refilling our all-important water containers, we headed out from the Barkly Homestead Camping Ground at 8 am and drove 184 km east along the Barkly Highway before commencing our running. Today our team ran 88 km in total.

The landscape quickly became the driest, flattest land that we’ve yet seen. The horizon was completely straight and low in all directions. In many places there was nothing more than dry grass. The road itself was flat and mostly straight, and there was not a cloud in the sky. An advantage of the heat and dryness is that there were absolutely no flies or mosquitoes. Although, we went through at least 20 litres of water between us.

To minimise dehydration, we ran an average of 6 km each before swapping to the next runner.

People often pull over to take photos of us and find out more about the Run. Today we met two French girls who were travelling around Australia for one year – Severine and Elodie. They listened enthusiastically, took a pamphlet and wished us well for the rest of the Run.

Profile...

Angela Muhs is from Berlin in Germany and has been with the Australian World Harmony Run since the beginning in April. She is trained as a clothing engineer – the person who takes a clothing designer’s concepts and turns them into pattern pieces for mass construction. More recently she has worked in marketing in the German fashion industry as well as in a gift shop. Angela will look for a new job in Germany when she finishes the Run.

“When I heard that there was a Run in Australia it became my dream to join and to be with the Run all around Australia,” she said.

“I’ve enjoyed it so much. The nature is really prominent in Australia. I especially love the blue of the sky. It’s really different to Europe. It’s a great feeling to be under this sky, and at night, to see the stars so bright…!”

“For living, I prefer the city, but for travelling I prefer the countryside, and my dream has always been to run through a desert. My favourite part of the Run so far has been the Nullarbor. There was something very special about it. It was really windy and so straight. I enjoy running through this kind of route.” Angela continued: “I’ve also enjoyed running close to the ocean. I’ve seen so many nice beaches with big waves and we just don’t have this kind of thing in Germany.”

We reached the Queensland Border and arrived at the Rainbow Oasis Backpackers at about 4.30 pm, enthusiastically greeted by Lorna, the Proprietor.

The hostel is more like being in someone’s home than being in a hostel.

After today’s running, we greatly appreciated the gardens of the Rainbow Oasis at Camooweal.

– Bernice Matthews (Australia)

Team RV

After meditating on the rising sun, we took down the tents and cleaned the dishes from breakfast.

After this, we headed towards our next destination – Camooweal – where we were to be accommodated for the night. All of a sudden we realised that we had an extra lunch bag on-board. So we decided, after a long discussion, to try to get that lunch bag to its rightful owner instead of eating it or throwing it away. Some hungry runner would surely be missing it later.

The first runner we came across was Sandro Zincarini from Italy. We asked him if he had taken his lunch bag from the RV, but he replied “Maybe.” So we stopped at his support vehicle to get to the bottom of this inscrutable reply. After a long and illumining conversation with team captain, Amalendu Edelsten, we finally handed over Sandro's lunch – the bag he had left behind from the previous day!

Problem solved, we were on our way again. We were the first Harmony runners to arrive and pass the border into Queensland, and we took some photos for the occasion.

After our great adventure, on the long, dry road into Camooweal, Edi drove straight to the accommodation for a refreshing afternoon break. Our gratitude to the other runners for running everything for us today, but we ran with you in our hearts.

– Runar Gigja (Iceland)

A Photographic Report

Just down the road from our night's resting place is a river linking a few small lakes filled with migratory birds. The spectacle is usually reserved for the wet season, but today we found a few still enjoying the cool waters.

The day ended with a beautiful dusk...

– Prabhakar Street (Canada)

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.

---

Team Members:
Amalendu Edelsten (Australia), Anastasia Aleksejeva (Latvia), Nigel Webber (Australia), Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine), Prabhakar Street (Canada), Edi Serban (Romania), Dima Lehonkov (Ukraine), Bernice Matthews (Australia), Nick File (New Zealand), Noivedya Juddery (Australia), Standa Zubaty (Czech Republic), Prabuddha Nicol (Australia), Runar Gigja (Iceland), Elke Lindner (Germany), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Angela Muhs (Germany), Rathin Boulton (Australia), Misha Kulagin (Russia)

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

Gallery: See more images!

< Australia 30 July

Australia 1 August >