Team A

Every day is magical here on the Run, but today there was a special touch of serenity and deep happiness that seemed to surround us throughout the day.

Misha took long walks during our waits for the runner and returned smiling each time. Dima laughed and laughed all day, joking in Russian with Misha or anyone else. He emanated joyfulness. Nick, to our amazement, came back from each run with something new he had found and picked up and CARRIED with him as he ran along his way to the van. First it was a roll of electrical tape then a wrench or some odds or ends that he couldn't resist collecting as he puffed through his kilometres. This offered us plenty of opportunity to laugh at his impulsive "might come in handy" attitude – and sure enough later this evening he came looking for the tape and did make use of it! Aaron, our newest inclusion to the team, launched himself into the running with a refreshing freshness that perhaps rubbed off on the rest of us more weary travellers.

Veeraja left us again, and we joked that he has departed and returned to the Run more than anyone on record. But before he left, we dropped in on the Gladstone Primary School and had a wonderful visit with the students.

During our presentation they guessed our nations...

Felt inner peace...

Enjoyed our singing...

Performed actions with our song...

Ran exuberantly around the field...

Passed the Torch around...

And of course had tons of fun...

It was a beautiful cool day, perfect for running. The sun seemed gentle, and I felt as I ran its smile upon us and an encompassing sense of gratitude that after 106 days of the run and countless kilometres – Misha has kept a personal record and is almost at 1,200 – we are still here on the road with smiles and a happiness that comes from the feeling that it is a true and noble cause. Most importantly we see and feel each day, in the countless eyes and hearts, the touch of something indefinable reaching out from the Harmony Run, spreading wide and far which soon will encircle the whole continent, a touch that lights the smiles on others' faces and seems to bring happiness to the many, many hearts we come in contact with here on the road. Nothing can be more fulfilling than the feeling that one's own efforts, however small, make a difference to one or two or a thousand lives.

So as the sun shone down on us today and we finished our running and sat together afterwards eating French fries at a roadside stop, we all felt contentment and thankfulness for the unfathomable journey we are a part of and the simple friendship we share along the way.

– Prabhakar Street (Canada)

Team B

Our gratitude to Bundaberg Central Primary School for receiving us!

We felt it very refreshing to find the oval filled with children waiting for us. And what better way to receive the world's longest torch relay than organising a small relay inside the sport field? All the children were spread out around the perimeter in groups of three.

And so we ran three laps around the oval while they were passing the Torch forward to the next group.

Then we sat down together to speak a little about the Run.

The thing the kids enjoyed most was certainly the country guessing game. While there were a few moments of hesitation before guessing Latvia, they got Italy straight away.

We have to mention also the exquisite gingerbread biscuits which were offered to us. They were made by the children and we have to admit that on our journey each chance to receive a hand-crafted gift is very precious.

Unfortunately the time at our disposal ended, so we had to depart.

Once again, a big thank you to Bundaberg Central Primary School for a most memorable visit!

Many thanks also to the Harbour Sails Motor Inn for their kind hospitality last night.

– Sandro Zincarini (Italy)

Team C

We thanked Jenny and Richard of Gladstone for their hospitality last night and headed out of Gladstone this morning to run 65 km between the five of us.

Just out of Gin Gin we met with Duncan Yule and Jennifer Taylor of the Scotchman Magazine – a local publication. It was a chance encounter and they were very excited to learn about the World Harmony Run, enthusiastically taking photos for their magazine. Duncan had a great singing voice and treated us to a verse from a Scottish song called “Bonnie Dundee”.

Some of the team made a quick visit to the “Mysterious Craters” which happened to be on our running route today. It was a surprisingly charming place with unique rock formations featuring different sized craters. Branka Medlock showed the team around. According to the leaflet given to Elke (printed in German), there are differing opinions about how the craters were formed.

At 2 pm we met with Bundaberg State School. The Torch was received by the Mayor, Councillor Mary Wilkinson, who formally welcomed us to the Bundaberg Shire.

The schoolchildren were waiting in a huge circle on the oval. They all took turns to run with our torch, passing it to each other until all students had had a turn. Some had prepared stunningly tall paper torches of their own, individually decorated and with red cellophane representing the flames.

The Principal explained that the children were arranged in a circle to represent the “circle of friendship” as well as the World Harmony Run’s circling of Australia.

“We are honoured that you have chosen to visit our school,” said some of the children. To conclude the ceremony, we were served delicious homemade gingerbread biscuits – to represent that “we all the same no matter where we come from”.

We were also presented with a huge card signed by all of the students.

Representatives of ABC Wide Bay (video link) also attended an conducted an interview (audio link) with Amalendu Edelsten from Canberra, Australia, Sandro Zincarini from Italy and Anastasija Aleksejeva from Latvia.

We had time for a quick visit to the Bundaberg Ginger Beer factory...

before heading to our accommodation...

Many thanks to Kelli O'Grady from the Sugar Country Motor Inn in Bundaberg for hosting the whole team .

– Bernice Matthews (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:
Aaron Carey (New Zealand), Amalendu Edelsten (Australia), Anastasija Aleksejeva (Latvia), Nigel Webber (Australia), Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine), Prabhakar Street (Canada), Edi Serban (Romania), Dima Lehonkov (Ukraine), Bernice Matthews (Australia), Veeraja Uppal (Australia), Nick File (New Zealand), Noivedya Juddery (Australia), Standa Zubaty (Czech Republic), Runar Gigja (Iceland), Elke Lindner (Germany), Sandro Zincarini (Italy), Angela Muhs (Germany), Misha Kulagin (Russia)

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

Gallery: See more images!

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