As she promised Jadranka rejoined the International Team after leaving us in Bulgaria. At short notice she flew to Warsaw and arranged her visa requirements, and arrived in Brest 02.00 in the early hours of this morning. Valentine was the hero of the day as he volunteered to get up and pick Jadranka from the train station. It was great to see her beaming smile and her cheerfulness at breakfast livened up the whole Team.

A member from the regional "sports committee" knocked loudly on our room door for breakfast. He had escorted us everywhere yesterday and we secretly enjoyed his company. We affectionately called him ‘Agent Smith’, as he had the ways of something more of state officialdom. Valentine understandably had trouble rousing from his bed in the morning, and he said to Valentine, “Why do you sleep? Let’s go, it’s breakfast”.

We started today’s run from Brest war memorial and ran out of the long, wide, straight highway out of the city towards Kobrin.

Our local Belarus runners were eager to run with us. Xenia, one of the girls from Russia, couldn’t quite decide to jump over or go under the barrier on the highway. With much hilarity she crawled under the barrier – I don’t think she saw the funny side of the moment however.

Four kilometres from Kobrin, children from the local running club joined us.

A local reporter jumped into the van and conducted interviews with most of the Team. Speaking to Mark, he asked questions about the English weather, and was surprised to learn that England wasn’t always foggy.

At Kobrin the mayor was glad to welcome the runners as the Run has been coming to Kobrin since 1999, and each time the Run came to his city he said he was always overjoyed.

We ran swiftly and effortlessly to Bereza, where, as we met the children, the black threatening clouds emptied hailstones and torrential rain on us, soaking us to the skin.

The ceremony in the town square with the mayor stopped as abruptly as the rain started. Each runner was presented with a deep red rose and a special present made by the children.

The mayor mentioned how important harmony was to the people of Belarus, as the terrible memories of the Second World War are a constant reminder of the need for peace and greater understanding between nations and peoples.

The weather was changing today constantly.

As heavy hailstones and torrential rain welcomed our arrival into Bereza, so was our departure. Jadranka looked like Little Red Riding Hood in her red rain cape. The cars certainly couldn’t fail to spot her!

The 40 km road out of Bereza was straight and long through sweet smelling pine forests, and everything smelt so fresh after the rain.

We later found out that in these forests, during the Second World War, over 60,000 Jews were killed. The history of the tragic loss of lives is so prominently written into the landscape of this country.

We were told, that every year the President of Belarus selects a city to be physically rebuilt and this year it is Ivatsevichi’s turn – our final destination of the day.

Everything is a work in progress and the whole city is currently one big construction site. The city certainly has an odd feel to it.

Here at Ivatsevichi we ran with more enthusiastic and smiley children, and as we finished to meet the city chairman, it once again poured down with rain. At the newly built gym we were entertained by traditional singing and dancing.

Distance: 147km

Team Members:
Denis Panferov (Belarus), Jadranka Grbic (Serbia & Montenegro), Jarek Werner (Poland), Mark Collinson (England), Ondrej Vesely (Czech Republic), Pawel Szymanski (Poland), Valentine Bebik (Ukraine).

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