Today we left Slovakia and cross the border into Austria. In our last ceremony in Slovakia, we met children at a summer school. When we arrived they were all playing football and their teacher suggested we have a game with them. We would love to have played but we had a pressing schedule at the border. One of their teachers is from South Africa and each summer travels to Slovakia to teach. He kindly offered his assistance when the World Harmony Run visits South Africa later in the year.

The 20 or so children were aged 11 - 15 and they listened intently and were very interested in the World Harmony Run. We ran around the football pitch with the torch with the children. It was great to see older children getting just as excited as some of the younger children we have met in recent weeks. We all wished we could have stayed longer with them.

At the border our Slovakian runners passed the torch on to the Austrians, and we met Pratul, our regional co-coordinator for Austria for the next few days.

At the border we sadly said a hurried farewell to our Ukrainian runner, Valentine. He hopes to rejoin us somewhere on the road once he has resolved his visa requirements. We will certainly all miss him - so hurry up back!

Our first meeting was 10 km from the border at Hainburg where we met the mayor, and some delightful young children who were very comical. One little girl told Mark he has a big nose. We all cracked up laughing.

A further 8 km of running we arrived in Engelhartstetten where we met the mayor who generously gave us a box full of lovely organic healthy food and refreshments. Svetlana as always searched for the chocolate.

Beside the road working in the fields we met three smiling and kindhearted agricultural workers. As Mark was approaching them they considerately gave him water. They chatted to him about the Run and we found out that one of the men was from Bosnia.

At Orth a.d. Donau we met the mayor in the courtyard of the castle. He was very pleased that his town was part of the Run.

One gentleman mentioned that he had seen us running with the torch in northern Germany on our first day having crossed from Denmark.

In the very hot conditions we quickly ran the next 15 km to the border of Vienna where we all met up.

We all ran the final 5 km over the bridge spanning the River Danube and passed the impressive and imposing United Nations building to the ceremony held at Graben (the centre of Vienna).

Mag. Markus Figl, the Deputy (District) Head of the City of Vienna welcomed the runners on behalf of Dr Ursula Stenzel (former Austrian representative at the European Parliament). He pointed out that especially with the present world situation and current conflicts, idealistic initiatives like the World Harmony Run are of the utmost importance. He fully and wholeheartedly supported the goals of the Run.

The Embassy of India was represented by Counsellors Achal Malhotra and Rajan Patel. In his welcoming address to the runners Mr Malhotra mentioned that the ideals of harmony, tolerance and goodwill, which are particularly close to the Indian nation, are common goals of all men and countries. Although nobody consciously wants to live in disharmony or create conflict or war, the imperfections of our human nature prevent us yet from putting our common ideals into practice. However, he expressed his hope that one day soon goodwill will conquer evil forever.

Dr Bimal Kundu, who represented the Hindu Community in Vienna, added in the spirit of the ancient Hindu tradition of Ahimsa, non-violence is one of the basic principles and tasks of all religions to create harmony, peace and tolerance in the world.

Father Albert Gabriel, from the Danube City Church next to the United Nations in Vienna, welcomed the runners in his humorous speech, as the slightly "crazy" people who run for their ideals, especially in this scorching heat. But with the present day political situation, where fear still dominates man and prevents him to live in harmony together, harmony lovers might have to be a little bit "crazy", in the sense of thinking in different, non-mainstream ways in order to bring about change.

First Counsellor Janos Pulacskek from the Hungarian Embassy, who stressed that he was particularly proud that although Hungarians tend to be very individualistic, a Hungarian runner had joined the International Team.

David Mohelsky, Cultural Attaché and Press Speaker of the Czech Embassy in Vienna, stated that he fully supported the ideas of the World Harmony Run.

Slavomir Wolny, First Secretary of the Polish Embassy in Vienna, fully agreed with the sentiments of all the speakers had said, and wished the runners good luck and success for their further journey.

After the speeches a few of the speakers symbolically ran around the fountain with the torch.

The runners ran a 3 km loop around District 1 of Vienna, the old part of the city. We took in some of the grand and opulent landmarks of Vienna.

One of the horse carriage drivers made the step and took the torch and ran with us.

At the end of the day the International Team had many newcomers and we said goodbye to some longstanding runners - bon voyage to Svetlana - we will miss her laughter, and Marlen. And especially we will miss Jadranka, who always kept us well fed and superbly organized the Team's food. They say an army marches on its stomach, and it is so true. Running all day we eat so much food to maintain our energy levels, and she kept us fuelled up. It was great to get new runners - Anna - Lena and Anne from Germany, Eddie, Pratul and Martin from Austria, Terezia from Hungary, Veronika from Slovakia, and we welcomed back Petr from Czech Republic after his extended break with his parents. It is always exciting to get new members on the Team - it keeps the momentum of the Run going, keeps the energy levels high and adds new vitality and dynamism to the whole Run.

Distance: 78km

Team Members:
Anete Klavina (Latvia), Anna - Lena Lesmann (Germany), Anne Schulze (Germany), Daniel Schenke (Germany), Dipavajan Renner (Austria) ,Edmund Blab (Austria), Jadranka Grbic (Serbia), Mark Collinson (England), Marlen Bernhard (Germany), Martin Prettenhofer (Austria), Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Petar Mihaylov (Bulgaria), Petr Machacek (Czech Republic), Pratul Halper (Austria) ,Svetlana Gorshkova (Russia), Terezia Hammel (Hungary), Veronika Kuliskova (Slovakia), Zoltan Theobald (Hungary).

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