Last night the Team said farewell to Daniel who returned back to Germany. He thoroughly enjoyed his first experience on the International Team, and we loved having him on the Team. Hopefully we will see him again soon in Germany.

First thing in the morning the clouds hung around the mountain slopes and there was a nice cool feeling to the day – ideal weather for running up the mountains later.

At Murzzuschlag town square we met the vice mayor who mentioned that he had looked at the World Harmony Run website wich carries the phrase that harmony starts with everyone, and he was inspired to start with himself today after reading on the website the phrase “Harmony starts with me”. He took the first step by running with the torch with us.

From Murzzuschlag the road rose steeply for 5 km as we ran alongside tall pine trees and the mist hung between the branches like silk.

It was very peaceful and the air felt so pure and clean. The low clouds dissolved away as the sun grew stronger, and it was going to be another hot day.

After 12 km we reached Krieglach where we met the mayor and the director of the local school. There we were provided with great food and refreshments.

The mayor enthusiastically ran with the torch.

The running today was through some of the most beautiful countryside typical of the Austrian mountains. Runners ran on the cycle paths through the forest adjacent to the road.

At St. Kathrein we met the mayor who provided much needed refreshments. Most of the girls then ran ahead whilst the boys chatted to the mayor. We caught them up later to run the 20 km to Birkfeld where we met local runners who ran with us up the very steep hill. Pratul ran on ahead as he wished to run a marathon today. The very smiley mayor met us on a recently constructed stage for a forthcoming music festival.

After the ceremony he not only provided us with drinks but generously bought us all ice cream as well.

Along the route the runners met a curious pig. Probably it wanted to run with us all the way to London. We refused to take it with us, because it smelled worst than most of the runners.

They also visited the largest wooden horse in the world. Can you spot our runners?

We caught up with Pratul and a few of the Austrian runners 11 km ahead in the next village. By the time we reached the outskirts of Weiz Pratul had completed his marathon. At the city border we were joined by a local handball club and a representative of the city hall who ran with to the Tourist Information where we were warmly greeted by the vice mayor.

With everyone eager to run in the afternoon sunshine we soon covered the 25 km to the border of Graz. In the distance we could see the ornate church spires.

Pratul, Eddie and Praban ran the final 6 km to our final meeting point taking Pratul up to an impressive total running distance of 50 km for the day.

At the Burg, the residence of the Government of Styria (a regional district of Austria) we were received by Siegried Schrittwieser, Landtagsprasident.

He was very honored to receive the torch and likewise so were the runners to meet him.

In the grand function room our World Harmony Run song sounded wonderful, helped by the great acoustics, or was it that we were all in good voice? Afterwards we were offered plenty of healthy summer fruits, which we ate avidly.

Mr Schrittweiser took of his suit jacket and his tie and gladly ran with the torch in the courtyard of the Burg. It is always great to see politicians step out of their formal role and take up the torch.

In the Burg there is a double staircase and it is the one of the oldest in Austria. It is very interesting. The architect must have been a genius.

At the end of the day our Austrian hosts cooked us a superb and delicious meal of vegetable soup, three different salads, potatoes and wonderful cake and ice cream.

Distance: 105km

Team Members:
Anete Klavina (Latvia), Anna – Lena Lesmann (Germany), Anne Schulze (Germany), Dipavajan Renner (Austria), Edmund Blab (Austria), Mark Collinson (England), Martin Prettenhofer (Austria), Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Petar Mihaylov (Bulgaria), Petr Machacek (Czech Republic), Pratul Halper (Austria), Terezia Hammel (Hungary), Veronika Kuliskova (Slovakia), Zoltan Theobald (Hungary)

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